Metal Detecting Challenge Summary

After adding up all the figures for the past 30 days, it would seem I ended the Challenge $36.64 in front after subtracting living expenses. There are a few things I should note. Without revenue generated from my recovery service Metal Detector Hire I would not have survived. This added an extra $1300 to the total. In fact, without this I would have barely been able to cover rent alone. Secondly, except for the very first week I did not take the challenge as seriously as I could of. The first week I was just living bare minimum, not going out and living off food only in the pantry. I was also putting in lots of effort with 7-8 hour shifts. But in reality, I could not sustain living this way and quickly went back to my old habits by Week 2. Could I have cut my expenses? Definitely! Could I have worked longer hours, yes! I guess knowing in the back of my mind that I still have money coming in from my other business made me a little slack. In the course of the Challenge I have learned a lot, and feel I have become even more in tune with my metal detectors. Obviously spending 5 days a week for a month detecting will sharpen your skills. I also met some great people on this adventure, and overall I would consider it a positive experience. I would like to thank Tony from Jewllery Rescue for joining me on some of the hunts. Was good to have the company and feeling of safety in numbers at night. I would also like to thank my companion and best friend Wilson (my dog). He was with me for most of the Challenge, and his loyalty towards me is just truly amazing. He barely left my side for the entire month, keeping an eye on things while I had my head down. Also thanks to everyone who has contacted me with words of encouragement. It is very much appreciated. Things I would do different if I was to do another Challenge? Firstly I would do it in the middle of summer. The beaches are packed out meaning more depositors. I would also take the spending side of things more seriously. Meaning no going out on weekends for drinks/dinners etc. And lastly I would put more hours into each nights hunt. I may try a second Challenge in February 2010. I hope you all enjoyed my adventure.

Metal Detecting Challenge (Final Day)

Today was my last day of the Metal Detecting Challenge. I spent this time doing two searches. One at an old park with my friend Tony from Jewellery Rescue, and second search was helping some former students of Haberfield Primary School locate a Time Capsule they buried in 1974! The park search was reasonably non eventful, yielding $33.50 in modern currency in about 2 hours work. Both Tony and I we're feeling unmotivated and decided to call it a night. Then this morning I received a phone call from Melissa, who is a former student of Haberfield Primary school. Melissa and some former students have been searching for a Time Capsule they buried over 35 years ago! I mentioned I would be happy to come out and help. The problem with locating the buried Time Capsule was everything had changed at the school in that 35 years. New trees, new basketball court, even an entry road into the school had since disappeared! The students we're only 8 years old when they buried the Capsule, so they we're not exactly sure of the location. They recall inserting a Coke Can in the Capsule, which would be the only way I could find it with the metal detector. I began to scan the area they felt it might be, only to find out that the area was scattered with junk. Every swing of the detector would send off 3 or more signals. And to make matters worse there was a huge Electricity box near by which was interfering with both my detectors. While the former students tried to recall the burial position, I continued poking around the area...listening for deep targets. After more discussions we decided it was impossible to locate using a metal detector. Melissa is going to contact the ABC and go through the old video archives. Apparently where was video footage at the time the school originally buried the capsule. Hopefully this footage will help identify the area the capsule was buried. So total for the final day of the challenge, $33.50 Coins, and $50 search fee totalling $83.50.

Metal Detecting Challenge Week 4 (Night 4 Part 2)

Since my previous hunt for treasure was interrupted by rain and gangsters, I decided to head back to the markets and continue with Night 4 again. I went over some terrain I managed to cover first time round. I found some new drops, and also decided since the surface was mainly wood chips (easy to dig) I would dig most targets that sound decent. This definitely paid off. Now not to offend the ladies, but basically these markets sell junk. But for some odd reason, (my girlfriend included), women love these places. I managed to dig up 25 pieces of Jewellery/Trinkets?. Most of it rubbish, but there is some silver and gold amongst it all. Yes I finally found a gold ring to show you all! Finally! Although it is white gold, it is still GOLD none the less! I have added the photos of two rings I found, the silver jewellery and the currency. In total I found 5 grams of 9 CT White Gold (wedding ring) with Bullion Value of $71.70 AUD. 50 Grams of Silver! Bullion Value $28.03 AUD. And finally $31.30 in modern currency. Not a bad haul for the night. I will definitely keeping a look out for Market Days from now on. Total for Night 4 Part 2, $131.03. Only 1 day left of the Challenge :(

Metal Detector Challenge Week 4 (Night 4)

