Home sweet home

With the rain arriving after a few months of drought the ground, has over the last three days, become less like reinforced concrete, more like softish clay which is far more suited to detecting the grassy areas, that until now, I have shunned. I had a wee dabble in January at the Huapai domain, where my two old decimal coins came at a cost of a big blister on my palm. I have delicate hands :) so I've been awaiting the rains ever since.
Rather than drive across town in search of a park I thought I would do run around the homestead where I live. I've read stories of good finds in detectorists own back yards and hoped I could add a few too.

Look under washing lines for
good clean pocket spills.

I live on 10 acres of farm land and the lawn outside the main house looked like a good starting point. I'm not sure exactly when the house was moved onto the property but I reckon about the 1960's is a good guess (I've since been told the 70's).
I cleverly started under the washing line where all manner of things could drop out of upside down clothes. Though it seemed everybody who had lived here had nails and bits of no.8 wire in their pockets. It wasn't a big area and I immediately had several signals. First up was a twisted bit of no.8 wire, second dig uncovered a bent nail. The third target was a 8mm socket. Still shiny as. Then another three pieces of wire at the same three inch depth as the rest. Just time enough to suss out a green 10 cent piece a mere inch under the turf before there was a rain shower and I decided it was a good time for a coffee.

Thirty minutes later I was back on the front lawn and down about five inches I uncovered a George VI halfpenny. Which I enjoyed.

k-k-k-king g-gg-g-g-geor-ge-
oh bollox, Eddie the 8th's brother.

As an aside....George the sixth was the King with the stammer and he died from coronary thrombosis in 1952, moving Lizzy II into the hot seat.  His brother was King Ed the VIII who, in 1936, abdicated the throne for the charms of  Mrs!! Wallis Simpson, thus handing his younger brother George the title of King.

But I digress....... the coin is in very good shape on the face but in appalling condition on the reverse. As yet I can't see the date but I'm half hopeful this will be revealed after a clean. A nice find for me.

A few more bits of wire, a square headed screw and then another addition to my tool box, a nail punch, were the rest of my returns before lunch.

After a tasty bacon and egg sandwich I continued on around the front lawn finding mostly nails and a few bottle tops. For once there was an interesting bottle top. Down a good four inches, this top was from 'Marie Brizard et Roger International' which is a French alcoholic beverage company founded in 1755. It is a subsidiary of Belvédère, and is based in Bordeaux, France.
So there, bottle tops can be of interest.
My friend, Dave, arrived and as the sun emerged we shared the detector as we wandered around the garden. The amount of stuff we pulled out in three hours was quite amazing. No more coins but Dave dug up an old linked chain, about four foot long and hand forged he reckoned. I got an old rounded ended nail file and a  Dave replied with a rusty old rat tail file. The rest of the afternoon consisted of nails, wire, bottle tops, unknown iron things big and small, two tent pegs, one with a piece of tent, some staples, a small reinforcing rod, washers and a buckle of some sort.
See total find photo below.

Treasures from my doorstep.

It was a long day but not far to walk home (about 15 metres) to a nice cold bourbon and as I supped I wondered what else lies beneath our farm.
So an interesting hunt. Overheads were minimal :) and lots of material dug up. Not as lucrative as the beach or the park but the excitement of each find was still there. My best find was the halfpenny (close up coming soon) but I appreciated many of the other finds. My landlady and good friend Sarah, stood totally perplexed as Dave and I spent ten minutes deciding whether one object was a simply designed nail file or a feeler gauge. To be truthful we still don't know. But as I found it, it's a nail file.
Cool day.
See you out there.

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.

Gareth finds tree old coins

A few quiet beers last night saw us discussing the merits of searching under old trees. Old trees that would have been used for shade over many years.  We figured that one big old tree all by itself would give no option to those seeking shade and more than likely be a home to many treasures, especially in well inhabited areas. Gareth remembered a lonely old oak tree that dominated it's surroundings in Riverhead Motor Park. The park being situated there for many years. Ritchie and myself are happy to let the ground soften up after some much needed rain that has yet to arrive. Not so Gareth, he slipped away on a solo run this evening. After getting permission he spent an hour with his ATPro around the oak with some success. His first target was 9 inches down and produced a 1949 New Zealand penny, he followed that amongst a lot of trash with a 1938 British penny and a 192? British halfpenny. The coins were in a bad state of repair, the halfpenny was the most  munted and the last figure from the date has yet to be verified ( So, I still have the oldest coin :) 1924).

