Hi there, whats the deal with taking a detector to Rarotonga? We are going in July do i need to let anyone know before hand or just declare it when i get to the airport?
T.I.A
sawan american guy using one on the beach about 6 months ago…he said no problem getting thru customs so guess its ok
Its only a metal detector, not a gun. No need to say anything about it. I travel with a drone and an OZ of gold. Every airport my carry on bag with the gold gets pulled aside for inspection because the gold lights up the x ray machine. Hardly ever get questions about the drone and batteries. I also had no questions when I took my detector traveling.
Just a reminder to keep anything you find of value in your carry on. A pile of gold will always be looked at, and if its not on you, it might not be there when you get home.
Hopefully your bringing a salt water detector. The tides in Raro are very small so you will be stuck on dry sand.
Good luck.
When I took mine to Oz for a bit of gold detecting I got a fair bit of interest when it went through the scanners, but no problem.
I did get swabbed down, looking for bomb residue, on way back from Perth. The guy said “the good news is that you tested negative for bomb residue, the bad news is you tested positive for cocaine” - funny guy 
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hey there gavin, where in W.A did you go and how do you go about doing it, don’t you need a prospectors permit or something?
I have a son over there and would be keen on going for a “hunt” next time we visit.
Cheers Simon
Hi Simon, you need a prospectors permit, but that only costs $20 and can be bought over there easily enough. We went and joined up a tour over there. Figured it was a good way to learn the basics. Pretty good fun camping out in the outback 
Oh cool we will have to look into it next time we go over. Our son is right into 4wd and camping, he is in Golden Bay just north on Mandurrah
so could be a side activity.
Thanks
Simon
Definitely take a GPS… easy to get lost in the desert if there’s not many points of reference around 
Yes good point
Thanks
And a compass. I worked in the artic. No trees. No hills. 24 hours of sun. No nothing for land marks. I have never walked the wrong way so many times in my life. Even 50 year old geologists said they had never been so lost everytime the looked up. If your gps dies. At least your going the right direction.
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