(August 29, 2019, 7:49 pm)
We came out winners!
We thought it would be cute to try our hand at mining opals. So we all rode down to the ranch for a jolly time of panning in the river.
Knee deep in the water with our pans, we started digging up nuggets of golden bronze. We asked if these could possibly be gold. A fellow next to us took one up to the chalet to ask the owners about what we were finding. We continued to uncover and dig up the fist sized rocks.
Within an hour, 7 men on horseback rode up to the river's edge. The lead man told us to drop what we were doing and come out from the river. We weren't sure if he was serious but when 3 of the men drew their shotguns ... we knew they weren't messing around.
I made my way to shore and began to collect our dozen or so golden rocks. I could hear the shotguns load behind me.
"You'll be leaving those gold nuggets right there!" the lead man yelled at me.
To keep the story short, I won't go into details about the scuffle that ensued.
In the end, our crew surrendered the rocks to the armed men and suffered only a couple scrapes and a bruise. They were kind enough to negotiate a finder's fee with us and a little hush money.
13 rocks that weighed about 1kg each... and they gave us $100 for each one.
We gladly took the cash, ran to our van, and then enjoyed the rest of the weekend drinking Pilsner!