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[size=large]Four Days in Sofala and the at Gold Town of 'Hill End' - November 2007[/size]
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[size=small]Rena pans for Gold Micronuggets in the Turon River near "Lucky Point" - Sofala[/size]
[size=small]Me... Just a few moments before finding three tiny nuggets...[/size]
[size=large]Looking Back...[/size]
Here I was in the 21st Century, 160 years after the peak of the Gold Rush in the same location... and just 5 days ago:
The sweat dripped into my left eye, which in itself was already lubricated with copious amounts of "Bushman" personal insect repellent, before dripping onto the inside of my Ray-Ban sunglasses... ruining my vision and allowing me to blunder past a short shrub which was liberally coated with large, red, angry bull-ants. They clung to the cable of my Minelab X-Terra 70 and began to bite and sting it's length before I put the detector down and flicked them off (one at a time) with a stick. The bush-flies sensed that I had wiped my brow with my arm, removing some of the repellent, and they then clustered on my forehead by the dozen before venturing into my eyes again. I tried to crush them with my eyes alone but they didn't budge unless I poked them away with my fingers. I looked down on the mullock heap that I was climbing and detecting and saw a venomous Black Snake glance back at me before it slid off towards the Turon River. This was where my wife and friend were panning for gold in the cooling waters. To me, the Black Snake was as good as a nugget as I needed to capture it for the camera. But try as I might, he eventually evaded me in the thick vegetation beneath a pine tree where his burrow was likely situated.
[size=small]Sofala is located about 4 hours outside of Sydney, Australia[/size]
[size=12pt]NOW: [/size]
I drove my Canadian wife, Rena, and my olf school friend (Robert) over the Blue Mountains from Sydney to Bathurst this last week to spend 4 days Prospecting for nuggets and panning for alluvial gold in the towns of Sofala and nearby 'Hill End'. The drive was an easy one on the newly surfaced and marked roads and I'm surprised I hadn't thought to do this earlier. I'd been obtaining prospecting and metal deposit maps from the government on the area for years and more recently had accessed satellite maps on the region.
[size=small] The location of my destination.[/size]
It was only recently that I had both the means and an excuse to purchase a detector that would enable me to beachcomb up near my parents home on the Central Coast. I'd originally set my sights on the Minelab Excalibur 1000 as I was interested in taking it to Lord Howe Island to search for a missing shipment of Silver from the previous century that is believed to be buried there. But handling the Excalibur showed that it's neutrally buoyancy for underwater use makes it heavy on land. I was quite disappointed to feel just how heavy it was in person when I stopped in to try one on for size at the Miner's Den prospecting supply store in Parramatta. One of the gentlemen there answered more of my questions and showed me the X-Terra 70 when I referred to my desire to try the Goldfields nearby and the lightweight AA battery consuming X-Terra 70 won me over in the store then and there. The advantage of the digital detector was that it took AA batteries and this meant I could obtain them anywhere... and I could carry backups and not concern myself with daily recharging.
Sofala is one of the earliest Gold Strike locations in Australia. It lies just outside of Bathurst, about half an hour's drive north of the city. It took me about 3.5 hours to drive there from the Sydney suburb where I live and is a safe and easy drive during daylight hours. I packed far more than I needed for the week. In retrospect, I only needed to have brought a fraction of what I did. I brought enough water for drinking on the way but stopped at Bathurst where I purchased more supplies such as food and plenty of diet coke and bottled water. Why lug the excess weight across the mountains when you can buy it at Bathurst for the final haul? - I was happy to see that we'd used barely a quarter tank of fuel to get us to Bathurst and refilled before heading to Wattle Flat.
Wattle Flat is located JUST outside of Sofala. The gold digging and mining operations of the mid 1800's is still evident there today although it may take a keen eye to spot the endless mounds which hint at the stripped earth, now overgrown by another century of trees and plant matter. The region looks quite green with recent rains and only quite recently was so dry that the town had to import water.
[size=small]Parked at the Blue Gum Cabin at Wattle Flat on the Ryder Homestead.[/size]
We stayed at The Blue Gum Cabin which I discovered on the internet. The cabin is one of several run by a chap called Rodney who operates the Ryder Homestead in the region. It's self contained and has everything necessary with the exception of a television & phone. I should note that there's no mobile phone service in the region and it's only when you approach Bathurst that you can pick up a signal. Satellite trackers are fine though.
Wattle Flat is mostly private farmlands, leases and residences. There's Crown Land on either side of the property which you can explore but I was mindful of the potential for iron trash so I chose not to scour these areas. When we arrived at the Blue Gum Cabin at the Ryder Homestead, we unpacked our gear and equipment before Robert and I attempted to set our Ground Balance on our detectors. He'd brought with him the latest incarnation of the 'Gold Snoop' to see if prospecting was something he would interested in. But try as we might, the soil was highly mineralized (*Hot Soil) and his machine wouldn't stop beeping. I missed an important step in balancing my X-70 so I failed miserably at first. First thing I did was write down on a sheet of paper the basic steps to 'Noise Canceling' and 'Ground Balancing' and put it in my pocket. I made the mistake of not using this guide on the first day and was baffled as to the number of trash items which kept triggering the detector in Prospecting Mode. It was only when I re-read the manual later that evening that I realized that I had missed out one the most important steps during Ground Balancing. The note went everywhere with me after this.
We found a 12 gauge shotgun cartridge and a few ancient (old style) nails from the 1800's as well as PLENTY of foil and iron junk which was scattered on the trails. It was so perfectly matched to the iron based soil and gravel that you had to extract the target before you realized what it was.
[size=small]One of our sunsets from the cabin decking.[/size]
[size=small]During a power outage due to lightning strikes, our headlamps came in handy.[/size]
The Soil in Wattle Flats and Sofala is HIGHLY MINERALIZED. This is what I was warned about before I set out by staff at the Miner's Den. They cautioned me, and rightly so, that the DD Coil would better handle to "Hot" soil of the region. This is why the X-Terra 70 is ideally suited to nugget hunting compared to numerous other detectors in the same range. I also took their advice and purchased a large pick-axe instead of just bringing my hand-held geologist pick with me. I only purchased a cheap one for $8.50 but this was my first trip detecting and it seemed prudent to monitor my budget. The larger pick, though disarmingly lightweight, enabled me much more power to extract targets from the firm dry earth, rock clusters and especially thick clay.
Wattle Flat was torn apart in the 1850's by the tens of thousands of people who had flocked to the region during the days of the Gold Rush. The entire region was an unending ocean of "mullock heaps" upon which mother nature had more recently reclaimed with topsoil, trees and grass. This was where I needed to hunt. Rodney, the property owner, showed us where locals had tried to extract from a quartz reef just south of our cabin so the following morning, I set out with the company of the property dogs and my X-Terra 70 and a large pick-axe. It was necessary to apply copious amounts of insect repellant to prevent the ocean of bush-flies from entering my eyes, nose, mouth and ears as I walked. At any given time there was a hundred flies around your face and the locals often wandered about on errands with netting over their faces to keep the flies at bay. I remembered the mantra of digging everything you find in Prospecting Mode on the Gold Fields so I was picking through the soil carefully to begin with and by the end of the morning, my excitement had turned to moderate bemusement as I dug one iron nail after another. I returned to the Cabin and Robert & Rena had arisen and were having breakfast. We then set out across the property in the other direction and I listened only for the higher tone of a serious target this time before digging.
[size=small]Failure. Two days of epic failure. Two hundred years of Trash waiting to be found.[/size]
Coming across a huge mound of red earth, the X-70 squealed loudly. The rocks atop the surface were covered in millenia of lichen and had clearly lay disturbed for some time... so I figured I'd found something worth digging. The local ant-eating echidnas had previously tried excavating the mound but I worked furiously with the pick until I saw my error. The mound contained the rusted hulk of an entire car from the 1950s. This was precious time and sweat wasted (in my opinion) so I headed out for flat ground. I stuck another shrill target and used my plastic spoon to sift through the dirt I had extracted until I'd found the target: an old .22 rimfire shell. After I found a similar signal near a creekbed, I chose to sit so I could dig more carefully. This time it was a piece of old iron scrap and another nail from the 1800s. Not why I was here!
Rena was carrying the water & cameras and the temperature was pushing into the mid-30s... so I met up with her and let her try her luck with the detector for a change. She'd been photographing the Kangaroos and plants around a waterhole and together we wandered back towards the cabin
[size=small]Rena tries her hand with the excellent and lightweight (very important) X-Terra 70 near our Cabin.[/size]
No sign of Robert. I'd handed both of them whistles to use in the event of a snake bite or an accident so I wasn't too worried. As Rena worked the X-70, we approached a large scrap pile of car parts and machinery that had been dumped by previous owners of the property. I turned some of the scrap and rocks in the area and uncovered some interesting insects including a Mouse Spider and a beautiful Shingleback Lizard (AKA: "stumpy lizard"). It looks like a long pinecone with legs. The lack of ticks on the lizard told me clearly that the locals were right: there are no ticks in this region.
