Gold Hunting Adventures: Exciting Gold Panning and Prospecting Trips for all Levels

We offer 60-minute gold panning excursions and comprehensive day-long adventures for intimate gatherings, ranging from unique family experiences to instructing experienced miners. Our instruction covers the techniques and locations for discovering gold nuggets, utilizing an array of cutting-edge tools and techniques.

Duration: 6 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Aorere River - Learn how to where to find gold in the river. How to pan and sluice for gold. An introductory to metal detectors. In depth knowledge of finding gold nuggets with detectors.
What's Included
  • Use of gold mining equipment
Location
19 Tasman Street
Tasman Street
Meeting at the Collingwood Warf Car park
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
5.0
(21 Ratings)
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Kiwiboy66
Nov 2, 2024
A gold fun day - Had a great day with Steve fossicking for gold on the beach of a nearby river. We learned a lot about where and how to target gold and we're very happy with our finds. Steve is a marvelous tutor and is more than happy to share his knowledge. Would recommend. Julie and George Hawke's Bay
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nomad59343114039
Oct 22, 2024
And yes, we did find gold! - We had a wonderful day with Steve. He assessed what we wanted to do and adjusted the day to suit your fitness and skills and was very enjoyable and relaxed company. Magic day in a wonderful part of the world. Highly recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Culture60078799061
Oct 20, 2024
Wonderful gold experience - We spent a wonderful day learning gold prospection with Steve. This guy have a huge kindness and he is so clear to explain you the way of prospecting and Golden Bay history. He totally transfers you his passion for gold hunting ! I couldn’t be more happy for a birthday present because in addition to all knowledges and tips Steve told us, we found several nuggets ! The first one was so exciting and the next ones were so satisfying. I recommend 100% to go with Steve, you’ll enjoy your day ! Thank you so much Steve 🙏
Review provided by Tripadvisor
C8153pocindyc
Sep 12, 2024
Great adventure hunting gold - We spent 2 days with Steve learning so many different aspects of gold hunting. We had the best adventure trying our hand at panning, sluicing, detecting, scouring crevices etc. what a great way to spend the weekend! The scenery is breathtaking and we managed to find gold!! Thanks Steve for a wonderful experience, and the laughs. We really appreciate all the knowledge you shared with us… priceless.
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Linda
Nov 28, 2022
Golden day out - A great day out with Steve and some gold to add to our collection. This was our 5th gold adventure in the last few years and a must-do for us when we visit this lovely part of the country.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Paulinefromnelson
Jul 27, 2022
The best your money can buy - We had such a great day with Steve. Lots of laughter and humour, plus we got gold! Steve showed us how to metal detect, sluice and gold pan - we learnt so much. Steve was very generous in his giving of knowledge, time and words of encouragement. Having taken my metal detector along with me, I’m now more confident in getting out there to use it. This is one of the best tours money can buy. Would definitely recommend booking.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Keithsy1358zg
May 9, 2021
Great Adventure - We had two excellent days with Steve. He is a great guy who is knowledgeable about all aspects of gold prospecting. He is a good teacher and was very patient and generous with his time. What a great experience we had. I would highly recommend Steve's trips.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Glennh1753
Feb 25, 2021
Fantastic day - The day spent with Steve metal detecting, sluicing and panning was the highlight of my 10 day holiday in Golden Bay. Steve lets you use his Minelab Gold Monster 1000 metal detector after giving you to follow instructions and takes you to various locations on a private gold claim to search for gold nuggets. Every positive tone I got from the detector in gold discrimination mode proved to be a gold nugget from a 0.2 gram to a 1 point something gram. Steve told me that I was extremely lucky to have come across a such a good patch of nuggets in the Schist bed rock and to not expect it to be this easy every time. After metal detecting we went on to river sluicing for gold and finished the 6 hour trip by panning the fine material trapped in the sluice mat. We did get a few decent flakes in the pan and these where added to my glass vial of nuggets. Steve is a very friendly guy, has great gold prospecting experience and really passes on his knowledge to you during your day in the gold fields. I now have the gold prospecting bug and highly recommend you book a day in the gold fields with him to experience a gold hunting adventure you will never forget. Many thanks Steve and hope to be back in Golden Bay soon for another gold hunting adventure with you.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Rebecca
Oct 18, 2020
What a day! - Going gold hunting with Steve was the highlight of our stay in Golden Bay. What an awesome experience with an awesome guy! Steve’s passion for gold hunting rubs off on you and he makes sure that you get the gold hunting ‘buzz’. We were lucky enough to use a detector, go panning and use a sluice and managed to come home with our vial of gold and garnets! I highly recommend this for everyone!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dunjaandreas
Jun 10, 2020
Walking at an old reef and detecting around there and the forest, also we did a part gold panning in the small river - Gold Hunting at its best! We booked very spontane a private tour with Steve, to do gold hunting with detector and panning. I t was so much fun!!! Steve is a super professional and such a nice guy and he was soooo patient, when we have found our first gold flake as we immediately got caught by the gold fever:) We couldn't stop and when ever we heard the beep beep beep of the detector we thought to be billionaires in a minute:) OK, this didn't happen and this was also not the idea to do this tour. It was such a nice afternoon and we would highly recommend when you are around, just do it, it is a great adventure, being surrounded by beautiful nature, big forests and rivers. Relax and enjoy we all can say, we want to come back for another trip with Steve for sure!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $220
up to 8 guests
1 Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).