F1 Grand Prix - Melbourne Albert Park, Victoria, Australia
By ThePacman on 22-Aug-14. Waypoint GC5B7W0

B.B. King was right.

**COVID-19**
This cache has been disabled to encourage compliance with current restrictions on non-essential travel.
Since these restrictions are official no found logs will be allowed until further notice.

A nice evening and a couple of hours spare before my Spanish class. So a run around the lake and then again on the bike... caching!

This was the target cache tonight and the bike made it possible. Still a 47 minute lap. Nice cammo at GZ. Favourite for setting this up.

Thanks to ThePacman for the placement and fun.

After meeting in Expression Australia to pick up the books
Really good fun and walked which it take me plenty of time.
Easy to found it.
ThePacman, thank you so much for placing it.

Today we found F1 Grand Prix - Melbourne on our travels. We are playing tourist in our own town today and picking up a few mysteries that have been solved, a couple of multi caches that were “almost” done and a day we had time to do a couple of wandering caches like this one. We were rewarded with a well disguised container at GZ.
Thanks ThePacman for being part of our geocaching fun.

Came here to do wherigo as I was showing this strategies to my work colleague, she might like join geocaching one day. Thanks ThePacman for the fun.

Completed over two visits.
A really good fun experience well worth the walk. Favorite for entertainment value.
And the cache container is brilliant.
Excellent camo.
The preparations are in full swing for the upcoming event, so, glad I did it while I can.
TFTC

With the cache companion in tow this cache was completed at a leisurely pace, approximately two hours slower than an F1 car. It is a really nice walk around the lake with lovely city views. Thank you for a very well thought out and easy to follow cache!

Finished! I did this Cache and also did my First 1,000 Caches. Woohoo!!!

I combined this one with a Jogging Tour and it was much fun.

Thank you very much for hiding and maintaining this Cache and best regards.

A nice day in Melbourne. We did some sightseeing and some caching. Thank you for this cache we are able to find.
We liked the race ! Thanks for showing !

TFTC! Such a a great cache and learnt a lot about the F1! We had some issues getting the tracking to work as we were on our bicycles, but had a lot of fun! Unfortunate to see an accident on the way. Loved the actual cache too! Great construction. Finished watching the. Sunset in the park!

Loved everything about this cache from start to finish. I'm happy I finally got Whereigo working, what a good one to start on! It took a 45 minute run or so to complete. The final container was very well constructed as well. Favourite from me.

Victoria Day 2: Albert Park - Botanic Gardens
Spent today walking around some of Melbourne’s finest Parks for some caches and to enjoy the fine weather that has descended on the city. The goal was to do the F1 WIG along with a few other caches in the area that eluded me the last time I was in Melbourne. At the end of the day, many steps was clocked and a great walk through the city was had.

This is the specific log for this cache:
Very nice little loop around the lake with a lot of fun commentary and trivia regarding the track. Nice set up little WIG with a good amount of effort put it. Nice cache at the end to boot though the spoiler is a little outdated, which led to a little confusion at first. Definitely a favourite here. TFTC!

Awesome container and a fantastic ending to the Grand Prix story! My first whereigo like this and a favourite point from me

Have been wanting to complete this cache for a while but every time I went to the weather has been terrible. Tonight was a perfect summer evening for the track and a great loop it was. TFTC

That was our third consecutive November trip to Australia. We could "tick off" the last two missing states and territories and see both Sydney and Melbourne again, and the red heart of Australia and the capital Canberra. This was a great week and I would have loved to take the unexpected and sometimes very exhausting heat with me to cold Germany. This cache contributed to this great experience. Many thanks for that!

Today I racked up around 40,000 steps as I cached my way around Melbourne. A good number of those steps were here at Albert Park, where I did the Wherigo and found other caches along the way. Really enjoyed my time at the park.

This was a super fun Wherigo. The sound effects, the information about the Grand Prix, it all made for a great experience. And it made me really want to see a race here!

