Index to “Another South Island Fossicking Trip, February/March 2021” Series

Nearly all my stone collecting trips reported on TumbleStone Blog have Indexes – see “An Annotated Index of Indexes on TumbleStone Blog”. These enable me to quickly locate Posts about different beaches I have visited. I have recently been trying to work out when I first visited Ward Beach in Southern Marlborough and noticed there is no Index for one of my early trips, in 2021. So I decided to compile it now. The photos above each link give an idea of the beaches and the stones that feature in that Post.

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Okiwi Bay, looking north
Amberley Beach, looking south.
Lovely veins.
Stormwater outfall.
Kakanui Beach stones
Other side of the find of the week.

1) Days 1 to 4, 17 to 20 February – Kaikoura Coast, Amberley Beach, Leithfield Beach, Kakanui

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Gemstone Beach, area at the car park.
Gemstone Beach looking west.
Gemstone Beach, near the car park.
Interesting clear inclusions.
Pastel-coloured stone with interesting veins. Looks like rhodonite but unsure of this.
Stone 3, small trace fossil stone, with the trace raised above the surrounding argillite.
Stone 18, small but stunning.
Stone 17. Probably volcanic in origin.
The pink is a mineral called thulite.
Another “Wow!”

2) Days 5 to 6, 21 and 22 February – Gemstone Beach

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The Back Beach is at the end of the road at Howell’s Point, Riverton.
The Back Beach.
About 20 to 30 people stopped to watch.
This one will polish well.
Iron-stained quartz.
The rain made every stone on the surface wet across all of the beach.
Small but noticeable due to the colourful bands.
Trace fossils in argillite. Good sized chevron traces.
The delicate dark veins caught my attention.
A type of quartz.

3) Days 7 and 8, 23 and 24 February – Riverton’s Back Beach, Gemstone Beach

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Iron-stained stone, side a.
Tihaka Beach is on Te Araroa.
A Tihaka Beach stone, one of the few I pocketed.
Eastern side of Garden Bay.
Garden Bay stone.
A large hydrogrossular garnet, found about 500 metres from the car park.
A white stone with an interesting middle and outer swirls.

4) Days 9 and 10, 25 and 26 February – Gemstone Beach, Tihaka Beach, Garden Bay

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Looking back up at the McCracken’s Rest lookout from the beach.
Looking west, towards the Fiordland mountains.
A large pink stone – it’s about 15 cms in length. I left it on the beach, far too big for me to tumble polish and too heavy to add to my backpack.
The previous stone, but wet. Very pink. Thulite, with the pink caused by the presence of manganese.
Nicely shaped trace fossil stone, unusual colour.
High tide. Standing a couple of hundred metres west of the carpark, looking at where the Taunoa Stream crosses the beach.
Small complex-patterned stone.
Another fascinating small stone.

5) Days 11 and 12, 27 and 28 February – McCracken’s Rest, Gemstone Beach

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Later, Gemstone Beach with high powerful waves sprinting up the banks of stones. The beach near the car park is more benign though care is always required.
Other side of previous stone.
Another of those purple stones, with interesting inclusions.
I think this is a quartzite. A small stone.
Probably iron-stained quartz of some sort.
The western half of the Beach Past the Back Beach. Tihaka Beach and Colac Bay are a few kilometres further on. Most of this morning’s fossicking was behind me, to the east, amongst the rocks there.
Looking back over the hill I had just come over to get to this beach. The Back Beach is on the other side of the hill.
Interesting hue of blue.

6) Days 13 and 14, 1 and 2 March – Gemstone Beach, The Beach Past the Back Beach at Riverton

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Looking at the northeast end of the small beach near Slope Point.
A photo taken when I visited Slope Point in 2018.
Not sure what kind of stone this is – it could contain small fossils.
Some kind of fossilised forest floor or??
Gemstone Beach stones.
Very unusual construction.
Also just a big too big.
After my visit to Slope Point yesterday, I became more aware of rhyolite on Gemstone Beach.
Gorgeous jasper.

7) Days 15 and 16, 3 and 4 March – Slope Point, Gemstone Beach

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Stones in the Taunoa Stream.
One of the bigger stones I collected today.
Other side of previous stone.
Today’s trace fossil stone, a small one with nicely defined traces.
Unusual light colour, interesting inclusions.
Gemstone Beach at the car park.
Stone with hydrogrossular garnet in it.
Stunning small stone.

