Last weekend I decided to go back up to Reedy creek and give the highbanker another run. So Friday night I loaded the car up and set off real early Saturday morning for what was another 3 hour drive.
I arrived just after 7:00am to ice covered ground and a much higher water level compared to when I was there last.
I wanted to find a spot further upstream than my previous trips to Reedy creek and decided to head towards a few pre selected spots I found on a few maps I looked at before I left home. After driving and walking a heap of tracks for about an hour or so, I finally found a spot I was happy with.
So after I decided this was the spot to spend the next day and a half, I put my waders on, grabbed my pan, jumped in the creek and started to do some test panning Up and down the creek for about 50m.
To start with, it wasn't looking very promising and it actually took about an hour to find a good pocket where I could actually set up the highbanker close by. I set up my pump on an island on the other side of the main flow of the creek to where my highbanker was and in parts of that "main flow" it was almost up to my chest.
Anyway, I had everything set up, even camp and I was ready to go. Two minutes in, I stepped on a big boulder in front of the highbanker, slipped and ripped a massive "L" shape in the upper calf part of my waders.
So after going back to the car and spending half an hour repairing my waders, as there was no way in hell I was getting in the water without them, I was ready to go again.
After a few hours shoveling and having something to eat, I came across this while I was removing larger rocks from the top of the highbanker.
I thought that little speck of gold was just sitting on the rock, so I picked it up and held it under the spray bars to wash it off. Had another look and nope, it was attached. On closer inspection when I got home, there were another 4 little specks of gold attached the the other side of the rock as well.
So after spending most of the day in the water and with the sun quickly going down, it was time to call it a day.
It was then time to start the fire, have dinner while downing a beer after a hard days slog, while trying to get feeling back into my hands. Lets just say I didn't get much sleep that night with it being at least -3 degrees, it was sooo cold. :|
The next morning I was up early, fire started, bacon and egg sandwich and a coffee or two and I was ready to hit it hard again for half the day before making the 3 hour drive back to Melbourne that afternoon.
That was my third time up at Reedy creek in about 3 months, after falling in love with the place the first time I went up there. If anyone wants to tag along next time, just let me know.
Anyway, I spent a few days this week panning the cons I brought home with me and was pretty happy with the results considering the water level and how cold it was.
Here's my takings this time around...
I also spotted this just before I washed it out the end of the pan. It does make me wonder if I missed anymore before noticing this one though.
Hopefully I haven't bored you too much with my little adventure.
Cheers.
I arrived just after 7:00am to ice covered ground and a much higher water level compared to when I was there last.
I wanted to find a spot further upstream than my previous trips to Reedy creek and decided to head towards a few pre selected spots I found on a few maps I looked at before I left home. After driving and walking a heap of tracks for about an hour or so, I finally found a spot I was happy with.
So after I decided this was the spot to spend the next day and a half, I put my waders on, grabbed my pan, jumped in the creek and started to do some test panning Up and down the creek for about 50m.
To start with, it wasn't looking very promising and it actually took about an hour to find a good pocket where I could actually set up the highbanker close by. I set up my pump on an island on the other side of the main flow of the creek to where my highbanker was and in parts of that "main flow" it was almost up to my chest.
Anyway, I had everything set up, even camp and I was ready to go. Two minutes in, I stepped on a big boulder in front of the highbanker, slipped and ripped a massive "L" shape in the upper calf part of my waders.
So after going back to the car and spending half an hour repairing my waders, as there was no way in hell I was getting in the water without them, I was ready to go again.
After a few hours shoveling and having something to eat, I came across this while I was removing larger rocks from the top of the highbanker.
I thought that little speck of gold was just sitting on the rock, so I picked it up and held it under the spray bars to wash it off. Had another look and nope, it was attached. On closer inspection when I got home, there were another 4 little specks of gold attached the the other side of the rock as well.
So after spending most of the day in the water and with the sun quickly going down, it was time to call it a day.
It was then time to start the fire, have dinner while downing a beer after a hard days slog, while trying to get feeling back into my hands. Lets just say I didn't get much sleep that night with it being at least -3 degrees, it was sooo cold. :|
The next morning I was up early, fire started, bacon and egg sandwich and a coffee or two and I was ready to hit it hard again for half the day before making the 3 hour drive back to Melbourne that afternoon.
That was my third time up at Reedy creek in about 3 months, after falling in love with the place the first time I went up there. If anyone wants to tag along next time, just let me know.
Anyway, I spent a few days this week panning the cons I brought home with me and was pretty happy with the results considering the water level and how cold it was.
Here's my takings this time around...
I also spotted this just before I washed it out the end of the pan. It does make me wonder if I missed anymore before noticing this one though.
Hopefully I haven't bored you too much with my little adventure.
Cheers.
