Greetings Kiwis!,
(1) Commiserations on the Christchurch earthquakes,
(2) Congratulations on a beautiful country.
I have visited New Zealand about half a dozen times or so, most recently in 2009 to do a little gold panning and am planning to return in the latter part of February for more of the same using Queenstown as a base from which to operate.
Anyway, when I returned to Australia in 2009 I wrote some notes about my experiences for the benefit of a couple local prospecting friends who haven't made it across the Tasman, so far. Having joined your forum recently I thought that some of you might be interested in seeing these notes on your pages......
"Saturday, picked up the hire car after landing at Christchurch about 1a.m. Figured it was not worth the cost or bother of getting a hotel room since was leaving at daybreak anyway for the West Coast so planned to sleep in the car. No doubt a good plan otherwise, but had not realised how cold it was going to get during the night. Not enough clothes available from the luggage so kept on being woken up by cold shins. Daylight finally came, so set off for Greymouth. Crossed over Arthur’s Pass, still pretty cool with mist hanging about in the valleys (picture attached) early in the morning. Some 30km from destination but getting a bit drowsy due to insufficient sleep the previous night so pulled over into a large gravelled rest area(?) surrounded by walls of dense vegetation. On waking somewhat refreshed, noticed a few trails leading into the nearby thicket. On exploring one of these trails heard the sound of running water nearby and soon came across one of New Zealand’s innumerable creeks. Though not strictly on the schedule, with a creek so close by and suitable gear in the car, I thought I might as well do a pan or two (picture). Before too long found a couple of tinies – incentive enough to search a bit more and duly found a slightly better concentration which yielded up a few mgs. Trivial enough amount, but at least it was “from a new area” which, to me, is always gratifying.
Arrived at the lodgings, settled in after exchanging a few pleasantries with “Barry” (the host). Barry seemed mildly interested in the fact that I was going off to pan for gold although he doesn’t do this kind of thing himself. Moved on to the first site on the list,the “Blue Spur” area, in particular Clarke’s Creek near Hokitika, which apparently had been declared an official gold panning area in 2002. Although “a declared fossicking area” no effort seems to have been made to make the location “user friendly”. Found the creek and a way down to it, eventually. Much more reminiscent of an Australian creek having low water(!), and a more
familiar colour of rocks, sediment etc. than most NZ creeks. With some difficulty found a small speck and left it at that since the creek was rather gloomy due to little light getting through dense foliage overhead on this overcast day.
Next, off to Paroa beach, slightly south of our motel and having a history of local gold. Found an area, easily enough, which had an encouraging layer of darker sand on top (picture). Very pleased to find some tiny, tiny specks of barely visible gold in the first pan. I suspect that I might have been having some trouble retaining stuff in the next few pans as it was so small and flat as well. Also found it surprisingly difficult to pan in surf effectively due to constant changes in water level and flow
direction. Also, inevitably got water in my thigh length boots through not keeping a careful eye out for rogue waves. Anyway, for me getting some “beach gold” was a delightful novelty.
Next item on the list was “Moonlight Creek”, another official panning site. Had obtained some directions from the Web and Barry got the finer details sorted out (which turned out to be spot on) by calling up a friend who
lived in the area………..but that will have to wait for the next episode……"
cheers,
onegram
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