Best outing for some time.......Enjoy the read. Where do I begin! Let’s start with the 1st day- arrangements were made for two mates and I to catch up for some time way or as Jules called it " Blokes time out" we all had many hours of driving each to get to the destination that none of us had been back to since the 4000 days, many years on we have GPX5000's now. I'll be the first to put myself to shame in saying, since I have owned the 5000 for let’s just say a long time and only managed to put around 80hrs on it, the last time I used it was well over 2 yrs back Yeah yeah I hear you , I know it’s almost a sin Anyway here is day one of two I had left home at some godforsaken hour to arrive at a reasonable time where X marked the spot. Along the way where the Black Ice signs lid up Boy that was about as much Fun as driving my Land cruiser on an ice skating ring at times, Frost was everywhere, you know when it’s really cold when the dams in the paddocks no longer show a reflection and it wasn’t caused by wind either, I was thinking just how much colder the place that we were heading to was going to be BBBBRRRRRRRRRR. When I go there I knew the others would be at least 1 or 2 hours away I decided to give the CTX3030 for a spin on hot ground , and I can tell you 1st hand now Mate she don’t like it one bit, on the screen it was just about locked onto in red in the far right corner and only when a better target was around did it let me know its dig time changing to FE or GC didn't make much difference at all and yes it was ground balanced Same old rubbish as found on most gold field I must say I was happy for the 3030 to find some shot at least I was in the running to find some colour. I took to the old Town 1st and soon gave up on it talk about junky ground not even the 3030 could cope with the hot ground or the trash but I did find a brand new never used Tyre that had been there for some time going by the lack of grass not growing through at all and best thing it’s a spare from a 5 stud Land cruiser and it just so happen that's what I drive so a $200 bonus for day one not a bad start
Jules had turned up in the meantime, Mike and I wanted to have a go with Jules's 2300 that he bought a few weeks back. Jules took me up to the hill where loads of gold has come of it in the past, needless to say I got 2nd go after Jules with the SDC2300 as I had already given up on using the CTX3030, I saddled up with me 5000 now how do you do this again LOL Never mind I worked it out, armed with the 8" coil in special/fine mode this would at least give me chance for keeping up with the 2300. Jules went that way and I headed in the opposite not 20min into it got my 1st sweet sound, damn shot, one of far too many for the two days that we were there but they do sound so sweet and you have to dig them as the 0.5gr sounded just like one
But they do say if you can find shot you will find gold and sure enough another 20mins and a 0.5gr came to light and another 8m away under a tree root was a 2.7gr.
What a way to start full knowing that this field was one of the hardest to find a piece of Gold, by this time Mike had turned up and I showed him my two bits, Mike had never found a bit at this spot and he was keen to end that once and for all , after he had a chat with Jules, he went straight into it when I yelled out got another one, this time it was a 2.8gr under a tree root woowho it just made my day Lets skip to day Two shall we After a night of getting drunk, eating, sitting beside a nice fire and sleeping in the next day It was, let’s just say a little hard to get going to do it all over again for the 2nd day Jules went that way Mike and I headed to a spot I had found a 20gramer a few years back, when we got there it was my turn to use to 2300 so we headed straight to the spot to see if there was any further gold trapped in the crevice where the 20gramer come from , sorry to say there was no further Gold Bugger. Mike headed up the hill and I took the 2300 to see if I could find any dirty looking quartz to check out if there was colour running through it or not, I never found what I was looking for so I gave up and got the 5000 going again for Round 2 , Ding Ding and away we go I noticed rock stacked wall that I had not seen before as it was covered in blackberries last time I was there ((some 5 years back)) armed with the 8" coil again, Mike called out saying he was going to take off as he was sick of digging lead shots and flakes of iron, we said our bye's and I went back to my rock wall and it wasn't long before a real nice low signal responded from the base of the wall, One large rock with another at a 45' degree angle the rest was filled with dirt after I had pulled all the dirt out I couldn't believe what had just fallen into my had, it was a silver coin with a Gold coin stuck together , shaking and yelling out the top of my voice ""Julian"" who was at the other end of the valley I raced up to my vehicle, nearly crashing it into a old timers diggings, I wanted to drive around to show Jules what I had found. I got up and over the rise around the corner there was Mike talking to Jules who had just turned up from his spot calling it quits also for the day Driving towards them with a huge smile and sweat running my face , Mike said we heard you yell and thought a snake might have gotten you No NO I shacking, I was said put your hand out and I dropped the coins in his hand , he said when..... just now ??? yes mate, he showed Jules before taking them to giving a wash with water and they came up clean as , we should have taken a picture before washing them as they were both stuck together with dried out clay
I couldn't and somehow still don't believe the two days run I've just had But wait there is still the rest of Day 1, I should really finish what happened that day So after finding my 3rd nugget for the day just when I thought all my dreams had come true for one day, a 4th nugget made its presence known to me via a super low signal response that came though the booster speakers , Mike was only 12m away when I got the signal I looked up and said hey Mike I got a real good one here. Mike heard the signal and had already started to walk towards me before I could even say I got a another one. I took 2" of the top and sure enough it still had that smooth sound of something being really good Mike said lets get the SDC2300 to hear what response it would make over the target, when he got back he gave it a try and the signal was also smooth but not as loud, we put this down to not running a booster on it. We didnt try the CTX3030 on it but we should have to see how it would have reacted on that target, bugger Two more inches came of it and the signal was getting louder but retained that smooth sound of a nice slug by this time Jules had showed up as well, another 4" off and I hit the schist host rock knowing that this a Gold nugget for sure it was just a matter of how big it was going to be Mike said I think I just saw a lead washer ,,,,,, yeah right I said, I grabbed a hand full nothing 2 more and it was in my hand, already seeing the colour I replied to Mike its not lead Mike its gold I showed Jules and Mike a small part of it before I took my own 1st full look, I near fell on my #$@&*%G backside, there she was at least a 1oz slug, Mike held it next as I was going into head spins over it, Jules held it and the guessing started how much she weight , Mike said 30 fore sure Jules said nah no way , I said be around 33 if not more , well she came in at 38rg making the tally for day one $200 for my new spare wheel and Tyre and $2000 for 43.5gr nuggets found, not to mention what ever the Gold coin is worth or what the Vic coin is , I haven't looked it up yet maybe someone can tell me what it is Here is my Mug shot
Happy as, hope you enjoyed my story as much as I did showing you my finds cheers
Marty - NSW, Australia
