The Boys Keep Swinging....

Gareth, Ritchie and myself headed out this morning for a few hours to check out a couple of parks hidden away in Whenuapai. I was with my Cobra Beach Magnet , Gareth with his Garrett AT Pro and Ritchie with a loaned Garrett ACE 150. I suggested a fiver in for most spending finds but the lads did not rise to the challenge. The Beach Magnet took that as a compliment.
The first park was the Bill Moir Reserve. We spent about an hour there and uncovered mostly coins. I scored $2.50 spending, Gareth 60 cents and Ritchie 40 cents. The trash was minimal both metal and otherwise and it was a pleasant park with nice grounds.

Ritchie getting a head start on the lads

The Garrett Gang

We then moved a hundred yards down the same road and hit the Malcolm Hahn Memorial Reserve behind the Whenuapai Hall. A small park with several kids using the bike ramps there. The pickings were slim. The kids on the scooters and bikes started to give us a hard time but they did shut up for a minute when Gareth told them we were a bomb disposal unit, but they became quite verbally abusive. We all smiled when a mother suddenly appeared and hearing his tirade against us dragged her child home, who burst in to tears, that after giving him a good dressing down in front of his mates, . That shut the others up. We don't mind kids joining in and sharing our time and indeed encourage it. But that was not going to happen with this little gang. Their loss.
The weed mat was close to the surface and well pinned down which caused a few fruitless holes to be dug. I got 40 cents with three coins and a 6mm Alum key, Ritchie's take was 30 cents with Gareth chipping in also with 30 cents plus a few early decimals, a 10 and a 5 cent.

Leaving the second park with a dollar between us which will help pay for our counselling after all the abuse

We then headed to Christmas beach were the tide was favourable to wander out on to the mud flats. We had been here a few months ago at high tide. That time a local told us of a ship the sunk in a storm in the channel a long time ago. He had picked up copper nails and brass fittings in the past on this very beach.  Gareth was keen to find something from the wreck. But it didn't happen.

The serenity of Christmas Beach. Before headphoneless Ritchie arrived. Bing...bing...bing!

Ritchie and I stayed in the little park there and we both felt grateful to pick up a 20 cent each in what Ritchie described as the cleanest park in Auckland. Gareth just hunted on the beach. When we got down to the beach I had a problem as the iron sand on the beach was giving me all kinds of signals. So I put aside the Cobra Beach Magnet and I tried our first video shots. I enjoy watching other detectors videos and hopefully I will become as proficient as they are. But this first one is a little rough, sorry. As my friend Sarah would say "it is what it is".
Can anybody recommend a decent video editor?

Metal Detecting Adventures
Featuring Glen, Gareth and Ritchie, at Christmas Beach, Herald Island.

Doh, no Video. Lol. Watch this space....

Reassuring I'm not a geek but.......

Gareth pulling up a 1960 half penny with a hole drilled through the centre of it was the video highlight after several non events. As he said it was probably at one time on a chain around someones neck. In fairly good condition too. Apart from the middle bit.

Gareth's incomplete 1960 Half Penny

He then found a Lockwood key.
We had come ill equipped as really the beach needed sturdier digging implements other than our trowels. Below the surface sand and mud is quite a hard layer that was a struggle to get through. Gareth found another early decimal five cent and Ritchie a small button in a hole Gareth had given up on. But digging was taking toll on Gareth's withered arm and tummies were rumbling.
We lasted about another half an hour or so and decided it was time to return home.  Which we did via the pie shop then the bottle shop.

Totals for the day $3.10 for me, Gareth with a $1 and Ritchie rocked up with $0.90 . No other finds to stir the imagination, apart from Gareth's half penny and his Key, the 6mm alum key for the set I'm slowly building and Ritchie's small bland brass button.
Once again the CBM (Cobra Beach Magnet) ruled.

My return.

Gareths Early Decimals

See you out there.

Wet, weird and nuts.

