Headed For The Land Down Under

[Andyy]

7 hours ago, mn90403 said:

Many of you may not know that I give pool/snooker lessons on occasion.  It is a sport I've been doing all my life.  I'm trying to draw some

Well, I had completely forgotten about that, Mitchel.  My brother is a professional, in New York.  Commonly hits the open circuit.  Let's just say I am a very good racker.  I'll have to swap stories with you sometime.  Snooker is a great game.  I wish we had more of those tables around Arizona.

In the meantime, keep your eye on the ball!  Errr… on the gold!   Remember Pre-Shot Routine …. or detecting routine … 

ok.. I got nuthin.

Oh yeah  …  BE THE BALL!!!  (Always loved that one!)

[mn90403]

Ok pals, I'd like to tell you that I had a breakthrough on the gold finding but I'd be lying.  I've been here over a week on good workings and still haven't found a nugget.  My first week here has me completely baffled.  I even tried some of Fred's roadkill techniques on bedrock late today to no avail.

I should be telling nugget stories and sharing nugget pictures but maybe later.  I still expect good things.

My thoughts runneth over but I'll try to add some humor to a rather bleak assessment of my first week here.

What is worse than solitary confinement?

Hunting for gold nuggets and not finding them!  (Why you say you are out in nature, enjoying the fresh air and the roos and so on and so forth ...)  That works for the first few days ... haha

The reason why nugget hunting is worse than solitary confinement is that in solitary confinement you don't have any EXPECTATIONS!  You MUST expect the next target to be gold when nugget hunting.  

We all know the definition for insanity, right?  Insanity is when you do the same thing over and over again and you expect different results.  This nugget hunting is driving me insane.

So let me step it down to what actually happened today.

When I left here going to go behind the caravan park I got a coffee at the gas station.  This is coffee from a late machine not a drip coffee.  The fella working there was friendly and I asked him about nuggets.  His store is half a mile to where I'm going.  He tells me he has lived there for 6 years and never looked for nuggets!  We chatted a bit more ... coffee was $4.50A and I went back out to the car.  I did an inspection and saw the left front tire low and I found out from him where to get it fixed.

I got to the Tyre place before it opened but when it did I asked the guy working there about nuggets also.  He doesn't hunt them either.  We found the leak and while it was being repaired a local guy came in and said "I see you do what I do!"  He was talking about detecting.  He said he has a 2300 and is doing pretty good with it.  He told me I should have brought mine rather than leave it in California.  He was getting some tyres and I asked if he was going out later today thinking I could tag along.  He said he wasn't and he didn't offer to tell me where I couldn't find nuggets with my 7000 so I left and went to the workings.

While at the workings the thought occurred to me I should have made a deal with him.  It was too late ... no way to hire or bribe him now!  haha

I began working the location by looking at the deep holes and following them out until they became more shallow.  It was a wide area and it looked like sources for the workings came from several directions.  I followed one run up to a reef and work that.  I did this for about 4 hours without finding nuggets but finding bird shot.

Yesterday I found a button and I knew I could go to a shop in Inglewood 20 minutes away and have an expert tell me something about it so it is just after 12 and I do it.  The husband and wife tell me the button is not so valuable but it is from around 1880s.  Cool

I left them and went back to a place JR had sent me to earlier in the week.  This time I went back with his recommendations in mind but came up short there also.  It was much easier to find my way around this time.  I know the roads and all the kangaroo bones.  This was 3 hours of hunting.

When I left I saw a lamb outside of the fence and I stopped at a farmhouse to tell them.  The guy I chatted with was very nice and we started talking about nuggets.  He doesn't hunt them but he told me about a couple of places.  One was just across the field from his house.  There are scrapings he said.  Another one was behind the schoolhouse at Kingower.  He and his wife said someone in their family had found a big nugget there many years ago.  He said the finder was not allowed to keep it.  It had to be sold to the government.  I asked when this law was changed and he didn't know for sure.

He also told me about a big nugget that had been found in the last couple of weeks around Wedderburn.  The guy at the tire shop had mentioned it also and I said the Bendigo nugget and he said no ... different nugget.  I'll have to hunt for that story when don't with my saga here.

