This time on Aussie Gold Hunters:
It's OK, just lay there, stay there. What happened?
I reckon she's a bit hot.
..it's the last week of the season and the extreme heat
finally takes its toll on the Ferals...
It's been a massive couple of weeks.
..as they struggle to work around the clock
in the hope of hitting their season target.
Yeah, babies! Whoo!
We've got a pit flood in here.
The Poseidon Crew suffer a huge blow
when the dig site they're banking on is left unworkable.
One of the worst things that can happen.
..But 15-year-old Cayden's determination could save the day.
(DETECTOR WHIRS) Have a look at that! That's something.
(LAUGHS) That's how you move some dirt!
..and Shane and Russell borrow a 30-ton grader for their final push-
Hey, Rusty! Hey, you might be on to one here.
..that helps them uncover the biggest nugget of their season.
We did it. This is what you dreamed about and there it is, son!
Look at the size of that. You beauty! (LAUGHS)
We've had some of the worst storm events running through
central Victoria and when I heard all the rain last night
I thought I'd get out here early this morning.
I just can't believe it. This is flooded.
This is the most rain I've seen out here all season
and I can't believe it's happened right in the last week.
In the state of Victoria on the historic Catto's Paddock claim,
Poseidon Crew leader Brent Shannon is struggling with flood water
that could ruin the team's final week.
Right now the pressure is on.
If all this water floods into the fresh cut we're gonna do,
it's just gonna turn it just a muddy soup
and we can't push that soup out and detect it.
I've just got to bail all this water out of the hole
before Cayden and Paulie get here.
We have one week left in the season. I've gotta make something happen.
We're that far behind on season target, this could end up
being the worst season tally for a long time.
But I'm still living in hope that this paddock
can deliver the monster nugget that we're looking for.
At the start of their season,
Brent sold the team's most valuable lease to help fund his dream.
My holy grail is to find a 1,000 ounce plus nugget. That is the pinnacle that I wanna reach.
He moved the team's operation to Catto's Paddock to chase a monster nugget.
Nearly one third of all Victoria's largest nuggets
have been found in this paddock and adjoining.
But so far the historic ground has failed to deliver any big finds...
Right now we've been digging for absolutely no gold at all.
..and the frustration is rising.
I don't wanna chase just big nuggets.
I wanna make an income, a livelihood. That's what I'm thinking about.
This decision could affect us for the rest of our lives. It really could.
Right now we need some big nuggets and we need 'em fast.
Both the paddock and me are not living up to expectations.
So, the only way to make that happen is
we've just gotta keep digging through ground and sorta force it to happen.
We've got the sun shining now, the wind's picking up a little bit.
The radar is looking good for the next couple of days
and with this big nugget country, it only takes one of them
and it changes everything.
Looks like Paulie and Cayden's here.
What are you doing here? I thought I'd come out, mate.
I had a chat with Chelsey and everything's going pretty smooth.
So, here I am, mate. Thought I better come out and chop out so...
You had me thinking you weren't gonna be here for the whole week.
(LAUGHS) I wasn't, mate, but, nah,
everything's going smooth, buddy.
Congratulations, mate! Thanks very much, mate.
Last week, Ethan's fiancee, Chelsey,
gave birth to their second child Odin.
It's always gonna be those pressures. You know, another newborn.
I wanna find as much gold as we can for me, myself, the family.
It's starting to dry up real quick. It was flooded.
I had to bail that out for the last hour and a half, two hours.
Yous couldn't turn up with better timing.
Let's make the most of it, eh? Let's go.
Let's go and find some gold! I'll drive the truck for you.
Oh, yeah, good. You're right now. I'm right now.
I don't need to do that. Oh, this is good.
We actually might find some gold this... this week.
Good to be out here for the last push of the season.
Right now we're miles away from our season target
but with all four of us out here, hopefully, we can er...
all work together and get some good gold out of the ground.
Couldn't be happier. That's gonna help out a hell of a lot.
I'm in the excavator, Cayden's in the dump truck,
Paulie on the pads detecting. Ethan pushing out the pads so they can be detected.
Now we've got a chance of making something for this week.
Over this side, Cayden, in front of me, mate. Yeah, righto.
This is our final week out here and it's been a tough season for all of us.
We're just looking now for one of those big nuggets
that we need so badly out here at Catto's.
There's over a ton of gold believed to have come off this ground,
which is 80 million dollars' worth of gold.
I can tell you the old boys don't get it all.
It's critical we keep digging and there's not much time left in the season to do that.
(MACHINE BEEPS AND WHIRRS)
That's a nice sound. I'm just hovering above it and it's screaming.
(BEEPING AND WHIRRING)
(GROANS)
(BEEPING AND WHIRRING) Oh, that sounds nice.