Hi all, sorry I have been slow with Night 4's update. I have been away for the last 3 days without my laptop. Anyway, enough of the excuses and on with the Challenge. Night 4 was an interesting night to say the least. I went to a park not far from where I live. Every Sunday they have a market day on, which is very popular. My plan was to hunt this park around 9pm, but the rain ruined this plan. I was looking out the window deciding if I should even bother going out tonight, and then the rain seemed to almost stop. So I grabbed Wilson and my Whites DFX Metal Detector and drove to the park. By the time I arrived it would have been around 10pm, and the area was still busy with near by restaurants/bars. Thankfully this park is kind of fenced off, so there is no reason for anyone to take a short cut walking though it (in other words no annoying drunks), and I figured the very light rain would keep the idiots indoors. About an hour into my hunt, something very strange happened. I heard someone yelling out to me. I looked up and saw a guy on the other side of the wire fence. He was yelling out "whats with the red light??" I wear a head lamp at night, which has a choice of a bright LED light, or the softer red light. I switch on the red light when recovering targets in hope of not attracting too much attention to myself. Well this had the opposite effect this night. I took my earphones off and walked toward the guy..and asked him whats up? At closer glance, this guy looked like a gangster...tattoos everywhere and a chunky ring on every finger. His eyes kept darting towards my Lesche digging tool, which basically looks like a massive Rambo knife. Not wanting to seem like a weak target, I said 'yeah what about the red light?' ...I looked across the road and saw another 4 guys hop out of the car. Anyway after explaining to the guy I use the red light to see in the dark (trying not to sound like a wise guy), he ran back over to the 4 other guys. I saw them looking over at me and Wilson. They jumped back in the car and did a few drive by's. I grabbed Wilson and put him in the car, and got the hell out of there. This is the only time I have ever felt uncomfortable while metal detecting. I have no idea what these guys wanted, or what they we're intending to do...but it wasn't worth sticking around to find out. Anyway, in my hour and a half of hunting, I did manage to do OK. I found $15.55 in coins, and $6.74 (12 Grams of 925 Silver)... total for the nights brief hunt $22.29. I intend on going back to that park for the final night of this challenge.

Metal Detector Challenge Week 4 (Night 3)

No residual recovery jobs left over for Day 3, so I had the night to hunt for coins. I was chatting to my friend Tony from Jewellery Rescue who wanted to try some new hunting grounds. I met him at a harbour side park close to the city. Apparently this is quite an old park, so there was a good chance of finding some old predecimal coins. But unfortunately old coins are not going to help me in this challenge, unless I dig up a gold sovereign or 1930 penny. (the chances of this are very slim)..so I was back to targeting $1 and $2 coins. The area turned out to be a good spot. I arrived at 11pm and clocked off at 3am, and managed to find $62.50 in modern currency. I also found a couple of foreign coins, and 2 silver threepence's. I could have kept hunting for longer, but was feeling pretty tired and had to keep hiding from a park ranger because I didn't have Wilson on a leash. Not sure what the fine is for having a dog off a lead, but I am sure it would have wiped out what I had found for the night. So total for Week 4. Night 3 is $62.50.

Metal Detector Challenge Week 4 (Day 2)

This morning I met Rick for a second attempt at finding his lost wedding ring in Sydney harbour. This time I did not have my dive partner Matt, so I was going under alone. Rick felt this time round he could get me closer to the GPS position where the ring was lost. After many twists and turns in the boat, Rick dropped the anchor in the spot he believed the ring to be. I geared up, prepared the Dive Flag and my ropes with lead weights on each end. I dived down to the anchor and secured the Dive Flag. It was then time to setup the ropes as an underwater guidance system. I felt this time round I did a lot better in terms of covering more area. I was more aware this time to never let go of the rope, as visibility is so poor that once you let go it could take 5 minutes of feeling around just to find it again. I felt I was making good progress, and got my first solid signal. My thoughts are that in the middle of the harbour, there cannot be too much rubbish. Not like that thrown off a wharf...so my first solid signal got me excited, I was praying it was Ricks Wedding ring. After plunging the pinpointing device into the muddy bottom, I finally track down the signal...it was an old Aluminium can. After an other hour of covering the murky bottom of the harbour, I had hit about 6 solid signals, all Aluminium cans :( I had been defeated yet again. What went wrong with this search?? Firstly, finding something as small as a ring that has fallen into 12/14 meters of murky water is always going to be a very slim chance of recovery. Relying on GPS co-ordinates are not entirely accurate. And last of all I am finding I am yet to successfully recover a ring or jewellery that has dropped into a soft mud bottom. I mentioned to Rick on the first day we unsuccessfully searched for the ring I would come back again for no charge. Yet if I am able to find the ring I am happy for him to reward me as much as he wants. But today I had failed, so I did not accept any money from Rick. My plan was to go beach hunting during the night to make up for today's failed search. Just as I was ready to go, it started hammering down with rain. So at Day 2 of Week 4, I am sitting at $0 :(

Metal Detector Challenge Week 4 (Day 1)

Ugh, first day of the last week of this Challenge, and I am off to an unproductive start. Being the stubborn person I am, I drove back up to Brisbane Waters to do a second search for Clayton's lost wedding ring from Week 2 of the challenge. This turned out to be a frustrating search. Firstly, the boat was moared in a stationary position. Clayton and his friend saw the exact spot the ring dropped, and the water was only 1.5/2meters deep. This time round I had Clayton move the boat so I could complete a better search. After another 5 hours plus in the water, still no wedding ring! I am totally baffled by this search. My theory is the heavy gold ring had sunk into the soft muddy bottom to a depth my metal detector cannot reach. I mentioned to Clayton that I did not want any money for the second search as he already over paid me the first time. But being the gentleman he is, Clayton bought me a case of cold beer which was needed after this unsuccessful search. So Day 1, $0 but lots of beer :)

