The Illawarra Upper Escarpment Trail - #12 Balgownie, New South Wales, Australia
By paulyman on 13-Dec-13. Waypoint GC4VCVQ

Find# 11421Nice easy find.We had a free day to create some "Smileys".Maintenance was carried out where logsheets were mush, missing or caches damaged. This logsheet is nice and dry. TFTC paulyman 28 June 2024

Log damp

F

Just love The Illawarra Upper Escarpment Trail. The flora is so diverse as go from cache to cacheFound this cache in good condition and the contents were very dry and easy to LOGThanks for the cache as well as the adventure paulyman and snorris

Team Groodle found it. Next.

O

TFTC

cool

TFTC. Quick find.

Got it!

Nice quick find

Great find

Such a beautiful walk and great part of the world. Tftc

Nice quick find. TFTC

Quick find. Log was too wet to sign

Yes!!
After a dnf a few years ago!
Happy to have found it today!
Tftc
Boom

Found it

I’ll log this one.

Easy

Good spot

#8426 (4 of 10 today)

And again the calendar gods decree I made some finds today... OK, December hasn't been a great caching month for me, erm historically speaking.

Decided that today was the perfect opportunity to finish off *The Illawarra Upper Escarpment Trail*. Also thought that another cache near it should also be visited. And then after grabbing petrol, a fina1 cache to make it a round ten finds.

Even managed to avenge a previous DNF!
###END OF CUT AND PASTE SECTION###
Still in this magical forest. A nice quick find in a logical spot.

Signed, replaced and away.
Now this section of the trail is what caching is all about!

SLTNLN
TFTC

TFTC

Under

Logged

Found

Tftc!

A nice quick find after the previous two caches. Beautiful time of day.

Caching in our local LGA for excercise very early to avoid others. Found today with Beckatoza and have photo proof however did not open or sign the cache for heath reasons. TFTC

Found with C0mpmatt. TFTC

Find 278 for the tribe.

Out caching with some muggle friends who we we are trying to convince to become Geocachers. With it being a lovely Autumn day with only a light breeze, where would you rather be than the Illawarra Upper Escarpment Trail? We found six of them on our last attempt up here and were keen to add a few to that tally today.

This was find #5 on the trail today. One of the five geokids with us today came up with the goods. Logbook slightly damp but apart from that all is well with this one.

Thanks paulyman and snorris for a great power trail.

Found with our geodaughter and geoboyfriend

Nice spot!! Very tricky

Another quick find in good condition. TFTC.

Walked past the first time and had to backtrack! Thanks for the hide!

Series log: We did a reccy here in March 2020 when we picked up #01 of the series planning to return at Easter time. One thing led the another and we decided to take the trail on today. Weather was great, we saw lots of creatures and and flowers, fabulous views and really good exercise with limited muggles on the track. Took us four hours with finding and signing geocaches, admiring the scenery and stopping for water breaks. Will target Toona Ciliata on a separate visit.
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Cache log: The cicadas have been loud all day but especially here. Cache contents safe and dry. SL TFTC Cheers... Gaztek

Find no. 11 ???? ? tftc

Tftc! Good way to celebrate bros bday

Tftc

Another quick find out here this afternoon, we widen our search area and logged our find, thanks.

Should of found earlier but was barking up the wrong tree . Quick find thanks

OCW the Bebes and Everest High. A few potential spots that matched the hint but coords good and a quick find. Tftc

Easy find with helpful hint. OCW The Bebes and PelDroedGwin. TFTC paulyman

OCW PelDroedGwin & EverestHigh

A grey and windy day for the escarpment trail.

A lovely walk

Tftc

Last one for to-day. TFTC

Nice one

Luckly last

found it thanks for it. It was a easy one.

Got it

Cool hiding spot

Found on our new year adventures

Put with princess1488 today
I found this one, bringing our tally up to 7 all
TYFTC

Go #TeamWalker

Quick find

Thanks

TYFTF

T- Thanks for the cache.
E- Excellent workout.
A- Amazing scenery.
M- Managed to persevere.

