Ken Parker's 'Four Swing' Park

Nellie very enthusiastic after an exciting hunt.

A quick afternoon detect while getting some milk and walking Nellie. I spotted another park unknown to me on the way to the shops. It could just be seen from the road.  The Ken Parker park is accessible only by a couple of walkways. It consisted of only four swings and that was it. I'm sure Ken deserved better facilities at his park.

In about 15 minutes I managed to release a few items from the bark, nothing startling, but I thought I would blog it anyway. The weed mat was again a problem but I was not digging just scraping away the bark with my shoe. Any signal that was below the bark was left to excite others.

So the finds were as follows. A welding rod, a small piece of brass piping, a Bic lighter, two washers, a key that opens cans of corn beef which always snap for me, but not this user it seems and 30 cents cash.

Small takings from a small park.

See you out there.

Beach Life

Bit of beach what I did  (park in far distance)

Sunday morning, left home at 7.00 am to enjoy some MD use on my last full day here. I headed to the beach at Maraetai once again. "I pulled $1.10 out of the two parks there before hitting the north side of the wharf, the less popular side for bathing, but not totally ignored by the beach goers. I wandered the 150 yards down to the wharf sticking to the dry sand collecting another ten cent and two twenty cents in my travels. So after an hour and a half my finds included spending adding up to a $1.60, half a shackle, a wee button and an old style wooden peg like Mum used to use.

What I found where I did

I was getting a little hungry and intended to head home but something made me go and have a quick look on the south side of the wharf. I've gone over this part of the beach many times and rarely have I come away empty handed. But I suppose I was hoping for too much after combing the area on Friday but on I went. I'm glad I did. in just under another hour I had secured a small piece of jewelry which I suspect had broken off of an brooch, a key, a fish hook, and another $5.40 in spending.
The best find was a very small coin very encrusted and in poor condition. It was about 6 inches down.

New Zealand 3d coin (uncirculated)

 At first inspection I thought it was an old one cent coin but it did seem too small to be that. After getting home I ran the coin under cold water and some of the gunk fell away revealing a 1946 (I'm pretty positive on the date) threepenny piece. A very cool find which must have been sitting there for many a year. Who knows how many detectors have gone over the top of it without reading it or bothering to dig. It was hard to spot even down to the last grains of sand in my basket.

The key looks like it was freshly dropped and who knows what inconvenience the loss has caused.
The small round piece of jewelry has a solid white stone like setting which looks powdery but doesn't powder. A marble sort of substance.

If it was John Key I would have left him buried.

So home to a late breakfast just as a small but blustery squall swept over the area. My timing was good.
A few nice things plus $7 spending and it's only eleven in the morning.

See you out there.

A Pleasant Morning in the sun

From here t'wharf 'n'Back.

Up and at 'em early doors. Had breakfast at the beach before kicking off at about 8.30am.  The day had dawned fine and it was shirt off time and people were already swimming and diving off the wharf. I started down the beach a little more than normal and followed the dry sand to the wharf then walked back on the wet following the tide out.  I did this circuit twice covering the couple of hundred meters in about an hour and fifteen each sweep.

First trawl.

The first walk bought in 90 cents and also my first tent peg for a while. A square plastic lined lid for a small square container and a bic lighter part wrapped the first trawl.





The second wander finds consisted of a fish hook, lot's of fugly iron bolts, nails etc, a drill ratchet and a miniature Harmonica. A few more tent pegs and $1.10 spending.

Detector Art - 'Catching Sounds'.
Second Trawl.

The miniature harmonica, after cleaning the sand out could still make a tune, so I sat busking for a while. Which was going well until the local policeman dispersed the crowd.
It was time for lunch and while munching some very over priced hot chips I let my creative side burst forth and I held a 'Detector Art' exhibition.
It didn't draw the same crowds as the busking so I shut the gallery and headed on to the only park I have not yet searched in this neck of the woods.
The Omana Reserve Park park. It is a very attractive park and one can see it is well looked after. The views from the hill it sits on are very pleasant so I sat enjoying that view while I imbibed a very over priced bottle of Rochdale cider to wash down those gold plated chips.

