"I've already made my Will out Sadie with all my worldly wealth going a dozen ways. Relatives and worthy organisations like my cousin David's. David Littleproud is the leader of the Federal National Party at only 46 years old. He's a legend! Horrie set up his gear again to get down that deep shaft. When safely down he radioed saying he was down ok and said it was dry and there were two tunnels coming off the main bottom chamber that was full of animal skeletons, old tools and insects everywhere with poisonous Red Back Spiders all over. Scanning with his metal detector Horrie headed down one tunnel that was sloping downwards with a gentle gradient. Soon the two way radio signal started cutting out and Horrie pressed on. An hour later Horrie made radio contact again saying he'd found several little nuggets of gold and a buried tin box with a surprise in it. Back up top again, Horrie showed the little nuggets he'd found worth about a thousand dollars he guessed. He then handed the tin box to Rabbit telling him to "Have a gander at this Rabbit." Rabbit nearly dropped the tin box as it was extremely heavy. Prying open the old tin box revealed a trove of golden nuggets. "My guess is that it's over a hundred thousand dollars worth at least" said Horrie. An old hidden stash hidden by a miner from say 150 years ago by the faded words on the old tin cake box. He must have died elsewhere leaving his gold stash buried and hidden until today. "Equal shares of course for us three" said Horace Littleproud grinning from ear to ear.
Just before the turn of the 20th Century, 17-year-old Harold Lasseter set out on foot from Alice Springs to the WA goldfields to make his fortune. And somewhere along the way he claims to have done so. Only problem was he couldn’t remember where he left it. Since then, many have wandered into the desert with visions of uncovering its vast riches. Lasseter himself died some 30 years later on just such a journey, in 1931. Many have wasted countless hours, their own fortunes and their sanity on the basis of a kid’s tale. Maybe we have found his hidden gold? There is no way to tell for sure. But, anyway, we are rich! We have to get it back to civilization first, though. What is that haze I see off in the distance? OMG! It’s a dust storm! It’s coming fast. What can we do?
If only Lasseter had a GPS. A dust storm, Bugger! Cover your radiator grills and exhaust pipes and lets weather it out in our vehicles. Jump in mine if you wish til it blows over. That find in the tin was good luck, good tech and the reluctance of fosikers to go down such a deep shaft. A $100k is still not a lot though. My 4wd vehicle alone cost that. I didn't mention before that there were several snakes down there too living off the many insects like giant Cockroaches and scorpions. My spade took care of those nasties. I still want to check out the other tunnel down that deep shaft. This is still not the place I'd like to check out, that's another day's drive away through very rough terrain. Tomorrow will take us there if that's ok. Sadie, I'd like your Geology skills to suss out that very remote region. How did you two go today metal detecting the old tailings?
Not much to report on, Horrie. How about if you and I check out that other tunnel and let Rabbit keep watch topside? I'll put on my head to toe snake and spider proof coveralls. The dust storm will keep us from moving on for a while anyway.
Horrie you have made my day. For once in my life I can say I'm one helluva rich bugger. My fossicking days are over as I plan to buy me a little place in Murwillumbah with my share and a few bucks I have under my mattress and retire. Doubt that stash is Lasseters missus as the legend states "Lasseter's Lost Reef" that is a reef of gold as yet undug. Reckon Horrie has it dinkum. This is the stashed findings of a miner. I bet had Horrie looked further he'd have found a skeleton belonging to the finder.
The dust storms don't last too long up here. It'd the 'Bulldust' they tend to pick up which is as fine as talcum powder. Drive through it and you'll need to clean or replace your air filter. The real nasty weather is from the Cyclones, Cockeye bobs (mini twisters) and Willywillies which aren't too bad. (I'm not being crude, these are the real names in Western Australia!) Sadie, make sure you wear thick leather boots to go down the deep shaft given the Snakes and Scorpions down there. I might bring a few cans of insect killer spray for the Redback spiders which are also a bit poisonous. I do carry anti venom in my first aid kit just in case.
Just as well it aint like this monster Horrie. I was hit by something like this a while back in central Qld and it did last a long time. I came out looking like a flamin' Egyptian mummie after it.
Lets move our trucks away from that dust storm first. Hey missus ask Horrie to join you. Safety in numbers. Remember to look for a skeleton belonging to the bloke that hid the gold tin. There may be more treasures hidden down there too.
The dust storms don't last too long up here. It'd the 'Bulldust' they tend to pick up which is as fine as talcum powder. Drive through it and you'll need to clean or replace your air filter. The real nasty weather is from the Cyclones, Cockeye bobs (mini twisters) and Willywillies which aren't too bad. (I'm not being crude, these are the real names in Western Australia!) Sadie, make sure you wear thick leather boots to go down the deep shaft given the Snakes and Scorpions down there. I might bring a few cans of insect killer spray fo the Redback spiders which are also a bit poisonous. I do carry anti venom in my first aid kit just in case.
There's shelter in the lee of that breakaway hill just 500m north from here. That would do as we don't have much time. The dust storm is coming up fast from the east so we can shelter in our vehicles on the west side of the steep face of the hill til it blows over. At least it's not a cyclone. I've sat through dust storms before and a real danger is trying to drive through one. You're driving blind then, can't see a thing.
We reached the safety of the hill and hunkered down to wait for the dust storm to pass. After it passed, we got out of our vehicles and brushed away all the dust that we could. The rest of it blew off as we drove back to the mine. I donned my head to toe snake and spider proof coveralls, my thick leather boots and sprayed all over with insect killer/repellent . Horrie set up a rope ladder and we descended to the bottom of the shaft. We turned right into the unexplored tunnel. It looked to be dry and safe to follow. I saw the scorpions and cockroaches that Horrie talked about. We also spotted this weird looking creature. It lives in total darkness so it may not have seen us. At least, it showed no signs of seeing us. None of the creatures attacked us so our insect killer/repellent must work. As we went further down the tunnel, my machines started clicking. I saw a rock that looked like it might contain lithium and picked it up. Then I heard an ominous creaking, groaning sound from farther down the tunnel. And saw some dust in the air. ‘Run!” shouted Horrie. “It’s a cave in!”