The rain was lashing down and there was little sign of it relenting. Time for a detect I thought. It wasn't cold just very wet but the rain is my friend.
So just after lunch I headed back to Western Springs park, next to the zoo, where yesterdays dramatic events took place.

Lakeside Park almost ended up Inlake Park

 I had a good feeling about this place after yesterdays hasty nibble.

One of Auckland's secrets

I started with a few coins around the edges of the playground and then headed to check around a tree. I found a zip puller, then another, another.....a few nuts, screws, coins, a zip puller, then another....It just kept going. About three zip pullers to a nut or screw and in between the odd coin.  Obviously not a park Erica Jong would visit for her entertainment. There were a few outer lying zip pulls but the majority of zips were mainly spread over about three square metres and all spaced apart, not two together and obviously been lying there a while. It was weird. Maybe somebody dropped a zip pull sample bag or is it some poor child's zip pull collection.

Detector Art.

The Zip Pulls posing for group photo.

 There were many nuts bolts and washers spread around left, I assume, by the parks department. A little pink heart shaped pendant, a tent peg, a billabong button and a hair grip were the rest of the non numismatic finds.

Shiny things, a pendant and a button. And appropriately a iron question mark!

The spending I found added up to $6.10 and I also picked up four earlier decimal coins, two 20 cents, a ten and a five cent. Twenty coins in all, a fruitful park indeed.

Coinage from the Lakeside Park

I was soaked through and had been at it for a over couple of hours and the rain never once stopped. I wanted to beat the rush hour traffic home so I decided to call it a day.
Driving home I pondered how all the zip pullers had ended up under the bark and  I'm still pondering. Never had so many nuts and bolts either. So a strange day, a wet day but a very enjoyable day.

See you out there.

A Tee for Two

I've been studying a 1941 map of Auckland, kindly sent to me by fellow detectorist  J C Allen, looking for potential detecting sites. I found a few, a disused brickwork site with the remains still visible on Google earth, a couple of wharves that no longer exist and a few other interesting anomalies that need to be investigated. 

The North Western motorway has since been constructed cutting through the center of the map and changing a few land marks. It reminded me of what I knew, that the municipal golf course, Chamberlain Park, was partly dissected by the new motorway. It was a course I played many times during my youth. The clubhouse and first tee and from memory a practice putting area and maybe the eighteenth green were all stranded on the North side of the motorway. A new clubhouse, situated on the far side of the course, was built and the holes rearranged, totally changing the course.

The old club house, white building, 15 mm left of the red badge, top centre.

After a waiting for a day when we could visit it together Gareth and I were finally both free today. The previous weeks downpours would have softened the ground nicely and under a beautiful blue sky we set off late morning to check it out.

Ye Old Club House Under a Vivid Blue Winter Sky

The Old First tee shelter interior, home now to graffiti exponents 

The ground was soft and the old stone shelter was sadly in disrepair. The roof was collapsing and it was a blackboard for graffiti artists.I remember sitting in there, rain teeming down, waiting to tee off. That would have been 37 years ago.
Ahhh memories.

Well it was one of those days that didn't pan out as I expected. We arrived full of expectation and began to swing over the small area I had defined by research and personal knowledge. 

A happy Gareth on arrival at the first tee, unsuspecting of the fate that would befall him.

The targets were very few and Gareth with his better discrimination (AT Pro) only picked up a couple of promising signals. I usually dig everything, excepting bark in parks, so my first two signals produced a bit of twisted wire and a nail. I also dug down to concrete slabs in two different holes which maybe we thought pointed to an old pathway. I was beginning to think that the land had been scraped and refilled when the motorway was built. Lots of small scoria rocks and loose stones. None the less after three holes, the last, revealing an old squashed tin can I was still happy to dawdle on.

The old first hole fairway, a par 4, now a 4 lane motorway.

Not so Gareth who suddenly on his first hole was struck down by a rash on his forearm. It was so limiting for him he could not dig another inch. He stopped and put his stuff away and came to watch me. After a while, to get him involved again, I suggested that we visit a park close by that I have yet to search. No digging required and it's a popular park. He was still uncomfortable but I talked him into it.