We always enjoy a Wherigo and so having arrived in Australia very late last night this morning we set off to the start of this one. We thoroughly enjoyed the walk around the lake, had great fun listening to the sound effects and were of course thrilled to have won the race, even though it took us 72 minutes to complete the course due to a few other geocaching distractions along the way! Once the final coordinates revealed themselves we updated our GPS and set off towards Ground Zero where the very nice cache was quickly spotted. We signed the log book and then replaced as found. Thanks so much for the cache (the cartridge ran without any hitches on our iPad) and a favourite point awarded! Greetings from Zimbabwe

What a fantastic wherigo. Great idea, the sounds were great along with the Murray Walker commentary, that took me back. Great to see where the course goes. Thanks ThePacman for setting this up.

Out and about last night with Trailstevo. Started at the north end of the lake and headed round in a clockwise direction collecting all the cache as we went. Had a problem with one near steps due to muggles, so left that one for a while. Finally reached the Wherigo and off we set. So cool and had the phone on full volume to get the full experiences as we walk slowly around the fast corners! Completed the lap, which was actually nearer 1 and 2/3rd of a lap for us, and then we proceeded on to complete the outstanding cache on the way back to the car. Covered around 12km in the end and a haul of finds. A nice way to spend the evening. Thanks ThePacman.

23:36
This was quite fun! I did my own race on a bicycle! Accompanied by all the wroooms.
Took me 25 minutes to complete the lap. And i think my max speed was a bit short of 300km/h still [B)]
No accidents though! Even though i had some obstacles and debris on the way - some fallen palm tree leaves and I was also riding in the dark for some parts.

All in all a solid wherigo, a brilliantly done final container and a well earned favourite point.

The whereigos I've done here in Melbourne in the last couple of days have really made me want to create one!

Kia ora from NZ! / Sveiciens no Latvijas!
TFTC! +fav
#6680

What a fantastic where_I_go. I loved the sound FX and details of the GP. The cache's camouflage was a fitting finale to a wonderful winter afternoon. Tftc and a fav point from me.

Wow this cache had so much thought put into it and loved the feeling of being in the race. Awesome camo too! TFTC really cool

I had completed this wherigo a month or so ago on a sunny weekend and really enjoyed my walk around the park. I even scoped out the final but left the actual find for a day I needed it, such as today. Took a very brief detour on my way to work ( rather than in the dark on my way back) and lo and behold, cache was exactly where I expected. +1fp TFTC!

Last full day in town with Mrs Dragon, and after having traveled the "Great Ocean Road" and having the chance to catch up with family and friends, we decided to head down to St Kilda but as the weather was "YUCK" we didn't stop there all that long before heading back to the city.

So rather than head back to the shop I took my chances to try to finish the Wherigo in Albert Park (as hadn't completed it earlier in the week). So heading back to where I had got to I collected these two trad's along the way as it just seemed rude to leave them behind.
Nice Cammo Job and pleased to have located it. Glad to have completed another Wherigo and to top it off I managed to get the tram near the final before the Rain started to pour in.

Thanks for the quick find and the placement

My first Wherigo and this was quite an entertaining one. Loved the camo on the cache. Tftc

My second Wherigo! And this sure was a fun one. I attempted this one last week but was blocked access due to the real F1 Grand Prix going on only a few days after. The description stated that I couldn't drive the circuit but I don't have a car anyway so it didn't matter, but there was nothing stopping me from riding my bike around the circuit. The only turn that was a bit difficult in getting my phone to beep was Turn 10, and I sustained a slight injury on my bike in the area. In the dark, late at night, with the possibility of rain, I was on course, and I crossed the finish line in only 28 minutes for my 29th and final find of the day to go with my second Wherigo cache! At GZ I was expecting a container shaped like an F1 car but it turned out it was about as far from F1 as you could possibly get.

In all today, I was 29 out of 34 on attempts, and I found 14 mysteries (challenges), 11 traditionals, two multis, one letterbox, and one Wherigo on my most productive caching day ever!

