Hi,
I read a lot about ULRs and Public access to figure out where I can actually go to explore…
So, just to confirm my understanding…
ULR (unformed legal roads) or Paper Roads and Marginal Strips (MS?) are pieces of land that are not owned by the Land Owner/Leaser next to it and they have to allow public access on them
The Owner/Leaser of the land next to them is not allowed to limit access by locked gates or telling people off for using them
There are some owners/leasers who don’t care about public access and think they can tell people off, not allow them access or even charge them for access
Some Owners/Leasers offer use of their own roads for free or a small fee as the ULRs might be unusable for whatever reason
I can basically use the ULRs/MS on foot or with a bike just car access might be difficult most of the time and needs a 4WD (and experience how to use it)
If I wander off the ULR/MS onto the land next to it I am trespassing
So far my understanding… Now for my questions…
I can climb fences that are in the way of me walking or biking the ULR/MS while not damaging them even though they should not be there in the first place, right?
How comes that some rivers have a marginal strip while others don’t?
There is DOC land and crown land, too… Can I just walk wherever I want on those?
I am using the Herenga a Nuku map at LocalMaps
to check the areas… Is there something more accurate? As I read that the ULRs/MS might be very inaccurate on these maps?
On the map the MS is very often not following the actual river… Would that still mean that the MS in the real world is next to the river or is the map the source of truth?
The catch is that legally you can not go looking for & removing gold outside of the public fossicking areas. That is what those areas are for. Anything outside of that you either need to have a claim, exploration license or permission from a claim owner. Legally even a farmer or land owner can’t allow you to remove gold from their land. They can of course allow you on their land but the crown own all minerals not the land owner. By some one paying the crown for a claim or license that gives them the rights to the minerals they seek.
So access is one thing. Removing gold is another. Be it at your own risk,
The wams maps your using are good and accurate, also I find the topo 50 map with doc overlay to be very good as well that’s all I ever use for hunting and the GPS has always been within 5 meters.
Outside of that though what do you think you’re going to discover that hasn’t been looked over before many times?
Back country creeks are very hit and miss on gold and can have just a few good patches on kilometres of waterway.
My advice is try join one of the syndicate claims and see if it’s for you first, or there’s several guys on some of the Facebook groups who lease their claims?
Or better yet don’t even bother with the day to day worries of a claim and just hit the public areas like 99% do
A syndicate is a group of people or businesses that work together as a team. This may be a council or body or association of people or an association of concerns, officially authorized to undertake a duty or negotiate business with an office or jurisdiction. In this case they share & have joint ownership in a gold claim.
Well yes for those exact reasons, $33k for claim, 10k for dredge, $20k+ for suitable 4x4. Say $70k to start with, you’d need to find 20 ounces to break even… not gunna happen in that creek between 6 other shareholders also working it.
It only used to be around $5k to join a syndicate until the greed took over.
I thought about this a bit more and I think my main goal with this is the Adventure of Exploration… There are no new continents to discover on this planet and space is too hard…
Basically going to places where not many people have been and seeing remote places is amazing… Finding some gold in some remote creeks is just a plus… And maybe I even find a place for a claim… But exploration is more important… If that makes sense?
What you consider remote places… when it comes to gold… many people have already been there way before. You are 150 years too late. I doubt any creeks remain that have not been prospected for gold & by people who pretty much knew what they were doing. If you have done any reading & research on the matter of the initial gold discoveries back in the rush days, many were discovered by prospectors rushing to the latest strike. On their way to that location, as they crossed the land to get there, they would test every creek & occasionally they made a find.
So don’t for a second think your footprints will be the first ever into a location. Or that your shovel & pan is the first to test the gravels. They won’t be.
Stick to the public areas to start with. You need to learn to walk before you run. Hell, you may not even enjoy it once the real hard work begins.
So, when I’m out exploring the south island and want to access an ULR, but there’s a gate or something in the way, I’d want to check with the land owner to make sure that he’s fine with me going there… How do I find the owner in such cases? I mean, maybe there’s a house next to the thing and maybe someone’s home… But what if there’s no house and nobody in sight? And maybe even no mobile network to check any website for info…
