Ora Banda, This Sandal wood cutter, my new friend took us across rain soaked outback that a little station wagon has no business going, I sweat blood trying to follow them with there 4 wheel drives. After crossing a darn good road, they headed for more mud, That was when I realize that they possible weren't my good best friends & I refused to follow them any further & told them I was going to Redcastle, & try my luck, They acted like they were truly sorry to see me go & promised no more mud if I would stay. I had enough & thought I had over stayed my welcome, & left them to precede on there bloody muddy way.
Red Castle was a long way & being in the southern hemisphere it was easy to get turned around & with no GPS I got lost for a couple of days but no problem, I had plenty of tucker, water & gas, I saw places & things that I had never seen before & probably will never see again.
I arrived at RCA at sun down made camp that required clearing the fire pit of rocks that when they got hot they would explode and would cut you up pretty bad. I unloaded my water jugs, gas cans, unrolled sleeping bag and camp was made. I would clime in the sack at sundown & not get up till the sun came up & warmed things up a bit. About 14 hours most times. I slept in my closes for it was too darn cold to climb out of that little station wagon & dress & gather wood, build a fire & make coffee in the morning.
I know you guys are loosing interest & will try & shorten this BS up some, Long story short, My old best friends showed up the next day to return my Billy that I left by the fire, being just an old can that some digger had abandon.
I hate to admit, but they were good company while siting around the fire at night & new more about the history of the US than I did. Short story, I found 8 nice quartz rocks shot threw with gold, & I was going to keep my mouth shut & not tell my old best friends, For I was well aware what could happen if you tell your old best friends, BUT DAM, Around the fire that night after supper & a beer or 2, it was show & tell time. Yes, I told my old best friends about my find, & I took them there.
John you go up the hill & work your way down and try to find the reef that shed this gold, it is up there some place, Dug, you work that dry wash for some of the gold probably washed in there, Dan, you work holes where the old timers have dug & I am going to work here where I found those species, YELL RIGHT, my old best friends turned on there detectors right there & started thrashing wildly my new patch. I have had patches stolen from me before but not with that, go to hell attitude. I turned on my detector & it did not deter them one bit, they kept right on trashing my patch, Dug got this signal & asked me to see if he had it out of the hole & when he did get it out it was a big Quartz rock as big as my head & mostly gold. John found a 3 ounce nugget & Dan & I found squat. The next day was Dugs birthday & they all went into Leonora to there friends place who was giving him a party. My old best friends left me there to take care of the camp, Short story, they returned & showed me a gold nugget that Dug dolled up & got 7 oz. & john got a 3 oz nugget, 10 oz, It made me so happy to shear my patch with my old best friends.
I decided that I had enough of my old best friends & left for parts unknown. If I had been 6 ft. 6 like DENNY instead 5 ft.5 like chuck this story would have ended differently.
When you are far from home & in a strange land you behave differently.
If I had been at home, I think I would have given it a go at kicking there ass. Image is of a specie I found at Red Castle.
Attached Files puff on white.zip (92.8 KB, 3 views)
Nice Find!!! I would have lead them to a nearby spot and then when they don't find anything tell them that you went over the spot pretty well the day before. Then Slowly make may way back to the spot. lol
Interesting adventure there Chuck, if you don’t mind a pack of hyenas in your face for company. Regardless of one’s physical stature, or distance away from home, we can exercise good judgement with respect to how we conduct ourselves, and with whom we associate. Learn from this experience and move on.
Consider prospecting with a good dog. Maybe even find a suitable prospecting companion through rock and mineral clubs/associations. Otherwise try going alone on a few trips and see how it suits you. Solitude has much very worthwhile merit, the least of which is enjoying your activities and surroundings on your own schedule and without distraction. I just returned from six weeks prospecting alone in northern Ontario bush, and it was all good.
Jim, I made the trip to Australia alone, (from TX.) & camped mostly alone & always hunted alone, But it was great to come back to camp & there was some one to talk with that new the country & customs. It can get really lonesome in the out back far from home.
Cedarratt, I sure wish I had that information over there & had used it.
Fair enough Chuck, you make a good point. Extended loneliness can be dreadful, it only gets to me when the weather doesn't permit searching for long periods. I usually pack a handfull of Louis L'Amour/Zane Grey westerns, technical texts on geology and other related material just for those moments when you've got time on your hands.
Otherwise, I guess I'm so absorbed with the surroundings and rockhunting that I rarely give it a thought. There's nothing in this world I'd rather do than be in the wilds prospecting. I take it in like a sponge, everything...nature in all that implies, the search, the campfires, evaluating finds in the evening...after a month or two I feel completely restored and alive...all the smallness in life falls away and leaves me feeling fresh and uncluttered. At such times I've got a pretty clear idea about what matters and what does not matter to me. Its all good.
Usually the evening camp chores keep me occupied, what with washing clothes and dishes/utensils, getting up a fire with a hot mug of tea/coffee, looking over the days finds, cleaning equipment, and getting a decent meal put together. I can't say I've ever felt the need for company at that time of the day. There are times when it'd be good to be able to have a discussion. I often just talk to myself or hum some tune. I doubt I could tolerate poor behaviour for long.
I have had patches stolen from me before but not with that, go to hell attitude. I turned on my detector & it did not deter them one bit, they kept right on trashing my patch
The Lord created Gold to show us who the worthless ones are.
I have spent very much of my life alone even when in the proximity of other humans and have never felt lonely .
Keeping your own council beats heck out of being a doormat for others .
Gold does funny things to people. You can find out real quick who your true friends are. It's too bad it cost you 10 oz. of gold to do it. Anyway, nice pic, I wish I had one like that to show. Good luck in your future adventures!
Well gentlemen: It appears that we are birds of the same feather, Cuaws. May I join you ? Most of my explorations have been solo trips, except where an interaction with the native population was involved or necessary.
Whites MXT 2 x Gold Snoops Whites Bullseye Pinpointer
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Re: Places I have been that I wish I hadn't
Friends...... YES. I took one chap out with me a few times. Next thing I found him out there with another chap, then another and now there is another.
I go by myself now and don't tell them what I have found or where.
Years ago I was invited to detect a spot an aquaintance had found. I respectfully declined to join him. We spoke on a number of occasions and I told him that when he was happy he had checked the spot then I would go for a look. He called me one day on the CB and told me he was done and I could go for a look.
A week later I went out and picked up a 6 1/2 oz nugget. When I told him, he spat the dummy and never spoke to me again. In fact 20 years later I still haven't heard from him.
Funny thing is, I went back and found several more nuggets up to 1 1/2 ozs so I didn't care.
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