There it is. Now that's a nice piece.
This is what they're after.
That there, you're probably looking three quarters of an ounce.
The nugget could be worth up to $1,800.
Got a copy, Brent? Yeah, mate.
Nice bit, maybe three quarts.
Oh, yeah, that's good. That's a good start.
We're getting onto some so these- this whole is looking good, mate.
We keep going like this, you know,
we... we might get some good gold on the scales by the end of the week.
Oh, Jesus! We got a (BLEEP) pit flooding in.
Hey, Paulie, anyone and, Cayden, we've just hit
some sort of aquifer, some sort of water.
It's absolutely pouring in. You're kidding.
We're just starting to get onto some gold and all of a sudden this.
It's absolutely a joke.
All the recent flooding rains we've had over the last few months
has worked the way down onto the bedrock.
It's found itself some voids and it's accumulated in there
like tanks of water really and we've broken into one
and it's just flooded our entire pit.
That's bad.
I don't know how we're gonna detect and spread this stuff.
Jesus Christ, mate.
The truck- It won't be able to push that out, you know.
It won't be able to go through it. The wheels will spin.
We've only got a certain amount of time left out here.
It's one of the worst things that could happen. It's-
Over 3,000 kilometres away, in Western Australia's desolate goldfields,
the summer heat is rising.
Brutal 50 degree Celsius temperatures
and deadly tropical cyclones are closing in
forcing the end of the gold hunting season in just a few days' time.
Only a week to go, mate. We better smash it.
Big days, long nights and, hopefully, lots of nuggets.
Suffering in these extreme conditions
in the final week of their season are the Ferals.
Ryan Peters, Levi North and newest recruit Nathan Moncrieff.
It's easy in the high 40s if not 50 degrees at the moment.
We've really gotta do what we can to get as much gold as we can.
Come on, where are ya? Give the Ferals a bit of something.
We've got a lot of gold to find if we want to get our 40-ounce target.
We need to be out there working 16 and 18-hour days
and trying to find as much gold as possible.
This ground. I'll tell you what, this left knee of mine's cooking at the moment.
Hey, Nathan, Ryan doesn't look too good.
(COUGHING AND SPLUTTERING)
(RETCHING)
Hey, bro, hey, bro, you right mate?
You right? Stay there, mate. It's OK. Just lay there, stay there.
Stay there. Have you got water? Keep calm, buddy. I'll get you some water.
You right, buddy? Just chill out, man.
What happened? You just fell over, bro. You fell over, man.
Too much heat.
Just come up here a bit and give you a bit of shade. You all right?
Sorry, man, I don't know what happened. Yeah, I know.
I reckon she's a bit hot. Aw. Far out, man. Yeah.
Ooh. Just lean back on me, man, on my leg. Little ones, little sip.
Little one, buddy, little one. Just wash it in your mouth.
Righto. (EXHALES)
Righto, bud, you right? Yeah. Ready on one.
Ooh. Steady. Oh, man.
You all right? You just stay there. Hold on to me now. I'm good, man.
Yeah, stress and desperation up here at the moment.
It's getting out of hand. You know, we're not sleeping properly.
Maybe getting- hurry up, man- maybe an hour or two a day.
You know, none of us are eating properly.
It's pretty crazy, man. It's pretty easy to die out here.
Intense heat can shut down the body's ability to regulate temperature
causing heatstroke...
Whoo!
..which can be fatal without immediate treatment.
I'll bring the car down, man. I'll bag some electrolytes and-
Get him in the air con. I'll get it. You wanna grab it? Yep. Cheers.
You're pushing yourself way too hard. You've been digging day and night
harder than I have and I've been pushing myself really hard.
This is what we were talking about, man.
We've gotta look after ourselves, you know?
But we need to find gold. We don't have long left in the season
and we've got nothing in our pocket, mate. We're only just making money.
Yeah but there's no point in dying over it. That's ridiculous.
Only you know when you push yourself to the limits, man,
so try not to go past that red limiter mate.
All right? Don't put me in that situation.
I won't, bro.
Aw. Sorry, man.
I just need a rest, mate. It's been... it's been a long hard season.
I know, bro. Oh, cheers, man.
Get some ice on you. Oh, you're a good man.
Well, I reckon we just call it for the... for the day.
It's the hottest time of the day right now. I reckon.
The Ferals have struggled through
the toughest season of their prospecting careers.
You got a copy there, you pair of Ferals?
What's going on, man? Basically, yeah, I'm...
I'm gonna just get out of prospecting.
Team leader Rob Beeton quit the gold business.
You with with Robbie going, I thought that was the end of our season then.
And Levi's wife Bridget had to step away
with the birth of their first child only a few weeks away.
