Hydrogrossular garnet is one of New Zealand’s lesser-known geological treasures, found within the unusual calcium-rich rock known as rodingite. This episode explores the geology, discoveries and collecting history of New Zealand hydrogrossular and rodingite, following the places and people connected with these distinctive green, pink and reddish stones and the remarkable geological processes that created them.

Explore more from Rare Stones of Aotearoa:
https://rarestonesofaotearoa.com/

Gold changed New Zealand.

In this episode of Rare Stones of Aotearoa, we follow the discoveries, rushes and people that transformed the country during the nineteenth-century search for gold, from Otago and the West Coast to the Coromandel and beyond.

We look at the places where fortunes were made and lost, the settlements that appeared almost overnight, the miners who pushed into remote valleys and mountains, and the extraordinary finds that helped shape New Zealand’s history.

This is the story of gold in Aotearoa, the geology beneath it, the people who chased it, and the legacy the rushes left behind.

Read the full Gold story, research and sources:
https://rarestonesofaotearoa.com/gold-new-zealand/

Can amazonite really be found in New Zealand? A blue-green specimen in a university collection and a modern find in a West Coast river offer clues to a little known story.

In this episode of Rare Stones of Aotearoa, we explore the evidence for New Zealand amazonite, following historic specimen labels and newer records through the Greenstone–Hohonu area of Westland. What do these finds tell us and what remains uncertain?

A story of striking stones, overlooked records and the questions that make collecting so compelling.

Read the full New Zealand amazonite story, research and sources:
https://rarestonesofaotearoa.com/amazonite-new-zealand/