Week 3 Summary

The highlight of Week 3 would definately be the recovery of the Brides lost ring in the Sydney Harbour. And realistically, without the $700 reward I would not have survived this week. My plan for week 3 was to budget more, but once again this did not work out so well. I had my girlfriend's father stay with us for 3 nights which meant going out a lot. I also had a friend's birthday party, and as we all know drinks can get expensive. I was really hoping to show you all some gold this week, as I usually pull out the occasional gold ring when hunting under water. But obviously I have not been able to pull this off. I think I am going to give up on searching under water for week 4. For the amount of time it takes me to prepare all the scuba gear, get tanks filled, carry gear to and from car..then get home and wash it all..its not worth the effort for this challenge (although a ton of fun).. I feel I am more productive hitting parks and beaches. I also had some other expenses this week which I have not added in, as they are not living expenses but business related. I had to buy a new Scuba Tank, Air Pressure Guage with Compass, and the Shark Shield. This was around $1300 in total.

So this weeks total revenue derived from metal detecting was $979.85. Total living expenses we're $621.75. So I am up $358.10 for the week, which wipes out last weeks loss of $119. Just one week to go till the end of the challenge! :)

Metal Detector Challenge Week 3 (Day 5)

I woke up early this morning to pickup my dive partner for a scuba job in Sydney Harbour. We had to meet Rick at 7am. Rick called a few days back requesting I help him find his wedding ring which he lost off the side of his boat. The boat was anchored in the Harbour, just across from the Opera House in about 12 meters depth (36') of water. Rick mentioned he saved the GPS co-ordinates of where the boat was positioned when the ring fell over board. As we know, GPS units are only really accurate 10-30 meters, but he believed he could get us reasonably close to where the ring dropped, and I told him I would be happy to help out. Rick was aware the chances of recovering his ring are very slim, but like most people, he wanted peace of mind that he did actually try something. So by 7am, we are in Ricks boat with all our gear, heading in the direction of the lost ring. Rick anchors the boat at the point he believes the ring to be, and we jump in the water and follow the anchor chain down to the bottom. After seeing how poor visibility is on my last harbour search, I decided to setup a rope and lead weight system which I call 'the clock'. This will allow us to search blind. This system worked a charm. I have added a little diagram for those of you who ever need to conduct a search in low/zero visibility. The unfortunate part of the day was we we're unable to find Ricks lost wedding ring even after covering close to 200 Square meters of sludge bottom. Rick mentioned his wedding ring was made by the creator of the rings from "Lord Of The Rings". Hopefully I will be heading back on Tuesday for a second search. Rick believes he can position the boat in an even closer position this time round. Fingers crossed! Challenge wise, Rick paid me $150 search fee, $50 of that I gave to Matt my diving partner. P.S, the shark shield must have worked, I did not get attacked :)

Metal Detector Challenge Week 3 (Day 4)

In another desperate attempt to make this Challenge a bit more exciting by finding a nice gold ring, or necklace to show you guys...I decided to do more underwater hunting today. Yet once again that precious metal we call gold has eluded me. I did manage to fan out $6.20 in coins, and a chunky metal females bracelet. The bracelet tested negative to silver, so I doubt it has any value even once cleaned up. Although my hours spend underwater ended unproductive monetarily, I did have some fun under there. I spotted my first Sea Horse, who was very curious but shy. I followed him for a few minutes before he hid in some seaweed. Another thing to note which I was not too fond of was an Octopus that popped out of a hole and grabbed hold of the metal detector coil with its tentacles. Everything is magnified underwater, so as you can imagine this scared the #$%^ out of me! I also spent the entire hunt with the shark shield turned on, which didn't seem to interfere with the metal detector this time round. Now all I need is an Octopus Shield and I will be a happy man :) Total for today, a pathetic $6.20.

Metal Detector Challenge Week 3 (Night 3)

Well after my pathetic attempt at underwater hunting whilst testing the Shark Shield, I decided I need to redeem myself that night to increase my revenue for day 3. I can't recall the exact amount I found underwater, but I know it was enough to cover a $7.15 Big Mac Meal, and I still had change left over, so lets round things off to $10. Later that night I went to a park which I found on google maps. I have not been to this park before, but Wilson (the dog) was bugging me for a walk, and I needed to boost today's revenue or I will be eating 2 minute noodles for the rest of the week. This park was very quiet, with me digging up $25.80 in currency, a 1943 Half Penny, and a junk ring of no value. So total for Day/Night 3 is $35.80.