R- Really late start.
O- Only 50% Torch battery left.
C- Coordinates spot on.
K- Kangaroos spotted.
I- It is unfinished business.
T- Team Rockit.

Meowth: That's right.

Very helpful hint. This part of the forest is magnificent. TFTC

Found during the 2019 Gong Mega signed the cache DSD thanks for the cache and the adventure

We’ve walked through the nice bush land today and were able to find all caches of this nice series
The first 3 caches had wet log books
Thank you for the nice cacher tour
Team sissifalke

This trail looked very inviting whilst staying in Wollongong for the Oz Geomuster 2019 event, so myself and DSD found a timeslot within the weekend to tackle this series and the two bonus caches to qualify for the challenge which had more than a year of unloved on it!

Really enjoyed the terrain and walk on this series, this sort of rainforest surroundings we can't get back in Canberra so it was nice for a change as all ACT bush looks the same!

Every cache was found, two of them needed maintenance very badly which I have logged, and one of them had innacurate coords which already has numerous logs saying so.

Thanks paulyman for this trail, we enjoyed the walk and caches

Meeting up with a group of fellow cachers this morning who were all keen to hit the Illawarra series after the St Arnaud 4 month to the Mega lead up event. A great time was had with pprass, gearguru, maccamob, Alansee, Phetlern, The Morris, Riddell, McLookers, geono, Noikmeister and DogboyOz as we enjoyed the walk through this picturesque location, locating all the caches and signing as OMG (OZGeomuster Mega Gang).
Thanks paulyman for the series placements.

I departed Seattle on Tuesday evening to begin an eight day adventure in both Australia and New Zealand. I flew to Los Angeles and then on to Sydney landing early on Thursday morning. I am here for the OZGeomuster 2019 "The Gong" Mega event down in Wollongong as a Lackey geocaching ambassador. I will be spending the next four and a half days down in the Wollongong area, geocaching with a lot of the locals. Then I will return to Sydney and fly over "the Ditch" to Wellington where I will spend two days before returning to Sydney for the long flight back to the "States" and finally home to Seattle.

Day three of my eight day adventure and today I started out by attending the event in Appin for the St Arnaud Mega event. It was at that event that I met up with pprass who organized this Illawarra Upper Escarpment trail hike along with maccamob, Alansee, Phetlern, The Morris, Riddell, McLookers, The Tritonz, Noikmeister and DogboyOz. We all caravanned to the trail head and started the hike on this over cast but rain free day.

This was the thirteenth cache we found on this trek and it took us a few minutes of searching before we located it. We signed the log as OMG (OZGeomuster Mega Gang) and replaced the cache before continuing on down the trail. Thank You paulyman & snorris for hiding and maintaining this cache for us to find on this excellent trail system.

11:33
Just back in Australia and a quick trip to Appin to log the Mega so as to continue our run of having attended every Mega held in Australia.

Invited to accompany a group on a morning walk as we visited caches in this series. Group included 'Alansee', 'The Morris', 'Pprass', 'McLookers', 'maccamab', The Tritonz, 'Geono', 'noikmeister', 'DogboyOz', 'gearguru' and 'Riddell'. Log signed as 'OMG'

Thanks to 'paulyman' for placing this cache.
24833

Did this walk as part of a group today. It was most enjoyable with great views and lovely forest. And no rain!

Our group was getting a bit strung out along the single file trail here but everyone arrived at GZ eventually. Found with the OMG while attending The Gong 2019 Mega. An enjoyable bush walk with a great group of geocachers that took us about three hours. TFTC paulyman.

We flew to Sydney from Bendigo on the new direct flights, hired a car and drove down to Wollongong to attend the muster.

Today Mr Morris joined with a group of others to walk the escarpment. Log was signed as OMG (Oz Geomuster Gang).
Thanks for contributing to the fun paulyman

Found at 11:35:01 AM: GAFF1 in the company of maccamob, gearguru, Alansee, Phetlern, The Morris, Riddell, McLookers, Geono, The Tritonz, Noikmeister and DogboyOz
We are really starting to see the end now and the comments are flying thick and fast as to what a great series this is.
Thanks paulyman

Pprass found the cache here.

