EEEiiii!’ it sounds just a few metres later

Emu-Camp — 2000-08-19

I write a number of business letters until late afternoon, then I take the bush office down, grab the detector and go in search of gold in the nearby stream bed.   The day is sunny and warm and I reach the dried out bed just 500 metres from camp.   I follow it for some time and let the detector swing lazily over the ground. ‘EEEiiii!’ it sounds just a few metres later.   I can’t believe how quickly gold can be found.   I scratch the sandy bed with my shoe and swing the detector over the spot once more.   ‘EEEiii!’ I dig a hole in the hard earth with my pick, zoning in on the position with my detector, and search for the treasure.   I find a small piece of rusty fence wire.   I should have known.   I resume my search with unabated energy and dig more than 15 holes in just two hours, finding nothing more than a rusty belt buckle and numerous pieces of fence wire.   Thirsty and tired, I give up for today and walk back to camp.   ‘Where have you been?   We’ve been looking for you.   Ingrid and Andy were here for a visit, but they left about five minutes ago.’   Tanja says, and I scold myself for wasting so much time with the worthless search for gold.