Metal Detector Challenge - Week 3 (Day 3)

Well guys, I tried to do something different today besides the typical park/beach coin hunts. After metal detecting the murky waters of Sydney Harbour yesterday, and after being booked this weekend for another harbour recovery, which just happens to be close to the location a Navy Diver had his hand bitten off by a bull shark earlier on this year (read story here) ...I decided it was time to get myself a Shark Shield. Now I realise the chances of being attacked by a shark are very slim, in fact I probably have more chance of choking to death on a peanut. But it is creep-a-rama down in that dark murky water, and I want to have some piece of mind that a territorial bull shark is not sneaking up behind me. So I went to my local dive shop who I highly recommend, Frog Dive (best customer service, ever). Since the Shark Shield sends out electric pulses, we we're not 100% sure if the device would interfere with the Metal Detector. The nice guys over at Frog Dive gave me a Shark Shield to go try. No deposit, no nothing, just go out and test it, and bring it back later. So I geared up and went to my local beach 'Balmoral'. I hooked the Shark Shield to my ankle and entered the water. The shield is a little inconvenient. It has a 2 meter long antenna which trails from the device. If you manage to touch or get it tangled around your leg, it will give you a little electric jolt. I've been told it is a lot like licking a 9 Volt battery (I never tried that one)..Anyway, I hopped in the water, and turned on the Shark Shield. Unfortunately straight away I noticed a pulsing sound through the earphones of the detector. The Shark Shield does indeed interfere with my metal detector. Just as I was tuning the detector to see if I could block out the pulse from the Shark Shield, it ran out of battery power.....doh! Well I was already geared up and had half a tank of air, so decided to do some underwater treasure hunting. I was really hoping to find some nice gold rings before the end of the Challenge, but so far these have eluded me. Besides the ubiquitous bottle caps and rubbish, I managed to find around $7 in coins in my 45 minute dive, (and used them to buy McDonalds on the way home) I also found an old predecimal penny in pretty bad condition. So overall, not a very productive day monetarily. I did decide to buy the shark shield anyway. I am hoping with time my brain will discriminate the pulsing sounds and I can determine which is a real signal and what is just interference...although this could be wishful thinking. To give those of you who have never detected underwater before an idea what its like, I took my underwater digital camera (Canon Powershot D10)...and took some footage of me digging targets. Being male, I struggled to metal detect, hold my scoop, pinpointing device, film and breath at the same time. But you get the idea :)

Metal Detector Challenge Week 3 (Day 2)

Today's Challenge is a sad story with a happy ending. I received a phone call from a gentleman by the name of Fergus who found my website Metal Detector Hire. He had just been married the day before he called me. While the wedding photographer was taking photos of his Bride Simone, her 2 hour old wedding ring slipped off her finger and into the harbour. I can not even begin to imagine how she felt.

I really don't like diving in Sydney Harbour, the water is murky and there is LOTS of boat traffic (not to mention sharks). But how could I say no to helping Simone and Fergus considering these circumstances? The plan was to conduct the search yesterday, but due to poor weather I had to cancel. Although today was overcast, the wind had dropped so Fergus and I met up at Pier 4, Walsh Bay Sydney. As I was gearing up, a guy walked passed questioning what we we're doing. When Fergus mentioned I was looking for a wedding ring the guy laughed and said you will never find it in there, it is over 60ft deep! This was not great for my confidence, I was already dreading going under...but as always I was determined to find the ring. Once in the water, I began to release the air from my BCD, and slowly sunk to the bottom. It was an eary feeling, getting darker with each meter I descended. I finally hit the bottom at around 12 meters deep (around 36 feet?). The moment I hit the bottom the silt stirred up and made the murky water worse. I took a few moment to compose myself, let the silt settle and began the hunt. The ring had only been underwater for a few days, so I it could not have sunk very deep. So I ignored any signal that could not be detected by my pinpointing device, which has about a 3 inch detection range. First signal that was in pinpointing range was a shining 18 CT White Gold Ring. Wow, you have no idea how happy I was to have found the ring. Not only for the sake of returning the ring to Fergus and Simone, but because I really wanted to get out of the water and quick! When I finally surfaced with the Ring in my hand, Fergus could not believe it. I had only been under for about 10 minutes, so it turned out to be a speedy job. Fergus called his wife to tell her the great news, and she even had a quick chat to me. You can tell when people 'REALLY' appreciate what you have done for them, and Fergus and Simone we're incredibly thankful for what I did. In fact Fergus was so grateful he gave me an overly generous reward of $700. This really boosts things for week 3 of the challenge. I may even take tonight off :)

Metal Detector Challenge Night 1 (Week 3)

Once again my plan to do some underwater treasure hunting has been foiled, this time by bad weather conditions. I missed Sunday Nights hunt totally, but managed to hunt last night (Monday night) at a local park. I chose this park as it is walking distance from my house, and if it started raining again I could quickly escape. And there is another reason for selecting this small park, they host lots of market days so as you can imagine lots of currency is changing hands at this place. My mission for the night was to avoid all of the lower denomination coins, and purely dig for $1 and $2 coins (Goldies). I realise I am leaving a large amount of coins behind, but I feel my time is better spend digging a $2 coin rather than 20 x 10cent coins. Anyway, this proved to be a great strategy, totalling $87.45 before the batteries in my Metal Detector ran out. Some of you maybe wondering if I was only digging for $1 & $2 coins, how did I end up with 45c? Well there we're 2 x 20cent coins in the same hole which gave off a signal similar to a $2 coins. So I was kind of tricked by that one, and the 5c popped out while digging up a $2 coin. Surprisingly many of these coins we're just sitting on top of the grass. Its like people couldn't be bothered to pick them up. Oh well, makes this challenge easier for me :)

Metal Detetecting Challenge Week 2 Summary

Week 2 did not go exactly to plan, but it was still a great adventure. The weeks highlight would have to be the recovery of the World Series Baseball ring. Although total revenue for Week 2 was up on the first week, my budgeting did not go so well. I had a few events come up which I could not really avoid, and I find myself slowly going back to my old spending habbits. So after a tough week I still ended up almost $120 behind. This has wiped out all and more of the net revenue from Week 1.

