My dog-sitting shenanigans has brought me to an amazing, wild, thriving property full of wildlife and endless adventure.
I feel very privileged to have access to this home.
20 acres of bushland property in rural Victoria. To live on and explore to my heart’s desires into the new year.
What made this experience even more amazing, Minelab just released their new flagship detector – the Manticore (I fangirled over it here) – so of course I got Miners Den to ship it to me.
My experiences with the Manticore has set in stone my love for metal detecting.
Being quite new to Metal Detecting and Fossicking, I haven’t had much dirt time. A new dog-sitting client offered a rare opportunity to explore a pocket of untouched property up amongst the Gold Rush towns of Northern Victoria, and of course I had to jump on it.
Cottles Bridge. A town settled by a Thomas Cottle back in the 1870s, brought life to the area from the early 1900s to 1960s. Now is a small community with wineries, farms, and people wishing to be away from the city.
The Dunmoochin Foundation just down the road, this whole area has a level of artistic beauty that has drawn many artists here. To live, breathe, and capture the environment with their art. One of my first days here, I was sitting in the sun with a cup of coffee in hand just looking out to the yard. Thousands of dragonflies call this part of bush their home and there was at least a hundred swarming the yard that day. Living in the suburbs of Melbourne for so long has made me miss this feeling of being in wild, open bushland.
I arrived on December the 5th, and two cheeky German Shepherds have kept me busy since. Ensuring that they’re both mentally and physically satisfied through the day is hard work; lots of affection, keeping their bellies full, dispensing many kisses. All so I can sneak away for the occasional wander and swing with my Manticore.
All metal detectorists end up with a collection of junk and coins once they get out swinging. The Minelab Manticore sniffed out many 1c, 2c, and 5c coins; some dating as far back to the 1960s. The Manticore has sniffed out so many coins since I started swinging it about. Enough that I am going to need a folio with coin sleeves to be able to keep track of them! I even managed to find some 1966 coins – which is the year decimal coins were first introduced. (Cited, National Museum of Australia)
The tally at the moment, as of 17th December.
It has been such an experience, I even started my own Youtube channel. I will continue to share my sassy enjoyment of metal detecting over at https://www.youtube.com/@waltzingdingo – mostly shorts for now. I am currently learning to use DaVinci Resolve for longer videos. The learning curve isn’t too large, and it’s a whole lot of fun to share my journey!
That’s it from me for now! I’ll be doing a summary and even an in depth review of Minelab’s Manticore when I get back home. In the meanwhile, check out my Youtube channel, have a peek at the other content I’ve produced for Artistic Frienemies.
