Geocaching

Wednesday , 20 February 2019 Old timber getters , no big trees here any more On having attention drawn to the geocaches on the Mountain River track it was decided to attempt them and at the same time check on a weed site way up very close to the Sleeping Beauty cache. The weed species is broom and unfortunately there was quite a lot of seedling still there, plus a few now bigger ones overlooked last time. Mountain River Mountain River track River deep, mountain high. Found whilst on a walk to a weed site. SLEEPY KILOMETRE #1: Sounds of the River Found on a walk to check on a weed site, so to birds in one. Took TB SLEEPY KILOMETRE #2: Mouse Found on a walk to check on a weed site, so two birds in one. SLEEPY KILOMETRE #3: Green Rock Found on a walk to check on a weed site, so two birds in one. SLEEPY KILOMETRE #4: Salt & Pepper Found on a walk to check on a weed site, so two birds in one. Actually found by Greg. SLEEPY KILOMETRE #5...

We went for a circuit walk, partly to check on a sensor camera in the area, and took the opportunity to get a couple of caches along the way. Epcaris virgata   a threatened species that grows in the area If You Hide It, They Will Come Sue said there it is, you probably wont be able to see it as you're colour blind. Merton, Wellington Park Post Haste Easy enough to spot so long as on the right side of the fence.

Saturday , 27 December 2014 Eight caches had been added since our last walk up the hill, which is now getting to be close to 4k to the end one. For variety, and to get an additional cache at the northern end of Goat Hills, we walked own the Zig Zag fire trail and that needed care to avoid involuntary sliding. Montrose List 12 - Holden on Fortunately it didn’t take long to work out the answer as an internet search just happened to bring up the right list, although there was 1 dicky one in there. Montrose List 11 - Hard Rock (but no Cafe) Number 12 was visited first and while there Peter's pack tipped over before we headed off to this cache.  Once the log was extracted we discovered that some items were missing and Peter had to walk back to 12 where he also found his drink bottle as well.  An unplanned 300 metre extra walk.   But we did have a cup of tea, although it was a BYO variety. Montrose List 13 - I Love Puzzles I worked out what the puzzle items were but th...

Sunday , 23 March 2014 New caches on the Wellington Falls track plus the replacement of Tiger Snake was a good reason the take the bikes out for a ride. We started out at Neika and rode to the start of the walking track. At least a year had elapsed since they were last used and on the return journey it was starting to be felt. Previously to the current reincarnation of the Tiger Snake cache we had looked for it on several occasions and again today were still not able to locate the very frustrating cache. PTPT Tiger Snake Strikes Back We looked for the original cache on a number of occasions, both going and coming back on the track and again with this reincarnation we had the same result. We checked about the spot that matched the hint until we got fed up and left. PTPT - Take a Seat Took a while to locate and then we had difficulty extracting the container; the use of tweezers eventually did the trick. PTPT - Table and Chairs Well OldSaint we found your cache before anyone else and...

Saturday, 12 October 2013 Barad had mentioned that he had been chasing up drawings for some geocaches he was planning and soon after the CACC series began to get published. One look at the first one had Peter flummoxed but Sue made a suggestion stemming from the picture on the cache web site. This started the wheels in motion as we managed to solve it without too much nudging from Barad, but when the next two came up Peter was hopelessly lost and had to make repeated entreaties to Barad for help; which was willingly supplied. On the appointed search day we set off with Peter convinced in his own mind where the first 3 caches would be. However as CACC 1   was neared the GPS was insisting it was a good 150m off and Peter became convinced that he had copied a coord wrongly. So as it eventually was getting even further off, we switched to look for CACC 2 and found it was right where we were standing. Eventually we collected CACC 3   and headed back by a very steep old track. The...

Friday, 20 September 2013 The lower slopes of mount Wellington have a lot of tracks that can be used for a circuit walk, and today we went from O'Gradys, up Betts then on the north south to the Springs and down Radfords. On checking beforehand it was discovered that the took us past four caches that we hadn't yet scored. O'Grady's Bracken Fairly close to where we left the car and the clue was very helpful. Always Better With .... O' Grady's Refreshment! The naming of the cache became apparent once it was found. However we don't really agree that it is always better with … O' Grady's Log Sue spotted the location from the precise clue. O'Gradys Falls were in good form.   Radford's Monument Sue spotted a very likely location, but she decided it would be Peter who had to put his hand into the unknown.

Tuesday 11 June 2013 This was t he  last one needed to have the right to visit Wellington Peaks H.  On a fine and partly sunny day we walked up the track from Myrtle Forest, getting wet from the bushes with the previous nights showers still cloaking them. Peter had been told of an exotic pine up there and when he spotted it, was most annoyed about not bringing a saw; oh well looks like another trip back there soon. On approaching the summit Neville and John were given a brief explanation on geocaching and Neville helped find the container.   Photo at top     Lunch on Collins Bonnet    above   Mount Connection and below   Mount Marian from Collins Bonnet summit

Tuesday 19 March 2013 There was multiple purposes in going for a walk to Collins Cap. The bushwalk to the summit is a nice walk and of course there was the cache to collect. The third reason was to see what destruction had occurred as a result of the fire there in January and how it had effected the track work the Wellington Park Bushcare Group had done there during the last part of 2012. Ironically the fire had burnt much of the area where the track had been cleared and left the uncut section untouched. Wellington Peaks C - Cap it Off The GPS was followed up the peak branching off the actual track early then down to the spot described. There was a log entry from a muggle who indicated they discovered it by accident, but were happy to go a long with it all and record their entry as a finder. A group from Pandani bushwalking club arrived on top soon after we found the cache and while Greg and Peter were busy with the geocaching exercise, Shirley had to explain why we were off down ...