[size=small]A deadly "mouse spider" which I found beneath a rock. Related to the Sydney Funnel Web Spider and similar to the tarantula... only deadlier.[/size]
The most useful tip they gave me at the Miner's Den was to use 'duct tape' to seal the scuff-plate to the base of the coil. This prevents the scuff cover from falling off when you strike a rock during sweeping. Give it enough of a whack and the cover will split on one side and fall away... so taping it in place avoided this possibility, and kept the coil sealed from moisture and iron based soil which would otherwise affect the signal.
[size=small]This metallic green and black weevil landed on my car so I placed him on the mineralized soil and sent him on his way. This picture shows plenty of the iron ore rocks and pebbles on which the town of Wattle Flat appears to be built on.[/size]
[size=medium]Day One:[/size]
We wandered around on the Ryder Homestead property where early pioneers had explored a rich quartz vein south of the Cabin. I arose before Rena and Rob and grew weary in waiting for them to get out of bed so I gathered my gear and headed off by myself.
Charlie the Cabin Dog belongs to Rodney but she kept me company all morning and watched for Roos and snakes as I avoided the ants. I learned that spraying your shoes with Bushman repellent kept them from my ankles. The heat grew harsh close to 9am and my hand pick and hunting knife began to pull down my jeans. I later learned to harness these on a separate belt. I brought my handwritten manual with me and reset my Ground Balance on the way. I had a clear signal near the quartz reef and found tons of rocks and dirt piled high from when previous land owners had tried to extract gold from the area.
[size=small]Another lizard in my way!.[/size]
[size=small]A small semaphore/jumping spider surveys the scene.[/size]
[size=small]A kangaroo takes flight...[/size]
[size=small]A mystery skull. Possibly a Possum. Anyone know?[/size]
[size=small]A Shingleback Skink with my X-Terra 70 and some of the Junk Targets I found nearby.[/size]
I had been warned by prospectors to wear glasses when chipping into quarts since the mineral will shatter into shards. But after 20 minutes of digging around the moss covered mounds, my strong signal turned out to be an old, thick, iron sleeper nail. I returned to the cabin for breakfast before collecting Rena and Rob and exploring the other side of the property. The X-Terra 70 set off an enormous target signature on a large mullock heap. An hour after commencing my dig, I found that the mound was in fact and entire FJ Holden car buried in the ground. Rena photographed some kangaroos nearby whilst I dug up several .22 caliber rifle cartridges and a rusty chunk of iron between the trees. Several more nails and a rusty token fragment later and it dawned on me that I was digging in a trash rich area and would need to try elsewhere or remain where I was and be crowned "King of Nails".
[size=small]Sofala: This is the view from the road as you approach the town from the South[/size]
[size=12pt]SOFALA:[/size]
We drove into Sofala which is about 7 minutes North of Wattle Flats. As we approached the main street, the old building still standing gave us a glimpse of the sort of country town you'll only find in postcards. My first impression was unfortunately one of uneasiness when talking to the locals. I must immediately point out that they're a very tightly knit community there and they must see some bad behavior from outsiders occasionally... because my impression after several day of stopping by the town is that these are genuine people who care a lot about each other and they came across as being quite friendly and kind. Life moves slowly in the country and you need to slow yourself down to the same pace.
[size=small]Sofala town during peak hour rush. The General Store is on the far left and is open for trade.[/size]
It's often said when you're looking for Gold that you should respect the area, the land owners and mother nature. You should also know that the locals themselves won't be quick to share locations or tips with anyone who simply "blows through" the townships overnight expecting an easy fossick. Almost ALL the land in the area worth searching is a privately owned lease and you MUST obtain permission to enter their land. There were plenty of clear "Warning" signs about Trespassing posted on the trees lining the Turon River which passes through Sofala. Now my wife and I are researching for a documentary on the region which gave me a chance to talk to some of the old timers who looked at our maps and pointed out the best spots for panning for gold in the river.
We tried our hand in several spots before the weather changed and Sofala was hit by the largest deluge in over 10 years. We were forced to retreat to the safety of the car before suffering the indignity of power failure at the cabin due to nearby lightning strikes.
As the skies cleared we returned to Wattle Flat to dine at the cafe and then settled down at our cabin for the night. The cabin is at the end of the road opposite the cafe and Rena and I wandered over to the Ryder Homestead to speak to Rodney. He revealed his 9.5" Schmidt--Cassegrain Telescope with electronic tracking which he uses for star tours for guest at the homestead. Over the next couple of hours, we viewed the Tarantula Nebula and the Orion Nebula as well as star clusters and even the crescent moon with all its glorious crater ejecta details. Returning to the cabin, we found tha Charlie the Dog and a certain large species of spider also feared the thunderstorm earlier and had sought refuge near my shoes. The dog was fine in the morning. The spider was dispatched in a clean but brutal manner as a warning to all the other spiders in the area.
Lessons Learned:
1/ Buying the optional DD Nugget Hunting High Frequency Coil was wise
2/ Iron Ore sticks to stupid super-magnet.
3/ Wearing pick with super-magnet on belt near wristwatch makes watch stop.
4/ Bring more Bug Spray.
[size=small]Rob and Rena enjoy a cold beer and a Coke at the Hill End Pub.[/size]
[size=12pt]
DAY TWO: "Hill End" [/size]
We packed water and detectors and pans in the car before driving to Sofala and heading to the West to the famous Gold Mining town of Hill End. This is where many of the largest gold nuggets in the world were discovered including the famous 235kg Holterman Nugget in 1872.
It's hard to imagine the 10,000 people who once occupied the region at the height of the Gold Rush ripping up the earth as far as the eyes can see. After the crowd moved on to Hill End, the Chinese stayed behind and stripped the entire river bed to collect any gold residuals left behind. Still, there's gold in the hills (or so they tell me) and we were informed that one of the mines within a stone throw of the main street of Sofala was being reactivated by the new lease owner.
[size=small]I would have LOVED to have left the road to try this area with the X-Terra 70 but the signs posted all around it (describing Tresspassing and fireams in the same sentence) were a considerable discouragement. [/size]
In the 1850's, people threw down their tools of trade and rushed off to the Gold Fields to make their fortunes. I researched the early writings on the area before leaving Sydney and read accounts of women and newborn babies sleeping under the stars whilst their husbands toiled to find gold on the diggings. The towns of Sofala, Wattle Flats and Hill End are literally surrounded by the dirt heaps extracted from the ground by the early diggers last century (and the one before that!). One resident had built his house in the side of one of these "Mullock Heaps"
[size=small]A perfect Blue Tongued Skink specimen whom we rescued from the not-so-busy road to Hill End. No Ticks on any of the lizards we caught means there really wasn't any around. Quite a relief.[/size]
[size=small]The main street at "Hill End" consisting of all the original buildings from the 1800's[/size]
I spoke to the Pub manageress at Hill End who told me about the ghosts which apparently lurk in the supposedly haunted building and sought advice on the designated fossicking area nearby. You can only enter private property or areas of fenced off land with permission so we toured the town, had a cold drink at the pub and headed for the fossicking area. Now this is an area designated specifically for fossicking and to allow the public an opportunity to poke around in the earth without interfering with the locals.
[size=small]Rena Gold Panning at "Hill End's" designated Fossicking Area. She found some gold micronuggets here![/size]
This was later agreed upon by all to have been a bad idea. On arrival, Rena immediately set up Gold pans and began to pan the creek after I got a couple of signals from the riverbank with my X-Terra 70. She later turned in a bit of gold for her efforts. Robert and I set up our detectors by balancing them for the soil and began searching the masses of overgrown mullock heaps from the last century. A local wandered by and grinned because she knew what I was about to learn... there was 150 years of garbage strewn about the entire site. I locked onto a STRONG signal and gave up after digging aggressively and relentlessly with two hands and my large pick. The strong magnet was constantly flung from the pick as I hacked a hole in the earth between pristine quartz on red soil. Chunks of Smokey Quartz made me stop to pick one up now and then. Eventually I gave up but remembered the mantra of "Dig everything in Prospecting mode" so I returned and hacked away at the ground for another half hour before unearthing a nest of very annoyed bull-ants and eventually a rusty blacksmith's nail from a horse shoe.
