This time on Aussie Gold Hunters...
I'm more under pressure than ever before.
We've just gotta keep digging, keep persevering,
that's all I can say.
..the Poseidon is dealt a devastating blow
when mechanical failures threaten to shut down their operation
just as their season is starting.
This ain't gonna be a $400 fix.
This is gonna be a $40,000 fix.
Shane and Russell return for one last roll of the dice...
Nothing's gonna stop us!
A little bit of rain, who cares.
..as they unleash a custom built, 25 tonne dirt moving monster...
I love it! I love it!
..to hunt for an ancient gold rich channel.
This is a riverbed. This is the Paleo channel.
The Ferals return for a shot at redemption...
Boys, I think your Christmases have come early.
..but when an accident leaves them a man down...
Aww, mate are you alright?
..they rally together...
Yeehoo!
..working through the night
to haul in some of the biggest nuggets they've ever found.
Have a look at this!
(THEME MUSIC)
Diggin' at Catto's,
any one of these buckets we pull out could change our lives.
It literally could have a multi-million dollar nugget.
Hey Eth.
One day when we find that big nugget now,
I want you to just dream about it just for a moment.
We have that big, big, big payday.
What are you going to do with it, Eth?
Mate, I don't know
if you're going to like me answer mate
because the first thing I'm doing
is going on holidays the next day.
So...
What about you, Paulie?
I'd like to upgrade me ah, um motor home.
Hey he's not giving you that much, mate.
That cuts into my share.
I tell you what I'm going to do.
I'm going to get back to work and see if we can find another one.
Just hope it turns before we run out of money, Eth.
I love your way, Brent.
Smash me with a dream and then smash me harder with reality.
The Poseidon Crew,
mine boss Brent Shannon and brother in-law Ethan West,
are at a crossroads.
I just need you to stick with me, mate.
I don't know how long I can continue at this rate
that we're on if we're not finding gold.
Last season against Ethan's wishes,
Brent put the team's big licence
and the consistent gold returns from its million-dollar wash plant
up for sale...
When we were running,
we were getting from anywhere from 18g to an ounce.
A hundred tonne.
..but the deal fell through.
What if I told ya there's a chance we might get the big licence back?
Are you in this season 100%?
If we are looking like we're going to get the big licence back,
I'll be in mate. I'll be back. Are you sure?
I'm in. Hurry up.
Before I change me mind. Come here you.
Mate you had me worried there.
While they wait for news on the big licence,
the team's only option is Catto's Paddock
but so far the ground has been nugget or nothing.
At the end of the day Brent's me boss
and I'll go where he wants me to go
but it doesn't mean I'm gonna have to be happy with it.
Right now I'm sort of selling the dream to Eth
that we can still find a big nugget in Catto's Paddock.
And it says here in an old unpublished document,
"claims yielded some 200 to 500 ounces each claim."
That's half a million dollars to nearly a million dollars,
over a million dollars per claim.
Half a chain square, which is ten square metres.
In the gold rush of the 1800s,
claims were packed together side by side in Catto's Paddock.
In between these claims were buffer zones
of just over half a metre,
put in place to limit disputes
over the incredibly gold rich ground.
These margins left just over 10% of the paddock
as unmined virgin pay dirt for Brent to target.
The biggest thing now is finding enough gold
to keep my team together.
I need to prove this, not just to myself,
but I need to prove it to Ethan.
Yeah, Paulie, take that one away, mate.
To round out the crew, Ethan's father,
retired construction worker Paul West,
is trucking pay dirt from the cut for Ethan to push
into 15 centimetre thick detectable pads.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
Hey Brent, you got a copy, mate?
This motor is making a knocking sound.
I've shut her down.
Yeah, right.
I'll come over and have a look, mate.
If this motor blow's up, we're in serious trouble now.
I know the old engine's tired,
but I just hope it hasn't let go right now.
Yeah, mate. Fire her up.
It's got a whole heap of back pressure
so that's actually telling me
that there's actually something quite wrong with this motor.
You've got pistons go up and down
and you've got bearings
and you've got all sorts of moving parts.
If something's broken inside
it could smash maybe the side of the block.
It's terminal.
Alright, shut her down, mate.
It ain't gonna be a $400 fix, Eth.
This is going to be $40,000.
