On Top of The World Darke Peak, South Australia, Australia
By Tweety2 and Storsum on 26-Jul-09. Waypoint GC1WCNK

FTFs have been out for a couple of weeks on top of Darke Peak for a couple of weeks now and I have been lucky enough to be invited with Sharon and Wolly and there 4x4 to jointly claim them. Stopped for this traditional on the way too the second FTF. Another great drive up to an amazing view. Nice easy climb down and another huge cache container was found. No hat required to be put on my head today but plenty to choose from if one is required. Thanks to the Tweety2 for placing and maintaining Condition excellent Coords. Excellent Took. Nothing Left. Nothing TFTC

TFTC. After seeing some new caches published atop the range and with hellyonfire soon leaving us, we hatched a plan at work to come grab these (hopefully still) FTFs today our next day off!Off we set slowly creeping up the hill, unusually Sharon was driving, usually this is Wollys domain!We get to the location and then have to go hunting, I dont do edges very well so hellyonfire and Wolly did the retrieving!Onto the next cache!

Well Ive been caching for 10 years now & this one has been sitting haunting me on my map forever! 12 years since I last went over the range & Ive been asking my other half to do it again ever since I started caching. With Finderob007 in the district also looking to do it, I seized the opportunity. I had the car, I just didnt want to go alone. We penciled in a date a few weeks ago, alas I forgot I had double booked myself. Rescheduled to yesterday, alas it was too windy - so windy it blew the roof off the bowls club in Cleve. New plan was in a few weeks time, but an opportunity arose today to go child free & finderob007 was available so off we went. We made a few stops along the way to admire the views & for Finderob007 to grab the other cache. We rocked & rolled our way over the range and parked 7m from GZ. Thankfully we both had appropriate footwear and made the descent safely, a stunning little lizard was sheltering beneath the cache. With so much traffic over the range I was surprised that the last find was close to 12 months ago. Now to make our way back down. Thanks to Tweety2 & Storsum for the cache, it was worth the wait!

QED Thanks for the adventureThanks martini989 pilotPhotographer extraordinar This is one to get

What a find! Great adventure to the top of the world A Lucky ZAPS dad isnt afraid of heights & cliff! Great cache

Our adventure cache of the day .
Setup base in Cleve and headed to Darke Peak today, caching along the way . Well, we've finally arrived, through a couple of gates and up to the parking area - and beyond , the track being open to drive all the way to this cache, our target for the day . Was great to travel the saddle between the crests - something you don't know about until you get here .
The views west and east are magnificent and it was great to find a decent sized container [^].
TNLNSL.
Continued to follow the track, hoping to make it to the actual peak , but it wasn't to be - looks like we missed the turn , coming down between the 2 quarries. There's always next time .
Thanks Tweety2 and Storsum.

What a way to spend a Saturday morning and to get a tick in your D/T matrix. This one has been on the radar for some time. Driving in solo wasn't on the cards, especially as the new caching mobile is not as kitted out as the new unit and still avoiding pin strips, so a walk in was in order. Chose to enter from the North. It's only 2km as the crow flys lol Was more like 2.5km, seriously steep and rocky in places but the views atop the 3 peaks you cross are well worth it. Enjoyed the cache as told by looking through the spoils - cant say that's done normally. A fav from us. TFTC and adventure

Wow! Just wow!
This is what caching is all about.
Solo trip in this morning, read previous logs & came from the east as suggested.
The views make it all worthwhile & the drive in.
Fave point from me
TFTC

It took a fair bit of crawling over the rocky terrain but we eventually made it to the top of the world. Great cache. TFTC

H423L drove and I hung on. You don't have a lot to hang on to as a passenger so you just do what you can. But hang on you do and try not to be a back seat driver. It's hard but I do my best in these situations. Sometimes it doesn't matter which track you go on but whatever it is you agree with the driver. [xx(]

So we made it up and my Garmin said 9m to the cache. Easy.... but that last 4m was the worry!!

We took a few pics from the top which I have included here. We threw the camera up so it was higher than the top of the world. What a view to die for.

We pushed on and did the whole track from south to north. It's worth it. A great drive. Indeed one of the best drives you can do on Eyre Peninsula - so highly recommended. Just do it.

Thanks to Tweety2 and **clear skies** from TeamAstro. [^] Cache the planet! [^]

Did I say brilliant driving. Really brilliant!![:X]

Well that was entertaining!
Apparently there are three routes to it
From the North
From the South (from the Tank near Federation lookout)
From the East
North and South have lots of rocks. Lots.
We came in from the South and left via the East after choosing wisely at the T junction.
Apart from the serious washout East was the best option.
We noted others had parked at the tank and walked 4.5km each way. But we had the Landcruiser which is all kitted out. How hard could it be?
On the way in we were very glad we had seriously good tyres and high clearance.
And lo range. Because it does get quite steep. Up and down.
The brilliant views were only slightly distracted from by the off camber tilted angled driving near steep drop offs.
e.gregory1 was correct about the ability to U turn at the cache location (10 point turn).
Although the “track” does continue and we now know it will exit to the North so there is no absolute need to U turn.
The main issue with coming in from the East would be choosing at the various forks which are not signed.
At GZ Janet was not all that happy when Brad disappeared over the edge! As others have said the cache is big enough so you can’t miss it, once you get down to it.
The locals obviously know it is there as the logbook has many more muggle names than geocachers!
And 13 months unloved too
Thanks for an adrenaline adventure. These sort of caches are why we love this game.
FP

Found It!
I made trip up to this one with e.gregory (in his car) and we drove to within a couple hundred meters of the top. At first, we were expecting a walk but the track kept going so we just kept driving! Great views from the top! Then I climbed over the edge and soon found the very large cache!
TFTC

I am heading over from Adelaide to Port Lincoln to catch up with the geoson for the weekend, taking my time over a couple of days to explore, and to pick up a few (mostly) targeted caches along the way. This cache was on my list.

