What a fantastic hobby/sport we all have! I am so glad that I got interested in this, and also so glad that I joined this forum. It has given me the opportunity to not only learn about what I am doing, but to meet one of the nicest guys I have met in many years.
Mystyk59 (aka Billy Mule Man O'Shea on Prospecting in The Territory) offered to take us out in Tennant Creek while we were travelling to see the kids in Darwin, and show us the ropes,, and as can be seen from my intro he had his work cut out.
We were on our way home a couple of Wednesdays back when, sitting around the van having a beer at The Pebbles near Tennant Creek NT, I saw Billy come online, so thought bugger it, I'll give him a call and see if he was fair dinkum or not about giving a total newbie some heads up info. I couldn't have asked for a friendlier first conversation and Billy made me feel that nothing was too much trouble, and we agreed to meet at Billys the next morning.
Meet we did, and from the very first moment we hit it off and we bundled Billy into our car and set off to a spot he lovesthe Australian Outback. Into the spinifex and red dust we travelled and at the end of a really short drive Billy pulled us up and we began the first lessons. Hearing about beeps and boops and whoo whoos, and auto tunes, and ground balancing, and sensitivity, and tracking, and EMI, and other stuff had the head reeling just a little, but once we turned on, tuned in, balanced and set off, I felt confident that I had listened and understood some of the intricacies of the GPX5000 that all the written instructions and You Tube videos just dont give to you when youre starting out.
We went over a couple of mullock heaps to start with, and then Bill wanted to go with his detector and see if he could get a signal so I could start to grasp the practical side.
After about 5 minutes he called me over to a small heap and pointed to an area on the top for me to try. Straight away I heard that whoo-whoo sound that I have since fallen in love with! After a dig of only 5cm or so, and a learning of the use of a plastic scoop, I had my very first piece of condensed Australian sunlighta lovely wee .27g nugget that may just as well have been 1kg! Absolutely stoked and high 5s all round.
Billy left me to my devices and went off to scan another heap, so I decided to stay and finish the scan of the same heap as I thought naively that hey, if theres one piece there that everyone missed, maybe, just maybe, there might be a twin of the first nugget to make matching earrings (albeit SMALL earrings
) for Elle
I scanned across the top and around a tree, and then down the side away from the first nugget, and then around further and then got that lovely sound. Thought to myself, you cant be that arsy surely, but got down with my trusty plastic scoop and started the half handful shuffle that Billy had shown me, until in the last little bit I saw 2 little flecks of yellow. I thought yahoo!! Almost big enough to make a nose stud for Elle! But not big enough for the second earring :8 Then I got rid of a little more dirt and the 2 little bits turned into one bitwas I excited? So excited that I coolly put the nugget in my mouth to wash it like Billy had done with the first, and bent over and picked up what I thought were Elles sunnies from the heap and mad my way over to Bill.
I handed him the sunnies and nonchalantly asked Are these yours to which he said Yes, and then I said but I dont think this is and handed him the nugget.
He said a naughty word! And very loudly!
And then we went racing off to weigh it in. Official verdict5.48g and all of half an hour into my initial prospectwow!
To cut a long story short (there is a much longer version on the Prospecting in The Territory site) there were high 5s, handshakes, and even a couple of man hugs, and I left Tennant Creek 1 and a bit days later a very happy camper, who had found a lifelong hobby, and what I hope is a lifelong friendship with both Billy Mule Man OShea and his mate Dale Millar.
If you ever get a chance to get out there, do yourselves a great favour and look these 2 fabulous guys, and their families, up.
Another small .37g from Clermont on the way home proved that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks.
CYA
Geoff
Mystyk59 (aka Billy Mule Man O'Shea on Prospecting in The Territory) offered to take us out in Tennant Creek while we were travelling to see the kids in Darwin, and show us the ropes,, and as can be seen from my intro he had his work cut out.
We were on our way home a couple of Wednesdays back when, sitting around the van having a beer at The Pebbles near Tennant Creek NT, I saw Billy come online, so thought bugger it, I'll give him a call and see if he was fair dinkum or not about giving a total newbie some heads up info. I couldn't have asked for a friendlier first conversation and Billy made me feel that nothing was too much trouble, and we agreed to meet at Billys the next morning.
Meet we did, and from the very first moment we hit it off and we bundled Billy into our car and set off to a spot he lovesthe Australian Outback. Into the spinifex and red dust we travelled and at the end of a really short drive Billy pulled us up and we began the first lessons. Hearing about beeps and boops and whoo whoos, and auto tunes, and ground balancing, and sensitivity, and tracking, and EMI, and other stuff had the head reeling just a little, but once we turned on, tuned in, balanced and set off, I felt confident that I had listened and understood some of the intricacies of the GPX5000 that all the written instructions and You Tube videos just dont give to you when youre starting out.
We went over a couple of mullock heaps to start with, and then Bill wanted to go with his detector and see if he could get a signal so I could start to grasp the practical side.
After about 5 minutes he called me over to a small heap and pointed to an area on the top for me to try. Straight away I heard that whoo-whoo sound that I have since fallen in love with! After a dig of only 5cm or so, and a learning of the use of a plastic scoop, I had my very first piece of condensed Australian sunlighta lovely wee .27g nugget that may just as well have been 1kg! Absolutely stoked and high 5s all round.
Billy left me to my devices and went off to scan another heap, so I decided to stay and finish the scan of the same heap as I thought naively that hey, if theres one piece there that everyone missed, maybe, just maybe, there might be a twin of the first nugget to make matching earrings (albeit SMALL earrings
) for ElleI scanned across the top and around a tree, and then down the side away from the first nugget, and then around further and then got that lovely sound. Thought to myself, you cant be that arsy surely, but got down with my trusty plastic scoop and started the half handful shuffle that Billy had shown me, until in the last little bit I saw 2 little flecks of yellow. I thought yahoo!! Almost big enough to make a nose stud for Elle! But not big enough for the second earring :8 Then I got rid of a little more dirt and the 2 little bits turned into one bitwas I excited? So excited that I coolly put the nugget in my mouth to wash it like Billy had done with the first, and bent over and picked up what I thought were Elles sunnies from the heap and mad my way over to Bill.
I handed him the sunnies and nonchalantly asked Are these yours to which he said Yes, and then I said but I dont think this is and handed him the nugget.
He said a naughty word! And very loudly!
And then we went racing off to weigh it in. Official verdict5.48g and all of half an hour into my initial prospectwow!
To cut a long story short (there is a much longer version on the Prospecting in The Territory site
) there were high 5s, handshakes, and even a couple of man hugs, and I left Tennant Creek 1 and a bit days later a very happy camper, who had found a lifelong hobby, and what I hope is a lifelong friendship with both Billy Mule Man OShea and his mate Dale Millar.If you ever get a chance to get out there, do yourselves a great favour and look these 2 fabulous guys, and their families, up.
Another small .37g from Clermont on the way home proved that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks.
CYA
Geoff