The downtime is gonna be the bigger killer than the money
because the bad down time costs you money
because you can't get enough gold out of the ground.
Vicious cycle.
And you think you've got problems.
You have bigger problems than me right now, mate.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Are you on channel there, Levi?
I am.
So, what was up
with your uncle, mate?
He just wanted us back to the yard.
He didn't say what was going on.
To be honest, dude,
I got nothing from him.
It was just,
"You fellas come in and see me,"
pretty much.
"We need to have a chat."
Last time he called us into the office
like this at the drop of a hat he, um, kicked us off the lease.
I know. I was just thinking that.
I was like, "Far out, not again."
Everything's on the line
for all of us really.
Man!
I know it is for me.
The Ferals, Ryan Peters, Levi North,
and newest recruit Nathan Moncrieff,
last season they worked as hired hands for Levi's uncle,
mining magnate Kim North.
My lease, my machinery, my everything.
Alright?
Kim set them a target of four ounces of gold per week.
Four ounces is...is really not negotiable.
But poor ground...
Nothing.
..and unreliable machinery...
Oh, what the hell? Got a bloody oil leak.
There's no fixing that here.
..ramped up the pressure to make good on Kim's demands.
Until they finally reached breaking point.
Oh!
Hey, hey, you right, mate? You right?
I don't know what happened.
Too much heat.
But we need to find gold, mate.
Yeah, but there's no point in dying over it.
Yeah, Levi, I reckon we need to go see your uncle Kim, mate,
and actually let him know we need better ground to work on
and actually a bigger cut of the gold.
Yeah, I agree.
If it's not a good deal, I think we all walk away.
There's no second chances.
This is it.
Back to the yard.
Hey, mate. Levi.
How are you goin'? Kim.
Ryan. How are you going, buddy?
Kim. Nath. How are you son?
Good. Thanks.
Boys, I think
your Christmases have come early.
I'm really excited
we've picked up a nice piece of ground
for you to work out there
and hopefully you'll find a seam of gold.
But no gear, no machinery until you guys find a patch.
Find something that pays then I'm interested.
Hey, listen, you're going out to some good ground too, guys.
If you find some nuggets probably an equal share will be OK.
So, what we find on the ground is equal share.
Equal share until a machine gets involved.
And then we get a digger involved.
If we get a digger involved...
Then it all changes. ..then we'll renegotiate?
Yeah, yeah. It all changes. Yep.
OK.
And to mess your cut around,
I've got a little mate going to come in and go with yous.
A mate of mine called Zane.
I sent him out there yesterday to try and find a seam of gold
that should be running along the faults on the leases.
So, I guess he's factored
into the cut of gold then is he, mate, or are we?
Oh, yeah he is, he is. Yeah.
He will be taking his fair share of the gold.
He's a good lad. I think you boys need him.
My priority is find gold.
The more detectors I get on the ground, the better.
Yeah righto, mate. OK.
Does he know the area?
Ah he's a local kid.
Oh, that's good. Right?
That's a good deal for now.
Are you guys kind of happy with that?
We've got a few leases to work.
Yeah, absolutely. Stoked, mate.
Chances of finding the biggest nuggets of our lives.
Yeah. Absolutely, stoked.
OK.
Find some colour... Yeah, man. Thanks again, Kim.
..find a patch,
and we'll get stuck into it, alright?
Absolutely. Sounds good.
Good luck, boys.
(UPBEAT MUSIC)
Man, I really hope this comes off for us.
Ah, we need to sort of set ourselves a bit of a target
but if we can pick up ten ounces of gold
to put on the table.
Ten ounces sounds pretty high.
And at the moment we're all pretty much in the red.
You know, I don't have much money left in the bank,
so yeah I definitely need some money.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Look mate, this, yeah this ground looks incredible.
Kim's put us out on some really good gold country out here.
You know, the geology, everything speaks gold.
She's getting pretty rough through here now.
Just take it easy.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
That didn't sound good.
I'm hung up on something. I'm stuck.
I don't know what went on there, man.
It didn't look too bad, mate.
Are you kidding me?
Oh, this is the last thing we need.
Bro, you're hooked up on a rock, man.
Oh, (BLEEP).
You are hooked up, mate.
Well, if I've twisted the axle it's no good.
