Geocaching

Saturday 29 December 2012 This was a day for a short walk and barbeque at New Norfolk.  The circuit walk took us through the township of New Norfolk where we stopped at The Cake Lady for a coffee and very nice cakes made on the premises. When we got back to the main picnic area it was now quite crowded and there did not seem to be a BBQ available, so we skipped up to Lachlan (in the cars) where we found the facilities not in use. A few weeks ago we had lunch here and also located the geocache at the site. On the return trip to Hobart we collected a few geocaches, with our companions for the day all helping. Scout corner This was our second attempt to locate and this time the cement brick that had a us tricked last time was not about to distract us.  Our friend Dave H quite quickly found this one; he seems to have a knack for locating them. Holey Holey Holey On the previous attempt at this cache we looked about the spots near the location quite extensively.  This vis...

Tuesday 25 December 2012 We decided to place a cache further up New Town Rivulet than the existing series owned by “Budgietas” but had a devil of a trouble finding a spot. The problem was making sure it was far enough away from existing ones, which can be complicated by mystery caches. The first attempt got was rejected but the mystery cache was one of those very hard ones, so we made some enquires before making the next effort to place only to get too close to another mystery one. After looking at the information on it Peter made an attempt to solve it. But if proved harder than he imagined. Solving it however would help establish how far our new cache had to be moved. The cache in question was “ Wellington to Lysander ”. On perusing the hint Peter remembered an earlier cache also from Barad Bunch that used the same code. With the earlier one quite a bit of help was needed from Barad and again with this one, after exhausting all the options within reason, Peter was unable to come up w...

Tuesday 18 December 2012 A bit of a mixed day which started to get frustrating, but eventually yielded a better result than it liked like becoming. We found the first cache then couldn’t find the next two and although finding the last in a series could not get at the log. Then at a location at Cornelian Bay we think we found the spot where the multi-cache would have been, but no container.   New Town Bay #1 The spot where we opted to park was right at the site of the first in this series, and it was quick to spot, especially if standing back far enough.   New Town Bay #2 Looked around the garden bed where the GPS indicated until Peter saw a green rubbish bin with slat surrounds that reminded him of a lantern. Looking here and there failed so it was off to the next cache then on return Sue went back to the garden and soon spotted the container. We had to retrieve the log and get it back before the whistling dog walker arrived.   New Town Bay #3 This was a case of read...

Tuesday 18 December 2012 We had The Anomaly this down as one to look for some time and, as we were going to a BBQ at the Waterworks, arrived early and set off for it.   The old track was easy enough to pick up but became a bit harder once the dry creek was crossed.  A log had been left to assist getting over the deeply eroded spot.  Soon after we opted to head uphill to avoid the scrub and not long after this scramble reached a rocky tor.  It was looking a bit unlikely with all the scrub surrounding it, but fortunately, and with some relief, the cache was located.    Peter suggested continuing uphill to the pipeline track as it was more open that way.  It was the soon still a bit of a climb then a contouring pad was used to reach McDermotts Saddle.  From  there it didn’t take long to get back but the excursion took about an hour for the round trip.     Here is the route we took (without the start)  

Sunday 16 December 2012 Although not a long distance it is still very much a bushwalk to get to the upper parts of Black Glen near Lachlan. We drove to the car park which was rough but not too difficult, even though the tow bar touched bottom at one spot. Going beyond the car park would make for a difficult turn around. The plan was to also check out Isla Brook as there are huge cliffs in the region, but a locked gate stopped that and also necessitated a 500 metre reverse back along the narrow road. The walk at Black Glen started with a slippery crossing on the Lachlan River then a short section to a partly cleared spot where the river is again crossed. There was some tape on the right side so we initially tried that way, but on realising that it was a false lead we did the crossing and located the old vehicle track. On the lower part it was somewhat overgrown, including plenty of ferns, but it became more open and quite distinct as the track climbed. At an old cleared site at the to...

Sunday 9 December 2012 Mary MacKillop - New Town Once the GPS settled down to an accurate reading we noticed the likely location for the hide and Sue soon noticed  a well covered spot. Why Bother? This bit of parkland could do with a bit of attention to make it more attractive.  Anyway Sue picked out the spot as soon as we entered the bottom of the area and it proved to be correct.  However she was averse to putting her hand near the hiding place and left that task to Peter. 

