It is finally summer in Southland and despite all the rain we have had (and are still having) water restrictions are already in place for our region. It’s been a super busy month with only two opportunities to get down to Gemstone Beach in December to have a fossick for stones to tumble and polish.
Gemstone Stone Beach in December 2024
Once again there have been major changes to the Taunoa Stream. It was even more easier to ford later in December resulting in more people crossing it to fossick further afield than usual.
The most noticeable difference this month is the sand! Lots of sand where there used to be stones especially just across the other side of the Taunoa Stream heading in the Waimeamea River direction. I’m guessing that all the stones have been buried by the sand.
Fossick #1 – Thursday, December 5 2024
It was a pleasant 14 degrees, a sunny blue sky but a bit windy when I arrived at the Gemstone Beach carpark. Low tide was at 10am and I arrived at 10:09am. There were only three campers in the carpark, no cars.
The Taunoa Stream had made its way towards the crumbling cliffs and now snakes around it, quite wide and out to sea. It was very easy and shallow to cross with the tide being as low as it was going to get. It’s very sandy on the other side of the steam with hardly any stones to fossick for quite a walk down towards the Waimeamea River. I’ve not seen it this sandy before. I’d also never seen little blue bottle jellyfish on Gemstone Beach before either but I had heard that they are there occassionally. There were loads of them and you really had to be careful when fossicking as I almost picked quite a few up as their bright blue kept catching my eye! (always looking for that elusive sapphire!)
As I made my way down to the Waimeamea River it was closed off and I was able to fossick further than I’ve ever been before. Past where the river usually comes out I found some fabulous hydrogrossular specimens to add to my growing collection before I turned around to head back about 11:40am.
By the time I got back to the carpark at 12:47pm there were a couple of family groups on the beach in front of the carpark with four more cars parked up. Another car arrived as I was on my way out. The temperature had risen two more degrees making it a really nice day to be at the beach!
Favourite Finds of the Day – Fossick #1
Fossick #2 – Monday, 23 December 2024
Managed to get down to Gemstone Beach for a second fossick just before Christmas – gotta love the school holidays! Low tide was going to be at 1:21pm so I arrived at the carpark (only a couple of cars and one camper) about 12:30pm. It was overcast and a cool 14 degrees. We’ve been really unlucky with the sunshine so far this summer but at least it wasn’t raining!
Although the Waimeamea River was not running out to sea there were a few places where the river was seeping like it was trying really hard to break its way out to the ocean!
On my way back to the carpark I passed quite a few people who had made their way over the other side of the Taunoa. One lady was from Whangerei. After she showed me some of her favourite finds I showed her some of the hydrogrossulars and explained a little about them. As I got back to the Taunoa a man was digging in the stones at the corner of the cliff where the stream used to pass by. He was from way up north and decided that for Christmas he was going to surprise his daughter with a travel mug full of “Gemstone Beach Beauties”. I thought that was a fabulous idea. What a cool gift to get for Christmas! I told him about MrGrit and the special that was running on the Aussie Sapphire double 3lb tumblers – I hope he looked into those too!
Favourite Finds of the Day – Fossick #2
Next in the Series: Stones, Waves & Whispers: Part 4 – January fossicks – the firsts for 2025!
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