Pinging a bit of gold with a lollipop is what it's all about but quite a bit of work is needed to get to that point. Spending time driving around and walking through new country is just as important as the "play time" that we all love. Being relatively new to this hobbie means that my knowledge base is quite poor. Building skills in relation to technique and developing knowledge is ongoing and provides just as much enjoyment as pushing a coil around on the ground.
I like to spend at least one day per week walking, driving and asking questions about country that I've never been into. It's purprising what you can find when you start looking. The difficult part is leaving the detector in the car or not bringing it at all. It becomes a distraction for me and often pulls me away from my plan for the day.
When I began detecting a few moths ago, all I could think about was getting out to the old gold fields and turning the machine on. There was nothing wrong with that as it provided me with the opportunity to learn a bit about the toy and what I could do with it. I must admit that there is a lot of playtime required before any expertise could be claimed but I am now feeling comfortable in using the GPX.
Today was quite windy so I decided to have a look around instead of waving the stick. With the help of Mr Google, I found some country that I wanted to explore.
This was the first stop on the track:
A quartz reef that was disturbed by forestry. There was a mine here apparently but no evidence of a shaft exists. It may have been filled in years ago.
The area I was looking at was heavily logged in the past couple of years. Although not a pretty sight, it did provide me with some interesting information:
The ground was disturbed with top soil and leaf litter removed in many areas. Some country revealed interesting features that would need further investigation:
Travelling along the track, the country changed all of a sudden:
Pretty exciting stuff... The high level tertiary gravels from an ancient river bed. This is definitely worth a closer look.
Have a look at what came into view next:
Why wasn't this area of forest cleared? Everything else was. Upon looking, the answer was obvious:
A series of shafts and tunnels that were constructed to get to the gold lying at the bottom of the old river bed.
For me it was a top afternoon out. You would like to think that no one else has been to this area for a hundred years or so. The reality is that thousands of people probably have. I would expect that many PA members have been there on numerous occasions but it was a first for me and that makes it special. I reckon that a few pieces of yellow are still to be pulled out of the ground in this region. It will just take some work. (No, you did not get it all)
Playtime with the toy will follow in the next couple of weeks.
Cheers for now
Les
I like to spend at least one day per week walking, driving and asking questions about country that I've never been into. It's purprising what you can find when you start looking. The difficult part is leaving the detector in the car or not bringing it at all. It becomes a distraction for me and often pulls me away from my plan for the day.
When I began detecting a few moths ago, all I could think about was getting out to the old gold fields and turning the machine on. There was nothing wrong with that as it provided me with the opportunity to learn a bit about the toy and what I could do with it. I must admit that there is a lot of playtime required before any expertise could be claimed but I am now feeling comfortable in using the GPX.
Today was quite windy so I decided to have a look around instead of waving the stick. With the help of Mr Google, I found some country that I wanted to explore.
This was the first stop on the track:
A quartz reef that was disturbed by forestry. There was a mine here apparently but no evidence of a shaft exists. It may have been filled in years ago.
The area I was looking at was heavily logged in the past couple of years. Although not a pretty sight, it did provide me with some interesting information:
The ground was disturbed with top soil and leaf litter removed in many areas. Some country revealed interesting features that would need further investigation:
Travelling along the track, the country changed all of a sudden:
Pretty exciting stuff... The high level tertiary gravels from an ancient river bed. This is definitely worth a closer look.
Have a look at what came into view next:
Why wasn't this area of forest cleared? Everything else was. Upon looking, the answer was obvious:
A series of shafts and tunnels that were constructed to get to the gold lying at the bottom of the old river bed.
For me it was a top afternoon out. You would like to think that no one else has been to this area for a hundred years or so. The reality is that thousands of people probably have. I would expect that many PA members have been there on numerous occasions but it was a first for me and that makes it special. I reckon that a few pieces of yellow are still to be pulled out of the ground in this region. It will just take some work. (No, you did not get it all)
Playtime with the toy will follow in the next couple of weeks.
Cheers for now
Les