Monday 3 December 2012 We decided to take a few more coord readings for Milles jewel and whilst in the area attempt Lookout Wildlife . We have been to this location on several occasions, often to enjoy the flora on the way and listen to the birds while enjoying a cup of tea.  On one visit large Tiger snake was basking just near the spot where the cache container is located.  Fortunately it wasn't there today.

Thursday 22nd November 2012 The caches on the Ice House Track put in by Dippedidooda were the objective behind this walk. As well we decided to place a cache ourselves on the nearby Milles track ( Milles Jewel ) and also collect a few other caches on the Shoobridge and Jacksons track areas.   Jackson's Tunnel It didn’t take long to see the likely hiding spot, but spider webs were already around the opening even though it had been only a couple of weeks since the last finder.   Jackson's Ferns 'n' Logs A bit further up the track, from Tunnel, which was nice and dry today, then back down to the car.   Rocky Whelan’s Cave This is a spot we have been to several times over the years, but the first since taking up geocaching. Left our wizard trackable.   Bicep Started along Shoobridge track and noticed the GPS was pointing uphill, so soon realised we should have gone along the north south track instead. Rather than backtrack or head through the bush we decided to go ...

3 November 2012 The Lost world is at Mount Arthur in Wellington Park and we planned to find the somewhat difficult to get to geocache up there and then enter the cave system which is one of the features of the place. After that there were a few other caches that could be collected on the way home. All did not go to plan with the first problem being that Peter’s GPS did not have any of the caches showing up on the screen. The GPX files had been checked beforehand but none could be seen. Fortunately Barad’s GPS could send them to Peter’s so that overcame the lack of data. On checking the GPX files on the device after getting back at home it was found the missing ones were in fact there, but for some strange reason did not display on the GPS as present. The second problem was that the entrance to the caves could not be found. Plenty of openings were visible but all seemed to have too big a drop to safely enter and be able to extract oneself. Quite a bit of time was spent looking, but it...

Wednesday 24 October 2012 A geocaching day along the old Huon Highway from Fern Tree to Longley then back down the main highway to Sandfly to grab a a few along the road to Margate before collecting our granddaughter from school at Kingston.   Winter Falls This was the first stop for the day and the clue made it quick to find, especially as we have seen similar.   The Japs are coming Part 2 What made this easy was the cache container being clearly visible on peeping down behind the structure; we hid it away out of such easy sight. CD Cache A family were picnicking at a table and probably wondered what two people with GPS pen and paper were doing heading off towards the river. A great mob of chooks also raced towards us as soon as we got out of the car; assuming we guess that we had something nice to through their way. The GPS was a bit erratic under the trees but Peter spotted a location that seemed a likely spot and so it turned out to be.   Old and Older A most i...

  Thursday 18 October 2012 I had never been beyond White Timber Mountain and as the area was mooted as part of a multi-day walk thought  I would check out what the country at the western end of the Wellington area was like.   I had driven up Judds Creek Road had a look about and walked part way along and old access path towards mount Lloyd.  While in the area I thought I would attempt up a few geocaches on the way home.   Ancestral Glen I was taken by the nostalgia with this cache, so, OldSaint, I really was keen to find this one at Glen Huon.   I have mainly gone through the area on way to a bushwalk and one of the places visited is Woolleys Tarn and it nice to think there is a connection.  I always understood the tarn was named after a local who was keen fisherman. Anyway when i (Peter only on this day) arrived there were a couple of kids whose mothers I think watched over them a bit closer when they saw a somewhat dishevelled fellow...

Sunday 14 October 2012 Whilst returning from a bushwalk to White Timber Mountain, some caches located on the drive back were searched for with Barad Bunch.   Jeffreys Track We searched for some time, even had a car of muggles pass us during the search and pass again on their return. However no luck in finding it.   4 Corners-3 The neighbour and her dog greeted us and didn’t think it strange to see people with GPS units outside her home; maybe she had seen it all before. We looked at the likely spots then suddenly a thought of a possible hiding place proved correct. After replacing it we wondered why we didn’t see it straight away.   4 Corners-4 A quick find made.   The Sleeping Mountain It was expected to be on or near the information sign, but not so. However Barad was quickly on to it.   Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place We were in the car park on the opposite side of the highway and realised that we had to get over to the GZ. As we had to go past i...

