Advice please - Starting out in WA

Good Aftrnoon All,
I have only used a detector one time on a trip with my 4wd club and enjoyed it very much.We where lucky enough to be invited to camp on a
lease near Sandstone.My wife and i are aprouching retirement age and are very keen to learn about prospecting using metal detectors.any advice regarding what detector to start with and posibly joining a club to learn from others with the same interests would be a start.We live in Mandurah WA and love going bush any time i get time off of work.Any advise would be very welcome to get us started.

G'day Hawk, Welcome to the forum! Detecting is a very enjoyable past time/hobby. It can be very rewarding even without gold finds, as you state you love to be in the bush, this is just another reason for me to be swinging a detector enjoying our Australian bush and native fora and fauna.
There are some other forum members from your area and may well give you some sound advice.

Meanwhile here is some info on clubs in WA https://golddetecting.forumotion.net/t75-wa-nt-prospecting-clubs

My advice on a detector would be to buy the latest model detector that you can afford.
Don't hesitate to ask any questions that you have, members here are more than willing to share thier knowledge.

Cheers

Hi Hawke
Goldstalkers advice of joining a club is very sound.There is only one brand of machine I would recommend for gold detecting and thats minelab PI machines.They were when they first came out very expensive but now good secondhand machines are 1/2 to 1/3 of there original price.There are 3 series of Minelab PI machines.The SD series SD2000 2100 and 2200 .For ease of operation the sd2200 with auto ground balancing is ahead of the other 2.Then the gp series Gpexreme gp3000 and gp3500.These three are no nonsense detectors and a reliable mid price alternative to their dearer cousins the gpxseries.The gpxseries includes the GPX4000,GPX4500 and GPX4800 and GPX5000.These are fully adjustable machines.
If you can get recommendations from members in clubs.It can also be worthwhile to hire before you buy.
Hope this helps
Cheers Dig

Gday Hawk

Welcome to the forum, there is an apla branch detecting club here in Mandurah, they meet once a month I believe at the CWA hall in Cooper st, their meetings are advertised in the local paper the week prior to the meeting.

I will see what I can find out re contact details for the club president if you are interested as they do detecting trips and outings and its easier to learn the ropes when you are with other people.

Feel free to contact me if you want any information.

cheers

stayyerAU