We were there 2 minutes and Gareth's arm obviously was giving him a lot of pain. I saw a few scratches on it but otherwise it looked fine. He left to sit in the car. I was reluctant to stop as the day was amazingly beautiful and this park was proving loaded with signals but a minute later Gareth needed a Doctor and can we go now please. Grrr. I was just in a happy park mood. I had my home coin, a $1, so we actually could go home, but I had only traveled a few steps into the bark and uncovered the coin, a part of a brooch, a Zip puller, a watch clasp, my first four targets that did not require a dig. It promised so much. 

The Park I will visit Tomorrow, With or Without Ol' One Arm.

It was hard to leave but mates is mates and one dying of 'poison ivy ' or 'something that might have bit me' or 'the Velcro strap on the AT Pro' or 'scurvy' or ' arm flu' needs attention so I took him to a chemist. Where surprisingly he was not put down but emerged with a tube of savalon.

We arrived home, being gone only a couple of hours. Not a complete waste of a day just a tad disappointing that the old first golf tee did not show any great signs of being laden with treasure and with the overall brevity of our hunt. If anybody with better detectors and fitter mates go and have a look at the golf tee off area let me know how you got on. I think myself the area either has been previously detected or noting the composition of the soil, it is more likely been filled since the motorway came through. So a lot of research, well a little bit, high expectations and a bit of twisted iron to show. But hey tomorrow I'm free so I'll go back and finish the park and maybe spend the day in other parks in Mount Albert. Will Gareth come? It all depends on how the amputation goes.

A couple of minutes work. Before my audition for Shortland Street.

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. 

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.

Out with a buddy today.

My mate Darren arrived this afternoon with his ACE150, his camera and was keen for a hunt. The welcomed rain of the morning had dissipated and blue sky was slowly nudging out the clouds making for a hot muggy atmosphere. After taking pictures of the results of my last two adventures, I found I was still unable to upload them as Darren had forgotten the USB cord to download them!! Still they are being e-mailled to me tonight.

We set off at about 2.30pm and grabbed a nice coffee on the way then started our adventure at the southern end of Maraetai beach. It was new ground and it was heading for low tide opening up the beach. It was still very warm but strangely the beach was almost empty. We spotted a fellow detectorist working around the wharf and I wondered if he was picking up much that I had missed during my previous visits. Off we set, I trolled the wet and Darren stayed up in the dry. After an hour all we had was a single 20 cent to our names. Lot's of nails, tent pegs and other fugleys were in abundance though. So we headed towards the wharf again, the third time in 36 hours for me. The other guy had gone and I thought the area would be completely cleaned out now. But I was wrong, as once again it again proved much more fruitful than the rest of the beach had been. I immediately picked up a dollar coin and that was followed a bunch of twenty cents with a couple of 50 and 10 cents. Most coins were heavily encrusted signifying they had been laying around for a while even though I and others had done this area to death! The trash was negligible as I think I have removed most of it already this week.

Is the Maraetai wharf magnetic?

My other finds included a nice silver fishing lure, a 'Grim Reaper', with a three pointed hook still attached, a  lead sleeve for connecting electrical wires, another handy screw thingy from a boat and a disc that could be the base of a bullet of some kind or something quite completely different. It has the letters DEKS PAT APR printed on one side. (After googling those letters it seems the disc is from a plumbing and roofing supply company and is probably the head of a nail of some sort). Of course, tent pegs proliferated. 

Darren's ACE150 ran out of battery power and we decided to head home at about 5pm. Once home, Darren took a few more pictures of today's haul to be sent on to me later before he hit the road home.

My accumulation of spending for the day was $2.90 all but 20 cents from the wharf area. Tomorrow I think I will hit a different beach or a few parks and give the wharf area a well earned rest. Maybe Gareth and Dave will arrive to go gold panning.

See you out there.

Hark the Herald Island

After being enjoyably sidelined with my daughters heading off to America party, my wife moving house, extreme shopping with my sister and hanging out with my Dad I was hoping for a good weekends detecting. But on Saturday I awoke with the start of a severe two day attack of gout in my right foot. So even with a limp I was keen this afternoon to finally able to get out amongst it again.