The tree coins from under the ol' oak tree.

 Gareth also dug up a twisted spoon, probably plated, details yet to be determined.

Gareth's new trowel.



Gareth is off to Waiheke Island for a few days work and is hoping to cover the whole island before the weekend.

Hopefully he will keep us informed of his  progress.

See you out there.

Hunter, the treasue hunter.

Saturday was another steaming hot day, my Dad was enjoying his weekly chess matches with Uncle Mick, (a fifty year old ritual!) and my part in the preparations for my youngest daughter Melissa's 18th party started later in the day. That left me with four hours to kill and I went on a random, no particular goal, adventure. I drove till I saw a park then searched it. The lucky park was Virgo Park in Glen Eden. It caught my eye as drove past. A small park but I managed in 20 minutes to retrieve 50 cents all in 10 cent bits and a old favourite of mine, a cap bomb. Lot's of the usual nails and screws as well.

Part of Glen Eden's, star wars, 
nuclear deterrent arsenal.

I then had to visit Mitre10 in Glen Eden for a new nut to fit on my MD's arm rest which had shaken free and fallen apart. A metal nut which I frustratingly couldn't locate!!!

Having a sudden impulse, I headed for Titirangi Beach, which was not too far away. The spur was, whilst doing research on the PapersPast site last week, I had spied in the lost and found column of the Auckland Star, Issue 25, 29th January 1921, Page 1. This advert.

Lost : Gold wreath brooch set Rubies and Pearls, Peoples Park, Titirangi Beach. Keepsake. Reward. 92 Newton Road.

This reward was in the back of my mind as I drove beachwards, well one can dream can't one :) Even so I thought, where one item had been lost maybe more were begging to found. Titirangi Beach was a popular out of town resort in the earlier part of the 1900's, from what I've read, church and social gatherings there were common place. The tide was way out revealing sandy mud and bedrock further towards the sea. The heat had caused that muddy repugnant stench around the creek and further out on the beach which was very unappealing.

Titirangi playground, smelly beach in background.

I had been strolling around for several minutes when a young five year old boy, Hunter-Burrows made my company. It turned out he was a Hunter more than in name, he was also a seasoned treasure hunter and after a good chinwag we joined forces.
He was a bright lad and his enthusiasm and imagination reminded me of William Brown, Richmal Compton's fictitious schoolboy character who I still avidly read to this day.
If there was one thing I wanted it was to find something to make the little fellas day. But after two hours on the beach and in the big bark playground there was nothing, not even a 10 cent, to show for our efforts. I shortened the shaft and adjusted the headset and Hunter-Burrows did 10 minutes on his own but the weight of the detector was too much for him. His one and only signal after much excitement was disappointingly (for me) just a bottle top. His mother, Rebekah, a stunning young lady, sunbathing in a green bikini, made friends as well and I could see why her son was so bright and full of life. She had nurtured his sense of adventure and was as chatty as him. We persevered hunting for a while longer, a rusty metal clamp being the highlight. A metal clamp that was from a pirate treasure chest my little mate informed me.
After two hours we finally departed company as I was off to help with the party preparation and Hunter-Burrows left to relate his day to his friends next door.
I hope we meet again.
The heat had drained me and I was glad to get inside in the shade and get a cold drink into me while Dad reviewed his 2-1 chess loss to me.

So three hours searching for 50 cents but I had had a great day and Hunter-Burrows had expressed, with his wonderment at every find, the feeling I too get inside when uncovering my targets. I actually can imagine that that metal clamp was indeed part of a pirates hidden treasure. Just as my Uncle John would of in days of old.
See you out there.

Know your Goddesses from your Gods.

