First prospecting trip - (no gold)

[NeilM]

Hi

Thanks to much info and help gleaned from forum and members, I had my first prospecting trip ever.
Went to Hill End - Tambaroora last month.
Camped at the Village park in Hill End.
No Gold
2 horseshoes
enough rusty nails to build new house
Plenty of lead.

I dug everything. filled my holes and have sore back to prove it.
new sdc2300 seemed to perform perfectly.
It was quiet and when it hit something it buzzed so I guess it is working ok.

I was there for 4 days and only saw a couple of people panning.
I was the only detectorist. Well I didn't see anyone else.
Could not believe how much digging those guys did back in the rush days. The place was barren.

Two weeks I go to wattle flat for the training day that comes with the sdc.
Will stay overnight and try my hand at Sofala.

Thanks to everyone who offered me advice and help.
I would have been lost without it.

Would have posted earlier - got the flu when I got home and then away for work.

Cheers
NM

 

[nucopia]

Keep at it NM
You have a good MD now you just need to swing it over the gold.

 

[JTGOLD]

check the area out & go panning, there is good gold there you just have to dig for it don't know how good the detecting is but worth while crevising & running a sluice box.

 

[Chewy]

Keep at it NM. It's been a year for me with no gold but ya just gotta keep swinging and digging.

 

[stoyve]

It was a year before I found any gold but every outing was a new lesson learned and experience gained.
I've never lost the excitement each time I go out and being in the bush is therapeutic.

 

[mardymoose]

Dont know what other advice you have had,but seems a lot if detectorists who have an sdc check out the mullock heaps and do ok. Hope this helps

 

[NeilM]

Yep
I loved just being out with no city noise.
loved being in the bush with roo's and goats for a few days.

Hoping to learn a lot at the training day at wattle flat

 

[NeilM]

Had my second trip out which included the ML training day at Wattle Flat this weekend.
Training day Saturday was excellent.
Dave from ML Bendigo came up for the day and passed on some great info.
Info was so good I got my first bit of gold.

Very small - but I like it

On Dave's (and others on here) advice I only hit the mullock heaps.
Strangely enough the heap where I found this had a lot of recent digging on it.
I know that because the day before it wasn't disturbed.
I ran the sdc between where others had been and bang - there it was half inch down.
hardly even a noise from the sdc.

I don't have a clue what it weighs - any approximate guesses.

Needless to say I am stoked and planning another trip.
Compared to Tambaroora (spellcheck) I really like Wattle Flat.
There was a lot of junk, just didn't seem as much as Tambaroora

Definitely going there again

 

[Nanjim]

Very nice good on ya!

Cheers Nanjim
Jim

 

[NeilM]

Very nice good on ya!

Cheers Nanjim

Jim

Thanks NanJim

 

[Chewy]

Well done congrats.

 

[cecc]

Nice piece there.

 

[user 7222]

I have yet to find my 1st piece. Not from lack of trying or digging junk. It WILL come eventually.
And YES! A bad day detecting is better than....

 

[NeilM]

Thanks all.

Where are you Patrick?
Seriously the training day was great and it really showed me I had no idea the first time I went out.
Well worth it.

NM