Newbie

[Muuzy23]

Hey everyone my names mark, my fiance and I are heading up to laanecoorie for our first trip over Easter with the kids
For our very first try at finding our first piece of gold! We've booked in a detector for the weekend and are very clueless as to
Where to start looking ? any tips tricks or advice would be greatly appreciated, we'll be up there on the 10th leaving on the 12th of April! We have 2 minecraft obsessed kids who can't wait to strike it lucky aswell! Looking forward to any feed back
Regards mark and Kristy

 

[dwt]

Try the Gold Maps and Resources section on this forum mate, and also posts in Metal Detecting For Gold,
Good luck

 

[Jaros]

Welcome and good luck Mark and Kristy. Hope it doesn't get tooooo hot.!!

 

[loamer]

If you are staying at Laanecoorie lakeside Park, there is actually a run of alluvial diggings on the park in a gully - its at the back, up towards the road. The diggings also run down the side of the road towards the shop. At the top of the hill as you drive in is an old diggers trench. As for local diggings, there is Cays within walking distance - about two kms but if you drive the road into it is 2wd capable - Hill and Dale Road. It has a mixture of reef and alluvial shallow diggings. Bit of rubbish about but it is a nice easy place to detect. Ground is gentle and usually clear. There is a small creek that runs through close to the main road, lack of water is usually the problem. There are reef workings - American/Kangaroo etc. Some of the reef workings are very deep so take care.

John Tully does a series of map books for the area. One is called 'Tarnagulla". The shop will have it for sure and its $20 odd if they dont have any loan copies. See the 'Cays' map on the cover?

Here is an excerpt of Cays. The yellow is a run of alluvial diggings. Try the mullock heaps. They do look shallow but be very careful if you jump in. Steer clear of the 1850s camp - there are usually bee hives over there.

Make sure you get your Miners permit - available on-line. Don't go onto private property, there is no need, plenty of crown land around there (its the green stuff on Tullys maps - white is usually private. Doug Stone did a map and had some private land marked as crown.) Good luck in there. There is gold about. If you come across a series of PVC pipes dug into a washed out gully - please leave it alone, its a test pit for coils and detectors.

 

[loamer]

Here is a geovic snapshot of the Cays area. Brown is crown land. So all safe to go in there.

 

[Muuzy23]

Thanks heaps guys for all your help I can already tell the prospecting community is a friendly one
Looking forward to being apart of it! And cheers for the maps and info loamer your a ledgend! I owe u a beer or two

 

[Guest]

Welcome to the forum.

You have some awesome advice already.

Here is another suggestion? There is lots of tiny gold about. Tiny bits of gold can be found
in or near "surfaced areas". If this interests you at all you can hire an SDC2300. Very simple
machine to use and it specialises in looking for this type of Gold.

The boys from Coiltek in Maryborough can help you out with the hire of one if you
need one.

You should find your 1st piece in no time.

Good luck with it.

 

[loamer]

Muuzy - once you get to know the area around there, some really interesting places where you cannot detect but interesting anyway. The last gold rush area in Victoria, Posedin is just up the road on the eastern side of the Laanecoorie/Newbridge Rd (really good pub at Newbridge too - 10 minutes from park, great food). There is some plant and equipment up around the old lead. On the western side of the road there is also some plant and equipment, trommel, screeners etc, a small scale operation - well small compared to BHP!! You will see the modern mullock heaps. On the same road is Irvines Reef, which you can detect, its the only big reef mullock heap on the road and you cant miss it. No big holes the kids can fall in either. The road cuts through some really good ground and on crown land there is some small surfacing. Bit dangerous to detect so close to a road for kids, apart from the mine area, but if I had the time and inclination, there are some really interesting little spots right on the road verge.

The gold really ceases to be shallow round about Cays/Posedin. It then dips into a quite deep lead, the Wild Dogs Lead, which runs for miles/kms. Its been tested and drilled. Detectable gold sort of re - emerges to the east, closer into Bendigo. I would concentrate over at Cays on and around the mullock heaps. You wont need a big digging shovel, just a small cheap pick and some small plastic kids shovels to sort out any small signals you may get. Put in shovel, run over detector, half the soil, repeat process until you narrow the target down.

You will be amazed at all the mullock heaps over there. 1000s of heaps. The roads/tracks are all pretty good through the bush. All 2wd capable unless it is raining and even then most are OK. With a copy of the maps, I defy anyone to get lost in there. You are 10 minutes from a sealed road, pub, pie and beers in any direction.

 

[loamer]

Muzzy - a map from Memory Map (not free) putting Cays/Caravan park into perspective for you. caravan park bottom, Cays top left. The mullock heaps marked at the 166 and 164 features are on private land. ignore these. use the Tully map and you will be fine.

 

[Muuzy23]

Thanks again a heap loamer that last map give me a lot better look at it, as you said once I get to know the area
I could spend weeks there, we love history and places such as this with plenty to look at, we even recently took the kids for a trip down the wonthaggi coal mine no gold or things of value but the kids absolutely loved it , any good local museums or monuments out that way??

 

[loamer]

No worries - happy to help.

There is a monument at Moliagul, north of Dunolly, for the Welcome Stranger Nugget.
There is a museum in Dunolly, not sure if it will be open over Easter.
The railway station at Maryborough is very historic - Mark Twain wrote about it. Right next to Maccas for the kids!
The tourist info joint in Maryborough is excellent.
Nothing like Sovereign Hill around the traps, all very much 'as was' anyway with a few markers around the place. I can assure you - there is nothing false about these places.