New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

Hi All,
At the beginning of November, my wife and I will be visiting the upper part of the South Island for about 6 days. She will join some friends and do some walks in the Abel Tasman based in Marahau but with my aged knees I will stick to gold panning, probably operating from St Arnaud or thereabouts.
The plan is to explore the available public fossicking sites on the Aorere River, New Creek or Louis Creek and I would greatly appreciate any advice from the experienced which might help to choose from these options. No doubt these public areas have been extensively fossicked over the years so I don’t expect to find much, if anything. That’s OK, for me this is a purely recreational activity and just a few specks that can go into a labelled vial is plenty.
Of course, if anyone can suggest other creeks in this area which could be panned without annoying anybody, that advice would be most welcome too.

Thanks in advance,

Onegram

Hi all,

Returned from my travels in the South Island so time to pen a few lines about the gold-related stuff.

Set up a base in St Arnaud at the Nelson Lakes Motel (and very pleasant it was too) from which to make excursions. The first day off to the Louis Creek area which, according to the maps, looked easily accessible. True enough, drove down the appropriate roads and came to the spot where Louis Creek crosses the Howard Valley Road and which passed through a nicely grassed paddock with clear signs of old upheavals (dredging?). A bit of exploration in the stream produced a few small specks and I left it at that.

The next day was allocated to a look at the Buller River near Buller Gorge which led to a few more small specks although more extensive exploration was limited by a fairly high water level. An interesting meeting happened at the swingbridge site on the upper Buller Gorge. This tourist area, apart from other attractions, has a section on the Buller River where the tourist can have a go at panning. As I had my gear with me I did just that but found only the tiniest of specks which I returned to the river. Walking back with panning gear in hand, I passed an elderly couple. Politely, she asked whether I had “found anything”, I said “only a tiny speck which was too small so I had to throw it back”. A bit of a surprise when she brightly replied “Oh, I didn’t know that there was a size limit on gold”. I couldn’t think of a polite reply and moved on.

Next day was for New Creek but after about 1km on the track I decided it was getting a bit rough on the hire car so turned around. Looking more closely at the maps it became obvious that my earlier panning session on Louis creek had not been done in the designated area and the official section was actually a couple of km further upstream in a regeneration area. Went back, got a few more flakes this time from Lower Louis Creek, not many more than in the unauthorised area but at least they were a bit bigger.

Before heading north to meet up with the rest of the group at Picton, a detour was made to the Pinedale Motor Camp which I had read somewhere was supposed to have a gold panning area available on the Wakamarina River. However, when I got to the camp sign at Canvas Town it had a notice plastered across it, “Camp Closed”. This was a disconcerting turn of events so I wandered down to the nearby hotel to see whether anybody knew what was the situation with the camp. The hotelier thought that the camp owner was “in the Phillipines” but when I explained my problem this very considerate host said “ I can’t help you with the Camp but I can tell you where the Locals go to pan for gold!” This cheered me up no end so he gave me directions which duly led to an easily accessible site on the Wakamarina where a few flakes added to my souvenirs.

Headed down south for more tourist activities which allowed a little time for some panning in the Queenstown area. Stayed in a curious place called “Little Paradise” on the Glenorchy – Queenstown Road about halfway between the two. The owners, Thomas and Christy have made remarkable job of this spot. The extensive gardens are a pleasure to wander through and the house and immediate surrounds showcase the creative talent that Thomas has applied to the place over many years. I don’t know how to describe it, I can only echo the words of a guest who was overheard saying to his wife “ we will never see a place like this again”.
Anyway, drove over towards Glenorchy crossing a river as we approached this town with its rich history of gold finds. The main road in Glenorchy followed the river for a few hundred metres so ducked down a side lane to the gravel flats and tried out the pan. No luck though I suspect that I never went deep enough to give it a chance. A local later suggested that I might have done better upstream of the bridge. On the way to Queenstown paused at 12 Mile Creek. Got a few specks and probably is worth another look on a later visit.

It is always a delight to travel around the South Island and enjoy its awesome scenery, getting a few flakes of gold is a bonus.

Onegram

Edited by user Friday, 28 November 2014 3:13:56 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Update

If I had to choose the out of the three I reckon I'd hit New Creek. I've only had a brief play there myself though so not incredibly familiar with the location.

Thanks 1864Hatter!
New Creek area it will be, leave a couple specks until November.

O.

The specks are safe, I reside in Auckland now....

Hi Onegram,

Have you got a 4WD? if you do then new creek is the spot, if you don't have a 4WD then I wouldn't chance it on Porika Road, its unmaintained, potholed, rutted, and there is one steep section which is all clay no metal which even a 4wd would struggle with if it was on road tyres. Then there is the climb down from the roadside to the creek itself proper, there is good gold to be had and it hasn't been gone over as intensively as any of the other spots. 1864's pick shows what is capable with a weekend, two people, and moving a lot of rock, I have had good luck there but with only a 2WD ute I can only get out there when the weather has been just right, and we have had a really wet winter.

