Goodletite
New Zealand's ruby-and-sapphire-bearing rock and the source that has never been conclusively found in place.
Explore →Featured story
Episode 01 · WestlandGoodletite
Goodletite
The Hunt for Ruby Rock
A miner notices an extraordinarily hard boulder near Hokitika in 1891. Inside it are ruby and sapphire — and the beginning of a geological mystery that still has no simple ending.
Read the Goodletite story →The series
Stories written into stone.
Each episode begins with a New Zealand stone and follows the evidence outward — into old reports, museum specimens, geology, landscape and the people who kept the story alive.
Aotea Stone
The remarkable blue-green stone of South Westland, its mineral mix and the stories behind its identity.
Listen →Obay
The bands, colours, people and geological clues behind Golden Bay's distinctive polychrome schist.
Listen →Bowenite & Tangiwai
Landscape, stone and human movement around Piopiotahi, Anita Bay, Poison Bay and the Hollyford region.
Listen →New Zealand Sapphires
A trail from Orepuki to Richmond Flat through old records, surviving specimens and uncertain claims.
Listen →Amazonite
What can actually be verified about New Zealand amazonite — the finds, the people and the unresolved questions.
Listen →About the project
Not crystal folklore. Not a list of minerals. Rare Stones of Aotearoa follows the evidence — and the human stories attached to it.
HistoryNewspapers, geological surveys, mining records and early scientific descriptions.
GeologyMinerals, textures and landscapes used to reconstruct how each rock formed and travelled.
PeopleCollectors, miners, geologists, museums and the often-overlooked people behind each discovery.
SourcesCompanion articles designed to preserve references, context and research beyond the audio episode.
Listen to Rare Stones of Aotearoa.
Documentary-style stories from beneath New Zealand's surface.