Possibly Silly Question from Newbie

[Cherub]

Hello All

I have just joined.

I have come to the realization in the past few months, that I lead a very boring inactive life.

Wasting my life away watching telly!

Decided I needed to get out more, and get some fresh air and exercise. And find a hobby to make my life more rounded.

I have long been fascinated by metal detecting since I watched a couple dig up some Roman coins and saw how thrilled they were at their find. Even though that was 40 years ago now, I have suddenly decided (as you do!) that I would like to start detecting.

It is an interest. It will get me out in the fresh air walking about and digging. It should be exciting when I find something. And maybe if I am really lucky I can earn some pocket money if I find some nuggets of gold.

Now I just need to save some money and buy the metal detector - after much research I have decided on a Minelab Equinox 800

Anyway as I have been researching, I have come across articles about digging for fossils, opals, sapphires and crystals. To be honest, my mind had only just thought about old coins and gold. Maybe better for me to think about fossicking on a wider scale

With that in mind, is there any courses or books I can look at to help with identifying? Because knowing my luck I will find a gem or lump of gold and think it is a wombat poo. 

Many thanks

[Rusted]

Welcome Cherub.
Give us an approximate idea of where you are and we can probably recommend some clubs, localities and maybe other resources that will give you a bit of a start.

[ia1nw22]

Hi and welcome Cherub
There's two old Books that I'd recommend :-
Australian & New Zealand Gemstones , how & where to find them . Edited by Bill Myatt


The Australian gemhunters guide , by K.J Buchester .
You'll have to hunt ebay & such & 2nd hand book stores , but it'll be worth the effort


Cheers   

[Findem]

Welcome, Cherub. You have some exciting times ahead. I have a copy of Buchester for sale on my eBay site at the moment. Just go to eBay and search using the title and/or author. I think the price is $12 or $15 (+postage).
best of luck
Findem

[Bucket]

Ahhh, fresh meat! Welcome to the forum Cherub, you shouldn't be disappointed with your decision, what will disappoint will be not finding enough or the particular stone that you're looking for! Of course someone famous once said "there's no such thing as a stupid question"., and that is so true. The books recommended by ia1nw22 are good ones to start with but I also agree with Rusted about the clubs. Depending on where you are located, there MAY be one closer than you think. Here is a link to find some of the many clubs in Australia, there are more that are not affiliated with AFLACCA.
https://aflaca.org.au/members/

[harryopal]

Happy New Year Cherub. As Bucket and Rusted have indicated it is well worth locating lapidary and metal detecting clubs in your area. Most clubs have field trips across the year and heading out with a group one usually finds members with a great deal of experience and the commonality of interests usually means these are very friendly get togethers.


Most cut and polished gemstones look like a totally different animal in the rough. Having a member pick up a specimen and saying this is what we're looking for can be a revelation. There is a curious satisfaction about taking out of the ground a specimen that may have been there for perhaps hundreds of thousands of years.


If you get interested in gemstones and crystals you will find that most lapidary clubs have interesting displays and also equipment which members are usually pleased to show you how to use so you can have the happy experience of shaping and polishing your treasures. And then of course there is gold fever if you finish up with a detector and make a find.


Another great benefit of joining a club is field trips are often to areas near creeks and rivers which you might otherwise never visit. Just being out in the bush is of itself a rewarding activity. So saddle up and get started. It can be a long and never ending ride as there is always more to learn.

[MrSydney]

Local club a great way to go - so much experience and knowledge to fast track your learning that is hard to learn from books.

Also YouTube is really good.  Just search things like ''Gold Fossicking Australia'', learning to use a metal detector, how to find sapphires AUstralia etc.

There are also quite a lot of good fossicking groups on Facebook.  I virtually don't use Facebook except for that.  Again search things like gold prospecting australia, fossicking Australia.  People post stuff about what they've found which is interesting plus you can ask questions or pose questions to the group who are specifically interested in that topic.