The lower end of Louis has been good to me (the old Louis mining society claim), playing by their rules digging by hand and using a river powered sluice, the rocks you have to move and bigger, heavier and more plentiful, but all the gravel in that lower area is littered with flood gold, it doesn't matter where you dig you will find something, although some spots are better than others, the deeper you dig the better the returns but it is a fair distance to bedrock on the lower end. Sluicing is the way to go as you will not move enough material through just a pan to make your time worthwhile, I have also just started using a 2 meter wrecking bar and swear by it for going deeper, prying out large 'keyed in' rocks to get to the good gravel around and under them.
The upper end of Louis has been gone over heavily during the depression, its a must see if you like the history side of this hobby, the tailing piles are something to be marvelled at, most of the river is exposed bedrock so its a different sort of panning up there, a few old boys have had rather good luck scratching around cracks and using suckers then panning that out.

Edited by user Wednesday, 29 October 2014 12:04:45 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

In that case the upper end of Louis creek is going to be the go for you, going over the crevices in the bedrock, usual light duty crevice tools like a sucker, a flat scrapper, garden claw, small metal hand shovel, a sniper scope made out of pvc pipe, all light stuff you can fit into a backpack. There is a campsite down at the end of Louis creek where you can park up and just walk up the creek (expect to get your feet wet, gumboots are the go) until you start coming up to tailing piles ~2-3km past that the river is stripped back to bedrock where you can try your luck in the crevices.

Hi all,

Returned from my travels in the South Island so time to pen a few lines about the gold-related stuff.

Set up a base in St Arnaud at the Nelson Lakes Motel (and very pleasant it was too) from which to make excursions. The first day off to the Louis Creek area which, according to the maps, looked easily accessible. True enough, drove down the appropriate roads and came to the spot where Louis Creek crosses the Howard Valley Road and which passed through a nicely grassed paddock with clear signs of old upheavals (dredging?). A bit of exploration in the stream produced a few small specks and I left it at that.

The next day was allocated to a look at the Buller River near Buller Gorge which led to a few more small specks although more extensive exploration was limited by a fairly high water level. An interesting meeting happened at the swingbridge site on the upper Buller Gorge. This tourist area, apart from other attractions, has a section on the Buller River where the tourist can have a go at panning. As I had my gear with me I did just that but found only the tiniest of specks which I returned to the river. Walking back with panning gear in hand, I passed an elderly couple. Politely, she asked whether I had “found anything”, I said “only a tiny speck which was too small so I had to throw it back”. A bit of a surprise when she brightly replied “Oh, I didn’t know that there was a size limit on gold”. I couldn’t think of a polite reply and moved on.

Next day was for New Creek but after about 1km on the track I decided it was getting a bit rough on the hire car so turned around. Looking more closely at the maps it became obvious that my earlier panning session on Louis creek had not been done in the designated area and the official section was actually a couple of km further upstream in a regeneration area. Went back, got a few more flakes this time from Lower Louis Creek, not many more than in the unauthorised area but at least they were a bit bigger.

Before heading north to meet up with the rest of the group at Picton, a detour was made to the Pinedale Motor Camp which I had read somewhere was supposed to have a gold panning area available on the Wakamarina River. However, when I got to the camp sign at Canvas Town it had a notice plastered across it, “Camp Closed”. This was a disconcerting turn of events so I wandered down to the nearby hotel to see whether anybody knew what was the situation with the camp. The hotelier thought that the camp owner was “in the Phillipines” but when I explained my problem this very considerate host said “ I can’t help you with the Camp but I can tell you where the Locals go to pan for gold!” This cheered me up no end so he gave me directions which duly led to an easily accessible site on the Wakamarina where a few flakes added to my souvenirs.

Headed down south for more tourist activities which allowed a little time for some panning in the Queenstown area. Stayed in a curious place called “Little Paradise” on the Glenorchy – Queenstown Road about halfway between the two. The owners, Thomas and Christy have made remarkable job of this spot. The extensive gardens are a pleasure to wander through and the house and immediate surrounds showcase the creative talent that Thomas has applied to the place over many years. I don’t know how to describe it, I can only echo the words of a guest who was overheard saying to his wife “ we will never see a place like this again”.
Anyway, drove over towards Glenorchy crossing a river as we approached this town with its rich history of gold finds. The main road in Glenorchy followed the river for a few hundred metres so ducked down a side lane to the gravel flats and tried out the pan. No luck though I suspect that I never went deep enough to give it a chance. A local later suggested that I might have done better upstream of the bridge. On the way to Queenstown paused at 12 Mile Creek. Got a few specks and probably is worth another look on a later visit.

It is always a delight to travel around the South Island and enjoy its awesome scenery, getting a few flakes of gold is a bonus.

Onegram