Australian prospector finds 8-pound gold nugget

[jeff of pa]

VICTORIA, Australia, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- An 8-pound gold nugget valued at about $190,000 was discovered by a seasoned prospector in Australia.
According to metal detector manufacturing company Minelab, the anonymous prospector found the nugget while using his metal detector in a worked-over area in the far southern edge of Central Victoria's Golden Triangle.





Australian prospector finds 8-pound gold nugget - UPI.com

 

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[russau]

Can you hear the stamped of foot steps to the Australian travel ticket counter? I think I could use a couple of those myself!

 

[jeff of pa]

I wonder if Tinpan found it.
He hasn't been on for awhile

 

[Lucky Eddie]

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/32456062/massive-gold-nugget-find-sparks-wealth-of-intrigue/

This guy found a bigger one.

Lots more details at this thread!

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/treasure-news/513490-145-ounce-nugget.html#post5100172

 

[Lucky Eddie]

I think what many who might contemplate a visit downunder from stateside sometimes forget just how far away we are and how long you have to spend in the air to get here!

Back in 2008 I hosted a internet buddy down here for a 10 days fishing trip with us (including his return air fares).

He was in the air 45 hours just getting here!.

So from memory he went:-

FLA - LAX
LAX - HAW
HAW - NZ (Auk)
NZ (Auk) - Skidknee AUS
Skidknee (Aus) - Perth (West Oz)
Perth (West Oz) - Karratha (North West Oz)!

And he assures me he was in the air 45 hours or so! (So the best part of 2 days stuck on 6 separate planes!.

Of course it was the same going home again.... except that while he WAS Physically in the air for about the same hours time.... due to flying east, into the rising sun so fats for so long - he arrived home date wise after crossing so many international date lines the day before he left here! (i.e. traveled backwards in time), so that he had 1 day out of his 14 days leave to spend at home with his wife and kids before having to go back to work.

The "problem" for anyone contemplating flying to Oz to find a as yet undiscovered 8 pound nugget - is that our country is as vast as continental USA, so 10 days doesn't leave a lot of time to drive to gold fields and get settled and start detecting etc & get back.

Its not uncommon here to drive for 1 or 2 days in each direction to get to the best gold fields from any capital city! Heck some of our station owners (Ranchers) measure their holdings in hundreds of thousands of square miles... you can drive all day and still be passing their property! (Yeah had a lazy horse like that once - had to shoot it!) LOL
But those same ranchers might do a days drive from their station house down their driveway to the roadside mail box and same again back to the house just to pick up the mail!.

But this is a big issue that largely seems to cruel normal US folks from visiting downunder.... probably different if your Johnny Depp and can come in your own lear jet with your missus and the 2 dogs Pistol & Boo!.

Back when my friend visited I was managing a offshore Island charter fishing lodge and pearl farm, so I was pretty keen top try and attract US tourism, hence his invite & my hosting of his visit - BUT the reality's of the tyranny of distance (and the short vacation breaks for most folks (we normally get 4 weeks annually & a further 13 weeks long service leave after 10 years with the same employer), means that basically its a waste of time trying to attract US tourism down under despite Paul Hogans shrimp on the barby and Ell McFurSeal parading her bikini clad bod on our beaches.

I even considered a luxury safari tent style prospecting camp arrangement and 4wds quad bikes etc etc for US Prospectors / detector's operators to come visit for a holiday and find a little 9or maybe a lot) of gold... but there's just no beating that vast distance & time & costs etc...

I seem to recall back in 2008 the air flights alone return were a little over $3K.

Some people dream about doing such trips - bu the cold hard reality's, when you get right down to it make it pretty hard (expensive) and short duration, to try and find enough Gold to make it even pay its own way / break even as a trip.

If your good at what you do and are put nto good gold bearing ground - most guys if they stick at it can eek out a ounce a week, but if you only have 10 days here, well your chances of even covering costs / breaking even on your trip, just went out the window.

The sad reality of life I am afraid... I have tried to think of every which way it could be done... yet here's a kicker.. probably 5 or so years back i bought an expensive Gibson Guitar from the US that got to me in seemingly just a day or more... and it went US to Alaska, Alaska to China, China to Singapore and Singapore - Perth, by air freight & all connecting flights - faster than i could blink and it wasn't that dear for the freight!

So MAYBE if you parcel yourself up in a box and ship yourself air freight via that UPS gal - you might be able to find a way to make it work! LOL

Just a little dose of reality for those who dream of doing a flying visit one day.

Our guest had a wonderful time tho... quite the revelation for him it was, 10 days fishing on/off an Island & not seeing another single persons, car, boat, or aero-plane the whole 10 days.... was quite the revelation to him.. from memory he said words to the effect - "if this isn't the very farthest butt hole end of the earth - well it must be near as heck to it!". LOL

I think the fact he left his smokes back on the mainland at the start, (and no one on the island smoked) made his 10 days a lot harder to bear!

Just a heads up I guess...

 

[russau]

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/32456062/massive-gold-nugget-find-sparks-wealth-of-intrigue/

This guy found a bigger one.

You would think this man would be smiling his azz off with a nugget like that......OR his exwife must be the one takeing the picture with her lawyer close by!