New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

Sounds like a great opportunity to have a meet and catch up.
Might be starting to get a bit cool to persuade the family on the idea though.

for those that are driving down the buller gorge and come to the iron bridge turn right at the bridge follow road and you will come to new creek VERY RICH COLOUR

down the river further a 1oz nugget was taken of the beach last week pity it wasnt me

im working in the mackely river at present so will see what i come up with
so far plenty of pigs goats and the odd deer no gold mind you i havent tried for such

yea but i didnt tell you that it rained all last week didnt get back to camp one day without being wet through

got the quad stuck twice once i had to walk back to the truck 7km to get the shovel to dig it out so that means 7km back to the quad i went out and brought a shovel to put on the quad
only got the truck stuck once but managed to winch out so that wasnt so bad had to put a set of new tyres on at $360 each not as bad as the rangie at 475 each better go and find some more gold
sold some skins last week got $9.75 average so thats not to bad for summer skins

dont remove to much of that gold down there ive got a thar hunt coming up next month so maybe catch up in the spring

Road thru the mackley is in very good condition.Was upgraded recently as towers were being blasted and painted. Road is locked at the new creek end .

I didn't know they had beaver up there! Talking about skins, been spotlighting possums up the fir tree over the chook house at nights. There's a chap sometimes comes round here sticking up some sort of bait test cards to see if we have them. Always thought of them in a comical and cute sense when I lived in Australia. Used to try to emulate the sound they make for years. Waa-a-aa-aa---aaa--a-a-aa-a--aaa how does it go. One time I was camping out in the bush alone in the middle of nowhere, one had a very deep guttural sound, which had me visualising a lion on the Serrengetti (perhaps an escaped panther I shivered?) at about 3am until finally it crawled 6 inches high past my tent. (Maybe it could have been a koala which makes a fearful monsterlike din, or a YOWIE!) A Canadian woman told me the first time she heard one, she thought it was a pervert at the window.

hi ytb8ta7
skins were all summer
$20 for first grade
$16 for 2nd
$10 for 3rd
$5 for 4th
$115 per kg of fur
the possum people
fur dressers & dryers (westland) ltd
20 weld st
hokitika
03 7568090

hope this helps

Interesting - Good that you can get the wee fellow out and about and introduce him to the healthy lifestyle of the outdoors - you dont really want to come across any Beaver in the bush over there do you when you got the wee fellow - personally I am always on the look out for a bit of Beaver or bush when I have gone bush but never so lucky...if that makes sense.

Next time you are at Slab Hut creek you might like to have a look and tell me if there is still a wasp nest with the hole to access the nest beside a stone that has obviously been pushed into the hole to trap them - It didnt work and yours truly got attacked by the little sods and had to leave my gear in the river until they subsided.

Grey Owl - a grand stopry for those who havent heard of him - he used to be a fur trapper and later become an ardent conservationist. He was a paradox and an enigma and all who knew him 'knew' that he was half Amarican Indian and he claimed that he was half Apache. It was only after he died that the truth came out that he was
Archie Belaney, an Englishman who was raised by aunts in Hastings, England.

Regardless of this he was a great man and did great work - a pity that there arent more of him in this world...his story is well worth reading.

thanks for reminding me of Grey Owl - we can all take a leaf from his book and live by his ideals and if we did the world would be a better place.

Edited by user Thursday, 24 May 2012 4:43:47 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

thought better get back onto the subject of gold mining

a couple of photos of summer working the claim

hi steve
thanks for the feed back its good to know people do read my posts

its a pitty its now got snow on the tops but summer will return

my dredge is in the forground its a 5" with 6.5 hp motor the basic modle was a "dredge nz" 5" model that i have put new pontoons on for better stablity in the faster water.
matts a 6" keen with 2 6.5hp motors

HANDY HINT
to anchor your dredge you fill a sack with rocks and tie to the dredge then to move the dredge all you have to do is move the sack

Really interesting stuff Kiwikeith. Enjoy reading your posts. Looks like you have a good lifestyle there on the coast.