Add caption

The chosen venue was Herald Island, a small island situated behind the Whenuapai airbase, which we only decided on once we were on the road. Even with no research on possible sites there, it seemed a nice random place to go to anyway. It is reached by a tarmac causeway and we arrived in the late afternoon, with the sun still blazing hot.

We started off having a sniff around the wharf at the far end of the Island. I have been fishing with the kids off of this wharf over the years, without too much success. I was hoping to have a better strike rate under the wharf than I had on top of it. We pottered around for half an hour but it really was heavily trashed. Gareth, my partner in crime today, managed to pluck a solitary10 cent piece but the tear tabs and bottle tops poliferated the area and it is the most rubbish infested place we have yet visited. I found a mini screwdriver (Yay, but seem to have thrown it with the trash, boo), but we both soon tired of scraping up rubbish and we moved on. It was fairly easy to climb down under the wharf but with my gout still a bit tender getting back up was not as elementry. It's a bugger getting old. Soon, after checking the cricket score (NZ well in control v England), we were off to find a park we knew must exist somewhere on the island. The next bay, with the name Christmas Beach provided just that, a medium sized park adjacent to the beach. Still pickings were slim. Gareth pulled out a $1.10 and I managed 60 cents. 

I slipped down on to the little piece of beach that the tide had yet to reclaim and apart from finding a small spanner and a small buckle, all the targets were hot rocks and bottle tops.  (UPDATE : The spanner is not just 'a small spanner', it is a purpose built spanner made to change rivet heads on a rivet tool. Thanks to Ritchie for identifying this special fact. :) 

The buckle is just a cheap buckle.

The nice clean sand on this festive named beach and the shallow bedrock tempts a further visit when the tides are in our favour. All finds on this beach were less than three inches.



Special spanner, buck all and spending.

So after a few days away from detecting we were happy to be back out. The lack of real success did not dampen our enthusiasm and a bit of local knowledge imparted by a resident as we were leaving gave us an indication of where to search next time. Two ships were apparently scuttled somewhere off of Christmas beach in times past and occasionally relics such as large copper nails and brass fuglies get washed ashore. So we have now definately added Xmas beach to an increasingly long list of future visits.

See you out there.

Proof our cricketers are rubbish.

Before ordering our fish supper, Ritchie and I on impulse, did a quick hour search of the cricket net area at Huapai Domain. First I must comment on the amount of surface rubbish spread right across the domain. It was disgusting. Whole areas were littered with empty drink bottles, plastic bags and food wrappers. Sad in this day we still have people who don't give a fuck about the environment, sadder still is that it was all left by the cricketing fraternity, outdoor type people who should know better. Huapai Cricket Club should address this as it reflects badly on their club. It is great to build new club rooms but who wants to look out the new windows on to a West Auckland Soweto.
Maybe the club and the council could get together and scatter a few more rubbish bins throughout the domain?
Rant over.
As for our detecting we found little, a tent peg, a plethora of nails. bottle tops and pull tabs. So we left there empty handed. But as our motto is we can't go home without at least one coin we did a quick run over the local playground.
Luckily for those waiting at home for their tea Ritchie pulled out a 10 cent and we were free to return home to feed them indoors.

See you out there.

Greenhithe a Cursory Search

A quick hour and a half trip to Greenhithe on Monday night, after work/pub by the three of us. Ritchie, Gareth and myself produced a few good finds. Being sober, I drove whilst the other two imbibed burbies. We did two parks, one by the local hall for about an hour and then the 30 minutes before nightfall was spent in and around the one by the tennis courts.
Interesting finds in the first park were a silver earring by Ritchie, I found a toy car (hotwheels). Gareth just found coins. One was a Peruvian 20 centimos. A cool find indeed, Dropped maybe by a Peruvian peasant whilst watering his donkey.


