Everyone I know who uses Starlink raves about how great it is, yet I’m unable to stream YouTube videos without them pausing to buffer every 2 to 3 seconds.
Dish is unobstructed, and I’m the only device trying to use the Internet right now. When tested with the official Speedtest app, download speed is below 1 Mbps.
Is there anything we can do to speed up our download speed?
Has anyone ever seen this before or know what caused it?
I just took one of my shortwave lights off the shelf as I’m thinking about selling it, the lens looked dirty so I gave it a wipe down and realised that the lens itself was actually damaged.
I removed the bezel so I could measure the glass and order a replacement, and noticed these crazy dendrites growing inside.
Is this common for ZWB3 filters? This is my oldest shortwave light, probably three years old now. Can’t see any sign of this happening to any of my shortwave Convoys.
A beautiful chunk of agatised wood that I found a couple of years ago, up the Waiwawa River on the Coromandel Peninsula. It shows a well preserved knot, rings running through the piece perpendicular to the majority of the wood grain. The colour is awesome but I’m not all that happy with my polish, if you look too close there are a few deep scratches. It will probably get redone at some stage.
I had a few pieces left over that were cut off the main chunk in the polishing process, so I decided to cut a nice little cabochon.
Had a bit of a photo shoot for my favourite NZ fluorite specimens tonight. All of these pieces are fluorite with barite on matrix, and come from Thompson Hill, Whangapeka Mining district, Tasman region, New Zealand.
Thompson Hill is the only well known location in New Zealand where collector-quality fluorite specimens have been recovered. Thompson Hill fluorite specimens typically present as strongly stepped cubic crystals, but more rarely octahedral crystals were also produced. I’m lucky enough to own two separate specimens showing octahedral crystals. A Thompson Hill piece is definitely a must have in a kiwi mineral collection!
I spent my Saturday polishing this large chunk of agatised wood that I found on a recent walk up the Waiwawa River, on the Coromandel Peninsula.
It has some very translucent patches, and the detail that has been preserved is absolutely amazing. After cutting and polishing, it weighs in at 5.1 kg, and is easily my favourite Waiwawa River find.
I’m no palaeobotanist, but the obvious pores rule out conifers like Kauri, Rimu, and Tōtara. It’s impossible to know the exact species for certain without having an expert look at it under a microscope, but I’m pretty confident that I can label this as an angiosperm hardwood, likely Miocene era.
The first post! I know I’ll be posting into the void here for a while, hopefully I won’t be the only one for too long!
Hey everyone! I'm u/Rutilatedmango, a founding moderator of r/NZFossilsandMinerals.
This is our new home for all things relating to New Zealand’s beautiful rocks, fossils, and minerals. We're excited to have you join us!
What to Post
Post anything that you think the community would find interesting, helpful, or inspiring. Feel free to share your recent finds, show off your favourite specimens, ask for identifications, or post your own personal lapidary projects. Please just keep it to New Zealand sourced material only.
Community Vibe
Please keep it friendly, constructive, and inclusive. Let's build a space where everyone feels comfortable sharing and asking questions.
How to Get Started
If you’re new here, post a photo of your favourite New Zealand specimen from your collection to introduce yourself!
There are no stupid questions, ask away. Even a simple question can spark a great conversation.
If you know someone who would love this community, invite them to join.
Interested in helping out? If this community grows, we will need more moderators, so feel free to reach out to me to apply.
New Zealand has quite a large community of fossil, mineral, and lapidary enthusiasts, yet we still don’t have a dedicated community here on Reddit.
While there are groups on other platforms, those platforms make it very hard for newcomers to search through old posts and learn from previous discussions.
My hope is that this community becomes a place where people can easily share finds, ask questions, learn from one another, and build a lasting resource for New Zealand collectors. Reddit’s format makes it easier to search for information, revisit old posts, and keep useful discussions accessible to everyone.
I’m hoping to create a place that is easier to navigate, encourages learning, and is welcoming to all.
Thanks for being here, I’m excited to see what everyone has to share. Together, let's make r/NZFossilsandMinerals amazing.