It's dead in the water.
00:11:01.080 -- 00:11:04.080 (UPBEAT MUSIC)
I'm just pulling in south of Yalgoo.
I'm about to meet Russell.
He's very doubtful about coming.
I've convinced him to come here.
I promised him that we'd find gold.
This is where we were last season.
My whole season hangs on this
because if I don't find any gold Russell will be off
and that'll be the end of me.
They don't find partners like Russell every day.
Rusty!
I can't believe you've talked me into this again.
Good to see ya.
Hope you've got something good in mind.
I believe we're gonna find some gold here.
But why Yalgoo, Shane?
What's different about this season?
I mean we found gold here but it was chook feed, Shane.
Prospecting partners Shane Calegari
and Russell Nash...
last season they took on a massive
three thousand kilometre gold hunting expedition
through Western Australia.
Nice creek like through here. Look at that.
That's where it'll be, Shane, That's where it's gonna be.
We did it!
This is what you've dreamed about.
There it is, son.
Look at the size of that.
But one stop on their trip, Yalgoo, left them empty handed.
Just try and find another spot.
See if we can...
I want some big stuff. OK.
Yeah, I'm just disappointed with that.
That should have been better. It's just not good enough.
What's different now?
I'll show you what I've got here to convince ya.
Well, you've got some convincing to do.
Right, Russell.
There's a creek bed going through there.
I'd like to scrape along that boundary,
pick up that creek bed.
I believe there'll be gold here.
I can't do this without ya.
So, you're in?
If there's gold here I'm in, Shane.
All day long. OK.
If there's not, I'm out.
Let's shake on it and go to the camp, OK?
You're on.
Now, I've gotta go back to the camp,
take Russell to the camp,
show him his luxurious camp I've built.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
I just feel like I had unfinished business here, Russell.
I've been talking to me friend Kate.
Very experienced geologist around the region.
She says there's a Paleo channel
running straight through this tenement,
and I believe if we go down deeper
we will find a lot of gold.
You've got days, Shane.
Your days are numbered.
Maybe the camp will bring a smile to your face.
You've been busy.
I've been busy alright, Russell.
(SERENE MUSIC)
That there is our fresh water, rainwater tank.
I got the big fireplace for at night time
when you're having an icy cold one.
And you did this yourself? I did this me-self.
I got a lot of support from the, ah, salvage yard.
'Cause all this stuff is recycled. Everything.
This is a shed that I got from the rubbish tip.
And inside it I made a bit of a bathroom up.
Incredible.
And best of all, number twos are sorted out, Shane.
I've got a white seat there for your delicate bum.
What more do you need?
All we need is some?
Gold. Gold.
So, let's go and have a scrape.
Just here is a creek line and that's the creek line
as today and maybe for the last 100 years
but a million years ago,
the creek might have been over here somewhere.
And that's what we need to find
because we know this creek's been heavily mined
but if we can find the old creek, the ancient creek, it's untouched.
Virgin ground.
Surface gold has been found here in dried up creeks and rivers
since the gold rush of the 1890s.
But Shane and Russell are searching for a Paleo channel,
an ancient river system
filled in over 20,000 years ago
by the events of Australia's last Ice Age.
If the can expose the channel and get down to its bottom,
they could unearth the mother lode.
You can see where the old flow channel used to be.
It tucks around there.
So, we know that this was an old stream through here.
Down the bottom here you've got big lumps of ironstone
and that's heavy.
So, if there's going to be gold,
it's going to be alongside the ironstone
at a bit of depth here.
So, quick detect and see how we go.
That my friend, is a target.
Copy Shane, copy Shane.
Want me to come over?
Yeah come and have a look, mate, come and have a look.
Quick.
Come and have a listen to this, quick!
(MACHINE BEEPS)
Here it is there somewhere.
You little beauty!
That's a lovely bit of gold. Yep.
Look at that.
Look how worn that is, Shane.
This is a riverbed. This is a Paleo channel for sure.
We're in the right spot.
We just got to go deeper.
But it's just it's too hard for me.
It's just a toy. So, we need a proper machine.
Something quite wrong with this motor.
Shut her down, mate.
This is exactly what I don't need.
This is going to be a $40,000 fix.
And if I need gold, I need it more than ever right now.
