CHRISSY – a 2oz beauty!

[Safe-T-Man]

G'day all,

It was back in 2004, when I and my partner-in-hobby (tuatara) started detecting. Well, back then "tuatara" was more interested in hiking to remote scenic beaches in Coromandel (NZ) rather than spending the time in a "flaming hell-hole" called the Victorian Golden Triangle. Having received "gold detecting tutoring" by Coiltek in Maryborough, and finding a nice 1.6g nugget , we were confident that we were up to the challenge of prospecting for gold (at least I was, as tuatara set it’s head back to the beaches ).

The Christmas holidays were nearing, and with promises of pocket-fulls of gold, tuatara was persuaded to hire a detector and hit the goldfields. Aside from the "field lesson" this was our first time metal detecting on our own. Somehow we managed to contradict every single rule that exists for a newbie :
We did hire the best technology of the time: a GP Extreme. However, stock standard 11" coil wasn’t good enough for us, so we smacked on the 18" monster... after all, we were looking for "big" gold. That said, the 18" coil is very tricky to use and is definitely not for a newbie. A smart thing that we did do is get the DD rather than the Mono.
The place that we chose to detect couldn’t be more wrong for nowise newbies... it was remote country with dense Mallee bush and rugged terrain... a place where you could easily get lost Moreover, the ground was noisy to the extreme.

Finally the day came for us to head "bush". It was Xmas Eve. Armed with maps, picks and everything in between, we’ve jumped into our four-wheeler and were soon barrelling up the highway to the goldfields. We had little idea of what to expect...

Carefully navigating the topo map we’ve managed to arrive at our destination of the day – Devil’s Gully. The saying "don’t let the name fool ya" certainly did not apply as there was no sound of birds, which are prolific in the Aussie bush. It was nearing noon, with the temperature rapidly climbing to 40 degrees The only sound was the humming of March Flies, which quickly took us for their meal. This was not the romanticised picture that we’ve had of the goldfields. Relentless, we persevered. We have only made a couple of dozen steps into the bush, or so it seemed in this God forsaken place where time stood still, when we’ve realized that our car was 'devoured' by the Mallee scrub. We totally lost track where it was.

The targets were non-existent... fairly soon we began to doubt that the miners had anything... even clothing as we’ve found only one underwear button Occasionally, the humming would be interrupted by a loudish thunder through the scrub. Those were only kangaroos spooked by our presence, nonetheless, our hearts skipped a beat, expecting to see a prehistoric creature emerging out from behind some eucalypt. It was difficult to concentrate on both detecting and the surrounds. Ignoring the later could easily cost you your life as numerous deep hidden shafts were there to take you down on a trip to the underworld Dangers came from above the ground as well... in the form of two-meter in diameter cobwebs, in the middle of which spiders the size of a fist lay in wait for the unweary.

The day was approaching its end, and all we had to show were a few .22 bullets and pieces of wire We decided to head back to the motel, going a different way to which we came. It was not an easy task navigating the tricky 4WD tracks leading from the Devil’s Gully. Just as we cleared some invisible barrier, the birdsong returned to fill the air with a vibe of life: cries of Kookaburras, shrieks of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and beautiful songs of the Honey Eaters.

A large Bob-tail lizard crossed the track, hence we stopped to admire this wondrous creature. Risking all of my limbs, I suggested to tuatara to have a go at this place... 30 minutes tops The exhausted tuatara hissed at me, but agreed. Both of us dropped out of the car and geared-up for the final run... just to see if it was worth it coming back to this place the next day. Not long into the hunt we got a fair signal that was coming from a mullock heap (processed material taken out of a shaft). Digging out the target, suddenly I felt unbearable pain in my leg. Looking down, expecting to see a deadly spider or a snake, I saw... ants ! Not your ordinary ants... those were at least 2" big and armed with a sting at the end of their backside. The leg immediately swallowed up and was burning as though red-hot coal was pressed against the skin. Lesson learned, avoid bullants at all costs!

Sane people would have returned back to the motel for treatment of cold beer and a wish of better luck the next day. Not us though (the deranged beginners), we still had 15 minutes to prove that there was gold here... somewhere! Thinking that we were in remote country, unexpectedly, we came across the main track. The theory that we had was "the more remote the country, the greater are the chances of finding the good stuff". Those thoughts were interrupted by a minute change of sound, as though the coil lightly bumped into something. That something turned out to be a eucalyptus sapling... or maybe not... it was difficult to tell because of the large coil.

Taking off a few inches, the sound increased in volume and was audible in each sweep, but only just! In two hours the hole was twice as large as the coil and 16" deep. The "nose" of the pick was smoking-hot from being constantly hit against the concrete-hard clay, the sun was setting, and the hands were bloody from burst blisters. A couple more inches, and the sweep of the coil over the hole produced no sound. A Swamp Wallaby at the top of the hill even stopped chewing the juicy leafs of a flowering bush. Scooping dirt with both hands and waving over the coil, I could hear that the target was in my hands.

Halving the dirt, I needed not check again, as in one hand there was definitely something with a weight to it. Slowly opening the hand revealed a find of a lifetime... a natural wonder that waited thousands of years for us to come across it

I was simply amazed by the size and beauty of the nugget. Looking at tuatara, expecting to see the same level of amazement, I saw a sulky face. The sulky face mumbled "is that it?" I admit it, even I expected something around the kilo mark... what can you expect from newbies! Though, I understood that even as little as 61.7g (or nearly 2 oz’s) of the yella stuff was something special!


Happy hunting!!!

[romeo-1]

Yowser! Nice nugget!

[Old River]

Nice nugget, Congrats....

[Unicorn]

Safe.T.Man...That was a really good story, not quite sure which is best, the story or the gold.. aawww go on then, the gold. Well done!!!


U.

[pepperj]

Great write up on the find. The size of that piece of yellow is awesome.

[Silver Searcher]

8)

Cool looking lump of Butter

SS

[Safe-T-Man]

Thanks for your comments guys and gals!!! Glad you enjoyed the piccies and the story

S.M.

[hikeinmts]

Great story....and great find. Uncommon perserverance.....and glad you made it back in one piece.
Haven't done anything like what you did, but have had my share of exciting hikes into unknown Korean
landscape. Know the feeling(s) of going out....and coming back. Hope to have you tell another
story abou a great find again. Thoroughly enjoyed the read.

[dneyedli@res1.mts.net]

That was a great story and a great find. I can relate to being bitten by ants but I don't think I want to meet your Bull ants! Excellent story telling, as you had my imagination there with you on your adventure.
Thanks for sharing!
Dave.

[warsawdaddy]

Terrific post and certainly a terrific nugget.Congrats!

[mikewaz]

Great story and a fantastic find. Nice reward for hanging in there.
HH

[schoser]

Wow...sure got my blood pumping. Very nice.

[welsbury]

That's a dandy.I'll bet you're going back for sure!

[mickk]

Thats the goods alright, straight from the heavens.

[Hunter]

Real nice piece of gold!

[Deepdiger60]

nice chunk of gold i would put that to a chain and wear it Good Hunting Jim

[curbdiggercarl57]

Wow!

[Kanyontreasures]

GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD