Account open 2016

[Au dave]

Trip 4

Hi all , hope your Easter was relaxed and enjoyable. My time was quiet as the wife decided to head to the bigsmoke with the kids and visit relo's. Thurs. a mate dumped his car in my driveway and threw me the keys telling me to get out bush ...Fri. - drove kids (not mine) all round town in the firetruck collecting donations for the Childrens Hospital (Good Friday Appeal)...Sat - hit spot #3 and cleaned out another 3' of the gravel bar from bank to centre digging about 2 1/2' down to hit bedrock. In total I pumped 20 x 5 gal buckets thru the zook cleaning out 3 times resulting in about 2 dozen specks , water is starting to get cold so got to find and repair my waders. There is still 4' of this bar to do but the gold is getting smaller and deeper so might call spot 3 completed and move on up. Total weight was .04 g ....... heavy pans all.

 

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[Au dave]

Trip 5

Gidday all ..did a day trip to my happy place in the hills on Monday 4/4/16. Was up nice and early and on the water by 0800 , fully decked out in waders thick socks and jumper as it was about 12C in my little crk valley. I went straight to spot 4 with every intention of clearing all the cracks out..got the zook set up in about 5 seconds as the platform and side rocks were still in place and started digging/ pumping all the material out. Did a cleanout after buckets 6 , 12 and end of day only noticed a few specks in the pan/s but kept working at it . After bucket 12 I shovelled straight into the zook for about 1 1/2 hrs . In the end I left 1 section of gravel bar right next to the zook on the opposite side of the crk for next time ( maybe ) .
Came home 8 hrs later completely trashed and only just had enough energy to pack the gear away, have dinner and hit the hay (after showering).
Cleaned up my cons yesterday (Wed) and got a grand total of 10 flypoop specks.....well I guess I've found where the gold isn't ... spot 4 is dead obviously too much flow in that area during floods ..next trip - find spot 5 problem is I have to blaze a new track ...fun..fun..fun....heavy pans all

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[KevinInColorado]

Fun story. Sounds like you need to do more sampling to find a better spot. Good luck!

 

[Au dave]

Its a small creek K in C so I'm using your system ...bank to bank down to bedrock working upstream .There is 2 old mines within 200 m about 20 - 50 m from the bank upstream of me but i have yet to get up that far. Hopefully the crk will rise enough this winter to knock down some of the thick scrub for me ...

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[Aufisher]

Nothing like relaxing at home after a long day feeding the Bazooka!

 

[Au dave]

Got out today for a dig (19/04/16) ..will give you the full story when i clean up my cons....heavy pans all

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[RookmanGold]

Someone very wise said to me you learn more from the bad days than the good days... hope that consoles you a bit 🙃

 

[Au dave]

Trip 6

Sorry all ..with all that has been happening in my neck of the woods I have only just finished panning out my cons.
I hit the very 1st spot on the creek again as the water level had dropped lower than I had ever seen it and exposed a couple of gravel patches that I didn't see previous trips.Had the zook set up in 2 minutes and started digging in quick time as it was really cold in the valley (track was frosty on the way in) just to get some warmth in the old bones. Ran about 6 buckets thru the zook and cleaned out twice to get an idea on how the gold was. Reset the zook for a third time and ran a bucket thru from the bedrock and just dumped that straight into my bucket to finish at home . Only saw a few flakes/specks in the first 2 cleanouts so I wasn't holding much hope.Only dug for 4 hrs as I had to get back to town early, as it turned out it was the right decision as the department had lit a few fuel reduction burns within 15 Km of my dig and the wind was pushing them my direction😨
Panned the cons yesterday and found a few small specks from the first 2 cleanouts and several more from the single bucket run.Total take for the short day was .11 g. Will have to hit the other patch asap as it is behind/under a large tree and below a bedrock "waterfall" and as winter is on its way the creek will rise and cut access ...heavy pans all...
The second patch is behind the log in the top left of pic

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[Au dave]

