DM #6 Ferndale Sassafras, Victoria, Australia
By ahomburg on 29-Feb-12. Waypoint GC3CNT3

First cache of the day found hiking in the area! Thank you

Great day for a meander. Found after ignoring hint and broadening my search area.

Rain on way was on the way. After 5+ hours of walking, I was beginning to grow weary. Located this cache took familiar travel bug.

In the area picking up caches to fill out the D/T and this was on the way past.

Hint threw us off a bit, but a nice little hike to a nice cache. TFTC

KdosVerH123 spotted this one, hint not very accurate, but pleasant hike to get up here.

Tftc

First 1

Great little stroll. Our first geocache

Great little place, very quiet. My spidey sense zoned in on the cache pretty quick. TFTC

A great little spot, and not too far to hike tonight.

As I was coming upon the GZ, I made an internal bet with myself as to its location and was overjoyed that I was right.

TFTC !

I had some time today between errands to head for the hills and search out a few caches.
I headed along this track initially in search of the nearby falls, but having failed to consult more than one mapping source, I discovered too late I was literally on the wrong track.
It was ahomburg to the rescue with a nearby cache to make the most of the walk.
I almost always check the hint and often previous logs too before searching for caches, but I decided to just follow the GPS here and soon spotted a likely hide.
The nicely concealed container was extracted and the log signed.
I checked the hint after a reset the hide, and discovered it didn't really match where I found the cache. Not sure how that happened.
TFTC ahomburg

DNF avenged!!!

I was overseas on holiday, when I saw that this one had been replaced and then with the note from the CO stating about the length of it being unloved, I was keen when I got back to OZ to try and find this one as I am working on the "Spread the MEGA-Love Challenge" (GC58NTE).

I got off work a bit later than I would have liked, but I thought I may still have time to get out there today to try and make the find.

Well by the time I actually got home and change, the sun was starting to set. So with a battle against the sunlight, I tried to make a rush to GZ. Well the plethora of rain we've had the last week or so, left the trail to GZ a muddy mess, but who doesn't love to get down and dirty when they are caching.

Luckily, I didn't have to get too dirty, as the replaced cache was quickly located once I got to GZ, just as the sun had completely set. I had to do the walk back to the geomobile in the dark, but with this find my spirits were up, so I didn't mind.

The cache container was in perfect shape and despite all the rain we've had the logbook was pristine, clean and dry. TFTC.

Cache replaced.


Big things are continuing to happen! *Are you joining the fun again in 2022?*
[**THE**](http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC8EW40)
[**WHITTLESEA**](http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC8EW40)
[**EVENT 2022**](http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC8EW40)
*19th / 20th November 2022 – GC8EW40 – Whittlesea – Victoria*

Go get it. A bit of unlove here.

Big things are continuing to happen! *Are you joining the fun again in 2022?*
[**THE**](http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC8EW40)
[**WHITTLESEA**](http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC8EW40)
[**EVENT 2022**](http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC8EW40)
*19th / 20th November 2022 – GC8EW40 – Whittlesea – Victoria*

Found this on a rock just next to the road.

Oops ment to log a DNF

Thanks ahomburg. Cache lid was off and due to recent rain, the contents were quite wet. Still works but a bit soggy. Giddy up

Didn’t need to walk up the high side too far

no need to walk up the high side too far, big tree

Yayyyy

This was our first find ever! Opened us up to the world of geocaching! Thank you!!

All good

Big things are continuing to happen! *Are you joining the fun again in 2021?*
[**THE**](http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC8EW45)
[**WANGARATTA**](http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC8EW45)
[**EVENT 2021**](http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC8EW45)
*13th / 14th November 2021 – GC8EW45 – Wangaratta – Victoria*

Picking up a nearby Mystery and a visit to the waterfalls, we worked our way back to our starting point and headed off in the opposite direction. We were starting to feel a little tired by this time, and the massive hill that suddenly appeared in front of us looked as daunting as hell, but we soldiered on and eventually made it to the top.

