Moonlight Head fossicking trip Help wanted

This is my first post on this forum and return to the prospecting / lapidary hobby i used to enjoy in my childhood.
I have heard there are gemstones such as agates etc along Moonlight head, south west victoria.
I am planning a trip down there early in the new year and would appreciate any information on where to search, what equipment to take etc. Maps would be great Thank you.

welcome mate i am sure there will be lots of advice offered

Thanks..I am sure there will?

Welcome aboard 18555581, have you tried the search icon up top of the page yet(it's a beaut) just search up your spot/area of interest and choose post instead of topic.
So, hit the search button

then type in your spot and change topic to post

then just hit submit
can't miss it ,... looks like this :lol:

hope this helps

I used to go there as a kid with my dad looking for moon-agates.
It was a wire rope ladder down the cliff. We used to camp on the cliff-top, but the tent often collapsed in strong winds.

If I recall correctly you are not allowed to fossick on the beach any more.

I have a list of national and state parks which list the ones you are allowed to fossick. I did see greater otway park listed but i will double check Thanks

Hi Gem Seeker.

I have been recently to moonlight head, and done some fossicking and found some good stuff IMHO.

The beach is easily accessed via a massive set of stairs( don't skip leg day) and the beach is easy to traverse. Check the tides though as they can be very dangerous and the best stuff can be found at low tide, so try to get down there as the tide is going out to maximize the time that you get to look.

Really you don't need any tools, but a sieve set would be good to find smaller pieces. I've found some nice agates and lots of jasper and chert. Even found a couple of clear pieces that looks like quartz with round pebbles in them.

Saying that, these pebbles are easily found on the beach to the right of the bottom of the stairs, about two coves down. I have yet to venture to the left of the bottom of the stairs which i think is Moonlight Head proper, but that area is much more dangerous and I've yet to get there at a low enough tide.

Good luck, and make sure you post any of your finds here!

here's some of the pieces we brought back on our last trip down there.

Thanks heaps for the information and for sharing your finds. I needed to verify if there was much left on the beach as I heard it may be all picked out. I have a set of plastic sieves to take and small spades as well and will watch the waves!
I am now eager to get down there! It will be after Christmas when we go. I will post my finds and adventures soon after.
Did you put your stones through a tumbler?
Cheers and thanks again?

That what they look like off the beach, natures tumbler....

Thanks, pretty shinny! Can't beat nature Cheers

Make sure you post some pics of your finds! good luck!

Thanks everyone for the advice in regards to fossicking at Moonlight Head. In this case Wreck Beach. We made the trip down there last week, on an outgoing tide. I searched the beach to the right of the steps for nearly 1 km without much success. However when I returned to the beach at the bottom of the stairs, the tide had gone out sufficiently to expose pebbles on the low tide mark. Timing the tides do make a big difference. I have attached a picture of some of our finds below. Cheers

Well Done Gemseeker! I've found that you need to go a fair way up the beach to the right of the bottom of the wreck beach stairs, past the second anchor.

I too went down to moonlight heads, but the tide didn't go out as far as i'd hoped, or even as far as it did last time, but I succeeded in finding one of the agates that Moonlight Heads is famous for.


Its the top one in the photo. The brown one and the stripy one look like agates too, but not sure.

The grey spotty one is very similar to yours there, but I'm not sure what it is.

Also came across a vein of crystals and broke this bit off to bring home, my theory is that it is brown calcite.

It is a great place for pretty pebbles. If you can scratch it with a "gold" coin it is probably calcite