Trip 7

Hi all..I got out for a dig on the 7-05-16 . Got out to the dig site about 0930 and spent just over an hour cutting a new track down to the creek (approx 150 meters) sorry Sluice Goose I didn't take any video of the battle but will take pics next time. Set up the zook on a small waterfall and proceeded to relocate a gravelbar somewhat downstream, bedrock was about 2' down and within 4 hrs I had a hole about 4' wide and 8' long. Did 2 cleanouts and saw a couple of specks each pan so decided to follow a bedrock "ridge" that extended into the creek, this took another 1 1/2 hrs and resulted in about 5 buckets of material thru the sluice - I just dumped the last cleanout into my bucket to process at home. Total production of yellow was 12 specks for the day ..not much but nearer the creek centre seems to have better colour..still more to do in this spot next trip out, then keep moving upstream. I'm checking out a new area tomorrow in a different "field" so will keep you up to date.
Pic: hole in background behind zook.


Also I have started building 2 more "garbzooks" based on the 24" and 30" snipers so will post pics when done...heavy pans all.

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[Au dave]

New ground

As I mentioned earlier had a family day out yesterday..did a couple of bushwalk trails with the kids (19 mth & 5 mth) in backpack carriers before the short drive to a different old goldfield. The first trial was when we left the blacktop, 4 Km of gravel road was scenic, and turned into a named track ...after about 500 metres in said track was like no-one had driven it in 5 years took about an hour to get to the creek / junction I was looking for...distance of 5 Km.... Just left the car on the junction where I stopped and walked down to the water and dug 4 test holes, whilst the wife fed the youngest and eldest snoozed. Didn't see anything in the pans but dug between a couple of logs and just 1/4 classified into a bucket for homework.
To make it interesting mom nature decided to washout the crk crossing that was supposed to exist here and make us travel back the way we came. Panned out everything this morning to discover zilch. I will try to get access from the other end as there is an old stamping mill somewhere there that crushed the nearby mined ore ,that would be good to locate some day. Still had a great day without the gold [emoji2] ...heavy pans all.

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[KevinInColorado]

Sounds like a nice family outing...better luck on the gold next time!

 

[Au dave]

Sounds like a nice family outing...better luck on the gold next time!

I think my main problem was that I didn't get down deep enough...I only took a hand trowel ..and the sun was getting low...lol

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[Au dave]

Garbzook #2

Finished building my version of the 30" Prospector, (just need handles) , and I fitted a clear trap cover for fine tuning.Thank god I have a ute as now there is more gear to take digging. Hopefully Sunday I will give her a run and tune the trap ready for glueing pipes.
Looks new sitting next to my original version of Goodguy's design....won't take too long to wear it in if the weather helps..over here we're still getting mid 20's C this close to winter and 1/2 average rainfall. Looks like I going to need the 24" version next summer ...back to the workshop I go !!!


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[Au dave]

Trip 8

Got back out to my little sanity zone on Sunday. Bit of a late start...got out there at 1030 and it was absolutely freezing, frost all the way down the track in and dew dripping from the trees over the crk due to the fog coming down the valley. Started at the very first spot so I could clean out behind that log I found last trip and gave the new 'sniper' a test run; found that the trap entrance needs some modification as rocks get caught up behind grizzly and block it off, apart from that it works well and gives me more spots I can set up at since it needs less water than 'garbzook 1'. Spent about 2.5 hrs there and then moved up to the new spot, used garb 1 here as I intended moving as much as I could. Cleaned out under a large plate rock that was angled upwards 45 deg just above the small waterfall where I had sluice set, then extended the hole I dug last trip.Ran till 1530 dumped cons into my bucket and clambered out/ up to the car.On the way up I noticed another waterfall about 50' upstream so had to have a look - bedrock everywhere ( full of cracks and holes) below the falls which are only covered when its flooded. Panned everything out this morning only to find 1 little piece, 6 flypoop and a bit of flour. That crk is going to have to wait till spring now as access is getting too slick and water/area too cold....time to scope some local crks just out of town...heavy pans all

