blackjack

Well done Eric, "a bit of a bush bash to get there" 200mtrs from Pacific Drive through the dunes ? Is that 'resort style bush bashing' next you'll be telling us you needed a guide 🙂 Well done old boy, I'm just envious.

9 hours ago, Ethan in Adelaide said:

Hey Jack, where you plan to go this winter? Surely if we go same place I'd love to catch up with you..I haven't found my first nugget yet lol.

I end up bought a second hand GPZ7000.  What detector you using now? I have both 6000 and 7000 😊

 

 

Hey Ethan Tibooburra is where I'm planning to go, It's the nearest one for me that would have warm weather in winter, also there are a lot of options, the gold fields are spread over a wide area and most people find gold, however it's not known for having large nuggets. You may have more chance of finding SOME gold than in W.A. this may be disputed by West Australians, but I grew up in W.A. and have done a lot of prospecting there. I'm not suggesting W.A is no good, obviously, it's one of the best places on the planet, but the gold fields are spread out over a large area and without local knowledge or contacts, I believe Tibooburra is easier to find gold. As to where to go there, go to Min View put Tibooburra in the search bar, look in Add Layers go to mineral resources and then click on mineral occurrences. Change the base layer to NSW base map, bingo your own treasure map. As Dave said for a small fee you can get access to the common an area close to Tibooburra, but you can also get permission to camp and prospect on Mt.Stuart station for a daily fee, from memory its not much $/day. It's way easier than the permissions you need in W.A. also Adelaide to Tibooburra 847klm. Adelaide to Leonora 2,400klm. 

I agree, the 800, with the standard coil is a bit tricky when pinpointing, I think Steve answered this, DD coils aren't as accurate for pinpointing. I haven't fact checked this so I'm sure someone will correct this If I'm mistaken. Also the link is not answering your question directly, but I think it's a good tip and seems to work for me so I've included it.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Hey Ethan, take a look at Min View, It's what I've used and I'm old and not very 'Tech' savvy. It's got all the 'layers' you need, you'll figure it out. As Dave said Tibooburra is a good starting point for over winter and close for you, the drive from Adelaide is great. I'm planning a trip this winter, I'd love to meet up and have someone to camp with ? What detector did you end up with ? 

Nice, slow is the way to go you get to see more, send some pics when you get an outboard motor for it.

Garrett ground hog for me as well, I found quite a few hot rocks before I found my first lead bullet. I was convinced by the sound I was digging a nugget, it was pretty disappointing to dig lead, I had to find two more before I found gold. Honest answer is at least 100hrs over a two year period, 23 grams. 

On 3/29/2023 at 8:39 AM, Ridge Runner said:

I’ve been to Nome before and the lower part of Alaska but never been to AKAU Resort. The last time I went to Alaska I put over 12 thousand miles on that cargo van before I got home.

 I know a while back someone said they were going sometimes this year to this resort but I’m hoping someone has been there on here before.

 Of all things my wife is telling me I need to go but when I ask if she is going to pay for it she says you got the money. You would think if she really wanted to get me out of town she should be willing to fit the bill.

 Please let me hear from you if you been there .

 Chuck 

Hey Chuck, I'm the same as you, my wife is insisting I get to Tibooburra this winter, she gets sick of me complaining about the weather here over winter. I'm going alone if I go, I know I will meet people when I get there so I'm sure I won't be camping alone. Just do it old boy. Cheers John. 

On 4/12/2023 at 3:35 PM, Bootscrape said:

Since there are many members here from different countries and points of the compass, I thought it may be interesting to start a pictorial thread. Show us favourite pics of the countryside you pass through or hunt in for gold and relics. 

I will kick it off with these from country South Australia.

The Flinders Ranges.

Hey Bootscrape, to see the Flinders ranges, approaching Port Augusta, after crossing the Nullarbor is a sight I never get tired of. Fuel and maccas in Port Augusta then left through Horrocks Pass to Wilmington, does life get any better than that !

