I live near the ski fields and thought of that a couple of summers back. never did get up there for a look as there was late snow. A few things made me never bother getting there, namely i thought i was better off looking for gold. might be still worth a shot.
The remarks skilled is just so steep in many places under the lifts. barren rock does make it easy to see the ground. apart from the barren rock there are also boulders with huge spaces around so not so good there for detecting. A fair bit of rubbish and old crap from ski operations like wire and plastic but not much more.
coronet i think is a better shot but is mostly all big tussocks so not easiest detecting either. a lot of wire from ski passes, plastic cards, rubbish in general. a lot of tourists head here but now also a lot of people go there in the summer months, walking and mountain biking. really you are just looking for what has become hidden in the tussocks, the open ground finds have been easily picked up.
The beaches have been suggested many times to me also. Trouble is our 'beaches' are heavy gravel. even in busier spots the dropped goods generally stay on the surface and are easily spotted by the next beach goer. a lot of bottle tops and a few fishing lures and weights and a lot of old rusted crap is the norm. snorkelling might be a better option where its not too deep. gold ball retrieval springs to mind in one locations and i have seen this done with good results.
On the topic of detecting i would suggest doing your research so you don't become a laugh at others expense. an example is a local spot here where i often see guys with great detectors, especially after floods. unfortunately the spot has just fine gold. anyone that has put in much time there can tell you that. there just isn't anything of a size detectable there. sure down beyond everyones reach is probably the bigger stuff but the fact is flood gold won't detect unless perhaps you hit a big patch. i know someone that had this principle of detecting patches of fine gold, in the same spot. no luck. i am guessing there would need to be a fair concentration to be detectable, esp against the background black sands.
So, back to the ski fields - if you are keen for that i would suggest, like gold, finding the steepest sections where others have been too lazy to walk. you would need to run the detector around the base of the tussocks and over them too as they are good at catching things and they slide in towards the plant centre. a lot of work compared to open ground detecting.
Good luck to anyone that gives it a shot.
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