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SIDEBAR: Prospectors recall their golden moments
Jan 12, 2012, 9:30 GMT
Sydney - Amateurs out prospecting for gold in the Australian Outback seldom come back with what they whimsically refer to as the 'retirement nugget.'
But postings on hobbyist blogs are testament to what a rollicking good time they had anyway - and how sweet it was to find the odd speck.
'Does life get much better?' asked Pete from Western Australia, reminiscing about a Saturday away with his metal detector and his chums.
'Out bush, beyond the last cattle grid, good old mates and blood red dirt, nuggets and a good campfire,' he wrote. 'The beers run free to celebrate a good day with lots of nuggets.'
A posting from granite2 on golddetecting.4umer.net told of a couple of golden moments that came for free.
'Found a bit on the floor of our van after friends had visited for coffee,' he wrote. 'One of them must have had a half-grammer stuck in the mud on his boot. My wife also found a gram bit in the washing machine at Leonora caravan park' in Western Australia.
Pete gloried in the making of a find and how it drives the prospector on.
'Who would swap that moment for quids?' he asked. 'As you sweat and gasp for air like a deep-sea diver, you still dig. There, there, in the side of the hole? Is that gold? Possibly.'
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