[size=small]Robert ground balancing his Gold Snoop in the Fossicking area at "Hill End"[/size]
I met up with Robert on the level ground by the river and commenced detecting again, only to be rewarded with dozens of 1970's ringpull tabs, tetra packs, cans, wire, tin foil, scrap iron and even more rusty nails. I then discovered camp fire sites and strewn garbage which caused me to leave in disgust. We drove to the cometary and took some pictures of the old 1800's tombstones before heading back to Sofala and Wattle Flat in order to beat another massive storm which was rolling in. The tombstones indicated clearly to all that lives were easily lost in the days of the Gold Rush with many showing infant and juvenile occupants resting in the earth below. I shall assume that the sign on the gate requesting people not interfere with the graves is the result of detectorists poking around there. If you stop by the cemetery, there's some excellent opportunities for fossicking directly in front of the entrance where a creek lies. My government maps show that a good deal of gold has been extracted from the full length of this creek.
[size=small]One of the older tombstones at Hill End Cemetery. Some graves appeared to be quite recent though. Many were unmarked. [/size]
[size=small]I wasn't the only one digging into the red earth with my hands that day. This Kangaroo was watching me carefully as I contemplated a medium-rare roo steak from my car window.[/size]
We drove through all the way past Wattle Flat to the town of Bathurst to meet up with another Robert whom we know. This Rob is the most avid collector of the high end Star Wars memorabilia and it was hard to believe that Sofala Road was also home to the greatest collection of movie replicas and film props I've ever seen. It shames my own collection and I worked on many of the films.
[size=small]A life sized Terminator T-101 along with a life sized Yoda. Wow![/size]
[size=small]Rena contemplates just one of the Lightsaber and blaster collections.[/size]
Lessons Learned:
1/ Avoid public Areas to avoid Scrap Iron.
2/ Bring Bushman's EVERYWHERE to repel bugs.
3/ Pan material from beneath the mud & silt (& beneath the rocks) to find gold flakes.
4/ Avoid public Areas to avoid Scrap Iron.
5/ Large ants are not your friend
[size=12pt]
Day Three: Sofala - Gold Panning[/size]
I consulted my Sofala map which showed an area called Lucky Point. All these areas are named after the early gold town days and Lucky Point looked good for panning. Plus the folks at the Miner's Den told me it was a good spot. Our car was a standard sedan so we could only drive part way to the point without getting stuck or bottoming out. I spoke with the land owner who advised me that we'd get some good pictures there but that we'd be better to try both upstream and downstream. The gentleman warned me that taking his picture would result in a broken camera so I didn't ask more than he was prepared to offer in terms of advice. He's going to show me some excellent locations next time I return with the video cameras for the documentary so I'll likely speak with him again. He also told me to bring a 4-Wheel Drive next time.
[size=small]Rena panning without results at "Lucky Point"[/size]
We took some pictures down by the Turon River at Lucky point after carefully avoiding the property boundary fences. Rena panned for gold. I even used my hands trying to see a gold fleck from debris under the smooth large pebbles .but no luck. Plenty of red earth mounds topped with green grass which were old mullock heaps. Whist a detector would be interesting here, I had not asked for permission to use them in this area and chose to take pictures and pan for gold instead. I looked for snakes but found none - some Water Dragons on the far rocks and locals warned me of Brown Snakes nearby but none were sighted. Locals tell me the deadly Brown Snakes travel in pairs with a mate... something I haven't heard before.
[size=small]These are the Mullock Heaps near 'Lucky Point'... on the West side of 'Nuggety Ridge'.[/size]
We went into town for refreshment before torrential rain forced us back to the car. I wanted to pan for gold ahead and Rob and Rena wanted to return to the cabin to wait out the storm. We ended up panning in the rain, found nothing and returned to the cabin both wet and unhappy. It hailed so hard I thought my car windscreen would crack. At least we got it washed. We approached the weir bridge at Green Point which is East of Sofala along the Turon River and went into action, lifting large rocks from the riverbed to scoop out any silt below. I used my hands for a while but a sliver of quartz went straight up my fingernail and put me out of action somewhat. We panned for at least a few hours with no luck at all whatsoever.
Robert and I tried a spot we had been assured would have gold by a local and found it to have suffered a Flash Flood just hours before. The riverbanks were devastated and we tried panning without luck on both the riverbed and the creeks nearby before the sun set and we couldn't see properly. But before the sky grew dim in the rain, I planted a large porous rock in the ground in a ditch that Robert had placed his gear. Now I'd painted the rock with real Gold Leaf so it looked quite the specimen. He picked it up on cue but grew angry with me when he realized it was placed there to get him wound up. Fool's gold indeed. I showed the locals the fake nugget I'd made and brought with me for this purpose and they all agreed that it looked like the real deal. I don't think my friend was as amused as we were. At least the flies ignored us in the rain... but they were quickly replaced by voracious mosquitoes. We left when it got too dark to spot the mosquitoes.
[size=small]In idea of just how LARGE the flies got to in size. Here's one next to an Australian 5c piece.[/size]
We stopped by the Wattle Flat Cafe for a dinner of steak and prawns and to admire the artwork for sale on the walls. The quality was exceptionally high *(I'm a traditional artist myself) and I was tempted by several pieces. When we returned to the cabin, we brought a large volume of the gold panning soil with us in containers and in our gold pans and used the rain and a couple of torches to sift through it all for gold specks. Robert had slipped into a creek earlier and emptied the contents of his sneakers onto a table to allow him to check through the gravel for nuggets. What were we thinking? Obviously we had Gold Fever or at the very least wanted to find something to make the trip more memorable. Or justify it at the least. LOL!
Anyway: Day three was also filled with Failure.
[size=12pt]
Day Four: Sofala - Gold Panning and Nugget Shooting[/size]
We packed our car and said goodbye to Rodney for his kind hospitality before passing through Sofala to try our luck where an old timer had suggested to me several days earlier. Stopping by the General Store, I saw that they had some genuine Sofala gold nuggets for sale including one mighty specimen which they insisted that I handle. It weighed a nice, cold, heavy 1.5 ounces and was for sale at a reasonable AU$1500. The rustic tint on it's crevices and a couple of iron ore pebbles visible deep inside showed it's nearby origins and I'm told that the purity of Sofala gold is extremely high compared to other regions. If I was able to, I would have bought it but I have to watch what I waste money on these days... The price was based on typical gold prices so as a nugget, it was worth considerably more than that.
The locals are friendly although some may come across a little scary with giant pig-dogs chained to the back of pickup trucks. Many townsmen walk about town with mesh netting over their heads to avoid the flies. There's no garbage collector and no mailman in Sofala... something which annoys the locals to no end. A Cockatiel by the name of Jackie Bird guards the local general store from her cage. I regret not taking a picture of it but a HUGE black V8 Falcon XE with monstrous tires was parked in front of the Sofala Hotel like it was straight out of Mad Max. The local Gaol is now a Restaurant although it appears to only be open during holidays and weekends. Hence we returned to the Wattle Flat Cafe for many of our meals.
[size=small]A tortoise we rescued from the middle of the road.[/size]
We returned to Green Point and attempted to find gold specks in the riverbed without luck. I crossed the river and shoveled red soil from a nearby cliff face into my pan to seek gold flecks if they were there. I caught a Yabbie in my Goldpan and then discovered (to my great dismay) that my greatest nemesis existed on the far side of the river: The great big Jumper Ant. A creature I am obviously allergic to and a creature I have met before. It's essentially a mindless killing machine, it's sting has resulted in deaths and nests of these ants were sometimes tied to the legs of hapless bushranger's victims last century after they were first tied to trees after being robbed. Technically it's really a species of Wingless Wasp and they have a keen eyesight and a desire to sting any living creature hapless enough to come within jumping distance. The sting from these ants is like pure white hot agony injected directly into the nerve endings of your leg - so I advanced on the ant that I had spied and struck his inch and a half long body down with the long handled shovel and into the mud. Before the shovel stuck it, the Black Jumper Ant made a couple of lunges towards me, covering 4 inches at a time in little leaps, and then it was slapped down into the soft loam of the ground. I wanted to photograph it but then changed my mind as I recalled the last time I'd attempted such folly. I lifted the shovel and the nasty ant was already prying it's armored body out of the ground whilst writhing to free itself. It was an even 1.5 inches in length. I left it and waded out into the river where I would be safe from more of these ants. Grinding them against concrete with a motorcycle boot is not even likely to damage one of these things. They chase you down if you stand still too. I hate them.
[size=small]A tiny Yabbie (freshwater crayfish) in my Gold Pan.[/size]
Robert was sick of digging in the dirt and Rena had retreated to the car to read a book so I packed up and called it a day.