A Nice Colourful Park

The View  towards Waiheke Island.

Omana Park park was quite a busy park with lot's of children enjoying the facilities. I waited a while and the couple of families that were in my way sauntered off to take advantage of the public BBQ and though the park had emptied somewhat, the smell of steaks sizzling away was quite distracting. The park was not a full of treasures as I expected but a few finds surfaced in the time I was there. A knife, stainless,  a few coins, and the usual nuts, nails and staples found in parks all over the world. 

Omana Park, Park  Liftings

It was nearly 1pm and time to call it a day and get back to Nellie, my best friend, at the moment, who will be wanting to take a walk herself.

Another incredible Days Haul

The day had flown and although not that much to show off once again the mere fact of being in such a beautiful place is ample compensation.

To sum up, $3.30 spending, a harmonica, 3 x tent pegs, a fish hook, a drill ratchet and a knife all recovered in four hours. Who needs a day job?

Good fun.

See you out there.

ANZAC Day & Back to Beachlands.

It is ANZAC day in New Zealand time to remember those that gave the ultimate sacrifice in the wars in far off lands. Lest we forget. A time to appreciate how lucky we all are to live in peaceful times. Well, peaceful on this side of the world at least.

Being a public holiday my Brother and his family have taken off on another camping sojourn and I have arrived in Beachlands to once again look after Nellie the dog and their considerable estate for the long weekend.

I headed off from home after lunch with a breezy but reasonably fine day presented to me. First stop was not a hunt. I sought permission to detect a piece of land that was once a race track now a paddock for cows. The finish line judges boxes and some other small buildings are still standing though, sadly, in disrepair. As luck would have it the owner was digging a hole and we had a long chat. The upshot was that I got a verbal okay for a few of us to check it out but will email him for official conformation.  It has not been used since 1976 but was in commission for twenty years before that. I have been trying to find a layout of the track, where spectators stood, parking, equalizator booths etc but so far with little luck. I will have to do more research. Maybe track down a few locals.

Chuffed with the permission I had achieved I carried on.

Te Pai a Very Small Park. 

The first detecting stop was a small park at the side of Ti Pai netball courts. It was only a 15 minute search and three bent nails and a screw driver shank were the only targets found. I think this park is fairly new so I didn't expect too much. So extremely happy with my rusty screwdriver shank. Fits a drill I think. Over the moon. Celebrated with a McDonalds breakfast. Nice at the time. Onward....

Entrance to the Bowl

Park With the Mostest.

Then it was all motorway till the next stop in Manukau 30 km's away. I chanced my arm by entering the Manukau Sports Bowl home of several sports. I was rewarded with a nice bark park which held a few finds and a lot of paper and plastic rubbish. My first target within a couple of steps was a $2 coin an inch down which was very promising. Then a few twenty's, a couple of washers, a ball bearing, a end of a blind rack, a very strange shaped piece that might have been part of some scales, a jean button and two sparkly eye finds. As well as a brooch centre or maybe an earring with the stud missing. I scored a total $4.20 in spending, thanks to all concerned.

Manukau Nick Nack's

Manukau finds & Trash

Silver? Tin! Diamond? Glass!

Next up I saw the Rongomai Sports Club and ventured into the grounds. Alas no park but a very white sandy softball diamond.

Home of the Manukau Nailer's

I had a quick scout and the ground was teeming with targets. The ground, even after a lot of rain, is still very hard a few inches down. After six nails in a row I whimped out and moved on.

Driving towards Whitford, I saw a playground that looked huge across a valley of very elite housing, it was eventually located behind the Mission Heights Junior College. I took a while longer to find the entrance and then after setting up the gear wandered into the park and was floored by a rubber floored playground. That was that.

