G'Day one and all...
and thanks to Mr Tee for his request to share my 1st adventure.
My good lady wife gave me a Minelab SDC 2300 for my birthday and I decided to take a quick run to Tibooburra from Brisbane.
Trip out took me through Bourke, a really interesting place where I stayed for the night with the comfort factor dictating the "Riverside Motel" a very nice place with all the amenities. Also learnt that Bourke is the resting place for Fred Hollows..,.a wonderful man.
Pressed on and had a nice coffee at the "Wanaarang store"...the last place before the end of sealed roads. Mainly fast and reasonably smooth but beware of the Cattle Grids...they will have you airborne.
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There was a few places further on where the track had a few muddy patches after the rains that I would recommend to drive around, not a place to get Bogged. Also a normal caravan would have difficulty in some of the go around tracks. Not Recommended..!!
Arrived in Tibooburra in the afternoon and checked the place out after a nice beer at the "Family Pub". The general store is well equipped for all your needs including Fuel. (cheapest in town). There are a few Camping / Caravan Parks and Motel accommodation available but can get fully booked so I would recommend checking them out on line and make a booking. I managed to get a cabin from the TJs Roadhouse and also the prospecting licence for the common area, It was $10 for a month. Outside of the Commons area is the private area "Mt Stuart" a vast area. To prospect there you need to buy a permit for $15 per day per detector and if you want to camp an extra fee...$10 (I think) per night. Another private area is "Gumvale Station" again, a permit can be purchased from the "Tibooburra Hotel" for $15 per day and camping is extra. Permit Map is not to scale...beware!!
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FYI..This pub has free WiFi so a good place to make calls if your with Optus as there is no coverage with them, However...Telstra and Vodaphone do have have coverage.
After settling in to my cabin, I had a drive around the area to familiarise myself as to where the common area is.
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After a good nights sleep, I set off and followed the western fence line north from the "Cameron Corner road" all the way up to just north of "Dead Horse Gully road" Spoke with a fellow prospector in that area who advised that he found a couple of pieces along the fence line.
After a long Day...headed back for a nice beer at the Pub. Dug many holes but only came up with Bullets, wire and other bits that caused potential excitement.
Cutting a long story disappointment over the next couple of days, I purchased the Gumvale Permit and headed into the area (again huge..!!) for my last day. A cold wind blowing in the vast open area made it a little unpleasant but not too bad. Checked out a few areas to no avail, Met a gent camping in the area for few days who had a little success finding a few pieces of the right coloured stuff. as opposed to my very successful findings of the wrong coloured stuff. Drove back to town tired but happy for the experience...(which is what I need more of)
Following morning said my goodbye's and headed North out of town on a very nice road to the Queensland Border Gate where after a few klms hit the worst road of the trip, corrugations, potholes ,rough stones and muddy patches but I suppose that was all part of the experience.
So after a 3000 klm trip landed back in Brissy. Apparently the technique for Tibooburra is to use your detector "Low and Slow" very slow..!! which is probably one the reasons I missed it all. A lot of people who go there regularly over a few years reckon its getting harder find but they do find many pieces of small gold, so patience, and experience is the go.
I hope this has given a bit insight to the area on my first trip, thoroughly enjoyed every aspect. Good hunting to all and thanks for reading this rather long post....Cheers