So we bid Sofala farewell and commenced the climb out of the gully. But I had one last card to play... The day before had hit us with a monstrous storm with heavy rainfall and flashfloods. Something I noticed was that the gully edges near the road had fallen away slightly and deep canyons now appeared in the rich, red clay. I pulled over and grabbed the X-Terra 70 for one last shot. First though, I crossed the road towards the Sofala Cemetery and got Rena to take a couple of pictures of myself with the detector (see pic way up at the top of this post) to show my folks that I could also feature in a pic or two on my own vacation rather than hide behind the lens. Then I crossed the road and wandered on down into the Gully. Robert got sick of his detector (being unable to Ground Balance it to his satisfaction) and simply returned to the car. But I was desperate to find gold for the camera, if only to prove to myself that the Gold Detector (X-70) was working properly and not just the victim of bad driving on my part.
[size=small]The road into Sofala from Hill End showing the rich soils and a looming thunderstorm.[/size]
I worked my way away from the main road and out of sight of the car to make it to the bottom of the gully as fast as I could go. I reset the Ground Balance after Noise Canceling and re-commenced scanning the ground. Plenty of junk had been washed into the ravine the day before so I entered the narrow gully itself and scanned the red clay WALLS on either side of me. There was a chance of being buried alive if I had been unlucky (the walls of red clay towered over me by 10 feet either side of me) but I hit a nail which was embedded a few inches under the surface of a paste filled puddle of water and was distracted from the risk. I then bent the coil to the correct position to match the walls of the "canyon" and began to detect the soil around me at face-level. Another high pitched tone rang out and I held the detector in my left hand on Pinpoint Mode and began to attack the cliff wall with my pick-axe with the other. Chunks of clay flew away at a frightening rate since the heavy rains had softened the clay. Centimeter long, red Bull Ants fled from my wrath against the earth as rocks and shards of free floating quartz flew from my axe. The soil piled around my feet and I bent down to scan it before checking the cliff face before resuming. In Pinpoint, the target appeared to have a small profile but I knew I was in a sort of untried soil zone here on my cliff face so I put down the detector and used both hands to extract more soil per swing. A rock grazed the top of my coil and scratched the plastic surface near the Minelab sticker.
A quick scan of the dirt dumped on my shoes revealed a target inside the pile and I quickly found (using a plastic cooking spoon which I kept in my back pocket to filter through my diggings) that there was a gleam of gold on the loose, red clay. At first I was fearful of having crushed or damaged the small gold nugget with my frenzied assault on Mother Earth but all was well. In fact, there was still another tiny nugget still inside the cliff wall close to the one I had found. Tiny, but Gold! Very Cool. I checked for more but found nothing. I climbed out of the ravine and began to detect in the upper surface. A strong signal in a semi-dried mud puddle had the axe swinging again and I extracted a mighty half-horseshoe of the old style. Possibly from the early Sofala pioneers. I also found another two nails and a semi-modern screw plus a .22 shell before my wife called me back to the car.
I had to climb back up the the road using the pick's sharp end to make it up the embankment with the two nuggets in my mouth and laid the booty on the hood of my car for a picture.
[size=small]Less than half an hour of mindless digging unearthed these artifacts in the frenzy, including two tiny Gold Nuggets (left).[/size]
On the way to Bathurst on the way home, we passed a Tortoise which has made a wrong turn and was lying in the middle of the road with his head and legs pulled in. I pulled over (after dropping from 100kmph) and retrieved the hapless critter before driving onwards until we came to a dam to let him go in. The return to Sydney was uneventful although we stopped by Lithgow McDonald's Restaurant to get some nuggets of the edible variety. If only I had found one that large!
Now today when I woke up, I decided to put all my equipment away and to clean off the mud from my pick-axe. I had just laid out some paper to catch the dirt and dried clay when I noticed a gleaming nodule sticking out from the side of the axe, almost flush with the clay. It was a small nugget... probably around .25g... still fused to the pick. I've resisted the urge to pull it off and stick it in a container and have set the Pick out of reach of my cat so as to show friends. I'll take it down the the Miner's Den during the week if I can to see what their impressions are.
[size=small]A small Gold Nugget stuck to my pick-axe. I've left it there still adhered to the dried clay.[/size]
We're already planning two more trips to the region in the near future and I need to get a few more pictures to put forth before commencing the documentary we're putting together. I've always been a victim of proverbial "Gold Fever" and I think Rena understands now why I'm enraptured by the idea of prospecting for Gold as a hobby whilst combining it with my enjoyment of Photography.
[size=small]The two small nuggets I found together. Just 0.60g and 0.20g. Not much pay for so much work but a worthwhile highlight to the trip. Obviously the X-Terra 70 can hold up well to the challenge, even when it comes to sub-gram nuggets.[/size]
[size=small]Here's our total find for the days we were there.[/size]
If you want to see more pictures, you can find all 170+ here on my Photo Gallery online here:
http://www.pbase.com/nero_design/pro1_sofala
Local Prospectors might appreciate that I took plenty of pictures of the surrounding areas to show what sort of environments to expect. I thought that any Sydneysiders contemplating a trip to Hill End or nearby Sofala might find use of my images since I was only able to find a few older images online when researching before my own trip. Rodney Watters of the Ryder Homestead can be found online at www.ryderhome.com.au - feel free to mention us (Marco & Rena) as I'm sure he'll recall us. I'm sending him some of my pictures to use on his webpage. I also intend to stay here again for future trips to the region. Armed with newer maps of the surrounding regions as of today, I look forward to finding new and picturesque areas to photograph and fossick on. Satellite maps that I accessed show me that I was in the right region and locals told me of a man who has a property which regularly shows gold on the ground after any heavy rain and he picks it up when wandering. I managed to obtain his details and will speak with him shortly as I would like to film him in the process of doing so. All the shop owners told me that the locals regularly wander into town with "a bit of gold they found" and try to sell it although many just sell it at actual goldweight value because it's rare to get buyers in the towns other than the odd tourist.
So the Minelab X-Terra 70 worked well. It's amazingly sensitive to iron nails and I can assure all readers that should they need to recover Iron Nails, then this is the machine they've always dreamed of. But Iron and Gold signals overlap.. and in my opinion, the only way to avoid digging trash is to avoid going to sites where there's plenty of it. The Goldfields here might be vast but most of the land is owned by one person or another. Luck certainly plays a part but so does planning and research. I hope to report shortly on the results of our next trip there. But the X-Terra worked well in Prospecting Mode and impressed me with it's sensitivity. It easily detected the .20g nugget behind 5 inches of mineralized iron based clay... which in itself is nothing short of excellent for my needs. It could penetrate the "hot" soil of the region and the signals I got from nails were generally a few inches from the surface although one nail fragment was easily 9 inches deep and surrounded by nothing but iron ore and quartz chunks. The two nuggets I dug up in the minutes before leaving Sofala were close to 8 inches deep in the moist, red clay and surrounded by iron ore as well.
I look forward to trying the X-Terra 70 on the beach this week and have enjoyed the pleasure of using it on a daily basis on the Goldfields.
The first two days left me with sore arms but much of this was likely from swinging the pick-axe and I was glad to have spent the two weeks preceding the trip lifting weights to acclimatise my arms in advance. When I return to Sofala and Hill End (VERY soon I hope), I'll place a magnet on the Heel of the pick this time to prevent it flying to the ends of the metal head when the tool is in motion.
Cheers,
Marco Nero
The following is an account of the Australian Goldfields written by Mrs Charles (Ellen) Clacy in 1852
1852 - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2.--[size=small]This day found the four hard at work at an early
hour, and words will not describe our delight when they hit upon a
"pocket" full of the precious metal. The "pocket was situated in a dark
corner of the hole, and William was the one whose fossicking-knife
first brought its hidden beauties to light. Nugget after nugget did
that dirty soil give up; by evening they had taken out five
pounds weight of gold. Foolish Richard! we all regretted his absence at
this discovery.
As the next day was the Sabbath, thirty-six hours of suspense must
elapse before we could know whether this was but a passing kindness
from the fickle goddess, or the herald of continued good fortune.
This night, for the first time, we were really in dread of an attack,
though we had kept our success quite secret, not even mentioning it to
our shipmates; nor did we intend to do so until Monday morning, when
our first business would be to mark out three more claims round the
lucky spot, and send our gold down to the escort-office for security.
For the present we were obliged to content ourselves with "planting"
it--that is, burying it in the ground; and not a footstep passed in our
neighbourhood without our imagining ourselves robbed of the precious
treasure, and as it was Saturday night--the noisiest and most riotous at
the diggings--our panics were neither few nor far between. So true it is
that riches entail trouble and anxiety on their possessor[/size].
