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Time Of Year - Best Time For Fossicking
kiwi_harley  
Posted : Thursday, 9 April 2015 8:17:59 PM(UTC)
kiwi_harley

Rank: Gold Dust

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Joined: 4/04/2015(UTC)
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New Zealand
Location: New Plymouth
Hi all,

First of all, hi to all as this is my first post on this forum. As I have never done any gold fossicking and my experience of the South Island in the colder months is non-existant I would like to know the best month of the year to search in the Queenstown area ( or any area when I think about it!). I'm thinking that there must be times when the rivers are full and I guess they're probably fairly cool.

Thanks in advance,

Bruce & Julie

Edited by user Thursday, 9 April 2015 8:55:33 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified
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nafcd  
Posted : Thursday, 9 April 2015 10:22:43 PM(UTC)
nafcd

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New Zealand
Location: ashburton

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i have been known to go to the coast public areas in winter and yes water is cold but once your hands go numb you don't notice it. lol. starts to warm up October ish.
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Kittik  
Posted : Friday, 10 April 2015 6:04:26 PM(UTC)
Kittik

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New Zealand
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I know overseas a lot of people love the spring thaw, Im guessing to do with the excess of water coming from the top of the mountains and the things that the water bring with it..

I've only panned my own property but last week filled up a few of those massive flexi tub buckets with gravel straight from the stream, just incase we get a decent amount of rain soon. At some point that stream will be too deep and fast for me to pan, so I figured I'd put some in reserve so I can pan through winter up at the house if I feel like it.
I've just got a huge 50 litre bucket that I use to pan stuff out and in to.. its also handy when I'm stuck at the house and bored. Gives me something to do.
But yeah, up until recently we've been in a drought, which means I can access places that I can't when the creek is higher. To do what I've been doing in the same spot, I probably would need a dredge..plus I can dig down quite far while the current is pathetic. So I say Summer is the best time. 😉
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