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Hello to all i managed to find a bit of time to share my experience and trip in the Goldfields.So here we go: I managed to escape Melbourne for 3 days as wife was working there and i was doing the driving.Was hot very hot and i understand now why there is time to prospect and time to stay in an air cooled house. Anyway as a result of a post on the forum i contacted Goldrat (aka Peter) and after some very good chat and instruction we met in Maryborough .The drive from Melbourne for me was epic as : 1)i loved the scenery 2) i get lost very easily (But thanks to Peter instruction and a capricious phone i reached my destination without problem). So we head up to Talbot for bnb and to pick up a SDC2300 complimentary of my landlord Neil.We then headed to our first spot ,and while Peter was narrating the tales of mountain of gold retrieve from the area i was taking as many pics as possible as this was completely new to me Peter found the first bit of gold using his faithfull Equinox with the 6".......for the setting ask him . My bnb road SPOT 1 Wasn't me!!!!!!!! Scoooooore Peter first gold ,he gave it to me lost it in my suitcase.......

The Poseidon Nugget’ was unearthed in the Parish of Waanyarra. The huge nugget weighed 953 oz gross and 703 oz net. Woodall and party found the nugget 10 inches underground, 2 inches above bedrock with much quartz. This find began the last of the big rushes to the area.[1906] On private land. This [Poseidon] was the last great alluvial rush in Victoria. 3000 were camped here in 1906 with store established catering for all the miners’ needs. One storekeeper was charged and fined for selling sly grog. The reef above and opposite the gully had been rushed in 1859, but this side neglected. It was nearly fifty years before John Porter testing the ground with a hand auger, found wash and sank a shaft onto nuggets. From its size, more large nuggets have come from this lead than any other in the world. 703 oz, 675 oz, thirteen others over 100 oz, nineteen from 50-99 oz, fifty two from 20-49 oz and two hundred and eight from 1-19 oz. ... the Premier awarded [James Porter] £500 for the discovery. He was the last man to receive a reward for the discovery of a new goldfield in Victoria.

Hi, I just had to register and reply to this thread. I own a Fisher Gold Bug 2, a Gold Monster 1000 and now a Whites Goldmaster 24K. Ive also owned a Goldmaster Vsat, Goldmaster III and a GMT. Having used all of these, I have to say that the 24K isnt the most sensitive of the high frequency VLF's out there. Right now, the old Gold Bug 2 with the 6.5x3" is still king of the heap and the GM1000 is able to beat that under some circumstances. BUT, the 24K has the smoothest ground balance Ive ever used and rock-stable threshold. It finds deeper sub-gram gold than all of them using that 6.5" concentric coil. I had the opportunity to run side by side with a friend using a GM1000 and although he got 6 bits of gold to my 2, all but one of them was under .05, whereas my 2 weighed .4gm. I also found 22 bits of junk, versus his 4. All of this was from a patch that has been completely hammered over 3 decades. Last few times I used a GB2 there, I got nothing. Methinks the higher coil power and the matched concentric coil along with the XGB tracking make for a very powerful new machine for small gold. I am very keen to try the upcoming 6x3 shooter DD coil soon as the 10x5 seems pretty good on hotter ground here in Victoria. I'll keep you all posted with my finds. One thing I MUST say about the GM1000 in comparison though....some guys here are using them to great effect by ignoring the basic rule of reducing sensitivity to allow proper ground balance. They run them flat out at manual 10 sensitivity and then cannot even ground balance....but on quiet or mild ground, the digital audio of the Monster eliminates much of the noise and the tiniest gold can be 'plucked' from the pops, clicks and farts of the SAT adjustments and hot rock re-tunes.....but only by those people who have their 'ears tuned' to the sounds properly. Me personally, these noises are maddening and I rush back to the smoothness of the 24K and listen for the bigger, weightier targets. Stay tuned for results here folks!

