Hello from a first timer (well alomst first time)

Hi all,

I'd like to introduce myself to the forum (who i am, what i do etc) and relive an experiance of what i think as "come in sucker". i'll try to keep it short, but i am my fathers son (talk talk talk).

So the bug has hit again and before i do something stoopid i would like to ask the question of what would / could be the best unit to buy as a first timer gold hunter, keeping in mind $$, if i should mod it etc.

My name is Philip, (or hey you exspeltive), i've been in the big smoke of Melbourne for about 14ish years now. During that time, i have been employed by Australia POST as a Postal Technician (apprentice sparky now A grade), moved into a "stores" position in the tech area for a few years and have now unofficially moved full time into purchasing for our fleet of large letter sorting machines.
I have an interest in model engineering, but have still yet to get around to actually building a model yet (dad again hehe).
I have a partner of over 12 years with similar interests but not quite too similar thankfully..
Anyway, i got the bug a couple of years back, and we did the right thing of not splerdging a heap of $$$$ on something that was sort of a whim, we went to Dunolly, hired a detector for a couple of days with a 'guide' to show how to use and what area's to search. As i said earlier "come in sucker" and boy did we come in.. the store in Dunolly was great, helpfull info etc, but the so called guide took us both to an area of ground in hindsight would have been well picked over, shown what to do and what to listen for how to swing and a lot of bull shyt in between (turns out he knew my folks). fun to say the least but well short of what i thought we would learn. all we found was a piece of lead shot with the un-gentleman like agreement of half-half whilst the machine was sounding off big time.

well thats me in a nut shell, for those of you who have endured this war and piece speell, my appologies.

Kind Regards
Philip kennedy

The second hand market is alive and well here in Australia at then moment. Probably from a new chums point of view a GP series machine would be a good place to start and now it seems there are also mods for them (see threads on that issue here abouts).

Not sure what you were hoping to achieve on your training session in Dunolly? Do you feel the guy ripped you off or just did not provide enough information for the money? It is a pretty hard ask to get a beginner over a nugget first time round especially in Vic where the ground is hot but also been well done over with detectors for years now.

Might I suggest you look into one of our training DVDs (if that is OK by the Admin otherwise please delete) as they do show you gold being found in a variety of conditions along with tips and techniques on how and where to look. For more info go to www.aurumaustralis.com

The bug once it bites never lets you stop scratching so you may as well take the plunge and get your own beeper because the only way you are going to get any sort of respite is to find a little nugget of your very own.

Welcome to the wonderful world of electronic prospecting Steamboi, once started you don't want to stop unless it for a brief breather and then only to take a look skywards for a while to stretch the neck muscles.

Jonathan Porter

Hi Jonathan,

I was initally going to look at the SD range of detectors, but now from your comments and from what Ismael has said, i think i concentrate on looking at the GP range through the usual auction places and detector supply shops online.

I suppose we were hoping to 'strike it rich' when we went out to Dunolly, and i would have thought that the shop may have said to the 'expert' to really give us the bug for a sale, but, who knows.

They old boys at the caravan park did a real nasty trick on a backpacker before we arrived and 'loaded' where he was panning with a decent nugget, he had only wanted to be in Dunolly 1-2 weeks, when we were there he had been there for over 2 months.

I think the bug has hit hard with me and the next thing to do is clear out the shed of things i don't use to raise some cash. Know anyone who wants a mini lathe and assecories?? i will be putting this on an online auction site soon.

Thanks for your comments again Jonathan.

Regards
Philip