jrbeatty

Glad someone's doing better than me, not hard ATM. ?

What a find!

Also the only website where QED inventor Howard (Bugwhiskers) is a moderator and can be spoken to directly:

http://australianelectronicgoldprospectingforum.com/  

I haven't contributed as much as I'd hoped- - -

4 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

The good news for me is I have been on both sides, and have dug nuggets others left for trash to make up for my lost find.

Ditto Steve. Love those dipping signals in other peoples incomplete holes.

Doesn't happen often enough though.

High in the NSW alpine region alluvial gold was discovered by hardy shepherds summer grazing sheep in the early 1860's. The most famous of these goldfield was Kiandra, where very large quantities of nuggets weighing up to 400 oz had eroded from a basalt covered Tertiary lead into the Eucumbene river, Pollocks gully (named after the brother discoverers) and Three Mile creek.

This rich, short lived rush then led to further alpine discoveries. The name Toolong then caught my attention as a novice prospector, mainly because the gold was described in a Bureau of Mineral Resources report as having been "coarse and nuggety"

My detecting mate Kim and I then thoroughly researched all historical information and planned an expedition. This necessitated backpacking everything required for detecting and survival (including such young men survival essentials as alcohol and nicotine) on a two day hike. 

We finally arrived at our destination, an alpine hut built by a long deceased one armed mountain cattleman nicknamed "Wingy" Wheeler. This we made our expedition base camp since it was located close to Dargals Creek,  the sluiced source of the gold:

Image: Huts of the high Country. Longwalk 2015

We arrived exhausted late afternoon, did a quick recce of the creek, then read the visitors log book. Disappointingly,  It turned out we were not the first to detect there, with one entry claiming to have found a 5 oz piece.  We reassured ourselves that at least there was detectable gold to be found, and we had the latest detectors - - -

We then settled down to a hot meal of steak, sausages and potatoes. later that evening, in the universal manner of young men caught up in the excitement of an adventure, we foolishly finished off our entire alcohol stock in premature celebration. 

Photo: Kim Satchwell

Edit: The only surviving image from the expedition. Me having a freezing evening wash at Wheelers hut.

Funny bustard Kim was. He just had to show this to my future wife for a laugh. Mind you, I  wouldn't mind having my old body back!

Sluice tailings in Dargals Creek, Toolong Diggings (below Wheelers Hut)

image: John D Evans

The rocks in the piles consist of basalt, some granite and Ordovician metasediment (the source of the gold) and since everything had been sluiced, they were the main target for detecting, along with the exposed bedrock of the creek.

Now the difficulties arose. We had set out in late summer, the weather was still fairly hot and the piles were literally full of snakes and bull ants. To make things worse, our detectors (GT16000's) sounded off badly on basalt hot rocks. Coupled with hangovers, we spent a futile first day. That evening more hikers arrived at the hut with children, so Kim and I volunteered to sleep out under the stars.

Big mistake! at some ungodly hour a mob of wild horses (brumbies) thundered past narrowly missing us in our sleeping bags, followed by the constant howls of nearby feral dog packs. We didn't sleep a wink.

Did I mention the Bull Ants? Turns out they're nocturnal.

Next morning the hikers departed and we returned, sleepy and sore, to our detecting. Around 10 o'clock Kim packed it in and returned to the hut for a rest. I soldiered on in a dispirited fashion, waved my detector under a thorn bush and thought I heard a signal, maybe? Nah! bound to be another hot rock - - - 

I walked on detecting, then something pricked my conscience and made me return. I scraped a larger rock out of the way and black jumper ants poured out from under it. These are highly aggressive and inflict a painful bite. Before beating a retreat I waved the coil again and received a definite clear response. So - bugger the ants - I gave a couple of hasty scrapes and this 44 grammer shone in the sunshine:

We persevered for another day, but my late alcoholic mate Kim had, in desperation, taken to drinking "Tang" dissolved in cooking stove spirit, so I called it a day and we departed.

For those interested, further information on Toolong diggings:

081_Toolong_Diggings_DavidScott_dec09.pdf

and a 1910 report on the Kiandra lead by E C Andrews 

Mineral_Resources_10.R00050673.MR10 Kiandra (OCR version) whole volume.pdf

8 hours ago, fredmason said:

On my first Oz trip Larry took to a well worked spot.  I got a very loud signal under a salt bush. I figured junk but gave it a scrape anyway....a 3/4 oz piece that I expected to be junk right on the surface...my best piece of the trip! - - -

Fred, That reminds me of another good one I ~almost~ left. Story coming - - -

7 hours ago, mn90403 said:

 - -The reason I would have enjoyed such luck with my 5000 and 18" NF was I was hunting in an area that had deep 50 cal bullets and shells and it had a lot of surface meteorites.  My signal was big and deep so ... maybe someone had ignored it down in the bottom of that little swail thinking they knew it was trash.  It turned out to be a very nice specimen with 8ozt of gold in it.

 Mitchel. Well done - How much big gold have we all inadvertently walked over at some stage? Better not to know.

Good thinking Andy.

Your quick release idea could also be applicable to other detectors. I don't do much backpacking prospecting anymore but that would have been useful on one memorable expedition - but that's another story - - -  

A comment I made on Jins post recently reminded me of how easy it is to walk over good sized gold.

We are all familiar with the horrible loud screams detectors make over big surface targets. Sometimes the cause is obvious, usually surface rubbish such as a visible piece of tin or squashed beer can.

Occasionally, when walking paddocks (which I mostly do) it turns out to be something useful, such as a lost spanner or fuel cap from a tractor - I have even found a grease gun lying concealed in the grass. These items I always return to the grateful landowner.