A couple of days ago I pulled the trigger on a solo trip to Australia, Melbourne and Victoria to be exact. I have the Visa. I have a Miner's Right. I'll be there from Thursday morning 8:30AM the 9th of May thru Thursday morning the 30th of May which will make for 20 days of detecting. It says the highs will be in the high 60s and lows in the 50s. The sun will rise about 7:30 and set about 5. There seems to be a fair amount of rain for the month. I've been reading Fred's books. He has one of Doug Stone's which is the Gold Atlas of Victoria. There are also many online resources and several of you here have some great suggestions for me. My itinerary is open for some nugget prospecting days and a couple of beach days. My tentative plan would be to get off the plane, rent a vehicle and head to Bendigo area for a motel and then be ready for a hunt the next day. I might even be up for a hunt the day I arrive ... possibly at a beach. I'm sure I'll be meeting up with some of the forum members when I'm there so let's just see what happens. Mitchel

New story thread.... Leaving for OZ around May 4th this year-- Can't reveal the details because it is super secret this year.... But hope to be upload some better video this year--- I have been searching for the simplest way to use a camera while in the field... I haven't found any yet that are that simple, most ways i have tried become so time consuming that they interfere with my fun and relaxation!!! ANd my TAsk mAster dont like it when i am ... "fkn around!" If he sees too many videos or pictures he will scold me... Maybe a selfie, "follow me" cheapie drone----- I could hang a piece of bait meat on it for the flies while it is hovering near me,,,LOLOL This is Jan 20th and I will be traveling to LA on Feb 3rd ..for my last 3 months of "work" Carry on !

Victoria" Nice Dig! ?Ig

These "Blokes are Great! ? It's "Raw" but real" w lots of finds, ck their other vids for more. Enjoy! Ig

Every year some of us have an 'opportunity' to go to Australia and prospect for a few weeks. Some of us pull the trigger and some of us don't. (I'm not talking 'Paul' type of trip where you outfit yourself for months.) Now is the time to book that type of trip. I'm sure many Australians book trips also. Which tour has the 'best' three week or so, all in or tag along trip and to what part of Australia? We'd be bringing our own detector, a 7000 and just want to get put on or near a gold patch or two. If you have been there and done that recently it would sure help to know your story. Maybe this is the year to pull the trigger. Mitchel

Hello to all ! I may be able to sneak in my wife luggage in February when she will be training for her new Job in Australia .I believe she will be based in Perth.Is there any Gold rich field around there????? I dont want to stay indoor and i got the green light to go detecting. Any infos will be welcome. Thanks RR

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-05/how-to-survive-in-the-outback/10463852

Cheers All. Been away all summer..... but going thru All the excellent Posts from the Forum I missed, That will take a few more days!You guys and gals are Amazing! Great Finds....here's a new one from My Mate Jay ! Enjoy!? Ig

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45468159

I found this posted elsewhere I don't know if folks have seen it yet ? if so just remove it. Enjoy. http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-10/rich-gold-seam-half-a-kilometre-deep-in-kambalda/10219576?pfmredir=sm

Two of us made the 5 day trip from eastern OZ to the Western Australian goldfields for a 8 week detecting trip.(armed with 7000,s and SDC) We targeted remoter spots that are not really on the radar. We invested in a pile of permits and researched lots of available ground spots. Lots of walking and lots of barren gullies and creeks...... but occasionally we found the odd gully or slope not touched by a detector that yielded some nice runs of gold. We went 50/50 with our finds, sharing is the way to get a bigger tally when 2 or 3 of you (of equal ability) spread out searching large areas. All up we shared 45 ounces between two of us. There are many ugly specimens not pictured and we will have a big crush and smelt day soon. Cheers RDD

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"

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 - - ?

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:

“Australia’s all-time record annual gold production (314 tonnes) … might well be exceeded*,” said Dr Sandra Close, from mining consultancy* Surbiton. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/kids-news/australia-set-for-record-gold-haul-in-2018-as-mining-booms/news-story/0f985c566f657751313c4a5c590c0cc1

The five cent piece is the smallest coin in circulation in Australia now and most of my photos where I have used a coin for scale I have used a 5 cent and the creature on the coin is the echidna. In the 7 years I have lived in Victoria I have only ever seen maybe a dozen echidnas, but what makes this guy so special is this morning he was in my back yard.??? The half grammer came from Cockatoo Bush a couple of years ago, but I have seen way more half grammers than echidnas. ? Dave