I think I will stick to travelling in Australia, great stories from everyone, thanks. Over here we pay fees and licences, having travelled in Indonesia in "another life time" when I was young and brave, I'm familiar with the system that seems to operate in Mexico. A friend of mine, Carl, grew up in Monterey, now a native Tasmanian, he's told me many stories of his travels in Mexico. He found himself "talking" to the local policeman in a small town, when the policeman announced that it was Carl's lucky day and that he had arrived in town on the very day that it just happened to be the police mans "Ball' night and would he like to make a donation for the event ?

1 hour ago, Dorado said:

A few photos from West Australia, north of Meekathara. The gold is about the only time I have hit a patch

A few bush flies ,after all the rain.

Cheers

Great photos, as an ex West Australian I know about the flies after rain, before rain, during rain, no rain..... For me the desert areas are much better without the rain. Great after rain, but it's dried, especially in late winter for the wild flowers. Pretty ordinary when it's wet, nothing sticks like that red dirt when it gets wet !

On 4/9/2023 at 11:59 AM, mn90403 said:

I've seen two faces in it and I'm sure there are more!

Dam it, I can only see one, in profile.

1 hour ago, GotAU? said:

Yes, thanks for the gum trees!  We try burning them every year, have bugs now that eat them (thrips), but we have no koalas so they just keep growing back!  I hear Africa now has California poppies growing wild as weeds, have you seen any in Australia?

No not poppies, I would much prefer them to gorse, a really terrible weed here in Tasmania and Victoria.

13 hours ago, GotAU? said:

If I didn’t know where you are from, I’d swear these are Valley Oak trees in the Sierra foothills in central California’s motherload country! Some of my favorite places I’ve been!

I've not been to California, but from photos and film parts of it are remarkably similar to parts of Australia, you even have gum trees. {eucalypts} 

5 hours ago, Lesgold said:

Camping on the gold fields at Tibooburra

Somehow the search for yellow was a secondary pursuit.

Nice, I'm planning a trip this winter, August, I need to book the ferry soon. 

On 3/31/2023 at 10:41 PM, Badger-NH said:

Musket balls are so common in New England that there would be no way of knowing if it was from a battle.  Hunters used muskets for over two centuries.

Saying that the things we find are historical can be bad for the hobby as it adds to our bad reputation among archeologists and the general public.

Interesting point, I guess the point is all finds are historical. It would depend on the significance, historically and that would depend on your point of view. It seems in Great Britain this issue has already been debated and from what I can gather somewhat resolved. But I will leave that to our pommie mates to comment on, what the situation is in the U.S. I have no idea, but would like to know. As far as I'm aware in Australia, finds belong to the government, this I'm sure applies to shipwrecks at least. A strange thing happened when the the government announced that all finds from ship wrecks belonged to them, people suddenly stopped finding shipwrecks.  From what I can gather in Great Britain, detectorists report their finds, the "experts" decide its significance and depending on that verdict you can keep it, or they claim it and compensate you. Seems fair to me, it encourages people to report their finds, unlike the system we have here. Yes I would like to start a discussion on this vexed issue. To be honest from my point of view if I found a tin of gold sovereigns, I wouldn't be making any phone calls to my state museum.

I'm good with that, anyone that reads my off the cuff, overreactive at times, post's would know I'm only human. However I'm a bit worried, my grammar is always perfect..... mineralization or mineralisation hmm.

1 hour ago, mn90403 said:

That's a great video!

 

54 minutes ago, Aureous said:

True story....my Father rode through Wedderburn during the 'Main street Goldrush' around when this video was taken. It was at dusk and he told me he saw a rough sign at the North end of town warning about 'holes' and took no notice....until he rode his motorbike into one of them! He was stuck in Wedderburn for a few days awaiting repairs on his front wheel. He saw some gold at the local pub, dunno how much. Newspaper reports suggest that over 500oz was won by only 10 claimholders alone!

That's great Aureous, people were lifting the floor boards in their houses. The shire president said the gold is better in peoples pockets than in the ground, you can dig up the main street as long as you put the dirt back ! Those were the days !

 Me too, maybe I've got one of those gold sovereigns..................I just checked, I haven't got any gold sovereigns.