Following the big race, Firesafe and I went to collect this one. Spotted a small sparkle with my torch to reveal the container. TFTC

After 4 days and plenty of laps both on the track and off, made the find during the Officials BBQ. TFTC.

Being a huuuuuuge fan of F1 GP, this was a great way to walk the track & find out more about the race. Well done PacMan on an excellently executed WhereIGo. Highly recommended; great hide at GZ too. TFTC!

This was a great experience for me & my F1 GP fanatic husband. We loved the info on the corners & the sound bytes of the old V8-V12 engines!! Perfect day for a stroll around the lake with this cache keeping us motivated to get to the next marker! Great execution ThePacman, and loved the final GZ hide too. Will do more of your Wherigo & other hides, this was so enjoyable.

My first of this kind.
I like this. Cache so I give it a favourite point
TFTC

Who found it after the race.
Great hide
TFTC

Due to parking issues here I decide early on Boxing Day would do the trick.
This is as close as I have come to being at the real thing as I am no fan of F1 but no noise today and about an hour for my fast lap today.
Lovely hide at GZ too
Cheers

While visiting on the *Viking Orion,* I headed out on the folding geobike for a couple of hours in Melbourne (my first visit to Victoria). This was my main target of the day as I was hoping to get a wherigo in Australia during my brief visit. Having a bike made it quite enjoyable as I just took my time meandering along, wondering what it must be like to be here on the day of the actual race. I had no trouble with the cartridge at all and found the container with no problems (and it is very well done, too). You get a favorite point all around for this. Thanks for the enjoyable wherigo!

With a morning kid-free in Melbourne, this cache was number 1 on the list of things to do while the other Bunny went Christmas shopping. It was a perfect morning for exercise and as we completed our lap we saw: Ultimate Frisbee, women's AFL training, golfers dressed up in masterchef whites having a morning beer as they play, giggling adolescents trying their hand at sailing, high school rowing ergos and some mums fishing!

It took us 63 minutes to make a circuit at a steady pace with a few backtracks for a crash when an SMS came through and a detour for some traditionals along the way. The autosave is a handy function and we got better at saving in between spots too. A very engaging, entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable Whereigo that we have come to expect from one of the masters of this format. TFTC, a fav of ours.

Brad worked at all 11 F1 Grands Prix in Adelaide and at another 10 or so in Melbourne. He usually filled to role of the doctor in the Chase car so has done more hot laps here than he can exactly count. But it would be well over 200. Not counting the scrambles to the crashes. Whcih became less with time as safety improved.

But he can still name the corners in his sleep.

Another link is that Brad's sister and sometimes B&J team member J3 was the CEO of the Melbourne Grand Prix for the five years before moving on.

This is exactly the sort of fun cache to bring back memories.
Thanks ThePacman

Worth an FP

Generic Mega log:
Our trip to the Mega was shorter than the originally planned 4 days due to various personal issues. But a late gap in the calendar meant a FIFO for Brad only rather than the originally planned DIDO for both of us. Ruff_Ruff and TBQ also missed out.

Fortunately Brad was able to hook up with some enthusiastic teams for a busy time. Logs were signed /stamped with individual team names, or in some cases the various teams' initials of KBFGDJM were used for a group log. (or variant anagrams thereof.)

Thanks to all the tireless workers and hiders for all the great caches and for another excellent Victorian Mega Event

**This was 1 of 21 caches that was found by me on the 4rd of 16 caching days here in Australia. Which also was the 41st of 75 days that my travels thru southeast Asia and Oceania would last.**

This got to be 9th and last cache type for this day. Considering that my record day has 10 cache types 9 in one Australian day is really good.

Hm, this is actual the 4th grand pix circuit that I visit during this trip.
The first one was Macau. But that is apparently no F1 circuit.
The second was Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore
And the third one was this one: Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit

I may also have been walking on or nearby Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur, without knowing it.

