wa in summer

Hi just looking for experienced opinions about going to WA in summer.
It would seem that if I want to go across this year that it will be in early summer and I am aware that the temp gets very high but was am still interested in the idea of going over to try my luck.
Would it be feasable to go over there and detect in the early post dawn hours and then get out of the sun and come back late in the day say 4pm and go into the early evening.
I would be living in a tent under a large tarp and am thinking that if out of the sun it would be relatively ok from 10 to 3 ish..... is dry heat easier to bear if under good shade than humid heat or am I kidding myself.

Good question and am interested in this one myself.
Having detected here in NSW in temps up to 47deg in summer, (dry heat hot winds ) the ground has much vegetation over it and very little reflected heat.
Id have to say WA may not be quite the same with little vegetation covering much of the detectable ground.

artrix wrote:
I would be living in a tent under a large tarp and am thinking that if out of the sun it would be relatively ok from 10 to 3 ish..... is dry heat easier to bear if under good shade than humid heat or am I kidding myself.

I would say you are kidding yourself

You may well be able to detect in the early pre dawn for a few hours before it gets toooooooo hot. If you don't have an air con to keep you cool out there during the day time temps I'm thinking that dehydration and heat exhaustion will sap your energy, by about day 2 and you won't even be able to detect.

You may survive if you are lucky and that is about all.

cheers dave

hi  
 i`ve not been to wa in a while, but i know from experience that sitting under a tarp in summer,particully on a no wind day is like sitting in an oven. it is HEAPS hotter under the tarp.the heat that radiates off that huge solar collector is unbelievable. it is much cooler sitting under the shade of a tree. i heard a story years ago, i don`t know if its an urban mith or true, about a guy that was detecting wa in summer and he found the coolest place to have a rest during the heat of the day was underneath his cruiser.one day he woke up to find a snake coiled up beside him having a sleep.
 

Hi Artrix,

If you only go as far north as say Leinster you are looking at about 32-36 oC for the average maximum temps and only down to 20-24 at night. It is slightly cooler the lower you go.

So that is not too bad but you would need to be sleeping on a raised mat inside a mossie net to be comfortable at nights.

If you go further north it would not be enjoyable at all, and help could be a long way off with little traffic on the tracks off the the main highways. It is just not worth it. The hot reflective rock will roast your feet and burn you and rain may strand you for weeks. I think Marble Bar has many days where the temp is around 30 all through the night in Summer.

Check out the BOM meteorology website to gain monthly temp stats/rainfall etc for any places you may want to go to.

Tributer

thanks for your replies ..... not looking too promising is it.

Gday Artrix


All I can say is that you need to be really prepared if you want to detect here in WA during the summer, I used to detect during the summer when I was a bit younger and tougher, now that I am an old fart I can only take about a week and I am utterly knackered.

I dont bother anymore as I dont enjoy it at all, sometimes the temps can reach the high forties, and combined with a wind that blows night and day for weeks on end you will soon find that you are completely sapped of energy and you can only really detect for a few hours a day, the rest of your time is spent trying to stay cool and chase the flies away, apart from that you drink and drink and drink, and still feel thirsty, and then feel water logged but still just as thirsty.

Having experiences these conditions first hand I have no doubt in my mind that if an inexperienced and unprepared person got lost or broke down during these conditions they would surely perish.

my best advice to you is to come over in the winter months, I am in the bush at this very moment, just south of Cue, and its been quite warm during the day and cold in the night, and even in these conditions if you were to get lost and wander about for a day or two you could quite easily find yourself in trouble.

cheers

stayyerAU

maybe its off to victoria instead

Hi there, the simple answer is yes you can detect in WA in the summer months. People work over there all year round. Having said that, those people are mostly in controled inviroments. Heat stroke, dehidration and disorientation are your constant enamies and the danger of these become extreme the further you go inland and up. If you have never been in that part of the country before and need to ask questions like yours, you are already unprepared. It really is tough on the body and it takes a hell of a lot of planning, and most times you will find the trip was not worth the risks taken. I don't know you but I would hate to hear a prospecter was lost then perished in that part of the country for the sake of maybe finding some gold. It can not be stressed enough how deadly the enviroment can be there in the summer months.
Why not try say Clermont QLD if you want a summer challenge? very few are around at that time of year and you have just as much chance of finding gold. It is tough going there in the heat but not as unforgiving as outback WA. Take care and good luck!

