nice going there. someone i hope gave you a good leed.
Cheers for the leads mate, very much appreciated! Found a decent spot that I thought would yield but my companions were a bit impatient for me to check it fully 
Next time… it might be a good tip!
Those finds were from the trip over.
Was great to catch up again. Hope you’re hanging in there okay still!
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hi
was meant to start kemmo today but my immune system is to low so will have to wait till next thurs. my bros been down from welly so been good to do the odd SMALL walk with him . went up denniston this afternoon and found a old mine tunnel . driven past it so many times its amazing what you see when not driving.
still feeling good so heres hoping for another couple of weeks
thanks for the call in
cheers keith and black dog
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Went out for my first gold detect in four weekends on saturday. Found my first ever bit of gold from a rabbit hole dig out pile. I would have detected thousands of these over the years with no result. I have detected heaps of gold from the old time miners prospect hole throw out piles. Probably helped that this particular rabbit hole was in an old prospect pit throwout pile. I had in fact found numerous bits of gold in among these old prospect pit piles over the years but the gold had dried up.
Sunday I wanted to try out my new 15 x 10 inch X coil on my GPZ 7000. First time trying an elliptical coil on the Zed. I always liked the Elliptical coils on my GP & GPX detectors. The narrow points on the heel & toe of the coil are very sensitive where the windings come closer together but being elliptical you get good ground coverage per sweep of the coil. I managed 7 bits on Sunday with the Zed & four on the saturday with the Good Bug 2. The piece of gold top right is the piece from the rabbit hole pile.
On Saturday I saw 7-8 red deer hinds & a stag. I saw movement out the corner of my eye up the gully. They were crossing from one side up to the other. I grabbed my camera to get a shot, as the stag with its antlers looked very impressive & they wouldn’t have been 50 meters away. They disappeared behind a large schist outcrop at the top of a rise & I waited for them to emerge out the other side. They hadn’t initially seen me but when they came out from behind the outcrop a hind froze & was looking straight down at me. I waited for the stag to appear, but it didn’t & the hind & a few of the others disappeared over the back of the rise & they were gone. Bugger.
Good luck out there
JW 
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In ‘hind’ sight it might pay to have a GoPro attached to your hat going constantly and then you wont get be’hind’ when it comes to taking a photo of them. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but sighting a hind is not good when the camera isnt ready or has been left be’hind’
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Hi Graeme, Ha ha…I most certainly was in one hinds sight. 
What do you call a deer with no eyes?
No idea, No eye deer.
What do you call a deer with no legs & no eyes?
Still… no eye deer.
What do you call a deer with no legs, no eyes & no dick?
Still no fu–ing eye deer. 
JW
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Good laugh at the end of a crap day. Thanks.
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Nice one Kiwijw, perhaps we could have some nice panoramic picks next time 
What…And give away locations?? 
Last Saturday I went back to a spot where I got a 7.23 gram piece deep down in an old timers throw out pile of loose rubbly material. GPZ 7000 & the little 10" Russian made X coil.
The reason I went back is that on getting that 7 grammer there was another signal in that hole but as I dug on down the signal kept dropping deeper down between the loose stony material. I ended up giving up on it & knew I would be back with the GB2 to better pinpoint it. I knew it wasn’t iron rubbish as nothing leapt up onto my magnet, so it was either gold or a lead bullet head. So on Saturday I hiked back in there with the Zed & the GB2. The hole had collapsed in a bit so I dug down to about where I thought I had left it. Stuck the GB2 down the hole & nothing.
Scanned the stuff I had dug out & still nothing. Rigged up the Zed & this time I had a new 15 x 10 X coil. Stuck that down the hole & a signal. So I very carefully with my hand removed stones & material watching like a hawk for any sign of something else in the hole & anything that might be dropping deeper down. The Zed was screaming on a target now so I tried the GB2 & it was now getting a faint signal. It wasn’t discriminating but still singing out loud & clear so I knew for sure it was now either gold or lead. I caressed my way down further with my hand carefully removing more material. Stuck the GB2 back down & it was now screaming. I put my glasses on, yer getting an old bastard, & at the tip of the little sniper coil on the GB2 I saw a dirty bit of yellow. Ye Ha.
I ended up with two little bits of gold & an old timers jeans button.
I also came across those 7 red deer hinds again too, but no stag this time. Ok Dave, here is a panoramic pic for you. If you look real hard just left of center you will see 5 of the hinds. The thing that blew me away was they knew I was there as they stopped & were looking straight at me as far away as I was. Crazy…
This pic may help you a bit better zoomed up on. Two of them are standing together. The other two to make up the 7 were in a couple of gullies further back. Don’t know why they seperated.
On Sunday I went to a local spot where I had been getting gold out of what appeared to be solid schist rock. I had been using a cold chisel & hammer. But I bought a little battery powered kango hammer to try out. It worked a charm. This pic was just the start of carving out what became a little glory hole.
Ended up with 20 little pieces. That was a hoot.
That was my weekend. Good luck out there.
JW
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@kiwijw love your gold reports mate with all the cool photos. Much appreciated you sharing your finds. I feel my motivation climbing!
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looks like yourve just gone through some of lammerlaws tailings
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Ha ha…maybe it was his jeans button. LOL 
JW
Saturdays gold finds on the left from a dry gully that never had water nor did the old timers bring water into it from afar as there was nowhere to bring it from as it is too high up. They dug prospect holes & discovered there was worthwhile gold down a bit so they used horse & cart & loaded the cart with the pay layer material & took it to the nearest creek to wash it, which was miles away. Naturally in the process of digging down to the pay layer material they threw gold out in their discard piles which is what I find with my detecting.
Gold on the right was from Sundays effort & in a totally different location. The old timers brought water on to this location. The shallow water ditches are still present & identifiable but no longer carry water. Otherwise a very dry area. This gold was not in a discard pile but in an area of a mix of rotten schist, schist gravels & clay. A natural deposit that the old timers didn’t ground sluice but left for me.
The next pic is looking up the gully where I found the 5 bits on Saturday. You will be able to make out the turned over ground from the old timers by the humps & hollows.
JW
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I only dream of finding bits of gold that big 
Nice Photos JW, is that ur truck way in the distance in the 2nd panoramic?
Hi Dave, Yes it is. The Hilux Surf went to vehicle heaven…no… more likely hell. But the Hilux had been to this spot many times. Here are some pics from a couple of years ago camped up in there for a weekend.
The three Amigo’s. VLF’s GB2, Nox 800 & the GM 1000. Big brother in the back ground GPZ 7000.
Gold found.
Was a fun weekend.
JW
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Love the panoramic tease you are giving us, lol, bloody marvelous.
Am I guessing right, but this is somewhere between the Criffel and the Lammerlaws
Hi Dave, The area you mention pretty much covers a large portion of Central Otago, which is a very wide area to its fringes. It is safe to say that I do indeed detect in Central Otago, which is a very easy guess from you due to the landscape & schist tors… Areas that can be at least a two hour drive from my home base in Queenstown.
Here’s one for you.
There is gold out there.
JW
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