*Together with Ingabo, jsson and Sivun I would spend 16 days in Australia. Our journey started in Melbourne and ended in Sydney. After that I continued to New Zealand while the others headed back towards Melbourne.*
*All in all I did manage to find 250 caches, 9 types, 3 new months and many more statistical fillers.*

Did some walking today.
We wrote IJPS stand for the first letter i our alias ( Jsson, Ingabo, Peter-tvm, Sivun)
or full name.
Nice hide.

TFTC!

We, (jsson, peter-tvm, Sivun and myself) went for a small walk in Melbourne today
We logged either with our full nicks or with IJPS standing for the first letter in our nicks.
Found on the way back to our stay after a long caching day.
Thanks for placing a cache for me to enjoy and find.

A day of traveling from Ballarat to Melbourne with the Godfather Freddo and gridge98 collecting a few memorial Wherigos, high terrain water/ladder caches, and finishing attending the Mega bowls event.

A cool find at an appropriate location. It was getting dark, so it made it a little hard, but eventually found, thanks.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww..................................

This day we started with the botanical garden and its surroundings. We wanted to log a Wherigo cache so this one was near.

We logged as SWEx4, which are Nogana, ursus67, pidjas and me, Långanfans.

Nice hide. Thank you.

Absolutely fabulous! We speeded into the GZ with high velocity but had to search for a while. Give a do!

TFTC ThePacman!

-----------------------
Four women from North of Sweden on holiday in New Zealand and Australia. Leaving the winter at home.

Pidjas, Långanfans, ursus67 and me, Nogana, were logging as a team using the nick SWEx4.

Funny hide, favorites

So this is where the F1 and Ricchiardio are driving around?
…,…,…,…,…,…,…,
The cache was found together with swe x 4. Långanfans, pidjas, Nogana and ursus67 who are on a journey to Oceania
Today is our 4th day in Melbourne, Australia.

**6/10/2018, 16:18**
**Find #3243**
**Wherigo Cache Find #51**

I completed the cartridge earlier this year, but ran out of time to go and find the cache. When I went to return the following week, I found that the Grand Prix preparations were well under way and I couldn't access the area. This Wherigo therefore had to join the list of Wherigo's that I had completed playing the cartridge, but hadn't been able to make the find, usually due to the presence of muggles. There were six in total on that list.[B)] Fortunately, today I came up to the inner suburbs to attend an event and took the opportunity to complete this Wherigo. I had no trouble find the cache, only finding my to a point near GZ and then parking my car. A very enjoyable Wherigo. A favourite point from me.

SL TFTC

**Thank-you to ThePacman for placing this geocache**

Found by The Empire
* Celebrating 10 Years of Geocaching! *
A lovely walk around the track with some interesting information along the way! A cool cache at the end too! Favourite point added. Thanks for the cache ThePacman.
- M

Day 5 of my trip from Adelaide to Tasmania.

I am currently on a 5 day road (caching) trip from Adelaide to Melbourne exploring the outer most towns, On my trip I am going through Renmark, Mildura, St Arnaud, Ballarat then to Melbourne. Along the way to explore more I am caching.

Today was about collecting a lot around the port Melbourne area. I had this one on the list of caches to complete for a long time now. Made my way to the start line and walked around taking only 37 minutes. One long walk to find a cache I thought. This was really cool since I have seen it on tv and all.

Favourite point from me

Sorry for generic log.
TFTC

The last whereigo cache did not work too well, due to my ancient and senile phone. A new phone has been acquired and was given the task of performing this whereigo. It performed magnificiently. Lovely walk on asunny but cold winters morning

Did this very interesting walk on a sunny Autumn Sunday morning with Tassie Expat. Thanks for putting so much effort into making this an informative and pleasurable find. We learnt a lot.