Nathan! Hey, how you going? Heard a bit about ya.
Ryan's been telling me a couple of childhood stories. Oh, yeah!
But after recruiting Ryan's childhood friend Nathan Moncrieff for the final push,
the Ferals still have their sights on hitting their 40-ounce target.
You all right?
We've been burning the candle at each ends and the stress and
the end of the season, they all come together at the wrong time.
My goal is to be able to help my kids along in life
and... and set them up and erm...
Levi's got a baby on the way and, you know, Nathan's got a couple of kids and...
and he'd like to get rid of his mortgage.
Oh, man. He just went down like a ton of bricks.
Levis yelled out, I've looked around and he's like gone.
Hit the deck and twitching out.
It's been a massive couple of weeks...
(WEEPS SOFTLY)
I think we all need some sleep and erm...
Yeah, I need to go home too.
Need to go... go home.
I need a minute.
(EXHALES DEEPLY)
2 00:12:29.000 -- 00:12:31.040 align:start line:90% position:30% Shane, you got a heap of trees under the blade,
a heap of trees. Pull up and I'll get them out.
What's against us at the moment is is just time. We're running out of time.
We've only got a week left and that's it. Keep going, keep going.
Righto, that'll do you.
We need seven ounces in a week to make target.
It's gonna be tough. Righto, go forward a bit.
Keep going, keep going. Righto. You're free. Go.
Go, go, go. Every hour counts.
We just need to keep opening up and moving ground.
It's the only way we're gonna make any money.
On the outskirts of Leonora, in remote Western Australia,
Shane Calegari and Russell Nash are racing to clear ground
on their new lease before the suffocating heat
ends their season in just a few days.
Come on, old girl, keep going.
Watch out for the temperature on that truck. This is getting hot.
Absolutely unbearable, this heat.
I've got to clear some area or we're not going to make our quota.
The pair are using a grader blade originally designed
for surface levelling to strip topsoil on their 300-hectare lease.
You put a bit of weight on top and it takes
all the vegetation and the large rocks away.
It gives us a nice clean area to detect and that's given us a big head start.
To get the seven ounces, we need something bigger.
This place is renowned for large nuggets
and it's next to a very large open cut mine.
Yeah, Red 5 is the gold mine right next door
They're pulling out huge chunks of alluvial gold.
So that looks great for us.
The Red 5 mine has an estimated
two million ounces of contained gold worth $5 billion.
Yeah, we're only scraping the surface with the plough
so it's not getting down to where the big gold should be
so I'm digging a costean, a channel straight through here.
Trying to work out which way the the ancient creek flows. That's what we need to find.
We need to find the bottom structure, the base layer
so we need to dig down. That's where the big rich money will be.
The pair have made a series of gold finds
running along an ancient dried-up riverbed.
A trench or costean will help locate its deepest point
where the biggest gold could be trapped.
The machine's getting hot, the ground's hard as...
cos I shouldn't be doing it with this.
We've only got a week left and that's it.
This is too hard.
I've got a bit more of a... a riverbed here.
(MACHINE BEEPS AND WHIRS) I got a sound here.
I got a sound here, Russell!
I tell you what, it's a good sound too.
(FRANTIC WHIRRING) Listen to that.
Yep. That's... that's a nice piece, that is. (WHIRRING)
I saw it, Russell, I saw it. There you go, Rusty, look.
You beauty. Problem is, there's four or 500 mil there. It's too deep.
We've gotta rid of that. We've gotta take the top off through here.
OK. This is gonna take me hours.
It's too (BLEEP) hot. It's stinking hot. The machine's running hot.
The ground's hard as. I tell you what, leave it with me.
You've got a solution, have you? I got an idea.
We've gotta shift more dirt and fast. Time's running out.
Well, I'm a bit of a family man. I have a couple of kids
and a lovely wife and... and... and I'm a dad
and that means if I can't make a dollar, it puts them in trouble.
All right, see you, guys. See you! Bye! Be good, we're off. Love you.
Shane and Russell took a huge gamble this season, leaving behind their families in Perth
to embark on a 3,000 kilometre road trip
to some of Western Australia's wildest goldfields.
Let's just get the (BLEEP) hell out of here.
But after failing to find big gold...
Done deal, she's all yours.
..Shane bought the Leonora lease, their last chance
to uncover the seven ounces they need to make target.
(LAUGHS) Another one. That's why we do it because of that.
The colour of gold. I mean, it's fantastic. We're on the gold
and if we can stay on it, we're gonna make some money. It's great.
(LAUGHS)
Have a look at this! Did a deal with Red 5 mine.
We've got a grader for a couple of hours
and you're their new plumber! (LAUGHS)
I've swapped Shane's plumbing services for a grader
and that's gonna shift the dirt fast for us.