The cache was out in the open and judging by a note written in the logbook, a muggle had come across it too. We signed the log, then repositioned and added some camo.

Thanks ahomburg. Another one ticked off.

First one for the area! Only passed it about 100 times..

Quick find. TFTC!

Thank you for a nice hide -- quickly spotted.

BINGO! That's the last of the Meander series for me.
It's taken quite some time, and I've walked through some pretty bush lands. A favourite point for the fun I've had.
Thanks for the series Adriaan.

Found

got it

Out and about on a Friday arvo trying to put some smiles on my local map.
After doing a twelve point turn and parking my car, I made the pleasant walk to Gz and soon had the log stamped.

Nice patch of rocks and grass up on the side of the hill, so I climbed up there to have a look.
In theory according to the coords, I should have gone right past the cache, but I couldn't find it there. On finally applying to the hint, I descended to the path, and soon found the cache.

Cache coords are about 15m off I think, so without the hint you probably wouldn't have much luck here.

Thanks for the cache.

I have had a lovely day walking around this area today. The sun is shining. I could not be happier. Thanks heaps

Attempting to do another chunk of the dm series this morning, found it hard to find a good starting point in this section so my walk was a loop that ended back at my car with not to much backtracking. This was a quick find one I found the correct tree, tftc!

yay! Picked up some unlove on this cache. As we walked in a car approached us. hang on... is this road open at the other end? No. It was just the ranger, and we said hello. I didn't mention it was *my* car that was nearly blocking the gate in the direction he was heading But he must have gotten past me on the way out. Note to self: read cache description before leaving the car! Thanks ahomburg for the big DM series and "owning" the Dandenongs

Found, but my GPS was pointing 19m away.

A lovely spot for a walk on a cool autumn morning. The bush is alive! Thanks for the cache

Easier than where we looked
No need for bush bashing

I faffed around here for rather longer than should have been necessary. The cache's location was much more convenient than I had supposed. Ferndale Rd itself is a curious thing. Looks like it should be a major thoroughfare, but it's overgrown in places and has fallen trees across its width. Vaguely reminiscent of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Perhaps. Thanks ahomburg!

Well we parked in Ferndale rd...Didnt see the note not to till we were on the cache...Oops. We walked down the river, week it was almost a river...heard the falls off to our left and decided we might go check them out later. Found this cache, used the hint cos feeling a bit lazy after our 1.1k walk uphill back to our car after #5.

Tried to make this one harder than it should have been.
Thanks ahomburg for bringing me to this great place.
Chiefton!!!

A nice easy walk. Easy find. Hint is good

I made the most of an early knock off from work and headed out to the Dandenongs to continue grabbing a few more caches in the series and after making my way down Ferndale Road I was surprised to see a house at the end, kinda glad I didn't bring my vehicle as parking was in short supply but I couldn't imagine too much other traffic heading down these parts. Another pleasant walk towards the gz and the cache was soon located after reading the hint as my gps had me still quite a few metres away. Still a straight forward find, thanks ahomburg for the cache and the walk.

12:51 PM #1656
Up in the hills this morning with 88andy88, collecting a few more DMs.
Spotted a fellow cacher on the way back from the previous find. After completing his Oxfam training for the day, day1976 decided to tag along with us for the rest of our caching arvo.
Thanks for placing this cache and bringing us here, Adriaan!

On an Easter break day out in the Dandenongs with OzHockeyChick , finally again grabbing some more of the awesome series AH has kindly put out for us....
This one was an interesting one.....While OHC and I were walking up the trail we spot a body walking down the trail towards us and from the distance i could of sworn it was an Anvil Angus Mega Hat and so turns out i was spot on......Was old mate Day doing some training for his upcoming event.
So after a chat and a few stories we decided to join him .....well actually no hope of us keeping up with speedy gonzalles so he decided that after 40km's of hiking he would warm down and continue caching with us at snail pace that we are so excellent at keeping
Found this one quite quick and with a PAF without the call lol
Thanks for the cache Adriaan....

