I have a bit of an addiction for gold prospecting after helping a bloke in Aus with his claim. It was exciting.

Most places in the US you are aloud to pick for gold, here in the north island it seems you cannot change anything in the river. But can you scuba/mask snorkel for gold anywhere in the North Island?

My great grand father was an engineer for the coromandel roads, between fighting both world wars, he returned home ww2 with some metal in his leg, shrapnel.

Anyway, they use to go on horse back through the thick steep bush in many parts as most will know getting up to Port Jackson/Fletchers bay etc . During this process they found gold. They would take Lard and Rie bread and head Lard sandwiches as it was the only thing that would keep, blah. And a lot of claims opened up around that time, then in the 70s it got banned (luckily before something like the Waihi mine opened in the Mohau mountains).

He gave me this amazing piece of purple and white quartz and you could see the gold flecks inside. For a long period we could find quartz on the beaches especially around river run offs.

That started my itch for gold. I think things are a little more open in the South Island? But has to be private land and of course you have to have consent from the owner?

My Mrs has 2 doctorates in Ecology and even she agrees its a bit over the top. She is an expert Archies frogs which are one of the main reason people dont want Coromandel mind as its an endangered prehistoric frog which does not lay tadpoles, amazingly it lays babies, I think one of a few in the world. Very cool. But there is a huge difference between disturbing their habitat and snorkeling for some gold as a hobby.

Buying a claim in Aus is one very tempting reason to retire there. But I would miss NZ's flora and fauna.