Frmen1 and I wanted to do something special for our anniversary. And this Whereigo combined 2 interests...geocaching and motor sport. We started by reverently walking up pit lane to start our race. We'd trained for this day and with the crowds roaring, we took off. OK, the crowds were cheering their respective sports teams on, but imagination is the key to a great virtual experience. We failed to take the corners at the speeds indicated and ended up with a 75min lap time. There were distractions on the way and a safety pram held us up at one stage. When that pulled off to the side, we managed to regain our previous speed. Thankfully we'd kept our treads warm. Grip wasn't an issue all race and the weather was conducive to all racers staying on track. Many overtook us, obviously with chassis more suited to the conditions.
Thank you for the fabulous experience and learning experience. Cache and log in great condition. Fav pt for everything (and a virtual bottle of Mumm)

As we were walking the track men were touching up the Rolex adverts.
Around the lake there were joggers, cyclists and families, whilst on the lake rowers rowed and someone was sailing. The cache itself was a quick find with good cammo. This was a well constructed wherigo, have a favourite point. Now we are in need of a pit stop. Out caching with Will of the Wisp whilst travelling around the world in 80 days to celebrate retirement. Greetings from England, TFTC.

**Find #1406**

I had been waiting for the right time to come here and attempt my first whereigo. And today was the day. A beautiful blue sky day, Perfect race conditions. The crowds were down on numbers but that only spurred me on more. After fueling up and selecting the rubber compound for today's track conditions I was ready for the chequered flag to drop. And off I went on my first race, I had a mishap at turn 3 over ran it by 300m so I had to back track and once again I was back in the race. Turn by turn I powered on till the race was ended. So glad I did this as my first whereigo. I have a spiritual connection here which made it special. A favorite Point.

Thanks **ThePacman**

TFTC.

14:03 #5089
This cache was my today's main goal. It was not found for many months so I was not sure it is still at its position but I tried it. I truly liked the game (just one favourite point is not enough) which ran on my Samsung Galaxy A3 without any problem. I also managed to find several nearby caches. Having finished the race, I went to look for this one and I found it easily. Greetings from the Czech Republic and thanks for the cache!

NICE ONE! Awesome Wherigo that was a lot of fun to follow and complete. I think the nearest I've ever been to anything like the action that this Wherigo is based on would probably have been seeing Formula Pacific cars racing at Pukekohe in the late 1970's or early 1980's. I had a great walkabout this morning and the cartridge played like a dream. After I crossed the finish line it was off to GZ to collect the trophy / cache. Had to consult with the hint at that point as it's nicely hidden and well camo'd. TFTWIG, Biggles.

I've been wanting to complete this great Wherigo for a couple of years now but the only time I'm here is during the event and GZ is not accessible, also I wanted to mix my two favorite pastimes together, Geocaching and Formula one.
So as it was quiet for the race weekend and GZ was accessible I made my way to hopefully a quick find but that took a little longer than expected, I'm sure I looked there, obviously not well enough.
I believe the long held lap time will be beaten this year, will have to wait and see.
Log signed and replaced as found.

Thanks for the awesome Wherigo ThePacMan
#3,044

Gutted to have found the park closed from today (according to a local jogger) for the Grand Prix this coming weekend. Was hoping it wouldn't have shut quite so early so early and allow me a Wherigo before leaving for the UK on Friday, having just arrived yesterday.

Great Wherigo. Loved the final container. They are setting up for the Grand Prix at the moment. We will be up in the air flying back to England when the race takes place. TFTW

I came to Albert park specifically to do your whereigo and I wasn't disappointed. One favourite point is really not enough for all the effort you have taken with this. Thank you so much for creating such a rewarding caching experience.
Dipped a TB.

13:49
Albert Park - what a great area to spend a few hours while a younger family member has an appointment in the city.
What a Blast! It is just like the old Sega home video game in real time. On two wheels all the way, we loved the details which took us in, around and through all aspects of this iconic Melb Event - not being 'rev heads', we learnt lots. No smells of fuel, burning tyres or actual cars today but the sound effects just topped the whole experience off - certainly turned a few muggle heads, wondering were the F1 vehicles were.

