Ridiculous to the Sublime

Damien is coming to the rescue today. Again. And Ian might be popping in too. We’re meeting on a Reserve near Castlemaine, about 90 minutes east of here. I set off at 6.30 and stopped in Avoca for a cup of tea and a bacon and egg muffin. Both grim. At 8.15 I drove into Campbell’s Creek and followed Damien’s directions up to the goldfield. And there he was.

Damien explained that we were prospecting on public land, but that a bloke across the creek, around 500 metres away, had put up Private Land signs. When Ian had continued to detect on this land he had turned up with a rifle, shot over his head, threatened to kill him and then called the police to charge him with trespassing. The coppers had turned up and Ian had to prove that the land was public land.

Another bleeding nutter like Bill. The coppers had made him move the Private Land signs back to his property.

We went into the forest and Damien repeated his instructions to improve my detecting. Then he showed me where to go. The ground was great, not much dry moss and only an inch down to hard clay. Within an hour I’d got another nugget.

Then Damien was chopping away into the ground around 30 metres from me.

More bloody shotgun pellets.

Ian arrived as I was chopping into the clay. I was pleased because he saw me find another little nuggie. He’s a very experienced prospectors and he played a trick on me. He hid these three huge nuggets, together worth around £25,000, and directed me over them. When the detector went berserk I knew it was a trick and laughed as he revealed his career best finds.

Prospectors take chunks of quartz with gold in and crush them with a heavy hammer inside a metal shell case. The final result is gold amid a residue of crushed rock, that can be panned to free the gold. Ian showed me some, suspended in water.

It’s so nice to be with friends who want to help me. I’ve only met Ian once and Damien three times but they want me to be successful. Top blokes.

Ian left and Damien was packing up. He’d left home at 5am and was buggered. I’d found two more pieces of gold, bringing my total for today to four pieces. Yes!!!

And my overall total to eight.

I gave Damien a hug and thanked him profusely. We are unlikely to meet again but we’ll maintain a friendship.

On the way back to Moonambel I stopped near Maryborough where a local called Billy had shown me a spot six years ago.

I found it and couldn’t resist detecting a bit more but the temperature was 35C and I only managed an extra hour. No more gold.

I got back to the pub after a quick Thai meal in Maryborough and sat with my mates. It was still light but the bar was shut, although my mates turned up there for the company with their own beers!

This is Brian. Salt of the earth Aussie bloke. Uncomplicated and kind.

This is Serge. He lives in the pub and keeps scorpions in a tank in his bedroom. Uncomplicated, vulnerable, kind and very decent.

I like both of them a lot.

Night night.