They said a couple of hours, that's all. Get on with it! Let's use them up.
Start ripping straight down here and over there.
OK just get on with it. Let's do it.
Copy, Rau, let's rip some up, mate, let's go for it. Copy that.
Show me some gold, please. Show me some gold.
Rau Maeva is an experienced heavy vehicle operator
who works at the nearby mine.
By the sounds of it, I'm doing the plumbing and like usual, I've been shafted.
Big step up from the old scraper. It's gonna show us where the base structure is,
where the low spots are and that's where the gold's gonna be. It's the only way to make target.
(LAUGHS) That's how you move some dirt!
Yeah, right down there, mate, bring her back here.
Yeah, righto, this is just gotta be sludge.
Right now we've just hit- I don't know how to explain it,
it's just like water underground and it's just... just flooded our entire pit.
On their Catto's Paddock lease...
Yeah, that'll do there, Cayden.
..the Poseidon Crew's plan to excavate gold rich paydirt could be ruined by flood water.
That's ridiculous. This just looks like cement.
Have a look at this mess, Eth.
It's not what we wanna see.
Look at that, mate. You can't even walk through this.
I don't know how we're gonna detect this crud.
I don't know, mate. It's just really frustrating. We're starting to get onto some gold.
You know, this might dry out but it might take a while.
We're lucky we got a bit of dry dirt out before this pit completely flooded.
We've got some dry stuff there I'll push out. That will keep the boys going for a bit.
Good, mate. I'm gonna work back the other way.
Hopefully the ground gets a bit shallower and dryer
otherwise if it stays like this, we're gonna be stuffed.
Yeah, no worries, buddy. Well, it's already been a difficult season the way it is.
We've only got a week to go and this is what we're dealing with.
If I get in here, it's gonna sludge out everywhere.
I'm gonna pick all up the material and carry it everywhere so...
can't do much with this other than just let it sit.
It's absolutely frustrating. You know we're miles behind our target
and this ain't gonna catch us up anytime soon.
These things are sent to challenge you no doubt about it.
I still haven't given up hope.
This is just another challenge we're gonna have to figure out.
We need a big nugget to jump out of the ground for us.
(ENGINE FAILS TO START)
What's happened now, Eth?
It's ran out of fuel.
Cayds? What I want you to do, I want you to
jump on the excavator and keep the show rolling OK?
Righto. Be careful.
Will do.
(ENGINE FAILS TO START)
It's not out of fuel. It's got plenty of fuel in it.
Brent, check that there's no air in that filter.
Yeah, you've gotta have it so there's no bubbles come out of this here.
The engine doesn't run on bubbles, it runs on fuel.
Without the 30-ton front end loader,
the team can't spread their paydirt into pads for detecting.
All right try that, Eth.
(ENGINE FAILS TO START)
Hang on.
So, I've pretty much given that whole area a once over
and it is... ready, ready for a detect.
Yeah, wicked, man. I'm onto it now.
In Western Australia's Pilbara goldfields...
(WHIRRING) Sounds good!
.. the Ferals are working a night shift
to escape the searing temperatures that gave Ryan heat exhaustion.
It's so much better working at night. You know it really knocked me about.
Oh, I dropped like a ton of rocks but I've had a rest and I've got a bit of food into me.
Oops! She's out. Let's see what we've got.
Gotta look after myself a bit better. See how we go by the end of the night.
Hopefully, we've got a couple of ounces
in our pockets. There it is, another little piece.
We're still a long way away from reaching our target
but it doesn't mean we're not gonna try and get there.
Get back into it. We've just gotta put in a few extra hours
and there could be one big chunk out there with our names on it.
Whoop, there it is. They're getting slightly bigger as we're getting deeper so...
been getting these little, you know, one, two grammers during the day.
As we're digging down now, it's like we're getting down to
a really nice layer and that's a good three, four grammer, that one.
Ah, come on, wake up.
Little bit weary, bit exhausted but er... every little bit of gold
at the moment is just gonna be a bonus.
Have a look at this. It's just amazing.
We've been out here for about three hours
Levi's been dogging away on that machine clearing so much ground for us.
Give that a hit, bro, and see how you go. Yeah, roger that.
I've gotta be getting close to half an ounce there.
Ryan's evening haul could be worth over $1,000.
I'm on the gold over here. I've picked up another two small pieces.
Lovely, bro. Lovely! Good work!
Well and truly worth working into the night.
It's been a... a long hard season.
It's a bit of a shame. We've found a lot of gold here
and we wanna continue finding gold.
It's a bit of a... bit of a kick in the guts
knowing that we've only got a few days left so...
Come on, give me some more. Time is of the essence.
We're pushing ourselves to the limit.
