Parker Gains the Trust of a Mining Family in Australia

There’s not too many places in the world that I really feel at peace with, yeah, really.
And this is a cool place, yeah. Right now, it reminds me of when I was a kid, watching the campfire on the edge of the creek. Mum and dad just took us down the river, caught a fish, you know, cooked a fish at nighttime, just living life.
“Oh, it’s the best, isn’t it?”
“Oh, it’s great.”

For me, that hasn’t really happened. The business has always been right on the ragged edge. We’ve just pushed everything as far as we can. I’ve never really had the time to just really relax with it. You know, you don’t go out fishing, you don’t go out hunting, you don’t do anything—you just work, and that’s it.
And like, seeing you and your brothers and your parents—life’s good.
“Absolutely, you know, no sense in working too hard.”

I think what slowed us down, to a point, you know, we were all gung-ho a couple of years ago, and yeah, Mum came down with cancer, you know.
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, and I think it hit the whole family hard.”
“I bet.”
“And earlier this year, we nearly lost Dad.”
“Wow.”
“He had open-heart surgery. It was heart-wrenching for the whole family, kind of shattered us as kids, you know, like wanting to be there for Dad and Mum.”
“Right.”
“Yeah, it was a difficult time.”

“My grandpa had a triple bypass.”
“Yeah, right.”
“When he was about 73, I think, and the doctors told him, ‘Go find something to do because if you sit around, you’re going to be dead.'”
“Yeah, right.”
“And that’s when he started mining.”
“Well, he picked a good venture, you know.”

“Maybe Mum having the cancer, maybe that’s what’s gearing Mum and Dad to do what they’re doing, trying to downsize into something that they can manage a little bit easier.”
“I mean, the only thing I can say to that is that I have the utmost respect for you and your parents and the whole family, and I would love to come be a small part of that. If that means I can lease some ground and not cause any issues, then I would love that. But I will totally respect whatever decisions you guys make.”
“I appreciate that, Parker. Thank you very much.”
“Oh, thank you.”
“Okay, thank you for taking the time and for showing us this and for opening up.”
“It’s a good life.”

After testing the Fitzgerald’s virgin ground at Eureka Creek, Parker is standing on the richest dirt he’s ever seen.
“Cheers.”
“Cheers.”
“A successful trip, eh?”
“There’s a part of me that thinks that we found our spot to be.”

Now it’s time to head back to camp to see if he can strike a deal with the family.
“I heard Chopper.”
“Just get out of here. Yeah, job done. Definitely worthwhile in the end. I like this place. I really don’t want to pack up. I like this place. It’s got gold, and their costs are so low compared to the amount of gold they’re finding. I think it’s absolutely perfect, to be honest. I really think this is the place to be.”
“Yeah, like the Fitzgeralds, you can tell they’re genuine. They’re the most genuine gold miners I’ve ever met.”
“Yeah, I totally agree.

“Hey, hello! You guys are alive!”
“It’s a long night out in the woods!”
“Holy, what did you guys sleep in, a fire?”
“Kind of, yeah.”
“Yeah, how’d you guys go?”
“Yeah, it went well, didn’t it?”
“Yeah, yeah, really well. I got a little experience behind the wheel. I drove a loader, and then we got some good gold, didn’t we Fred?”
“Yeah, we got a really good goal.”

“The profit margin here is insane. Like, I’ve seen a lot of gold mining in Australia, and this is very good. Like, it’s gonna be hard to beat this.”
“Yeah, I agree.”
“Awesome. Well, you guys look pretty packed up here, so we go say bye to everybody and yeah, hit the road.”
“Yeah, we’ve got miles to make.”

“Hi Jack, how are you?”
“Hey, how you going? We’ve got you back.”
“We’re still alive. Done a little bit of testing over on your lease, Dad.”
“Yep, there’s definitely some gold over there. We ran a yard, that’s better ground than we’re mining in the Yukon.”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Yeah, it’s definitely a piece of ground that I think we’d be pretty well suited for, and I’m pretty interested in.”

“So, I don’t really know where to go from here. We’re moving on to continue with the journey, but I am genuinely interested in making something happen here.”
“We wanted you to test it, and you’ve certainly gained our trust, so now the next step is let’s negotiate. If you’re interested, we’re interested. We’ll negotiate.”
“Alright, perfect. I’m glad we ended up here.”
“Yeah.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh, you too. Thank you, Jack, and thank you so much for opening your home up to us.”
“Oh, it’s your home as well now. You’re a mate, you’re a friend.”
“It’s nice to know you now. You guys have made us feel like it’s our home as well.”
“It is your home.”
“Yeah, that’s good.”
“Yeah, we’re gonna miss it.”
“Well, you’ll have to come back then. Pick up your family and come back.”
“I’d love to. You’re gonna come back from town one day and find Fred and his family moved in.”
“You said I could come. I wouldn’t object, I can tell you now.”

“Alright Cheryl, I need a hug.”
“Me too.”
“Thank you for everything.”
“Thank you, Parker. It’s such a pleasure.”
“We had a little bit of concern at the start, but we definitely have trust in Parker now. I’m going to ring his mother and see if I can adopt him.”
“And what about home for me too?”

For Parker to find a better scenario than this to invest in, I don’t even know if it’s possible.