I’m looking at moving to New Zealand (Christ church area) in the next year or 2 and will be bringing my metal detector with me
I’ve got a xp deus
I don’t get much time here in the UK and not close to a beach which is what I like most just to be out and somewhere nice and relaxing
and I currently live where farmers are payed to protect areas of interest which is a pain
Well hope to hear from some of you and get to know more by reading through the posts already here
Nice one Martin.
HH
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Welll Hello, i am David of Christchurch, and im interested to hear your story.
I will attempt a brief sumary of metal detecting in Christchurch from (sketchy) memory, Corrections and additions from others with more complete knowlege and experience are most welcome.
Metal detecting in NZ is quite different to elsewhere in the world because NZ was the last place on earth to be settled by humans, being settled roughly a thousand years ago by the Maori. The environment here enabled them to develop a complex and sophisticated stone age society which has left nothing for the metal detectorist to find. Christchurch was established around 1850 by English colonists.
A particular gap in my knowlege of metal detecting regards the status of the “Red Zone” which is a large collection of empty paddocks with sparse inhabitation which 7 years ago were densely populated suburbs. These areas are prone to ground liquifaction in earthquakes and the housing here was extensively damaged by the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. The government has purchased the land and cleared the uninhabiited houses, leaving large areas of parkland with the odd undamaged inhabited house.
Under NZ law i believe any find of pre 1900 material should be treated as an archeological find and appropriate authorities notified, otherwise things here are fairly relaxed and i imagine that there are a lot of places where no previous detection has taken place. There are not a lot of amateur metal detectorists about and the hobby has never really become popular here.
Thank you for the history insight
I’ve not got that far into the history of it yet but over time I will
Only done a bit of learning the history of the UK
Lived on the outskirts of Salisbury Plain so read up a bit on stone henge and also the history of bulford and it’s use as a staging ground and receiling area for the army including the large chalk kiwi on the hill
I did wonder what happened to the houses and area affected by the earthquakes
I’ve so far not been able to get permission so stuck to beaches and learning how to best detect them
Nothing of value or history though (yet)
Well I might be over sooner than I thought
Maybe around November this year
Cannot wait