Higgins Hidden Valley #4: The Secret Westleigh, New South Wales, Australia
By Yurt on 13-Aug-10. Waypoint GC2B8K5

Without giving away too much, because one has to experience the final in the series to really learn The Secret. This is what geocaching is all about. At GZ we spent a lot of time checking out all the possible spots. Finally after an hour of futile searching, we made a call to a previous finder, and received a pointer. This lead to us finding the cache in a location we had previoulsy checked. This whole series has been a classic, an deserves a FP. Thanks Yurt. Loved the whole series.

I nearly logged this cache without actually finding it as I didn't realise that it is a multi-mystery and I can't read instructions.

Enjoyed collecting the other caches in the series and having collected #3 ealier in the day I decided I needed to visit the final. It is in a cracker of a spot well worth the price of admission.
Enjoyed following the hints to make the find. I didn't see the cache but I could feel it, and soon enough our name was in the log.

I had to steal a FP back from another cache to award it to this one, for the series as a whole.

Out on a cache run with the team and came down for this mystery which TARDIS 0061 had found all of the information for. Was a bit of an effort to narrow down the hide location once at GZ, but persistence paid off and fittingly TARDIS 0061 made the find in the end. With the cache in hand, we signed the log before replacing it as found. Both the log and cache are in good condition. Thanks for the cache Yurt.

The following TBs came through for the mileage : Bob geoMinion, Dave geoMinion, Evil geoMinion, Jerry geoMinion, Larry geoMinion, Mary Hyde's Treasure, Stuart geoMinion, teamMerlin's 7 Deadly Ducks Tag (Lust), Vanlith The Youngling, Hidden Creatures Geocoin TB, teamMerlin's Football, Searching for Paradise, Moneypenny Deadly Duck, Fox and Geese Geocoin, GEO FORTRESS First Austrian Mega Event Geocoin, Fridge Magnet, The boomerang, True Blue Deadly Duck, Green Jelly Deadly Duck

Full log to follow

Not much of a geocacher these days but I love this area and dropped by on a Covid-19 walk. Thought I'd be able to find the cache still and it was there although slightly moved. I checked the cache and it's all sound and dry. Put it back a bit further in.

Mrsmith00 and I were determined to avenge our previous dnf and continue my streak.
After making our way back to the gz, we began checking the same spots as last time, albeit this time with better torches, we very quickly had the CIH.
Almost unbelievable that we’d missed it the first time.
A couple of bush walkers passed us by as we were about to leave, alerting us to the proximity of the main track.
We took the vertical short cut to make the return journey considerably quicker.
Glad to finally have a smiley here.
Tftc.

Tftc, I returned with Azzepious to avenge our previous DNF and to continue Azzepious' streak. We went to the first waypoint to confirm out instructions before heading on the way. After getting to GZ we rechecked some previous spots with some torches for a quick discovery! How did we miss it last time!

After signing we heard some voices above us. Are we this close to the track? We exited in a more vertical fashion than how we came in.

I did the other caches almost in reverse order, starting each at different points, and only put the bits together at home. Today I struck out from Valley Road and found the WP without any trouble. Once I got to GZ I saw the landmark that was the clue to the prize. I searched several spots, poking things with sticks, and using a feeble torch. I was fixated on once particular hiding spot util I saw that I could see it from the other side, and nothing was there. Then I started to worry about how high I might have to go.. Before doing anything really silly I broke out a far more effective torch and made the find (but only after discovering a Gollum-like lizard that I don';t think has ever seen the light of day!).

The handle was a bit stiff, but the contents were bone dry. Thanks so much for this series of caches. The Secret is indeed pretty and I have occasionally happened across similarly pretty spots elsewhere in the Berowra Valley. However the real surprise find for me in recent days was the Bluegum forest along Dog Pound Creek (particularly at the cache "This is Sydney's most beautiful bushland" - before going there I thought the title might have been stretching things, but that is a truly beautiful place). TFTCs!

I collected caches 1-3 of this series a couple of weeks ago but ran out of time that day and decided to take the clues home.

I soon had coords and a hint that looked good and was surprised to see we had walked right past there on our last visit !

Today we headed into the valley from Valley Road and headed to the calculated coords. It took us a while to find the box as I thought we were looking for something bigger.

With the instructions committed to memory we set off.

Wow GZ is beautiful. A lovely hidden spot.

They say it’s good luck if a bird poops on you but what does it mean if a Powerful Owl poops on you? That’s exactly what happened to me as I searched for a natural TOTT to help with my investigations lol

There was a pretty place to wash off very close by and whilst I did, geohubby made the find !

