“...The Rakaia River is in the Canterbury Plains in New Zealand’s South Island. It is one of the largest braided rivers in the country. Its source is in the Southern Alps, and it travels 150 km kilometres in a generally easterly or south-easterly direction before entering the Pacific Ocean 50 km south of Christchurch. For much of its journey, the river runs through a wide shingle bed. Close to Mount Hutt, however, it is briefly confined to a narrow canyon known as the Rakaia Gorge. You are unlikely to find any agates by just walking on the riverbed due to the size and length.  Therefore to maximise the chance of finding something interesting it is suggested that searching is confined to the gorge and river mouth.

The Rakaia Gorge can produce extremely large (over 100 kg) agate nodules. These nodules are found in situ in the gorge wall.  They can contain thick white fortification, coarse green to white moss and have crystalline or amethyst centres. However it can be a very difficult and extremely dangerous process to retrieve these agates as the ground they are found in is very steep or near vertical and drops away into the river.  All the easily removed material has been collected from this site and the remaining material is usually found in the cliffs high above the river. For this reason very few people collect from this area any more.

Collecting from the mouth of the Rakaia River is a much easier prospect.  To gain access to the river mouth one can easily drive to the Rakaia huts on the northern banks of the river mouth. From here it is a short 10-20 minute walk around the lagoon to the coast line.  Many of the agates collected at this site have not originated from the Rakaia River but have been carried along the coast from rivers that enter the sea to the south of the river mouth. The agates collected from this area are small and can be banded, fortified or contain moss..

“written by Scott Hardwick, Christchurch