An unplanned, spur of the moment, solo run this afternoon, on the way to visit my Dad. Gareth shied off detecting as he had to get tyres for his babe magnet 'Samantha', a bright yellow sports car, which apparently really is a babe magnet. Must remember to paint the Rav.
So I set off towards my Dads not really intending to search at all. But after spotting a remote bark playground in Taupaki it took little contemplation to know I couldn't resist having a butchers. It was a lovely day, almost too hot, the New Zealand cricketers were taking England apart in Dunedin and I was enjoying listening to the radio commentary. Lunch was due to be taken and after listening to the last of the mornings overs in the car park I alighted the Rav4 and stepped on to the playground.
A young mother was pushing a happy chuckling little red cheeked man on the swing and after a wee chat with her, explaining my business, I began to swing myself. I think I impressed her with my first target 30 seconds in, a $1 coin which was the first of eleven coins I discovered in the small park. I always seem to strike early then fade away but this time it was a constant stream of good targets. Total spending found was $3.10 in the 40 minutes I was there.

In between coins I plucked a small bracelet. My myopic eyes, ever keen, saw a stamp saying stainless steel. Which I thought odd even though it was silver it didn't look too stainless. So I tucked it in my finds pocket. It was only when I returned to the car and put on my specs that I saw it was marked Siam Sterling .925. Which along with New Zealand's continuing cricketing heroics gave me a good buzz.

The whole blurred bracelet

The different links on the bracelet featured what I took to be some Hindu deity, Shiva came to my mind.
When arriving at my Fathers I got out the magnifying glass and studied it closer. I realised it was a nice find. I googled Siam Silver and found exactly the same design on necklaces, earrings, belt buckles and all manner of things big and small not just jewellery.


The bracelet is in fact Nielloware, a technique first used it is thought, in the 4th century in Egypt. 

Siam Silver Nekkala Goddess sans bodice

The term Niello refers to a method of decorating metal objects using engraving techniques. In this technique silver is rubbed into an indented pattern and then fired. When the object is polished, darkened areas remain for a decorative effect. This technique is often used in Siam Sterling Jewellery and it seems there is a whole collecting area of vintage jewelry referred to as Siam Sterling Nielloware.
This design displays Nekkala, the Goddess of Lightning from the Hindu
legend Ramayana, (nothing at all to do with Shiva, the Destroyer, who apparently is a male deity anyway). The term 'Siam' was used on these items from the early 1930's  well into  the 1980's so it is difficult to tell how old it is. No idea of value either.

So there you are. Lessons in Nielloware jewellery and Hindu deities. It is amazing where metal detecting can take one. One minute cruising around a park in Taupaki, the next investigating 1600 year old jewellery techniques from Egypt, then off to Thailand (Siam) then back to Dunedin to hear rain stopped play. It's quite a hectic life I lead :)


Above is the complete haul from the park including a iron ring with just one thread inside it, about 2kg's of nails, a few bolts, screws, a washer and a small rusty key.
A good days work.
See you out there.




 

Kaipara harbours gold and coins.

 

Shelley Beach in a heat haze. 

During the lads after work drinks the discussion inevitably found it's way to metal detecting. The fever kicked in or did it ever leave? Shelley Beach was mentioned and a quick check on the tides meant we could be there for low tide at 11.30pm. I cooked up a quick feed, sweet and sour prawns with a bit of spice to hopefully get the boys sweating. The meal disappointingly wasn't that hot but outside, even at our set off time of 8.30pm, it was still very warm.

It is a 40 km trip out to Shelley Beach and after a gas stop we arrived about an hour later.  A few camper vans were parked up for the night, a few pale faces peeking out to see the magnificent three don their headlights, tune their sticks and disappear seawards into the night. Otherwise the beach area was empty.



A reasonable sized bark playground was spotted at the southern end of the beach, you could hear it calling softly, "Don't forget me". We won't, seductive young park. 

Ritchies first ring and of course the silver

earring he found that day in the park.



Shelley beach is on the Kaipara Harbour, the biggest and muddiest harbour in the world. Though having white shelled sand at the top end of the beach it soon turns to mud the closer one gets to the low tide mark. As usual I headed for that very wet sand while Garfy patrolled the dry. Ritchie hit the barked playground first, conveniently placed on the reserve just for him and the yelling I heard soon after was Ritchie first ever ring. Picture soon. See above left.

I too had success with my first dig. A jewelled crucifix on a chain with another pendant that later was determined could be gold.