Fav point for this one, I loved it

Tftc

Having solved the puzzle and discovered WP1 Azzepious and I headed down into the rainforest! Quick find at WP1 had us on oir way to GZ. Trekked up and got to what we thought was GZ. Looked around with no find. Messaged CO who replied promptly that we were in right area so we continued searching all nooks and crannies with no luck. With no finds in nearly a year i hope it hasn't gone walk about. Will return! It's a lovely area!!

#3569 (2 of 2 today)

Well originally the family was heading up to the central coast for Christmas with friends, but the lurgi is still circulating at home with the Geowife and Geoson #3 the latest victims - Geoson #2 is now the only one unaffected.

So no central coast caches for me today, sigh. Hmmm, what to do?
Decided to head a little north anyway and grab **Yurt's** new cache. And then I thought of another of his nearby that I haven't gone for, which is unfound for about 11 months.

Sounds like a plan.
###END OF CUT AND PASTE SECTION###
And here was one I'd prepared earlier... Well, one I've had a solution to for some months. Speaking of months, there are about 11 unloved months here , the last finder being back in January.

Tossed up how to approach the solved coordinates. Decided on one, but as I saw could have done the other.
Made my way there and my instincts were spot on re placement here. Made the grab and saw a very large and plump guardian. Luckily it was light brown and not glossy black... I nudged it away with a stick and it sprung away. Well, I guess it's probably been comfortable hiding there for a while.

Grabbed the required info and worked out my final target.

Got to a spot that fit one part of the hint, but not the rest. Hmmm. Decided I needed to check it. Only thing I spotted were leeches! Lots of them. I even spotted two racing over the ground towards my shoes!
Fortunately, having read the logs I'd applied atomic strength repellent to the tops of my shoes, bottom of my pant legs and my socks (which were pulled over my pants).

So reconsidered and headed for another spot. Aah, this looks far more likely - very nice, and not really visible until you're pretty much right there. Used the hint and made a quick find in the third spot I checked. And spotted more leeches, of course!

Opened to find I was indeed the first finder since January. Cache still in good condition - the abundance of leeches probably soaks up any moisture that could affect the cache.

Completed signing duties and replaced. Then decided on a quick climb out rather than backtrack. Much easier in the end.

Wonderful spot. For that alone it's worth a favourite, but this is also the culmination of a top series around this bushland. That's also worth a favourite.
However, I do have to subtract one favourite for all the leeches, even though my preventative measures kept me biteless. (To be honest, I'm suspecting there is no leaf litter here - it's all just leeches flattening themselves as a disguise!)

End result... Awarding one favourite!

Glad I finally made it here. Thanks **Yurt**.

SLTNLN
TFTC

Checked on the cache after all the recent rain but it was still high and dry. Perhaps a little higher? Put it back in its proper spot. The indicator is still in place too. Cache contents dry.

After Don's Party needed a long cold shower so with the rain now pounding why not.
From number 1 with all the components of the puzzle, put it all together and got a positive response from the checker. The rain now pretty much constant. Looked at the location and the time and figured I should be able to find it before I needed to be back home. Re-positoned the car and headed down and way I had been before. Wasn't too long before I arrived at the WPT. Quickly found the next instructions. Thought for a second about leaving it for another visit but I was soaked through so may as well continue. The rocks in the creek surprisingly not too slippery under foot. Found the object and started looking around. Quickly assailed by numerous leeches. The first I had seen today. Plucked these off and continued looking, perhaps a little high. Got the torch out. Pulled more leeeches off. Changed batteries. Pulled more leeches off. Climbed back down. crossed over. Thought for a second. Pulled more leeches off. Went back. Shined a torch in a few other spots. FOUND IT! Pulled some leeches off. Signed log. Replaced. Pulled leeches off.
Headed back up to the car. Luckily the picnic blanket protected the car seat from my wet clothes. On the M1/F3 a leech started inch worming up my arm...out the window at 110kmh...the leech, not me. A little further on felt around my ankles...two more leeches thrown out the window, they may have landed on the car behind. Got home stripped off...assorted leeches in boots. Only three actual bites. Fav awarded for the most leechy place in Sydney. Enjoyed the afternoon, thanks Yurt.

#210
Started the series 3 weeks ago and for some reason, did them in reverse order. Headed out to the verified coordinates this afternoon. I thought I understood the clue but it was quite a tricky hide so explored some other areas first. Got my first surprise when I realised this was not the end. Followed the instructions and got my second surprise with the scenery at GZ. The new hint helped and was able to locate the cache within 5 min. Thanks for the series Yurt. It was a great way to explore this part of Sydney.

