Account open 2016

[Au dave]

Trip 9

Hi all ... been a while since my last post, but got the chance to get out and do some digging (23/24 July). Thats right .. an overnighter in Winter.. got to a suitable camping spot about 1030 and set up camp before hitting the creek (1 W) - unfortunately there was too little flow to run my small zook even after damming it with a tarp! So, did it the oldtimers way - classifying 1/2" into bucket then 1/4" to pan creekside. Cleaned out 5 likely looking crevices over the 2 days for a total of 6 X 5 gal buckets. The crevices were from either side of flow and within flow zone - all behind large obstructions ... needless to say I definately found where the gold wasn't, did get some colour - about 30 specks and heaps of match head sized Garnets plus a few lead shot pellets. In hindsight I should have gone further downstream where I have previously found good colour but the time away made up for it. Didn't take any shots and the gold didn't register on the scales, so will make up for it next time. Just for an update on my top spot (1N) the wood coup nearby that was going to be cut has now been taken over by Tree huggers and has been cordened off by the police ... so I have no idea when I'll be able to get back up there. Heavy pans all.

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[Au dave]

Trip 10

Went out for a run on Sat. ( 5th Aug.) upto 1N to see if the tree huggers have been moved on ....alas no such luck, road is still blocked and the smell of unwashed uni students hangs in the air... so came back down the hill a bit to a creek that is not known for gold just to get the digging bug out of my system..lol
Picked a spot right under the bridge where there was a couple of bedrock ridges 90 deg to the flow, and ran around 5 buckets from 3 different crevices thru the zook. Surprisingly ended up with 9 specks of gold and some big chunks of Hematite (1/4"), so may have to look further u/s for the feeder creek that originates in the 'mineralised zone' in the future. Going to look at another 'goldfield' on Monday about 1 1/2 hr ENE so will keep you all informed.... Heavy pans all.

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[Au dave]

Gidday all .. been a while; unfortunately haven't had the chance to get out and now am stuck at home due to a detached retina and surgery to re-attach it. The surgeon has said that I cannot drive for at least a month and then have to have eyes tested for glasses before he will let me get back on the road - so that means I'm looking at mid November before I can even think about playing in the creek, thats if there is any water due to the driest winter in 25 years. Already we have had several large bushfires in my region and last fortnight spent 3 days fighting one locally saving several houses. Till the I will keep researching and start polishing the prospecting gear in anticipation ... heavy pans all.

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[KevinInColorado]

Sorry to hear that, get well soon!

 

[Au dave]

Sorry to hear that, get well soon!

thx Kevin

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[GrizzlyGoldTrap]

Hope your surgery went well and you can get out soon... Missing the reports and photos of chunky gold. Get well soon!

 

[Au dave]

Hope your surgery went well and you can get out soon... Missing the reports and photos of chunky gold. Get well soon!

Surgery went well .. got 80% vision back in left eye so far and the gas bubble they put in is getting smaller. Going back to the city (450km trip one way) to see surgeon on the 27/10 then optometrist the following week for sight test (hopefully) and glasses then I can drive again to get some sanity prospecting time. Will keep all in the loop ... heavy pans

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[mytimetoshine]

Get well soon Dave!

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[Au dave]

Update

Well first check - up went well doc was happy .. travelled in yesterday (450 odd km) to be admitted to hospital for more surgery , the doc noticed a small section of the retina coming away. Went under the knife this morning and during procedure heard doc say that there is another section to repair and also a small tear....so in all two flaps and a tear.
It will be a month of recovery and fortnightly follow ups then upto 6 weeks before the eye fully settles down, looks like the end of driving for me this year and I'm really itching to get back on the creek. Looks like I'm going to have to let someone into "my little creek" [emoji53][emoji53][emoji53] That most likely won't be able to happen till mid/late Dec., will keep you all up to date on progress ...Heavy pans all

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[delnorter]

Well, it sounds like your on the mend Dave. Looks like you will have a little time to plan a great new prospecting year. Hope you heal up good and get back on the creek ASAP.

Mike

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Gidday all .. been a while; unfortunately haven't had the chance to get out and now am stuck at home due to a detached retina and surgery to re-attach it. The surgeon has said that I cannot drive for at least a month and then have to have eyes tested for glasses before he will let me get back on the road - so that means I'm looking at mid November before I can even think about playing in the creek, [snip]

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Very sorry to hear that; seems like lots of folks are having medical problems now. Get well soon.

