Hello everyone

[undertaker]

Hi, my name is Nick and I just received a Minelab GPX 5000 as my birthday present. Live in Sydney. I haven't had time yet to assemble all the parts yet, but when I do I have absolutely no idea where to go to try it out since I don't have a car here in Sydney (but do I have access to a car when I visit my parents in the Hunter).

Any advice on areas to try out?

I look forward to being more active on this forum when I get more time.

 

[BigSam]

Welcome mate! Christ a gpx 5k for a prezzy! Beats my "days of the week" jocks that I got haha

 

[undertaker]

Welcome mate! Christ a gpx 5k for a prezzy! Beats my "days of the week" jocks that I got haha

Yeah, I was pretty stoked to receive it.

"Days of the week" jocks? It wasn't long ago when I was still in uni that used to be my present.

 

[WalnLiz]

Welcome to the forum Nick. All your Christmas's must have come at once when you opened that birthday present. You've come to the right place for advice on both the machine and start out locations. Your best areas to focus your research would be in the Bathurst region which is only a couple of hours out of Sydney.

I'm sure with a bit of involvement within the threads you will soon meet several like minded folk willing to share travel excursions to the goldfields, and detecting is one of those hobbies where company, especially in the more remote areas, is a safeguard.

Best of luck and if you need any detector advice just throw it to the members.

Cheers Wal.

 

[undertaker]

Welcome to the forum Nick. All your Christmas's must have come at once when you opened that birthday present. You've come to the right place for advice on both the machine and start out locations. Your best areas to focus your research would be in the Bathurst region which is is only a couple of hours out of Sydney.

I'm sure with a bit of involvement within the threads you will soon meet several like minded folk willing to share travel excursions to the goldfields, and detecting is one of those hobbies where company, especially in the more remote areas, is a safeguard.

Best of luck and if you need any detector advice just throw it to the members.

Cheers Wal.

Thanks very much for your wellwishes Wal.

I managed to assemble the GPX 5000 yesterday and just for the fun of it, put a very small nugget I purchased from the Perth Mint a few years ago near the coil. The noise it made was amazing! However, it'd be better if I heard that noise doing fossicking!

Regarding Bathurst, yeah I've heard it's a good area but the problem for me is that I don't have a car, which would mean that it'd be very hard to get to those locations off the beaten path so to speak. I know I can get to Bathurst from Sydney via the XPT/Countrylink but beyond that into certain areas of that region poses a problem.

A few questions I'd like to ask, as I can briefly see from skimming through some of your posts that you're quite knowledgable in gold hunting:

1) Do I need a permit to fossick in national parks? I ask this because I know of a couple of national parks that are within 2-3 hours of where my parents' live.

2) Is it worth trying near the beach (as I live quite close to several)? If yes, when would be the best time to try (e.g. in terms of weather conditions, like after a storm)?

3) And finally, I see the GPX 5000 came with two different coils: 11" monoloop and double D. What is the difference between the two, and which one should be used most of the time

Thanks and hope you've had a good Easter

 

[WalnLiz]

G'day Nick,

You need a permit to fossick in State Forests in NSW, but National parks are a "No Go Zone". Most goldfields in NSW are on either Crown Land or Private Property. Many of the private property areas, if you approach the land owner with respect you will have no problems with access.

You're second question re the beaches. The 5000 is not really suited to the beaches, as though it has a discriminate function using a "DD" coil, it falls far behind a dedicated coin machine for this kind of work. Also many of the beaches around Sydney are too close to large amounts electromagnetic disturbances, and as such the detector will be extremely difficult to stabilize.

The 5000 comes and can be used with both a mono and a DD coil. The machine will detect deeper with a mono, but in certain areas of extremely high mineralization, or salt laden soil, it can be a tad on the noisy side. In these noisy areas a DD will tend to quieten the machine down noticeably. A DD is also necessary if you want to use the discrimination function.

The GPX5000 instruction manual goes into the differences between the two coils in detail, and a cover to cover read is well recommended when you first set the machine up. Hands on practice will soon have you making sense of all the settings, and if you get the chance to go out and detect with a fellow user who has found a few nuggets, the time will be well spent.

Once you've read through the manual, and there is anything you can't quite understand, just start up a thread in the Minelab section of Metal Detectors and I'm sure some clarity will come your way.

You have about the best tool for the trade of nugget hunting, and I'm sure the day of your first nugget won't be too far down the track. Best of luck with it mate.

Cheers Wal.

 

[undertaker]

You said that National Parks are no-go zones? I found this article:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-05/fossicking-allowed-at-new-sites-in-alpine-national/5239412

I'm a bit confused that some publications say, for example "Barrington Tops National Park" and others "Barrington Tops State Forest".

Oh, and thanks for your previous reply.

 

[WalnLiz]

That is in "Victoria Only" and I wish NSW would adopt some of the same principles. There is a chance that with some lobbying, a few of the NP's in NSW may become prospector friendly, but the best Gold areas such as the Kiandra field will unfortunately never fall into this category.

Cheers Wal.

 

[undertaker]

That is in "Victoria Only" and I wish NSW would adopt some of the same principles. There is a chance that with some lobbying, a few of the NP's in NSW may become prospector friendly, but the best Gold areas such as the Kiandra field will unfortunately never fall into this category.

Cheers Wal.

Ok, thanks for clearing that up.

And yes, I agree with you, I do hope NSW will follow suit sometime in the near future, hence opening up more locations for us folk in NSW.