Special thanks to the CO on the cache check, and such a gorgeous location was my reasoning for my return. Unlike the other day, quick find as I believe the CO again cleaned off all the camo added by mother nature.
Good to see plenty of muggle walkers using the trails and I slipped off the track and disappeared out of view to search away.
I will never forget the effort to navigate to no.1, following a non trail for a few hundred metres frog hopping river stones. Giving the series a fav, even though I couldn't see the simple workings to determine the co-ords until I opened my eyes. Thanks Yurt, and thanks for your patience.

Well aren't I showing all what not to do.
Had that hit your head against the wall moment in working out WP1, and needed some encouragement from the CO to act on the finds from the start of the month.
WP1 was a straight up find, photo taken and walked via the creek, would of been wiser to use the trail though. Spotted the arrow item and wandered what I was doing, I mean wandered in circles. Cleared the area of leeches, I feel and TFTH

9/3/15. 2:12 PM. Cache #2311. Streak day #260. A long time coming, this series. I first found HHV2 back in July 2013, and then HHV1 & HHV3 were both last year (July & October). I then realised that I had misplaced my clue from HHV2 so couldn't solve the puzzle, so I went to the CO. He hadn't got back to me, so I revisited HHV2 earlier this morning, again approaching from below. Got the clue and solved it at home over lunch.

This afternoon, I headed out again for The Secret, although I did consider saving it for my Pi day mystery. It was easy going following the track from the designated parking spot, and I soon saw the item mentioned in the three clues. Down and along I went - luckily the creek was low - and then up to the search area, where after a short look I uncovered WP1 - thinking at the time that this was the cache. Oh no, I had further to go, so I followed the instructions. At one point I'd only walked 75m and saw something mentioned in the clue, but I decided to keep going further, remembering a bit more about what I'd been told. Then I got to the final location, searched one possible spot, but it was just full of massive moths. Another couple of spots and then found the cache. Signed, replaced and headed back, surprisingly leech-free.

For the nice location of this and the rest of the series, here's your point. TFTC }:)

This series was a 13 month adventure for us. We've enjoyed all of the locations, what a wonderful series. Today we finished it off by finding #3 and then heading to #4.

Only a couple metres away from 'This is Sydney's most beautiful bushland' we passed a muggle. Rather than awkwardly stopping, we decided to walk by and leave the cache for the walk back. We continued walking, a later, the muggle and his dog caught up to us. After a little chat, he took us on a little tour of the area, talking about how it's changed over the years and about the different native species of plants and animals - very fascinating. We were glad to have this tour of the area and his end point led us just a couple hundred metres from the waypoint (yes we took a much more convoluted route but that's part of enjoying the area). At this point we hadn't really read the hint/geozone, well at least not recently enough to remember them, so we headed to the waypoint, thinking we were going to the final cache. A little disappointed with this anticlimactic end to the series with a small container in not the best area, we opened it up to discover this was not in fact the end of the series - just the start of the final. From here we followed the instructions to GZ which was quite awesome (the real way of using the word). This was one of the places that the muggle tour guide had talked about it so it was great to see it. I'm sure it would be even nicer on some other days.

The cache took a little bit of searching to find but once I thought about Yurt's Monty Python hide the cache was soon in hand. We enjoyed the area before heading up the shorter way back to the car.

Thanks for a great series that has taken us through wonderful locations and let us find some nice caches on the way. A favourite for the series.

It was a great to finally finish this wonderful series that has been on my radar for way too long.

I had a bit of trouble finding WP1 even though it was right where I thought it was going to be!?!

Then off to GZ. After an interesting walk I began searching and luckily put my hand on it in the third place I checked!

A fantastic oasis.

TFTC.

I had found all the clues and the checker confirmed that I had the right coordinates.

It took me a while to find the box at WP1 - I was looking for the wrong thing. I did, however, find yet another leech. On my second loop I found the box.

Then it was up to GZ. What a lovely place! I soon had found the box and signed the log. Then I just took in the beautiful surroundings for five minutes.

Thanks Yurt. The cache is in good shape. Found at 12:06 pm.

Well this has been a long time coming, as I read through the logs this seems to be a familiar story, but in our case it took 30 months to complete which may be a record. You see we have good friends who live in Westleigh and whenever we come to visit we spend a fair bit of time with them rather than caching.

But we picked up the 2 missing parts of the puzzle a couple of weeks ago and the CO kindly supplied the missing data from our initial find of long ago. I looked at the information, briefly overthought the puzzle, then was rewarded with a positive geocheck.

