What I hate about the Gold Fields

I hate the fact they are so far away from me !!!!
I have jobs on most Sat nights , so its really hard to get on site with only sunday to get there and get back before monday......... bugger , I just want to go out every day
With my nearest worth while place to go with the detector either Hill End or Ophir , its a 3 hour drive from home at best.
Anyway I guess I just have to kill my time up in the shed....... going to make a super sluice for my QLD trip later in the year...... WIll post up some pics as they come to hand.

its definitely the definition of frustration though....2 4500's and no place to go......grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Hey Harb
Then move to the goldfields and live right on them as I do... trouble is once the novelity wears off u hardly go out... and u get sick of people knocking on your door asking to detect down the back of your property...

funny thing is, both myself and my wife grew up in the gold fields, but never thought to much about them then, oh well, as they say , to much of a good thing is bad too.....

Gday Harb
Similar problem here but it's not time and distance - it's simply too hot now in the goldfields. 42+ just about everyday and I'm starting to tear at the bit waiting for some cooler weather.
cheers
Brett

Hard

This Hobby is a 7 days a week hobby if I am not out swinging I'am hard at work researching place's that I have plans to go so for every hour you can't get out there in the goldfields because there to far away then put that time in getting as much info as you can.

Yep, you're right Detrack but I've just about GoogleEarthed/Tengraphed and Gold and Ghosted myself to death. There's nothing like being there. S'pose I could load some more cords into the GPS
cheers
Brett

Yeah I agree....... I have so much info complied now on the various gold fields..... even obtained The 4 Gold and Ghosts books, and always find myself in spare time looking for good spots.
To be totally honest, I get as much out of the research as I do out of the detecting..... I find it great fun, and can't seem to get enough info.

When you live some distance from gold it is worth trying to organise 3 or 4 days detecting at a time (if you can do it). It takes time to suss out an area. Also its good to plan some long winter detecting trips if you have the luxury and resources to do it.

There are a few of my friends who normally only get a weekend in which to detect and we normally detect from 7 pm when we arrive to about 2am Saturday morning. Do a couple hours on sat morning , siesta and hit it hard on saturday night.... You get the idea. The strategy give you maximum time with your coil on the ground and low EMI, however you have to make sure you stay awake on the Sunday arvo drive home.

Tributer

Hi Harb,

I can understand your frustration.Many people enter this game with very little time on their hands to pursue
it properly.Money we can work around,but finding the time to research areas,to become one with your machine,understanding all it's capabilities,and then swinging a coil all day under the elements,whilst trying to work out possible productive ground,from duffer,takes a hell of allot of ones time,and unfortunately time, is the key factor above all else in this game.


Happy Prospecting.

I'm slowly working it so I get more time.......... soon I hope, but dam its frustrating when you are keen as to get out there !!

Only 3 hrs my trips are 4-4.5 hrs each way for a weekend, lucky sometimes i get away early Fridays.

As Tributer has said 3-4 days trips are good way to do things,and you do need that little extra time to have a good look. With short run and grab trips you will tend to go back to old spots you know and have got gold from (human nature) so you can fall into a trap of just foot slogging the same old grd.

To me i dont mind short weekend raids (i treat them more a social event, or piss up) but any serious stuff is done in 2-3 week blocks, you need this time to eliminate what you think is a good possiable area/areas.
As for research, all well and good and can pay off but try and narrow down were you want to go,researching left right and centre of areas youl never go too is pretty pointless exercise and remember your not the only one looking at these old reports/maps/mining company reports.
So pick an area and cover it well.
Regards
John

got to agree... 4 hrs minimum each way and like the last trip, rained out! but the social side of it more than made it worth while.
The good lord invented car head lights so you can leave a gold field at 3am and be back for a 7am start

Gday


This game is one that relies on time spent on the ground as much as time spent in research, its only by getting on to the ground that you find out if the research has been worth the effort, sometimes when you arrive at an area of interest you find it dissapointing for many reasons, sometimes its because it is not a pristine as you first thought it was and its been hammered with crap laying everywhere.

Generally these days I tend to target areas that are of little interest to others and mostly where people only drive through them to get somewhere else, but you still really need the time on the ground to work the place out, each and every area is different and some places take a little longer to reveal their secrets so they need more than a few days sometimes needing more than a couple of weeks of slow methodical groundwork to start to produce any gold.

My closest area that I have been targetting is about 7 hours away, so I dont go unless I plan to spend at least two weeks there, if you were new to the area I would be surprised if you found anything there over three or four days as there are only a few spots in the area that have produced gold to date and it has taken some time to locate it so I doubt whether anyone would stumble into them.

cheers


stayyerAU

G'Day StayyerAu.

Well said.I've had many a frustrating days on new ground,with nothing to show for it.But,even when all else fails,you've got to believe it's there and keep grinding away at it,or whilst swinging a coil,start yelling words as i do;"CUM ARN,YOU CAN DO IT". until something pops up.



Happy Prospecting.

Same boat, 4 to 5 hrs to get there.
We looked at buying a property in Dunolly a couple of years ago but we would have had to sell our house and even if i could bring myself to pack the rods and cray pots up i'd never drag the missus and kids away from the beach.

Tuna i've done that trip home in the middle of the night. Left early morning, 5 hrs to get there, 2 hrs detecting then jarred my back. I managed to drag myself back to the wagon where i sat until dark telling myself i'll be alright in the morning. When i couldn't get the swag out the back i thought i'd be right sleeping in the drivers seat, about 11.30pm i came to my senses.

Brett

Why is WA. so far from QLD? john.