This year, 2018, I'm working thru the year to pay up on last years not so great stab at a golden prospects in Australia last year, 2017. It was a great trip, always is, but a lot of little factors kept me gold poor *which I use to pay for food, fuel and amenities* so I leaned on the credit card a little to hard. Hahh! No one ever said I'd get rich but ehh~ One can dream by the camp fire.~~ Another driving factor for this post is that my email does not like to send pictures so this is for you all who have asked "Where are the pictures?" when I tried to send them. Well that aside Its Always A Good Go down under. I stayed mostly in the region of Kalgoorie last year, hard hunted land that, so I could be of help and hang around with my mates in Coolgardie while they fixed up a new caravan and ute. The gold was small and hard to come by but I still got a few ounces in littles from the EL's I applied for, and yes sent the reports in for, but in all here are a few good days on the scales : And here are what most days went like. I only had a few days streaches during the weeks out bush where I caught the skunk... but I entertained myself otherwise ? I did find one small meteorite but it chose to find the hole in my pocket instead of coming home with me. Bugger. But while I was out and about I decided to look for another mineral I knew occured in the region were I was and took a few days driving the fence lines to find it. Chrysoprase. Never did find the mine that my mate pointed me towards but I did find an area that had the right indicators, what is called white and blue chrysoprase and chalcedony, and on stopping there I took a couple of days to speck around. I was finding mostly low grade stuff, the above picture, but found one good bit with just the tip sticking out like an iceberg: Among other interesting rocks like this one, semi-crystalline quartz with some nice shiny bubbly limonite and from another area of flats a fulgerite, solidified lightning strike: So my rock hounding itch was scratched ? Now camp is always a treat in the mornings and evenings but I also mentioned I kept myself entertained on days when I was not finding much. Aside from just enjoying nature and walking Kays getting no where on the gold a few days of yabbie fishing made for a great reliefe after catching the skunk. I visited various dams nearby and treated myself to a Yabbie feast on many evenings. So all in all a great time, good eats and nice finds. If you want to go my suggestion is : Make a Plan and stick to it. You wont be dissapointed. There were a great many other things that occured but like I said, a short story. Regards and go live the dream. Next year who knows..... I'm thinking opal or sapphires myself with a little gold and yabbie. Thanks for reading, DD

I’ve taken the equinox underwater with the Hungarian headphones twice now and I think I’ve experienced the best and worst scenario for the equinox. Firstly I went into a popular rock pool which I’ve detected successfully with one of my Pulse Induction machines (ATX) with decent success although I did ok, I had to greatly reduce sensitivity and increase pulse delay for it to be stable but still it was enough to find about 60 coins and a few rings in this small pool HOWEVER, the equinox was very very unhappy in these conditions and struggled to signal when the coin was placed on the rocks which was 2- 3 inches on our 10c coins (which is very similar in size and conductive to a nickel and therefore general gold ring territory) but when detecting purely through salt water it was capable of 7-8” on the same coin (just estimating but it was MUCH more than over the rocks) I messed around with sensitivity, discrimination, different modes (was using beach 2), sweep speed, swing height, ground balancing with tracking on and off, recovery speed as well as testing to see if the test items would register in all metal (if they came up as iron) to no avail, I don’t know what kind of rock it is but detectors clearly don’t like it. Next outing was a sandy beach with sandstone rocks and clay base which the detector functioned adequately over. I only used beach 2 and found recovery speed 4 is good because swing speed is slower under water so theoretically gives more depth, the sensitivity couldn’t really be run over 14 (I was 2m deep in salt water) at this location apparently but 10c targets were recoverable from 8” The Hungarian headphones aren’t very loud underwater (even to my 24 year old ears) which seems to be a theme with the equinox so I believe it COULD be that the 3.7V lithium battery is insufficient to run these kind of Piezo’s but I’m far from an expert. Anyway, the nox went well and found some smaller than usual gold pieces ? Today’s treasure:

I like some of the creative photography experiments here with gold nuggets and more.... https://www.instagram.com/goldsweeper/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFgzy3yZCA1FdeJcOEbOYMQ/videos Just thought i would post this up, i have been watching his clips for a while now, He is the most prolific gold finder with the monster i have seen, certainly shows how good the monster is at pinging those specimens and tiny flakes. I have been loving the posts by Kiwijw & Phrunt who have been doing well with the monster in NZ but i haven't seen much of the monster in Australia and more in the more mineralised ground until i came across this guy. Cheers,

First Class trip w/ my Mate' Tony! Enjoy! Ig

I was going through my computer looking at different stuff that I had forgotten I had and I came across this shortcut to the archives of Gold Net Australia. Gold Net Australia Online went from 1999 to 2002 and remarkably, it`s still there. Probably not of great interest to people in the States, but if you enjoy reading about coil developement from 20 yrs ago, or accommodation, or a review of the GP Extreme, or divining rods, or storys of big finds or just pictures of beaut nuggets, there might be something here of interest. http://www.gold-net.com.au/archives.html