Today geodaughter and I made a special trip to get the final. It takes about just under 30 mins to get to the RFS station from our house, made a touch quicker now that the M2 roadworks are complete It was definitely worth the trip for this great cache. At the waypoint, I circled a bit before a closer inspection revealed the container. There were heaps of spiderwebs including one right on the container. I wriggled it out with a stick and a huge huntsman popped out and ran a little way away. That was exciting, geodaughter was amazed.

Then we followed the route to GZ, no leeches in this incredibly dry weather. It was fun. Eventually, the secret was revealed and we followed the instructions to uncover the solid container. We hung around a bit and took a few photos, which will not be posted.

TFTC Yurt , a great series and a favourite

Having found all the preliminaries, it was time to make the final assault. Hmmm, I remember seeing this on the way to #1. Got to GZ and was disappointed to find a small cache rather than an ammo can. Ahhh, I see, it's just another waypoint on the way. Followed instructions and made my way to the real GZ to be greeted with the 4th ammo can of the day. Gotta love that. Found the final spot after a short hunt using the hint given at the previous spot. Luckily the dry weather lately in Sydney (will it ever rain?) meant the mission was completed leech free. Certainly a wonderful little secret spot at the end. Grabbed a trackable that has probable been stuck here too long. Thanks Yurt for a fun afternoon.

Far out, the Way Point took me a stupidly long time to find. For whatever reason (brain fade after some tough physical exersion?) I went around and around and around. Sat down, despondant, and sent a SMS to the CO, and the last finder, and read every single log. Two of them put me off somehow, and I spent some fruitless time looking in some areas that I reckon Yurt would like (based on the previous caches in the series), but no luck.

Finally, I made a third loop of the area matching the instructions - how or why I missed it the first two loops, I still don't understand. But it at least explained why many people have found it quickly.

Then it was off to the final beautiful spot. At the final GZ, Yurt answered my SMS (thanks!), but I can claim that I found all in one afternoon, without help, as I was slightly ahead of his sms'es at the end.

Thanks for a great afteroon!

(Forgot to log that I brought a TB to visit)

Simply amazing series! The Secret truly deserves that name! Definitely a favourite! Thanks!

Having found the HHV #s 2 and 3 last week, it was now time to attack the final hide. Having read some previous logs we were prepared for the 'surprise' at the given waypoint, and we then continued on to the final hide. Had to fight off some leeches getting there, but nothing serious. GZ was very beautiful, can just image how it would be after some heavy rain.
Took TB CUIUC #4, dropped TB Sweet Home Hannover.

We had a suspect the rough location of the final cache for some time and today was the time to put that theory to rest so we set off again into this beautiful bit of bush and soon found the way point and then followed the direction of the next part to confirm GZ. Well I can say we did guess the secret correctly and after a bit of a search we found a well hidden cache. We signed the log but decided to leave the travel bug as the CO noted to hope get some more visitors. An excellent series (but one we too too long to complete). A fav pt from us. TFTC

Paid the cache a visit this afternoon to check out a TB I needed. I left it there to encourage others to find this one. Cache is all good and I didn't see a single leech!

The cool damp weather suits this spot, nice to see it with a good flow running. Dropped a TB.

Definitely one of the best series we have done. Another favorite point from us. Kept us busy for five days of the holidays. Number one and three done on day one, then two days for number two ( with a bit of help from co ) and a relatively quick find for the final. Brought lunch to enjoy at this magic spot. Thanks Yurt.

What an adventure. Helped lulu along to gz after the initial wp and eventually found the secret. Had a sugar low and didn't think I would make it but today was the day to complete the series. Thanks for adding so many caches locally yurt, much appreciated

Day 29 of Dry July (I can nearly taste it)

What a fabulous finale' to this series. Thid has been one of the closest unfounds for me for some time and today was my opportunity to "go for it". Lots of activity around the area at the moment which momentarily threw me off the scent, but I spied the clue tucked away. Headed off to the SECRET and what a SECRET it is - a lovely place which looks like it attracts frolickers in the summer months. The cache was found quite quickly in its little nook.

Thanks Yurt - SL TFTC
Left TB

Armed with my information from the previous caches, I headed off to find this one. I was rather hampered in searching for the way point, but I finally spotted it and reached it at full stretch. Gosh, what a challenge awaited me. Another slipsy hike to GZ Leaving me with muddy trousers and muddy hands. But a beautiful spot was my reward. A good clue for the hide meant I had cache in hand quite soon. TFTC and thanks for the series which were all very good fun!

