Public area gold

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Welldone, thats some beautiful stuff. :slight_smile:

that sure does look nice

Mmmm, gold porn - I’m liking it a lot!

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damn fella! this some nice yellow! :smile:

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I saved my favourite photos, I feel a feaver coming on :heart_eyes:

Most of this is from arrowtown and its side creeks and also 12 mile delta. I few bits from shotover too. Getting the dredge back out tomorrow so hopefully add to the collection

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good looking stuff well done

Thanks for showing what can be achieved mate, am guessing a fair bit of hard work and fun was had.

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Yer digging isn’t to kind on the back but it’s worth it sometimes :grin: if only we could control the sandfly population I would live on the rivers.

How cold is it? (air - I know the water is always cold)
Are you in the water? Are the creeks high at the moment?

14.c tomorrow winters pretty much over, water will be around 6.c tomorrow in my wetsuit. It’s cold enough to feel through a 7mm wetsuit but not enough to put me off getting the dredge back in. Most creeks will be low until next week as more snow melts and spring rains start. Then it could be a month of high ware so I’ll be making the most of it this weekend

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Cheers for the info, for that kind of gold I’d get in ice. :snowflake:
Got a 5mm full wetsuit with hood attached, it has these flaps inside the wrists & ankles to keep the heat in. Someone reckoned to wear longjohns underneath, I’ve got some thin merino longjohns, but my suit is hard enough to get in with a helping of dish liquid! What do you think?

I use a rash vest under the jacket just to keep the core warm. Legs never get cold really even in ice water, the killer is cold feet and hands which there’s no cure for, I buy oversized dive boots then 2 dive socks with thick wool over the top, after 3-4 hours it’s not nice, for gloves I use dish gloves inside wetsuit then neoprene 5mm over top with a cheap pair of strong builders gloves on top of that. You’ve got no feeling but it gives you a few hours of water time before you need to get out. Also a full face mask is handy as currently it’s a lot like getting brain freeze after eating ice cream to fast.
It’s amazing how warm you get though when you start finding that yellow stuff.

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@Gavzilla
$%!T mate!
How do you hold anything or even move?? :laughing:
I reckon duct tape gloves would be easier!

Dunno if I want to carry that much gear, I’m a detectorist by the way, not much into sluicing, though I do have a special kind of mini trommel sluice under construction.
I’ll be walking/hiking my way down the south island, need to carry my whole kit on my back.

So my options for keeping warm are

A sexy lady (though I hear they try to escape if snow falls on them)

Very long merino scarf

Or an Alpaca onesie

I only where that if I’m on the dredge or sniping, sluicing with a box you can do on the bank without getting to wet, sounds like your in for a great adventure mate, I’ve made a sluice box out of light aluminum that’s perfect for backpacking it weighs under a kilo it’s the small one in left of pic, I’d highly recommend doing the same if you want to travel light, the last thing you want to do is pan at every nice river you find.

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Have you tried a plastic bag on each foot?
that’s how I put my dive suit on,just slides up easy.

@Gavzilla I’ve had to go with stainless steel, mine is more trommel so needs to take a battering from larger rocks. Hopefully it will concentrate somewhat, all in one, no need to carry any extra equipment or hike out with a bunch of extra ironsand.

@barong that is a good tip, feet and hands are easy, rest of suit sticks to me, just takes a bit to workout the bunching up.

Hi Gavzilla, I like what I see, some nice nuggets ya got there. I feel the itch starting and it won’t be long before I dust the cobwebs off my gold gear and hit the creeks.

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I know the feels!! we all do!