Tuesday 12 February 2013 The hint for Organ Pipes was up beside a large rock but after going to Devil of a good time! and the rocks there this was not an ordeal. Whilst up signing the log four fellows went by and they were at the seat further down the track when I got there. One of them said that I was in front of them before, so how come they got in front. So I told them about geocaching. The rock beside the track mentioned in the hint, in this case it is the view from the cache site.

Tuesday 12 February 2013 Devil of a good time! Sue had been to Devils Gulch once before and was not at all keen on going there again, so she was happy to drop me off at The Springs.    The walk was a bit more adventurous than it needed to be and at one stage I thought Barad wouldn’t be pleased with the route I chose if he had been able to come on the walk.  As I departed from The Springs two Asian girls asked if they could follow to the top of the mountain.   I told them I wasn’t going the way they would need to and thought to myself they would be in for one hell of a shock at the boulders ahead if they did go my way.  Anyway I took them to the start of the Pinnacle track and gave them some brief directions.  Snow gum trunk Ice House Track     With that I turned left and headed for the Ice House track.   A bit over an hour later (70 minutes actually, so somewhat off Reborn’s pace) I was overlooking the cache area.  I...

Monday 11 February 2013 On this occasion it was the Pipeline from Neika to Ferntree. Our intention was go the reverse way but, with a bushfire meeting for locals, there was no parking left. However this turned out for the best because we stopped at the Wildside Café at Fern Tree for lunch before making the return walk.   PTPT The three "P's" This was our second attempt on this one, but this time some disturbed dirt looked suspicious, so it was quickly found on this visit.   PTPT Rocky Mountain Looked on the wrong side at first then Peter spotted a suspicious object.   PTPT - Fern Glade Lots and lots of muggles as we reached GZ but luckily all was quiet when the search started. After a couple of false attempts a reread of the description brought success.   Falling Silver Well we looked and searched where we reckoned it would be, but without success. Perusal of old logs at home suggest we may have looked in the correct spot but not closely enough.   PTP...

Saturday 2 February 2013 We had been out Mount Connection a year ago but since then a new cache had been placed there. It is always nice to visit Connection and most enjoyable wandering along the top which has a mixture of snow gums and lots of Orites revolutus, but there is always enough open ground to avoid pushing through scrub. Whist in the area we went along the scrubbier ridge top to Tom Thumb. Early on during the morning a very light shower started, but it wasn’t an omen for the day as it turned out quite pleasant with sun and a bit of cloud, and although it got warm it was never too hot for comfort.   The Lectern Although we have been on Mount Connection many times we have always stopped on the small rocky top about 60 metres before this cache site. We had some friends today who helped in the search and it was Sabine who found the hiding spot. Searching for the cache   With the cache   Wellington Peaks B - Tiny Tom Once on top the GPS still had a bit of di ...

Tuesday 22 January 2013 The option we chose to visit some caches along the ridges and peaks overlooking the North West Bay River was by riding our bikes along the Pipeline Track then walking circuit via Wellington Falls, Montagu Thumbs and Cathedral Rock. After parking the bikes the three of us, Barad Bunch, Dave a non geocacher and Peter set off on the well-built track to the falls, after that the rough track to the old Montagu fire trail was used. The last part of this is getting overgrown by Bauera as was parts of the old fire trail. There had been some overnight rain and the bushes were quite wet to push through. It was good going along the Thumbs cathedral ridge, although parts are starting to degrade from use, then down the zig zags to North West Bay River in the rain. After crossing we then struggled up the Siphon track, which is an almost unrelenting grunt for nearly 800 metres at a 1:3 gradient. No wonder we were tired by the time we got on our bikes for the return ride to Ne...

Tuesday 15 January 2013 Devils throne is a walk we do fairly regularly, but on this occasion it was influenced by the geocache that had been put there just last month.  It was a pleasant day for a walk and we were joined by Barad Bunch as well as two others; one familiar with geocaching but the other not being aware of it.   Our GPS's were accurate and the hint pretty clear and on top of that we had the hint photos, so with this and five people we  would have quite surprised not to have been successful in finding the container.                     Ozothamnus on the way Barad checking his calculations for the next cache   Mt Montagu and Devils Throne

Monday 31 December 2012 The pipeline track series was started November 2011 and, apart from a quick search for a few at the start, we had not got stuck into them. The best way we reckoned was to take the bikes, which had not been ridden for about 2 years, so they were dusted off and away we went. Things did not go as planned because we could not find the first one, nor the next one previously unfound. But after that finding them didn't prove too hard, but on the return ride Peter discovered his front tyre rapidly went down. The repair kit was opened but all that remained in the glue tube was air. An attempt to replace the tube failed because Peter did not have the strength to unbolt the nuts with his small shifter. Rather than push the bike the 6 kilometres back he decided to ride the bike and put up with the consequences. The tally for the day was 25; easily our most for one day. We enjoyed the pipeline series and will go back for the one at Wellington Falls and put in a new PT...

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...

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...

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...