8) Days 17 and 18, 5 and 6 March – Gemstone Beach, Tsunami Alert

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I went as far as these rocks, which are about 800 metres along the beach.
This reasonably plain whitish quartz stone has this on its side.
Plain beach agate, not a bad size.
Fossil hash stone.
One end of the small beach near Moeraki Village.
There were seals at both ends of the beach so I did not venture further.
“Top” of seam chalcedony, dry.
The beach-tumbled chalcedony I found, dry.

9) Days 19 and 20, 7 and 8 March – Kakanui, Moeraki Village, Katiki

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Like caramel.
Quartzite?
Treasure
One side of a small beach agate.
Another fossil hash stone.
Dark red jasper?
Small banded jasper.
A grit-tumbled jasper stone given to me by Penny Farmer.
Another of Penny Farmer’s cut slices that she kindly gave to me.. Again, probably jasper.

10)  Days 21 and 22, 9 and 10 March – Kakanui, Temuka

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I always walk southwards from where I park the car at Leithfield Beach to fossick around these old stormwater pipes. The person near them provides scale.
Small stone. likely to have a lot of chaceldony (agate) in it.
The Ward Beach boulders – photo taken during an earlier visit.
White-faced heron on Ward Beach.
Dendrites in a stone.
Other side of previous stone.

11) Last Two Days, 11 and 12 March – Leithfield Beach, Kaikoura Coast, Ward Beach

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June-July 2026 South Island Trip – Part 14, Another Hour on Ward Beach, Monday 27 July

The final fossick for this trip took place today on a sunny nine degrees afternoon, between 12.50pm and 1.50pm. This was an hour earlier than yesterday’s fossick which turned out to be significant. The sun was a bit higher in the sky and cast fewer shadows on the stones, making them a lot easier to see. These are today’s finds, 13 of which are featured in the Post below:

As a result of the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, Ward Beach experienced significant uplift of about two and a half metres. The change in ground level forced the Flaxbourne River to abandon its estuary and cut through the former estuary bed and gravel beach deposits, exposing the bedrock beneath (Geotrips). Today I walked along to the river mouth and wandering up the river for a couple of hundred metres. There were patches of stones to search there, and some bird wildlife to observe.

Shags roosting on limestone outcrops near the mouth of the Falxbourne River.
Two shags braved the turbulent water at the river mouth.
Heron on uplifted limestone.
Uplifted bedrock a couple of hundred metres upstream from the river mouth. Weld Cone in background.

I also spent some time taking photos of the waves – they are very strong at Ward Beach and much caution needs to be exercised when hunting for stones at the waves’ edge.

Now to the 13 featured finds from today. This stone has some very interesting  veins, maybe chalcedony?   

This second find is likely to have at least some flint in it:        

A white brecciated limestone:

Another limestone pebble, this time with a little more colour:    

A third limestone find, with subtle but intriguing patterns: 

There’s an interesting brown in this next stone – it appears to have quartz in it:     

A dark red jasper(?) with a small grey circular feature that draws the eye:     

The dark veins in this next stone tend to stand out:     

Next are four trace fossil limestone finds, all with a different character. This grey one has an unusual trace fossil pattern  – two traces that meet to form a pointer, or a flight of geese:  

In a darker grey, these two trace fossils cross over each other:    

An assemblage of different kinds of trace fossils:    

A set of parallel trace fossils that have been “smeared”along one side:   

Finally, a limestone pebble that on one side has holes probably from some small burrowing animal:

Both sides have interesting markings.

The next day I caught a Cook Strait ferry from Picton and arrived home in Whanganui just after dark.

An Index to this Series of Posts is available here. 

“The Trace Fossil Stones of Gemstone Beach” – Second Revised Edition of Photobook

Six years ago, I compiled a small photobook “The Trace Fossil Stones of Gemstone Beach”. I constructed it online and it was printed by Diamond Photo. Unfortunately the company changed their server sometime along the way and I have been unable to reprint the book. I have now almost finished an expanded revised version, reconstructing the content and updating it along the way. This Post will be used to provide identification for some of the extra stones I have included from various South Island beaches in the last part of the book. This will be done over the next month or so. 

June-July 2026 South Island Trip – Part 13, An Hour on Ward Beach, Sunday 26 July

Apologies to those following this Series for the late publication of this Post. When I got home from my trip, I had a bad cold which took a few days to ease. Then I spent over a week working through a reviewer’s detailed comments on a draft of the book on Gemstone Beach stones that Chrissy and I are preparing.