I'm already under enough pressure and this just adds to it.
With their dozer dead in the water,
The Poseidon Crew must drag
its 25 tonnes of dead weight off the pad.
We're going to hook the loader up
with the chain on the back.
That's...that's on the ring there, bud.
Thanks, Dad.
Just take up that slack on the chain mate for a minute.
You wouldn't think that excavator would just push it
around like that, would you?
It's amazing. That's a heavy machine
but he's rag-dolling that with that excavator.
I might get your Dad up in there, mate.
Jump on the brakes if you do need them
but if it starts to run away down hill,
Eth, then pick up the pace.
Yeah keep it going, Eth. Keep it going, Eth.
Keep it going, mate.
Keep it going, Eth. Keep it going, mate. Keep it going.
Keep it going. Keep it going, Eth, Keep it going.
Left hand down a bit, Eth.
Yeah, I reckon about there, Eth.
It should be out of the way enough I think, mate.
Beautiful.
I tell you what, these things are sent to try ya.
Hey Eth, nothing down here, mate.
What's happening up there, bud?
Nothing at all really.
This is just highlighting the fact to me
why I want the big licence back so much
and just that consistency, the fine gold,
and something coming in always.
In their time on the big licence,
Brent and Ethan extracted over $650,000
worth of fine gold from its wash plant.
Mate, that is good gold.
Look, right now with these results I'm happy to stay here
and I'm happy to continue to mine this.
You got a copy, Brent?
How's this deal looking, mate? What's happening there?
What, the big licence one?
yeah, mate. Big licence.
I can't make any promises to you when exactly it' going to come back.
It's sort of somewhat out of my hands.
I really just don't know.
Mate, I was under the impression it was going to be
days, weeks, not months.
And that's...that's why I'm pushing, mate.
I'm pushing because I want this big licence back.
Right now I'm facing uncertainty
and we're not getting any closer to finding anything.
I know, mate.
I'm under pressure just as much as you,
but I'm more under pressure than ever before
to make sure I deliver, to keep you.
I understand why you need certainty
but, mate, this business is full of uncertainty, mate.
Right now, a big nugget could pop out of the ground
and solve all our problems.
We've just got to keep digging, keep persevering,
and something will come out of the ground.
It's all I can say.
Nah, mate, just got a lot to think about.
I'll talk to you in a minute.
It's...it's frustrating.
He keeps saying there's big gold here,
we're going to get the big licence.
We haven't seen big gold yet.
We haven't got the big licence back
and it kind of feels like it's just...
Yeah. Feeding me a story.
There's a lot of ground between here and there to move
to try and find something that potentially doesn't exist.
00:19:39.720 -- 00:19:41.040 I don't know if I've twisted the axle.
It's no good. It's dead in the water but.
Get a shovel out, man.
Far out.
You hung up good, bro.
Rock's broken.
There you go, bro.
There's some of it. Let me roll back.
Just keep an eye on it, bro. Give us a yell.
Alright.
I hope this works.
Alright, go a bit more.
Yeah, you stop right there.
Woo hoo hoo.
Oh, wow.
Hope I haven't busted that axle, mate.
That's why I want to have a look.
No man. Nope.
Not even a scratch, bro on that one.
Yeah! Boy you got two thumbs!
BOTH: Woo!
We're out baby!
Back on the job!
Well, one thing's for sure, that was a lucky escape.
Happy days!
Woo!
Back on track.
Woo!
C'mon the Ferals! Yew!
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Hey, Levi, there's a vehicle parked up over there, mate.
Um that's probably Zane, hey?
How you going, mate? Good. Yourself, man?
Not too bad. Zane, is it?
Zane. Nice to meet you. Yeah, Ryan, mate.
Pleased to meet you. Nice to meet you, Ryan.
Kim said you were out here. Got here last night.
Picked up a couple of nuggets, so. Oh, beautiful.
If you want to have a quick look see.
Yeah, I'd love to.
This is the sort of colour we're getting here.
Hey, that's a good start. Yeah, it's a little bit.
So, Kim's told me I've got to hand all the gold over to you.
You're the treasurer. Yeah.
All the gold goes across his desk and then after that
we'll split it up between ourselves.
Well, should we have a swing? Yeah, I'm keen.
