Yank's Trip Down Under & Success Or Failure

[Gerry in Idaho]

Condor and his trip/notes was the inspiration of my post.  He too realized the easy gold is gone, but we go for the Adventure too.  Thanks Condor for sparking my old memories.  At least you can say.."I did it".

Spring 2006 three buddies/I decided it was time to quit talking about it and just do "Australia" with a detector for gold.  With many details left out, but a quick overview.

Yes I made it home (America) and am alive.  The venomous snakes, iguanas (4 foot poisonous lizard), attacking kangaroos, wild goats and monster sized spiders/centipedes could not stand up against the rancid ripe odor of an un-bathed light skinned Yankee running across the dehydrated desert flats with detector in hand.   I just returned from an enjoyable 1st time trip to Western Australia and the richly red iron soils of the Outback areas of known golden fields Kalgoorlie/Leanora.

Even though I caught some serious plane crud on the 16 hour flight from LAX to Sydney, AU. and it lasted hard the 1st week and a half before I got a little better...I still managed to have fun.  The Outback is one of a beautiful and secluded primitive place this mother earth allows us to play with many sites, sounds and wonders to gather and ponder in the mind. I would love to return some day, but would do things a little more different and be set up for gold hunting more for the serious BUSH and not be seen for a week at a time.

 Most areas we detected had been hunted really hard (just like here in the US such as Rye Patch, NV.) and we would find the crumbs that others missed do to their lack of detector knowledge and skill.  We did manage to find an occasional small site that was off the beaten path and get a few nuggets.  The Minelab GP-3500 with a Commander 15” MONO elliptical coil ran flawlessly and found most of my nuggets.  In fact all 4 of us were using GP-3500’s and were amazed at how well they ran in the much heard of highly mineralized Australian soil.  I did manage to find 4 small patches that produced the majority of my gold..

In no way do I base the success of this trip on recovered gold, but as usual, I hoped for and expected more. Of the 4 detectorists (including myself), we found approx 110 nuggets and one 5 oz specimen.  I managed 62 of those nuggets and the specimen.  To give you a weight total, we had a combined wt of approx. 4 ounces and then the 5 ounce specimen.  Of the 4 ounces of gold nuggets we all found, my total wt was just over 64 grams (2 ounces) for the 62 nuggets, so you get an idea of the size with an average of my nuggets being around 1 gram each.  The largest nugget (not including the specimen) was 3.9 gram and there were 2 of those found.

Yes I was hoping for a few larger nuggets and even expected that we each could find a 1/4 oz'er but that never happened. Does that mean the trip was a bust?  Most certainly not and I assure you, it was an amazing trip that I'll fondly remember for the rest of my life.

Moral of the story to add to Condors trip.   Over 10+ years ago, 4 good American nugget hunters with the newest detector technologies did not find what we had expected and hoped for in the gold category.  4 of us Americans did something most dream about but never do and we'll remember the Australian Outback...and those girls wearing pasties, for the rest of our lives.  I always wondered if there was a nugget under one of those pasties?  Maybe go back some day to check.

Thanks for caring.

Gerry in Idaho

Gerry's Detectors

www.gerrysdetectors.com

[phoenix]

Fantastic photos Gerry and great story ?

I always liked that 15x12 Commander but used to complain about how heavy it was, but I dare say if I were to use it today, compared to the 7000, I wouldn`t even notice the coil was there.    Dave

[MSC]

Cool Gerry, thanks for sharing. Thanks for the perspective, we all should keep that in mind.

[fredmason]

Great pictures!

 I have to ask, did you make an omelet with those Emu eggs?

fred

[Flowdog]

Ah, an edible pastie ... I kinda remember those days ... Great story and pics of your far and away adventure Gerry.

[geof_junk]

Gerry I was in the area 2006, with a couple years experience up my sleeve I cracked 32 oz for the winter. You did quite good for your first trip. I had three Yanks in my van begging to buy some nice size nuggets (2 oz in total) at a 25% above spot price. They convinced me to sell as they wanted something to show that their trip paid.  By the way one Emu egg make enough for four hungry Men. 

[dgatleyDP]

Gerry, (and Condor)

Absolutely great story telling images fella.  Thanks for sharing it all... 

You, your team and more recently - Condor have painted the most believably and real stories about trying to make a strike in this challenging land.  Luck is always a component, but as 1st timer Yanks, even skilled Yanks, still have a lot to learn without an equally skilled local guide.  Even then, it takes a bunch of time, research and connections to dive into this activity in that terrific land of mineral promise.

Even JP, with his volumes of local knowledge, having grown up there, and with connections, must have difficulties filling his poke from time to time in these beaten-to-death lands.  It appears your skills have served you all very well against incredible odds in the relatively short time frames you had there.  Envious Kudos!

[IdahoPeg]

Great pictures and story! There are some weird-ass critters there, that’s for sure!?

p.s. and I didn’t mean you guys lol?

[Gerry in Idaho]

On ‎7‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 2:31 PM, phoenix said:

Fantastic photos Gerry and great story ?

I always liked that 15x12 Commander but used to complain about how heavy it was, but I dare say if I were to use it today, compared to the 7000, I wouldn`t even notice the coil was there.    Dave

Phoenix,  I love it.  The Commander 12 x15" MONO has found many ounces of gold for me.  It is one of my all time favorites.  The weight is a little heavy, but it is great when used in grass and also seems to stay close to the ground, so I get max depth.  I wonder how many nugget hunters can wear out a coil cover in 1 season.  I used to do it all the time with the Commander 12 x 15" coil.

[Gerry in Idaho]

On ‎7‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 3:22 PM, fredmason said:

Great pictures!

 I have to ask, did you make an omelet with those Emu eggs?

fred

Fred, It filled the whole skillet.  Added a little Roo tail (many on the sides of the road to get some meat...if there are maggots, don't eat it though) and mix them together then toss a couple spoons full in a tortilla shell.

One of the shells busted and it smelled like someone stuffed a dead roo under my pillow.  Stayed that way for a week.  Finally got to the great salt flats and I salturated my hands and the pillow.  Then it was worth sleeping on again.  Oh those memories and stories around the camp fire.  

Did you know the Aborigines sleep most of the 1st half a day when the sun in warm to their bodies and then stay up all night and drink around a big bonfire to stay warm.  We seen this a few times.  After noticing this, we decided our camp fires need to look  small puny and hardly any heat.  We did not want to attract them, as our booze were limited.