wombat

Wow Phoenix what a great looking speci mate. You should be very proud to be the owner of that. And I'm sure you got many Browne Points from your young Lady friend at the birthday presentation. wombat

Thanks Dave for the link. That should be a very interesting and nice looking specie after the acid treatment. Lest hope there is plenty of gold in it. wombat

Looks good Dave. after acid clean it may look better and more gold showing. wombat

Our Central Goldfield Branch of the PMAV (Prospectors & Miners Association of Victoria) have a thing each year called "Clean Up Your Parks Day". We work hand in hand with our local Park Ranger cleaning up an pre-designated area of our local Bush land, of rubbish left behind or dumped in the bush by others. Last year we removed over 4 tons of rubbish in one day. A few on here have been involved in this great event each year. "They do a great job". Most areas that we do are areas that we also can prospect. So it is a win, win on both sides. This also keeps us on the right side of Parks Victoria and their Rangers. Parks also puts on a BBQ for us after the clean up. wombat

Well done Dave. I know what you mean about the hot weather mate. as you know it has been like this now for a month with temperature in or around the 30c. mark. So getting out for a couple of hours in the morning is the best thing, specially if you find gold. wombat

Thanks for that Steve. John Gladdis, I have known now for about 20 years and a very good friend. It is true, he has found many Oz of gold over the years. He actually helped me find my 1st gold nugget with a detector and we've been friends ever since. That is how we met, on one of his field trips. John also had a lot to do in the development of the early coils for Minelab. The shop that is mentioned in the article is Coiltek Gold Centre in Maryborough. The Coiltek coils are now made by Trevor Terraresso in Salisbury in South.Australia. But John still makes his own coils to suit his own personal machines. His son Andrew runs the shop now, more so than John. I only live about 3 km from the shop and drop in to see the boys from time to time. wombat

Thanks guy for your response. It seems by the replies, that this is not a local (Australia) problem but a Universal problem with no magic fix except by trying to educate as many people as possible the reasons why holes should be filled in and the benefits. And also doing by example. wombat

When I'm in a group, it normally finders keepers, unless you have a pre- agreement to share. wombat

Thanks Jen for putting that up. I didn't know how to.As you said "I hope he didn't mind" wombat

Yes Steve I know what you mean and saying. We are having the same problem here in Australia. We are constantly fighting the bureaucrats here, and we have many, that would love to shut us down. It is even getting harder to go onto private property. Either by prospectors jumping fences without owners permission. Or with permission still leaving holes open on the farmers land. I keep telling everyone " it is harder to dig a hole, than it is to fill it". It only takes a few selfish people to spoil it for all. I have been to a few places where there are a lot of open holes and tell tale marks to indicate that there was a lot of activity done by a prospector or prospectors with a detector. So I hit that area to firstly see what they were finding, if it was just trash or gold. If it was gold I say "thank you" for showing me where it was. So for those people that leave these tell tale marks and open holes "Why are you leaving a bread crumb tail for others to follow??? I'm out there looking for clues all the time and this is one of them and some times it pays. One time a took a group out prospecting to a fairly well known area. One chap only had a Ex -Tra 705 and was mainly looking for relics. Well this area had a detector operator go through earlier leaving his holes wide open for everyone to see. So this chap with the 705 decided to check out some of these holes to see if he had found rubbish and just chucked it back in. As I said he was only looking for relics. You would not believe it, in the side of one of these hole he found 1.5 oz nugget that this other operator had missed. The guy with the 705 would have missed it or not even looked if it was not for this other detector operator holes. This person was telling us "hey guys dig here there is plenty of targets to be found" So please everyone "Fill in your holes. You may want to come back to that spot one day and finish it of. So why show others your spot by leaving holes open and leaving modern day trash lying around. wombat

I would like to ask a question (and I hope this question does not turn political) What is the opinion or thoughts of most of you boys on the other side of the world about unfilled detector holes left by others. Here in Australia we are have a big problem with unfilled detector holes to the extent that some of our goldfields could be shut down because of it. Is it a problem over there and how do you guys combat it. Please guys just general comments as I don't want this to get heated and removed as I know it can be a touchy subject. Wombat

Johnny Hobo of "Hobo Gold fame" here on this site from Australia makes them and sells them. But I think I should get him to answer this one. wombat

Steve I've got to agree with Phoenix on this one. This stuff really works well. I have it on all my coils and there is no sign of it wearing out. Our Central Goldfield Branch of the Prospectors & Miners Association here in Victoria, (Aussie) bought a sheet of it for our members to use. It was the same size that Phoenix has put up. We have not had one complaint about the stuff as yet. Some of our members silicon the Polycarbonate sheeting directly to their coils and others attach it to their skid plates. Actually Phoenix who belongs to our Branch put us on to it. "Thanks Phoenix" great stuff mate.

Nice fine mate. Well done to your brother. wombat

Hi Dave I remember that button. We thought because it had a dog on it that it could have been from a hunting jacket. There was hunt clubs back it the early days of the goldfields. That is why they introduces fox's so the British Aristocracy could go hunting like they did back in England. But an intriguing button all the same. wombat

I came up to where I live now when I first retired because of the gold and the goldfields that surrounds the town to help subsidies my pension. But I have now realised it is not so much the gold but the great friends that I have made over the last few years through gold and gold prospecting. This is now my wealth. So if gold does drop below $300 per oz. the friendships that I have made will more than make up for short fall. That to me is worth more than gold. Gold you can sell but good friends last for ever. wombat

Nice one Mike wombat

Hey Jen as you know we don't need that down here right now, the way the temperature is right now, 32c and getting hotter. I think Idahogold could send us down some of that snow. To hot to go detecting. wombat

Hi Idahogold and thanks for sharing your Vid's mate. wombat

That was a great nugget of your brother's Jen. So solid and soooo heavy. You got to agree that it isn't that big for it's weight. It is also well water worn. wombat

Good on you Mike and welcome. Yes we all have our own very interesting stories to tell, how we started in this great hobby of ours. And each one is unique. wombat

A nice lot there Mike. How long have you and Jen been going over to WA now?? wombat

G'day Strick We have a big lake here in Maryborough Victoria ( heart of the Golden Triangle) in Aussie land, called "Victoria Lake". Named after Queen Victoria who reined from 1837 till 1901. This lake has heaps of ducks on it, and was part of the main lead that ran right though Maryborough where many of oz of gold were found back in the 1850's. It was not a lake at the beginning, but there was so much work done in that area recovering gold, that eventually it was turned into a lake in later years. (Easier than filling in the hole) So next time I'm down that way I'll check out these walking, two legged detectors to see if they pick up something. It's a nice looking chain and pendent that your two legged feather friends found. The stone in the middle of the pendent looks like to me to be what they call a Milky or White Opal. Some are worth a bit of money.As you may know Australia has some of the best Opal fields in the world. So if it is an Opal the chances are it may have come from Australia. wombat

Hi Enio Nice specie mate . I noticed it was a lizard that you took the photo of. As I know if it was a snake you would have been miles away, and not with a camera in hand. I know you just don't like snakes But who does???? I got to agree with you about the SD2300 mate, your pretty deadly with one of those in your hand. When your up this way again We'll try and catch up. Until then "Cheers" wombat

Hi Jen it is really good to here from you. From your friendly wombat