Whitford, I Ain't Going Back

Whitford playground was the next and another dry area. Three bent nails. The weed mat was a huge problem with the staples applied far too liberally for my liking. After fifteen minutes I was out of there. 

I was thinking to give my favourite beach a quick swing but the clement weather had enticed quite a few to the beach and it was too packed for my liking. I did though have a quick look at the small park there and came up with 5 bottle tops and thirty cents.

That was enough and I finally arrived at my destination where Nellie was surprised and happy to see me. I was glad to be there.

It's been a long day but one other thing I did detect was a box of beers on special from the Mill.

Boy does that taste nice.

Give us a hand?

Still wondering what function this piece on the right 

served. Some sort of indicator?

The total spending reclaimed was $4.50 and combined with a mixture of simple but pleasing finds.

As you might have noticed I got a new camera too. 

See you out there.

Point Chevalier Beach

After a long night partying at our friend Heather's 51st we managed to struggle off to Point Chevalier beach for a late morning Sunday forage. It was overcast and very muggy with little wind and the beach was nearly deserted. Gareth and I went our own ways and after an hour I had found not one keeper in the wet sand area I concentrated on. Even trash was at a minimum. It looked like the beach had recently been detected.

Pt Chev Beach - West side

Pt Chev Beach - East side

Feeling somewhat despondent I headed back to see Gareth who too had very little in the way of finds. A motley old 10 cent piece was reward for his troubles. We spent another 30 odd minutes before deciding to hit the road home. On the way back to the car park I managed to find two coins, a fifty and a ten cent bit, both very crusty. Gareth adding another ten cents to his haul too. 

My Meagre finds at Pt. Chevalier

The day finished up with us going to Saxon Park in Westmere for a quick swing before heading home. And heading home we were, in quick time, when we found the park was a rubber mat park. No treasures to be hidden on that.  So a poor day in the field as regard to finds but we were due a quiet one and the mere fact of being out and about was good compensation. So two hours hunting and 80 cents between us. For once Gareth's lunch came out of his own pocket.

See you out there. 

Park Life

Pooks Road Park, Ranui, 

I hit two more parks today on a overcast, damp and humid day. First up was Pooks Road park which proved very rewarding with  $8.60 of spending, most just sitting in the deep bark and most in good nick. Nothing else other than tabs, bottle tops, nails and trash.
I was there for about an 50 minutes and it was good to get so many targets. On a recount it seems I found something nearly every 60 seconds I was there. None of which I had to dig more than a couple of inches and my powerful speaker magnet proved invaluable at saving time. The ten cent coins and rusty iron nails are hard to see in the brown bark but the magnet plucks them out straight away.

The Spending

Pooks Trove, Treasure & Trash

The next park up was the Robert Knox Memorial Park. A Park on a main road but quite remote. The pickings were few and far between and the weed mat was very close to the surface, the metal pins giving off too many signals. The equipment was mostly constructed of metal pipes which also made it difficult identify target signals.  I had done about half the park when the rain came and I decided to call it a day. The proceeds adding up to another $1.30 spending, a jean button, a small plastic heart and a crusty metal seal of some kind. On getting home and examining the seal a bit closer it seemed to have a pattern imprinted on it. After a good clean the seal turned into a ring. A very big ring. A thumb ring perhaps. Not precious, brass maybe, but a good find, Anyway a nice surprise to cap off another interesting adventure.

The Bob Knox Memorial take

From ugly duckling to cygnet ring

The parks always seem to produce a few dollars and the odd piece of jewelery but now the rain has come the ground will soften which will make for easier digging. The ground has been like rock for so long. We have a list of sites, some historical, to visit that will hopefully keep us busy over the winter months. There is also the storm ravaged beaches to keep an eye on so we have lot's to look forward to.

To sum up today's effort a total of $9.90 spending and a nice ring.

See you out there.

Sunday raid on the Peninsular

It's Sunday and this afternoon we decided to go to hunt a few parks on the 

Te Atatu Peninsula. According to my secret park list there were six barked parks that were suitable. I noted the addresses and worked out the route. 

