Gold at Whangaporoa

We are still on the Whangaporoa coast,the weather and the fishing has been great, also the area is very pretty and scenic,there has been some very low tides lately so I have been taking advantage of them,combined with the flat seas it has made detecting easy,90 percent of the coins came from around the trees at the ARC park ,the rest are from the beach,the small broken ring (again) I found last week at Army bay,The other gold ring came from Shakespear Bay 9kt,but unfortunatly the stones  are not diamonds,Lots and lots of old metal junk is scattered around the beaches up here I guess left over from the farming and war time era's........thanks jim

I have my doubts about this ring

I found a nice mans gold ring today marked .375,but noticed it was cracked,whem I pulled it it broke as per the photo.To me gold that is even 9kt should be more durable than that,maybe someone else has struck this?.

  All the other items were found in and around Aucklands North shore beaches,it sure was hard work as the beaches have been well and truely detected over the years,but every now and again I would strike an area that produced,another half a tank of diesel in gold coins ($41),two silver rings a few foreign coins and of coarse lead sinkers,a few older pennies in an old park,what I liked, and is one of my better finds is the old St Johns Ambulance medal, it has a number and name on the reverse a little hard to read,as it still needs cleaning 

Te Aroha,Thames goodies

Just a few bits and pieces I picked up from around the Thames area,I have been to Te Aroha race course before,and was told then of a very expensive ring that was lost there at a race meeting,this time back the lady in the office once again reminded of it,no rings turned up but I did find a few pennies and the two threepences.

 The old cap gun came from Thames along with the gold coins and the other silver and old copper coins.The wee silver ring was deep in a local park.The little patent badge was around 8" deep.

Some more good finds (sore back and all)

We were back at Tauranga for two nights staying at Ferguson park the intetion was to stay for one night,but when we woke up the camper was surrounded by cars with lots of kids and mums and dads all there for Saturday sports (cricket).Ah well no hurry as we were blocked in,so a relaxing day was spent watching all the familys etc.Thought I had better not start weaving in and out of them with the MD and digging holes in the middle of the cricket pitch.

 About 6pm all had died down and we had the park back to just us and one or two other campers,of I go and around the kids playground (totlot),well the dollars were coming thick and fast,I gave up around 8pm with a total of $34 plus the gold ring ring (9kt) After such a dry spell on gold now it is the opposite,up early the next morning and back into it,I ended up with a total of $58 in goldies plus a few older decimals,the penny and the shilling are both 1934.The silver thingee I am not sure about,and the other two rings are el cheapo's.I alwas thought there was another guy doing this park.
 Unbelievable all the detecting I have done and never in this park which is probably the most used in Tauranga.........."I WILL BE BACK"

Gold,silver and lead

We are at Waihi beach for two days,dodging the rain a fair bit but managed to put in a few hours on the beach,pretty hard going as it is all sanded up at the moment,but there is areas that hold goodies that are within the etracs range. (namely sinkers at 12"-14") As I hunt in only all metal mode I find I can pick and choose what I dig by listening and watching the sounds and ID's bounce and then stabilize.This machine still just amazes me considering I am still running in basically factory mode.
 The silver ring is a cracker,and the wee gold ring looks old and is marked .375 I think that is 9kt.
the black object when cleaned up was a old bunch of keys,darn no gold ring attached this time.

 The badge although not old is novel,haha I won't need to buy any sinkers for a while.

"GOLD STRIKE"

Funny how things work out,(thats what I like about this hobby).Our next stop was the ARC park Wendelholm after setting up off to the beach with the magic wand I go,I was only there for 10 minutes and got a nice 12-25 signal and dug up a nice mens 9kt ring.It was about then that I was joined by 8 kids on a beach trip with there mums,well detectors are a real kid magnet,I felt a bit like the pied piper (but there was no cliffs haha).Turned out they were excellent company and seriously interested, I found another few bits of junk jewellery and $3 before dark and of course the usual sinkers.
 Up early the next morning and back to the beach it was very hard going, you Auckland guys are very thorough,managed another few dollars and then got a 12-13 signal my thoughts were oh hell another teartab but there was something just a bit different about the sound and sure enough up popped a nice 9kt ladies ring.Going back to my first sentence,my last post from Paihia with all the coins but no gold,  yet here I am at another beach,very few coins and two nice gold rings,I think I had better listen to the  sounds the etrac is trying to tell me .Hate to think how many good targets I have ignored.