We need to find gold and the fact that we've only got a few days left,
we've just gotta spend as much time on the ground as possible and pick up heaps of nuggets.
(DETECTOR BEEPS AND WHIRS)
(WHIRRING CONTINUES) Yeah, another signal for sure.
Aw, Nathan looks like he's on a massive one.
I'm taking one of these out. It nearly blew my ears out.
Oh, this is crazy!
Come on, baby.
(WHIRRING) Whoop! Still in the scoop.
(LAUGHS) You are kidding me! Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
Yeah, babies! Whoo!
No way.
(LAUGHS) Hey, boys, you're not gonna believe this.
I've got a huge piece of rock.
On the nuggies! Woo-hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo-hoo!
It's a chunk, man. It'd have to be easy 20 grams, maybe a bit over.
No way!
The nugget could be worth up to $1,600.
Sounded pretty excited! Can't believe it, man, eh?
(BOTH LAUGH) Yes!
Oh, you little beauty! Yeah, right.
We haven't got long left to go and if we can pull
a few more of these out of the ground... Oh, my goodness. Right.
Whoo! C'mon, boys, let's go get the nuggies! Whoo!
2 00:23:27.720 -- 00:23:30.280 align:middle line:90% position:50% How's that looking, Russell? That's looking fantastic.
Go as deep as you can please, mate. That's brilliant.
Yep, copy.
In Leonora, Western Australia, Shane and Russell have borrowed
an industrial 30-ton grader for a few hours
to speed up progress on their new lease.
It'd take me weeks to do this. He's just done it in half an hour.
We're down to our final days. We need to make 'em count.
They're hoping its five-metre long blade will expose deep-lying gold.
This might have been the old riverbed here, I think.
Yeah, it's looking good. Yeah, one more, mate, it's looking great.
We're looking for the ancient water course or palaeochannel
is what they call it and that's where the gold will be.
An ancient creek once flowed through here carrying gold
that could have become trapped in its gravel bed
and the grader has already cleared a 200-metre stretch.
Great investment to sell Shane off for a few days' work for this... this is fantastic.
In exchange, Shane will do a plumbing shift at the mine.
That's a fantastic job, mate. Thank you very much.
Oh, fair dinkum. Next time the toilet is blocked, we'll call Shane.
(LAUGHS) He'll look after it for you.
Hey, behave yourself, brother! (LAUGHS)
How good's this, eh? Look at this. It's better than good.
It's a whole new world now. Let's just get on with our detecting.
Come on.
A few more days is all we've got. It's a big push.
The grader's done a great job for us but seven ounces,
that's a big ask. We've a couple of days left.
I've got family at home. The daughter's got a birthday coming which is big
and I've gotta be home for that and it's getting stinking hot
and 48, 50 degrees, it's not a good place to be.
Absolutely unbearable, this heat.
I just gotta keep going. Time's running out.
(WHIRRING)
Come and check this. My weary old body doesn't move that fast under this heat.
Have a listen to this. OK, I will. Just let me wipe the sweat out of my eyes.
(WHIRRING) Let's have a dig.
Look what it's in, though. Look at this stuff.
River soil that's what you want. I'll bring the big guns in.
This is a job for a younger man. The other side. Let me in there, Shane, let me in.
I'll get the- (WHIRRING)
(LAUGHS) Hang on, Russell, why don't we do it together?
Ready? Under, under that. That's it, beautiful.
Pull that out, pull that out.
Give me a look, give me a look. It's out, Shane, it's out.
(WHIRRING) (LAUGHS) It's in here.
Here it is, here it is. (LAUGHS)
Look at the size of that! That's what we need (LAUGHS)
Oh! Unbelievable, Russell.
I'd say that's gonna be at least 14 or 15 grams. That's a nice piece of gold.
It's a $1,200 nugget and there could be more riverbed gold nearby.
We haven't got a lot of time left but it's not over and, hopefully,
in the next couple of days Shane and I can make some good numbers.
There you go. Great piece of gold, Russell. Well done.
(ENGINE FAILS TO START) Hang on.
In Victoria, the Poseidon Crew's vital 30-ton loader has broken down
with just two days left in their season.
We need this machine to push out the pads but when it's claggy
and wet, you don't wanna be using the bulldozer.
You can pick up a nugget stuck in the track and track it off
so we use the loader and right now... we just can't get a break.
You tell me where you want me, Cayden.
Yeah, just come back now, Pop.
Straight back. Good there.
Dad's left me in charge of digging out
these top layers with the excavator.
I haven't done it for quite a while. It's been just over a year now.
You have a lot of responsibility. It is very dangerous ground. It's soft.
So, we've gotta be on the ball.
Look, Cayden's been around mining all through his entire life.
Ever since he was a baby he was born into what we do.
