New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

Any body been up to the 12 mile lately? I went up there today for the first time in 8 months or so - some bloody cu*t has dredged out nearly the entire length of the public fossicking area! I walked the creek right up to the bridge near Maori gully and it's been worked nearly all the way up, the only bit remaining is near the car park possibly 100 meters or so. Wankers....

Rant over

Did manage to find a bit that they had missed though...

i go up there a fair bit so i hope you're not directing such bad language in my direction.

many of us have nowhere to go but public areas if we want to use a sluice box or similar hand tools.

i think if you ask about you will find that that creek has been sniped by guys with wetsuits, going from crevice to crevice.

such is permitted in this area. the tailings from the terraces that still clog the creek bed have been disturbed that way.

the second reason the creek is full of debris is there have been several rockfalls into the creek. the area has experienced some huge winds in the last couple of years. this has dislodged big trees that have taken a lot of soil and rock into the creek. one of these slips has just recently been fixed where the track up was completely gone. DOC have had a contractor blasting a lot of rock to build a wider loop track which saw more rock block the stream. now there has been loads of rain i'd say that the bigger water flows have most likely broken through any new obstructions.

i've only once seen a dredge in the creek. some bugger was under the highway bridge at the crack of dawn on a sunday.

i'd say it was probably common practice up there in quieter times.

you wouldn't get away with much nowadays there as the track is built to a higher standard now and sees loads of walkers from the campground across the road, as well as many guided walkers.

a couple of local guys have a claim upstream now also. they will dredge that but sure glad i'm not involved in hauling all the gear needed up that creek. there would have to easier vehicle accessed locations.

there's a load of issues involving many government departments. i believe the permit gives you the right to mine. then doc need an access agreement. that means money. and liability insurance etc etc. just because the tracks there you can't just freely walk your gear up it without paying doc first. unfortunately. you could do it but you would get caught out eventually in such a spot i reckon.

as for the rocks, some of those must have been restacked many times over. every time it floods it all slides back in.

i'm not sure if you would find it as bad the further up the gorge you go. it's further from the road, plus its too rough for most and too far to carry heavy gear. hence the sniping technique used.

i think you will find the evidence of working has been building up over quite a few years. i think if they didn't stack the rocks to the side you wouldn't have a chance of getting to the bottom. if you look at the early miners massive rock walls up there in a few spots you can see where snipers have tried to dig down alongside the rocks. bloody deep stuff.

they did wash down a good sized hill up near the hut. all that plus some went down the creekbed. the 12 mile delta camp ground is built on the alluvial fan of those tailings. all the fines washed out there and the bigger rocks were stacked as they didn't travel too well downstream because of there weight.

if you look for an old map from the early days you will see the delta was actually a bay. amazing what the harnessing of water can achieve.

how far up did you go? the base of the big bouldery waterfall section?

i've been hanging out to get up there but there's been a laod of water flowing most of summer so far. the massive rains the other day probably have prolonged the situation.

i did a stint there in winter when the water was really low but it wasn't so good for the health in a damp dark rocky gorge. there weren't as many sandflies then though so one bonus!

was too hot here again so headed out to the creek. al i got was fly shit but at least is was a lot cooler there. so much tailings.

was a great day out until 2 big w**k tanks full of foreigners turned up. saw them all coming. was like a couple of dozen of them all young guys. decided to nearly stand on top of me. never come across such a bunch of arrogant w****kers to tell the truth. didn't get a word from any of the pr**ks. no hello, nothing, just vacant stares. perhaps they were from israel or somewhere like that. they sure had some flash camera gear. a vastly different scenario from all the nice folk you usually come across and end up chatting away the day with.

i don't think these ones even knew what i was doing. maybe they thought i was mental or something. perhaps i was as the sandflies were starting dinner and seemed to be worked up with the heat. bloody insect spray didn't even work. time to switch back to the bushmans brand. that stuff sticks like noting and hardly comes off in a hot shower. don't want to think what the DEET in it does to you after using is in vast quantities daily.

In Mexico, in the coastal areas, they swore black & blue that drinking copious quantities of tequila would keep the mozzies at bay.

Hi all,
I am new to the forum so not sure if this is the right place to ask, but anyone knows the owners of the claim on this river and how to contact them.
I am planning to hike up to lake Isabel more for the scenery than anything else and contemplating on bringing my metal detector with me just in case I fill lucky.
Also if anyone has any comments or thoughts about this I would much appreciate it.

Simons right about it being a hard walk, make sure you wear bright colours as it's one of the most poached areas by hunters.

Doc only allow 4 guns max in there at a time, so people just waddle in up Jessie's peak way. You can get into Maori gully from the back of closeburn it's way easier and avoids all the bush, most hunters go in that way or further found rat point. There's heaps of deer at the top and chamois. My neighbor shot 3 hinds and I got a trophy head stag from there a few months back. There's heaps of nice spots to stop and have a pan too, we found colour right up the top of Maori gully, so will defo get back in there when the snow recedes a bit more. But like you say it's easy to get lost if your not local and know the landmarks.