 Spent last night at the Pt Erin pool car park awake all night with cars coming and going,woken up at 5am surrounded by cars and people then realized there was a marothon on and they had blocked off the street.....no in or out....ah well only one thing to do have a cup of tea and get the etrac out, while listening to the crowds cheer on the runners,real hard going again but did manage the halfcrown and the 1913 sixpence and around $6.

My weeks wages

We stayed one night at Pahia,I walked to the beach late in the afternoon for a quick detect,it was a great sight the sea was flat and not a breath of wind,this would have to be one of NZ's prettiest beaches.
 In around 2 hours I found $10 and a few older decimal coins also one sixpence,up early the next morning and caught the low tide,things were pretty slow going (mostly due to curious tourists with silly questions) can't blame them though,its just hard being polite when time is limited.But did my PR thing.At the far end of the beach an area right on the inner natural curve line started to produce coins,
honestly there was a coin at every step just continous beep beep beeps,about then my wife arrived,I was locating and digging objects as she was using the pinpointer and refilling the holes,heck by the time we finnished the beach looked like a mob of rabbits had been through there,fortunatly there was not a lot of sunbathers around.

 Eventually the goodies dropped away due to the sand depth (and hunger + a sore back) it all came to an end.In total there is 216 coins including $1 and $2 ($47) three pennies,2 halfpennys,lots of old decimals,only one silver ring.But a cool wee badge with the words Qantas junior flyer.Plus around 8 foreign coins,this beach must still hold enormous amounts of coins etc as the area we did was only 50 metres long.......all in all a great day well worth the massive dose of sun burn.  KJ

Looking for that buried cache

Travelling around up in  beautiful Northland,managed a quick detect at the Dargaville racecourse,this place has been well done over,but still managed around $12 and the two silvers (florin and shilling).Turns out this is not the original course and only dates back to the early '50s.The previous track having been built on now.
  Tried two of the more popular beaches up here, ended up with lots of 1c and 2c pieces along with the usual older 50c and 20c,lots and lots of more sinkers that I have been making use of,managing fish for every 2nd meal.

  Without going into to much detail I went looking on a friends property up here that was suspected of having buried $,unfortunatly all I turned up was a few cents and the old brass ford radiator cap.Thats not to say the goodies are not there,maybe just out of MD range.Thats what I like to think anyway.

On the road again

After spending a cold wet winter back in the Mount working and saving $,we are now back travelling in our camper,the first stop was a night at the Paeroa racecourse this is an area I have been over and over along with several others from Auckland,but it still turns up coins and other goodies.The two shillings and the florin came from there, all from the most unlikely places.
  Next stop was at Long bay on the North shore at the ARC park were we spent two nights,I managed a few dollars and a bit of change.I also tried a new technique by digging some of those lower signals (12-03-- 12-10) and was rewarded with three items worth keeping the wee cross is 9ct, the foot and the little square emblem although not marked, I am sure are gold.I know this beach has been hammered but as it gets lots of use there are still lots of goodies down deeeep.

   The small bracelet is 9ct and came from the Mount main beach the day before we left,we are staying with good friends in Dargaville for a few days and the plan is to try the racecourse here weather permitting.Sorry but had trouble posting (must be an age thingy).

lead,lead,and more lead

I have not posted for a while (it must be a winter thing).At the moment we are living within walking distance to the beach,I have been picking up bits and pieces by keeping an eye on the changing conditions at the beach,it can change overnight with hollows and scalloping for a day or two and then it sands up again.All the items in the photos are from about 6 outings,about $40 in 1 and 2 coins there was a lot more but they get spent on milk and bread etc.50% of the rings are silver but very tarnished.