But he's only a young man. I'll tell you what, he's good at what he does.
He's got a lot of knowledge.
This ground's real sandy. I'll have to batter this wall back. Yeah.
No worries. Battering means that instead of it being
a vertical straight wall down, it's a bit of a slant
so there's less of a chance of it collapsing in on you.
It's safer, there's less risk involved, especially in this
real sandy ground. It's coming close to the end of the season.
I just wanna make sure I do it right. I don't wanna mess up.
I hate disappointing my dad. I hate disappointing Ethan.
Hey, you're doing a lot better job than what I'd be doing, pal.
I got more faith in you than me. All good, Pop.
I think we've found our problem, Eth.
We've got a heap of crud in the fuel pick up line to the bottom filter.
Can't even see through it.
Yeah, right. I'm surprised it was running as much as it was.
In there you should be able to see daylight through the other side.
We can't because it's full of crud.
The blocked fuel line is cutting diesel flow to the engine
preventing it from starting.
There you go, mate, try that. Want me to go start it up? Yeah, mate.
All right, Eth, hit the guts, mate. See if she'll fire up.
(ENGINE STUTTERS)
(ENGINE COMES TO LIFE)
Yeah. We should be right.
Lost a fair bit of time this week
and this loader issue hopefully now is sorted out.
Hey, Pop, you can take that away now. No worries, buddy.
Cayden, how you going, mate? How's it feel to be boss? Different.
(LAUGHS) You've done a really good job.
I'm very proud of you, mate. Well done. Thank you.
You battered the sides back. You've done a great job.
Let's hope there's some gold in it. Yeah. Go get a detector on, mate.
All right, beautiful.
I'm really proud of Cayden. While I was away, he's done a fantastic job.
A big responsibility on a young man's shoulders.
He actually might make a miner one day.
We've gotta get as much digging as possible done
to give us the best chance at landing a good nugget.
It's a needle in a haystack hunt
and we're gonna keep hunting right till the last minute.
I'm hoping we get that whack of gold before the season's done.
Open sesame... Ah, cheers, man. There you go, mate. Thanks, buddy.
All that dust going in through the machine, through the filters, you know,
you can do some major damage working it over
a long period of time so you have a bit of a clean out.
In the arid Pilbara region, the Ferals final push to hit target
is punishing for man and machine.
I have mechanical knowledge so, I mean, these guys have got diggers
and machinery that needs servicing so I can always help out.
Oop, there it is. Nice little piece of gold.
You know, it's gotta be up around 45, 50 degrees Celsius
and pressure's really on. We can't waste any time at the moment.
This is our last 24 hours on the lease so we've just gotta cover
as much ground as possible and find as much gold
as we possibly can before we end our season.
All done, Levi! Thanks, dude.
Let's go, Ferals. Yeah, boy, come on, Ferals! Whoo!
Woo-hoo-hoo! Another target. (WHIRRING)
It's just been the most epic ride for me.
This is a real good notch in my story in my life.
It's... honestly, guys, I can't thank yous enough.
(LAUGHS)
Ah. Hey, Ryan, got a copy? Yeah, bro.
I don't know about you, man, but I've just picked up a beauty.
Geez, I dunno, man, five or six at least. That's unreal, bro.
(LAUGHS) Oh, you little ripper! That's gotta be close to two grams.
Gold everywhere down here.
You can really understand why through the ages so many
cultures and civilisations have revered that shiny yellow stuff.
Have a look at that. Nice work, Nathan!
Oh, mate, that is awesome!
We continue on that legacy of being driven by the gold.
Come on, baby, get out of the ground.
You got another piece of gold, Ryan? I've got a big one in the ground here, I think.
I've dug down and it's just getting louder.
Might be a good idea for you to put your detector on, mate, and have a swing.
It's gut wrenching. We know how much gold's out here and we'd love to
stay and pick it all up but this is our last chance.
Come on, nuggies!
In the hand. (WHIRRING)
(LAUGHS) You little ripper!
Check that out.
(LAUGHS) it's a nice chunk.
Boys are having fun. Speed detecting!
(LAUGHS) We're on the gold still, fellas!
(LAUGHS) Get on there, brother! Whoo!
(WHIRRING) I've got a very good sound here.
Yeah, the grounds worked out really well.
The graders showed us where the low spots are.
Sounds good! And we've found a lot of gold.
Look at that there. I'd say .4. It's a nice bit of gold.
Aw, look at that. There it is. That's about two gram.
It's gold but it's a long way from the seven ounces we need.
With just two days left in their season,
Shane and Russell have hit a run of nuggets on recently cleared ground.
Jeez, it's hot. Only one week left.
It's dangerous working in that heat because you dehydrate so fast.