I arrived at Ward Beach in Southern Marlborough at 2.40pm. It was only eight degrees, with a cold breeze, though it was sunny. A few people were around. I passed a couple of cyclists on the road out there, and two or three camper vans were parked in the camping area behind the beach. Later a man arrived to gather kelp that had washed up. I walked south to the Flaxbourne River mouth, a distance of 400 metres – the river was too wide and deep to cross. The waves were powerful and ferocious and swept swiftly up the beach (see the fourth and fifth photos below). I made sure I kept well clear of them.

Just prior to a wave sweeping up the beach. Compare next photo.
A wave sweeping up the beach.
Ward Beach from in front of the carpark, looking south.
Ward Beach, looking north.
Powerful and ferocious waves, Ward Beach.
At the Flalbourne River mouth.

The sun was harsh and low, making it difficult to spot details in the stones when walking over them. The following are ten of my finds from today. 

My favourite find today is this small stone with tiny sparkling spots in it which turn out to be very small square crystals of some kind:

I have found at least three of these before, one on my way south a month ago,  another in February 2025, the first in February 2024. I wonder if the crystals might be pyrite, given their cuboid character. 

Two other black stones with white crystals:

There’s a good chance these could be dolerite with feldpar crystals in them.

A stone that reverses the proportion of black and white – a white stone with small black spots in it:

A jasper find:

Other side of jasper stone.

I recently learned that jasper can sometimes be silicified rhyolite. Hot, silica-rich groundwater can move through rhyolitic rock, turning parts of it into microcrystalline quartz. Silicified rhyolite can even give rise to poppy jasper, and is the origin of ocean jasper.

A veined limestone of a type that I always find attractive, though the soft rock needs very careful tumbling:

A limestone with dendrites:

Dendrites are thin lines, often branching, of tiny dark crystals, usually of some variety of manganese oxide, that grow over a rock’s surface – see Mindat.org. Other dendritic specimens I have found on Ward Beach can be seen towards the end of “Selection of Tumbled Ward Beach Stones: Part 3 – Stones With Veins; Stones With Dendrites”.

As usual, I kept a look out for trace fossils in limestime. One I found was in a rough-feeling stone – they are usually very smooth – and the definition of its trace seemed sharper than normal:

Two other trace fossil stones, the first one showing a displacement across it (sometimes called an “earthquake stone”), the second containing some criss-crossing of traces (usually the traces run parallel to each other):

For more on these trace fossils, see “Selection of Tumbled Ward Beach Stones: Part 1 – Trace Fossils in Limestone”.

Ian and Ronnie of the Flaxbourne Motels always show an interest in the stones I find at nearby Ward Beach. I have given them some that I have tumble polished. Ian is very good at making and crafting stuff. Two years ago he set a handful of my polished stones in a couple of wooden table tops:

Today, they showed me how Ian had mounted seven of the stones I had given them in a glass-fronted frame, using identifications I had given to Ronnie the last time I visited:

A really interesting idea, effectively done.

The next Post in this Series covers a second Ward Beach fossick undertaken the next day. An Index to the Series is available here.     

June-July 2026 South Island Trip – Part 12, Jaspers and Quartzites from Timaru South, Wednesday 22 July

I arrived at what I call Timaru South in South Canterbury at 12.40pm on a cool but sunny day. There was no-one else on the beach during the hour and three-quarters I was there, though a couple of walkers made their way along the track atop the cliffs. I walked for about a kilometre, starting in front of the carparking area and moving past Mutu Mutu Point towards Jack’s Point lighthouse.       

View south from the carparking area at the end of Scarborough Road.
The first part of my fossick, with Mutu Mutu Point at the end.
Looking north, to Timaru.
The stretch of beach leading to Mutu Mutu Point.
The stretch of beach past Mutu Mutu Point, Jack’s Point lighthouse in far distance.
Container ship leaving Timaru Port.
Timaru South stones.
Timaru South stones.

Many of the stones on this beach tend to be a bit rougher than Kakanui and Gemstone Beach, for instance. In the past, I have especially found some nice green quartzites (see “T is for Timaru Today” in this Post) as well as a few hematite jaspers, one of which is the third entry in the TumbleStone Hall of Fame. Today, I found a few gorgeous jaspers and a wide range of quartzites, along with a couple of other nice stones. Seventeen of my finds are featured below. 

The first is an excellent example of brecciated jasper with quartz:

Brecciated jasper with quartz, Timaru South.

A less stunning brecciated jasper but with a very intriguing vein along the lower part: 

This next jasper has a lot of fine detail in it:

Timaru South jasper.