Plans for week 3?? Get budgeting under control. I am also going to do my best to spend most of this week underwater treasure hunting with my Scuba Diving Equipment. This will eliminate the hassles I was having with catching low tides, and also give me access to hopefully more treasures. As always I will keep you all up to date.

Cheers
Brad

Metal Detector Challenge (Night 5) Week 2

Well I have finally made the halfway point of the Metal Detector Challenge. Due to family commitments I was unable to hunt last night, so I made up for it tonight (being Friday night) here in the land downunder. I usually avoid hunting Friday and Sat nights because there are more drunks out and about...but I am determined to keep this challenge on course. I had a good friend Tony join me for tonight's hunt, which is always nice to have some company. We decided to try a beach we call Piggy Bank beach in Sydney's eastern suburbs. The beach earned its name after a storm which washed in many many coins and rings, resulting in our best treasure hunt to date. Anyway the plan was to hunt the wet sand but once again this plan was foiled. The wind had literally blown in thousands of Blue Bottles (like jelly fish with long stingers)...and Wilson my poor little dog managed to get one tangled around his foot. I heard him crying even with my ear phones on, so decided it was best to get away from the wet sand before he tried to eat one. Wilson limped around for about an hour but he back to his normal self pretty fast. Anyway to conclude the nights hunt, I took home $32.20 in modern currency, and a beautiful 925 Sterling silver ring with a pretty rock embedded. In the past I have been valuing rings based on their scrap metal value, but this is such a nice ring that I know I could sell it for at least $20 on eBay. So I am going to bend my own rules and round off tonight's haul at $32.20 (coins) + $20 Silver Ring = $52.20

Metal Detector Challenge (Night 4) Week 2

This weeks mission of hunting gold rings at low tide has not gone exactly to plan. I checked the tide charts for tonight's treasure hunt, and was disappointed by a 4am low tide. The low tide times are out of whack with my hunting hours at the moment, so I decided to hunt dry sand at a different beach in Sydney's Northern Beaches. As you can see in the attached photos, I did manage to find 3 (UGLY) rings...and a Tiffany & Co 925 Sterling Silver Earring. Unfortunately I did not find the matching pair. Total coin count for tonight's hunt was $36.75 in modern currency. I also managed to find 10 Euro Cents and 2 British Pence. Two of the Rings are 925 Silver, and one is unknown. Looks like gold but the test was negative. Total Silver haul for the night was 23 grams, equaling $13.04 AUD in silver bullion value. So total value of the nights hunt = $49.79. Looks like next low tide is at 4:37am...so another park/dry sand hunt looks like the plan for tonight/this mornings hunt. Next week I am aiming to treasure hunt underwater using my scuba equipment so tide timing will be irrelevant.

Metal Detector Challenge (Day 3) Week 2

Day 3 of week 2, and I receive a phone call from Nathan. Nathan is a commercial diver who was helping a gentleman by the name of Paul search for a ring lost in about 7 meters deep of murky water. Nathan had no luck locating the ring doing a visual search, so asked if I would help him out with my Metal Detecting equipment. I was happy to help out, and drove out to the location which was about 50 minutes North of Sydney. Turns out the lost ring was a world series Toronto Blue Jays baseball ring. Paul is a Baseball coach and spends half the year in Australia, and the other half year in North America. So we gear up and jump in the water and begin the search. As usual, there are constant signals coming from the metal detector and it is up to me to decide which ones are worth investigating. After a few laps up and down the area where Paul believed the Ring fell in the water, I was investigating another signal with my Aqua Probe (vibrating pinpointing device)...as I was pushing the device deeper into the sandy surface, I noticed a small glint of gold. I reach into the sand and pull out one large chunky gold ring! I head back to the surface and ask Paul if this is the ring he lost? The smile on his face kind of answered that question for me. After the job was finished, we went to a local pub for some beers to celebrate when Nathan broke some news to me. He mentioned that the river we were diving in is known for bull sharks, and he has already had an encounter with one there before. Now I understand why he was drinking some beers before the dive to relax. Oh well, I am glad he told me after and not before the job, or I would have been a nervous wreck in the murky water. Nathan gave me $100 for helping him out with the job, and I did not get out hunting that night as I had already spent over 7 hours diving and drinking :)