At about 2 pm Gareth and I set off to the first venue, Lone Tree Park. 

It was in the middle of a flash load of houses and it looked promising. We spent about 40 minutes and I came away with $4.30 spending and an old 20 cent piece. Gareth also found old currency, a 5 cent coin, as well as $2.30 cash.

Next up was the main park just off the shopping centre, It was an overcast afternoon but the park was too full for us to venture forth, so we had a quick feed of filled rolls and moved on. 

The attractively named Durham Green is a cool small park on a big lawn like area. There are a few very old large trees that dominate one side of the common and when the ground softens up we will check the ground around them. They look like good shade trees used for many a year. The park though pleasant was not very abundant for me. A solitary 10 cents was my take over the 30 minutes we were there. Gareth did better with 60 cents and a large star pendant. Just a trinket but a nice find for him. 

The next two parks both lacked a bark playground, I think my secret list must have been sabotaged. So we ended up at Taipari Strand Park on the Henderson Creek. A lovely park and very quiet. 

My finds there included a brass button with a star stamped on it, my second American cent in a few days, a old 10 cent and $1.40 in spending. By far the best park of the day as far as varied finds go. We were there for an hour or so. 
Gareth pulled out 60 cents in spending too as well as four hair grips.


We still had another park to visit but decided to save it for another day. Our backs were aching and home we headed.

Produce from the Te Atatu Peninsula Raid.

I ended up with the few old decimals, a US cent, a brass button and $5.80 in spending. 
Sunday afternoon, always a good time for a sly swing.
Sorry about the picture quality, my new camera arrives next week which will improve picture quality. I hope.

See you out there.

In memory of Gus Nola.

On Friday morning I paused twice in my travels, both times to visit a park that I was passing. I enjoy doing random visits. The first, caught out of the side of my eye, was Gus Nola Park, just of off Summerland Drive in West Auckland. The land was once owned by Gus Nola, a prominent orchardist of the area and the name Summerland has originated from an export apple that was grown by Gus in his orchards. The early Croatian settlers played a big  part of the West Auckland history as they still do today. Babich vineyards also was in the area. Now the land is all one big housing development, moving slowly westward eating up the countryside completely, all except for several parks that have been opened by the council over the years for all the new residents and local detectorist's to enjoy.
It was another hot day and Gus Nola Park was an empty park. I spent about 30 minutes uncovering mainly nails or screws and nothing that stirred me. In eight coins I got 90 cents in spending and an old 1988 20 cent. The weed mat was well stapled down under the bark giving off lots of deep signals, so again I just scraped away the loose bark and left my trowel redundant. A nice park in a nice street.

The Virtruvian Man, a super Euro?

The second park, down Summerland Drive about a kilometer, was Ferngrove Park. Here I had a little more success. First up was what looks like a screw in surround to a car ignition or choke. Then a 1987 50 cents piece from the old currency, the first one I have found. I had forgotten how big they were. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand will still exchange the old silvers for spending, a good thing to know.  An Italian one euro coin was a surprise, dated 2002, the year of the first release of this coin. A nice design featuring Da Vinci's famous 'Virtruvian man". A cool find 10,000 miles away from it's home. But with a mintage of over a 100 million I bet they are spread far and wide.

I'm a little pink tea cup.

I then went for a cuppa, it was about 3 inches down and a little metal tea cup charm off of a bracelet. Again, nothing valuable but nice. It is enamalled pink and has a small row of sparkly decorations around the rim. Or maybe it could be a miniature of a chamber pot.

Next up the screw that is used to tighten up the brakes on a push bike surfaced as did a old mottled badge with a heart on it and a design in the centre that the rust has overwhelmed. 

That was me for they day.

The days inventory.

So an interesting hour and a half. Along with odds and ends from Ferngrove Park another $1.80 of spending was gathered too. $2.70 for the day.

See you out there.

Novelty Jewelers shop found under playground.