And a small very dark stone which could be a type of hematite jasper – though I debated with myself for a while whether it might be a quartzite instead:

Hematite jasper?

Many of the quartzites I found were brecciated, often with intricate detail, and they displayed a wide range of different colours. Some were quite pale, like these three:

A pale quartzite with thin green and red threads:

Some were mainly green or had green threads or patches:

Others were variations of yellow, orange or red:

Other side of stone.

Finally, neither a jasper nor a quartzite, this stone is of a type I have found a couple of times before. However, what it is remains a bit of a mystery to me. This one is a soft light green in colour but I have seen it darker. It is very attractive:     

A list of my previous fossicks on this beach can be found here.    

The next Post in this Series covers the first of two Ward Beach fossicks I made on my way home. An Index to the Series is available here.  

June-July 2026 South Island Trip – Part 11, Meeting Lee and Shona on Kakanui’s Seadown Beach, Tuesday 21 July

Yesterday I drove to Oamaru in North Otago. I arranged to meet Lee and Shona on Seadown Beach at 11am this morning just after high tide – they are spending a few weeks house-sitting in South Canterbury. It was a cold morning, only 9 degrees, but fortunately there was no wind on the beach. I was able to give Lee and Shona the last two of my 2026 TumbleStone Calendars. We spent just under two hours looking among the scattered stones above the high tide mark. Later at mid-afternoon I returned by myself at low tide for 45 minutes to check out the stones among the rocks at the south end. When I left, I passed one brave person who had ventured onto the beach in front of the parking area to do some finshing.

I first met Lee and Shona, from the Wairarapa, on Gemstone Beach in March 2023 and again in March 2025. When I arrived at Seadown Beach, a large seal was emerging from the water and hauling itself up the beach. So we made sure we gave it a wide berth.

Lee on Seadown Beach.
Shona rockhounding on Seadown Beach.
The seal coming onto the beach.
Scattered stones, Seadown Beach.

When I came back at 3.45pm, the seal remained lounging at the back of the beach, so I carefully walked past it along at the water’s edge, a good 50 metres away. I found some nice patches of stones in the first three bays amidst the rocks. 

The first two bays in the rocks had a scattering of stones.
Up at the back of the beach, the seal lounged.
My finds today from two fossicks on Seadown Beach.

The following features ten finds from my two fossicks today. The first is an excellent specimen of petrified wood that was sitting quite prominently on top of some and in one of the rock bays. It looks more interesting when wet than dry. On the second side is a couple of small orange patches:

Petrified wood, dry.
Petrified wood, wet.
Other side of dry petrified wood.
Other side of wet petrified wood.

The light purple colour in the next stone caught my eye, though it is mainly on one side:

Other side of stone.

An interesting quartz:

Quartz stone.
Quartz stone held up to the light.

The lines in this small stone caught my eye:       

Whenever I visit Seadown Beach, I look for stones of fossiliferous limestone with tiny fossil shells in them. This one is the best of the half-dozen I collected today:      

I also found a few of the attractive yellow quartzites that are common here. This one has less colour but on one side has a large clear piece of quartz:

The other side of the same stone, with a tiny orange patch:

Another quartzite with quartz fragments in it:     

Other side of stone,

Initially I wasn’t sure if this stone was a quartzite or not but the close-up images reveal tiny quartz fragments in it:

A stone that turns out to be similar under close-up:

Other side of stone.

Finally, a denser variation with mixed yellow and orange hues:

Other side of stone.

I took the photos of these finds on the side of the road on my way to Timaru the next day. The sun came out then and there were few clouds to interrupt it so I grabbed the opportunity. 

The next Post in this Series reports on a fossick on a beach just south of Timaru. An Index to the Series is available here.        

June-July 2026 South Island Trip – Part 10, Farewell Fossick on Gemstone Beach, Sunday 19 July

On Monday and Tuesday this week, Chrissy and I worked on our book “What’s This Stone: A Photographic Collection of Finds From Gemstone Beach”. I then got sick on Wednesday with a bad cold initially combined with a migraine. On Thursday, despite my condition, we managed to finish a complete draft of the book. We then did some checking, editing and layout tweaks on Friday and Saturday. Chrissy has worked long and hard to wrestle the pages into shape. The book draft is now being checked and proof-read by others. On Sunday Chrissy and I went for a fossick on Gemstone Beach, reported below, and the next day I packed up to head back north after watching the World Cup football final, the last half-hour with Mike.   

