Treasure Island.



Gareth has returned from Waiheke Island and his ATPro indeed uncovered treasure. In two evenings detecting, he dug up two rings, a bracelet, about $50 cash plus a 1 cent Spanish euro coin. A successful trip for the lad.

Gareth's Luxurious Lodgings, Overlooking Palm Beach

He detected just one beach, Palm Beach, which as an aside, is Waiheke Islands main naturalist beach. Gareth did not realise this and related how he found this information out. On his knees digging for gold he heard a ladies voice say "Have you found anything yet?". He looked up and right in front of him stood a rather rotund jovial faced lady completely naked. It scared the hell out of him. He said it wasn't the fact that she was naked that shocked him, it was the angle and level of his view. Never seen Garfy embarrassed before. 

His first find, a few inches down in the dry sand, was that Pandora bracelet he emailed about. Not.

I, with my knowledge of the teenage bracelet world, quickly saw that it was in fact a 'Charm It' bracelet. That and the fact some charms had 'Charm It' printed on the back :)

Hoped it was a Pandora. But hope
was still in Pandora's jar.

A quick google saw the expected 'Pandora value' drop from $600 to about $40 'Charm It value', but hey, still a nice find. After studying the charms, we decided it was a birthday gift to a young ballerina who liked watermelon and munched loads of cup cakes.              Note : For any potential Charm It designers, there is a contest on their website to design a your own charm.

Gareth continued his good run in regard to pulling in the spending, with both evenings being rich pickings for him. Although he doesn't know exactly how much as he spends it as he goes but $50 + was mentioned. Whereas I know I have found exactly $91 this year, to the cent.
His two rings were both found on his second evening again in the dry sand on Palm Beach. The first a lovely polished silver coloured ring featuring a lizard. Possibly a gecko, no hallmark but a delightful piece. The other ring, fairly worn, and made of a brass alloy, maybe, has a number of colourful stones, featuring a ruby, a sapphire, an emerald and a diamond, all wannabes but attractive none the less.

Gareth's First Two Rings of 2013

Nicer sort of Rings From the Nudist Beach

An interesting competition among us is who can find the most worthless coin. Richie with his one Baht was ahead, it being worth 4.103 New Zealand cents. But we now have a new leader. Gareth's one cent Spanish Euro is worth 1.584 NZ cents.

The most worthless coin yet.

See you out there. 

A Tale of Two Parks

It's been a few days since I ventured out and today, after completing my errands, I decided to have a quick search somewhere. It was raining for the first time in weeks, nay months, what better time to visit a park could there be. The light drizzle was so very refreshing for me and of course it kept away any visitors who might impinge on my solitude. After consulting the map of the area I was in, I noticed a couple of parks yet to be visited. The first was Moire Park, near Massey Rugby Club. It consisted of a main park and a separate swing park both barked. I'm still yet to replace my non metallic trowel, which I lost in the dark at Shelley Beach, so decided not to dig, just to sift. Luckily the bark was thick on the ground and there was a lack of obvious weed mat. Things started well a few minutes in, after a nail and large screw I chanced upon a pocket spill. Four coins and three being $2 coins!! That got my interest up and my quick search became a more organised one. I did the park in small grids and a regular supply of gold was uncovered. As per usual, it seems, a foreign coin was also unbarked, a Fiji 1994 two cent bit, I do like finding these overseas coins. 

Liz 2nd, Third Portrait, 1994.

Fiji Two Cents with Palm Fan

Within the hour I had $15.20, mostly $2 and $1 coins. I then moved on to the swing park across the way and with my successes there, I just manged to crack the $20 mark finishing up with $20.30, far the best return from a park this year.

I was on a small high and on consulting the map espied another park in Spargo Drive not 500 metres away.

So off I trundled.

What a difference.  

I found jack!!

I could say it produced jack as it did, a single jack, part of a set of five knuckle bones that most kids own at some stage. Even boys, well I had some anyway. So I'm soft! A notable first for me was a condom still in the packet, (thank goodness!!) expiry 01-2016. It was neatly buried under the slide, it seemed like it had been stashed. Maybe I should have left it there. I can imagine the anguish when it is found to be missing. And the consequences months ahead. Oh well, c'est la vie. I then found a small piston arm which I'll try and find something about. It looks familiar but the brain has yet to kick in to remember where I would have seen one.




Beach Cobra becomes Playground Cobra



Toy engine piston arm??? (3cm's)





  











As far as spending finds go, the 30 minute search produced a single ten cents. That bought  the total for the day to $20.40 spending and the Fiji 2 cents.

I'm happy with that.

Gareth (Garfy), meanwhile, has been hitting Palm beach, during the evening, on Waiheke Island where he is working. I've had a few emails from the lad and so far he has found a Pandora bracelet with 8 charms, two rings and a lots of coins. He also found? a spade. Replacing the one our pal Brendon left behind on our beer and detect evening. No pictures yet so all his finds are yet to be ratified :)

He's due back today.

See you out there.