Greenhithe the 'Machu Picchu' of NZ



The second park was clean, not a coin between us, just a couple of iron targets. Ritchie hit the grass areas under the trees next to the sports ground where we all picked up healthy signals. Older decimal coins were found in every dig (3).  But with the ground like concrete digging was arduous, reinstatement was not easy and the light was fading away fast. Though the floodlights from the tennis courts assisted us we noted this venue as a future winter adventure.

Spending discovered for the evening between us was only $3.30, I weighed in with 30 blood draining cents while Gareth pulled out $1.80. Ritchie hitting $1.20 but with a nice silver earring. Home we trudged.

See you out there.

Olympic effort out west

We set out once again to trawl around the Ponsonby beaches but due to a late start and early morning appointments out west we decided to hit Olympic Park in New Lynn. Three parks, two in bark and one in sand made up the Olympic complex. We also had in mind to visit Blockhouse Bay beach. Midge Marsden performed there in 'Music in the Parks' to a large audience who we hoped suffered from dropsy. To help us with the expedition was Anton, a friend I met on the Spartacus set during my acting phase. It was Anton's first MD adventure and I hope the lack of spectacular finds did not dampen his enthusiasm.

Olympic Park New Lynn

Gareth won the day at the park with a few dollars spending with finds being quite scarce in the bark. I had trouble with the metal pins holding down the weed mat under the bark so I switched to the sand area and had a modicum of success with a succession of 10 cent coins. But Gareth had found the goldies and won the park test. Anton I think managed just the one coin. We moved on.

After a few navigational difficulties, we found ourselves at BHB beach. It was another hot day and the beach was well inhabited with visitors. I've always liked this beach, though the beach is an ugly beach it is surrounded with nice walkways and flowing manicured grass areas. A old stone shelter bought back memories of a teenage love affair and the boat club sits well at the end of the perimeter pathway.

Blurred BHB Beach

To spruce it all up it looked like the council had dumped fresh sand on the beach to cover up the unsightly littered black sand or mud that is usually there. We cleaned up at the beach, literally, as some of the rubbish from the concert was still visible. I found several small denomination coins and I also uncovered a cheap heart shaped pendant with only one sparkly stone out of many left. Probably fell off of a keyring I think. There is also a bark park at the beach but it was too well populated for us three to take it over. Why can't kids find other places to play other than barked parks?
Gareth and Anton failed to produce too much apart from various items made of  mostly iron and I think they had just a few coins between them. The grass area also gave us plenty of signals but with the ground being rock hard at the moment we will wait until the rains come and digging is more amenable to sort that one out. We are researching as we go. Many of our summer digs will be revisited in the winter when digging is easier. Summer is a lazy time for sand and bark.
Well an interesting and pleasant day with scant reward but it was good to catch up with Anton and one can never knock being out in the fresh air.
Anton took a few photo's and hopefully they will be published here soon.
See you out there.

To be franc I was only looking for the spade.

After a run in to the city (Kumeu) for supplies. e.g. Spare batteries, new gloves, a headlamp, a sieve, a new digging implement oh yeah and some food. I went to look to see if Gareth's spade was still in the park where it was left last night after four lads went out on a early evening beer and detect contest. Won by Richard with 5 tent pegs and the only spending find of the night a shiny $1 coin which he saw on top of the grass before he even heard the signal. Gareth was 2nd with a few old currency 20 cent pieces and an amazing collection of bottle tops. One of the tent pegs found was the mother of all tent pegs, which points to a huge marque in place at some time. So I'll go back and do a more sedate run later :)
Anyway I digress, Gareth's spade had long gone and I continued along the road looking for a place to turn when I spied a playground unknown to me. I thought to have a wee look.
Within two yards I found a 1924 French 1 franc coin in reasonable nick and just under the bark. My second target revealed a 10 cent piece , then a couple of nails but then the rain cometh and I wenteth home.
Though it looks like we are going back this afternoon as Gareth wants to check it out too.

Four years earlier these were made of silver.

So the coin I found is described below. Not at all valuable I imagine but has it's own story which is valuable in itself.