In the area for the OzGeoMuster, this was a lovely trail to be conquered as part of a group. Pprass assembled a fantastic gang: gearguru, maccamob, Alansee, The Tritonz, Geono, noikmeister, DogboyOz, The Morris, Phetlern, Riddell and myself. We saw a wide variation in foliage and terrain, there were amazing views. Thanks paulyman and snorris, I loved the expedition.

Found at 11:33:00 AM with DogBoyOz

Stopped here on the way to the OzGeomuster and met a party of cachers to do this trail. I have had this series on my RADAR for a while. Logged as OMG or Oz Muster Group

Thanks paulyman

Found by Mary and David at 11:45. Teamed with pprass, gearguru, Alansee, Phetlern, The Morris, Riddell, McLookers, The Tritonz, geono, Noikmeister and DogboyOz, today to do the The Illawarra Upper Escarpment Trail. Signed as OMG (Oz Geomuster Gang). The weather was overcast, but happily there was no rain. An enjoyable, scenic walk, made even better by the illustrious company. Our thanks to paulyman.

Went on a walk with a few other people and found the whole series. TFTC!

Found by Team OMG!
A nice easy find.
TFTC

Good spot!

We bush bashed for ages and then realised there was a path right there

Cords were a little out, but with the clue it was narrowed down and the find was soon made, tftc

On our last day in Australia it was time for a nice trail. Thanks for showing this beautiful place, we have seen a lot of wildlife (and bikers as well). Greetings from the Netherlands

Another beautiful place! TFTC!!!

quick grab. tftc

For the turtle

Thanks.

Nice morning for a cache/jog!

Found with the family

We have travelled down from Sydney’s Northern Beaches to the Wollongong area for the April school holidays, camping in our Jayco Swan Outback camper trailer at the Corrimal Beach Tourist Park. Today (ANZAC Day) we were off to do some more of the Illawarra Upper Escarpment Cache Trail, which we had started on our day of arrival in the area, and then to do a variety of cache types in & around Stuart Park in North Wollongong. This was our 8th find of the day, and 100th find of the holiday.

Heading down the hill we next came to this one, and it was another quick find. TNLNSL, and then replaced as found. TFTC paulyman, snorris.

Find #2510

Great trail, great series and great clues. Tftc

On fire thanks

Found with ziggiau and MrSmash

Team MavEtJu suggested that today would be a good day for our attempt at the escarpment series. He'd been here in Dec 2014 so although there were some vague suggestions on where a few caches might be, we still had to find them all in our own right. The sky was thankfully overcast so it made for easy walking for most of the loop.
The hint gave us three options to choose from, the one where Team MavEtJu thought he remembered where it was, the one where the GPS was pointing to, and then the actual hide!
Thanks paulyman and snorris.

Found with ziggiau and dingoman007

OCW Pumba2015. Been wanting to do this series for quite sometime but finding the right time to do it was the issue. Pulled up in the car park near the entrance to the walk and we set off.
The walk itself is very easy to do. Surprisingly enough, most of the walk appears to be following an old creek bed - given the way in which the rock formations and path is constructed. We took our time to complete the series. From start to finish was about 3.5hrs.
Nearly all the logs are very soggy but we were still able to sign our names. Hints provided for each cache are fairly spot on and the co-ords are reasonably accurate (within about 5m). TFTC series paulyman and snorris! Sorry for the generic logs!

OCW Stumbles Mate. I loved the dirt track! I thought I was a motor bike as I walked through the track going up all the dirt mounds, jumping over rocks and tripping over the vine....... Luckily Stumbles Mate didn't see that haha tftc

Thanks for an awesome series. TFTC

THanks!!!

Got it

Found on a rainy day with one of my Ventures. TFTC

Easy one. Thanks

Last cache of the day, unbelievable light TFTC

Tftc

A nice quick find. TFTC

Thankyou for the cache