Thanks Yurt.. I want to give favorites point this serie. My feeling was very heavy that the last spot found. Nice place and after hard work written name the logbook. TB inx3. J-LEST-TEAM

It was an unexpectedly beautiful sunny morning after the wet and gloom of the weekend, so I set off to complete the HHV series of caches and find “The Secret”, having last week finally gathered together all the clues from numbers 1 to 3.

I entered the bushland from Westleigh RFS and the first thing I noticed was that, following the rain, the leeches were out in force. To compound this difficulty, I had to contend with obstacles placed by in my path by Sydney Water who are undertaking work on the sewers in the area. I ignored a Track Closed sign and also had to squeeze around a temporary security fence but, fortunately, there were no workmen on site today. These works have also made it a little difficult to access the waypoint. In fact, at one stage I was on the point of giving-up, thinking that it may have been muggled by the workmen. (I do believe that this is a potential scenario given its location.) Anyway, I managed to retrieve the waypoint, read the clue and struggle to GZ for a quick find of “The Secret”. Beautiful, and relatively pristine compared with similar locations in the vicinity.

Thanks Yurt for this brilliant series. It has reintroduced me to the beauty and diversity of our local bushland and has taken me to some hidden gems that I was unaware existed.

#1095 - I have found the secret

This adventure started a good 9 months ago when I completed HHV#1 and then HHV#3 a month later. Then things stalled when I just couldn't organise time to get out for #2. Well last week that happened and then this afternoon when the family was heading off to see their friends, I took the 2-3 hour opportunity to race out to finish this series. The clues were decoded and knowing there might be another trick or to up Yurts sleeve I packed everything I needed and left.

Decided the best plan of attack was from the posted parking coords. I parked and started walked following my GPSr as it slowly counted down. Hmmm....was it really this easy? Came to a place where the clues then made more sense and stumble to the next part. Had a search, had a moment of, I can't find it....and then made the find!

Got a 'You bugger Yurt' smile on my face, made my calculations and took off in search of the Secret, or what I was hoping for, was the Answer to Life, The Universe and Everything...But we all know it's 42 right? I walked along, hoping not to get wet and finally came to GZ. Saw something that helped identify a place to search and then went in and made the find. It was like a bright light was shining down upon me as I opened up the cache to reveal the secret in all its glory. The surrounds were very inspiring, almost like a mystical scene from Avatar, very rewarding. I SL, TNLN and replaced everything back again. Very pleased with myself, I was!

I was even happier that no leeches were found, didn't even see any

Thank you Yurt for a very rewarding series with many ups and downs and a great finish at the end. Definitely worthy of a favorite, even if it's just for the great bush land experience that is to be had, but this had more. Don't worry; the Secret is safe with me, TFTC.

Relief, relief, relief.

I tried to search for HHV4 a few days ago. I found the waypoint easily enough and was heading towards the final GZ when I noticed some leeches on my shoes. Arrggh. While I was struggling to get them off I managed to knock my glasses off, and then my shoes. Rather than half-blindly negotiate the last bit, which was slippery and rocky, I decided to abandon the search and head home - I wonder what the people nearby thought about the language emanating from the valley?! Luckily I live close and was able to drive home. Only 1 of the blood-suckers had got through to my skin, so at least I didn't get too much blood for my "half smiley".

Today I returned to conquer this nemesis, and made sure I was extra prepared, wearing running tights, socks, tracksuit pants and gumboots - I made quite a ridiculous sight, and was very warm, but I Don't Care. Every minute or so I checked the boots, and pushed off any tourists, of which there were a few - one hid and made it back to the car, where it got salted, but none got through, thank goodness.

I eventually made my way to The Secret - very attractive spot! It took me a while to find the actual hide, and when I did I certainly had enormous relief in signing the logbook. The container is dry and in good condition. I took and left nothing.

I then returned back down to where I had lost my glasses and spent ages trying to find them, but to no avail, so this is Officially the most expensive cache I have ever found


All in all, this has been the most memorable set of caches I have completed, taking 6 months between first and last find, and has given me a great chance to explore some attractive bushland near home, and meet a large number of crawly friends. It also finally fills in my front page of found caches. Thanks, Yurt!

Thought this would be a nice way to start the new year! Had the clues for ages but frankly couldn't make sense of the numbers. Re-visited them a few days back and realised I'd been trying too hard!

So off this morning and found the final WP no problems. The walk in is really lovely, saw a couple of water dragons by the waterway. Then off to GZ. Well I managed to make a meal of GZ - it pays to read the final WP information closely. Looked high, low, everywhere except the hide. Eventually returned to the final WP and gave myself an uppercut.