It is a one franc coin and is an aluminium-bronze coin minted under the authority of the Chamber of Commerce. They were minted from 1920-1928. During this time inflation over took Europe. Silver and gold coins were hoarded and the One Frank coin being made of silver up to 1920 disappeared. In order to do business the Chamber of Commerce had coinage made that had little value metal wise. This helped people do business until the government could get things going again. Regular coinage came back in 1931 but without any silver in it.

Gareth's here and we are off for a second run.

Back from the second run with an extra $1.30 spending, a Skytower plaque

Sky Tower VIP Badge

and an old 2 cent piece.

Lots of rusty nails, tabs and small  links from the chain on the swings. We didn't get to cover the whole playground as school ended and kids materialised from everywhere. Still a great way to spend an afternoon and it makes these beers taste a little more refreshing.
See you out there.

Sunrise With No Surprise

After checking the tides and realising that low tide was 5am-ish we decided on an early morning jaunt to Browns Bay. So arising at 4am and after a flash cup of coffee we headed out to the North Shore. Stopping only to get fresh AA batteries for my Beach Magnet and Garfy a rock hard pie.
The beach was already occupied by a couple of dog walkers and around 6am there were two well attended keep fit classes in action. A huge passenger liner all lights blazing slipped slowly across the near horizon. We donned our headlights and headed beachwards. I went straight to the water line and within seconds I dug a fishing lure all sparkly with hooks attached. The sun arose and pierced the raggity clouds with several laser like sunbeams, it was all quite spectacular. More so than the detecting. In the next three hours I rescued a key, a tent peg and a solitary 10 cent coin from
the clutches of the sand. Garfy did a little better managing to finance his late breakfast on the way home. Not many targets out by the low tide mark but I figure it was better than being asleep.
We also had a quick 30 minutes swinging on Waiake beach, the next beach along with the Tor sitting in the bay. Again very little luck. A lady said she had lost a gold chain with an opal pendant at the southern end of the beach. This ignited both our interest and our chivalery but alas we were unable to reunite the lady with her necklace.
Before nine we were heading home.
I'm staying in the city tonight so I might hit a park on the way home tomorrow.

500 Won in the Park

I felt I would give the beaches a miss for a day choosing instead to give the playground in Sunkist Bay Road an hour of my time. So on Sunday evening I grabbed my detector and my brothers dog, Nellie, and set off to uncover what lay beneath the bark. A big 'Dog's not allowed' sign thwarted my plans but only for a short time. I returned with Garfy on Monday morning leaving poor Nellie at home.



Copper nickle and only 90 million minted
Picture from net, mine very worn.

 We spent an hour and a half covering the park which luckily was empty and though the return was small we had some interesting finds between us. My first find of note was a 1991 500 Won, Korean coin. My first foreign coin of the year. It was a few inches below the surface and as brown as the bark it lay in.

We both then found $2 coins within seconds of each other. Then there was a long wait for anything worthwhile before Garfy found a Auckland Zoo pendant with an elephant and the zoo's logo impressed on the surface. Garfy said that there was a machine in the zoo that printed your animal of choice on the oval pendant for the cost of a few penny's. I can't recall seeing it but Garfy knows his zoo machines. There followed a flurry of nails and bottle tops before another couple of low denomination NZ coins surfaced and lastly an old five cent piece that was rather battered saw light. 



Garfy trying to reel me in

Gareth had spent time on this outing trying to learn more 

about his discrimination modes and is now able to have a fair idea of what his targets were.

I, of course, just dig everything ! :) 

The heat was starting to get very oppressive so we headed back home to the pool and a well deserved cold beer or two.

See you out there.





Last day on the Pohutukawa coast.