Current cover of draft book.
Contents page.
First page of a stone entry. With a spelling error in the title!!
Shaking map for Thursday night’s earthquake. Source: http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/shaking/2026p530771

The other happening this week occurred on Thursday night, when an earthquake produced a long period of rocking. It was one of the biggest quakes felt in the south for a while. The magnitude 5.9 event was located about 40 kilometres north of Te Anau, which is about 140 kilometres north of us. A tsunami warning was issued but later withdrawn, This was another reason to stay away from the beach for at least a couple of days.

Chrissy and I arrived at Gemstone Beach at 11.30 am, the temperature being nine degrees. There were five cars and one campervan in the carpark. The earthquake-agitated sea had wrought some changes. The sand in front of the carpark along to the Taunoa Stream was very smooth and rose subtly but consistently to the back of the beach in a way I had not noticed before. Across the Taunoa Stream, sand had been removed so that the previously noted three patches of stones (described here) had expanded by maybe five or six times. And the mix of stones was greater, with quite a few interesting ones among them. We spent two hours on the beach, mainly in this area, deciding not to walk all the way down to the Waimeamea River. We found a handful of good hydrogrossular garnets. I came away with 66 finds in all.

The beach in front of the carpark.
Looking back towards the carpark.
The view towards the carpark from just over the other side of the Taunoa Stream.
One of the greatly expanded areas of stones on the other side of the Taunoa Stream. Another fossicker coming our way.
Looking back from the first large patch of stones.
Chrissy in the distance.
My 66 finds from today.

Chrissy found the best hydrogrossular garnet, just as I was chatting with people who wanted to touch one to feel its waxiness. It’s a large brown one with flashes of white, and I photographed it on the beach:

Chrissy’s brown hydrogrossular garnet.
Other side of Chrissy’s brown hydrogrossular garnet.

The best three that I found included a green partly transparent one:    

Hydrogrossular garnet.

and a white one with a clear band:    

Hydrogrossular garnet.

and this light tan partly transparent one:  

Hydrogrossular garnet.

I came across a large argillite stone with trace fossils in it. It’s such a good speciment that I decided to put it in my bag – it’s can be used to show what these stones look like in the rough:

Large argillite stone with trace fossils.

A small banded argillite with a kind of “glazed” surface:

Banded argillite.

A different type of banded argillite which seems not to have been as “baked” as the previous one:

A type of banded argillite.

A small green stone with lots of interesting detail:

Other side of stone.

A small brecciated quartzite – I really like the kind of pattern to be seen in its top left quadrant:

The next small stone looks to be brecciated but I’m not sure if it’s a quartzite or  jasper – it certainly has bits of quartz in it but it could be part of the matrix. Its light and dark colours make it really attractive:

Other side of stone.

Three more red ones with interesting bits, the second with an especially fascinating vein:

I thought I had found a small piece of petrified wood, a rare event on Gemstone Beach, but after closer examination I think it is more likely some kind of sedimentary stone, probably a mudstone:  

This was a good fossick to end my time here. Many thanks to Chrissy and Mike for looking after me so well during my stay at their place in the south.

The next Post in this Series describes some finds from Kakanui’s Seadown Beach. An Index to the Series is available here.    

June-July 2026 South Island Trip – Part 9, A Sunday Afternoon on Gemstone Beach, Sunday 12 July

The day after the rather intense Southland Geological and Lapidary Club’s Show/Open Day, Chrissy and I headed out to Gemstone Beach for some fresh air and recreation. It was nine degrees and sunny when we arrived there at 2.30pm. Sixteen cars were in the carpark and lots of people were on the beach, though only one had ventured beyond the Taunoa Stream.

A busy beach, when we arrived.
Looking back shortly after we arrived.
When we returned two hours later, still a lot of people on the beach.

We spent just over two hours, walking down to the Waimeamea River and back. Normally it would have taken us a lot longer but the large areas of sand meant we made quick progress most of the time. 

Featured below are eight of the stones I collected this afternoon. The first is a dark red hematite jasper, the hematite being the silvery material within it:

Hematite jasper.

I found an amygdaloidal stone, possibly a basalt. Small gas bubble holes in it have been filled with a white mineral, maybe quartz:

Amygdaloidal stone.

For information on amygdaloidal stones, see Section 4 in this Post.

Next are two trace fossil stones. The first has some strong traces running along the surface, the second smaller stone has just one trace, a burrow emerging from within: 

Trace fossils in argillite.
Small argillite stone with a small trace fossil.