Back to GZ and made an immediate find. Took TB. The 'secret' is stunning - a place that would indeed have been enjoyed by early settlers (and I daresay for many thousands of years prior)!

Thanks for a great series, Yurt.

Wow awesome challenge! The hint can be misleading but eventually worked it out. Nice twist in the end. Dropped TB TFTC

Hooray! We've finally got a smiley on all the ones close to home - this one has just been sitting there bugging us.... but now we can mark it off.
Geohusband (GH) and GK#1 completed the first half of this a while a go but didn't get around to finishing it. GH was determine to do this one himself so he set off solo today... made a relatively quick find amongst some great scenery! Just after replacing the cache a couple of school girls wandered past?!
Thanks for a great series and a great time exploring our local area!!!

We spent half a day on this going around in circles! We knew the cache was not at the published co-ordinates but thought that this was a waypoint that would give us instructions on how to put the codes from the previous caches together to find the final cache. How wrong we were! After a couple of hours getting to the co-ords then fruitlessly searching through the bush we gave up.

On our way back home we had a look at the codes from each cache and figured out what we were supposed to have done with them. It was then a quick and easy trip to "The Secret". We only live 10 minutes up the valley so had a suspicion from the written clues where the final cache was going to be hidden.

It's a beautiful, green part of the world. Thanks Yurt

Reperio at 1300. Having found all the clues today, it was on to finish off a wonderful series of caches. Walked down to GZ, and to my absolute amazement and bewilderment, there was a construction crew working on the nearby structure. Could not believe it. Thought that was the end of the hunt, but decided to walk over near GZ anyway as you never know. Said g'day to the boys on the way through, and soon got a feeling as to where the cache was going to be. As it turned out, the cache was shielded from the view, and I was able to retrieve it...but hold on...what's this...Hmmmm...OK...Seems the job;s not finished yet. Having been to some wonderful little spots today, this one was equally as good, if not better, and a fine place to finish off the series. Loved the walks, and locations.

Gratias Yurt.

Having collected the clues from 1,2 & 3 and with a confirmed location, I set off on the final leg of this series. Arriving near the indicated spot and the GPSr was wandering badly, but the hint that comes from the other 3 is deadly accurate and cache was soon in hand. As with the others, absolutely no reason to be bush bashing with this one.
And then a twist and "The Secret" became known. Stunning.
A physically challenging but very rewarding series that reveals some wonderful places. Great value. Thanks so much.

Slack as I am I have only just managed to finally check on this cache after the log by acaconly a while back. I did send them a PM to clarify what they had found but got no reply.
Anyway the good news for anyone wanting to find this cache is that it is still there safe and sound, untouched by flood, fire or famine. On a hunch I went and checked on what I thought acaconly had found and as I thought they jumped the gun, not reading the note inside and thinking it was the final cache. After all the work to find this one it wasn't going to be a tiny cache at the end!
The bad news is that HHV #3 is disabled because the track is closed due to Myrtle Rust. Will re-enable when all clear. As you need to find that one and the other two caches before this one it's not possible at present.
The other bad news is that there appears to have been a sewage pipe burst upstream and the creek is full of some nasty stuff which stinks to high heaven. Sydney Water is doing major repairs in the area but the creek will need a good flush to clean it up again.

Stay tuned, I know there are a few of you wanting to do this series. Thanks for your patience.

This was day three for this series and I was quite looking forward to finding the “Higgins Hidden Valley #4: The Secret” Unfortunately when I got to GZ the cache was completely empty . I left a few pieces of paper of which a signed. None the less an extremely challenging and rewarding series of caches . TFTC

With the pieces of the puzzle put together, I knew we had the right answer before we used the Geochecker. It's confirmation was expected. Off we headed to GZ and located the cache very soon afterwards. What a great series of caches in an interesting piece of bushland in northern Sydney. Each location had a slightly different environment and set of challenges. Well done Yurt. Really enjoyed it. *Recommended*

A worthwhile end to a good series of caches.
Thanks for the effort put into this Yurt.
*recommended*

finally finally finallyyyyy

Been really looking forward to finishing off this cache series ...dad and I made our way pretty quickly to the spot indicated by the clues from HHG1-3. Much to my horror (and most likely due to the amount of rain we've had lately) there were leeches everywhere O__O Even in terrain/vegetation you wouldn't normally find them!! I felt something on my leg and ran my hand over my jeans only to feel a lump underneath, lifted up the bottom of my jeans and there was a hugeeeee leech T__T thank goodness dad was there to help flick it off! After spraying probably half a can of bushmans spray all over myself, we continued the cache hunt After spending a good deal of time searching, we finally had our hands on the last clue (and a bit of a duhhh moment once we realised where it had been hidden!).