[attachment 73924 IMG_8722.jpg]
[size=small]Rena pans for Gold Micronuggets in the Turon River near "Lucky Point" - Sofala[/size]
[size=small]Me... Just a few moments before finding three tiny nuggets...[/size]
[size=large]Looking Back...[/size]
Here I was in the 21st Century, 160 years after the peak of the Gold Rush in the same location... and just 5 days ago:
The sweat dripped into my left eye, which in itself was already lubricated with copious amounts of "Bushman" personal insect repellent, before dripping onto the inside of my Ray-Ban sunglasses... ruining my vision and allowing me to blunder past a short shrub which was liberally coated with large, red, angry bull-ants. They clung to the cable of my Minelab X-Terra 70 and began to bite and sting it's length before I put the detector down and flicked them off (one at a time) with a stick. The bush-flies sensed that I had wiped my brow with my arm, removing some of the repellent, and they then clustered on my forehead by the dozen before venturing into my eyes again. I tried to crush them with my eyes alone but they didn't budge unless I poked them away with my fingers. I looked down on the mullock heap that I was climbing and detecting and saw a venomous Black Snake glance back at me before it slid off towards the Turon River. This was where my wife and friend were panning for gold in the cooling waters. To me, the Black Snake was as good as a nugget as I needed to capture it for the camera. But try as I might, he eventually evaded me in the thick vegetation beneath a pine tree where his burrow was likely situated.
[size=small]Sofala is located about 4 hours outside of Sydney, Australia[/size]
[size=12pt]NOW: [/size]
I drove my Canadian wife, Rena, and my olf school friend (Robert) over the Blue Mountains from Sydney to Bathurst this last week to spend 4 days Prospecting for nuggets and panning for alluvial gold in the towns of Sofala and nearby 'Hill End'. The drive was an easy one on the newly surfaced and marked roads and I'm surprised I hadn't thought to do this earlier. I'd been obtaining prospecting and metal deposit maps from the government on the area for years and more recently had accessed satellite maps on the region.
[size=small] The location of my destination.[/size]
It was only recently that I had both the means and an excuse to purchase a detector that would enable me to beachcomb up near my parents home on the Central Coast. I'd originally set my sights on the Minelab Excalibur 1000 as I was interested in taking it to Lord Howe Island to search for a missing shipment of Silver from the previous century that is believed to be buried there. But handling the Excalibur showed that it's neutrally buoyancy for underwater use makes it heavy on land. I was quite disappointed to feel just how heavy it was in person when I stopped in to try one on for size at the Miner's Den prospecting supply store in Parramatta. One of the gentlemen there answered more of my questions and showed me the X-Terra 70 when I referred to my desire to try the Goldfields nearby and the lightweight AA battery consuming X-Terra 70 won me over in the store then and there. The advantage of the digital detector was that it took AA batteries and this meant I could obtain them anywhere... and I could carry backups and not concern myself with daily recharging.
Sofala is one of the earliest Gold Strike locations in Australia. It lies just outside of Bathurst, about half an hour's drive north of the city. It took me about 3.5 hours to drive there from the Sydney suburb where I live and is a safe and easy drive during daylight hours. I packed far more than I needed for the week. In retrospect, I only needed to have brought a fraction of what I did. I brought enough water for drinking on the way but stopped at Bathurst where I purchased more supplies such as food and plenty of diet coke and bottled water. Why lug the excess weight across the mountains when you can buy it at Bathurst for the final haul? - I was happy to see that we'd used barely a quarter tank of fuel to get us to Bathurst and refilled before heading to Wattle Flat.
Wattle Flat is located JUST outside of Sofala. The gold digging and mining operations of the mid 1800's is still evident there today although it may take a keen eye to spot the endless mounds which hint at the stripped earth, now overgrown by another century of trees and plant matter. The region looks quite green with recent rains and only quite recently was so dry that the town had to import water.
[size=small]Parked at the Blue Gum Cabin at Wattle Flat on the Ryder Homestead.[/size]
We stayed at The Blue Gum Cabin which I discovered on the internet. The cabin is one of several run by a chap called Rodney who operates the Ryder Homestead in the region. It's self contained and has everything necessary with the exception of a television & phone. I should note that there's no mobile phone service in the region and it's only when you approach Bathurst that you can pick up a signal. Satellite trackers are fine though.
Wattle Flat is mostly private farmlands, leases and residences. There's Crown Land on either side of the property which you can explore but I was mindful of the potential for iron trash so I chose not to scour these areas. When we arrived at the Blue Gum Cabin at the Ryder Homestead, we unpacked our gear and equipment before Robert and I attempted to set our Ground Balance on our detectors. He'd brought with him the latest incarnation of the 'Gold Snoop' to see if prospecting was something he would interested in. But try as we might, the soil was highly mineralized (*Hot Soil) and his machine wouldn't stop beeping. I missed an important step in balancing my X-70 so I failed miserably at first. First thing I did was write down on a sheet of paper the basic steps to 'Noise Canceling' and 'Ground Balancing' and put it in my pocket. I made the mistake of not using this guide on the first day and was baffled as to the number of trash items which kept triggering the detector in Prospecting Mode. It was only when I re-read the manual later that evening that I realized that I had missed out one the most important steps during Ground Balancing. The note went everywhere with me after this.
We found a 12 gauge shotgun cartridge and a few ancient (old style) nails from the 1800's as well as PLENTY of foil and iron junk which was scattered on the trails. It was so perfectly matched to the iron based soil and gravel that you had to extract the target before you realized what it was.
[size=small]One of our sunsets from the cabin decking.[/size]
[size=small]During a power outage due to lightning strikes, our headlamps came in handy.[/size]
The Soil in Wattle Flats and Sofala is HIGHLY MINERALIZED. This is what I was warned about before I set out by staff at the Miner's Den. They cautioned me, and rightly so, that the DD Coil would better handle to "Hot" soil of the region. This is why the X-Terra 70 is ideally suited to nugget hunting compared to numerous other detectors in the same range. I also took their advice and purchased a large pick-axe instead of just bringing my hand-held geologist pick with me. I only purchased a cheap one for $8.50 but this was my first trip detecting and it seemed prudent to monitor my budget. The larger pick, though disarmingly lightweight, enabled me much more power to extract targets from the firm dry earth, rock clusters and especially thick clay.
Wattle Flat was torn apart in the 1850's by the tens of thousands of people who had flocked to the region during the days of the Gold Rush. The entire region was an unending ocean of "mullock heaps" upon which mother nature had more recently reclaimed with topsoil, trees and grass. This was where I needed to hunt. Rodney, the property owner, showed us where locals had tried to extract from a quartz reef just south of our cabin so the following morning, I set out with the company of the property dogs and my X-Terra 70 and a large pick-axe. It was necessary to apply copious amounts of insect repellant to prevent the ocean of bush-flies from entering my eyes, nose, mouth and ears as I walked. At any given time there was a hundred flies around your face and the locals often wandered about on errands with netting over their faces to keep the flies at bay. I remembered the mantra of digging everything you find in Prospecting Mode on the Gold Fields so I was picking through the soil carefully to begin with and by the end of the morning, my excitement had turned to moderate bemusement as I dug one iron nail after another. I returned to the Cabin and Robert & Rena had arisen and were having breakfast. We then set out across the property in the other direction and I listened only for the higher tone of a serious target this time before digging.
[size=small]Failure. Two days of epic failure. Two hundred years of Trash waiting to be found.[/size]
Coming across a huge mound of red earth, the X-70 squealed loudly. The rocks atop the surface were covered in millenia of lichen and had clearly lay disturbed for some time... so I figured I'd found something worth digging. The local ant-eating echidnas had previously tried excavating the mound but I worked furiously with the pick until I saw my error. The mound contained the rusted hulk of an entire car from the 1950s. This was precious time and sweat wasted (in my opinion) so I headed out for flat ground. I stuck another shrill target and used my plastic spoon to sift through the dirt I had extracted until I'd found the target: an old .22 rimfire shell. After I found a similar signal near a creekbed, I chose to sit so I could dig more carefully. This time it was a piece of old iron scrap and another nail from the 1800s. Not why I was here!
Rena was carrying the water & cameras and the temperature was pushing into the mid-30s... so I met up with her and let her try her luck with the detector for a change. She'd been photographing the Kangaroos and plants around a waterhole and together we wandered back towards the cabin
[size=small]Rena tries her hand with the excellent and lightweight (very important) X-Terra 70 near our Cabin.[/size]
No sign of Robert. I'd handed both of them whistles to use in the event of a snake bite or an accident so I wasn't too worried. As Rena worked the X-70, we approached a large scrap pile of car parts and machinery that had been dumped by previous owners of the property. I turned some of the scrap and rocks in the area and uncovered some interesting insects including a Mouse Spider and a beautiful Shingleback Lizard (AKA: "stumpy lizard"). It looks like a long pinecone with legs. The lack of ticks on the lizard told me clearly that the locals were right: there are no ticks in this region.