I left the farmer to go look at the scrapings he was talking about and they look just like all other workings I've seen in the last week.  All have potential!  What a also saw was a mob of about 200 kangaroos that were in full flight from my car.  They don't let you get very close before they break and run and jump fences and sometime trip on them.  It is hard to get a phone picture of scenes like that.

At the end of the day I found a road that goes through the middle of workings on the Stone map and it was bedrock.  I got the 800 out and detected these roads for about an hour.  Some bullets, shotgun shells and iron but no gold there either.

I'm sure there will be a few detectorists around this weekend.  They'll be busy so I don't think I'll go to them but if they come to me we'll share a bit of info.

I've got some specific spots and gullies to around here for the next couple of days and then I'm ready for a beach day.  I'll probably get up early and go to Ocean Grove on Monday morning.  That is subject to change.  A week from today I'll be in Maryborough doing some comparing.

Time is flying.  I'm trying to keep it one day at a time.

These pictures are loading in reverse order.  That is a moon rise, almost full with the sun setting behind me.  Australian football is on the TV.

 

[Guest AussieDigs]

Keep at it Mitchell. Persistence pays as they say.

[fredmason]

Nice Pic's!

FOCUS!!!

fred

[Northeast]

33 minutes ago, fredmason said:

FOCUS!!!

I didn’t think there were any photos that were too blurry... ?

[WesD]

Hey Mitchel, Hope you get one! Otherwise enjoy being out in Gods country! Wish I could have made it out there too. I went to Oz when I was 18,  but all I wanted to do was go to the beach back then.

[fredmason]

GET UP Mitchel...it is after 7 a.m. there!!!!

I suggest you buy a rake and clear some brush and branches...maybe that will give you FOCUS!!!

[mn90403]

I've been up Fred talking to my family for 2 hours.  I went through my plans last night.  I looked again at the settings I'm using which are mostly low sensitivity, difficult ground because it is still wet and growls.  

I reduced some of my advices on where to go to specific places on the map and I'm starting a new day.  

Thanks for the bump.  Yesterday when I got up and out there was ice on the windshield.  Same today but it melts off quickly.

[Flowdog]

Mitchel,

I feel like I got to know you through this thread. I admire your adventuress spirit. A modern day gold prospector willing to push the limits of distance, time, and patience. Hang tough and go easy out there. You're close. 

Curtis

[mn90403]

Location, location, location ... I moved today and the first place I stopped looked like all the others.  There was some difference as the slopes down to the deep dig holes were wider and longer.  I had my hopes up that this would be different but I came away with nothing again.  I had another spot a couple of miles up the road to try before dark.  

I got there and I could see a difference.  Quartz was strewn about and the oldtimer holes were not so deep.  The soil was very red and I got excited for a change.  My first few swings revealed a nice soil and without much trash.  I decided to scout the area because I'd be back tomorrow.  About 20 minutes into it I had gotten some trash, I was 'near' the road and I was digging this target.  It warbled a bit but so had many others all day.  I picked down a bit and there was quartz.  I got that out of the way and there was still a signal.  Could this be it?

YES!

It is a little one but my first one!  I estimate about .8g but it changes what I write tonight.  It doesn't remove all of the frustration from the last week and this might be the only nugget on that patch but I've got one.  I'll be back tomorrow and work that area again.  I'm not the first one there I assure you.  A forum member Pat who makes the SP01 that I am using pointed me in this direction over two months ago.  I plotted in the spots last night and got out of Wedderburn.

On my way out this morning I talked to the motel owner a bit.  He told me a couple of detectorists were in the hotel last night and they had found 3 little pieces in 2 days.  Such is the way of gold.  He also told me that at about the same time the 20 oz nugget was found in Bendigo someone in Wedderburn had kicked up (no metal detector) a 7.5 oz nugget!  Maybe there is still overlooked gold in these obvious locations.

I've got a long day to tell about but I'm going to cut it short and post a few pictures.

I did see my first hand stacks here.  I wondered how they were using them and then I saw a trench on the upper side.  They were using it to channel water to the top of another gully.  I had read something about lack of water had caused all of the miners to leave sometime in the 1850s or so and when the rains/water came back so did the miners.  This trickle trench would have been used to feed a pond at the top of a larger gully.

The order these pictures upload are just random.  I've forgotten how to control the order but it doesn't care about the time the picture is taken.  I have something to say about all the pictures except the scull.  The teeth give it away.