GZ is another classic hide. Certainly deserves more than 1 FP - guess there can only be one winner!

Our thanks to ThePacman for placing this cache.
17633.

Organising a day trip to Melbourne with gwd.aussie we noticed this cache nearby to an event we were attending. After the meet and greet along with a few snags we headed to the start line. Loved the sound effects and quickly found and logged the cache. Surprisingly not as many people out and about as I was expecting on such a lovely day maybe they were all resting in preparation of a big night.

Thanks The Pacman.

After the local event we tried our luck with this cache.
We took the corners slowly, we made it to the finishing straight.
The prize was a well como container.

A day out caching with D@geo.
Thank you for the cache ThePacman

Thanks ThePacman; you may not be an F1 champion but you win the whereigo race. What an awesome geocache you've put together! We loved our trip around the circuit today and were completely amazed at some of the information presented to us along the way - what an enjoyable way to tour. Still can't believe the fastest lap time, when we used up most of our two hour parking allowance to complete the journey (mind you we managed to find - and did not find - several other caches along the way).
Seamless cartridge play, loved the race component with random commentary too, and a straightforward well constructed final. It was pretty exhilarating to cross the finish line in pole position to cheers or the crowd and the fanfare playing with champagne spraying everywhere - this is unfortunately as close as we'll ever get to the real experience so we can't help but award a fave point. TFTC

Today at late evening we decided to combine this wherigo with jogging. We have completed our circle in 44 minutes. Awesome how many information we got. When we finished it was already dark. We have found the container after a few minutes. We like the camouflage.
Thanks for showing.Tftc

Like hundreds of other cachers we were in Anglesea for the MEGA this morning. Unlike most we didn't get into the tournament on time so we set our attention on completing 10 cache types in a day. 11 if you count LAB caches. Unfortunately there were now Wherigo or virtual caches in Anglesea so Neville_devil and myself headed for port Melbourne and Albert Park lake.
We made our attempt at the Grand Prix circuit for the wherigo first. When we were approaching the start we were amazed at the number of people were here on a Saturday night. Then we saw the sign Hmmm "Event in Progress" . Great this may make life difficult. Parking was a nightmare security were directing traffic. We found ourselves a park near the start finish line but when we looked for coins for the meter 40cents is all we could muster. Looks like we are not leaving the car here then. we will have to make a driving attempt dashing in and out of the car at each stop. That in itself was made extremely difficult by the event. The first few turns were a nightmare made we slowly found our way away from the event area and it got easier with less traffic to deal with. Slowly but surely we made our way the whole way around and were rewarded with the coordinates for GZ. Here we took a risk and parked as close as we could and made the dash to make the find without any money in the meter. We were as quick as we could hoping not to get a parking fine. The cache was found and signed and we returned to the car luckily without a parking fine.

Thank you ThePacman for a great wherigo that was a much higher D rating for us because of circumstances and a well deserved favourite point coming your way.

Thats 9 cache types down plus some lab caches [:d]

Nice find

Our mission today was to finish the F1 Grand Prix on foot. That was a great choice, we enjoyed the walk very much!

The circuit took us 62 minutes, which is a tiny little longer than Schuhmacher's record, but fast enough for us! The walk brought us many great views across the lake and to the skyline. We made a brief shift in sports watching a cricket match, which we didn't understand, so we continued. Soon after that, we had reached GZ and enjoyed the nicely camoued box.

Thanks for guiding us around the circuit and greetings from Germany!

(+1 Fav)

The sixth find on my **BIG** day of caching in Melbourne. I had some very specific caches in mind for this trip and it just so happened that I had a completely free day today to do what ever caching I wanted... wherever! The plan was to catch the train to Geelong nice and early and then do the 3 Wherigos on the foreshore of Corio Bay. Then I would collect the final of * Jail Break! ~ Geelong* and do *Flight of Fancy*.