Maraetai Wharf

I was up early and off to the Maraetai wharf. I kind of feel a bond now with that section of the beach. It is a very pretty place to be and especially rewarding in the early hours. I left 6.45am. A kayak went sweeping past, a couple of dog walkers come joggers and a father passing on his fishing skills to a young fella on the wharf were the only signs of life. I arrived before 7am collecting a hot coffee and a bun from the bakery on my way.  It was right on full tide which cut down my options and search area. The trash from yesterdays huge crowd was not too bad but it would be nicer if all the people could take home their rubbish instead of walking away and leaving it on, under and around the sand.
Well, I spent 45 minutes swinging and for once even though I got good vibes when I arrived the pickings were slim. I dug every target as usual with bottle tops heading the list of finds by a long way with tent pegs in second place. I struggled to uncover only 30 cents with two battered coins. I know the tide was all wrong and I did wish to wade out a bit but my friend would not have appreciated me handing back a water logged Garrett ACE 150. The thing that gave me most joy was the young fella on the end of the wharf excitedly shouting out "I got one" and you could hear the pride in the father voice as he talked the fish in as his wee lad bought a medium size snapper on to the wharf. The first of many I expect.
I had to leave and pack my car to be in the city (I hate that word) by midday for an appointment. So I leave Beachlands after a nice break and of course my detecting fever has returned.

I have ordered a machine from the States but I'm sure they consider 'customer service' a foreign phrase.

Ignorant and unhelpful. I just hope I got the one bad salesman who really did seem like a lump of iron compared to a gold nugget. After blocking my money for two weeks they then informed me of no MasterCard facility and made me use Paypal. At the end of the day the extra fees charged and the exchange rate change fluctuation cost me an extra 70 odd dollars. I ordered in early December and still no word of the goods being packed and on their way. They seem to offer a good deal but the company must search long and hard to be able to employ such a drongo as the guy I initially dealt with. It's almost like he wanted to push you to beyond the edge of frustration before he acted. I'm actually dreading the possibility of having to deal with after sales service. Still I've made my bed now.



The Garrett Ace 150
my friend for the last week or so.

 So I think my stay here has produced about $25 cash and a few other interesting but not valuable items, I leave a happy man. The Garrett Ace 150 did what the manual said and I would recommend it as an entry level detector. I think with this machine you have to dig every signal as I found most coin finds were indicated as Iron or pull tabs. That's maybe why I still had success after the ATPro guys had done a half days sweep in the area. I'm looking forward to getting a machine with better discrimination modes though, I think headphones might help too.

I'm going to ask if I can keep a lend of the ACE150 till my new detector arrives

Till next time.

Beachlands / Maraetai. My metal detector outings of 2013..

Sunkist Bay - Beachlands

My first trip out with a loaned detector. It is a Garrett 150 and although at the lower end of detectors I must say I have  had some fun and found a few things which added interest to my outings. I've been up in Beachlands for a few days house sitting for my brother and managed to make six or seven trips to various beaches on this part of the coast. My first day on Sunkist Beach was fun but with little reward. One 20 cents coin,  hair grips, nails and loads of lengths of black plastic wire amongst the trash which I later saw was from the mesh used to bind in the rocks to the bank. I had my 9 year old niece, Ella, with me this first time (she actually found the coin) and it was a fun time. But I felt in me this beach was not going to be a goldmine. I returned the next evening and spent a fruitless but relaxing hour or so with no reward.

The next trip was a family outing to a small bay just before Magazine Bay. I had instant success finding a very large crucifix with a long chain. Not a hard find as it was not even completely buried, no digging required. Not valuable but exciting just the same. In the hour or so I spent I pulled up a single $2 coin and a very corroded 20 cent. Again lot's of trash. I was/am leaving the detector on all metal mode and digging every target. If anything it helps keep the beaches clean of rubbish.