It's been a few days since I have been out, save a twenty minute, 40 cents hoard discovered in the Meadow Wood Community Centre playground. Totally not worth a write up on it's own.
Today was chilly in the morning but the blue skies promised another hot day.
Whilst heading for my Thursday bonding with my father which is an enjoyment I look forward to each week, (only said because he reads this) I stopped off at a couple of barked playgrounds on my way.
First up, I decided to revisit Moire Park, home of Massey Rugby Club. Regular readers will recall my mammoth haul of $20.50 last month from the very same park. Seeing as the rugby season has kicked off I thought that the park would have been well populated with relatives of the players and maybe replenished with lot's of goodies. Well I did a quick 15 minute wander around and that produced $2.20 and several nails. I think I will give it a few more months before my next visit.
Then I headed for Starling Park, home of Ranui-Swanson soccer club (a proper sport) for many years and now, I noticed, a base for Waitakere Bears softball too. I was amazed at the work going on there. They now have a huge club rooms and it looks like an artificial pitch is being laid. A large area was freshly scraped and ideal for a little detecting but it was surrounded with big fences and a construction area with 'keep out' signs, which was a shame. The whole complex was progress indeed from the little wooden shack and ankle deep mud I remember many years ago. It will be a great asset when it is finished. Though the soccer club will always be crap compared to the mighty Oratia United (my club).

Startling Starling Developments

I spotted some bleachers on the edge of all the digging but they had been moved and their original position was unclear. Bleachers are not that common in New Zealand so I'll keep an eye on them and have a look after the softball season.
I drove around to the playground in the top left of the picture of the plan of Starling Park, (see left).
After climbing a small bank I reached the site and got to work. Small denomination coins and small nails flowed out of the bark and every now and then a golden surfaced too. Then the jewelry started to kick in. First up a plastic but none the less bejewelled hair grip. Then one of the strangest bangles I have ever seen. Obviously designed by Salvador Dali's demented brother on acid. It has two weird small lateral bits madly entwined, both with holed squares at the end of each protrusion both sprouting out of a single twig. The clasp was welded on but had a very small Philips screw through another strange fixture. Made I think of copper and totally impractical for a bracelet. After further study I really have no idea other than the bangle angle to what it is. It fairly worn so I assume it had lay there for a while.  A few more coins, both gold and silver, then yet another paua inlaid crucifix. The colours the paua  can reflect make it popular with jewellers in the Pacific. It's the second crucifix I have found inlaid with Paua shell in the last few weeks. Very pretty.

Add caption -Because I can't !

Crosshair paua grip

I have now five crucifix shaped items and four heart shaped. Obviously the most two common designs for jewelry in the world. Another bleep and I extended my overseas coin collection with an American coin. A single American cent. Must check the exchange rates for the 'Most Worthless' coin contest, which is currently held by Gareth's Spanish one Euro.

Then after turning over what I thought was a button I found, in my opinion, the find of the day.
A nice locket.

Not made of any flash metal but very attractive. Twelve inlaid garnets, rubies or bits of red glass encircle an intricate design of a flower head. A small clasp holds it all together with the tiniest of hinges opposite. Cute.

The rubiest locket ever.

Locket alongside USA cent

Another few coins and my time was up. Off to the art club to get me  Dad, doctors, shopping, visit my sisters shop, Henderson Seafood's,(purveyors, I might add, of the freshest fish in Auckland) and then home to a few beers.
So maybe an hours detecting all told and not one hole dug either, just a bit of scraping away at the bark. Apart from the junk, which was surprisingly sparse, and the quasi jewelry, I managed to pull up $9.20 in spending plus of course the American Cent.

The days keepers. 

See you out there.