Metal Detector Challenge (Night 2) Week 2

My apologies for getting behind on updates. Many things have kept me busy and away from my computer, but I am doing my best to catch up. Monday Night I went to a beach where I have already found 2 gold rings before. And week 2 being the week where I concentrate on finding gold, it only made sense to go back and search for more. But it wasn't until I arrived at this beach at high tide I realised I am just waisting my time. At the high tide line, there was absolutely nothing...so I decided to hunt the dry sand, killing some hours until the tide began to subside. While hunting the dry sand I pulled out $11.35 in currency. It was very slow going at this particular beach. The tide was still not as low as I would have liked it to be, but I decided to bust out the underwater metal detector and start searching anyway. After a couple of hours hunting, I was totally exhausted. I am beginning to realise there is no way I am fit enough to sustain 7 plus hours of solid water hunting. What is the difference between dry sand and water hunting you may ask?? Well first the Excal II Under Water Metal Detector is a heavy machine. Secondly, digging up targets from the wet sand is very laborious. My long handled scoop itself would way close to 10 kilos, and buy the time you add a scoop full of wet sand you can start to understand how much weight you are constantly moving. (Ok, I realise I just need to man up a little and stop making excuses!) Anyway after about 2 hours in the wet I was done. I did manage to find one junk ring, and a nice gold pendant. I am not sure what carrot gold the pendant is, but it weighed in at 2 grams. It tested positive with my gold tester kit, but unfortunately this does not indicate what gold percentage. I am going to be optimistic and guesstimate it is 14 CT gold. Using the bullion calculator, this would equal $42.91 worth of gold. So total for the night is $11.35 in coins, plus $42.91 in gold totalling $54.26 I reallise the gold calculations are not spot on, that pendant could be 9CT, or 18CT...but a ballpark figure is good enough for this Challenge. I doubt the ring would be worth anything so I have left this out of the equation.

Metal Detector Challenge (Day 1 - Week 2)

Well guys, there was a change in plan with the first day of week two. My strategy was to hunt the low tides for deep gold/silver rings, but circumstances changed this. I was emailed by a gentleman named Clayton who lost his wedding ring while cleaning his boat. The ring fell overboard in about 1.5/2 meters of water. He had a good idea where it fell so I packed my metal detector and scuba gear and drove to Brisbane Waters which is a good hour plus drive north of Sydney. What I thought should be a relatively easy job turned into a 6 hour search, without any success. I am really not sure what went wrong with this hunt. The surface was mud and seaweed, but I was still able to squash the seaweed down enough to get the coil close to the mud surface. I found many pieces of junk, but no gold wedding ring. Clayton and his family had to leave as it was a long day for his children. When the sun finally went down I gave up the search. When I got back to my gear I found that Clayton had left me $205, which was very generous of him considering I did not find the wedding ring. Somewhere between the walk from the boat to my car I managed to lose the $5, but hey...better than losing one of the $50's :) While I was still up north I decided to metal detect a beach in a suburb called Avoca. I was pretty worn out from the scuba diving, but figured I had about an hour or 2 left in me. The tide was high when I arrived, so I decided to hunt the dry sand. This area is obviously less hunted by other metal detectorist's than Sydney beaches, pulling in $33.25 worth of modern currency from less than 2 hours metal detecting. I would have loved to keep hunting this area, but I was physically exhausted so it was time to call it a night. As for expenses and budgeting over the weekend, I did not do so well. I spent $90 on dinner and drinks Friday night, plus another $20 for the taxi ride home. I will total all expenses at the end of the week.

Metal Detector Challenge Week 1 Summary

The essence of this Challenge (besides having fun) is to attempt to live on money only derived from Metal Detecting. I ended Week 1 $94.72 in the black which sounds great in theory. A few things to note... I started the Challenge with 3/4 a tank of fuel. I am now down to half a tank. A refill is normally around $60 which I did not need to worry about this week. Also, without the extra $100 I made recovering Marty's lost ring, I would be around $5 in the red. I have kept outgoings very simple, leaving these to just rent, food and petrol. I could be more realistic about this and include expenses such as Pay TV/Phone/Internet/Mortgages/Electricity etc etc, but this begins to complicate things. And I do not particularly want to air my financials publicly.
So what have I learnt from Week 1 of the challenge?? Firstly, it is physically exhausting. I make a living sitting in front of a computer. So this is a huge shock to me. Actually it was such a shock to my body that I ended up with a pretty bad flu. I really need to man up! Second thing I am struggling with is budgeting. My partner and I normally go out for dinner a couple of times a week. And I pretty much go out for lunch/beers every day. I am beginning to miss this already, and am tired of eating the boring food in my pantry. But that aside, I am really enjoying the Challenge, and looking forward to Week 2.
Week 2 is going to be different. I won't be hunting parks or sand, I will be using the Excalibur II(water detector) to search for deep gold and silver rings. I figure I just need to find 9 grams of 18K Gold to equal the amount of coins found during Week 1. Wish me luck :)