K2

Gday Artrix,
Well the Summer Heat on the goldfields of WA has to be seen to be believed. I can tell you that last Summer in Cue I managed about 1 hour early in the morning, a few times a week. Not very far from home (quick exit to the aircon) We have regular temps of 40+ degrees, and quite often it dosen't cool down that much overnight. It really takes all the fun out of the hobby . If you can maybe head somewhere a bit cooler you will enjoy the experience alot more.
Goodluck with your trip anyway,
Shell

Well that settles it, I'm gunna have to walk around with a car door.


If it gets to hot, I'll just wind down the window.

Gday Artrix


Just wanted to add a couple of more things, yes people do work up here all year round but very few people are seen out and about in the extreme temps, and because there are so few people about when its like that you are really on your own as there is very little traffic about except for on the main roads.

The other thing you have to be aware of is bush fires, some areas I have been in to during the summer would be a death trap if a fire was to go through there, one way in and one way out, and nowhere to hide, you might have seen it on the news a couple of years back when several truckies got caught on the road to Kalgoorlie and were killed, I have prospected through that area and the bush was burnt out for as far as the eye could see.

One of the main problems is that the scrub in some places is that thick you would very quickly become disorientated and lose your way, you have to pre plan your exit strategy, one time during a trip out to Mt Jackson, when we were getting temps as high as 47.6 during the day and 30 odd during the night, with a constant searing wind blowing day and night, we had many issues, the fridges dont like to work in those conditions so everything we had was warm, sleeping is a problem as you would doze off but keep waking up, it got worse one night as I woke to the smell of smoke, bailing out of the camper van to investigate I could see nothing but could still smell a vague wiff of smoke, could have been coming from miles away.

Anyway that kept me awake the rest of the night, there is only one road to run away on from where we were, either north or south, and it would be too bad if the fire front was coming from the east with the wind behind it, there is one dam in the area and the ground is clear for some distance around it so that was our plan if worst came to worst, leave the van and bolt for the dam, that trip taught me how dangerous detecting in the warm months can be and how quickly things could change.

I am not trying to scare anyone from coming over but use your heads and do it in the cooler months as you will enjoy the trip a lot more.


cheers

stayyerAU

All good information and I think it will be as I said before Victoria this summer.
thanks all

Artrix "NO" more Gold left in Victoria, all gone, go to NSW plenty there. "No just joking mate" But we do also have very hot wheather down here as well in Summer, in the 40's some days,( look at Black Saturday) but not like WA conditions, as most of the gold fields here are close to towns and a cold beer or 2 and more bush to camp in, but in Summer this is not recommended, possible bush fires. Early in the morning and late afternoon are good times in summer down here as well, and don't forget we have day light saving at that time of the year. You can get in a couple of hours after tea when it is cooler.

Wombat

in a few words its Hot Very f**king Hot over here in Summer!

Wombat wrote:Artrix "NO" more Gold left in Victoria, all gone, go to NSW plenty there. "No just joking mate" But we do also have very hot wheather down here as well in Summer, in the 40's some days,( look at Black Saturday) but not like WA conditions, as most of the gold fields here are close to towns and a cold beer or 2 and more bush to camp in, but in Summer this is not recommended, possible bush fires. Early in the morning and late afternoon are good times in summer down here as well, and don't forget we have day light saving at that time of the year. You can get in a couple of hours after tea when it is cooler.

Wombat

cheers mate sounds good .... I must admit I have been in Victoria on a 40 degree day and have found it easy to handle than the humid days we get up here in Brisbane

Funny story, When I went to Brisbane a few years ago they were all hanging it on the Victorian, saying you won't handle the heat.....well when they were saying how hot it is and hopping in the pool, I was just taking off my jumper and saying you can't swim in this cold weather!!
It's not been hot yet up there in the four trips I've been up there.

A bloke should buy a refridgerated pantech to take west.

Hope to see you in Vic this summer!!
Cheers

hi artrix,
the only way we survive in summer is go out at 4 or 5pm detect till dark, or sometimes in the dark,[ drink lots] i use a camal back, go to bed get up before dark have brekkie detect till 11am jump in the car turn on air con and come home, i know its a bit easyer living in the goldfields, kalgoorlie in summer can get well over 40 deg... gim ...

GoldstalkerGPX wrote:Funny story, When I went to Brisbane a few years ago they were all hanging it on the Victorian, saying you won't handle the heat.....well when they were saying how hot it is and hopping in the pool, I was just taking off my jumper and saying you can't swim in this cold weather!!
It's not been hot yet up there in the four trips I've been up there.

A bloke should buy a refridgerated pantech to take west.