Well, let's saddle up and get out there.
Yeah, sounds good.
Alrighty. Woo hoo.
Go on you bunch of Ferals, get out there!
(UPBEAT MUSIC)
Pressure's on for Team Feral at the moment
and if we don't find gold for him we're gone.
Yeah, the boys are out on the quad bikes
having a scout around and a bit of a detect.
Yeah, hopefully, they can come across some good ground.
The small nuggets Zane found are good indicators
but now the race is on to identify
what they hope is a gold-rich seam
running along the lease's fault line.
I'm out here.
It's not a holiday,
but we need this gold.
I've got two children at home.
Little boy and little girl,
you know, they don't feed themselves.
Detectorist and self-confessed gold addict,
Zane Mettner was born in the Pilbara.
Taught to hunt for gold by his grandfather,
Zane was given his first detector at the age of six.
Now, Zane is an expert lease explorer
who looks to pass on his 30 years of knowledge
to the next generation of miners.
Hopefully, I can pull something to show these boys
that I'm worth to be part of the team.
Midday and temperatures have already exceeded 40 degrees
and heat reflecting off the rocks is interfering
with The Ferals' detectors.
Man, you get these hot rocks.
Bit of mineralisation.
Yeah. Nothing.
Metal detectors work by transmitting and receiving
an electromagnetic field.
Metal targets below the detector are energised by the field
causing them to give off a signal.
The signal is processed into an audio tone
that mirrors variations in the field.
In extreme conditions mineralisation in rocks
can become energised by the sun's heat,
bombarding the receiver with false signals.
Hey, Zane man. Any luck?
Not yet. How about yourself?
Nah, man.
But I reckon it's a bit noisy,
so I wouldn't mind coming back tonight
when she's a bit quieter.
Yep.
In the cooler valley below,
Levi is able to get a cleaner signal.
(MACHINE BEEPS)
Little bit of something goin' on here.
Oh, yeah.
Something really loud.
I got it in the scoop.
You're kidding.
Look at that!
That's probably close to three grams, I reckon.
If we start to find these bigger nuggets,
you know, that kind of warrants getting a digger out here,
but we're going to have to find a few more.
I'm probably going to need a hand over here,
I reckon, to cover some of this ground.
Any of you fellas on channel?
(ON RADIO) Yeah, roger, mate.
How you going down there, Levi?
Going pretty good, mate.
I just picked up probably a three or four grammer.
It's a really nice piece of gold.
(ON RADIO) Oh, you little ripper!
Hey Nathan, Zane?
Looks like Levi's found the gold seam, mate.
Let's get down there and find some big nuggies boys.
Yew!
(UPBEAT MUSIC)
Oh!
You OK? Zane's come off the bike, bro.
Mate, are you Alright? Oh!
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
We're in the right spot. We just got to go deeper.
It's too hard for me.
We need a proper machine.
Ah, here's the old boy.
You beauty!
To expose as much of the potentially gold-rich Paleo channel as possible,
Russell has called in his father Dennis
from his home five hours away.
First go!
This is a 1962 Massey Ferguson little tractor.
It was actually my Dad's
and then I inherited it
and then probably Russell
will inherit it later on.
(UPBEAT MUSIC)
Over 380,000 Model 35 Massey Ferguson tractors
were made in the US between 1958 and 1964
before being shipped worldwide.
The one-tonne tractor's three-cylinder diesel motor
can pull over three times its own weight.
Need a bit of weight, Russell.
Jump on and give us a bit of weight.
It's not...not quite enough weight on the blade,
so I'm going to jump on the back of the blade,
hopefully, dig it in and get some more dirt out.
That's better.
Here comes Shane. Good.
We could do with some more weight on the back.
Do you wanna hop on the back because we need some more weight?
How you going, Denni? I'm good, Shane.
Oh, that's made it better.
What if we both go on one side, does that help?
Look at that.
It all helps. It all helps.
Should have had some more pasta last night, Shane.
Yeah.
OK, Denni.
OK, Rusty, I'll go and have a detect, OK?
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
Yeah, I got a target here.
What have you got there, Russell?
These are getting deeper and deeper and deeper.
The deeper we go the bigger they're going to get.
You know that.
Take your time, Russell. Don't rush.
I think you've got it in the scoop. In the scoop. In the scoop.
