There is something special about heading out into the frosty Australian bush before the sun fully warms the air. On our latest family prospecting trip, we hit historic Hill End with ambient temperatures dropping down to a freezing -2°C. The ground was hard, the ice was thick, and the water was bone-chilling—the perfect backdrop to put our gear through its ultimate winter test.
Whether you are looking to find gold with high-end detectors or fine-tune your creek recovery setup, here is how our freezing day unfolded.
Detecting Historic Hill End: Minelab GPX 6000 Test
Our main objective for the morning was straightforward: sweep the historic diggings at Hill End and lock onto a solid gold nugget using the Minelab GPX 6000. Hill End is legendary for its rich gold rush history, but prospecting always comes with its fair share of surprises.
The GPX 6000 performed brilliantly ground-balancing across the heavily mineralized soil, but the local nuggets eluded us this time around. Instead, the detector picked up a fantastic piece of Australian history—an old pre-decimal coin buried deep in the frozen dirt. While it wasn't raw gold, pulling a vintage coin out of classic diggings is always a win that keeps the excitement high.
The Final Test: The Chrisundertaking Sluice
After warming up over a quiet Outback lunch in the bush, we geared up and headed down to the creek. This trip marked a major milestone: the final field test of the Chrisundertaking Sluice after nearly a full year of rigorous design, prototyping, and real-world testing across all weather conditions.
Joined by Nick from Picket Prospecting and my two boys, Lucca and Finn, we ran a direct head-to-head test using different color variations of the sluice:
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Blue body with red rails
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Black body with orange rails
Running multiple units side-by-side in icy water let us evaluate riffle exchange, material flow, and fine gold retention under demanding stream conditions.
Ice in the Pan & Final Clean-Out
While metal detecting didn't yield gold nuggets on this trip, the creek made up for it. After feeding gravel through the sluice runs, we gathered around for the clean-out and the ultimate family "pan-off."
Dropping paydirt into a pan with floating ice isn't for the faint of heart, but seeing the bright yellow specks settle across the bottom of the Garrett Super Sluice pan made every freezing second worth it. The sluice caught and held fine creek gold cleanly, proving that a year of continuous refining paid off.
Watch the Full Adventure on YouTube
Want to see the full adventure, the coin recovery, and the frozen sluice test in action? Check out the full video embedded below: Watch "Finding GOLD in FREEZING -2°C Ice!" on YouTube
Drop a comment on the video: Which color combination of the Chrisundertaking Sluice do you like best—the Blue & Red or the Black & Orange?
If you love gold prospecting, metal detecting, and family outdoor adventures, don't forget to Like the video and Subscribe to the channel for the next trip!
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