Cross my Heart you beauty



I'll let you know. 



I then dug up a succession of washers, brass bits of boats, bolts, and the fugly iron lumps that could be anything. The mud was everywhere and my thought to wear gumboots was a good one. I might have ruined a tee shirt and some shorts though. That mud stinks.

My next find worth keeping was my last. I hit the playground looking for my 'Go Home' coin and managed a single dollar, my solitary coin of the night.

I certainly hope my Cobra Beach Magnet is waterproof as I definitely gave it a good test out there.



A Token effort

Gareth it turned out had a cool find too. Well, two cool finds actually. Both the same. They were both shiny nickle tokens from Abberfield Industries. On further investigation I found the company provides 'Innovative solutions for revenue collecting equipment'. Based in NSW, Australia they have been in business for 47 years and they mint personalised tokens for companies for use in parking meters, vending machines and the like. There are three designs all different sizes for the full set of generic tokens. Outside of that there are a myriad of tokens the company has produced for others that look quite collectable. Cool huh. 

Getting in on the Jewellery act Garfy managed to release a stainless steel pendant with a snazzy design from it's sandy prison. About inch and 'arf and quite heavy. The design look's like a Sonny Bill Williams tattoo, so lucky for Gareth that he found it before the twelth hour otherwise it might have been beaten flat.

Once owned by Bruce Lee

Well done that man. 

 

Richard meanwhile was coining it. His loaned Garrett Ace150 was the coin devourer of the night. He ended up with $6.80 plus the ring and a few old decimals. A happy lad.





We wound up at just after 1am and after washing ourselves and equipment down with a handily placed water hose we wendled our way home. Ritchie hit the sack but Garfy and I sat with a coffee to muse over the evenings events with our sore bleary old eyes trying valiantly to find a hall mark on my pendant and doing so, faint numbers!! At 2.15 it was 'Rose gold' and at 2.30am it was  'Russian Gold'. Hmmmm.



This morning though the numbers we saw through wearied eyes, were looked at through a huge magnifying glass and are indeed just scratches that mean SFA and it is not my first gold. But a nice find none the less. And of course the sparkly bits of the crucifix might be diamonds :). Not.



So another great night time adventure and Ritchie's first ring. Yet to find what type, it was gold and covered in jewels but is it the real thing. We will have another look when he comes over after work. Gareth has already called in and wants an afternoon sortie to somewhere yet unknown.

See you out there.



Afternoon in Helensville

Garfy and I headed Helensville way and after a business meeting and a dodgy pie each we hit the park behind the library. We spent a couple of hours griding the park with some success. Gareth homed in to find two old decimal coins in his first two digs and I managed five coins in the first half hour. It seems this park has well established as some of the targets were a good 6 inches under the bark. There was a lot of scrap once more nails and screws making up the majority. I had the thought that perhaps the company that supplies the bark does not vet it's product for nails which is not that child friendly.

I plucked a $2 and a few more 10 cents before I found my find of the day. Right next to a plant that was obviously struggling with the drought I uncovered a foreign coin. At first I thought it was an Irish Euro as the dirt covered design looked like a harp. On cleaning it further I discovered it was a Malaysian $1 from 1990. No value but a cool find.

A ringgit. Which reminded me to call my mate.

A Harp not.





School was out and the children arrived to enjoy the equipment so we departed and went for a drive to the local museum. It was shut. Garthy then bought some more op shop tee shirts for work and picked up several really stylish ones. Lol.

We then checked out visually the Helensville Train Station. Been here since before trains and maybe worth a look at in the future.

We drove around Helensville and also checked out the showgrounds where the A & P show was held last weekend. The gate was padlocked so a mental note was made to ask for permission to detect the area maybe closer to winter. We then cruised around by the Helensville Rugby Club and across the fields spied another bark playground. Off we went and although it looked like it had just been rebarked there were signals galore. The finds except for one 20 cent were deep, well under the new bark and mostly four or five inches in to the old manky bark. I found 3 x old 5 cent pieces and two 20 cents spending. Lots of nails again. I also found a little charm of a bird in red enamel but just a cheap trinket. So after an hour we headed home. Tiring this MD-ing.

