It was an epic, awesome month for fossicking at Gemstone Beach in March! Coincidentally both JP and rock buddies Shona & Lee (lovely ladies I met on Gemstone Beach last year) were here and we all fossicked A LOT together! It was fabulous! It also means that I have so many fossicks to share for March that I’m going to have to do a “Part 6a” and a “Part 6b” to fit all the Gemstone Beach photos and favourite finds in! So let’s dig in!
Fossick #1 – Monday 3 March, 2025
I met JP down on the beach (he’s always early, I’m always late!) at 10:10am. There were 4 cars and 4 campers in the carpark and something was going on at the section next door (the place where the old crib in the cliff is). Power trucks, traffic management people and lots of dirt movement were an interesting distraction. I think that perhaps a new crib is being built on a site further back from the cliff. Time will tell.
The Taunoa Stream was quite narrow, shallow and easy to cross with a couple of people on the other side already. It didn’t take long to pass them by. We spent about 3½ hours on the beach making it all the way down to the Waimeamea River and back to carpark about 1:30pm. JP’s account of Fossick #1 can be read here.
The Waimeamea River was closed off but there were a few seepages which made for good fossicking spots.
Back at the Taunoa River we both stopped to chat to a lovely lady from Northland who was really curious to know what kinds of stones we’d been picking up. She was so excited to be picking up such a variety of interesting stones and was also keen to know the names of stones she had picked up.
There were more people on the beach when we got back to the carpark with twice as many cars than there was on arrival and four more motorhomes!
There were a few more than usual favourite finds for this fossick so I’ve saved some for when they are tumbled and polished – sharing up to 18 stones each fossick is probably enough!
Favourite Finds of the Day – Fossick #1
Fossick #2 – Thursday 6 March, 2025
Again JP beat me to Gemstone Beach as he was already fossicking down the side of the Taunoa River when I arrived at the carpark at 10:13am. There were already six cars and three campers in the carpark and it was a cool 13 degrees. Although overcast the sun did eventually come out and it warmed up to a lovely 17 degrees!
Two paragliders kept us amused during our fossick down to the Waimeamea River which was still blocked off. There were still a number of seepages so it won’t be long before the river breaks through again. Those seepages are really good places to fossick as the stones all around are wet making it even easier to spot the eye-catching ones!
The weather warmed up to 17 degrees over the length of our fossick and after 4 hours on the beach looking for stones to tumble we returned to the carpark which was rather busy with a couple of campervans and about 11 cars! Some ladies were set up on the beach in front of the carpark having their lunch in the sun!
Favourite Finds of the Day – Fossick #2
In between fossick#2 and fossick#3 at Gemstone Beach, JP and I drove to Slope Point on Monday 10 March for a fossick. You can read that blog post here.
Fossick #3 – Monday 14 March, 2025
At 9:38am, in a cooler temperature of only 10 degrees, rock hunting friends Lee, her partner Bryan plus Shona met myself and JP down in front of the carpark at Gemstone Beach. Shona, Lee and Bryan only arrived in Southland yesterday and are staying in our BnB for a wee bit so I have even more reasons to get out and fossick during the month of March!
There were already a couple of cars/campers in the carpark with only a few people out on the beach. We didn’t muck around as low tide was at 7:37am and the expected high tide due at 1:35pm.
The Waimeamea River was open with its flow going quite swiftly out to sea. It was too deep to ford and I had my light redbands on instead of my tall thermal boots making it not very appealing to get wet feet! The side of the Waimeamea River was good for fossicking so we just stuck to the sides having a good look before turning around to make our way back to the carpark.
It had warmed up to 17 degrees again with the sunshine making it a very pleasant 3 hour fossick together.
Favourite Finds of the Day – Fossick #3
If I am naming the stones in the captions please note that I am by no means an expert. They are my “best guess” with some being more confident guesses than others. That being said, I am really keen for any thoughts, corrections, suggestions on the stones of interest (to me) that have come out of my tumblers so please leave a comment – it’s greatly appreciated!
Next in the Series:
Stones, Waves & Whispers: Part 6b – 3 more fossicks for March!
Have you just stumbled across this post and want to read the series from the beginning? Click here.
Fossick #3, Stone E – “a drizzle of jasper”. The drizzle of dark red will be iron oxide – remember that jasper is not a colour but a type of cryptocrystalline (or microcrystalline) chalcedony/quartz!
As I was typing “jasper” believe it or not I did hear your voice in my head reminding me from our conversation on the beach that jasper is a form of iron oxide! I should have listened to that voice and written that in my caption! As always, love learning more from you and hoping you are well!