People don't realise you will drink five or six
litres of water a day and that's just to maintain.
We need the gold out of the ground and fast.
(WHIRRING)
There's something there. I'm right among the tree roots.
(FRANTIC WHIRRING) That's a huge sound (YELLS) Hey Rusty!
Hey, you might be onto one here. Where is it?
It's hot, Russell. Stinking hot, Shane.
(WHIRRING) (LAUGHS)
Ah.
(WHIRRING) Listen to that.
(FRANTIC WHIRRING) (LAUGHS) I love it.
(WHIRRING) That's getting a lot bigger.
This might be the biggest one yet, Shane.
We came for the big gold. This could be it.
No way in the world a piece of tin's going to be in that hard. Not this deep.
That's out.
(LAUGHS)
I can see it! I can see it!
(LAUGHS)
We did it! (LAUGHS)
This is what you dreamed about and there it is, son!
Look at the size of that! You beauty!
Be at least two and a half maybe three ounces.
Stunning, absolutely stunning.
That certainly adds to the tally, old mate. Well done, mate. Fantastic.
The nugget could be worth up to $7,500.
That's a stunner, Shane. That's all we want. Don't worry. Gimme a hug!
Aw, settle down. Next thing you'll want a kiss!
Come on, let's go, Rusty, I'm thirsty.
Let's have a quick break then back into it. Might be more.
Take this with you. Put it somewhere safe.
Look at that.
# I'm on the gold! (LAUGHS) It's fantastic.
It's what we needed. A great boost to the tally but we're short. We've gotta do some work.
A few more nuggets in the area, we'll be on target.
2 00:34:21.960 -- 00:34:25.920 align:middle line:90% position:50% (WHIRRING) Sounds like a pretty nice bit.
We finally got this loader up and going so it's a good thing.
Without it right now the operation would have been dead in the water.
Cayden's getting good gold so we'll get these pads pushed out
and we can er... you know, hopefully find a bit more.
Yay! About 20 grams.
The Poseidon Crew are detecting paydirt from their waterlogged pit...
It's good as.
..and their efforts are finally paying off.
Did you get another one in that sludge, Cayden. Yeah?
Nice one, mate, keep 'em coming.
It's gotta be the wettest pad I've ever detected in my life.
Cayden's over there working that wet sludgy pad while it's drying out
and the old man's coming up behind me now so, hopefully, things are looking up.
This season it started off as a rollercoaster, it really did.
We had 16 years of going forward of consistent gold.
(READS SCALE) I'll ring them and say we'll accept their offer.
..We sold it, we moved on. We went up to the high country, had a look...
(WHIRRING) There it is. A tiny bit of gold.
..but we're here now on Catto's and while we're here digging, we've got a chance.
There he is look at that. That's beautiful gold.
That would be probably another half ouncer.
There's over 12 acres of land to dig here and we have to keep motoring through.
I'm sure out of these 12 acres we're gonna land something big.
We are on the hunt for the biggest nugget of our lives.
We just gotta keep persevering.
(WHIRRING)
That's a nice piece. Probably about a half ouncer.
We're miles away from our target where we wanna be but guess what?
While we know there's still a chance of finding 1,000 ounce nuggets
in this paddock, we are NOT done. This season is not done.
(WHIRRING)
All right, that sounds really good. Sounds like gold.
(WHIRRING)
This sludge is ridiculous.
(WHIRRING) Oh, hey!
There we go!
That's a nice bit. It's gotta be over an ounce.
The nugget could be worth up to $2,500.
Hey, Dad. Yeah, mate.
I just found another bit. It's gotta be over an ounce this one.
You're kidding? Nup. That sludge hole might be kicking goals, mate.
Probably. All right, I'll keep moving. You keep moving.
We'll keep going hopefully find some more. Yeah, mate, keep it going, buddy.
Look at that. There's gotta be just under maybe two ounces.
That's paying for diesel and everything else.
Paul's haul today could be worth up to $5,000.
Let's have a look.
There's gotta be at least two and a half, three ounces here. Aw! That is brilliant.
Well, the good news is when the gold starts turning up like this
in small pieces, usually a big nugget's not that far away
and right now, we desperately need it, that's for certain.
And that's a full container. That is REALLY good.
Really good!
Far out, boys, what a way to end the season, eh? That's it.
Reward for effort, we absolutely smashed it. I'm shattered, though.
Oh, man, I am done, eh. Done, mate.
Physically and emotionally drained. It's just... It's been another long season.
We finished the way we wanted to, at least. Yes, yep.
Heaps of gold. Plenty of gold on the table.
The Ferals have survived the Pilbara's punishing conditions this season
but they don't know if their final push was enough to hit target.
All right, fellas. Come on, man.
Slowly pour it on, eh. I wanna see this slowly come out, eh.
