Prospectors flock to WA’s Gold fields to hit it big

Prospectors have been flocking to Western Australia’s goldfields - ever since Australia’s biggest gold rush in Kalgoorlie more than 130 years ago.

Transcript

00:00It's peak gold prospecting season and the record high price has brought in a

00:06convoy of tourists hoping to hit the big time. For the goldfields it's a golden

00:12tourism opportunity. There's gold fever getting around at the moment isn't there

00:15and it's great to see that people are making the most of what is a very buoyant

00:20gold price. It's the most popular machine we're selling these days. At this

00:23prospecting supply store metal detectors are flying off the shelves. It's been

00:29extremely busy this year we've had a lot of more people coming through the shop

00:33there's a lot more people out prospecting. 800 kilometres from Perth people have

00:39come from all over the country and the world to a prospecting to a camp near

00:44Leonora. I'm turning away like six to ten people a day yeah at least that can't get

00:50on tours. But it's not as simple as just picking up a metal detector. A lot of your

00:55clientele expect because they the TV shows that say you know they go out five

01:01minutes they found a big nugget that's not reality it's it's hard work. While

01:05everybody dreams of striking it rich these prospectors say it's not just about

01:10finding gold. I guess it's like fishing you know you like fishing you buy the

01:14equipment you buy yourself a boat and you come home with 50 bucks worth of fish at

01:18the end of the day you could have got down the coals. There's not so many people out

01:23here you can just get lost in your own world out detecting you can walk for

01:27kilometres especially if you're on your own not see anything hear anything

01:30nothing it's lovely. A unique tourism experience offering more than just an

01:36adventure.