Hope to see you in Vic this summer!!
Cheers

Cheers mate If I get down there I will let you know and maybe catch up for a beer.
As for the weather I have always found hot dry easier on the body then hot and damp

Atrix Victoria could easy be one the hottest places in the country in summer, i remember new years eve a few years ago stinking hot 47 or so and and weve had 49, this summer we may even get 50, people from other states have no idea how hot Victoria does get, in winter we get lots of south westerlys, but in summer theres plenty of north westerlys that come from the red center, and besides as has been said the golds gone, but the gold ground is 5 minutes from the pub

There's numerous accounts of temperatures reaching 50 degrees in the shade out there and these reports go back to the 1800s. I think you'd find it pretty brutal out there in summer. Almost all the serious detectorists get OUT of that area in the summer time and then return as the seasons change again. I'm expecting a fairly harsh but short summer this year. Even up in Tibooburra, they wrote about what was known as "The Killing Heat" in which even people today perish in when their cars break down without enough water etc. Be sure to speak with plenty who have had experience over there in the heat of Summer. Not the winter "tourists" who only visit in the cooler seasons.

Good Luck!

Hell I may give the whole idea away and stay at home and search the internet for porn.........in air conditioning

artrix wrote:Hell I may give the whole idea away and stay at home and search the internet for porn.........in air conditioning

it can get pretty hot but last summer we only had a few realy hot days well above 40...just as long as you have heaps off water and have breaks now and then, and watch out for snakes...you'll be right.....come down stay at a pub or something like that you'll love it...

Atrix, About 10 years ago or better I was comming home from WA after 3 weeks in Kal on the train (had to do it once) and it was 50c outside, the train lost all power other than stopping.
As you could imagine, no air-con, cann't open windows, water hot, beer hot, and worst of all people saying gee it's hot.....Well yeah!!!! I don't know how hot it was inside the train but she was hot.
The trip over was awesome by rail, I should've flew home.

No matter where you go the main thing is water and plenty of it!! Things could heat up a bit too if you choose to stay home....

Cheers

artrix when you get down to vic where about are you going to go? if ya heading down my way we should catch up....

I just got back from taking my kids out to the WA Goldfields for a weekend of detecting.

Nights are very comfortable, and mornings from about sunrise to 11am are perfect.... BUT... then forget doing anything else for the remainder of the day.... the heat just saps all your energy. We chose to do some 4x4 touring in air conditioned comfort.

Personally, wait for the cooler months.

Bushy

Just reading this forum now. If you are coming from the eastern states best time to go is around easter or slightly later if u are travelling right up north in Wa eg Deadmans HIll or Nullagine or Halls creek. It is just to dam hot.

These places are hot enough in the middle of winter. An by september all tourists have gone as have the prospectors due to it warming up fast in the northern latitudes.

I was talking to a guy at Leinster a BHP town from recollection and he said it gets up to 52Celcius out there on the really hot days. They have a very large recreational area and big swimming pool and you see why when they mention those temperatures. Plus everyone is grumpy and on edge half the time.

Better to enjoy your trip and have fun. Did i also mention Marble bar holds the record for over 160 days where the temperature never got under the old 100 degrees farienheit. Even at night.
Kalgoorlie and anywhere 300kms north or south is bearable this time of year Just.

Gday Explorer
Your last post was going okay until you hit the bottom line where you mentioned Kal and areas within 300km of it. No Way. It's well over 40deg out in that country every day now. Anyone venturing there at this time of year is asking for trouble.
I keep my eye on the long range forecasts for a little three or four day window in summer where it drops to the low 30's and then bolt out for a few days but that's about it.
cheers
Brett

PS: Just thought I'd through in a link to one of the weather sites I use http://ozforecast.com.au/cgi-bin/weather.cgi?station=Sandstone.WA&radar
Just enter the town you want the forecast for in the small window in the top left hand section of the page (anywhere in Australia)

I had a very unpleasant heat experience in VIC a couple of years back. Actually it was one day before the Black Satuarday.

I ran out of water and stupidly continued to detect for another 2 hours or so in what must have been 45C heat. In addition to that stupid thing i also drank energy drink as it was the only liquid i had on me by then.

I nearly did not make it back to the caravan camp. Seriously, i recon i was moments away from collapsing when i wondered into the CP. thanks to Pete and Willie at Dunolly CP for putting a block of ice onto my neck and dragging me into shade. Saved my life!

So yeah, VIC gets hot.

Cheers,

wonder how the old boys did it in the 1890's? no artesian bores no vehicles no epirbs. they did have a wheelbarrow but