  The one good ring is Titanium with a gold band around it,the old kids gun was cool.I can't believe the amount of sinkers they come up load and clear on the detector........haha dont go detecting with steel cap boots on it took me a while to figure out why the etrac was beeping with every step I took..............duhhhhh

Not much to report

Thought it was time to at least update the blog even though there is not much to report,seems evertime I do manage to make an attempt to go out the heavens open up and thats about as far as it gets.I have managed a few short detects at the beach and one park,but the weather always cuts it short,managed a few coins and bits and bobs,but nothing really worth posting.
  By the lack of posts looks like this weather is affecting us all,I will have to get out soon cabin fever is setting in,the sea is massive at the moment should be good when and if it dies down.......hello to all out there braving the elements.

The last three trips to the beach

I have had verying success at the beach,some areas have been washed out revealing goodies washed out of the sand banks,but also there are areas that are just plain bare,still I had a ball in all around 250 coins most are the older decimals,but also about $45 in goldies,the rings are 2 silvers,one stainless,the others el cheapo's.

 One picture shows the variety of junk on the beach,not good on bare feet,the old lead toy is a cracker,even if it is a bit damaged,it came from an old local park I forgot to post earlier.

'bit o silver and a 'bit o gold

The pics show the results of the last few hunts with the magic wand, the best of the finds to me is the Aussie florin,that came from an old park in our area along with the pennys.

 Most of the other items are from our beach including the ear ring (21kt),hard work on the beach at the moment with the sand all built up,I guess it is only a matter of time before we get a spot of rough weather and all that will change.Most of the other rings are el cheapo's but still a buzz to find.

Wow this is old for NZ

I went back to a park that I new had seen a bit of action during the colonial days,the military were camped here at one stage,I kept finding enough old pennys to keep me interested and I was getting a lot of falsing on some deep old iron,in amongst this iron I got a real high 12-47 and thought this is either a big lump of alloy, or just maybe a silver coin well 8" down out pops this halfcrown,turns out to be a George 1V,as none of the embossing is readable I tried a Google search and if I am not mistaken the year of manufacture was 1824.The old musket shot came from within 1 metre of the halfcrown and at around the same depth (if only they could talk what a tale they could tell)

 The pennys are all much newer ranging from 1908-1962,and of course the modern coins and jewellery were closer to the surface,also found another token the writing also is very hard to read, it needs a long term soak.

A choice possie

I have spent 2 part days waving the magic wand over two new spots,one is pretty overgrown and fairly hard going but the goodies are there,like Guys spot it needs a herd of sheep to trim the terf a bit,the second spot not to far from the first produced mostly goldies and a few penny's,all up around $60 in $1 and $2 coins plus lots of older penny's,a couple are young victoria heads (still working on the dates),my first gothic florin  (still working on the date on this also),plus the other silvers.The 4 aussie penny's and the military buttons were all close to one another,I suspect this my have been a training ground at some stage.We just had a pretty quick visit to this spot,so it is on my wish list for another visit,the etrac sure is a gun on anything silver and those deeper copper coins,I dont think a day goes by when I dont learn a bit more about its capabilitys.

My first token

Went back to the Tauranga Domain in the rain,worked my way around the old trees trying to stay out of the rain,found the two old silver coins one on top of the other at about 7",the sixpence is 1908,the shilling is 1918.I then moved to another area were an old bandstand used to be many years ago,and got a deep signal about 8"down turned out to be this old token pretty hard to make out the writing,but I can clearly read the words DUNEDIN OTAGO,and an S.WILSON the rest is unclear I will give it a good soak.The date is 1857 one of my oldest coins yet,when the rain stopped I headed out to the soccer field and found the other coins $19 in goldies,an english 1pound coin.the little silver ingot and a couple of pennys and the halfpenny.It always amazes me that coins keep popping up as I have been   over this area half a dozen times now,I guess it comes down to learning your detector and a bit more patience from me.