 

[Au dave]

Just an update

Gidday all, just thought I'd fill you in on my progress. The second round of surgery seemed to be a success and the opthamologist is happy with the result. Getting tested for glasses next week then hopefully will have them a week later - so as soon as I put 'em on my face I'm off for a dig, if luck is on my side I might make it a overnight/2 day trip. Unfortunately a side effect of the gas they use in the eye to support the retina causes cataract formation and according to the optho. I will need to have that fixed next year sometime. I can finally see the end of the tunnel [emoji12] albeit a little foggy, but at least I've retained the sight in that eye. Until next post ... heavy pans all.

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[GrizzlyGoldTrap]

Glad to hear your recovering successfully... Looking forward to your future posts.

 

[63bkpkr]

Hi Au Dave,
I hope you are recovering well from the surgery and that the change to wearing glasses will not be to drastic!

I was out in Northern California (NorCal) from late Sept to late October, at one point I chose to leave due to heavy forest fire smoke. We in Cali do understand about brush & Forest Fires, they are no fun and are dangerous! Wishing you and yours all the best...................63bkpkr

 

[Au dave]

Woo Hoo

Hi all, just keeping you in the loop. Finally got my glasses on Wednesday and actually had the opportunity to hit my spot on Friday, will do a write - up of the trip when I get a chance to finish the cons wth picks of results... Happy Christmas to you all and have a safe festive season... Heavy pans

 

[Au dave]

Trip 11

As promised here's the latest saga.
Got on the road at 0800 for the hour drive to "my" crk. The drive up to the access trk was interesting to say the least - a gravel rd gets pretty messed up by 120 rally cars during a rain event ( 4" over 2 days), and a couple of times I got a bit close to the drop - off. The access trk was smooth in comparison and OPEN, pulled up where I thought I left off at 0945 but the bush had reclaimed any trace of my entry point so pushed my way thru to the crk to get my bearings. Ended up bursting thru the scrub right on top of trip 3 spot so decided to walk the crk u/s to find trip10 spot. All in all it took me 2 hrs to find spot, get back to car, load gear and get back to crk.
Already I was shattered so set the zook and ran 1x5g bucket of gravel that had filled in where I left off, then had lunch. After I somewhat recovered I pulled 3 more buckets out of the crevice before 1st cleanout = 6 specks. Filled 4 more buckets and fed them to the zook, cleanout 2 = couple specks + [emoji44] on the final cleanup pan with about 3 tblsp of cons I spy a shiney.. the biggest picker I've found [emoji1]. Reset zook and with renewed hope and energy scratched/pumped another bucket out and sluiced, light was getting low (1600) so fed 10 shovels into zook and cleaned up. # 3 = a few specks.
Overall wasn't too bad of a trip, I realised how much fitness I'd lost in 3 months, found some crevices missed between trip 10 spot and here, fed the body and mind fresh air and scenery, and as a bonus chanced upon a bit of colour.
Will post more pics later ....Heavy pans all.

 

[mytimetoshine]

Picker Alert! Picker Alert! Nice job!

 

[Au dave]

Hi all

Finished the clean - up so as promised here's a few more pics from trip 11.
#1: The picker
#2: Its weight
#3: Days total
#4: Yearly total
I find it very interesting that there was little flour from this trip - maybe I had the zook set too fast , but the picker is my best so far.When digging further along this crevice it was getting deeper towards the inside bank and had a blue and orange clay/gravel layer at the bottom. The crevice is behind the rocky outcrop under my bucket (trip 5 - 2nd pic) and goes across the crk to the opposite bank, I still have about 1 to 1 1/2 ' till I hit the bank and the bottom is about 3' deep. Can't see myself getting out over the next few days so put in my total shot now which is actually .25 g short as I gave a mate a couple of little pickers for a GPS. So 2.13g for the year is pretty good and is just shy of last years total but I hit the water 9 times less this year.
Hope you all have had a great Christmas and may the New Year bring all of us good health, peace and lots of yella ....heavy pans to all...

 

[GrizzlyGoldTrap]

Good to have you back! Was missing the AU adventures. Nice picker Dave. One of these days you'll be posting a gram picker, got to be one there...

 

[Au dave]

Good to have you back! Was missing the AU adventures. Nice picker Dave. One of these days you'll be posting a gram picker, got to be one there...

Thats what I'm looking forward to spying in the pan - or bigger I'm not fussy ... lol. Still got plenty of ground to check on this bend alone. Happy New Year GGT.