In your hand, Russell.
Oh, Russell that's a grammer.
That's a gram at least.
It means we're on the gold.
This is a patch and ah how deep it goes down, who knows?
I mean, it might go another metre down.
It's very hard with the tractor to get a lot of depth.
I mean, it clears the ground really well but um,
we've got to put too much weight on it to get it to really bite in
and we might need something bigger.
You know what's down lower, don't you?
More of it.
More of it and a lot bigger too. So, that's where we need to be.
So, what have you got in mind?
Got to, got to get down deeper.
That means we probably got to spend some money.
Alright.
Bruce!
It's Shane Callegari speaking.
What's the chances of coming to Yalgoo
and giving me a scrape with your grader?
OK, Bruce.
I'll tell you all about it when I see you.
OK, mate. Thank you.
(UPBEAT MUSIC)
Oh, look at this!
Have a look at this.
Shane! Have a look. He's here.
He's going to get bogged getting' in here I think.
If he gets stuck, we've got nothing to pull him out here.
He's bogged.
(SOFT MUSIC)
He keeps saying there's big gold here.
We're going to get the big licence.
We haven't seen big gold yet.
We haven't got the big licence back.
It's deja vu.
Day in, day out, nothing.
I just hope Ethan doesn't give up.
Big nugget hunting isn't for the faint-hearted.
It...it is the ultimate, you know, high risk,
high reward sort of effort.
The Poseidon Crew's bulldozer is out of action
after suffering critical engine failure,
forcing Ethan to use the loader to push paydirt
into 15cm thick pads for detection.
You've got four wheels that are,
got 30 odd tonne so you got roughly 7.5 tonne on each wheel.
With a bulldozer spreads it across the road,
across the tracks,
the loaders sink into the dirt really easily.
The problem with these wheeled machines is that
this is soft ground and you've gone down into it
and if we've got gold
that falls into one of these trenches down here,
that's a ten grammer, 12 grammer, and laying in an odd shape,
we won't hear it because I've gotta basically push out dirt,
paydirt, six inches above this,
well, that's nearly two foot deep by the time you get down to here.
The ground will need to be levelled off,
filling the wheel ruts
and potentially burying any gold too deep for detection.
We will lose gold to these trenches
and it won't be recovered ever again.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
There's drama after drama, break down after break down.
It's like death by a thousand lashes.
It'd be nice to have a...a winning streak.
We haven't been on one of them for a while.
Welcome to my world, mate. That's me whole argument right now.
Every time I've been up and about, you tell me I'm dreamin'
so I thought I'd give you a dose of reality.
Not much gold coming out of the ground,
machines breaking down left, right and centre.
We're not going so goddam good.
How's that for a dose of reality?
I'd rather you call it like that,
the way it is than feed me some fairy tale.
At any moment we could have a multimillion-dollar nugget
pulled out of the ground and it will answer all our prayers
and all our hopes and dreams, mate, in one hit.
Oh, there he goes again, off with the fairies.
Is that the last load out of the hole, mate?
Yeah mate. Yep, yep, that's it.
You can jump on the detector, Paulie.
(MACHINE BEEPS)
There it is.
The average Joe Blow like meself.
Pieces like this, yeah, we dream about finding.
For Brent, they don't make the fortune that he's looking for,
and...and keep Ethan on board.
We need a lot more than this.
00:32:15.360 -- 00:32:16.800 Yeah Zane's come off the bike, brother.
Righto brother, I'm headed over. I've just seen it too.
Mate, are you alright?
Just relax. Lean back against me, please.
Yep.
Bro, he's alright. Oh, man.
There's nothing sticking out. The arm's alright.
Just the shoulder, man.
I got a little bit of a graze but that's nothing.
Look, you stay here with Nath.
I've got some ice and that in there, mate.
We'll come and grab you, uh? Stop there, buddy.
Be careful of my shoulder bud. Yeah, man.
That's really sore.
Well.
He was excited we were on the gold
and he wants to, you know, help us out
but he can't go killing himself.
You get some ice on him.
Cheers, bro. Oh, wicked.
Oh, sorry, boys.
Just want to make sure you're alright.
Nah, don't apologise, bro. That's alright.
We'll just get you going in a bit.
That hand's alright, eh? That's all good.
