Well, after a long day out, we may not have had the greatest of finds, but had one hell of a day!
Started the day meeting at my place 8:30 we introduce each other, pack up the car and head out to the hills.
I've done a few trips out to the location a few times and have found these myself showing them to Dylan as an example:
Arriving at the location we throw on the gear and head straight into the mountain up the wet, slippery track on foot. I'm sure Dylan was glad I had mentioned in a PM the day before that its a possible 3km walk. ( looked at map when we got back, its 2km )
So up and away we go! It didn't take too long after walking to warm up, the track is pretty crappy, muddy and a steep drop off to one side where our creek lay. Chatting away about gold and gems, we make it to the end of the track a lot faster than expected! ( yes 2km! )
It a very scenic but slightly dangerous walk. Lots to look at and hear in the dense mountains to both sides. Mosses, birds, waterfalls and wind.
Its an old sawmill at the end and I hadn't made it that far before, so we had a look around the area and could see where possibly the waterwheel onced spun to power the massive blades.
We found our first location to settle and have a dig not far and threw our gear from our shoulders to the ground, Dylan diving like an olympian into the creek very keen to get going and we started to dig away like iron men.
Quick inspection before jumping in:
It doesn't take long here to spot some clear quartz and from memory I think my first shovel yielded a very well waterworn smokey ( he might post pics ) which said we were in the right place.
After what seemed two hours ( probably was ) Dylan yells out a hail. A very beautiful bright red / orange gem, unidentified so far ( is it: chalcedony sard, opal, agate or carnelian? )
After not much to look at so far apart from some rounded smokey and clear it was certainly a motivation kicker. Before to long from the same hole he dug out another similar again, rippa!
This was also a find down in the gully next to where we dug, very impressive bit of hidden history:
Having not found too much more after a lot of digging, we gave each other the nod n headed to a new spot. We had a couple more finds, here I had show up on my shovel almost a full clear quartz: ( bit hard to see in this photo, was late and indoors )
But most of the finds of the day were broken, rounded clear or smokey quartz an we kept going until near 3.
After many hours of digging, sieving and back breaking, we packed all gear up and trecked the 2km back to the car, still in good pace and head home to relax after a hard day and revamp.
Dylan is a great guy and it was a definite pleasure meeting and having a dig with him. Very kind hearted and friendly, we had a great laugh, dig, and day. Cheers mate, can't wait till next time!
( ahhhh crap.. I'll have to rotate the images later.. I'm exhausted lol )
Started the day meeting at my place 8:30 we introduce each other, pack up the car and head out to the hills.
I've done a few trips out to the location a few times and have found these myself showing them to Dylan as an example:
Arriving at the location we throw on the gear and head straight into the mountain up the wet, slippery track on foot. I'm sure Dylan was glad I had mentioned in a PM the day before that its a possible 3km walk. ( looked at map when we got back, its 2km )
So up and away we go! It didn't take too long after walking to warm up, the track is pretty crappy, muddy and a steep drop off to one side where our creek lay. Chatting away about gold and gems, we make it to the end of the track a lot faster than expected! ( yes 2km! )
It a very scenic but slightly dangerous walk. Lots to look at and hear in the dense mountains to both sides. Mosses, birds, waterfalls and wind.
Its an old sawmill at the end and I hadn't made it that far before, so we had a look around the area and could see where possibly the waterwheel onced spun to power the massive blades.
We found our first location to settle and have a dig not far and threw our gear from our shoulders to the ground, Dylan diving like an olympian into the creek very keen to get going and we started to dig away like iron men.
Quick inspection before jumping in:
It doesn't take long here to spot some clear quartz and from memory I think my first shovel yielded a very well waterworn smokey ( he might post pics ) which said we were in the right place.
After what seemed two hours ( probably was ) Dylan yells out a hail. A very beautiful bright red / orange gem, unidentified so far ( is it: chalcedony sard, opal, agate or carnelian? )
After not much to look at so far apart from some rounded smokey and clear it was certainly a motivation kicker. Before to long from the same hole he dug out another similar again, rippa!
This was also a find down in the gully next to where we dug, very impressive bit of hidden history:
Having not found too much more after a lot of digging, we gave each other the nod n headed to a new spot. We had a couple more finds, here I had show up on my shovel almost a full clear quartz: ( bit hard to see in this photo, was late and indoors )
But most of the finds of the day were broken, rounded clear or smokey quartz an we kept going until near 3.
After many hours of digging, sieving and back breaking, we packed all gear up and trecked the 2km back to the car, still in good pace and head home to relax after a hard day and revamp.
Dylan is a great guy and it was a definite pleasure meeting and having a dig with him. Very kind hearted and friendly, we had a great laugh, dig, and day. Cheers mate, can't wait till next time!
( ahhhh crap.. I'll have to rotate the images later.. I'm exhausted lol )