Metal Detector Challenge Day (Night) 5

Wow, first week complete.. and I am not too proud to admit, swinging a metal detector for 7 hours plus a day is no easy feat. It now feels like I have the back and neck of a 90 year old man! Last nights hunt turned out to be the most lucrative hunt so far. A good way to finish the week.. totalling $60.80 in coins. I was kept company this hunt by a friend of mine, Tony. Perhaps his company motivated me to the best haul of the week:) We started the night at a harbour side beach which is actually an off leash dog park. So for once, Wilson my dog was not breaking the law :P I kicked off the night searching the dry beach sand. I managed to find a few dollars, but nothing major. After that I spotted a children's playground with a sand surface, and decided to give that a try. I rarely have much luck in these playgrounds, and the first area yielded me a whopping 10 cents! I then moved to the second part of the playground where the swings are, and things started to get better. I must have pulled about 15 coins from this side of the playground, many of them $1 and $2 coins which helps boost the revenue count. After cleaning out the playground, I began hunting the picnic area. Both myself and Tony did quite well here, and our pockets were slowly beginning to bulge with the coinage. Next stop was another beach which I have already hunted twice this week. There was a picnic area at this beach I was yet to try, and this also turned out to be a good spot. So overall, not a bad end to the first week of the Challenge.

Metal Detector Challenge Day (Night) 4

Popped a few more cold and flu pills and I'm back in the car for Night 4 of the Challenge. I went back a beach I visited on Night 2...mainly because I had some luck in the last hour pulling coins out of the picnic area wood chips. I started off in the dry sand which proved to be interesting. Firstly, there have been very strong winds recently which has blown layers of sand from the beach. This is normally a good thing, allowing the metal detector to reach signals that would normally be sanded in. While hunting the sand, I came across a couple of 5 and 10 cent coins which we're just sitting on the surface. The wind had obviously exposed them. One would think this would turn out to be a lucrative hunt, but besides the exposed coins there was barely any other targets. I am wondering if most of the exposed coins had already been picked up by people at the beach?? Anyway, my first couple of hours in the dry sand yielded me a few dollars in currency, and my first ring of the Challenge (a 925 Sterling Silver Ring). The rest of the night I spend searching over the picnic area looking for coins I missed the first time round. Total for the night - $41.85, plus a Silver Ring.. I think I have proved to myself that unless I really luck out, I am never going to find much more that $50 in modern currency per night. Week 2 of the Challenge I will be changing tactic, and hunting the water line for gold rings :)

Metal Detector Challenge Day (Night) 3

As luck would have it, 3 days into the Challenge and I manage to get a flu. But after popping a few cold and flu tablets, Wilson and myself are back in the car eager for tonight's hunt. After having some luck in a picnic area on Night 2, I decided to head to a harbour side park which I know is very popular on weekends for picnics and BBQs. This turned out to be a horrible place to metal detect. I realise that when metal detecting parks you will get plenty of rubbish signals..but this place was something else. Without exaggerating, with each swing of the coil I was sometimes getting over 5 signals...and because they are so close together the metal detector was spluttering and working overtime to discriminate between rubbish and non rubbish. I continued searching this park for better spots, but after about 2 hours of hunting through junk, and about $1.70 in my pocket...I decided it was time to try somewhere else.


Still going along with the picnic area idea, I head to another beach about 5 minutes drive away. I walk straight to the wood chipped area and begin my search. Things are a little slow, and I am running low on energy. I decide to walk down to the sand and hunt the towel line. I hunt the dry sand until I am physically exhausted. I didn't quite make the full 7 hour shift tonight...but I will make it up once I shake off this flu. Tonight's haul is down on the previous two days, totalling $33.75 in modern currency. No expenses on Day 3, still eating what is left in the fridge.

Metal Detector Challenge Day 2 (Ring Find)

I was reading my emails when I arrived home at around 3am. I noticed a message in my inbox titled "Lost Ring". The email was from Marty who lost his mothers wedding ring at Manly Beach. I know Manly Beach is heavily hunted as it is a busy beach, and popular with tourists. I replied to Marty's email mentioning that he should call me as soon as possible. The sooner I get there the better chance of recovery. At 9am this morning I was dead asleep, and the phone rang. It was Marty wanting me to search for the lost ring. I splashed some water on my face to wake up, hopped in the car and drove down to Manly Beach. I met up with Marty and searched the volley ball area where he believed the ring could have dropped. About 10 minutes into the hunt I found Marty's gold wedding ring. He was a happy man, and rewarded me with $100. This is a great boost of revenue for the Challenge. Parking cost me $4, so I am $96 richer from this mornings ring hunt :)

Metal Detector Challenge Day (night) 2

Ok I will admit it, my body is taking a while to adjust to these night shifts. But I am hoping as the Challenge continues my sleeping patterns will be back to normal.

