How Our Outback Adventures Began…
Several years ago now, we became big fans of the TV show Aussie Gold Hunters, a Western Australian production that first caught our attention long before border closures and COVID-19. Who knew watching strangers dig around in the dirt could be so captivating?
I’d been busy planning — at least in my head — a road trip across the heart of Australia to Alice Springs. Calling it a road trip, though, was probably a stretch. The plan was to cut straight through the desert on little more than a dusty dirt track. Sure, we could’ve stuck to the bitumen, but that would’ve added hundreds of extra kilometres — and taken all the adventure out of it. It was going to be a rough-and-ready kind of journey.
Debbie, however, wasn’t quite sold. The idea of bush camping didn’t exactly thrill her; she prefers her wildlife safely contained within a David Attenborough documentary.
That all changed when I mentioned we’d be traveling through the goldfields and could try our hand at a bit of gold prospecting — just like on Aussie Gold Hunters!
Suddenly, Debbie was all in, and our adventure had a fun new twist. The thought of striking it rich clearly beat the prospect of sharing a tent with all manor of creepy crawlies.
Now, we had zero experience with prospecting and no detecting equipment, but we figured the Christmas holidays were the perfect time to practice. So, the day after Boxing Day, we packed our tent and whatever camping gear we could find, hopped in the car, and made a quick stop at Reeds (the local prospecting shop) to hire a metal detector. We were ready to become professional gold diggers — or at least look the part.
With everything set, we hit the road toward the goldfields. Our confidence was high; our knowledge was low. What could possibly go wrong?
More recently, we have both retired and are embarking on our version of the big lap.
Your follow our Outback Adventures from the very begining by clicking HERE, or you can catch up with our latest posts with the links above.
Or we might just see you out there!
