New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

great tips guys thanks for the info. I am in the USA so I told my friends about this forum \o/

Hi starflash, where abouts is 12 mile creek? Is that in the upper South Island area?

Thanks Gavin. Bloody boguns smashing in windows. I might pre-emptively "trash" my campervan before heading South.... that way the idiots might think nothing of value would be inside.... there wouldn't be anyway because anything yellow will be staying on my person 24/7 ...lol

Edited by user Tuesday, 21 December 2010 4:44:29 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

yep 12 mile creek in queenie, i have a locked lid to my ute so no one can look in and see what i have. if parking up leave the glove box open and empty, so the opportunists can see there is nothing worth taking. thats what living in auckland has taught me.

roman holiday its not what your ride looks like, its what they can see inside it, the buggers are generally just kids looking out for a smash and grab opportunity.

Edited by user Thursday, 23 December 2010 4:16:43 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Hello people.
I may have mentioned this tip earlier?
It concerns having a hot drink (cup of tea/coffee/soup/or a can of baked beans etc) whilst out in the bush and away from your main camp.

You’ve all seen those fire lighters in your supermarket haven’t you?
Well consider carrying a couple of these with you in a plastic bag.
“Budget” brand are quite good as they are like a treated cardboard, and don’t tend to disintegrate in your pack, or stink it out!
Any brand of firelighters will work, but some smoke like hell, and really discolor your container, and taint your drink unless its covered by a lid of sorts.

You can buy proper little realsmall fire lighters from a camping/sporting store if you want, and they have a tiny stove to burn them in. Small and lightweight too.

Carry your coffee/ tea bags or whatever with you too, and add water when needed,(there’s usually water available close by. If not, carry a small bottle of it with you.)
O.K. To use these to heat something up, you make a little circle of say 50 mil sized rocks that you can comfortably sit your containers base on, stick a couple of firelighters under it, (of course you light one of them first!!!) and have your boil-up brew.

These firelighters are ideal for starting the main campfire too, if the woods a bit damp.

Give it some thought!

Cheers---Colin.

Are there any rules of thumb that people follow about drinking stream water. I'm thinking if the stream is up in national park areas away from farms it should be safe to drink [even unboiled]... and that lower streams surronded by farms might need boiling in order to avoid gardia etc [I'm assuming boiling will sterilize any nasties?]

Edited by user Thursday, 20 January 2011 4:41:26 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Thanks temp... didn't realise you needed to boil the water quite that long.

Just bare in mind 1080 poison is used in many areas throughout NZ and can make you quite ill if there are large concentrations of it in streams where drops have occurred recently.

I've hunted, fished, fossicked and drank the water in catchments where 1080 has been used for years and never had any problems. I would have absolute confidence in drinking water from a stream where 1080 has been used. Do the math - an open water supply (i.e. the water is flowing rather than static) would need to have literally thousands of kgs of 1080 dumped in it to be accumulate the lethal dose necessary to harm a human.

Granted you DO have to be careful when taking dogs into 1080 areas but only because dogs are very susceptible to ingesting uneaten baits and secondary poisoning from scavenging carcasses if they're not under control, but honestly how hard can it be to follow the simple rules and precautions stated on signs at entry points? I go duck shooting with three mates each year and two years running the council has done a 1080 job in the catchment that drains into the swamp we shoot. Between us we have five dogs and we've never had any kind of problem.

In terms of drinking water from streams in the bush - I would be more cautious due to the very real possibility of giardia in some areas. I've had it on two ocassions (possibly three but not diagnosed the thrid time) and I certainly wouldn't care to have it again.

Hi karl
if it,s so safe why are all the wild game depo,s shut up these days..?? and id like to point out that doc are can be idiots i rember 2 years ago they droped a heap of 1080 around marlbrough that was supposed to go to the west coast so that stuff took twice as long to break down because it had weather proof stuff onit.
iv had a dog poisond and a few of my mate,s have to...well after the specified time frame even farmers have lost dogs,cattle to the stuff i would say to you that if you spent enuf time around those areas with your dogs even after the time frame doc tell you youl have a poisond dog just a matter of time..those opossums can mummyfie especially in dry areas.
doc are now testing the stuff at stuart island spraying it onto leaves to kill deer.
im not a fan of the stuff at all...