outboard
Rohan
well I have been kicking around these forum for a few months now so I guess I should introduce myself.
My name is Rohan I am living in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne at Belgrave (where Puffing Billy starts off for its trip up to Emerald).
Throughout my life I have had a passing interest in prospecting, gems gold and mining and recently (about 6 months ago) I stumbled upon one of WalnLiz's videos on youtube after watching all of them I found my way to these forum.
8 years ago I was working in the fishing industry, on prawn trawlers up and down the Queensland coast I left that to come back to Melbourne to look after my mother who is getting on a bit and having a few health problems that are making her a little less independent then any of us would like, did some study and became an "IT" made some websites , built some computers, fixed some peoples problems ( yes it really does need to be plugged in to the power to work).
Over those 8 years the lean, taught body I had turned to a less then lean, less the taught, less then fit body and being indoors most of the time was not doing my head any good either, a hobby was needed that got me out , involved physical exertion (never been one to exercise for the sake of exercise, they tell me you get a high off it but a bottle of rum is easier way to get a high) and had the ability to pay for itself, enter prospecting.
Obviously prospecting is going to involve some outlay and for it to pay for itself it will require me getting good at it.
So the question was "where to start?" with all things prospecting the big pays come with the "lucky" finds, the 2 ounce nugget, the 30ct sapphire, the perfect chunk of opal with the perfect colours you cant rely on them, some people spend years prospecting and never see a "lucky" find.
So in the mean time you collect the bread crumbs that make up a sandwich, so where are these bread crumbs that will pay for the petrol to get to them?
Living in Victoria the best place to start has to be alluvial gold in the rivers, just about every river you put a shovel into has some gold in it so it is just a matter of locating where the gold is thick enough (in a river you can prospect in) and pan up a pay.
Gold target was good enough to put us onto a spot where we could get some decent colour in our pans on my second weekend out
well a pan is a bit limiting so a highbanker is a must, but I want to get gems too and don't want to miss that "lucky" find, so it had to be a Walbanker With the Rato pump (see the sponsors section) and now we are in business , a few tools some camping gear and now I'm a prospector
(And a health dose of advice from Wal when things were not quite right with the banker, turned out a foot valve was cutting our water flow nearly in half )
spend a day over at Mount Shadwell and now I'm a fossicker
take them to Lamberts and ....
so far the Expenditure is a little over $2,000 and we have got about 3 grams of gold and 6ct of cut peridot, spent a week away with my nephew , who is totally hooked and my girlfriend, who saw her first kangaroos out in the wild and not in some kind of zoo, and a few weekends, lost 2 kilo's and about 2 inches off the guts eliminated several creeks from possible places to get a "pay", met some real nice people and and have been having an absolute ball.
My name is Rohan I am living in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne at Belgrave (where Puffing Billy starts off for its trip up to Emerald).
Throughout my life I have had a passing interest in prospecting, gems gold and mining and recently (about 6 months ago) I stumbled upon one of WalnLiz's videos on youtube after watching all of them I found my way to these forum.
8 years ago I was working in the fishing industry, on prawn trawlers up and down the Queensland coast I left that to come back to Melbourne to look after my mother who is getting on a bit and having a few health problems that are making her a little less independent then any of us would like, did some study and became an "IT" made some websites , built some computers, fixed some peoples problems ( yes it really does need to be plugged in to the power to work).
Over those 8 years the lean, taught body I had turned to a less then lean, less the taught, less then fit body and being indoors most of the time was not doing my head any good either, a hobby was needed that got me out , involved physical exertion (never been one to exercise for the sake of exercise, they tell me you get a high off it but a bottle of rum is easier way to get a high) and had the ability to pay for itself, enter prospecting.
Obviously prospecting is going to involve some outlay and for it to pay for itself it will require me getting good at it.
So the question was "where to start?" with all things prospecting the big pays come with the "lucky" finds, the 2 ounce nugget, the 30ct sapphire, the perfect chunk of opal with the perfect colours you cant rely on them, some people spend years prospecting and never see a "lucky" find.
So in the mean time you collect the bread crumbs that make up a sandwich, so where are these bread crumbs that will pay for the petrol to get to them?
Living in Victoria the best place to start has to be alluvial gold in the rivers, just about every river you put a shovel into has some gold in it so it is just a matter of locating where the gold is thick enough (in a river you can prospect in) and pan up a pay.
Gold target was good enough to put us onto a spot where we could get some decent colour in our pans on my second weekend out
well a pan is a bit limiting so a highbanker is a must, but I want to get gems too and don't want to miss that "lucky" find, so it had to be a Walbanker With the Rato pump (see the sponsors section) and now we are in business , a few tools some camping gear and now I'm a prospector
(And a health dose of advice from Wal when things were not quite right with the banker, turned out a foot valve was cutting our water flow nearly in half )
spend a day over at Mount Shadwell and now I'm a fossicker
take them to Lamberts and ....
so far the Expenditure is a little over $2,000 and we have got about 3 grams of gold and 6ct of cut peridot, spent a week away with my nephew , who is totally hooked and my girlfriend, who saw her first kangaroos out in the wild and not in some kind of zoo, and a few weekends, lost 2 kilo's and about 2 inches off the guts eliminated several creeks from possible places to get a "pay", met some real nice people and and have been having an absolute ball.
looks like you have made your own luck there Rohan.