Days rewards were $3.70 for me plus a few old decimals and my ringgit. Gareth found 7 old decimal and $2.40 spending.

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.

Mission Bay Mission

Up early on Saturday morning and by 3.15 am three of us were city bound off to Mission Bay to have a look around at around low tide. We know that this beach gets detected regularly and rich pickings have been reported over the years but hopes were high for something special as we arrived at the beach. A small gang of young lads dressed like NBA basketball team were enjoying the remains of their RDT cache outside the main toilet block but soon sauntered off to another place unknown leaving us alone on the beach. The sea was like a mill pond and a bright moon gave assistance to our headlamps. We split up. I headed to the wet sand at the tides edge while Ritchie and Gareth patrolled the dry stuff.  Richard found a foreign coin straight away, a Thai Baht. I too immediately had success with three coins in the same hole. I like it when after recovering something another sweep over the hole gives you another target and even better yet another. I pulled $1.70 spending out. I did venture into the water up too my knees but without a proper scoop the couple of targets that were indicated went uncovered. Scoop is a must. So back on the sand I continued and after many bottle tops and disfigured lumps of iron I too moved up the beach a little. A coin hunters dream really. I had six hits in a row all legit spending but small denomination.



Mission Bay sunrise



The morning was arriving fast and the beach slowly sprang into life. A city council worker arrived to open the gates, more descended to clean the toilets and another lot to empty the bins, then another one to check the bins were already done. Early morning joggers and dog walkers started appearing out of the dusky light. The clubs had also emptied out and a few worse for wear clubbers staggered along the beach. One couple bought blankets and after wrestling for a while fell asleep. Another group of four ladies were interested in more than the metal detecting we were doing, one even writing her phone number in the sand for our future reference. Not sure of which one of us it was aimed at but looking at the ugly twats I was with it was probably aimed at me. Anyway after a bit of slurred banter the group thankfully wandered off no doubt to assail a poor coffee shop owner somewhere. After a wee break, literally, I went right to the top of the beach where I recovered my first tent peg for a few weeks, a pen from "Performance Roofing Systems' whose contact number shows it originated from Oakland, California and another few dollars spending. At around 8am we decided to call it a day. Backs were aching and tummies rumbling as we packed up and headed for a nice coffee ourselves leaving the now quite populated but much cleaner beach to the locals. The shagging couple, still mostly under the blankets, lay entwined like some Greek sculpture and were oblivious the constant ringing of the mobile that sat in the sand next to them. I fear someone could be in trouble there. Ritchie our cameraman forgot to take any pictures, (again!!) so the ample opportunities for him to make the coveted 'New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year award' final passed him by once more.

 


One baht, Richards Retirement fund.



Value  4.063  NZ cents.







I ended up with $7.20, Gareth only $3.90 and Ritchie reflex lens $6.80 plus the one baht coin from Thailand.

No other finds that really piqued any interest but another enjoyable jaunt.

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.

Four Park, One Hour Challenge.

Triangle Park....from a distance.

Yesterday was a scorcher and rather than hang listlessly around the homestead three of us set out for MD challenge. We knew of four bark parks, three close together and a fourth one in Riverhead which as an after thought we visited on the way home. We had only an hour in each park and the prize apart from obvious prestige was a dozen cold
beers which sat at home sitting in the fridge awaiting the victor. We set off in the Rav at about 11 am full of anticipation. I was with my Beach Cobra, Ritchie on only his second adventure, in which strangely both featured beer, had the Garrett Ace 150 and Garfy strode out proud with his ATPro.
First stop was Triangle Park.

Ritchie was the first to find and due to the lack of headphones his signal could be heard binging regularly. He quickly gathered a following of kids all keen to help him dig and no doubt he cultivated a few future detectorists. I did reasonably well after a slow start a few coins and a couple of small keys.  After the hour was up my total stood at $2.40, Ritchie and his band had managed $1.70 and Gareth had 20 cents.

Then we progressed to McClintock park. A very picturesque park which the photograph didn't really do justice to.  I didn't hold much hope for too much as it was along way of the beaten path and probably underused.

