Prospectors Ages

[noncents]

I'm 46 and used to do a bit of fishing, shooting, golf and now I'm more interested in prospecting. I enjoy reading Australian history now, which I would never have known about if it wasn't for prospecting. Never to old to learn new things.

 

[Nightjar]

Pushing 68 and all the pains disappear after a few days in the outback detecting.
Began with a Garrett Deepseeker back in the early 80's, found my first gold on second trip. Both species, which held a total of 50g's.
Started off with a holden ute and sleeping on the ground under the stars, all the mod cons now, home from home when we are out there.
Just have to work on how to come home with more gold than my partner. :lol:

 

[TTKooAu]

Turned 58 on Sunday, started looking in August and found some specks of gold, now I'm hooked. Enjoy fishing and genealogy and the good folk here.

TT

 

[axeman]

Hi nugget and thanks, my birthday is on the 18th.
Mick

 

[Roscoe]

Well it Looks like i got a lot of prospecting years ahead of me then, touch wood 45.

 

[deepblue]

60 and prospecting for 30 still get a buzz when I find a piece of gold doesn't matter how big, just takes longer to dig the deeper holes. Last 2 ounce nugget took 90 minutes of hard work.

 

[richo966]

last two ounce nugget means you have found more than one well done mate that must be big buzz pulling that out of the ground

 

[WalnLiz]

Been told i am a walking fossil and there's days i find it hard to argue with that.....however those days are only at work, and never at play. Just turned 60 a couple of weeks ago and got given my first gold pan at age 7.

In 1977 got my first detector, ( Garrett Ground Hog) and in 1979 built our own detectors with a more advanced 10 turn pot for improved ground balance. Seen lots of detector advancement and have always tried to be up to date with the best technology on the market.

Been chasing Gold and Gems for longer than i care to remember, and still get the same thrill out of it as when i was a "spring chicken" ....not ready to be put out to pasture just yet.

Cheers Wal.

 

[Sw1fty]

60 and prospecting for 30 still get a buzz when I find a piece of gold doesn't matter how big, just takes longer to dig the deeper holes. Last 2 ounce nugget took 90 minutes of hard work.

Lets see, 2 oz = +$2400.00 @ 1.5hrs is a pretty good hourly rate

 

[gadgetman45]

Body 68 last birthday, brain hasn't caught up with body yet, love fishing, 4x4, caravanning & of course my new hobby, swinging the detector for coins etc.

 

[gavfromoz]

What a fantastic array of ages in this forum. Just goes to show that age and physical condition is no barrier to having real fun Good on ya guys.

 

[AnthonyP]

I'm 44.
I grew up on sheep and cattle stations and from a very young age was interested in stones , minerals etc. Firstly dug up old bottles , belt buckles , tins and all sorts of interesting things. Iv'e recently been made redundant from my job of 14 years and now have the time and an agreeable partner to explore this fantastic hobby

 

[garnethawkins]

27. Been interested in fossicking since I was a kid. Have had a lust for gold all my life but took me till April to start looking into it and july to get back out and have a go.
I get out at least every second weekend now.

Thank god i was starting to feel like the baby of the group, Im 29 :lol:

 

[Trace]

47 and started detecting this September but love all out door adventures fishing, camping

 

[peterau]

59, bods worn out, can do about 3 -4 hrs detecting a day, but cant wait for the next day. Collect rocks and would like to collect gold (any gold) very new to both, love fishing, the bush, hunting. Just finished working remote in the N.T. 2 years at kalkaringi ( no gold but lots of prehnite) and 2.5 years arnhem land (No gold buts lots of big barra) Cheers peterau

 

[Hunting the yellow]

lol im 18 got a bad back allready and i prospect for gold and fossick for the gems other hobbys are rock climbing, geology exploreing old mines and bush walks

 

[Dozer]

49, only been prospecting just over a year. My only regret is that I didn't get the bug years earlier.

 

[user 1769]

I'm 38. I've been fossicking for sapphires and topaz, mostly, and sometimes for Lune River petrified fern and agates for about 15-16 years. It seems like every year I try to fit in just one more trip than the last, and sometimes it works, which is good. At the moment I'm managing 4-5 trips per summer, of 2-5 days. I go with a buddy almost every time, and a few other people have joined us every so often, though mostly it's just two of us. I love going by myself, though. Just recently got into gold, after finding some with my sapphires. Sluicing two bucketloads of wash in my last sapphire trip produced about 0.1g:

For us down in Tassie the water's pretty cold, and often too high, to work in rivers from May to October, so I've been toying with the idea of getting a detector for those otherwise wasted months. You don't hear much about detecting in Tassie, and the little I've heard of has been mostly around the Moina area and west coast... However, there are areas of the state with significant alluvial and hard rock mining history that produced good nuggets, and which have far less scary-lookign scrub, in the northeast. I'm looking forward to giving them a bash.

 

[The yabby]

I'm 21 and have been for about 15 years lol

 

[jimnyjerry]

Just got my seniors card Enjoy heading bush for a dig and have been doing that for over 14 yrs and like others wish I had started earlier but other things kept taking up my time.