More commonly, however, it is something useless like an old horseshoe, worn out cultivator point and/or the sheared bolts which once held it to the plough tyne. After digging a number of these the temptation to keep walking (with ears still ringing) becomes ~almost~ irresistible.

Back in the Minelab SD2200 days I had permission to work a large Victorian property located on the Tarnagulla granite pluton to the north of Dunolly. This had a number of unworked shallow Tertiary palaeochannels crossing it, on one of which I located a 7 oz patch. Mostly the gold was smallish and reasonably deep, but the same location was also littered with shallow shotgun shells. These were very loud and nearly drove me nuts, and in my frustration I ignored one outlier - - -

Fast forward a number of years and, armed with later technology  (GPX4000) I decided to check the patch once more and - - - WHUMP/SCREAM - - - greeted my ears over that same target.

I kicked the dirt in annoyance -  and then spotted the 70 grammer I had ignored years earlier:

I had foolishly made the assumption that all the gold in that patch was deep and small, therefore loud shallow targets had to be junk - overlooking the possibility that something once deep could have been ploughed to the surface - - - I kept it to remind me of the old detecting maxim: "Dig your targets" 

Never had any joy there Dave.  Well done!

- - - also a late starter to gold detecting (mid 80's) and seriously enjoying this post - - -

On ‎8‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 12:06 PM, GB_Amateur said:

I agree that it's the thrill of the chase that excites me, as long as I get rewarded once in a while.  Gold can be found with a $450 detector, a $900 one, a $2500 one, a $7000 one.  Everyone has his/her threshold when it comes to how much to spend for that fun.  And some people find enough to supplement their income or even (rarely) to make it their primary source.  Does the price determine the likelihood of finding gold, or more to the point the amount of gold?  Likely, but sometimes there are better things to do with that money.  On this I think we all agree although sometimes it seems like responders to questions of "which detector should I buy" don't take this into account.

Well said GB. The majority of my better pieces could have been heard with a Tandy Micronta.

Where you choose to search is waaaay more important than what detector you use

Couldn't find the "humour" tag Steve!  

Nice one Jin.

18" Elite my favourite coil atm. found my biggest piece (3 3/4oz) in recent times with it. The QED loves it as does the 5000.

10 hours ago, Jin said:

Not sure why anyone would go to that much trouble growing stuff in the bush unless it was pot

Got it in one, Jin  

Have found a lot of these over time, but since I detect in winter they are always empty.

21 hours ago, geof_junk said:

JR my  wife found 3 chinese coins and a gold half sovereign between Adelaide Lead and Amherst, in the early 1980. They were altogether in a 3 foot square. I found nil.?

Never found a sovereign either Geoff, half or full.

Wouldn't mind finding one since they vary in price between AU$500 and $50000 depending on type and condition.

Usually find a few secret "gardens" though lol!

Last month, Reg Wilson detected this pretty 50 gram colour in pipeclay at about 20" with his QED:

Last fortnight, while we were detecting a remote area in the far west of Victoria with limited success, He also scored the Edward 7th medallion (above)

The week before, while working together he scored a Chinese coin (no image) and this naval button. Any speculation as to nationality welcome:

During the same time period, apart from some gold, I managed to score enough munitions to start a military campaign 

Now, despite many decades of detecting goldfields, I've never found a Chinese coin.

How come some people find interesting stuff while detecting?  Not holding my mouth right perhaps - - ?

Dinged It, Paul

Forgivable considering the circumstances

Well done!

Onya Dave! Tarnagulla's not done yet 

Top detecting there Jerry! Well done!

Love that 22g specimen of yours Jerry  

Well done!

Darn! Sorry Fred.

The ballad is called "With My Swag All On My Shoulder" and that rendition is by Warren Fahey, but it is a popular traditional song and many versions are available online, here at least- - -

PS: If you install a free VPN provider (such as Tunnelbear) you will automatically bypass all those silly international online restrictions

11 hours ago, fredmason said:

My first trip to OZ I was certain all the gold was an ounce or more...

There's a bush ballad about that Fred, one of my favourites   

On ‎8‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 6:00 PM, kiwijw said:

Nice going guys. ? That last pic is almost like a map of Aussie.

Thanks Kiwi.

17 hours ago, mn90403 said:

It is really good to see and hear from you guys again.  Nice looking gold.

Darn crops!  They keep you from your fun

MN, I've decided to shift my prospecting time to March in order to pre-empt the darn things

Good to hear from you too!

11 hours ago, beatup said:

good going guys

Thanks Beatup, a bit disappointing but we did our best considering the circumstances.

Just as I was packing up to go home, the owner of the above sheep property told me he had just leased more acreage way further south, this time complete with old alluvial gold workings.

Something else to look forward to next year  

Here's a clearer shot of the tiddlers - I gave the bright clover shaped piece to the farmer. He loved it!

Unfortunately, nothing much to brag about this winter . The weather, in sharp contrast to last year, was wet and miserable and all the properties targeted were under crop.

Anyway, enough excuses. Managed to scrounge an ounce reworking last years shallow leads which were now free of long grass, allowing the coil to run at least 4" closer to the ground.

The three rough bits were detected by Reg Wilson and I on an excursion to a patch of forest way out on the western edge of Victoria's gold bearing zone. The larger 5 gm piece (found first by Reg) got us excited but only had two more small companions. All found with the very latest QED which Howard graciously supplied for testing.

The unworked shallow lead discovered last year and I reworked this year. Reg and I recovered many ozs off it last year, including 19 and 53 gram pieces.

It begins at the small ironstone hill in the background and extends for well over a kilometre with the gold thinly scattered along its length.

Looking down the lead the other way. It runs directly down the centre of the image and (hopefully) beyond the distant tree line onto the next property currently under crop.

Detail of the rough 5 grammer:

They're the ones GB.

Can't recommend highly enough -and a good price too!