After a morning of caching in Geelong, I was planning to head back into Melbourne to continue my hunt for Wherigos and Virtuals. St Kilda to Hawthorn to Camberwell and finally a run around the Royal Botanical Gardens. I also managed to get out to Fairfield to get my 6th Virtual for the day. All by public transport and on foot! It was a packed day with a lot of running around many suburbs in Melbourne. All up, I got 6 Wherigos, 6 Virtuals and 2 Earthcaches with only 1 DNF (Flight of Fancy). I covered almost all forms of public transport and walked a total of almost 30km!

After searching for *Flight of Fancy* (unsuccessfully) for a little too long, I was a bit pressed for time to complete all the caches I wanted to complete today. I got lucky when I arrived at Southern Cross Station as the tram I needed to catch arrived just after I did. So off I headed down to St Kilda via this one. I had originally planned for this one to be a pleasant stroll but instead it had to be a run to keep myself on track for completing all the caches. Around the track I went, collecting the points quickly and without any difficulty. I got even more lucky when I arrived at GZ as there was a big break in between swarms of muggles. The cache was located quickly. Log signed and cache replaced. TFTC ThePacman!

On our caching trip from Toowoomba for a few days. Kestal came across this whereigo and we had to do it! Loved the fun we had driving around the track. TFTC ThePacman - a favourite point from me!

On a road trip (well we took a plane) with angloj from Queensland. In the car now and 4 days of caching fun has started. This was our first day and what a busy day it is turning out to be. When this popped up on the nearby map I was a little surprised it hadn't made my list. Oh well we are here now following each way point. Great Wherigo we had lots of fun doing this one. TFTC ThePacman

Another summer... Another vacation is over, it's September now with the sun and the smell of the clover ...Except the sun didn't shine so bright today, it was wet underfoot, and the sky was grey, and here am I on the starting line, ready to walk..., utterly delighted to find a banana peel in the middle of the road - this turns into "mario cart" in my head, can I be princess peach today?
I set off- loving the sound effects and the commentator voice I heard so many times in my youth... I went to Silverstone when I was young, the noise, so loud, the grass wet, like today. Mud to your ankles. The best place to stand was just the other side of the pits. You got the start and finish there. I tried timing laps on a stop watch. The helicopters of the rich and famous whirred overhead- thrilling. My grandfather and my father went to brooklands - long before Silverstone. Grandad marshalled, and dad may have too. We once accidentally went on hockenheimring too - I'm not sure how - I was only three, and we would have been in a bright yellow Citroen 2cv or perhaps a red Renault 4 with mossy Windows- a far cry from the usual racing car. I think we were shooed off by security in the end.

I keep walking around the track - I get a little lost in the Carpark and backtrack- but that's ok . The rain dies off and although the socks in my shoes are squelching, I'm enjoying the walk.

I was absolutely in need of a wee before I even started and I am no better off now ... But I don't actually see a loo anywhere so I press on.

I see a whole family of baby swans - the race drivers miss this sort of thing at their pace.
I reach the top of the lake - last few turns ...
But then, oh no!
My phone hits 20% battery.... that's ok as I always carry a battery- but I rummage for it - NOOOOOO it's not there! Now I concentrate- I speed up- I'm in the last few turns , I have to make it before I lose power !
I'm racing on the Grand Prix circuit - actually racing! I speed toward the final bend and toward the finish, faster, faster I go - 10% message flicks up. Blow! Must get there! Must cross the line! I zoom across the line and get the GZ coords- I hurry over - I get to the final buzz of the cartridge-I am there and the little bar is on a sliver - then blackness. I am going in blind. I look - it's close ... Where is it... Then... Hang on is that....? It IS! Hoorah! Blow drinking champagne from a shoe- I get to sign a piece of paper ! Wooohooooo! I am on the podium, baby! I won the F1GP!

19:38
Last week, I got part way around the Grand Prix circuit before the weather turned to custard, so tonight's mission was to finish the Wherigo.

And I did. Apparently it took me a hundred minutes or so (plus about 8 days).