Ooh, listen to it.
(CHUCKLES)
(READS SCALE VALUE) Lads.
I'm shocked.
Yew! That's not the end, though. No, it's not. That's not the end.
Look at what we got here. Aw, that's right, no way.
We got the big chunks! We're gonna be nudging a few ounces more here.
It's gonna break the record. Maybe. What have we got?
LAUGHS) Just shy of nine ounces. (LAUGHS)
Their final week's bumper haul is worth nearly $22,500.
And takes the team's final season tally to over 30 ounces.
The trio are still eight ounces short of target.
We didn't quite get to our target which means that, you know,
we're not gonna have that extra money to invest in machinery and
and chasing our own leases but erm, you know, at the end of the day
we lost Robbie and... and erm... to be honest with you,
I thought that was gonna be the end of team Feral.
But, erm, we come together in the end
and we finally put some money in our pockets.
Pretty proud of you fellas and it's been great hanging out with yous
but I'm really looking forward to going home and...
Mate, well, you've got a baby on the way so, you know, really it's not gonna be long.
(LAUGHS) Yeah. Awesome, fellas, wow.
Look, we might not have found enough gold but there's always next year.
Yeah. Yeah. Always next year. So, look, let's pack up and get out of here.
I'm so keen. Yeah.
Yeah, boys! Team Ferals! Whoo! (LAUGHS) Whoo!
Has all the dust been worth it, you reckon?
Well, we'll soon find out to see whether we made our target.
This season, Shane and Russell travelled far and wide
in a bid to uncover their 20-ounce target.
To succeed, they still need to put nearly seven ounces on the scales.
What a season, eh? But we're at the end.
How many Ks have we done this year's season?
I reckon over 3,000. Probably more.
At least. Hey, did we pay for it? I'm hoping so.
Aw, just in fines alone, Shane, there's 2.8.
Still leaves us short, though.
OK. Righto and my biggest piece for the season.
That's a beautiful piece of gold.
Oh, hey, that's at 3.3 now. (LAUGHS) Here we go!
And what about Bertha? What about Bertha? Big Bertha? Eh?
See what that brings it to. Aw.
That gets us to 19.8. 19.8.
19.8 ounces. We're chasing 20. 19.8's good enough for me
especially what we've been through. What's that worth in dollar form?
That's just under $50,000. Good enough. That's what we needed.
I mean, it's been fantastic. For what we've learned, what we've seen.
It's a life experience that I'm gonna take with me until the day it's all over.
Well done. Well done. Fantastic season. I got a heap of gold
and a heap of memories. It's unbelievable. It's been a long journey.
We've been from Yalgoo, Meekatharra, Cue, Mount Magnet,
Nullagine and now Leonora. So, I think we did very, very well.
OK, let's go. Let's do it.
Right, boys. Another season done.
That's it. Done and dusted. I know it's been an upsy downsy season once again, Eth.
Been chasing gold around the high country, Eth.
We've been back out in the bush. Yes, we have.
But I think we've done all right to get here at Catto's
and we started the season out at 350 ounce target
but if we can make 100 ounces,
I think that would have made sort of a break even sort of season. Yeah.
Well, let's throw this gold on here.
Might as well start with some of the bigger stuff.
(READS WEIGHT)
Yeah, go on. Keep going. That brings it to 1.28.
There's some nice bits there.
That one there brings it to two ounces flat
and, Cayden, the bigger one you got out of that muck pile.
That comes up to... 3.30.
Then... all the smalls.
That brings us to... 7.05.
So, we're over the 100 mark which-
It gets us over 100 ounces for the season.
The team have scraped enough to cover their season running costs
with a 104 ounce total worth $260,000.
But they're still over 240 ounces short of target.
We've dug five percent of the total area, if that.
I feel there's gonna be a ripper of a nugget somewhere.
When we find that big nugget, that moment will be etched in time.
Yeah, it will. This season wasn't a failure. We didn't make target
BUT we've come so far. We've made a start.
It's not how you start, it's how you finish.
We've only started here at Catto's.
You know what? If it comes next season, I'll take it next season.
I don't care but I do know that we've gotta keep digging this ground
cos if we don't dig this ground, we'll never know.
Next season it can be onwards and upwards. We'll hit the season.
We'll hit the ground running and we'll have...
all this in front of us so there's no excuses then.
Well, boys... Eth? Hm. Thanks, mate. Seriously, good job.
Paulie, mate. No worries, pal.
And, Cayds, give us a cuddle cos you're my son.
You might just have a future as a mine boss.
I still believe there is a lot of gold to be found out there
and my sights are set on finding a thousand ouncer
and I ain't gonna stop until we find it. Well, let's go boys.
Subtitles by Deluxe