Getting your priorities right

It all started back in the days when the Minelab SD2200 was tearing the place to pieces. I’d planned a trip to Golden Valley in the Pilbara and a mate of mine, Ray Attard, was returning home the day I headed out. I passed him on the highway, pulled up for a show and tell session and couldn’t believe my eyes when he produced a slab of gold the size of a domino. That just got my blood pumping and made me determined to find a nugget that was even bigger. When I finally arrived, even though it was my second trip to the area, I had no idea where to camp because it was such a big place, so I drove around for a bit until I came across an area that had been scraped. I thought to myself ‘someone must have found something here’ so I decided to set up camp.

I parked next to an old gum tree which would later be my anchor point for some shade and while I was sitting in the car, just looking around, I suddenly decided that setting up camp could wait because I just had to start swinging. ‘I’ll find a nugget and then set up camp,’ I said to myself.

Well, it only took about 10 minutes to get a signal just on the edge of a windrow and for whatever reason I immediately knew it was nugget. And sure enough, I was right to the tune of 1.5 grams. That find put me in the best mood ever and I headed straight back to the car and set up camp.