Ok, grabbed my dog and detectors and departed around 8:30pm. First stop is a sandy beach area near a Marina not far from where I live. I have never hunted this spot before, and decided to give it a try. The tide was low so once again I pulled out the Excal and began my hunt. I would be suprised if this place has ever been hunted before. Non stop signals, mostly rubbish, but the occasional old predecimal coin. After about an hour and a half of detecting the wet sand/shallow water, I was lucky to have a dollar in modern currency. Much like yesterday, I put the Excal back in the car and busted out the DFX. I started hunting the dry sand starting from the wall down. After about 2 hours of searching through the dry sand, I had accumulated what I estimate to be around $12. Not a great start considering I was almost 4 hours into the night. I decided to leave this spot and try a different beach just around the corner. This is a beach I have hunted once before, but only in the water. When I arrived, I noticed a huge kids playground with a sandy surface. I figured this would be a great place to increase my coin count. After a solid hour of detecting the playground, I was only about $3 richer. A little disappointing. I then moved down to a netted swimming area and hunted the sand. After about 40 minutes of this and not a single target, I gave up in frustration. Night 1, I had some luck hunting the picnic area, so decided to give it a try at this location. This turned out to be a good move! Because I only had a little over an hour left, I decided to only dig if I believed the signal to be a $1 or $2 coins. It felt like I was constantly pulling these gold coloured coins out of the ground! I was actually a little surprised when I returned home for the coin count. I totalled $53.05 for the night, and a handful of predecimal coins. I actually thought at the time I would have had close to $100 in coins...but not to worry, still a good night overall, and looking forward to night 3!

Metal Detector Challenge Day (night) 1

First night of the challenge and I am some what excited and optimistic. I packed the car with my dog Wilson, and my Metal Detecting equipment. I arrive at the beach around 9pm, and I basically have the entire place to myself :) The Whites DFX detector would be the work horse of the night, although I did start off with the Minelab Excalibur II. When I arrived at the local beach, I noticed it was low tide and decided to do some wet sand and shallow water hunting. For those of you who are not familiar with Metal Detecting, the Excal II is a water proof metal detector. Although debatable, most of the good treasures are found in the shallow water/wet sand at low tide. Wouldn't it be great to start the first day of the challenge finding a nice heavy gold ring :P I put on my head phones and head straight to the water line. Before I even get to my starting point I hear a nice clean signal. A quick dig with my long handled scoop reveals a nice shining $2 coin. I was thinking to myself this is a great start! Yet, over the next hour or so things would not be so great...I was digging up pull tab after pull tab, and the random 5c & 10c coins. So far, an hours plus work and not even $3! Time to change tactic.

I return the Excal back to the car for a rest, and grab the Whites DFX with a small 6 inch DD coil attached. It is time to work along the beach wall. This is where lots of people sit, so there are usually lots of coins dropped. The only problem being, the weather here in Sydney has been horrible for the past week or 2, raining and winter like temperatures. Anyway, I begin my hunt along the wall, trying to get as close as possible without the metal detector going crazy. Metal Detectors do not like the steel reinforcements in concrete walls, so the only way to detect effectively is with a small sized coil, and by turning the AC (sensitivity settings) right down. Working the wall proved to be more lucrative than the wet sand. I am not sure exactly much I found in coins, but my pocket was starting to get heavy. After a quick drink for both myself and Wilson, I decide to see how I go hunting the towel line in the dry sand. I try this for about an hour, and notice things are going very slow. Time to change tactics once again. I decide to leave the sand area, and give the picnic area a try. The surface of this area is mainly wood chips, dirt and some grass. The first thing I notice with the picnic area is non stop signals. There is rubbish everywhere...but thankfully between this rubbish is many many coins. Those of us who have been Metal Detecting for some time know which signals are good, and which are bad. Although I still sometimes get tricked by those pesky flattened bottle caps. I basically spent the rest of the night searching the picnic area. A quick check of my iPhone and it is already 3am! Wow time flies when you are having fun. I ended the night with 87 coins totalling $55.75.

Metal Detector Challenge Day 1 Expenses

Thankfully I have started this challenge with 3/4 tank of fuel, some food in the cupboard and 2 left over pizzas in the fridge. Today I did a small shop for groceries, just purchasing necessities at this stage such as a bunch of Bananas, some dry dog food for Wilson (he shouldn't have to suffer because of this challenge) 2 boxes of snack bars, and a litre of milk. Total cost for this was $12.93. I am hoping the Pizzas and residual food left in my cupboard/fridge should get me through until the end of the week.

So far I am still $42.82 in profit :)

Metal Detector Challenge Introduction & About Me

Hi all, my name is Brad. I am a 34 year old male living in Sydney Australia. I have been Metal Detecting for a little over a year now, and believe I have found a hobby for life.
Last week I had the honour of having lunch with a couple who quit their jobs and survive exclusively from what they find with their Metal Detectors. I thought this was absolutely amazing. The couple have been doing this for 8 years now, and work up to 7 days a week. We swapped lots of Metal Detecting stories, and I could tell by their enthusiasm that still to this day, they enjoy every second they are out Metal Detecting.
This gave me the inspiration to start the "30 Day Challenge". For the next 30 Days, I will attempt to live solely on what I find Metal Detecting. The plan is to detect 5 times a week for 7 hour shifts. I know this won't be easy, and the weather could easily ruin this. But I will do my best. Some of you may ask, how I have the time to do this?? Don't worry, I am not doing anything silly like quitting my job. I make a living from my Internet based business which is mostly automated. I have employees in Manila who do a great job running things. So for me to Metal Detect at night, and take care of emails during the day is not much of a problem.
As for living expenses, without publicising all my financials I will be attempting to cover rent, food and car. Rent alone is $420 per week, which I split 50/50 with my partner. So I need to find at least $210 a week just to cover rent! I hope you all enjoy my adventure..