Laighside Legend was also on the Peninsula so we joined forces for this one. After identifying what might be a workable approach, we jumped into my vehicle and headed up the track.

The track was quite reasonable and it didn’t take us long to get up to the ridgetop and close to the cache. We stopped about 300m short at a spot where we could turn around as we weren’t too sure what it might be like at GZ. However we needn’t have worried as there was also plenty of turning space there.

After the short walk it was then just a matter of making a bit of a scramble down to the cache. And there was no chance of missing it!

Thanks Tweety2 and Storsum for the cache. A favourite point from me.

Had found the cache at Fereration Lookout a few weeks ago but the weather wasn't great for attempting this one then. With fine weather predicted today we set out to conquer The Top of the World! We parked at the Federation Lookout car park and set off along the ridge. The GPS said that the cache was 4.5kms away, as the crow flies. We estimate that it was probably 5.5 kms. The track is well defined and it only took just over an hour to reach GZ (be sure to turn left when you reach the T junction). Up to this point the difficulty was only 4, the last 6 metres is what makes it a 5 but the container is easily found and the walk back the the car easier than the walk there, being mainly down hill. Well worth the effort, great views.
TFTC Tweety2

I had noticed this cache a couple of days ago as I drove along the muddy roads beneath the Darke Range
Up there eh ??!!

So after a grand day out of bushwalking on nearby Mount Carappee yesterday, this cache had to be today's target

I set off early and parked the geomobile at the water tank near Federation Hill Lookout.
Then it was time for a brisk stroll along the ridgetops to reach GZ.
The wind was still blowing strongly, and freezing cold [:o]
And about an hour later, I found meself on top of the world

Well that was easy
Where's the cache ?
A wander around the cairn and ridgetop produced no sign of a large cache [:o]
One possibility remained ....
.... oooh !!!

And a bit of a scramble later I had the cache in me sights.
Hard to miss once you can see it [:o]

TFTC, the walk and the scenery [^]
Oh if only the sun would shine

It is that time of the year again.
The June long weekend is on and Mr Parrot and a young einstein have teamed up to play as Pirate Parrots this year.
So here we are running around near Cleve this long weekend.

And we were on top of the world

Can it get any better than this...


Caching at it finest. I would happily hand over all the favourite points in my pool to this one.

We only did 6 caches today but this one equals doing another 1000.

We had just done the Fields of Darke Dreams cache and I had read that someone had come in from the east.
Since there was a trail leading away to the east towards the summit we thought what the heck lets go for a stroll and see where it takes us.

I was in sandals and water, radio and everything else was back in the car but hey it was a great afternoon for a walk so why not.

Headed out on a magnificent ridgetop walk that just got better and better.
Finally ended up at GZ and found a cache and I made a mark in the log.
We put a rock on the cain, admired the views and took pictures before strolling back to the car as the sun was setting.

You live for caching days like this.

Great, Great work.

Just another drive with m8's ova the range.

Checked on this one today, all is still in order.

Great drive into drake peak but roads too slippery:-(

This was a very imteresting drive,I also approached this from the south and then turned around and found the track that the locals use coming from the east.The east track would have been a lot easier. Swapped an Australian Grain Export cap for a AgLine hat,tftc.

Views are well worth the drive. I felt relaxed sitting in the passenger seat checking my messages and just closed my eyes when it got hairy - I thoroughly recommend this helpful approach.
Seriously, I enjoyed this cache and made me wonder why I ever bother with suburban park hides. TNLNL
Thank you for the cache


This entry was edited by Gum-Ako on Friday, 28 September 2012 at 23:19:12 UTC.

Great WOW factor cache. We greatly enjoyed the hospitality of Gearbox & Deb at the Darke Peake hotel on last night of our trip. This was the last of some 'out of the way' cache finds on our trip from Adelaide /Coober Pedy/Anne Beadell Highway/ Connie Sue Highway/ Cocklebiddy / Darke Peake / Adelaide. Gnarly 4WDing, top views. Super cache box. We did the hat swap - we put a beanie in and took the Nescafe shirt out.

Great day with great people

Could not of had a better day then we got with great people and a great view. TFTC

On a Sunday drive, just checking all is OK.

Well we made it. What a trip that was. The trusty 1955 Land Rover taking the lead, while the modern Jeep was happy to allow us to blaze the trail while they brought up the rear. Glad we took the Land Rover & not my good patrol. Fantastic trip & the views were well worth it. We entered from the Southern End & went right the way through. The Northern End is certainly a lot rougher, but still worth it. A few of us passengers bailed out on some of the northern sections. Our nerves preferring to see the sites on foot rather than in the car. (we did get back in!!) We took a packed lunch & ate it at the top of the range. Certainly a worthwhile cache to grab & a fantastic day out.

Thanks Tweety2 & Storsum for putting the cache here, it is certainly one that we will remember.

TNLN - (no one wanted to give up their favourite cap!!)

Wow what an experience, this was only my second time looking for a geocache. The trip up the hill is not for the faint hearted, you definitely need a capable 4x4 and would want to be an experienced 4x4er. The view from the top was totally amazing, entering from the northern end also makes it quite a challenge. What more can I say but this has to be one of the most exciting drives I have done, if you don't have a 4x4 then hiking is an option but you would want to be fit.

Also Grabbed Travel Slug TSHRC6 will move it on soon

Thanks heaps Tweety2

This entry was edited by camelman62 on Wednesday, 16 June 2010 at 19:53:21.

Bug drop off.

Published