Two rings and a quarter

Bling for tots

With an hour to spare before I picked up my Dad from his art club I hit a little park on the corner of Rathgar Road & Swanson Road. A misty rain bordering on a shower made it refreshing work and I was glad of my waterproof Cobra Beach Magnet. For such a small park the rewards were much better than expected. I decided on a non digging adventure mainly because I left my trowel at home, doh! If a target was below the loose bark I left it for another day. There were a few targets I passed over which, me being a dig every signal guy, was not easy to do. A constant stream of ten cent pieces kept my interest and a bejewelled ring, though a cheap kids ring, made the heart jump. I feel I am getting closer to a real proper jewel encrusted ring. But I am not complaining about all the small buzzes I get uncovering items such as this.

Inside of coolest lid

Outside of cool lid

I found this strange item. A lid off of something that I'm sure in it's time it was very special.  It looks like a bent plastic cog on a metal rod on the inside with the metal rod bent at a right angle on the outside. No idea what so ever what it is. Suggestions welcomed. It has the number 12 on inscribed on the inside part. 

Pre Dad USA Clad

A beer opening ring for Jocks

I then uncovered another ring. And yes, as the silver emerged, I again had a heart flutter. But it was just a stainless ring with a macho bottle opening facility to be used in a man cave I expect.
One of my last finds was an American quarter. Issued in 1992. Amazing how so many foreign coins end up in parks in New Zealand. So a good hours work produced all the stuff shown below and the spending totalled $2.40. Very happy.
See you out there.

Underneath the bark lurks all manner of treasure

Show me the way to go home

My three beautiful girls and
their Mum (also beautiful )

Alas, my Beachlands house sitting and dog sitting duties are at an end with Ian, Rochelle and a tired Ben and Ella home late Monday night. They had a cool holiday as I did. I had to leave my Brothers place at 6am the next morning. Early enough to get to Auckland airport to see my middle daughter Amber, 28, off on her plane as she left for Mexico to start another OE. Sad for us but good to see her getting away to see more of the world. My other two daughters, Jenna & Melissa, will hook up with her in New York for couple of weeks, then Amber is off to Rep of Eire before hitting England. Good luck Amber.

So that's the family stuff out of the way. Leaving the airport into rush hour traffic is not fun, so when the traffic got ridiculously slow, I stopped at the first park I saw and had a look around while the roads cleared. On my way home I occasioned to hit four parks, two that I'm not familiar with down South and the last two closer to home, Nicholson Park and Parrs Park, both out West. I  managed to remove a lot of nails and the usual trash from all parks but amongst the rubbish I also found several items of interest and as a bonus came away with $9.80 in spending.

 

Found these on the way home

As well as some less photogenic finds I found a cheap earring, a hair clip, a second knuckle bone (3 to go for a set!), a part of a broken brooch, a very small allen or hex key, a little silver heart possibly from an earring, a ball bearing (possibly from the 1807 Maori musket war or from the centre of a 1990's yo yo), a washer, a few bolts and of course the missing link. So an interesting trip home and one way to beat the frustration of being stuck in traffic.

So to sum up over the whole time away I managed in all my forays to parks and beaches to pull in a grand total of $32.50 spending, a few foreign coins and a few nice pieces of jewellery, not valuable in a monetary sense, but valuable to me none the less. I carefully organised the finds for a group photo Below. 





The coins jostled with the jewellery as they organised themselves for a group photo.

On my return I enquired on Ritchie and Gareth's efforts while I was away. Gareth it turned out could not make it up for the planned gold panning adventure due to work commitments and as he struggles with electronic communication failed to let me know. Gareth is back to Waiheke Island for a few days so will be hunting out on the beaches there. I'll be checking all the foreshore around the Auckland harbour for any washed up bottles with updates on his treasure hunting progress.

Holly and Hoppy two chickens
with cat genes

Ritchie, sadly lacking a detector at the moment, had a couple of sick chickens to help convalesce and he was also busy spending time fencing his garden around his stately home to keep the pigs out. That was his reason not to come visit me. So life is good, even though the body aches and creaks after my extreme MD-ing in the horrid conditions of warm sunshine, balmy breezes and lots of inviting beaches.

See you out there.