Wednesday 10 October 2012 With a fairly nice day forecast we decided to drive up to New Norfolk and try to find a few caches we had noticed. Reading some past logs for one at Granton had intrigued and so that was to be the starting search for the day. We were also amused when a car pulled up near a lookout but the occupants walked past it for what we later discovered was a cache site.   8.8 Peter put his hand on what eventually proved to be the cache, but as it didn’t budge decided it wasn’t a container. Sue then noticed a suspicious characteristic and after a bit of fiddling we had it.   Murphys gone flat Even though we had seen a hide similar to this we did not find it for a while. After searching about Peter then rechecked the GPS and walked to where it pointed and promptly put his hand on and object and there it was..   New Norfolk, Historic Town The hint was very helpful and only the muggle who walked by caused us to be a bit cautious. Left trackable geocoin....

3 – 5 October 2012 As we were going on a bushwalk to Freycinet Peninsula the potential geocache finds in the area were checked and several were close to our route. We went for three days, camping at Cooks Beach for both nights and heading down to a rocky peak beyond Passage Beach. Graham (Graham51) was with us although he took the longer return option over Mount Graham where he also managed to locate a cache on his journey. On the way back in the car we picked up a couple in the region. Top of the Pass Our first for the day, located by Graham, and although a few muggles were about none took much notice of us,   Half empty or half full ? We dropped our packs and with two people holding GPS’s and three heading to GZ it was surprising how little attention the muggles paid to our activity. One looked up for a while but soon turned back to look at the scenery elsewhere.   Blue Champagne Our objective for the days bushwalk was the southern peak on the Freycinet Peninsula above ...

Sunday 23 September We had put in a cache  on the domain only to be advised that it was too close to another, so we had to retrieve it and work out a new spot.  The first task though was to find the problem geocache so that we knew how far to move ours. The multi-cache in  question was "Domain Secrets" and while in the area we managed to include another multi.   We managed to short cut things for both these caches by doing a bit of preliminary research. During the search Sue found a lot of cards including a drivers licence, presumably stolen from a car parked somewhere nearby. Skyhooks We came at this from the top and walked down the track to the GZ and found the cache with the help of the hint.  Left Buzz the travel bug to start his journey. On the way back we passed  a fellow who looked to be either checking directions, but maybe he was only looking down at his phone  whilst walking. If there is another log entry today we will know our suspic...

Thursday 20 September 2012 A batch of caches was noted in the bush surrounding the college on Mount Nelson. We plotted a circuit walk, well mostly as there was one bit of retracing steps. In all it was a decent afternoons walk totalling some 6.5 kilometres.   Fused An interesting cache and we knew we were in the right spot because there were two stickers on the ground with Jules Direen printed on them. Eventually the container was spotted, just had to be looking in right direction from the correct angle.   Lean on me We could see the location from the cache name and the hint as we got closer and it didn't take long to find it. Left Travel Bug Artie Ziff   Water Main Followed the wide track until reaching a rougher track down to where we could see a post that signalled the GZ, which was confirmed by the GPS. Mad Max After walking back from the "Water Main" cache the wide track brought us right to the spot. The car body which was mentioned in some logs was clearly...

Monday 17 September 2012 We parked at the upper dam at the Waterworks and walked over the hills to Tolmans and went to look for the "Save My Bacon" near the school sports centre and then made an attempt on "another bridge" before heading back.  We got Bacon but failed on the bridge one. Save My Bacon After a scout about we spotted a site that matched the hint. The GPS reading where we found it was S 42° 55.002 E 147° 18.504 another bridge Spent a bit of time looking but didn't spot it.

Friday 7 September 2012 We had an engagement in Sandy Bay and decided to grab a few caches in the area afterwards. IT was a bit showery on the drive there but the sun was out by the time the function was over. But the mountain looked to have cloud building up and eventually a few spot began to fall on us, curtailing our final cache attempt.   10x10 Vertically We had driven past this site quite few times and, after realising our assumed location was not correct, it did not take long to find.   Mary MacKillop - Sandy Bay We had never had been past here before and found the buildings quite imposing. The cache was in open view and we did cover it up as best we could, but needs something a bit heavier as the wind will soon blow the light bark away. It looked like recent gardening had taken place and check on Google Street View had a lot of bushes at the site, which have since gone. It may be that the environment at the site has undergone a major change since the cache was put i...

