With the world’s best athletes in town for the Olympic Games, there’s a serious gold rush under way in London right now.
The good news is you don’t have dedicate years of your life to becoming a top-class athlete to get your hands on some precious metal of your own. You don’t need a high-level security clearance to the world’s largest gold depository either. And you certainly don’t have to hatch a plan befitting of a criminal mastermind.
All you need is a big metal dish used to wash bits of gold loose from bits of mud and dirt (known as a pan) and patience by the bucket load.
Many techniques used in prospecting, or fossicking as it’s otherwise known, haven’t changed in well over a century. The hardest part is selecting where to make your bid for gold.
We reckon California (find some flights to the USA) and New South Wales (have a browse through these flights to Australia) are the best places to start. People have been prospecting in both regions for decades, and they can’t all be wrong!
Sure, plenty of the gold has already been picked up. But that doesn’t mean it’s all gone – far from it. There are loads of stories about regular people chancing upon life-changing amounts of gold on public land in recent years.
Maybe with an Olympic effort you’ll win gold for yourself too. That is unless we find it first!
Read all our Olympic Games coverage:
Get up close and personal with Olympians at Madame Tussauds
Oddest places to stay during the Olympic Games
Olympic county Dorset’s cultural Olympiad
Torch coral at The Deep – a natural Olympic Torch for London2012
Olympic mascots through the years [pictures]
5 things you didn’t know about the London Olympics
Arrive at the Games, Olympian style
Where to watch the Olympics if you don’t have a ticket
Scale an Olympic venue – the O2 Arena
London’s new cable car – the Emirates Air Line
#FollowFriday: Olympic Tweeps to follow on Twitter
Ways to avoid the Olympics in London this summer
Written by insider city guide series Hg2 | A Hedonist’s guide to…
(Image: VisitSweden)
