We haven’t been to the west coast since last year’s AGM, so our November trip will be to Sabbath Creek, near Corinna, camping at the abandoned town of Luina. The official trip will be on Saturday 19th November 2022.
Locations
Camping
UPDATED 11/11/2022: We are able to camp almost on site, at a large beekeeping bay on the east side of the Norfolk Road just south of Sabbath Creek. There is heaps of room and we will have a toilet. It is only ~300 m walk to the meeting point on Sabbath Creek, along a good track. We will have PMAT signs at the camping area turn-off, and on Saturday at the meeting place turn-off.
The official PMAT field trip will be a visit to Andrew Homan’s exploration licence on Sabbath Creek, approximately 15 minutes north of Corinna. Sabbath Creek is the site of one of the original Corinna gold rushes in the 1880s, and the site where T.B. Moore and the Meredith Brothers (George and Owen) had a claim. The creek has had claims and leases on-and-off over the years, and we’ve done two PMAT trips to it so far, with most people finding some gold in each one.
The EL is about 15 minutes north of Corinna on the Western Explorer road, just north of Mt Donaldson. There is limited parking at the start of an old 4WD track, and along the side of the main road. Car-pooling from Luina is recommended to minimise the number of cars on site. Andrew has been doing some work on site, so parking might be a bit easier than in the past. We will update closer to the date.
The gold at Sabbath creek is very flat but reasonable sized flakes, so it’s quite easy to detect as well as pan. Late November can still be quite cold water, and a lot of Sabbath Creek flows under rainforest, in the shade, so the water can be quite cold. A wetsuit or a pair of waders is recommended.
Feel free to ask any questions about the trip. See you there!
Sounds like a good trip. Are PMAT doing a trip for the Zeehan Gem show again this year I think it might be on the weekend before this trip though so I’m assuming not.
Unfortunatly i got a new roster and i will only be able to go monday tuesday. Is it possible to contact Andres and see if he will extent me and Dan to then. I know i am asking alot. I was looking forward to this.
It looks like we may be able to camp on site at Sabbath Creek. There is an apiary site that may not be being used for bees while we’re there, which would be walking distance to the workings.
We’re confirming that it’s definitely available. I’ll update the invite and here, if that’s the case.
The gravel pit is where the track to the junction of the Whyte and Rocky rivers starts. About half way between Savage River and Corrinna. Luina is about 45min to Sabbath Creek, hopefully we can camp at the apiary site, that would save a fair bit of traveling.
The track into the Whyte River gravel pit is pretty destroyed and not recommended.
@PatHogen we should be able to camp at Sabbath Creek, but I’m still trying to confirm with the beekeeper that there will be no bees on site that weekend. I’ll put up a new map if we confirm.
We’ve got final confirmation that we can camp on the opposite side of the road, just south of Sabbath Creek. I’ve updated the invitation at the top, and added a couple of maps.
