New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

Thought i would start my own section.

Above all it will keen all my stuff in one place.

Off to a great start by leaving the Go Pro camera in the truck. It was a shit day but improved once i got out there.

The Go Pro camera for those unfamiliar with it is a little camera that comes in a waterproof and shockproof case, so ideal for the outdoors. It weight little and is small. it can shoot all sorts of HD video modes, plus it does still photos. You can even set it up to take so many shots a second. it will keep shooting until your card is full, and you can get some pretty big cards.

Well, i have had my eye on the nevis bluff for a while. walked up the track on the east side and down to the gibbston back road last summer. there is also a track continuing on the goes to coal pit saddle, the doolans, and doolan's creek and the nevis.

Today i went up the little dry creek bed under the bluff on the gibbston side. i parked by the gravel heap across the road but you could actually drive in as the fence has been removed and there is plenty of parking in the lower section.

i had my eye on a poplar tree. this is why i wanted to have a look here. turned out it was just a poplar tree growing in a creek bed. usually poplars are planted near old huts/ruins/walls etc. not this time.

kept on uphill. rosehip was everywhere. got thru and it thinned out higher up a little. I was now looking for round stones, meaning the river had been up here in the distant past. no luck there either. just one massive slip. big slabs seen later were just laying on packed dirt. all on big angles downslope.

i did however get to the bedrock cliff/outcrop at the south edge and man it was waterworn. i reckon there would be waterworn stone there but just down deep deep under the slip. got several signals. bullet bullets and casings.

i moved on up further and hit the smaller of the 2 dry creek beds. some big boulders and rocks. one good signal turned out to be a short bit of galvanised number 8 wire. i swear someone has littered much of gibbston with this stuff. moved up the other side and up a bit further before turning back. it was still a lot further to go and had stuff to do.

back down in the creek bed i hit another spot. some massive slabs of rock plus a good jam up in the creekbed as high as me easy. decided not to dig it. got no signals either.

one thing i have noticed this season is the number of rabbits everywhere. with the soft winter i think their population is going to explode this year.

what signs would i need to look for in regards to a volcanic dyke intrusion?

lammerlaw, i'm sure if you have a desire to shoot rabbits by the hundred some farmer would love to have you show up come summer.

jw, here is a map showing the location of the dyke. it's visible 50 metres up the cliff on the cromwell side of the nevis bluff.

http://rsnz.natlib.govt....3_01_0142_0058_ac_01.gif

jw:

got a secret old map!

did you find the dyke?

simon.

Hi Jd, Not sure why you have got no response on here...... The best I can advise you is that I have been gold detecting for several years, in a haphazard part time recreational sort of way. I have tried several detectors for this purpose, some I have used over several years, and read a huge amount on the subject.
Several of the guys on here use the Gold Bug Pro, and have pics of gold they have found with them, which must be a good indication. Maybe they will add to this.....
Go for a Minelab PI machine if you are going to be full time, and can afford it, they are the best available for the job. Otherwise you are on the right track with the Gold Bug Pro, which is what I have. There are other gold machines out there and all have there fans, but the GBPro has been getting good reviews on all the forums. Price, ease of use and it's compact size, light weight make it a pretty good choice. I haven't used mine enough to give you a definitive answer on it's performance, but so far I like it.
Google it for reviews and you will find plenty of them to read. NUGGY

Jd:

my advice is pretty simple. buy what you can afford. do your research.

think about where you will be using the detector and what you will be looking for (gold/ silver coins etc).

think realistically how often you will use the machine. no good buying a $9k gold monster just to have it in use once or twice a year.

detecting is very time consuming. it's something i think you need to spend a good amount of time on to learn your machine.

if you are new to it or have a new machine find someone with the same and learn off each other!

if it's gold you are after get a machine just for gold. if you are in the city and won't get to a gold area much you might be better off with a machine that will find coins as well.

for gold i would personally stick to a fisher gold bug or a minelab. of course there are more brands of good detectors out there (whites, garrett...) a lot is personal preference. some machines and coils may be more suited to ground types in the country of manufacture (i.e.. big coil may be great in the open outback but useless on a rosehip and matagouri covered uneven river terrace in new zealand!

the newer digital machines seem to be the bees knees with many people. just don't rely on it's numbers like it is god.

all the guys around here have non digital machines. i don't know if they are scared of the new technology? most likely they already have a good machine and know its ins and outs.

the gold bug pro would be a good one to start out on. some guys on the forum will tell you about these as they sell them. good to buy off someone locally as you will get support and advice. online purchases will not and you have to remember the added taxes to buy in.

today i went out for a short spell. haven't been out for a while. found nothing until i waved the detector over the track. 3 bit within a couple of metres. biggest bit was .44grams. 58grams all up. was under some tailings. really got to wonder what they missed when they did not wash the rocks. i've never seen so much material left behind. it must have washed off the rocks after they got stacked.