During State of Origin 2008 my cousin Charlie mentioned that he was heading up to Flat Creek Station, near Georgetown, looking for gold. This is something on my list of things to do before I die, so in July 2008 I bought a second hand Minelab GP3500 metal detector from a retired jeweller in Gympie. We consequently became very good friends and he has helped me considerably with tips and advice on where to detect.
In August, we travelled north to Clermont, arriving just in time for the Gold Festival. This was very interesting and I took the opportunity to perform a few poems at the Poet's Breakfast, as Bush Poetry is a hobby of mine.
The next day was Monday and we obtained the necessary permits from the Detecting Shop located in the Caravan Park where we were staying. We also met up with Bob and Marg, the people who sold us the detector, and they gave us a few pointers on where we should try our luck.
We spent all that day detecting and found nothing but rubbish, most common find being .22 calibre projectiles. However, my cousin was by now, at Flat Creek Station so we headed off the next morning to meet him there.
The trip via Charters Towers and Mt Surprise to Georgetown was a repeat of the trip we took the year before on our way to Karumba. I thought we might try a short-cut via the gravel road from The Lind through to Forsythe but only ventured down that track for about a kilometre before deciding it was way too rough and corrugated. We were relying on filling up with diesel at The Lind but Murphy's Law kicked in and the diesel pump was out of action. I reckoned we had about enough to get to Mt Surprise and I had my "security blanket" jerrycan full in the van boot. Arrived at Mt Surprise just on dark with just the smell left in the Terracan Tank and filled up ready to go first thing next morning.
Arose early and gave the van a quick wipe over with a bucket of water and a sponge. Should have known better, as just west of town there was about twenty kilometres of road almost ready for the bitumen. All watered down nicely to stop dust. Great. Van had a two inch thick coating of mud at front when we got to Georgetown.
Headed straight for Flat Creek Station which took about an hour or so, the last 35k being gravel, not bad after the first 5k . Paid for a week up front and then found a spot at the "Caravan Park"
I use the term loosely as all it has is a Besser Block building with two toilets and four showers. Hot water via a 44 gallon drum over a fire which was kept burning by the vanner camped near it. Very basic but at least water was laid on and good enough for washing but everyone carried water from town for drinking, cooking etc.
My cousin and his mate had been there for a week and found nothing and for the first couple of days we did exactly the same. Mostly looking over the old diggings where a large dry blower or whatever had mined years before.
On the third day, being an impatient old bugger, I tried the other side of the track to where we
had been looking and found a few more bullets but then, stumbled on our first nugget. Only about 7-8grams but a nugget. Well, a specimen anyway. It was about half a metre away from an old dig hole so someone had been here before me. I had been told that where you find one nugget you will usually find another but I searched in vain around the area for another hour or more.
Showed the blokes back at camp and they were just "thrilled" that I had found a nugget after three days when some people take years. Actually I heard a few swear words amonst the grumbles I think. They all thought it was a great idea bringing my own "digger", although she usually stood in the shade of a tree until she heard the right ping from the detector.
Two days later we tried another spot a few kilometres away and after many hours and brass rivets, bullets and boot tacks, we found our second bit of yellow. Another 7-8gram nugget, looked better than the first to me. It is a good thing my cousin is not a violent man, he still had
not found anything.
Another couple of days and our week was gone and we decided to go back home via Clermont again, so headed off once more and met up with Bob and Marg for more instruction and advice. Bob reckons we only found those two nuggets because he had trained the detector so well. When we got home to Gympie he put the ring on our second mugget so it can hang from a chain.
We spent a week detecting all the areas around Clermont but to no avail. I am told it is like fishing except nobody puts the little ones back. I reckon when we were there the tides must have been wrong.
And so we headed home, happy that we found gold on our first attempt but of course we would have liked a bit more more. Enough to cover costs was the initial aim but we got enough for a few tanks of fuel. Actually, not even that much as one now hangs on a chain around my wife's neck. So no cash there.
I have not given up yet, and will venture out again in the very near future hopefully.
Have finally installed the new Waeco CR110 12/24volt fridge. Seems to work great but the test will come when we hit the road in two days time.
These fridges work on either 12 or 24 volts, so I got a transformer thing which converts 240volt ac to 24volt dc and that is the default supply when mains power is available. When mains power is disconnected, it switches to 12volt from the van battery. I have also fitted a relay so that when mains power is not connected, and the fridge is running from the van battery, it will switch to the car battery when it can see 12volt power from there. When the car engine is stopped, the Redarc Isolator switch under the bonnet will quickly switch off so the car battery does not get flattened, and it switches back to the van battery. Are you keeping up??
I bought a new Fullriver DC120-12 Battery, via eBay, which is installed under the Dining Seat, and is dedicated to the Fridge only. Everything else runs off the original van battery, but this will probably change if and when I ever get a few solar panels.
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