Australia 2019

[SteelPhase]

Australia is full of things that bite and sting but  all jokes aside, if you got worried about every little thing , you'd never leave the house. You have more chance of being hit by a car than getting seriously hurt out in the bush (as long as you use common sense).

I wear snake gaitors sometimes, especially if wearing shorts. Not only for the snakes but they give protection against some of the undergrowth.

[mn90403]

We have a few spiders here also.  I think the brown recluse has bitten a couple of friends of mine and caused serious infections.

[Norvic]

Seriously there is little to worry about, in my years of detecting I can count  the number of times I`ve seen a snake on the fingers of one hand. I suspect detecting slowly with coil sweeping, perhaps the coils electro. field even, snakes are prewarned and move away without one being aware they were there. Biggest concern is weather related, which probably is so in the US, sunscreen, a raincoat, spare dry warm clothes in vehicle etc., just plain old common sense. I found from my time in Victoria you can experience all seasons in a day on an odd bad day, otherwise is top detecting weather, those State Forests are magic.

 

[Swampstomper Al]

19 hours ago, mn90403 said:

I grew up in Florida where we had big banana spiders that could make a web across a path in just a couple of hours and there was many a time of walking or running a normal path when you found yourself covered in web.  You felt like you had to fight your way out.

They're still here.. Try fighting your way out of one after you've plowed into it half-drunk on a motorcycle on a sand lane heading out to hardtop from a bonfire on the beach.. ( It should be noted though this took place back when it was still sorta ok to be driving half drunk and considered normal surfing a street bike through 3/4 mi of sand ruts.. ) 

Swamp
 

[Trent King]

1 hour ago, phrunt said:

This app seems pretty cool, seems to only be suitable for Western Australia from what I can see but a good idea.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.mobile.thehappyprospector&hl=en

This fantastic App (Annual Subscription for advanced features) provides Metal Detectorists and Gold Prospectors in Western Australia with real time positional information using their smart phone or tablet device (Android) to show their current position on a map with the ability to overlay the Western Australian Department of Mines Tenement Data so the user knows if they are on a live or pending tenement. This makes the user’s smartphone or tablet a powerful tool to know exactly where they are on the ground in relation to Mining, Prospecting or Exploration tenements, giving the user the confidence to know that they are prospecting legally.

The Happy Prospector App was inspired by the need for Prospectors and in particular Metal Detectorists in Western Australia to be able to easily know where they are on the ground in relation to current Mining Tenement Data.

It has been developed to provide Prospectors and Metal Detectorists in Western Australia with a mobile device based App that provides, Real-time position information against Tenement Data that functions with or without internet while still being easy to use. Tenement Data file updates require Internet access.

There are plenty of better options that do the same thing (maps plus for example) no point in paying an annual fee for this in my opinion, also it is about 3000km away from where he is prospecting. ??

[Norvic]

True Trent, another example Oziexplorer is nearly 30 year old and has gone from the Pocket PCs of the early days(well todays technically early) to the Smart phone of today,  evolving always. Powerful apps out there making it safer and importantly giving us powerful tools to get that heavy stuff, just a matter of sifting through the growing mountain of them, for me I`ll stick with the one that`s got the runs on the board.  

[mn90403]

My Google Maps tells me where I am over here with enough specificity for 'day hunting' and knowing I'm in an open area.  I can download an offline map and get a GPS signal when I am offline and see myself in real time and also navigate some of the small roads operated by the BLM (government) and there are even some roads they have closed that are 4x4 roads on it.  I've been using it on my laptop here to look at places in Victoria.  Do you notice much difference in accuracy in those areas without a cell signal?

[vanursepaul]

After I read description of the app I was keen to see how it described Blue tenements and noticed it referred to:

Live = Red tenements ----Need Leaseholder written permission

and blue= Pending tenements--- ---but It did not describe requirements for detecting on them ----

 

It is my understanding there ARE some Mining Dept. requirements for detectorists' who want to detect on Blue (Pending) leases.

SO what are those requirements Trent??

I know since you hold both types of leases you can answer this better than me.

 

But i did notice this whilst in WA ..

We know that the blue claims are the claims that are pegged by real prospectors who pay the fees to get the right to mine them. (even tho they know it will be almost a year before they go LIVE).

------------

Most  "prospectors" i saw in the mining dept offices werent looking for open ground to prospect for gold ----they were only looking for  blue claims (pending leases-)- and mining dept people were helping them find it !

These "prospectors" went for the  claims that other miners had already decided were good for gold--- [otherwise why would they have invested their money pegging them to start with???...]

Unlike the USA, there is a certain period of time after you peg a claim in Oz until it becomes blue (for about a year i think) ----SO for a lazy detectorist who doesnt want to spend time researching their own area it gives them a really simple way to "prospect."

Filing and pegging a claim is like throwing a ribeye steak  to the bloody dingos--- All you have to do in WA is look for that blue colored lease and then go for it--- it is a lazy way to detect.!

So i imagine this app is good for the lazy prospectors who dont want to use their skills and find some patches on there own.

The funny part about all this is the gold clubs, or associations in WA, helped in the making of this rule---

I dont get it because it punishes a person that wants to claim ground----just to see the bloody buzzards swoop in to pick it clean for a year.... whilst the claimant can only sit by and watch.....

Now-- I will wait on replies and corrections--- I have only been to WA once so bring it on.

Go find some gold Mitchel!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

[mn90403]

I've been out on the beaches and haven't see you!  haha  No gold rings this week.

[vanursepaul]

2 hours ago, mn90403 said:

I've been out on the beaches and haven't see you!  haha  No gold rings this week.

That's why i wasn't there Micthel... the rings havent dropped yet...

I only like to go after rings have been deposited...hahahahahahahaaa