[size=small]A deadly "mouse spider" which I found beneath a rock. Related to the Sydney Funnel Web Spider and similar to the tarantula... only deadlier.[/size]
The most useful tip they gave me at the Miner's Den was to use 'duct tape' to seal the scuff-plate to the base of the coil. This prevents the scuff cover from falling off when you strike a rock during sweeping. Give it enough of a whack and the cover will split on one side and fall away... so taping it in place avoided this possibility, and kept the coil sealed from moisture and iron based soil which would otherwise affect the signal.
[size=small]This metallic green and black weevil landed on my car so I placed him on the mineralized soil and sent him on his way. This picture shows plenty of the iron ore rocks and pebbles on which the town of Wattle Flat appears to be built on.[/size]
[size=medium]Day One:[/size]
We wandered around on the Ryder Homestead property where early pioneers had explored a rich quartz vein south of the Cabin. I arose before Rena and Rob and grew weary in waiting for them to get out of bed so I gathered my gear and headed off by myself.
Charlie the Cabin Dog belongs to Rodney but she kept me company all morning and watched for Roos and snakes as I avoided the ants. I learned that spraying your shoes with Bushman repellent kept them from my ankles. The heat grew harsh close to 9am and my hand pick and hunting knife began to pull down my jeans. I later learned to harness these on a separate belt. I brought my handwritten manual with me and reset my Ground Balance on the way. I had a clear signal near the quartz reef and found tons of rocks and dirt piled high from when previous land owners had tried to extract gold from the area.
[size=small]Another lizard in my way!.[/size]
[size=small]A small semaphore/jumping spider surveys the scene.[/size]
[size=small]A kangaroo takes flight...[/size]
[size=small]A mystery skull. Possibly a Possum. Anyone know?[/size]
[size=small]A Shingleback Skink with my X-Terra 70 and some of the Junk Targets I found nearby.[/size]
I had been warned by prospectors to wear glasses when chipping into quarts since the mineral will shatter into shards. But after 20 minutes of digging around the moss covered mounds, my strong signal turned out to be an old, thick, iron sleeper nail. I returned to the cabin for breakfast before collecting Rena and Rob and exploring the other side of the property. The X-Terra 70 set off an enormous target signature on a large mullock heap. An hour after commencing my dig, I found that the mound was in fact and entire FJ Holden car buried in the ground. Rena photographed some kangaroos nearby whilst I dug up several .22 caliber rifle cartridges and a rusty chunk of iron between the trees. Several more nails and a rusty token fragment later and it dawned on me that I was digging in a trash rich area and would need to try elsewhere or remain where I was and be crowned "King of Nails".
[size=small]Sofala: This is the view from the road as you approach the town from the South[/size]
[size=12pt]SOFALA:[/size]
We drove into Sofala which is about 7 minutes North of Wattle Flats. As we approached the main street, the old building still standing gave us a glimpse of the sort of country town you'll only find in postcards. My first impression was unfortunately one of uneasiness when talking to the locals. I must immediately point out that they're a very tightly knit community there and they must see some bad behavior from outsiders occasionally... because my impression after several day of stopping by the town is that these are genuine people who care a lot about each other and they came across as being quite friendly and kind. Life moves slowly in the country and you need to slow yourself down to the same pace.
[size=small]Sofala town during peak hour rush. The General Store is on the far left and is open for trade.[/size]
It's often said when you're looking for Gold that you should respect the area, the land owners and mother nature. You should also know that the locals themselves won't be quick to share locations or tips with anyone who simply "blows through" the townships overnight expecting an easy fossick. Almost ALL the land in the area worth searching is a privately owned lease and you MUST obtain permission to enter their land. There were plenty of clear "Warning" signs about Trespassing posted on the trees lining the Turon River which passes through Sofala. Now my wife and I are researching for a documentary on the region which gave me a chance to talk to some of the old timers who looked at our maps and pointed out the best spots for panning for gold in the river.
We tried our hand in several spots before the weather changed and Sofala was hit by the largest deluge in over 10 years. We were forced to retreat to the safety of the car before suffering the indignity of power failure at the cabin due to nearby lightning strikes.
As the skies cleared we returned to Wattle Flat to dine at the cafe and then settled down at our cabin for the night. The cabin is at the end of the road opposite the cafe and Rena and I wandered over to the Ryder Homestead to speak to Rodney. He revealed his 9.5" Schmidt--Cassegrain Telescope with electronic tracking which he uses for star tours for guest at the homestead. Over the next couple of hours, we viewed the Tarantula Nebula and the Orion Nebula as well as star clusters and even the crescent moon with all its glorious crater ejecta details. Returning to the cabin, we found tha Charlie the Dog and a certain large species of spider also feared the thunderstorm earlier and had sought refuge near my shoes. The dog was fine in the morning. The spider was dispatched in a clean but brutal manner as a warning to all the other spiders in the area.
Lessons Learned:
1/ Buying the optional DD Nugget Hunting High Frequency Coil was wise
2/ Iron Ore sticks to stupid super-magnet.
3/ Wearing pick with super-magnet on belt near wristwatch makes watch stop.
4/ Bring more Bug Spray.
[size=small]Rob and Rena enjoy a cold beer and a Coke at the Hill End Pub.[/size]
[size=12pt]
DAY TWO: "Hill End" [/size]
We packed water and detectors and pans in the car before driving to Sofala and heading to the West to the famous Gold Mining town of Hill End. This is where many of the largest gold nuggets in the world were discovered including the famous 235kg Holterman Nugget in 1872.
It's hard to imagine the 10,000 people who once occupied the region at the height of the Gold Rush ripping up the earth as far as the eyes can see. After the crowd moved on to Hill End, the Chinese stayed behind and stripped the entire river bed to collect any gold residuals left behind. Still, there's gold in the hills (or so they tell me) and we were informed that one of the mines within a stone throw of the main street of Sofala was being reactivated by the new lease owner.
[size=small]I would have LOVED to have left the road to try this area with the X-Terra 70 but the signs posted all around it (describing Tresspassing and fireams in the same sentence) were a considerable discouragement. [/size]
In the 1850's, people threw down their tools of trade and rushed off to the Gold Fields to make their fortunes. I researched the early writings on the area before leaving Sydney and read accounts of women and newborn babies sleeping under the stars whilst their husbands toiled to find gold on the diggings. The towns of Sofala, Wattle Flats and Hill End are literally surrounded by the dirt heaps extracted from the ground by the early diggers last century (and the one before that!). One resident had built his house in the side of one of these "Mullock Heaps"
[size=small]A perfect Blue Tongued Skink specimen whom we rescued from the not-so-busy road to Hill End. No Ticks on any of the lizards we caught means there really wasn't any around. Quite a relief.[/size]
[size=small]The main street at "Hill End" consisting of all the original buildings from the 1800's[/size]
I spoke to the Pub manageress at Hill End who told me about the ghosts which apparently lurk in the supposedly haunted building and sought advice on the designated fossicking area nearby. You can only enter private property or areas of fenced off land with permission so we toured the town, had a cold drink at the pub and headed for the fossicking area. Now this is an area designated specifically for fossicking and to allow the public an opportunity to poke around in the earth without interfering with the locals.
[size=small]Rena Gold Panning at "Hill End's" designated Fossicking Area. She found some gold micronuggets here![/size]
This was later agreed upon by all to have been a bad idea. On arrival, Rena immediately set up Gold pans and began to pan the creek after I got a couple of signals from the riverbank with my X-Terra 70. She later turned in a bit of gold for her efforts. Robert and I set up our detectors by balancing them for the soil and began searching the masses of overgrown mullock heaps from the last century. A local wandered by and grinned because she knew what I was about to learn... there was 150 years of garbage strewn about the entire site. I locked onto a STRONG signal and gave up after digging aggressively and relentlessly with two hands and my large pick. The strong magnet was constantly flung from the pick as I hacked a hole in the earth between pristine quartz on red soil. Chunks of Smokey Quartz made me stop to pick one up now and then. Eventually I gave up but remembered the mantra of "Dig everything in Prospecting mode" so I returned and hacked away at the ground for another half hour before unearthing a nest of very annoyed bull-ants and eventually a rusty blacksmith's nail from a horse shoe.
[size=small]Robert ground balancing his Gold Snoop in the Fossicking area at "Hill End"[/size]
I met up with Robert on the level ground by the river and commenced detecting again, only to be rewarded with dozens of 1970's ringpull tabs, tetra packs, cans, wire, tin foil, scrap iron and even more rusty nails. I then discovered camp fire sites and strewn garbage which caused me to leave in disgust. We drove to the cometary and took some pictures of the old 1800's tombstones before heading back to Sofala and Wattle Flat in order to beat another massive storm which was rolling in. The tombstones indicated clearly to all that lives were easily lost in the days of the Gold Rush with many showing infant and juvenile occupants resting in the earth below. I shall assume that the sign on the gate requesting people not interfere with the graves is the result of detectorists poking around there. If you stop by the cemetery, there's some excellent opportunities for fossicking directly in front of the entrance where a creek lies. My government maps show that a good deal of gold has been extracted from the full length of this creek.