My elbow graze is sore but my shoulder man.
I can't move it. Oh, yeah.
Oh, you big heavy horse.
Yeah righto. Yeah righto.
That really sucks 'cause I can't hold you up there.
You good though? Yep.
My knee. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You right? Cheers, boys.
I reckon that's the best spot for you, mate.
You rest up, mend up.
Yep. No worries. I'll kick back here for a bit.
Down a man,
The Ferals are forced to push on into the night.
Hey, boys, how good is it to be back out here on night shift?
Yee hee hew.
Nice and cool and on the gold.
Yeah, boy, woo!
Yeah, it's good to be back on the ground.
Couple of big ones would be nice.
Love detecting at night time.
No flies.
They are hoping Levi's earlier nugget find
will lead to the seam they've been looking for.
He picked the spot actually, he come through and he said,
"Look, that is definitely the fault line there."
And if we don't find any gold this time for Kim, that's it.
That's our last chance. He's not going to bring us back.
(MACHINE BEEPS)
Oh, got a little signal here.
We're running that same line along the fault line.
C'mon, be the big bit.
(LAUGHS)
Hey, boys, I've found a big chunk.
Woo! Great!
Probably nine, 10 grams.
10 grams if we're lucky.
This spot that Levi's put us on
that runs right along this little fault line
is definitely producing gold.
And it's the biggest piece that I've found in a while.
So, that is a beauty!
(MACHINE BEEPS) Oh, yeah.
Oh, what a target.
Yeah.
It's still screaming.
Right, come on, baby.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
Have a look at this!
No way.
That thing's mental.
Wow!
Oh, ho! We're on the nuggies.
The Ferals are on the nuggies.
Lovin' it.
Nathan's taking the location down so you know, we know where we are.
We can come back here in the morning,
take some photos, maybe even take some samples
but I really hope it's enough gold for Kim though
because we want to get a machine out here.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
He's bogged.
He's not going too well at the moment.
Because he can't steer.
See he's sliding, front end, he can't turn the truck around.
The more he digs it up, he's in trouble.
He's made it.
Now, he can't straighten up again.
Nope, going in the wrong direction.
Oh.
Unbelievable!
Right now he's on the sandy stuff he's alright.
Righto Rusty, how far back have I got to go?
Yeah mate, another 5m.
You're going well.
Another three, two, one.
About 500 mils, 300 mils.
Woo! That's it, mate.
Has landed. Apollo has landed.
I love it! I love it! I love it!
Well, tell me all about this, Brucie.
This is the result of some months of ah,
fabrication and work.
And you did this
all on your own back.
I did, yes.
To build his one-of-a-kind dirt-moving monster,
Bruce joined the front of a standard grader
to the back of a massive farm tractor
before fitting it with a custom set of tracks.
The secret to the whole thing was the tracks.
So, with those tracks, you got extra grunt.
Extra grunt, extra grip.
The only one in the world.
Well, the sooner we get it off,
the sooner we can see what we can do with it
and we'll see how good it is, Brucie.
Nothing is going to stop us.
Little bit of rain, who cares? Fight on!
C'mon. C'mon.
Oh, watch the deck. Watch the deck.
And you're clear. Oh, just.
Alright!
Hey, that's a machine, not a toy.
That's a machine.
Well, what are you going to do now, Russell?
Well, I reckon we start in the dead centre,
that's where most of the gold has been.
That's where we'll get him to start.
Righto, let's go, Bruce, show me the gold.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Oh. How easy is that? Look at that.
At 25 tonnes and 420 brake horsepower,
the mega-machine is over 6 tonnes heavier
and has 100 horsepower more than a standard grader,
exposing the top layer of the Paleo channel with ease.
You can tell the difference.
So, you can actually see where the creek line was
and that's where the bigger gold is going to be.
That's what we need.
To do this with the Massey Ferguson it would have taken us
probably two or three days
and he comes in here, just clicks his fingers, it's done.
So...
(MACHINE BEEPS)
Woah!
Hey, Bruce, come and have a look at this.
Oh, you reckon you might have something?
This is...this is why we wanted you here
because you see the wash?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the old Paleo channel.
That's where the old creek bed was.
Come on, Russell. Let's get onto the gold.
Oh, there it is right there. Look at that.
