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[Koja]

Hello, American here, I have made it down under 5-6 times while in the US Navy. Now in a unique situation to come visit the land down under for more then just a few days. Part of my interest is visiting WA and seeing the opal mines. maybe spend a bit detecting gold. (no worries i am just visiting). would be fun to meet up with a few folks and see your area of the world. please feel free to message me. planning my trip now to be down in oct & Nov. I land in Sydney and train ride to my mates in vic. then off in a caravan to cover as much areas as possible.

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[Koja]

Hello All, Retired US Navy guy here. I have managed to make it to Australia 5-6 times in the navy. now find my self in a unique situation able to come back and visit longer. My journey will start in Sydney in October and i will be traveling by train to Vic to see a mate there. from there i am planning to trek out to WA, Id love to see a opel mining claim, and maybe get to visit with folks doing gold prospecting. then i continue up in to NT making my way up to Darwin and over to to the coast to the reef, and then back to vic. If any you bloks are friendly and willing to show me around I'd love to set something up.

 

[Hilux]

I'm not a gold prospector (more treasure and coins), it might be worth jumping on board one of the courses that are run in some gold prospecting areas.

A friend did one over a few days. They cover lots of stuff, do some prospecting and generally have a good time. You'll get to make a few mates.

I think he did his course near Cue or Paynes Find in Western Australia.

 

[Koja]

I'm not a gold prospector (more treasure and coins), it might be worth jumping on board one of the courses that are run in some gold prospecting areas.

A friend did one over a few days. They cover lots of stuff, do some prospecting and generally have a good time. You'll get to make a few mates.

I think he did his course near Cue or Paynes Find in Western Australia.

Thanks, the world of detecting is all new to me. been thinking about investing in a detector. but hate wasting mony buying the cheapest one out and learn in a few trys its junk.

 

[grubstake]

Hello All, Retired US Navy guy here. I have managed to make it to Australia 5-6 times in the navy. now find my self in a unique situation able to come back and visit longer. My journey will start in Sydney in October and i will be traveling by train to Vic to see a mate there. from there i am planning to trek out to WA, Id love to see a opel mining claim, and maybe get to visit with folks doing gold prospecting. then i continue up in to NT making my way up to Darwin and over to to the coast to the reef, and then back to vic. If any you bloks are friendly and willing to show me around I'd love to set something up.

Hi Koja, welcome to PA.

I see you're interested in looking at opal mining, but please note that WA isn't the place for that. Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia are the states with opals, mostly in quite remote, outback areas.

October - November will get you into some pretty hot weather as you head into more northerly areas of WA, NT and Queensland - be prepared! Also, I hope you realise how enormous the distances involved in your planned tour are. Here's an overlay map for comparison with the US:

 

[Nap.in.Cbr]

Hi Koja,

I'm originally from the US too. Been here 15 years now. I first started my detecting in the golden triangle of Victoria. I did a one day training with detector hire included as well as full instruction on how to use it. I even found 2 small nuggets! As you're heading there anyway it may be worth a look. Mark Hyde was running it with his company called Gold Prospecting Australia. Not sure if he's still running them as it was some time ago. Second Grubstake on the opal. If you want to try that White Cliffs, Lightning ridge, or Coober Pedy are the go. There's other fields as well. They're mostly in NSW, South Australia and southern Queensland.