After finding a mt dandenong series cache on ferndale road, I couldn't just ride past the original. Like others the coords had me walking up hill and off track before realising that it didn't have to be all that hard to find this one. The fifth and final find before a ride back home. tftc

A fairly quick and easy find in another part of the Dandenongs that we would never have seen if not for the DM series.. Thanks Adriaan for bringing us here and thanks for the cache.

After a bit of poking around I found this one, a lovely secluded part of Ferndale Road. By my devices the given coordinates are 15-20m off.

Searching for love. Well the unloved and finally found it. Quick easy find

Found the cache with Loz6032, nick named twisted sisters, will have to come back to complete this track! TFTC!

Second find of the day for team JELS. After a bit of off track searching we checked the previous logs and widened the search. My shirley sharp eyes spotted it soon after. Nice quiet part of the Ranges worth more love. TFTC

Found on Sat 2nd May on a long trail run through the Dandenongs, love it out here - thanks for taking time to put caches way out here!

Got it tonight on my night mountain bike loop. Found coords were 20m out, but seems to be the norm for tonight. Broadened search area and located in about 10mins. 7/7 finds for this evening and getting close to midnight. Time for one more?? TFTC

Unloved baby! Resorted to the hint & found the cache 20m from GZ according to GPS. Parked at the gate on Ferndale Rd & read the description on the way in saying not to do that. Whoops. Very nice approx. 400m walk in. Shame the road isn't open but nowhere to go if you met someone coming the other way. This was a great little hide & nicely camouflaged. TFTC

I came here with high hopes but left disappointed. This cache appeared to be a "Park 'N Grab" on the map, but I found the track gated about 700m (actual distance) from the cache. I searched high and low, resorted to the hint, but all was to no avail. I then read some previous logs, two of which indicated that GZ could be out by as much as 20m so I increased my search radius accordingly but still couldn't find it.
I'm not prepared to claim that it is gone because I would like to return another day when it's not so wet and have another go at it. For now, I'll put a watch on it and see if any one else fares any better than me.

This entry was edited by biggles1024 on Tuesday, 01 July 2014 at 06:25:16 UTC.

Had to go a few steps further to find the cache. Thanks ahomburg. First of my fourth sortie to find the DM caches.

I followed the hint but was unable to find the cache. Checked several possible spots. May have to come back to this one...

We found this cache today at 11:00am as the 3rd of 14 on our Dandenongs Meander Wander V. On our 5th attack of the Dandenong Meander Series of which we would knock off 11 of the remaining 17 today. We stopped short of this on on our first visit to the series when we stopped at #5. Today, we parked just short of Ferndale Rd and walked in from there. Did not realise that there was a house along here. Seemed to be about 20m out but with the hint found ok. Abolutely freezing out here today but with some brisk walking, it was not too bad after getting bak to the main road after we had warmed up a bit. Thanks from D & H B-A.

Out for another quick walk and cache after work.
A nice walk down the track from the gate, beautiful sunset tonight and definitely a chill once the sun goes over the edge. Another quick find, all in good order.
TFTC ahomburg

15:09
As the teenager was off with a mate to be keeper for a day at Werribee Zoo, and the others were meeting them there later, I had arranged for another meander. The only problem was that the first week of this year's Tour de France coverage is taking its toll, so I arrived at the first waypoint of the day at least a couple of hours later than I should.

One thing I noticed really quickly was that the terrain has changed a tad in the weeks since my last visit, with the rain making the steep trails slippery and treacherous in places. The trekking poles I rescued after my last hike in Werribee Gorge would prove to be almost essential at various points.

It was quite a relief to get onto the Old Coach Road, as the terrain flattened out and the surface was solid underfoot. I thoroughly enjoyed the walk in the sunshine, and stopped to read the information board near the northern barrier to this section of the track.