[size=small]One of the older tombstones at Hill End Cemetery. Some graves appeared to be quite recent though. Many were unmarked. [/size]
[size=small]I wasn't the only one digging into the red earth with my hands that day. This Kangaroo was watching me carefully as I contemplated a medium-rare roo steak from my car window.[/size]
We drove through all the way past Wattle Flat to the town of Bathurst to meet up with another Robert whom we know. This Rob is the most avid collector of the high end Star Wars memorabilia and it was hard to believe that Sofala Road was also home to the greatest collection of movie replicas and film props I've ever seen. It shames my own collection and I worked on many of the films.
[size=small]A life sized Terminator T-101 along with a life sized Yoda. Wow![/size]
[size=small]Rena contemplates just one of the Lightsaber and blaster collections.[/size]
Lessons Learned:
1/ Avoid public Areas to avoid Scrap Iron.
2/ Bring Bushman's EVERYWHERE to repel bugs.
3/ Pan material from beneath the mud & silt (& beneath the rocks) to find gold flakes.
4/ Avoid public Areas to avoid Scrap Iron.
5/ Large ants are not your friend
[size=12pt]
Day Three: Sofala - Gold Panning[/size]
I consulted my Sofala map which showed an area called Lucky Point. All these areas are named after the early gold town days and Lucky Point looked good for panning. Plus the folks at the Miner's Den told me it was a good spot. Our car was a standard sedan so we could only drive part way to the point without getting stuck or bottoming out. I spoke with the land owner who advised me that we'd get some good pictures there but that we'd be better to try both upstream and downstream. The gentleman warned me that taking his picture would result in a broken camera so I didn't ask more than he was prepared to offer in terms of advice. He's going to show me some excellent locations next time I return with the video cameras for the documentary so I'll likely speak with him again. He also told me to bring a 4-Wheel Drive next time.
[size=small]Rena panning without results at "Lucky Point"[/size]
We took some pictures down by the Turon River at Lucky point after carefully avoiding the property boundary fences. Rena panned for gold. I even used my hands trying to see a gold fleck from debris under the smooth large pebbles .but no luck. Plenty of red earth mounds topped with green grass which were old mullock heaps. Whist a detector would be interesting here, I had not asked for permission to use them in this area and chose to take pictures and pan for gold instead. I looked for snakes but found none - some Water Dragons on the far rocks and locals warned me of Brown Snakes nearby but none were sighted. Locals tell me the deadly Brown Snakes travel in pairs with a mate... something I haven't heard before.
[size=small]These are the Mullock Heaps near 'Lucky Point'... on the West side of 'Nuggety Ridge'.[/size]
We went into town for refreshment before torrential rain forced us back to the car. I wanted to pan for gold ahead and Rob and Rena wanted to return to the cabin to wait out the storm. We ended up panning in the rain, found nothing and returned to the cabin both wet and unhappy. It hailed so hard I thought my car windscreen would crack. At least we got it washed. We approached the weir bridge at Green Point which is East of Sofala along the Turon River and went into action, lifting large rocks from the riverbed to scoop out any silt below. I used my hands for a while but a sliver of quartz went straight up my fingernail and put me out of action somewhat. We panned for at least a few hours with no luck at all whatsoever.
Robert and I tried a spot we had been assured would have gold by a local and found it to have suffered a Flash Flood just hours before. The riverbanks were devastated and we tried panning without luck on both the riverbed and the creeks nearby before the sun set and we couldn't see properly. But before the sky grew dim in the rain, I planted a large porous rock in the ground in a ditch that Robert had placed his gear. Now I'd painted the rock with real Gold Leaf so it looked quite the specimen. He picked it up on cue but grew angry with me when he realized it was placed there to get him wound up. Fool's gold indeed. I showed the locals the fake nugget I'd made and brought with me for this purpose and they all agreed that it looked like the real deal. I don't think my friend was as amused as we were. At least the flies ignored us in the rain... but they were quickly replaced by voracious mosquitoes. We left when it got too dark to spot the mosquitoes.
[size=small]In idea of just how LARGE the flies got to in size. Here's one next to an Australian 5c piece.[/size]
We stopped by the Wattle Flat Cafe for a dinner of steak and prawns and to admire the artwork for sale on the walls. The quality was exceptionally high *(I'm a traditional artist myself) and I was tempted by several pieces. When we returned to the cabin, we brought a large volume of the gold panning soil with us in containers and in our gold pans and used the rain and a couple of torches to sift through it all for gold specks. Robert had slipped into a creek earlier and emptied the contents of his sneakers onto a table to allow him to check through the gravel for nuggets. What were we thinking? Obviously we had Gold Fever or at the very least wanted to find something to make the trip more memorable. Or justify it at the least. LOL!
Anyway: Day three was also filled with Failure.
[size=12pt]
Day Four: Sofala - Gold Panning and Nugget Shooting[/size]
We packed our car and said goodbye to Rodney for his kind hospitality before passing through Sofala to try our luck where an old timer had suggested to me several days earlier. Stopping by the General Store, I saw that they had some genuine Sofala gold nuggets for sale including one mighty specimen which they insisted that I handle. It weighed a nice, cold, heavy 1.5 ounces and was for sale at a reasonable AU$1500. The rustic tint on it's crevices and a couple of iron ore pebbles visible deep inside showed it's nearby origins and I'm told that the purity of Sofala gold is extremely high compared to other regions. If I was able to, I would have bought it but I have to watch what I waste money on these days... The price was based on typical gold prices so as a nugget, it was worth considerably more than that.
The locals are friendly although some may come across a little scary with giant pig-dogs chained to the back of pickup trucks. Many townsmen walk about town with mesh netting over their heads to avoid the flies. There's no garbage collector and no mailman in Sofala... something which annoys the locals to no end. A Cockatiel by the name of Jackie Bird guards the local general store from her cage. I regret not taking a picture of it but a HUGE black V8 Falcon XE with monstrous tires was parked in front of the Sofala Hotel like it was straight out of Mad Max. The local Gaol is now a Restaurant although it appears to only be open during holidays and weekends. Hence we returned to the Wattle Flat Cafe for many of our meals.
[size=small]A tortoise we rescued from the middle of the road.[/size]
We returned to Green Point and attempted to find gold specks in the riverbed without luck. I crossed the river and shoveled red soil from a nearby cliff face into my pan to seek gold flecks if they were there. I caught a Yabbie in my Goldpan and then discovered (to my great dismay) that my greatest nemesis existed on the far side of the river: The great big Jumper Ant. A creature I am obviously allergic to and a creature I have met before. It's essentially a mindless killing machine, it's sting has resulted in deaths and nests of these ants were sometimes tied to the legs of hapless bushranger's victims last century after they were first tied to trees after being robbed. Technically it's really a species of Wingless Wasp and they have a keen eyesight and a desire to sting any living creature hapless enough to come within jumping distance. The sting from these ants is like pure white hot agony injected directly into the nerve endings of your leg - so I advanced on the ant that I had spied and struck his inch and a half long body down with the long handled shovel and into the mud. Before the shovel stuck it, the Black Jumper Ant made a couple of lunges towards me, covering 4 inches at a time in little leaps, and then it was slapped down into the soft loam of the ground. I wanted to photograph it but then changed my mind as I recalled the last time I'd attempted such folly. I lifted the shovel and the nasty ant was already prying it's armored body out of the ground whilst writhing to free itself. It was an even 1.5 inches in length. I left it and waded out into the river where I would be safe from more of these ants. Grinding them against concrete with a motorcycle boot is not even likely to damage one of these things. They chase you down if you stand still too. I hate them.
[size=small]A tiny Yabbie (freshwater crayfish) in my Gold Pan.[/size]
Robert was sick of digging in the dirt and Rena had retreated to the car to read a book so I packed up and called it a day.
So we bid Sofala farewell and commenced the climb out of the gully. But I had one last card to play... The day before had hit us with a monstrous storm with heavy rainfall and flashfloods. Something I noticed was that the gully edges near the road had fallen away slightly and deep canyons now appeared in the rich, red clay. I pulled over and grabbed the X-Terra 70 for one last shot. First though, I crossed the road towards the Sofala Cemetery and got Rena to take a couple of pictures of myself with the detector (see pic way up at the top of this post) to show my folks that I could also feature in a pic or two on my own vacation rather than hide behind the lens. Then I crossed the road and wandered on down into the Gully. Robert got sick of his detector (being unable to Ground Balance it to his satisfaction) and simply returned to the car. But I was desperate to find gold for the camera, if only to prove to myself that the Gold Detector (X-70) was working properly and not just the victim of bad driving on my part.