This much larger stone is a spotted argillite that may include some red trace fossils:

Spotted argillite, with trace fossils?

For more information on trace fossil stones in argillite, see Stone #10 in this Post.

An interesting little argillite that shows some displacement within it due to tectonic stress, called by some an earthquake stone:

Argillite earthquake stone.

I’m not sure what kind of stone this next one is, but I like the various tiny shapes it contains:      

Finally a small green stone with some subtle changes of hue within it:     

The coming week will be busy working on the completion of the final draft of the photo book on Gemstone Beach stones that Chrissy and I are producing.  

The next Post in this Series is about my final Gemstone Beach fossick for this trip, which took place a week later. An Index to the Series is available here.    

June-July 2026 South Island Trip – Part 8, Southland Geological and Lapidary Club “Mini Rock and Mineral Show/Open Day”, Saturday 11 July

This Post provides quite a bit of detail about the Southland Geological and Lapidary Club’s Show and Open Day so that in the future I can read back about what I did and consider what worked. Too many things were going on for me to see, remember and describe everything that happened on the day and I apologise for what I missed and if I overlooked anyone. I neglected to take enough photos so most of the ones below are Chrissy’s from the Club’s Facebook Page or screen grabs from Chrissy’s video. 

I timed my trip south to coincide with this event so that I could contribute. I have not been involved in a rock and mineral show before, though three or four years ago I visited the North Otago one in Oamaru. I left my accommodation in Papatotara just after 7.30am on a dark cold (four degrees) morning. The drive to Invercargill was punctuated by intermittent showers. I arrived at the show hall – Whare Taupua in Forth Street – around 9am to set up for the Show’s opening at 10am.

A quick pic when the crowd thinned out a little.

Chrissy took a video of the Show’s layout just after it opened – see here. There was a table at the hall entrance where a gold coin entrance fee was taken and a card handed out with images of things from six different tables. When a person found one of these images, the table holder punched their card. Once all six were identified and punched, the person could collect a small bag of Chrissy’s polished stones as their prize. My table’s image was a trace fossil rock with two large distinctive traces. The people at the entrance, Jenni, Gordon and George, also kept an eye on numbers – the first hour saw 125 visitors, with just over 450 coming through during the six hour event. Michelle and Rachel helped visitors arriving outside the building to find the right entrance.

In the small hall were ten tables organised by Club members, some being displays, some being competitions, some selling stone-related jewellery. At the first table, David had brought along rough and polished stones of different types from different places in Southland, all labelled in groups – I found myself wandering over there three or four times to have a pick up and look. He also had a pet rock in a cage.

David’s display of rock finds. Source: http://www.facebook.com/sglc.rocks.
Andrew ran a rock quiz alongside his ventifacts display.

Andrew had organised a quiz competition where people had to identify eight different minerals or rocks – for example, one was pumice, another was carnelian, there was some sulphur and another was amethyst. The prize was the winner’s choice of a nice-sized polished stone (again provided by Chrissy) from the Club table. Andrew also had a display of quite a few ventifacts (stones shaped and polished by wind-driven sand), mainly from Southland’s Tiwai Point and South Taranaki’s Waitotara. The display included information about the processes leading to their formation.   

Next to Andrew was a table displaying and selling pendants crafted by Michelle of Deep South Pounamu (Mataura), assisted for the day by Amelia. Michelle had recently run a workshop for the Club, teaching attendees how to work with pounamu. I was pleased to finally meet Michelle in person after interacting with her a few times on Facebook about stone-related topics. Michelle also ran a draw for a toki pendant for anyone who visited her table. To her left was the Club table where prizes were collected, and fossils and lucky dips were sold. Tina and Sorsha looked after this area. 

Michelle (left) and Amelia busy at the Deep South Pounamu table.
Tina (right) and Sorsha at the Club table, ready to hand out prizes. Source: http://www.facebook.com/sglc.rocks.

Next was Pauline with a display of petrified wood from her and Caleb’s collection as well as the collections of a couple of other members. Again, this was a table I was drawn to myself to have a look, especially at the Slope Point specimens. Kaleb was next-door with an unusual and very well laid-out display of (mainly) sea glass. Sea glass is weathered glass found on the coast, formed when discarded bottles and tableware are tumbled by waves and sand over a long period of time. As Wikipedia notes, collectors highly prize rare colours like red, orange, and purple alongside common shades like green, brown, and white. Pauline said to me quietly at one point, “You know, Kaleb and I had our first date on Gemstone Beach”.

