Hello, I am Michele, retired and not long moved to Christchurch from down South. Just ordered my first metal detector, Fisher F22, and looking forward to getting to know it. Never detected before so this will be a new experience. Any words of advice most appreciated.
Hmm not a Waimate Birse are you? What do you want to detect for - coins in park? beach? gold nuggets?
I have always found that doing lots of research and asking locals can help - old play grounds and racecourses, picnic grounds and show grounds, grounds where circuses and carnivals took place back in the ‘old days’, places where the local likely lads met and where nefarious activities took place.
Look at old local history books and seek out photos showing where people congregated and met.
Try to locate where there used to be swings. Under the site where the swings used to be at Kelseys Bush at Waimate I did very well indeed.
Good luck - theres treasure there to be found!
No not a Waimate Birse, but related, no from down tuatapere way. Thanks for info, I have a lot to learn
cheers
Hi Michelle, I’m in the same boat, and looking at the fisher f22 / f44 / or just biting the bullet and getting an X-terra 705 since I frequent Central Otago regularly and was hoping to maybe try prospect some gold, but spend most of my time coin/relic hunting.
Let me know how your f22 goes!
(sorry if I’m hijacking the thread, wasn’t my intention)
p.s @Lammerlaw, love your posts mate, keep it up.
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Hi gerter,
Hoping my fisher will be here any day, had to be budget savy on this, so Fisher ticked all the boxes for a beginner. Will keep you informed on the 22, and kepp me informed on what you get
In England a friend used to find old tracks that people would walk from village to village . He said that often if they were unsure of the reception or if there could be thieves about then travelers and metchants would find a tree or rock which they used as a marker then bury thier money or valuablesHe had quite a few good finds. Not sure if the same would apply here Lammerlaw ?
Not really though there are a few rumoured money hoards to be found - 100 gold sovereigns at Tabletop? Station in the Hakataramea, same at Grays Corner South Canterbury and by coincidence the same somewhere near Kurow. Old tracks here havent a patch on British ‘old tracks’ where old is 1000 years and more. I saw a fantastic youtube video of diving into the waters detecting below an old Roman bridge - need I say more? Totally jellyarse and nearly booked my ticket to England but due to the fact that my only English ancestor was a convict who was deported to Australia 200 years ago I decided that I might be arrested.
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Well my Fisher F22 arrived, slowly getting used to it, found some coins, $1, 50c, and another I think is an old 5cent, Found a neat copper sink plug, also some metal bits, all from my backyard, thought it better to get practice digging it up first. Did go to a beach this morning for awhile but no luck. Need to do some research now, must say this site is great. Anyone give me tips on the best way to lift up a sod of earth, a spade seems a bit over kill at a park, and I don’t want to leave anything untidy after I finish. Thanks everyone, really have the bug, but want to do it right. cheers Michele
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Yeah… Don’t really want to be seen with anything spade-like around parks etc. A ‘lesche’ style tool is what you want, the FatMax that Cosmo mentions below is ideal. Light, and surgical. You’re fortunate to be in an area without kikuyu, so the screwdriver method is good for coins.
Have a squizz at this clip…
And thanks for asking advice 
Hiya there is some good videos on YouTube on how to dig a plug and other forms of retrieval. I use one of these in parks just as good as a metal detecting brand and like quarter the price.
Any more questions feel free to ask. HH&GL.L
Lol was gonna pin that clip too.
Thank you so much, have watched that video a few times now, and its brilliant, will go out tomorrow and see what I can find, Have used the screwdriver on my own backyard , but still a newbie to working out what is rock and metal that I touch. So much to learn. Thank you !!! will keep you informed 