Wednesday  5 September 2012 We decided to do a few caches on the eastern shore between Bellerive and Howrah. The pleasant sun and temperatures were predicted to deteriorate about midday, so a morning start was made with the finish to be a fish meal at the café at Bellerive Beach.   Victoria Esplanade The first on the list and when we got the hint in our minds correctly, it did not take Sue long to grab it.   The Russians are Coming! Up the steps and along the bank soon brought us to the cache, where it was spotted by Sue. Quite a bit of water in the moat.   The Bluff A woman busy in the garden fronting the street caused us to be a bit cautious. Sue followed the hint and a small laugh meant she had the cache. We liked the hiding method.   Lets Get Physical 2 We walked past this thinking that we may well check it on the way back. On the return trip, someone was at the GZ and left quickly and hopped in a car, so we walked on to the café. After lunch went bac...

Thursday 12 July 2012 Gradually the cloudy sky broke up and there was plenty of sun for this bushwalk taking us past the three caches in the Bluff River Gorge. After not being able to get across the river last year, we walked directly to the upper crossing point without walking the western side track within the gorge. Once over the river we gradually gained height and reached Looping the Bluff !. Following lunch on a heathy ledge in the sun, with marvellous views of the cliffs on each side we moved on to recross the river and head to Sanding Room Only , followed by No Bluffing, By Gorge ! to round off the day. Graham51 was on the walk so it was joint operation, with help from three others. Looping the Bluff ! Our walk brought us to this site first, and using the clues we encouraged Sabine to discover what a geocache was. She was a little hesitant to put her hand in the hiding location, but after assurances from Graham51 that all would be OK she felt plastic and soon had it out. ...

Friday 6 July 2012 Quite a few months ago Barad Bunch suggested trying to find some of his Kalang series, so Peter had a look and realised that it was going to require a bit of brain power to solve. At first it looked like A|C|G|T (KK 04) may be the easiest, but several attempts to work it out failed. The only thing to do was email Barad Bunch for some help; the reply was “well that is probably the hardest, try some others first”. Well we did but it became clear that this was seriously tough work and Barad had to put up with several more requests for hints of what to do. The only one of the five solved that didn’t need his help was Noughts and Crosses (KK 02). So a really big thanks to Barad for his forbearance. We worked out the route to take with a bit of Google Earth plotting and set out on what was a superbly beautiful day; in fact it reached 17 degrees. Not long after ticking off the first one a woman walked past with her dog and, on seeing us with a GPS and a looking at a sheet ...

Wednesday 4 July 2012 We had two reasons for walking up beside New Town Creek today; one was to deposit three moveable caches we had recently picked up from Knocklofty. The other was to locate the New Town Rivulet Track series. We started near New Town Rivulet Track #3 , which was quickly found by Sue, despite getting her feet wet crossing the creek. The tiny “ Leaps the Frog ” was dropped off near here. It was then on upstream to #4 where we looked about a bit before Peter spotted a bit of tatty old plastic in a tree, which really was just rubbish, but it did lead his eye to spot the real thing. Upstream further was the one described by some logs as a bit scary and it does have the sub title of “Deadly Peril”; #5 . Although Peter knew full well that it was not real, he nevertheless still jumped a bit when he looked closely in the hidey spot. Well so far so good, but we came crashing down on #6. On reaching GZ both the sub title “Straight Six” and the GPS had us looking at the obviou...

Wednesday 27 June 2012 Well the weather was just ideal for a bushwalk to the Three Thumbs and to collect a few geocaches during the trip. However, the geocaching part looked a bit shaky as Peter’s GPS did not display any in the area. A later check at home showed the records were on the GPS and when overwritten with a new copy they displayed OK; puzzling! All was not lost because Barad Bunch had notes on the caches and the grid on his GPS. This enabled us to locate the one near the cars. After morning tea at the lookout over Maria Island we commenced the walk to the Three Thumbs. Shady spots had plenty of frost but a fair bit of the way was along the tops of the main ridge and in the sun. Eventually we w ere on the highest peak, presumably the third Thumb and also what we presumed would be the hiding placed of the “ Three Thumbs Up ” geocache. But when Barad checked his GPS it indicated it was over 400 metres away on the peak previous climbed and descended from. Oh well that would have...

