Sommers Bay Journey
Saturday, 8 June 2013 For the last couple of months we had on the radar a visit to the Murdunna area to both the see the destruction from the bushfire and to get the Barard caches. We also thought buying morning coffee and lunch would be a way of helping the local businesses. Coffee at the Murdunna store was acceptable but only came in throw away containers; it could be better with cups and some food to choose from plus a door directly out to the deck. Lunch was at Dunalley Waterfront Café which had a nice atmosphere and service was good. Sommers Bay is a pretty area. After having a coffee on the deck at the Murdunna store it was a short stroll to GZ. In fact Sue had it found well before Peter even had his GPS on. We left Soccer Ball TB
We walked down the gravel path to the jetty then were unsure which way from there, mostly because of a sign nearby, which seemed to suggest that it was private property where we needed to go. The answer was to walk around on the rocks then after going to an easy access point walked up into the bush as we knew it would now be public land. As the GZ was approached so too did the jet skiers, whose noise by now was becoming quite irritating. After walking on to view Flinders Bay a different return was attempted but always ended at the back fences of shacks. One track seemed promising but we turned back as it too appeared to lead to a shack. After going back the way we came in, a shack from the road revealed that the track we gave up on was in fact a right of way.
View over Norfolk Bay from near Sommer 1
Starting at the beach entrance it became slow going up to the boat sheds where we then went over the open country above in a direct line to the cache. At last the jet skis were now out of earshot. Now with all the data for No 3 it was back the same way to the sheds then along a track inside the reserve until adjacent to No 3.
View over Norfolk Bay from Sommer 2
On returning from the Sommer series this was quick to find bet a bit of a stretch. There was a scramble down a bank involved in reaching GZ. Unfortunately some of the reserve in the area has the weed, Erica. For each of the Sommer series JABs had signed the log before us; a bit of a surprise to have two teams of cachers on the same day at this more out of the way locale. It took us longer than imagined for the Sommers Bay series and by the time we stopped for Graves Gone the low tide had well and truly passed. But we had gum boots and hoped that all would be OK. After parking the car, our first obstacle was a creek crossing, but it was not very deep so the crossing was easy. Once opposite the island the water looked ominously deep, but with socks off and trousers rolled up we were still hopeful. Sue was first to start over but had only taken about five steps before the water was over her boots and then lapping at her trousers. Peter decided not to follow and it wasn’t long before Sue abandoned the effort. Our next surprise was the return creek crossing which was now over boot height. Our final bit of hardship was getting the gum boots off; it was especially hard to pull Sue's off and for a while we thought this would be a failure too. Well this was a case of not looking closely at the map and just making assumptions about the hiding area. As we approached where we assumed it would be the GPS pointed straight across the canal. Realising that a wade was totally out of the question and that chance of a hitch from the passing boat would be less than zero it was back to the bridge. However we had to wait for the canal operator to close the bridge and open the gates before being able to proceed to the real GZ. The clue meant this did not take long to find, and there were no muggles near at all. We walked past a property with big pines surrounding it and on two of the sides next to it the fire had destroyed everything; quite a lucky escape we thought and the owner agreed saying he didn't know how his property survived. Anyway as to the cache, the log was so wet that it could not be signed. This was just a few steps from the lunch stop and after a couple of false looks it took a feel to locate the container. We did look at the map a bit closer for this OldSaint one. One of the hint items had sprung back into fresh growth, but passing motorists must have wondered why two people were standing on the bit of burnt out ground between the roads. We had trouble with the count for one item, but after correcting that it the GPS took us to the very spot close to where the car was parked and that Sue had thought a very likely hiding spot. If we had looked there it would have saved doing all the maths. We bought an ice cream from the shop/service station, but they didn't have much idea about customer service.
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