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New Zealand, Canterbury

Birdlings Flat

Kaitorete agate beach

Agate beach or gravel Source-confirmed findsLegal to collect
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What you could find

Reported finds from this ground.

Agates and jasperAgates and jasper
Crystals and mineralsCrystals and minerals
Petrified woodPetrified wood

Also reported: rare fossilized bone pebbles.

Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Teerui (Public domain), Stephanie Clifford from Arlington, VA, USA (CC BY 2.0), Jon Sullivan (Public domain).

Why this spot

Rockhounding locality: NZ's most famous gemstone beach, longshore drift piles agate, jasper and quartz pebbles from Canterbury rivers onto the Kaitorete gravel barrier

Decades of named collector and club accounts, the settlement even has a private gemstone and fossil museum built on local finds

Before you go

Hazards noted for this site.

Dangerous dumping surfNever turn your back on the sea and do not swim, steep loose shingle

Keep exploring nearby

More spots in this area.

Check access and collecting rules for each site.
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