[size=small]The road into Sofala from Hill End showing the rich soils and a looming thunderstorm.[/size]
I worked my way away from the main road and out of sight of the car to make it to the bottom of the gully as fast as I could go. I reset the Ground Balance after Noise Canceling and re-commenced scanning the ground. Plenty of junk had been washed into the ravine the day before so I entered the narrow gully itself and scanned the red clay WALLS on either side of me. There was a chance of being buried alive if I had been unlucky (the walls of red clay towered over me by 10 feet either side of me) but I hit a nail which was embedded a few inches under the surface of a paste filled puddle of water and was distracted from the risk. I then bent the coil to the correct position to match the walls of the "canyon" and began to detect the soil around me at face-level. Another high pitched tone rang out and I held the detector in my left hand on Pinpoint Mode and began to attack the cliff wall with my pick-axe with the other. Chunks of clay flew away at a frightening rate since the heavy rains had softened the clay. Centimeter long, red Bull Ants fled from my wrath against the earth as rocks and shards of free floating quartz flew from my axe. The soil piled around my feet and I bent down to scan it before checking the cliff face before resuming. In Pinpoint, the target appeared to have a small profile but I knew I was in a sort of untried soil zone here on my cliff face so I put down the detector and used both hands to extract more soil per swing. A rock grazed the top of my coil and scratched the plastic surface near the Minelab sticker.
A quick scan of the dirt dumped on my shoes revealed a target inside the pile and I quickly found (using a plastic cooking spoon which I kept in my back pocket to filter through my diggings) that there was a gleam of gold on the loose, red clay. At first I was fearful of having crushed or damaged the small gold nugget with my frenzied assault on Mother Earth but all was well. In fact, there was still another tiny nugget still inside the cliff wall close to the one I had found. Tiny, but Gold! Very Cool. I checked for more but found nothing. I climbed out of the ravine and began to detect in the upper surface. A strong signal in a semi-dried mud puddle had the axe swinging again and I extracted a mighty half-horseshoe of the old style. Possibly from the early Sofala pioneers. I also found another two nails and a semi-modern screw plus a .22 shell before my wife called me back to the car.
I had to climb back up the the road using the pick's sharp end to make it up the embankment with the two nuggets in my mouth and laid the booty on the hood of my car for a picture.
[size=small]Less than half an hour of mindless digging unearthed these artifacts in the frenzy, including two tiny Gold Nuggets (left).[/size]
On the way to Bathurst on the way home, we passed a Tortoise which has made a wrong turn and was lying in the middle of the road with his head and legs pulled in. I pulled over (after dropping from 100kmph) and retrieved the hapless critter before driving onwards until we came to a dam to let him go in. The return to Sydney was uneventful although we stopped by Lithgow McDonald's Restaurant to get some nuggets of the edible variety. If only I had found one that large!
Now today when I woke up, I decided to put all my equipment away and to clean off the mud from my pick-axe. I had just laid out some paper to catch the dirt and dried clay when I noticed a gleaming nodule sticking out from the side of the axe, almost flush with the clay. It was a small nugget... probably around .25g... still fused to the pick. I've resisted the urge to pull it off and stick it in a container and have set the Pick out of reach of my cat so as to show friends. I'll take it down the the Miner's Den during the week if I can to see what their impressions are.
[size=small]A small Gold Nugget stuck to my pick-axe. I've left it there still adhered to the dried clay.[/size]
We're already planning two more trips to the region in the near future and I need to get a few more pictures to put forth before commencing the documentary we're putting together. I've always been a victim of proverbial "Gold Fever" and I think Rena understands now why I'm enraptured by the idea of prospecting for Gold as a hobby whilst combining it with my enjoyment of Photography.
[size=small]The two small nuggets I found together. Just 0.60g and 0.20g. Not much pay for so much work but a worthwhile highlight to the trip. Obviously the X-Terra 70 can hold up well to the challenge, even when it comes to sub-gram nuggets.[/size]
[size=small]Here's our total find for the days we were there.[/size]
If you want to see more pictures, you can find all 170+ here on my Photo Gallery online here:
http://www.pbase.com/nero_design/pro1_sofala
Local Prospectors might appreciate that I took plenty of pictures of the surrounding areas to show what sort of environments to expect. I thought that any Sydneysiders contemplating a trip to Hill End or nearby Sofala might find use of my images since I was only able to find a few older images online when researching before my own trip. Rodney Watters of the Ryder Homestead can be found online at www.ryderhome.com.au - feel free to mention us (Marco & Rena) as I'm sure he'll recall us. I'm sending him some of my pictures to use on his webpage. I also intend to stay here again for future trips to the region. Armed with newer maps of the surrounding regions as of today, I look forward to finding new and picturesque areas to photograph and fossick on. Satellite maps that I accessed show me that I was in the right region and locals told me of a man who has a property which regularly shows gold on the ground after any heavy rain and he picks it up when wandering. I managed to obtain his details and will speak with him shortly as I would like to film him in the process of doing so. All the shop owners told me that the locals regularly wander into town with "a bit of gold they found" and try to sell it although many just sell it at actual goldweight value because it's rare to get buyers in the towns other than the odd tourist.
So the Minelab X-Terra 70 worked well. It's amazingly sensitive to iron nails and I can assure all readers that should they need to recover Iron Nails, then this is the machine they've always dreamed of. But Iron and Gold signals overlap.. and in my opinion, the only way to avoid digging trash is to avoid going to sites where there's plenty of it. The Goldfields here might be vast but most of the land is owned by one person or another. Luck certainly plays a part but so does planning and research. I hope to report shortly on the results of our next trip there. But the X-Terra worked well in Prospecting Mode and impressed me with it's sensitivity. It easily detected the .20g nugget behind 5 inches of mineralized iron based clay... which in itself is nothing short of excellent for my needs. It could penetrate the "hot" soil of the region and the signals I got from nails were generally a few inches from the surface although one nail fragment was easily 9 inches deep and surrounded by nothing but iron ore and quartz chunks. The two nuggets I dug up in the minutes before leaving Sofala were close to 8 inches deep in the moist, red clay and surrounded by iron ore as well.
I look forward to trying the X-Terra 70 on the beach this week and have enjoyed the pleasure of using it on a daily basis on the Goldfields.
The first two days left me with sore arms but much of this was likely from swinging the pick-axe and I was glad to have spent the two weeks preceding the trip lifting weights to acclimatise my arms in advance. When I return to Sofala and Hill End (VERY soon I hope), I'll place a magnet on the Heel of the pick this time to prevent it flying to the ends of the metal head when the tool is in motion.
Cheers,
Marco Nero
The following is an account of the Australian Goldfields written by Mrs Charles (Ellen) Clacy in 1852
1852 - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2.--[size=small]This day found the four hard at work at an early
hour, and words will not describe our delight when they hit upon a
"pocket" full of the precious metal. The "pocket was situated in a dark
corner of the hole, and William was the one whose fossicking-knife
first brought its hidden beauties to light. Nugget after nugget did
that dirty soil give up; by evening they had taken out five
pounds weight of gold. Foolish Richard! we all regretted his absence at
this discovery.
As the next day was the Sabbath, thirty-six hours of suspense must
elapse before we could know whether this was but a passing kindness
from the fickle goddess, or the herald of continued good fortune.
This night, for the first time, we were really in dread of an attack,
though we had kept our success quite secret, not even mentioning it to
our shipmates; nor did we intend to do so until Monday morning, when
our first business would be to mark out three more claims round the
lucky spot, and send our gold down to the escort-office for security.
For the present we were obliged to content ourselves with "planting"
it--that is, burying it in the ground; and not a footstep passed in our
neighbourhood without our imagining ourselves robbed of the precious
treasure, and as it was Saturday night--the noisiest and most riotous at
the diggings--our panics were neither few nor far between. So true it is
that riches entail trouble and anxiety on their possessor[/size].
His work mates couldn't figure out weather he was the luckiest or unluckiest, guys alive. He left the police force and took up tree lopping instead. About 3 years back, he fell out of a tree and did some major damage to his back. He moved over to the coast.
I've been spare the infection myself, although I've been in a room where this disease is wide spread. from what I've seen of the finds of other club members, your finds were quite normal. unfortunately, if you are a reader of the Gem and Treasure mag, then it is possible to come away with an unrealistic expectation of what you might find, but I suspect that you know that. Nothing wrong with the mag, it's just by it's nature that people write about their successes rather than every day finds.
, as that would seem to be the norm.(At least that Norm gets of the couch
.)