I was anything but cross

 After a few days away I managed to spend about two hours in the early evening on Maraetai Beach by the wharf where I had seen lots of visitors over the day. I found a lot of trash but was rewarded with about $8.80, mostly 20 cents but with a couple of cold coins. I decided to come back in the morning to do the other side of the wharf so I got up up early and hit the road. It is only 5 minutes away and I set off at about 6.30 am to beat the expected weekend crowds. As I arrived at the wharf there were already two lads with detectors in exactly the place I wanted to finish off. I moved further up the beach and had a few 20 cents and then decided to go over the same ground I did the day before. Before I knew it I had $4.90 in the pocket and all in the same area I detected previously. I met the other two guys and they both had Garretts too. One an ATPro and his father a Garrett Euro I think. Both had had quite a bit of success with coins and the Pro had picked up a diamond/glass encrusted gold/plated crucifix. It was a nice thing. We chatted for a while and I was regaled with stories of finds that wet my lips. We parted and after another 30 minutes I headed home for breakfast. 

The next morning I did the same. I hit Maraetai at about 6.30 and was surprised that tents and volley ball nets were already being erected. There is a huge grass area there that gets absolutely packed. I did do a quick run over it with the ACE150 but every swing gave me a signal. Digging through Kykuya grass is not easy and it is hard to cover your tracks. I gave one target a go but it was hard going and after 10 mins I got a tear tab and I'm ashamed to say left a small mess that no doubt the grass will cover soon but I do like to leave things in a better condition than when I find them if possible. I decided that I would stick to the beach but I'm sure there is a lot to find on the grass there. If you have a sharp spade and a good detector I expect you'll pull up loads.



1958 Threepence

 

So back to the beach by the Wharf. Another $7.40 and a full set of tent pegs found in an hour or so. All in the same spot as previous finds. It seems like it replenishes itself everyday. I wandered under the wharf expecting nothing as the ATPro guys were there that day and I assumed they would have cleaned it up. But after three lumps of iron I pulled out a 1958 silver threepence piece down about 6-8 inches. I was a happy man. Not only because of the find but I was born in that same year 1958 which I found rather cool.

Next day, early evening I resisted the draw of Maraetai and instead did an exploration of Omana Bay. A lovely spot but I did feel it lacked a little energy when I arrived. I was there two hours and although I made friends with a few kids and their Mums I found three coins but $2.20 is better than nought.

Magazine Bay

 Next morning I visited Magazine bay which also has a wharf. Arrived at 5.45am, the sun just nudging the horizon and the regular soft lapping of the waves breaking a relaxing silence . The sea looked still like a mill pond and it was a wonderful place to be. They used to ship ammunition from the wharf on to barges to transport them to I'm not sure where. There are no signs of any factory which apparently was was once near where the toilet block stands. I found only 40c and the delicate remains of a shotgun shell, a few nails and three fish hooks but I enjoyed the whole experience. Again not much energy there but lots of rubbish as in plastic bags and discarded beer can/bottles which I think distorted that. I cleaned up what I could and looking back on a rubbish free bay seemed to rekindle a little spark in me. I will revisit this place when my new detector arrives from the States.

Before I had stopped at the wharf I had carried on along the coast road till I reached North road. There was a lovely little church there, attached I think, to a Marae and some of the headstones were lit up by coloured lights, it was all very surreal. There also was a bark playground in the vicinity which I felt a lot of energy from. But with no headphones and a few tents and houses nearby I thought the beeping might awaken someone who might not appreciate the early morning such as I. 

Back to Maraetai tonight after a few days off though it is a high tide early evening. We will see what we get.

Well I went there at 6.30 ish, it was still very warm and Maraetai was packed. I get a little self conscious detecting in crowds so I went for a refreshing swim, bought a parcel of hot chips and waited for the beach to clear. By nearly 7.45 it was obvious that the beach goers were hardcore and were not going anywhere in a hurry and I slipped away home via the bottle shop. I didn't mind, it was cool to see so much laughter and happiness in a world usually full of drama and worry. There was no fiscal cliff for the swimmers to ponder just the height of the splashes of the bombers jumping off the wharf. I used to lay a mean bomb at Point Erin pools off the top board 40 years ago and I did contemplate reliving my youth but the wonky knees and the tender back made me see sense. Still I'll be back in the morning at sparrows fart to check out Maraetai for the last time before heading back west.




One Day to go before heading westward to home and this is the coin haul with a small sample of the loads of other finds apart from coinage including four of 11 tent pegs.

See you out there.