This hide gave me a bit of grief, and I was forced to undertake a methodical search before coming up with the goods at about the same distance from the posted coordinates as day1976. I wish I had read a bit further back in the logs, as it would have been in hand much faster.

#1934

Found on a meander around the Dandenongs. Today was dedicated to try and nab a few more of this series as well as laying down some groundwork for another cache of my own. Walked about 35kms today, found 17 caches.

Spent quite a bit of time looking at the area where my GPSr was directing me but with nothing in the area matching the hint I checked and re-checked the listed co-ords. I searched and searched, ever increasing the radius until I found the cache 18 meters away from where my GPSr was pointing me (with a 4m accuracy). Signed the log and moved on.

Thanks for this series Adrian, I really enjoy it!

Found this one out with Spiffy- as we were in the area. Thanks for the cache and nice walk.

On the way to Griffiths Falls so picked up this one on the way. TFTC.

I usually come to this area 2 or 3 times a month and when I can, I try and fit in a little cache hunting. Today I was heading to Olinda to volunteer at the Oxfam Trailwalker Checkpoint that was set up there. I was early (as planned) so I had a little time to cache before the walkers arrived in the area.

I have had my eye on the Griffiths Falls cache nearby but haven't decided on the best approach. Some people have tackled that one by heading down to it from Ferndale Road so I decided that I could walk out to this cache along the road and look for possible approaches to Griffiths Falls along the way.

Noting the comments about the angry resident at the end of the accessible part of Ferndale Road, I parked in a suitable spot on the Mountain Highway (they are few and far between) and walked in. I arrived at GZ and spent some time floundering around in the bush without success.

Eventually I had the good sense to check back on some recent logs. Here I found reference to an "extra comment by Paul" which I found by digging a long way back. This I found and it advised that you didn't need to leave the track to find the cache. With this additional information I set about the search again and quickly found the cache.

Thanks Ahomburg for this cache and the whole Dandenongs Meander series. As you might have guessed from this report, this cache was safe from the "DSE burn" carried out in the area. I passed through that area further up the Mountain Highway as I made my way to the top.

Found it

Found it

After finding #5 in this series, this was a short walk away , planned as a forerunner to our descent to the nearby falls cache. However, as we continued along the track the rain turned from light drizzle to constant downfall to pelting deluge.
This was a straightforward find and the cache is in good condition despite the elements.
But enough was enough and we fled the downpour back to the car , to then seek refuge at the Basin cafe.
The new waterproof jacket bought for a hike in the Scottish Highlands later this year had its baptism and held up well.
A great walk despite the rain. Thanks and cheers!

Found on a small caching run in the Dandenongs with my father and the last one of the day as the heat was getting to us now (we will be sure to return though). Another tough walk especially due to the temperature rising but a spectacular view from the GZ. Father found it with the hint as once again i was foiled by off co-ords but a nice little, easily accessible spot. Nice houses and beautiful bird life nearby.
TYFTC.

A quick find @ 18:40 in the company of emeraldflame after a pleasant walk along the track. I'm slowly working my way through this series, and enjoying every minute of it.

Thanks again to ahomburg for the cache. TNLN

Found it! Today I decided to go on another Meander along the winding paths through the Dandenong Ranges National Park. I started at One Tree Hill and walked along various tracks to Sassafras. I collected 10 Meander series caches along the way! I have walked most of these trails when I was in training for a trek in Nepal a few years ago so it was nice to revisit the tracks today and collect caches along the way! Thanks Ahomburg for your caches.

The hint and an extra comment by Paul were very helpful to find the cache as GZ was jumping about a bit. TFTC SL

After returning my geodaughters to their muggle-mum, I was left on my own for Christmas Day. So off I trotted to find some caches, which always raises my spirits. I thought losing myself in the Dandenongs would be perfect on a day when few would be about.

Thirteenth find for the day. I parked nearby and walked to it, found it easily, then walked further to get the next one not realising I could have gotten it by car. Oh well it's a nice track.

