Hi guys, MMMmmmm.....Where to go today?? I decided on some old workings I had never been to before & that was because they are pretty remote & up in the high country & required a bit of a hike to get into them. Having to back pack in my gear I went in quite light. Broke down the 4500 & just took in the NF 12 x 7 & the NF 17 x 11, a bottle of water only half full as I knew there would be some snow melt coming down the little creeks that in summer will be bone dry. Cant get much fresher, purer water than that. Couple of muslie bars, a banana & a tin of tuna in lemon & pepper.
I drove as far as I could get & then the hike began. The plan was to walk up to an old dissused mining water race & use that as a flat level walking "track" until I got to a steep sided gorge where I had to go more verticle.
Then the walk was on. Followed the old water race as far as I could & then it was up to the remains of the old pack track.
The "track" turning in to the steep gorge. Notice straight ahead the schist tilted at more than 45 degree's past horozontial.
Narrow pack track right foreground heading off ahead around the bluffs. Imagine traversing this in winter back in the gold rush days when it was covered in snow & ice with pack horse & the miners in their hob nail boots.
I got up to the first of the old workings.
I dropped the pack & assembled the detector. Had a swig of water & I was in to it. MMMmmm....first thing I noticed was quite a few old detector dig holes. BUGGER. Ended up getting nothing.....not even a .22 shell, bullet head or shotgun pellet. Man that has to be a first.
I saw down the end of the old water race some workings that looked to have a bit of exposed bed rock, something I came to realise these sluiced gully workings seemed to lack a lot of......exposed bed rock. MMMMM that wasnt a good sign
I guess the old timers must have started at this far end with the water race & then worked their way back spilling the water down the gullies as they drew back.
I got nothing here either but again saw many old detector dig holes & scrapes.
I dropped down to the tiny creek in the bottom of the gully & hit on some few exposed bits of bed rock. Saw an old dig hole that had been back filled with rocks. I got a signal in it & ended up with the remains of an old tin match box. Bugger. I then moved about two feet away & got another loud signal & though it would just be some more from this old tin match box. As signals were few & far between I dug down on to it. I was in to a soft layer of rotten brown schist. I wasnt sure if it was true bed rock or just a buried slab from the old timers.
I got the signal in to my hand & whittled it down to this.
a .55 gram slug.....YE Ha You beauty....bout bloody time.
But that was all from this lot of workings. Man I put in some yards & that was it. Looked like some more walking to find some more workings. There was no shortage of those but I just couldnt see any bed rock in amongst them. As the old timers had plenty of water they would have washed the dirt very well & the pile of stacked rocks were just that....stacked rock. So I shoulded the back pack & kept on walking. I find it hard to comprehend how this water worn gold is up in these high remote gullies. But these rocks are water worn...no doubt about it. So obviously an old river channel. How the hell did the old timers even think to look here??
But no bed rock.....so I thought my best bet was to detect down the little water gutter/tail races hoping some gold got caught up that the old timers hadnt seen. I got a nice sounding signal & dug down to a gravely clay layer & the signal was still there
YES YES YES a bit of gold.
Moved on around these workings. Man was it hard work even trying to find a good spot to detect. Nothing but piles of stacked rocks & tail races. A bit of rotten schist bed rock right foreground but there were old detector dig holes in it. DAMN. This pic will give you an idea of how high up these workings are when you look way down gully there are more old workings. Also gives you an idea of how steep & rugged the surroundings are.
Found an old sluice fork.
Day light was soon coming to an end & I had a bit of a hike back to my wagon so I made the call to bail. I ended up taking what I thought would be a short cut back to the old pack track from where I was. I had to negotiate a steep gorgy gully, as the crow flies, to an old water race I could see on the opposite side that would make for easier walking until I hit the pack track. MMMmmm.....the steep gorgy gully was just that....a steep gorgy gully. I had to walk further & further up hill until I got past some steep vertical drops until I could get down & across the little creek & then up to the water race. So much for the short cut. But I came across some schist bed rock that was up on edge. I turned on the detector & was gobsmacked to get a signal straight away.
A small bit of gold
To cut a long repetitive story short. This happened 6 more times. Only down fall was that the sun was going fast & I still had to walk back to my wagon. Bloody gold. On the upside. Otago has a long twilight after the sun has gone down but I had to stop detecting & hit the track. I got back to my wagon at 9:30. I wouldnt have wanted to be any later as there were parts of the track that in behind spurs & gulleys away from the west were quite dark & difficult to see my footing.
So end result was 9 pieces for not even 2 grams but with unfinished business.
Cheers & good luck out there
JW :)
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