Garfy and me in McClintock Park

But it was a good hour spent. Gareth found three nails in a row, Ritchie commented all you need to do now find is the hammer!! Amazingly within a few minutes I had dug up a hammer head about three metres away. Which caused a few laughs. I also found a Japanese 100 yen coin which I later identified from 1980 the Showa era, only a 580 million mintage!!!!

Only 579,999,999 left to find.

Also my Cobra produced an old 20 cent and $2.10 spending.
Ritchie came in with a couple of old currency and $2.80. Gareth found a few more old 20 cents, only 40 cents of the new stuff and a old rusty cheap chain.

The next park was Gallony park a very small compact park and quite secluded.  We forgot to photo this one and we actually gave up after 30 minutes as we felt we had drained what little it had to offer. A couple of Ritchie's young followers had skateboarded across to watch how things went on. He managed only forty cents, I plucked a single 10 cent and Gareth won the round with 40 cents and an old currency twenty.

Our last stop was the park behind the Riverhead bowling club. Kids cricket on the adjacent field was in full swing and the heat was becoming really oppressive. I found zip. A broken one otherwise I found zip. Ritchie nailed it but managed a few small coins and Gareth plucked a ten cent. After a trip for much needed ice creams and cold drinks we set off for home. 

Approaching the last leg, Riverhead Park



So Ritchie and his Ace 150 won the day with his total of $5.10, I was second with $4.60 and Gareth uncovered $1.10.

We all felt worn out and luckily Ritchie decided to share his prize and we spent the rest of the afternoon analysing, dreaming and planning our next adventures with lashings and lashings of foaming beer.

See you out there.

Has anyone seen Herne Bay?

Gareth and I headed downtown to check out Herne Bay beach in the early morning. Not as early as we wanted though due to a flat battery in my car, we arrived at 7.30 am. I spent many a day on this beach in my youth and also worked in the area through the eighties. So I was a bit shocked when after following the path to the beach we found that we were on Home Bay beach and not Herne Bay! I had forgotten which was the right access way.
Home Bay is a smallish crescent shaped beach and we decided seeing as we were there we would give it a run over. 


Home Bay 1911.
(Acknowledgement 'Sir George Grey
Special Collections, Auckland Libraries)

 I headed to the wet sand and Gareth seemed busy up at the top of the beach in the dry sand. In my first three digs I found a $2 and a 50 cent piece and my hopes were high of a good haul. There, my finds of anything valuable stopped. Suddenly I was a pull tab and bottle top magnet. In the couple of hours or so that $2.50 was my lot. Gareth meanwhile was well in to double figures, his ATPro finally kicking in and producing lots of $2 and $1 coins. He was a happy man.

After having to drag Gareth away we were off to Herne Bay but once again we failed to locate the walkway to the beach.
We asked a local and he in his wisdom somehow sent us to Sentinel Bay. So Sentinel Bay it was.

Sentinel Bay - Ponsonby Auckland.

I found just 40 cents on the wet and Gareth once again found a few dollars in the dry. I went around the boat sheds and exposed bedrock at the city end of the beach but found nothing but trash. I took as much broken glass, whole bottles and plastic bags as I could to the rubbish bin. How different from the clean Cheltenham Beach almost directly opposite on the other side of the harbour where we were at last week.
We had been on the go for nearly four hours so thought to grab a feed. Whilst munching down some not that tasty morsels we decided to forget the lost Herne Bay beach and hit the a couple of big playgrounds in Walker Park, Point Chevelier. It was very hot at the park with little cover. I managed just a few coins, including a 20 centime French coin, but Gareth once again was having a good day. He found a few dollars and a pocket spill of old currency of four coins in the same hole as well as a Singapore 20 cent coin and a cheap earring. I had had enough though Gareth was still keen. The heat was sapping a lot of our strength, mostly mine it seemed.
He talked me into a quick run over at the Walker Road beach just a hundred metres away. Lot's of trash but a few coins kept us interested and maybe a place to visit properly at a later date.
Around 1pm we headed home.
I had managed the grand total of $4.90 for the day. Gareth was unsure of his total as he bought his lunch, a coffee, a pair of shoes and a shirt from the local op shop out of his finds but still had $15 or so left.
So the ATPro has beaten my Beach Cobra twice now on a hunt. This time quite spectacularly. Maybe Gareth is getting to master the machine, we will see.
See you out there.