Upon returning to my car, a very belligerent man was yelling his head off for me to move my car. I wished him a Merry Christmas which infuriated him more. I'd parked at the gate, but did not block it. Apparently, this fellow who lives at the house adjacent thinks he owns this road.

I recommend to future finders that you park near #7 and walk up (there's a closed gate from that side too).

T4TC ahomburg!

Found it after a short walk good hint

Tftc

This was the final of four meander caches for the day, I had my bike on the roof and finally found a track I could ride along, I was at the cache location so fast, my gps had me at a tree up the hill, it was only Paul's comment about not leaving the track that made the find easier, I have taken a reading and attached it to my log. Thanks Adrian for the cache.

Tftc had a lovely 10k walk picking up a few caches on the way.

Found on 01/9/2012, Catching up with logs

Short walk and a nice easy find without having to Leave the track. Last one that I needed to complete the series and it would be close to my favourite series completed. Local caches for me and my favourite type of cache experience. ie. it involved a walk and an easy find. So extra thanks for that.
Tnln Tftc tfts.

So I was out and about at large caching with Slink! TFTC SL (catching up on logs)

found while out with Brightbeavers and Dunko TFTC SL

Easy find at GZ. Signed the log, tftc.

Tried this one before while out on the bike. Had another try, and with knowing the GPS is out a bit, had it hand quick smart. TFTC

This took some searching as I checked several wrong locations before settling on the right one. Thanks!

TFTC GPS out but found it with the clue

Another in the series knocked off, only a few to do now. Agree with several earlier logs that co-ords are about 12m out, would have been very difficult without the clue.

Found @0740 #1516
Today was another day which I had not yet found a cache and this was found on the way to work.
Having read previous logs I was abit unsure what to expect for the parking as I approach from Mountain HWY. Parked opposite the shipping container but on the side and made my way into GZ, a 460m walk from the gate. Once there the cache was quickly found and based on the GPSr approx 10m out. Left blue marble and pleased that another in this epic meander series is now complete

Once back at the car I thought I could turn around at the gate, surely... but the geoyota turning circle isn't great I discovered and on the first attempt nearly got my self wedge in!![:o)] So said "#*!# it" and I reverse all the way back to the main road. I am known for my awesome reversing skills, but this still had the adrenaline pumping. Once at the main road, a quick 3 point turn had me flying down the road and on the way to work, Ye ha!!...

TFTC ahomburg and for the time and effort in establishing this epic series.

I hadn't planned to do this one today but it was convenient from where I was. I know that I have been along this track before but can't recall when - probably caching of course. Many thanks to ahomburg for the series which I look forward to completing over time.

Thanks ahomburg for that added insentive to take a walk in the Dandenongs. Lovely day for it and it really is not from my door stop but dont get there as much a I would like. It would probably help if you could have some drop you off and then pick you up down the track.
I parked the car in a locals drive way as they advised me that the road was blocked off. She has been here since the early 50's and managed to miss to bush fires.
Really enjoyed the peace and quiet of the area.
My co-ords took me up the steep side of the hill as I had noticed others had done. No need to that I noticed once I read the hint.
Thanks so much for a lovely walk ahomburg

JMelb and MMelb were busy today so GMelb decided to tackle some of the Dandenongs Meander series. Landau351 was also free so we teamed up. Great weather for an afternoon cache run.
Having walked back to the car we set off up the road and parked at the end of a dead end track. Took us sometime to locate this one. The GPS was saying GZ was about 15m from the cache location. It was a narrow road and took some time to turn around. A local did not seem to be impressed with our efforts but we were soon away to the next.

