Joining the Ounce Club ✨ Gold Prospecting in Far North Queensland 🇦🇺 Palmer River

G'Day! We're Kev & Ana — hobby gold prospectors based in Australia — sharing our experience as 2025 Season Pass holders at Palmerville Station. If you liked this video, please hit the subscribe button. 🙏

Tips & Challenges from Our Season at Palmerville Station:

• Leases & Trilobite: Download the Trilobite app before arrival and ensure you always load the latest QLD mining leases. The office can show you how to do this if you need assistance. There are many leases scattered throughout the designated detecting areas you have access to (with new ones popping up all the time). It is important that you stay off all leases. If you are found detecting on a lease, you will receive a lifetime ban from the station and may also face legal consequences. If you accidently drive through or onto a lease (sometimes the access roads are confusing), make sure to tell the office where and when this occured for more guidance.

• Finding Gold Spots: We had plenty of doughnut days and it was for sure hard work. Overall, we didn’t find enough to quit our day jobs (we both work remotely), but we found enough to want to return to the Palmer later this year to give it another crack. Before that though, we’ll be heading over to WA to do some exploring, as that will be a completely new experience for us. We met season pass holders who return year after year, but we also met others who cut their first season short because they didn’t find enough to meet their expectations. If you do go, do it for the adventure and see finding gold as a bonus — or consider doing a shorter trip first as a camper to check it out and see if it’s for you. That’s exactly what we did before committing to a season pass.

• Water: Carry plenty with you (plus extra) when heading out detecting. No need to bring water into Palmerville — treated, filtered dam water is provided for free.

• Starlink: Great for connectivity, but there’s also free and reliable Wi-Fi at the office and toilet areas.

• Generator: Useful for topping up batteries when solar isn’t enough. We had three solar sources and still needed the generator at times.

• Supplies: Do a big shop before heading in to reduce supply runs and save fuel. We aimed for 3–4 weeks of supplies, plus we brought an extra freezer for frozen veggies so we didn’t run out of “fresh” food before the next trip back to town.

• Tyre Puncture Repair Kit: A must! Kevin repaired 30+ punctures on the 6-wheeler and one on the trailer.

• 2 Wheels and Wear (Mareeba): Our go-to store for parts and supplies for the 6-wheeler.

• Recovery Tracks: Essential — these helped us get our car unstuck earlier in the season when the ground was still wet.

• Garmin: We used a Garmin inReach Mini 2 to check in and message via satellite while detecting. It also has an SOS feature. For us, it was absolutely worth it for the peace of mind.

• Spares: Bring spares of everything. Things will break — often. Better to have backup gear than drive all the way into town or wait for deliveries.

• Ask for Help: The managers, campers, and prospectors are extremely friendly and always willing to offer advice or lend a hand.

• Make Friends: Everyone around you is interested in the same hobby. Most people are happy to share knowledge, tips, and experience. You’ll learn a lot by getting to know your neighbours.

• Detectors: We used the Minelab 7000 and 6000 for most of the season, and the new 2000 when it came out. Each has strengths, but the 6000 was our favourite all-rounder.

• Extra Wheels: You'll get further out and closer to your detecting spots on a 2-wheeler or quad, so if that's available to you, it's worth doing.

• Rubbish: You'll be able to burn any paper/burnable rubbish on site, but keep in mind that you need to take all other rubbish back out with you. For that reason, try minimise the ammount of glass/plastic/hard rubbish you bring in so you have less to haul around.

If you’ve got any questions, feel free to reach out.

Location: Western Yalanji land. The Western Yalanji Rangers have a base 'on country' at Cannibal Creek on Palmerville Station. Rangers patrol Palmerville Station protecting cultural sites, flora and fauna and bio-security. The WYACR (Western Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation Rangers) also carry out 'savanna burning' projects in collaboration with Palmerville Station.