Pauline’s table featuring a range of petrified wood. Source: http://www.facebook.com/sglc.rocks.
Kaleb’s display of sea glass, with Sam and Sarah (and me) behind. Source: http://www.facebook.com/sglc.rocks.

Sam and Sarah had a table between Caleb and me. This featured jewellery crafted by Sam, the second of the three tables selling stone-related products. The third was on the other side of me, where items from Chrissy and Trevor were displayed and for sale, with Mike keeping an eye on them. Completing the circle was Chrissy’s display of tumble polishing. Central to this was a quiet working set of two small (3lb) barrels, a non-working 4lb barrel, and she also had a vibrating polisher which she occasionally turned on to demonstrate how noisy it was. Alongside were containers of the various grits and polish powder. There were some unpolished stones at one end of the table and some polished ones at the other end. Lots of people had questions about the process and the various options for getting a tumbler. Chrissy was kept very busy explaining everything.

Mike behind the table of Chrissy and Trevor’s stone jewellery. Source: http://www.facebook.com/sglc.rocks.
Chrissy explaining stuff about tumble polishing. Source: http://www.facebook.com/sglc.rocks.

Jenny and Rachel occasionally brought food and refreshments around to the tables and offered any extra assistance. Altogether, it was a significant Club effort from many members, and it paid off beyond expectations.    

I had brought with me from Whanganui four lots of Gemstone Beach polished stones – the stones heading south again after I had brought them all the way north! The two main lots were trace fossil stones and banded rhyolite, the other two being hydrogrossular garnets and a “mixed” lot. I made sure the stones were of good quality and of varied sizes, and I also brought along some large unplolished specimens to display for comparison.

Despite the sig, I still had to tell people they could take one home for free.
The trace fossils sign plus some unpolished specimens.
The starting plate of free polished trace fossil stones and the accompanying small information sheets.
Free trace fossil stones!

I had small information sheets (one-sixth of an A4 page) for each group of giveaway stones plus one for Gemstone Beach itself. Each sheet ended with a link to TumbleStone Blog for further information. They read as follows:

TRACE FOSSILS IN ARGILLITE FROM GEMSTONE BEACH: These trace fossils are the burrows or trails of tiny animals left in sediments at the bottom of the sea during the Permian Era more than 250 million years ago. They are found in argillite stones. Argillite is a mudstone, a fine-grained sedimentary rock, one of the main basement rocks of New Zealand. Lots of argillite stones can be found on Gemstone Beach, many of them containing trace fossils. Known locally as “fossil worm casts”, the traces come in a variety of colours, shapes and sizes. When tumble polishing these stones, a light touch is needed to preserve the traces on the surface. For more on trace fossils, see https://tumblestoneblog.com/2025/11/27/tumblestone-calendar-2026-july-trace-fossils-in-argillite.

BANDED RHYOLITE FROM GEMSTONE BEACH: Rhyolite is a volcanic igneous rock with a very high silica content. It is the volcanic equivalent of granite which is formed underground. Depending on the nature of its emergence, rhyolite can also take the form of ignimbrite (dense ash), obsidian (glassy) or pumice (spongy). These stones are the most common form of rhyolite on Gemstone Beach, a very dark brown with thin light brown bands and small light-coloured crystals. They are also found further east on the Southland coast at Riverton Aparima and Slope Point. These stones tumble polish well because of their glassy nature. For more information on rhyolite, and disagreements about what this stone might be, see https://tumblestoneblog.com/2023/11/22/november-2023-polished-stones-stone-of-the-day-22.

HYDROGROSSULAR GARNETS FROM GEMSTONE BEACH: Hydrogrossular garnet is perhaps the most sought-after stone on Gemstone Beach. It is a non-crystalline type of garnet, having been formed as a dense mass, not a crystal. The addition of water to grossular garnet gives rise to the hydrogrossular variety. It was identified for the first time in the world by a New Zealander in 1943. The purer forms are translucent, the rest often being opaque. Colour varies, depending on what other minerals are mixed in. Rough hydrogrossular garnets usually feel waxy and shine brightly when wet. They polish easily. For more on hydrogrossular garnets, see https://tumblestoneblog.com/2022/06/02/ts2-hydrogrossular-garnet.

