Get excited!New Season upon us!

Well another season of gold prospecting is now upon us!!
Water levels in our rivers and streams are dropping as we start to get some more settled weather,hopefully stream beds are again re charged with the elusive yellow stuff we fight so hard to win in our pans.
As best laid plans and preparations are being made I would like to wish everyone the best of luck for the up coming summer season n be safe!!
If anyone does by chance get to any of the public fossicking areas(or elsewhere) and finds a little(or a lot) please feel free to share a pic or 2 with us so that we may too feel the gold fever glow.
Cheers Midas Mal

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another fine day on the coast. no rain in the forecast and no water vin my creek. talk about getting gold fever.
still trying to get up the glasseye creek over into the head of the tough and tumble where there is a stamper. the track is very over grown so giving it a cut as we go , only got 1.2 km to the saddle

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make sure it is wide enough so you can carry me.

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Yeh I know I said it last season but I will try my best to get over a see you this summer Keith,let us know when ya tracks finished…lol!
Been a mongrel of a year for me with wifie being sick in all,all clear now but just as she comes right some bugger stole my truck with all me tools in it,took them and torched my truck so will take a while to get on my feet again but definitely be in touch in time to help you look for the mother lode…lol…golds not going anywhere…bought me an old endless chain from an elderly gentleman at his garage sale for $5…tried to give him more but liked the idea it would be used for winning gold under large rocks…a real beauty that can hoist over 2500 pounds…could be good for controlled rock movements somewhere like your area…big flakes under big rocks…safer than using bars etc…? any good or too clumsy to set up?

endless chain will work, my mate uses a turffer in the waimanaroa and some rocks are still to big to move. I have a few tracks on the go one is heading towards the tiger river, another up the slug to try and get to the mossy, another trying to get into the top of deep creek.
I had that goat tied to the tree for you to shot but you didn’t turn up so I had to let it go.
sorry no gold left in the hills round here. see you soon

I understand that controlled rock movements can be achieved with a misture of potasium nitrate, charcoal and some sulfur, all tamped down with a nice little fuse to set it all off.

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A turffer what is that exactly?Endless chain and a big bar will hopefully unlock some juicy flakes I do hope.
I ve been pushing a track up through shit creek for time now, yours sound much more inviting and as for your goat I’m sure you will be able to call it back…I here you west coasters are very fond of your goats…very fond…LOL!
Cannot wait to get out of my 60 hours a week work bubble and head to the hills…there be gold in deem ills…arrrhhh!

a turffer is a hand operated winch used mainly for pulling a 4wd out of shit. 12000lb pull. only fond of the good looking goats abit like sheep if they could cook well leave the rest to you. heading back up the hills in the morning, 60 hours to much I’m retired so get paid by the government to go for walks all over the place

Yeah I guess it does depend on your interpretation of the word “controlled”,as in explosives is like “not very”…lol.
Was thinking of trying to move big rocks to find some flakes in the public fossicking areas so I think using explosives may have its limitations…nah.
One would have to ask all fossickers,campers etc, infact anyone in a 300mtr zone to all hide behind there campervans/rental cars while one blows a huge hole in the river bed…definitely doable and would make one heck of a Youtube video…lol!!

spent the day out track cutting , got abit further up the glasseye.

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Ahh… man and chain saw…cool photo…cuttin a nice looking track there Keith:grin:

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hi keith , hey good to hear your retired , I havnt retired your old dredge yet love it , you reckon a turfer winch the way to go to shift bolders , I got plenty to shift ,. don’t know the first thing turfers what should I look out for merry xmas webby

hi webby
good to hear the dredge is still going. hows the possum industry ? I was working down the road from you last job in the waitaki valley, to far to travel to work all the time. met a neat guy called tad a good kiwi bloody good sort hes been up to do some fishing a couple of trips.
sorry been spelling the winch wrong , it a tirfor winch , I used a 1250kg one for my landrover getting in and out of my claim till I got the winch on the truck. they are a bitch to use slow as hell but it used to pull the truck up the bank I see them on the web for sale at $600. wouldn’t buy one 2nd hand . when using a blocking system you can pull a shit load but they are slow. a mate poured a pad of concrete up the river with some bolte set in it and mounted a electric winch on it as he had heaps of rocks in the area. also when shifting rocks you will need a rock basket to put round the rock to stop the rope falling off
hope this helps. retirements the way to go between doing my garden and hunting I don’t get the same time to go gold hunting but still try for getting out 2 to 3 times a week.
you have a good xmas