Clarence Town couple David Nielson and Erin Fitzgibbon use metal detectors to find pieces of history

David Nielson and Erin Fitzgibbon are a couple in Clarence Town who have bonded over their newly found passion for what they call "detectoring", or going to remote and historic sites with metal detectors searching for treasure.

"It's kinda like fishing I suppose," Ms Fitzgibbon said.

"You never know what you're gonna get."

Their passion started quite randomly, with Ms Fitzgibbon deciding one day to buy a metal detector.

"It was just a random purchase and it was the best thing I ever did," she said.

Beginning their detecting journey in late 2019 the couple have been searching for lost pieces of history since then.

Initially they began detecting in their backyard, much to Mr Nielson's dismay.

"Our backyard looked like a rabbit warren," Mr Nielson said

"I'm pretty proud of my lawn and it was like there was a gopher in the backyard."

Despite this, Mr Nielson soon got onboard after finding a florin in their backyard.

Throughout the nearly three years of detecting the couple have put together a large collection of bits and pieces they've dug up.

Some of their most exciting finds include a ring that another Clarence Town resident had lost, roman coins found along the side of the road and two solid gold sovereigns.

For Ms Fitzgibbon, her most interesting find at first appeared innocuous.

"I thought it was a bottle cap," Ms Fitzgibbon said.

"I was about to throw it in the bin but it turned out to be a World War Two RAAF badge."

"Dave was like 'no, no, that's not a bottle cap' but I said it's junk so we got it out and it turns out he was right."

Finding out the history behind their different finds is one of the big appeals for Mr Nielson.

For this reason his most interesting finds all revolve around different military relics such as the RAAF badge, or different badges from World War Two.

"I wonder, did that guy go to war? Did he come back from war?" Mr Nielson said.

"I look at that badge with so much respect, it's not something you take lightly. It's not just a bit of metal. Someone would have worn that on their hat with pride."

"I get a bit hung up on it just imagining. A lot of those guys paid with their lives and didn't come home."

Detecting isn't all just a walk in the park, the couple have come across a number of dangerous situations on their adventures.

One day while detecting, Ms Fitzgibbon came across a signal saying there was something underneath her and after digging up a few bricks she found what had set off her metal detector.

"I realised straight away what it was and I yelled out 'hey Dave I think I found a bomb.'," Ms Fitzgibbon said.

At first, Mr Nielson didn't believe her and began hitting the bomb with his pickaxe to get some of the stone off of it.

"I literally said to give me the car keys because you're going to blow and I took off," Ms Fitzgibbon said.

After convincing her partner that the bomb shaped object was in fact a bomb, the couple called up the bomb squad in Newcastle who then contacted a bomb squad in Sydney.

"I was standing with this bomb, obviously away from it, for four hours for them to come from Sydney," Ms Fitzgibbon said.

That is not the only risky situation that Ms Fitzgibbon has encountered while detecting.

When the couple are walking through tall grass it isn't uncommon to come across a snake or two, but one day Ms Fitzgibbon found herself uncomfortably close to an Eastern Brown Snake.

"I nearly stepped on this thing, I hit it with the detector," Ms Fitzgivvon said.

"It was a monstrous snake, my instinct was to stand dead still and we sort of stood there for a while."

"She was up in strike position about a metre away, and the other two were laughing in the other paddock."

Eventually Ms Fitzgibbon slowly backed away from the snake before promptly turning away and running away. Since then, the couple always carry a snake bite kit whenever they go out.

Despite the dangers, the couple are still drawn to the mystery of what they might find underground.