We all wish we had a backyard like this

32 minutes ago, kac said:

Though I only have the Gold Racer and don't do any prospecting the 2 machines have iMask that does help with hot rocks.

Running in All Metal if you hit a negative hot rock you will have a bouncy signal like a reverse roll. You will see ID's peak in high 90's that wrap. I simply GB on that high point then when past the rock will GB again.

I would try All metal mode without tracking to start. If the machines really jumpy then drop the gain down a little. Get a lot of spikes in iron range use disc mode and use imask as last resort if hot rocks are too bad.

Not sure if that helps.

HH

Yes, that helps, thanks for taking the time to reply

Hello everyone, I'm wondering if any one has advice on the title topic. One of my sniping partners and myself want to go to the mainland this winter for a detecting trip, and to get a break from our Tasmanian winter. We are at loggerheads as to the location, the Kruzer is his first detector and the couple of times we've detected together hot rocks were so bad that I even had to notch disc. my Nox 800. He wants to go to Victoria to a location that a youtuber has success with his Kruzer, it's pipeclay with very little mineralization. I don't want to be limited to one area in Victoria and camping in an area that has an average maximum of 11 degrees c [ 51f ] and 14 rain days for August, is hardly a break from winter in my opinion. I've suggested Tibooburra as from what I've heard VLF's do okay there, although there are some areas that do have ironstone, generally the mineralization is not too bad, plus the weather will be much better, average maximum of 21 degrees c [70f] and 1.8 rain days for the month. I have suggested that as a last resort if his Kruzer, turns out to be unusable then he can use my spare, an Xterra 705. He remains unconvinced about the location and the capabilities of my Xterra. Any comments on all of the above would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, John.

18 hours ago, menyarito1 said:

Hello Dears,

I am planning to buy the Titan GER 1000 device for gold research and I need your opinion before proceeding.

I opted for this machine because of its 45M depth.

Thank you in advance for your understanding and support

I just can't get a mental image of Barry Humphries as Dame Edna, out of my head, hello possums.

On 6/10/2022 at 12:45 AM, Ridge Runner said:

I always like being Legal are on a claim that belongs to a club I’m a member of . This way I know I’m in my rights of being are doing whatever I wish.

 My problem is with the powers that be that are willing to take ones money then give you a permit that’s not worth the paper it’s written on . Then you run head on into another power that wants to control are stop you in anyway they can to you from doing what you’re willing to pay for.

 I’d find it hard to believe if you said okay you win I give up and because all the red tape I’m going home would they refund your money. Maybe someone out there knows the answer to that and can reply.

 I’ve said in the past Id like to do something in the way of gold mining in California but the more I read I’m thinking is it really worth the effort.

 I look back to 1961 when I first started prospecting in California. Oh I had it bad but my wife didn’t want to stay. I’d been better off if I’d kicked her butt out and followed my dream. We parted company 19 years later anyway.

 The Best To Anyone Who’s Willing To Give It A Try .

 Chuck 

Well said Chuck, some may think I'm going 'off topic' but the the principle applies to both, bureaucrats, lawyers, insurance companies and a work force that is over educated with narrow qualifications are to blame. I'm building my third house as an owner builder, first time it cost $350 in permits and I was able to draw the plans myself as well as doing the engineering specs from a set of framing tables. This time around I had to employ a "building designer" to draw the plans and "engineer" to approve them at a combined cost of $15,500 for work that I could of done myself in a weekend. Add to that a BAL rating {bushfire attack level} and an an archaeologist, and a small army of other "experts" and the cost is $30,000 so far and we are still in the "planning stage" and are yet to be issued with a building permit. To get a building permit I have to complete an online training course on how to be an owner builder and in order to do that I have to have public liability insurance. I think the same applies for small scale mining, governments want to squeeze out the small operators and just deal with large companies.

On 1/13/2023 at 6:20 AM, Dutchman4 said:

Couldn't agree more.  When I lived in SoCal there were many outdoor target shooting areas on BLM land that were shut down due to huge amounts of trash left behind including old TV's and appliances that were shot up.   

A bumper sticker I recently saw sums it up for me " I love shooting deer and drinking beer " a dangerous mix that can only end one way, in my opinion.