Decompression ~ 01-02-2017

After an epically stressful few days at work, i headed out to my local beach for a bit of time to process everything that had been going on.  Nothing like a cool evening to help decompress and blow away the stress.  Whist i didn’t find all that much at all, it was just good to be out and thinking about not a lot, just waiting for those beeps and the thrill of the dig.

I combined this post with the weekend of the 4/2/2017 too, as i only really found spendables, i dropped them all on to the “pending shelf” when i got home and can’t recall which coins i found when.

The only exception was a Cat digger, which i definitely found on the weekend, but left at the beach for a kid to enjoy.  My boys have way too many toys that they don’t play with as it is!  It was also kind of large and i didn’t fancy filling my pouch with it

I ended up with $19.45, which for a few hours of digging on the beach isn’t too bad.  It was definitely worth the time, just for the stress relief if nothing else.  This was made up with $2 x 10, $8 x 1, $0.50 x 1, $0.20 x 3, $0.10 x 3 and $0.05 x 1.  I also picked up 3 fishing weights, a car key and a Volcom tag.

I got a permission for my Birthday! ~ 04-01-2017

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me!  Today was my Birthday so I was able to get out for a hunt.  I didn’t really plan anything other than i was going to head out and so decided to head to a fairly busy beach south of me, which i knew had been busy on new years eve.  I hadn’t been there before so didn’t really know what to expect.

It was overcast when i arrived, which was nice, but soon warmed up.  As I got out my car the dude next door to me had a good stare and said G’Day.  He spent the next 3 hours watching me grid up and down the thin beach in front of him.  That’s the life!  I had a chat to him when i was done, and he was eating his 3rd pie.  Nice bloke.

I quickly found the towel line and worked that, it gave up $7.75 in spendables (2 x $2, 2 x 1$, 5 x 20c, 2 x 10c, 1x 5c)  I then worked a long the back edge to one of the entry points and found a junk surfy necklace pendant.  It is very shiny with glass bits, had me going at first but is just a junker.  I also found the normal random spoon.  This was quite a fancy spoon though, made by “The One” who on investigation make quite nice cutlery sets

I headed home for some lunch, and check in to see if my boys wanted to come and do some detecting in the arvo.  They said they were quite happy sat on the couch, so I left them at home and headed back out myself.

There had been a spot i’d done some research on, but was on private property.  The places i have detected up untill now have all been public land, parks and beaches etc.  I’ve been to ask permission on a couple of private blocks before but always bottled it at the last moment.  This time though i was set in my mind to see it through.  The lady I asked didn’t really understand, she had a french accent so it took a little explaining.  She told me i wouldn’t find anything but junk but was free to look anyway.

I knew the block had been around from early 40’s arial images, but was split sometime between late 1940’s and early 1970’s but the actual land hadn’t changed significantly.  I was hopeful of finding something

The ground was littered with targets, most deep iron sounding, but with a few interesting ones picked between.  I wanted to make a good impression so kept my digging limited and looked for good targets with the hope of finding an interesting relic to show the lady i asked.  After digging a few random car parts, junk iron and can-slaw, i pulled out my first nice relic.  A old lighter.  It crumbled as it came out in to a couple of pieces, but is largely intact.  You can see it on the instagram feed if you look.  The cardboard or canvas around the shell is still there.  Sweet!

I also pulled out what i think is the tank or innards of another lighter, along with a bullet casing and a tyre vale cover.

Was only about an hour and a half’s hunt, but i didn’t want to outstay my welcome.  The lady didn’t seem to get how nice the find was, thinking some local children had been out the back of the place smoking!?!  Oh well.

I’ll be back there for sure, and it has given me the confidence to start door knocking for permissions in the area.

First Beach Hunt of the New Year ~ 02-01-2017

Had an evening spare and work on the horizon so decided to head out on to the local beach to see what was about.  New Years seemed really busy down my local beach so thought there would be some rich pickings.

I started fairly late and the beach was starting to empty when i got there, but over the next hour more people started to arrive.  I’m guessing it was to see the sunset.  I had to move out of the towel line which really impacted the results.

I did grid an area completely near the main exit, but with little success.  I’m guessing as it had been in use by a group who never seem to drop anything.

This was the first time i really detected on in to dark with a headlamp.  It was easy enough on the beach, but i’m guessing would be much harder if you were were working in the bush.  Hats of to you guys who do early and late hunts!

I finished off with $6.85 (2 x $2, 2 x $1, 1 x 50c, 1 x 20c, 1 x 10c 1 x 5c) and 2 x 1c coins.  Also picked up a few fishing weights as normal.

Evening beach hunt ~ 28-12-2016

Decided to head out after work for a few hours to my local beach last night.  It has been packed over the festive period and I thought there should be some goodies having been left behind.  It was very warm, so it was nice to be by the ocean with a nice breeze coming in.

The hunt started well picking up $1.50 in a spill on the entry way.  I worked my way around the soft sand checking the other entrances.  Not much doing, picked up a further $3.20

Quite a few people came over and asked some questions.  There is a lot of foreign people on this beach for some reason they all ask whether i need a license or such, or if i’m employed by the government?!?  I even got asked one time if i was security looking for bombs…  the mind boggles as the places people have come from that makes them think such things.  I guess the camo shirt and shorts doesn’t help 🙂

The beach was fairly empty when i got there about 6pm, but started to fill up again for sunset, so I wasn’t really able to work the towel line.  High tide was late morning so i wasn’t able to hit that, and the low tide wasn’t that low either.

As it got dark I headed back to the foreshore, but has left it to late and it was getting too dark to see.  I picked up another 70c on the foreshore and called it quits about 8:45pm.

I’ll probably get back down there after the new year when I have a bit more time and hopefully it’s not as busy