Strange Noiz

I well understand that noise............ we are currently in Karratha - fortunately with friends. Had to replace the thermostat in the fridge and now waiting on a control unit. Grrrr.
Gold stuff sounds fun.

Cheers John

This might sound silly but what does one do with gold dust or a nugget should one find such? I ask as I would imagine trying to purchase a carton of cheer or a good red with the yellow stuff would meet with disapproval by the bottle shop attendant. So how does a successful prospector convert their good luck to more sensible stuff?

Wow I can see now why this hobby is popular. I suppose detecting has many facets to its application. Where it's legal to do it and what appears to be a certain amount of skill in interpreting "signals". However Perth is a long way away from the east coast so how does one get the finds to the mint safely. Also how does one get a nugget "auctioned"?
I think I could get bitten by the bug if I'm not careful ! I'd rather catch a golden stonefish than a big barra.

Yup,

There is gold ALL over Australia - in every State and yes research is very important and the net is a very good tool for this. But it is a fatastic way of enjoying the Bti lifestyle - along with fishing, snorkelling, crabbing, prawning, exploring etc etc.

A warning to all who read this this thread BEWARE you may catch the dreaded GOLD FEVER. This can be expensive and result in all sorts of nasty ailments - crook backs and aching shoulders and sore feets etc...... even blisters from digging. And whats more after you find your first small nugget it gets worse!!!

Plus it is not all gold that glitters... You can detect on beaches, parks, old historic sites etc and you can get very lucky even in these places. I used to take an inexpensive detector when we took the family to Broome beaches for a holiday. An hour or so with the detector took care of the cost of the deck chairs, sun shades, boogie boards for the kids and ice creams etc.

I have previously found watches, rings and even a cache of very old Dutch East Indies coins, the oldest ones dated back to 1759 - 1763 in the East Kimberley goldfields.

I also know prospectors who have found more than two 30 oz nuggets and many more in the 5 - 30oz range. But these were a very experinced and well equipped couple. Warning don't rush out and buy a detector (unless you have more money than sense) ask some advice of those of us that have been there done that rr, join a club.

I own two detectors but neither are the top of the range machine but both are very capable. The top of the range machines these days cost in excess of $6000 - work out how many ounzes of gold you need to find to just break even. Yet good machines are available for $1500 - $2300 (Minelab SD 2100 or 2200) I have the latter but is is a 'tricked up' machine and is very capable of finding gold. The other machine is a Minelab xTerra 70 - different technology and really a treasure hunting machine but one that is capable of getting any gold near the surface.

Took some friends kids to the beach yesterday - we found about $5.00 in coins plus some old pre decimal currency a shilling and a half-penny. They are hooked and the parents now hate me. LOL

Cheers John

Ian and Sally,

Sounds like you have a bad dose of the treasure/gold fever !!! It happened about six years ago, my son (great lout of then 26 yrs) and I went from Kununurra down to Halls Creek to chase gold for five days. It was his first time out with a detector and I gave hime my old Garrett Groundhog (circa 1982)

The bets were flying nthick and fast on nthe trip down there - first bit, biggest bit, most gold etc etc.

We went past old Hall Creeks and headed NE towards the Elvire River where there is a nice camp site adjacent to some old workings and a pretty creek. I showed him how to tune and ground balance the old Garrett and away we went.

End result after five days New Chum 5 bits totalling about 8 grams - old master - Zilch!! (Thats the last time I take him out!!) Heading out we called into the "Caravan Park" at old Halls Creek for a sandwich and a coolie. Inside there was an old display counter with some artefacts in - including a couple of the old coins.

I asked the old caretaker if he knew where they came from. He told me that the previous wet he was over the far side of the graded car parking area where there was a drainage gully running down towards the creek.

During a tropical down pour he was pottering around there and saw a fresh water crab scuttle under a stone in the run-off water. Wanting to get a better look at the crab he lifted the stone and found the crab next to a bright shiny 16 gram nugget.

As he was checking the creek out further to see if he could seen more nuggets (as you do) he saw a couple of old coins flipping over and over as they toppled down the run-off water of this little gully - barely two foot wide.

He then suggested that if we had metal detectors we should go and check it out - We didn't need to be asked twice. In the next hour we recovered 52 coins all DEI except for a couple of Chinese coins or tokens. Some of the old DEI coins had the centres punched out and other appeared to have been over stamped BATAV.

All are pretty worn but we were able to discern the dates on some. I wrote an article in Australian Gold Gem and Treasure magazine a few years ago.

The old Caretaker nearly choked when we showed them to him..... LOL. He said that when they were grading the area later they found the remains of an old Gladstone bag - heavily rusted and with the leather all long gone. I have often wondered how they ever got there,

We did hear a story from some other dude we met in the region that a previous owner of the Old Halls Creek site ahad bought a 44 gallon drum of old mixed coins in Darwin and scattered them around the place to try and encourage metal detectors to the area.. Who will ever know the truth.

It certainly made for a great long weekend. When metal detecting you just never know what you will find. Whilst Australia does not have the history of UK and Europe our coast line are litterred with wrecks and there are numerous caches of gold and coin, either the products of crime or just buried for protection that were never able to be recovered.

In UK finds are made every month that are worth thousands of pounds. The last time I was over there two fimds worth over 250,000 pounds were found.

My xTerra 70 is going over with us later in the year. The family residence is smack bang in the middle of very extensive roman ruins out in the country in south east Wales.

It keeps to fit and it is a great way to enjoy the bush.

Have fun

John