We smashed it up.
Hey, it's gold, that's the main thing.
Let's have a look.
It's working.
My first find.
Life's a giggle.
(MACHINE BEEPS)
Russell, I got a good sound here, Russell.
It's in there, Russell. Just there.
OK.
Hey, I can do the old...
We're not dancing today. Come dance with me, Goldie.
Come dance with me.
Look at that. Just be careful. Be careful.
We're in the pile.
Yes, it's in the scoop, Russell.
In the scoop.
Russell, beautiful.
Look at that. Money in the bank, Shane.
Money in the bank.
Well, the grader's worthwhile.
Oh, 100%.
Crikey. Hey, that's terrific. Yeah.
Not bad is it? I suggest we do a weigh in.
Let's go, boys. Let's go see what you're worth.
See if we can get you to hang around or not.
Let's weigh it up eh? Right, let's weigh it up.
That grader you built is pretty special.
Thank you very much. Not at all.
Let's see if, yeah, we better see if you can ah
justify our existence.
Look at that.
2.43.
That's about $6,300 worth.
That's all I want to hear, Rusty.
What it's worth.
Shane's hunch about Yalgoo
has paid off.
$6,300. That's a great week.
Plus a few fuel costs and a bit of food
and probably a few beers too.
Oh, OK.
Fantastic. It was great.
But we know where the gold is now.
The deeper we can go, the bigger it's gonna get,
but we need a grader for that.
Oh, I know where there's one.
Yeah? Yeah.
We'll stay and see what we can do.
I think it's um, it all points to up.
Well, I'll take care of the gold.
I'll get the tucker. I'll get the beers.
And I'll put the kettle on.
Sounds good to me.
(SOFT MUSIC)
We've got plenty of colour
but the scales will tell the story.
Yes, they will.
2.533 ounces.
Yeah. Yeah. That's a good effort really.
You never quite know with Kim, mate.
If he's not happy with that, well, then I'm leaving anyway.
Yeah, if he's not happy with that he can tell his story walking.
Yeah.
That's a good amount of gold. Yeah.
That's 1,200 or 1,100 bucks each for our week...
Sweet. ..each.
What do you reckon, mate? First week with the Ferals?
Awesome, man.
Getting me on the ground and putting up with my antics.
The Ferals share of the gold
will cover their costs for the week
but their boss Kim will expect more.
We need more gold.
So, how about we pack it up and get back out there?
Keen as a bean. Let's do it.
Woo! Yeah, bro, absolutely.
Ain't been the best time as of late, Eth.
No, it hasn't, mate.
It's been a bit of a rough time really.
All I can say is, mate, I know this isn't, ah, fantastic.
What have we got?
We've got...
2.30 of smalls.
Where's your monster piece you've got there, Paulie?
That's the biggest piece we got. That's the biggest bit.
That's going to cover our downtime,
our lost dozer?
It comes to 2.47, boys.
It's pretty piss poor to be honest.
This is why it would be ideal
if we had another operation going.
You and Dad can be working this.
I can be running the plant, mate.
Whatever. Something. I know, but until.
We'd be getting something going.
Until they get back to us, mate,
if they can go through with the deal,
well, we're here at Cattos.
Yeah.
If they don't, we'll get the big licence back
and like you said, we'll have two operations.
But, mate, all I can say, say,
it can change at the drop of a hat.
The history of this place is massive.
Brent! Brent! Brent! Brent!
I know the history, you've told me. Mate, 795, 795.
Time and time! I don't want to hear it anymore!
600! 500! I don't care!
It doesn't mean a thing when we haven't got it here!
They will come,
but I know it's going to be a lot tougher than I first thought.
Oh, absolutely. I can tell you that right now.
Well, we've proven that, mate. Right.
The big stuff isn't turning up,
and I'm scratching my head
because this is renowned big-nugget country.
The trophy pieces are going to be the cream,
but we need the bread and butter.
That's what we need. Don't lose faith.
I don't need to hear the history, mate.
I don't need to hear the history. I know the history.
You need to believe, mate, because it will happen.
You saying it ain't going to make me believe it.
We need to dig it and see it.
Paulie.
Ready for the next one. You're with me, aren't you?
I am. I want that big nugget, mate.
It'll happen.
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