Made our way to the final GZ, thankfully with few extra leech encounters along the way Extracting the final cache from its hiding place was incredibly exciting, and I think we both had giddy grins on our faces by that stage! Grabbed the pirate geocoin and replaced with "Geocachers Evolution" geocoin ^_^ Also left a ceramic turtle! (see pic)

Thanks so much Yurt for creating such an awesome series of caches ...we thoroughly enjoyed exploring westleigh ^_^

This entry was edited by superslothsonya on Friday, November 19, 2010 at 7:11:21 PM.

This entry was edited by superslothsonya on Friday, 19 November 2010 at 19:21:57.

An exciting end to this little adventure with superslothsonya (having devised a very "simplified" Enigma code cracking machine to derive the final co-ordinates). Two "milestones" ... first series cache found and first time leech attack .... bite on wrist not life threatening. I used the rest of the can of bushman spray and didn't stand in one spot for too long. Brilliant ... TFTC.

I had all the info for this from the 3 previous caches and could only think of 1 thing to do given the advice from Yurt in the listing for #3. So I made my calculations and headed along the trail looking at the distance to GZ reduce. I passed an area of old machinery and metal boxes thinking it might be the place I was searching for, but decided to trust my supposition and go for it.

I stumbled out of the bush track and back onto a fire trail thinking. "Where am I now?" So I got my bearings and decided to walk back to the area I had seen on the way, but this ended up being too close to #3 for a cache, so I decided to commit to my calculated GZ.

I got to the spot and it seemed unlikely until about 60 metres further down the track I found something likely as indicated by the hint. A bit of searching turned up nothing! After re-checking my calculations I found that I had made some mistake and gone 270 metres too far. Back track to the right feature I got the last bit of info and finally made it to GZ proper.

Plenty of hiding places here, but I was pretty sure of the spot but was night blind when I put my head in the hole to search. Luckily I had a torch in my caching bag and had already used it at #1. I think for this series a torch is a must. There are so many dark places you just can't see in.

Cache found and last trackable deposited I sat for a few minutes and took some photos and spent some minutes taking in the location.

Thanks Yurt for the effort of putting together this series. The walk was very enjoyable even though there is quite a bit of back tracking to do them on foot it is well worth the effort. I certainly feel like I earned my smileys today.

EDIT 19/10/2010:
Finally downloaded my track file and in all I did over 10km in the walk for the whole series. It looks like a drunken meander if you take it out of context!
/EDIT


This entry was edited by norkmeister on Monday, 18 October 2010 at 20:37:19.

Whoa!! Well this was a fitting end to a great series Yurt, I managed to find enough time this morning to trudge back down a familiar track, and have a look in the location I guessed was what I was supposed to do with the numbers. The GPS did not want to help as the canopy round these parts is thick, but the clue helped and I was soon at the right spot......at least I thought I was

A little further and the cache was soon in hand, I took the bug and dropped one off as well, what a spot on place for it too! If only for the smell I would vote this one of my favourites thus far this year, ok ok the smell is not there all the time but something about this region of Hornsby/Westleigh always has that reminder that the bush is not all that it should be.

Awesome work Yurt you've put a lot of effort into this series and it shows on all your hides and the log books and laminated pages, etc, I'm glad I made the effort to do them Thankyou.

I feel a little inspired to put a similar series out myself if I could just find the right terra firma Thanks for the cache

Today I had the opportunity to close the final chapter on this series. Arrived at GZ early this morning and found the Cache within 30 seconds. I've no idea why I didn't spot it last time, I guess FTF was not just meant to be. I didn't mind as pjmpjm had definitely put in the hard yards and deserved the first find. It was great to come back in daylight, spotting familiar objects here and there, but the surrounds as a whole looked very different than at night.

Yurt, thanks for a top series. This has got to be one of the best around and I can't recommend it highly enough. For me it has everything, a bit of guess work, a bit of I wonder where that goes, a bit of hard slog, some good hides and some decent size and well stocked Caches. All the time your surrounded by some beautiful urban bush, it doesn’t get much better than this. The whole series can easily be done in a single session and has been well designed to be completed this way. Well done, you’ve set the bar pretty high now
Left: TB
TFTCSL

Found by Nanny and Bo early afternoon on a Friday.
What a hell of a cinqtrigoly of a caches.
This has been a three day project for us, but not a continous 72 hours - although it feels like it.
Congratulations to PJMPJM on the FTF!
Cachers completeing this cache would obvoiusly score well over 90 in the "The Poison Cache" test!
SL
TNLN
Thanks For The series of Caches. WELL DONE YURT, but no none like this - please.