Couple of pics of the track I cut in last trip (if you can make it out)
View attachment 1317367



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[Au dave]

Be careful what you ask for

I'm not sure if the news coverage made it to your neck of the woods,but it seems that mother nature filled my request for a "little" flood event, she just beefed it up a bit and gave it to nearly the whole East coast (almost 6000km of coastline). My crk rose 3' in a matter of hrs and the river (Snowy) which runs thru town is expected to peak tonight/tomorrow at 7.0 metres.....sorry ...lol

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[Au dave]

Trip 9

Well seems that mother nature decided that S.E Aust. deserved a little attention and sent her flood rain gods to us 3 times in June, also I have been holding down the fort with my eldest son ( nearly 2) for the last 3 weeks whilst the missus has been away with the youngest ( 6 mths).So Monday I took a bit of daddy alone time out on a nearby river that I have previously got some colour from. The river is a collector of a number of creeks that run thru a couple of old goldfields and was running suprisingly low ( .62 m), so I was able to wade over to the farside to get access to a 90 deg. inside bend and gravel/cobble bar at the head of some shallow rapids which are d/s of a deep slow moving section. I didn't do any test panning at all but started digging bank side in the floodzone and got into some rusty red material straight away, and put 30 shovels thru the zook before cleaning it out. Only saw 2 specks so decided to hit the bar behind some grasses nearer the river centre, this gave similar results. Most of the bar/s were soft packed and I believe that the flood events had moved them a bit so gave up there and moved d/s about half way in the rapids area where I had previously found an eddy hole behind a rock outcrop. Unusual spot really as its on the outside of the bend and has an old large (8 foot dia.) fallen tree against the bank, with just enough room to squeeze thru. So set up the zook about 30 ft u/s and filled 5 buckets with material and lugged them thru the gap.This clean out I saw several more colours in the pan so got something for my effort. The water was very cold and the day about 13 deg C so called it early and headed home.Was giong to cleanup the cons on Tues but mother nature sent the rain gods again, this time we have got more rain than the last floods and the river is now up to 7.99 m and still rising, looks like it might be easier to get access at my usual crk in spring .and have better flow. Will keep you posted on my final clean up- when I can get to the shed without a boat ...lol
heavy pans all

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[Au dave]

Cleanup

well as I expected there wasn't much in my cons ...there wasn't much cons either ... but I was mostly out there for the peace and quiet. The Snowy River is slowly falling in town and the road to the coast should be open within the next couple of days, if I get the chance I might go back to where I was on Monday and sus out the damage..ended up with 10 flypoop and 1 speck.
Here is an areial shot of the Snowy looking toward my town, its in the top left...
heavy pans all

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[KevinInColorado]

Wow, what a photo!

 

[Au dave]

Wow, what a photo!

that pic was about 12 hrs after the peak...apparently we're going to get hit again this Sunday thru to Wednesday with rain, strong winds and snow down to sea level...happy joy

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[Au dave]

Trip 10

The weather here has been great for ducks and polar bears but not too good for us humans, so after some more research and forum searching over the past couple of weeks Mother nature decided to give us a couple of warm days - time to dig. I decided to hit a creek where others had given rave reviews West of me in a different goldfield, its a little further to travel but takes the same time due to better roads and actually has phone coverage. First up I missed the turn-off to the spot but eventually found it so only got about 3 1/2 hrs digging time. I did'nt do any test panning just picked a boulder in the crk to did behind, set up both sluices (for test comparison) and dug like a madman. I did do 3 check pans, at 4", halfway and at bottom of hole and saw 8 to 10 colours per pan - at least I knew I was onto it. Kept running thru till 4 pm and then cleaned out both zooks - sniper had a nice chunk and mini prospector had more specks and flypoop than I had ever seen. All in all had a great afternoon and cons to take home for final clean The little clunker weighed in at 0.12gm and a bit of the gold had black sand attached.

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