21/04/2012 16:19 We drove into this one thinking we might be able to get the nearby Griffiths cache as well but that is not easily accessible from this area. We just walked on to the Ferndale cache and after a bit of search found GZ the cache a few meters from the listed co-ords. Its an easy access from the roadway. Gary helped me turn the car around near the big shipping container and as such we copped an earful from the muggle lady home owner claiming their is way more room at the gate. As Gary was helping me and we needed no other help I have no idea why she was bothered or cared. People are strange. TFTC ahomburg TNLN SL

Out with the all the Combust4 team. Quick find on an afternoon run to do some of the series. TFTC SL Had some fun turning around on the track but local came out to advise his drive is a bit too steep and near the gate was best! Thanks.

Found while out for the afternoon meandering around the Dandenongs and enjoying the walks. This was a nice gentle walk to GZ. My GPS put me a little bit away from where it should have, so it took quite a bit of searching before I finally found it.

My thanks to ahomburg for the cache and the walk.

Hello, logging my personal tracker to calculate distance

After a stroll along the closed off road we found ourselves at GZ, and found another cache in the series. It was placed in a spot we could easily get to. Thanks for the cache.

24/03/12 2:47 PM Find #823 Another find while meandering about Mt Dandenong in the rain. TFTC.

Found during a cache night run with good mates Blacklegend and Trailrunning. After discussing plans for our cache run for the night, we settled on doing the Dandenongs Meander series which had been set up by ahomburg, and published only recently. All in all we had a great night in which the series eventually took us about 5 hours to complete, along with some other caches along the way. With plenty of tracks to walk and hills to climb, and even the odd leech or two, we had a great night chatting and laughing our way through the Dandenongs.

As it turned out we seemed to be the first teams to complete the whole series, only missing out on a couple of FTF's by a day. We did manage about 5 STF for the night and for me managed to collect another 22 caches in total. Trailrunning and Blacklegend started on a couple of caches i'd already done a bit earlier before we met up and all jumped into my car before heading off to start the main run for the night.

We came to the end of Ferndale Rd and was suprised to find a residence down the end too. We then continued on foot, past the road closed sign and were soon at GZ and signing the log. TFTC.

Another legendary caching run with my mates Marty (Quasar3671) and Adrian (Trailrunning). Tonight it was time to hit the Dandenong Ranges area again. Had not been up here for a while and there was a lot for me to do, including a team assault on the Dandenong Meander series, which we completed in the night. 5 STFs and a total of 29 finds for the night for me. Great night with lots of walking and even a few leeches....

Another nice night walk and another find. TFTC.

A week ago I was discussing our upcoming Ballarat trip with my good caching buddies Quasar3671 and Blacklegend, when I thought about what we might concentrate on for the Monday night Melbourne cache run. I pointed out that the Dandenong Meander series had been published recently and that none of us had done them, so we decided this was going to be our primary focus for the night. I think in all it took about 5 hours, with the park-walk-grab method. There were certainly a few good hills, but to be the first team to knock off the whole series was certainly a great achievement for the night. We found out we only missed a few FTF by a day, but I think we grabbed about 5 2TF along the way and I had a personal total of 24 for the entire night. Before the main push started off, Blacklegend and I moved east from out meeting point to grab a couple Quasar3671 had already logged. We were soon back at the meeting point and the main run began. After a long walk into the Griffith Falls, this one was relatively easy. We plaked on Ferndale Road at the closed road sign and wandered off to log the cache. thanks ahomburg.

Found 15:35, after a brief search.

TNLN, CSI=2, thanks ahomburg.

6.20 log to follow

Found @ 6:20pm, find # 1285
Out on an afternoon after work caching run with waffle eggs to pick up a few new ones.
We parked the car and had a bit of a walk to GZ, we were talking along the way and the next minute we had passed GZ, we turned around and went back a little and started searching which was taking a while to find, a short time later I put my hand on the cache, finally I got one, opened the logbook and thought it was a bit odd as I couldn't find any name in the book I handed it to brett and asked him to look as I knew Spladem & C@H had been around but he to only found blank pages so we signed in for a joint FTF.
Thanks to ahomburg for this cache.

This entry was edited by stemicmitsar on Thursday, 08 March 2012 at 11:43:31 UTC.

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