Of all my 257 geocaching 'finds' so far, I think this one today is really 'the sweetest of them all' (to mis-quote Paul Keating)!

Over the course of four days, while juggling 'the day job,' it was a great challenge for me to locate four (actually, five) Higgins Hidden Valley caches. The required trek(s) covered a wide expanse of beautiful and memorable northern Sydney bushland, representing various types of micro-climates, flora and geology -- and took me to some pretty amazing places. And finally, the actual physical geocaches were mainly very challenging to reach and also difficult to find in their clever hiding holes, even after the GZ was ascertained.

I want to thank Yurt for taking our hobby to a high level. He's combined local history, geology, botany and care of the environment together with good, hard geocaching fun to make this a very, very memorable series! And I appreciate his patience and upbeat enthusiasm. I probably wouldn't have attempted the task -- and certainly not have completed it -- without his overall encouragement.

Having said all this as a serious preliminary introduction -- "Woo Hoo! FTF!"

Today's final 'leg' of the four-part Higgins Hidden Valley series didn't disappoint. It was a worthy challenge that eventually led to 'The Secret' #4. Special mention must go to The Wandering Wilcos for a major achievement, nearly snatching the FTF away with a final, valiant dead-of-night search. Having completed #4 in the broad daylight, on a beautiful spring-like day, I have to give him very high marks for his attempt. All the little possums and bush rats who were watching him the other night were sound asleep today, as I slowly and painfully made my way through the final stages of the journey, wet and muddy. Only the ever-vigilant leeches were awake and on guard duty. I avoided most, but ultimately brought one hitch-hiker back to the office. Fortunately, no-one noticed that the entire top of one of my shoes was covered in blood! (Being an adherent of non-violence, I had to release him/her outside the door. Please be aware of this if you visit Dural today.)

I won't give any specific clues in this log and will upload some carefully-chosen photos later. I don't want to spoil the fun.

Computed 'clue' coordinates were fairly accurate, compared with my GPSr's readings. Elusive cache container and contents were dry and in good shape. TNLNSL. And I really loved the FTF coin . . .

The CO is correct when he suggests that all four stages of this series should be done in one go, if possible. In hindsight, I can see how this would make things easier and would be more enjoyable. However, you would need to set aside most of a day to do it, unless you're a very fast and accurate searcher. Most of us so far (WW, Oldgill and myself) have had a number of misadventures along the way, requiring back-tracking, trial-and-error attempts, re-finding lost trails, wiping away blood and applying band-aides, etc.

Regarding this final point, I really don't want to dwell on my various bruises and injuries and loss of blood through leech attacks. Otherwise I might discourage further attempts on these caches! Just wear your best bushwalking boots, spray Aerogard on your feet, ankles and legs -- and carry a torch.

Finally, I've said nothing about the mental challenge of solving the three-part code that you'll assemble as you make your way around the various caches. That's quite deliberate! Good luck!

Thanks again, Yurt! I had a really great time!

Rated: for Overall Experience

All clues found in the first three caches. Am now on the hunt!

Having finally got my hands on the final clue I weighed up my chances of having a go at the FTF. I either go at night or wait until the weekend. The thought of being the only one with the location was too much so at 20:30 I thought why not. I arrive at the now familiar car park and followed the fire trail to the latest cords. Having done the Caches on foot the clue made complete sense and I knew where to start looking. The place was pretty eerie at night with lots of little eyes spying me as I made my way to GZ. Once there it was a quick find so now I had the final directions to GZ. As I read them and looked around it dawned on me this was not going to be easy and given I was trying at night only made it more. Adopting a Bear Grylls like attitude off I set to find the “Secret”.

After a short while I came across a likely structure but I hadn't travelled far enough. On I pushed following the directions and soon came across the area described. Even at night I was impressed, I saw one or two objects that matched the clue and started to search. Up down in and out with no luck. The “Come in Sucker” phsyc started on me and as it started to get a little colder I decided that at 22:15 that was it for the day. Good luck to next Cachers on this one, I hope it’s easier during the day cause at night I had no luck.
I'll be back on the weekend sometime to have another go, besides I’ll get to see what the “Secret” really looks like

The clue in #3 has been replaced so it's game on!

Missing card in #3 will be replaced tomorrow morning (17/8) and it will be game on again.

As the clue in Higgins Hidden Valley #3 has been removed by a geocacher I'm disabling this until it is returned. I will try and make a replacement card if it is not returned within a few days.

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