Thursday 28 June 2012 A message came through that Kirby the Frog could not be found so we planned a walk to check this out. Before going, however, Peter looked at the web site and noticed that several other moveable caches had just been planted in the area, so some of these were downloaded to the GPS. This meant we could check that Kirby was there, collect some more and get in a walk and a stop in Lansdowne Crescent for a coffee. To top that off the day was very pleasantly sunny. Leaving the car near Fielding Drive we were quickly up to the frog ponds on Knocklofty and found that Kirby was in fact at home. Kirby’s hiding place From there it was a short distance to “ Leaps the Frog ” and “ Freddo ” which were both quickly located. “ Woodleigh Gnome ” had been down as one to collect when he was at the Waterworks, but someone beat us, and he was one of those dropped off here. This was more of a challenge as it was up through the bush and when the GPS settled down a suspicious ...

Friday 22 June 2012 It was a nice sunny, if quite cold day, and we decided to go for a walk in the suburb of Dynnyrne and collect a geocache “ Log Cabin ” on the way. At first we went up the wrong street in attempting to locate the underpass of the Southern Outlet highway, but eventually found it and Sue worked out the cache location quite quickly.   A schoolgirl muggle appeared just before we had time to return the container, but had it back soon after.  A walk further up the hill brought us past various architecture style of houses; with the most unusual one being a replica of a castle.   Beyond this was a walkway to Tolmans Hill and for somewhere high above the highway it was amazingly noisy from the traffic.

20 June 2012 A bushwalk to the top of Collins Cap was in the plan for the day, with a couple of caches to hopefully be the bonus. On the way up we had a quick search for Myrtle Park, but didn’t latch on to it and left finding it until the return leg. As we got high frozen snow on bushes was met and as planned we went down part of the old Glen Dhu track before seeing if an ascent of Collins Capo could be made from that side of the mountain. However the snow on the bushes was going to make us a bit too wet, so it was back to the track and the normal way up. It did not take us long to discover that it was quite overgrown with very wet chest high scrub which caused us to give up on the attempt. There were four of us on the walk and on returning to the “ Myrtle Park ” cache site all began the search based on the hint. Greg managed to find it fairly quickly. The log was interesting in that two entries were made by people who wrote they knew nothing about geocaching, but spotted the cache c...

Monday 18 June 2012 The last attempt at Total eclipse of the heart C was frustrated by the close proximity of two gardeners just over the fence from the cache site, plus all the noise coming from their equipment. So we quickly gave up on it on that occasion and left. That was in October 2011 and in the intervening period we have seen a variety of cache containers and, on arriving at the site today, we promptly noticed this little one. When you have seen ones like this it is amazing that muggles don’t spot them, it just goes to show how well they blend in.

Monday 18 June 2012 The cache “ Around The Twist ” had us a bit frustrated, because others had found it quite quickly and yet even on this return visit we did not stumble on it for several minutes.   On our first visit we hunted around where the GPS told us was and the closest we got to seeing anything likely was a single light coloured rock.  Peter turned it over and declared that it was in fact a real rock and with not much time available we had to cease searching and head off to collect our granddaughter.   After study the logs and seeing people still easily finding it, we thought that our return visit this time would be a cinch.  That rock looked out of place and we felt fitted the clue, so Peter again examined it, more closely this time.  He thought there may be a fake rock with a hidden opening or perhaps a real one that lifted apart.   But no it really was a real and solid rock, even though it was where the GPS pointed. We had our gr...

Wednesday 13 June 2012 We had an early lunch then drove to Lambert Avenue to commence the walk up through the gully to the summit of Mount Nelson. Eight caches would be passed on the way and the day was pleasantly sunny and it was quite warm walking up from close to sea level to the summit at 340 metres. At the top there is an historic signal station, but having seen it many times before, we were more interested in coffee and cake from the nearby café. As well as caches we also discovered a few weeds that the local Bushcare group have now been told about. There were a few muggles about but they all failed to see us when we were off the track with a cache. Just before the top of Mount Nelson we heard a person say “what was the clue again Dad”, so when Peter passed them he enquired if they were seeking a little plastic box. “May be “came the reply. From a perusal of the logs our guess is that it was the “fennwal”. Our score for the day was seven out of eight, plus a 200 metre diversion ...