Gemstone Beach
Gemstone Beach
4
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- julesNapier, New Zealand90 contributionsMust visit destinationHighlight of my road trip. You could literally spend hours here ! Incredible rocks & stones, so many varieties, popping out of the cliff faces, or just roaming the beach. Plan on having an hour or two to wander if you are up to it. You wont be disappointed. Car park is close to the beach with easy access. I have a disability but the walk down was easy. Not wheelchair accessible though. Spent an hour or so roaming, picked up treasures and memento's to bring home. Didn't care it was freezing & rained, just wanted to stay there all day !Visited August 2024Travelled with familyWritten 2 October 2024
- Dianne T1 contributionGEMSTONE BEACHThe beach is a stone throw away but is so long, and you can spend hours walking and looking at all the beauty this beach has to offer. From the quirky shack over hanging on the ledge, the sea at the turn of tide, the colours and formations on the banks, the wind and sea spray blowing onto the shore, the fog sitting out to sea, the beautiful stones scattered all along the beach and in the banks, a creek flowing into the ocean while the gems glow as the sun hits them in the water and the sounds of kids as they find a favourite stone. Then you have people who disrespect this beautiful beach and drive onto it where a sign clearly says not to and gets stuck on the incoming tide and want the local(s) to come and tow them out in the dark. It's not as if you have to walk miles to get onto the beach.Visited October 2024Travelled as a coupleWritten 8 October 2024
- Tracy58 contributionsGemstones-in rock formLong drive from Queenstown but so worth seeing such colour filled rocks. Could not imagine rocks could be sooo pretty. House tucked away behind a sand facade. Worth going definitely go again. Can see how wild the west coast is. Very pretty.Visited October 2024Travelled with familyWritten 10 December 2024
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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4.0
73 reviews
Excellent
29
Very good
30
Average
10
Poor
1
Terrible
3
Greg T
28 contributions
Mar 2023 • Couples
Great location with easy access except for severe mobility impaired (my wife has a walking stick and she found it fine). Lots of stones, of all types of rocks. Don’t coming looking for precious gems although some garnets and sapphires are periodically found, but if you are into unique stones generally smoothed by the wave action, large and small then this is for you! Best time is as the tide is going out as the stones are still wet and you can see all the differences in the stone - when dry a lot look grey! Or when it’s raining… Everyone looks around the main entrance but best ones are over the stream (very shallow but shoes will get wet). No toilets, but public toilets are in the Orepuki township just a few minutes away. Awesome experience.
Written 10 March 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
fiona c
Liverpool, UK58 contributions
Feb 2020
This is a wild windy beach with a stream emptying onto the beach and into the sea. What makes this special is the sheer variety of colours of pebbles on the beach. The colours come out when wet and there is the chance that you can find hydrogrossular garnet, orbicular jaspers, rodingite quartz, nephrites and even sapphire and garnet sands some over a million years old. A good photo opportunity but you are unlikely to be there on your own.
Written 3 March 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ruth N
Auckland, New Zealand54 contributions
Feb 2020
We immediately identified many of the gemstones on this beach and knew what they were, thanks to a geologist Mum who taught us to identify stones and rocks when we were little. Despite knowing some could be absolute stunners if we knew where to tumble and process them we decided to choose just one each to bring home as an acknowledgement of our Mum who passed away 9 months ago. I recommend coming here because it is a wild and beautiful southern facing beach, but if you don't know what you are looking for just enjoy the ambiance and don't try looking for diamonds.
Written 7 March 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Richard H
Wellington, New Zealand43 contributions
Nov 2020 • Couples
On a driving tour of the South Island of New Zealand, we stayed one night in Riverton. It’s a camera ready beach town, and about 20ks up the road you’ll find Gemstone Beach.
Go there at low tide and you’ll spend ages combing for colourful and fascinating stones of all kinds. We had a great time, and we’re not kids any more!
Take your kids and search for treasure. See the photo for the small collection we picked up.
Go there at low tide and you’ll spend ages combing for colourful and fascinating stones of all kinds. We had a great time, and we’re not kids any more!
Take your kids and search for treasure. See the photo for the small collection we picked up.
Written 30 November 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Kiwiseley
Auckland Central, New Zealand443 contributions
May 2022
We only stopped for 10 minutes, but it was long enough to find some good samples of what nature has to offer. The sea has already done the polishing. A bit of fun on the scenic drive from Invercargill to Te Anau.
Written 19 May 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Brian
Auckland, New Zealand18 contributions
Feb 2020
This beach must be visited at a low tide for gem hunting The tide was coming in when I got there but I still had plenty of time to look. No sign of any actual semi precious gems (and I know what I am looking for) but I did find some nice examples of quartz that had been tumbled to round or oval shapes. Maybe a sieve would be good to find anything of more interest. Note the green colored rocks are NOT greenstone as some people think. No camping or toilets here but the nearby toilets at Orepuki hall were very clean and there are interesting information panels across the road.
Written 21 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Parsons4
4 contributions
Dec 2019 • Family
We took the scenic route from Invercargill to te anau stopping along the way. This beach has a remote and wild feel. The spaciousness and vast spread of stones with its own beauty was amazing. No such gemstones to be found but worth stopping for a visit.
Written 9 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
KiwiKerry53
Wellington, New Zealand5,059 contributions
Jul 2021
What a neat little beach. We'd been told about it by the bar maid at the Vulcan Hotel, so felt we had to stop. What an array of gorgeous polished stones of many colours. Clearly a well known spot as quite a few others searching for treasure. I was drowned by a rogue wave, so watch them!
Written 28 June 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Anita T
Forster, Australia12,696 contributions
Sept 2018 • Couples
It was a bit cold and windy the day we visited. We went for a bit of a walk along the beach and looked at the coloured stones on the water's edge. We wouldn't have known if the rocks we were looking at were gemstones or not. But it was a bit of good fun.
Written 4 October 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
diana s
Edinburgh, UK60 contributions
Jun 2018 • Couples
True gem. We visited this beach purely due to its name and thought maybe its not worth getting out of the car for due to wild sand flies, thankfully we did. We walked down to the beach and realized how wonderful it was. I never knew how interesting gemstone searching can be. We now have a mini collection of this beach at home. On the beach we met a man who is local gemstone enthusiast and he had made couple of necklaces, one of which Joon Agate we purchased and I love it so much that I wear it every day. This is my favorite place on South Island. Definitely worth a stop.
Written 6 July 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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