Hi guys, We had a bit of crap weather at the end of last week. Rain thursday, turned to snow on the friday. Ski fields certainly needed it but got snowed off from work on the friday & it wasnt looking good for a weekend detect. I thought....stuff it....I'll head over to my mates place any way. Mrs JW was away up north & I thought I might try to get in a night detect. My mate doesnt have a phone or computer, living life a bit on the rough side, so there was a chance he may not even be home. MMMMMmmmm....got there & he wasnt.
Oh....bugger....didnt fell like sleeping in my car when it is forecast to be -6. Oh well...there is always the old miners hut Probably full of rats lurking up in the rafters this time of the year.
The weather was starting to break & there wasnt snow as low down here. I Called in to see the farmer to let him know that I was around & if he saw lights driving around up on the hills it was just me. That was all good so off I went. To cut a long story short.....I got nothing on the gold front. I guess I shouldnt have been surprised as I had been over this ground so many times.....& with the 17 x 11NF. Before going to the old stone miners hut I went back to my mates place. Thank god he was home.
Hit the slopes next morning.
Looking down the old dry gully workings & the humps of the turned over piles with little patches of snow here & there & in the sheltered side of the thyme bushes & tussock.
I hadnt been down these workings with the NF 17 x 11 but had done pretty well in the past with smaller coils. I only snaged one piece of gold with the 17 x 11. Down in the schist bed rock.
Looking down the gully & snowy hills in the distance
Looking up the old gully workings
I then moved on to another dry gully further down the hill. I had bought myself a petrol powered brush cutter to chop out some thyme bushes & briar rose bushes & tussock grass that were growing in the old workings & preventing me from getting my coil right down where it needed to be. I spent an hour clearing a slope of the workings where I had found numerous pieces of gold in clear unobstructed areas in the past. I found 4 pieces of gold after clearing the spot.
I got a nice clear mellow signal & one I was in to the rotten schist knew it had to be gold
A few feet away & the same thing. A couple of scrapes & I was on to that rotten schist bed rock & the signal was still there
Another piece of sassy gold Ye Ha
Notice the pile of trimmed off thyme bushes kicked in to a heap
The next signal was a real screamer right next to a thyme bush that I hadnt cut out. I got my pick & cleared the ground right next to the bush where I thought the signal was centred on. No.....still screaming. I then noticed an old 12 gauge shoot gun cartridgel right in the middle of the thyme bush. I picked it out & put it in my pocket. For no reason I scanned the area around the thyme bush again & got a positive mellow signal. Ha...no way...I thought. Dug down in to the dirt
& out came a piece of the good stuff.
I got another couple of little bits off the cleared area so it was well worth doing. Now I can think of a zillion other places where that brush cutter can be put to good use on more old haunts. Only trouble is going to be carrying it & the detector to those spots.
All up 6 bits for just 2.2 grams
Cheers guys & good luck out there
JW .
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