MIXED POLISHED TUMBLESTONES FROM GEMSTONE BEACH: These stones represent some of the great diversity that can be found on Gemstone Beach. They include sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic stones, and have been brought down by the Waiau River from the Fiordland mountains. Colours vary as do the small veins, marks and patterns seen in them. After found as sea-worn smooth on the beach, they have been tumble-polished in a small rubber barrel constantly for between five and seven weeks with grit that smooths them further then with powder that puts a shine on them. For an explanation of 30 mixed polished Gemstone Beach stones, see https://tumblestoneblog.com/2025/05/14/thirty-gemstone-beach-pebbles-for-doug-stones-1-to-5.

GEMSTONE BEACH: This beach lies 70 kms west of Invercargill, with the mountains of eastern Fiordland in the background. It is on the Te Waewae Bay coast, on the shores of Foveaux Strait. The name “Gemstone Beach” most narrowly applies to a 250 metre stretch in front of the carpark opposite the “Gemstone Beach” sign just west of Orepuki. Even when sand covers the carpark beach area, the stretch that runs from there to the mouth of the Waimeamea River, 1.5 kilometres to the northwest, is nearly always covered in stones. There is a great diversity of colourful and patterned stones here, mainly brought down to the coast by the Waiau River. For more on Gemstone Beach, see https://tumblestoneblog.com/2022/06/02/ts2-gemstone-beach.

I had also prepared five signs, mounted in photo frames that could be stood up on the table. The main one stated:

FREE!
PICK A STONE TO TAKE HOME
POLISHED STONES FROM GEMSTONE BEACH
Feel free to look through these stones

The other signs briefly described the different lots of stones. The stones themselves were placed in paper plates so that people could look through them. I regularly refreshed the plates with new stones. I started out by having the trace fossils and banded rhyolites on the table. Eventually, I ran out of these and so replaced them with the other two lots. I didn’t count how many stones I gave away but I think it would have been well over 100. Just as well I brought a lot with me – I initially thought I had overdone it by bringing so many but that turned out not to be the case. 

It was the school holidays. Lots of families with young children came along. Often the hall was packed, the visitors able to move only slowly from table to table. This intensity only really eased for the last half hour. The children loved picking out a stone to take away. I often had a parent say to me, “At home, this kid is always turning up with a pocketful of stones!” Many had been out to Gemstone Beach and were certainly planning to go again. I got the chance to chat briefly with two people who are regular readers of TumbleStone Blog.

There were a few keys to the success of the Show. Foremost was the planning, organisation and many contributions by Chrissy, the Club Secretary. Then the members who organised tables were all enthusiastic, knowledgeable, friendly and supportive to others. There were a few important “helpers” who quietly pitched in to do what was needed and to offer assistance. Well done, everyone!

The next Post in this Series is on a Gemstone Beach fossick the next day. An Index to the Series is available here.  

June-July 2026 South Island Trip – Part 7, Second Papatotara Beach Fossick, Thursday 9 July

We had some more wind and rain yesterday (Wednesday) then the sun returned though the temperature was still low. At noon I visited Papatotara Beach for 90 minutes at low tide, the temperature being eight degrees. It was very wet and muddy at the bottom of the track down to the beach so I was glad for my sturdy pair of gumboots. There were fewer stones and more sand at the waves’ edge due to the low tide, leading to a less productive fossick. However, my 17 finds included some interesting specimens, as revealed by the photos of the six featured below.

A very wet and muddy beach entrance.
Looking west.
Looking east, more sand than when the tide is higher.
This afternoon’s 17 finds.

My most interesting find was what I think is a small brecciated argillite:

Small brecciated argillite.
Other side of stone.

Tectonic stress has most likely fragmented the middle of the stone, then hot water running through has deposited quartz to fill the gaps and hold the fragments in place.

I picked up this little stone because of its dark red halo of iron oxide and I could spot some very tiny patches of colour in it. The photos reveal that it is a breccia though maybe the fragments are small enough for it to be classified as a sandstone:

Breccia or sandstone?
Other side of stone.

 

A stone with interesting white veins:

I suspect the veins are quartz, but I am unsure.

Two contrasting black and white igneous stones – one dominated by white, the other dominated by black:

See Section 5 “Stones With Opaque White Crystals” in this Post for an idea of the fuller range of such stones.

Finally, yet another intriguing small jasper I have found this trip:  

Small Papatotara Beach jasper.

On Saturday I take part in the Open Day of the Southland Geological and Lapidary Club, giving away some polished Gemstone Beach stones (especially trace fossils, rhyolite and hydrogrossular garnets).

The next Post is about the “Mini Rock and Mineral Show/Open Day” organised by the Southland Geological and Lapidary Club in Invercargill. An Index to the Series is available here.