The Tauranga Gem and Mineral Club, a long-standing fixture at the Historic Village on 17th Avenue, has temporarily relocated while its original premises undergo structural upgrades.

Since July, the club has been operating out of a nearby building next to Ichiban restaurant, where its popular gemstone shop continues to trade.

“The shop is close to the same size,” said long-time member and volunteer Olga Nicholson, “but we don’t have our fluorescent room, the library, the museum, or the workshop on site at the moment.

“Our workshop is in a Portacom, our meetings are held in the old school building and everything else is in storage until they get us back into our building.”

The club, with around 110 members, expects to return to its usual location in October, though Nicholson said the timeline remains uncertain.

“They’ve now found extra money to re-roof the building.”

Rocks and crystals on display in the Tauranga Gem and Mineral Club shop at Tauranga Historic Village. Photo / Rosalie Liddle Crawford

The Tauranga Gem and Mineral Club has been part of the Historic Village since its inception.

“We cleared our own bit of land here originally,” said Nicholson. “We prepared two separate sites because the council changed their plans after we’d already started. We built our own building, right up at the far end under the hill. It was used for a private school.”

Despite changes, the club has stayed deeply involved in the community.

“We paid for our own building, provided flooring for one of the village halls, and even built a garage for the caretaker who lived on site,” she said.

A keen rockhound, Nicholson, now 83, joined the club nearly 30 years ago after discovering a love for fossicking during a trip to Australia.

“We came back and made some inquiries. I was 55 and had never heard of the club before then,” she said.

A great find for a rockhound while fossicking in the bush near a stream. Photo / Supplied.

The club runs monthly field trips, a junior section for young rockhounds, and a workshop that teaches members how to cut, polish, and carve stones. Faceting — the process of cutting gemstones for jewellery — is another part of the club’s offerings.

“We’ve acquired two faceting machines in the past year and are now training members to use them,” she said.

One of the club’s biggest events is a biennial gem and mineral show held at the Tauranga Racecourse.

“It’s a massive undertaking,” Nicholson said. “We only do it every two years because it takes a year to organise and a year to get over it, and then we’re ready to start again.”

Nicholson and her husband specialised in quartz, and she vividly recalls one of their most exciting discoveries — a massive quartz “plate” with 68 perfect crystals.

“It took us five years to dig it out,” she said. “It was in a remote area, through private farmland, then across three rivers and a 90-minute bush walk. The whole piece weighed over 30kg. It had to be carried out on a stretcher.”

Nicholson explained how knowledge of the land is key to fossicking.

“When you stand back and look at the bush, you can tell where quartz is by the stunted tree growth — nothing grows big on quartz.”

Rockhounding, according to Nicholson, is not a hobby for the impatient.

“Carnelian takes 16 weeks in a tumbler to polish. If you’re cutting a large rock, it can take two hours just to get it through a 24-inch blade saw — and everything has to stay cool, so you don’t damage the diamond coating on your equipment.”

Polished stones on display. Photo / Supplied

Teaching children patience is one of the club’s ongoing challenges — but also one of its strengths.

“It’s good for them to learn they can’t always finish something in one night because you’re working with a hard medium. It’s a time and patience game.”

Nicholson said rockhounding can take many forms — from collecting jasper, carnelian, and obsidian to fossil hunting.

“We recently visited a club member who specialises in fossils. He’s reassembled a small moa skeleton from bones he collected as a teenager. It stands about a metre high.”

She added that New Zealand’s geology, while young, still holds secrets — including gold.

“There’s a 14km seam of gold in the North Island, but no one’s allowed to touch it. I’ve been told it could wipe out our overseas debt if they mined it.”

She said one of the highlights she has enjoyed over the years is mostly the companionship.

“Because you’ve all got a like-minded interest, so you’ve got a great starting ground for forming friendships.”

Club member Ian Mason said the Tauranga Gem and Mineral Club remains one of the most active and viable in New Zealand.

“We’re the oldest tenant at the Village,” he said. “We’re hoping to be back in our building by October — but we’ve seen ‘three months’ turn into three years before.”

Despite the temporary upheaval, the Tauranga Gem and Mineral Club is thriving — fuelled by passion, patience, and the wonder of discovery.

Opening hours are 10am - 3pm, Monday - Saturday.