McCracken’s Rest, Gemstone Beach & Monkey Island

Three stops along SH99 as we head towards Riverton where we will spend the night before heading to Invercargill. What a great road to drive it is. Interesting scenery and some great places to stop and gaze in awe at the sights before you. Named after the landowners, McCracken’s Rest is a fantastic place to stop for a look at the coast. It sits at the edge of a cliff with views of Te Waewae Bay and the eroded skeleton of a million year old volcano – the Solander. Maori legend says that the islands are the broken teeth and crumbs tossed away by Kewa the whale when it chewed between Stewart Island and the mainland.

A little further along SH99, you arrive at Gemstone Beach. There isn’t really a huge amount of space to park but that doesn’t seem to stop people arriving to find treasure! The beach stretches all the way along to Monkey Island and it is best to go at low tide. As you step foot on the beach these little gems are almost immediately at your feet. If like me, you are prepared to get down on your hands and knees and have a good old fossick amongst the pebbles, you could be lucky enough to find: garnet, jasper, quartz, nephrite and the elusive, very rare New Zealand sapphire! It would be very easy to spend a good few hours here just sifting through the myriad of colours, shapes & textures of pebbles. It is a wonderful place and certainly worth the time.

And a little further still along the road and you arrive at Monkey Island. SPOILER ALERT: There are NO monkeys. It is named after the monkey winch that was used to haul the boats ashore in days gone by. At low tide you can walk out to the island and, after a little scrabble over rocks, climb the stairs to the lookout for some great views. There are also some fantastic patterns in the sand…