Thanks, Joe... that was fun. On the way around, I had plenty of time to reflect on the impact that the Grand Prix has had on Albert Park Lake. My feeling is still that it has been positive. Nobody will miss the old, unsightly sports sheds (memories of Sports Day each week in the awful Table Tennis stadium, built for the '56 Olympics and barely ever worked on until my school years a quarter of a century later), the toilets even the rats avoided, and the constant traffic.

Those stupid yellow ribbon people were so wrong. The park is a pleasant place to visit, day or night. A few weeks of limited access a year is a small price to pay.

#3279

Well, its happened again. Once more I am behind on my logs by a number I am not willing to share. Don't ask me how it happened yet again, there isn't really any excuse for it. I am writing this log on the 18th of February 2017 as it currently stands. I know, well and truly dismal effort on my part. For this, I apologise immensely. Sadly it also means that some of my logs will have to be on the shorter side due to trying to catch up to about 300 of them!

A friend that I'd been meaning to catch up with was free this afternoon, so I suggested we go for a walk around Albert Park... and conveniently also complete this cache that has been on my list for a long time . A great little wherigo and a great walk on a nice day.

Thanks ThePacman!

Went on a nice "race" around the park on a sunny sunday. Was great fun. We love a wherigo...there should be more of them! Thanks for the grand prix and nicely hidden cache

Did a run today and why not challinging with this race im Melbourne? Nice quite area with the lake nearby!
After finishing I was very impressed of this nice cache work!
After logging I took the tram to the centre!
Thanks for hiding!

Found with Winniethebear. We went around the track and had lots of fun reading the details and enjoying the race. great camo. TFTC.

Never been here before. Was nice driving around the tracks with legoman9x. The cache had a funny smell to it
Tftc

I decided to start my afternoon of caching at Port Melbourne and make my way to Middle Park and Albert Park. I had parked the car up and jumped on the bike.

Using the Geowigo app for the Windows phone OS (Nokia Lumia 930) I loaded up the cartridge and set off completing the various stages. The information provided was fascinating.

This cache was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and after the 32 minute lap-time I was sad that I had completed it. Thank you for a well planned and executed cache.

Once again you didn't disappoint.
Tag-along and I went paddling at Albert Park Lake and then headed off to complete this Wherigo.
We both loved being in the driver's seat and roaring around all the turns. Oh so pleased when we got back in the lead and one the race.
Tag-along particularly loved all the data given at each turn so much so that we went back and really drove the circuit reliving each corner. I can't image even trying to negotiate these turns at the speed the drivers do. Let's say I was happy to walk the course.
I wont forget the facts you provided. I learned quite a lot about the circuit and will not take the ability of the racing car drivers for granted any more.
Today Albert park put on its best dress. The weather was perfect for paddling and walking. the scenery wonderful. You never take notice of your own backyard until something like this makes you take wakes you up.
Thanks for the opportunity to be a 'racing car walker' today. A favourite point coming your way for another spectactular Wherigo and cache container at the end.

Stayed overnight near-by and time to kill today while we wait for the boat home to TAS. We were determined to walk the full track and this gave us the excuse. A very well conceived and informative cache which worked perfectly. Loved the walk on a great morning. Close to GZ we thought that the spot may be cordoned off but fortunately it was in a clear spot. Well camoed but thankfully after our hard walk we found it and signed.
TFTC and a favourite.

Cartridge worked flawlessly, zones sized nicely, information and research spot on, cache hide brilliant work. Having programmed my own whereigo, I have a great understanding of the hours of work involved, is it unpaid work (except where you do done coding at work ) favourite for all this

Initial thought was to rent a bike but citybikestation decided that I should walk. *grumble* I still enjoyed it and after first few corners the goal areas widened nicely to cover the footpaths. Grabbed also some other caches along the way and still managed to cross the finish line under two hours. Left the cache for next day which was a good call since it was camuflaged very nicely. Great round and wig, thanks for the cache!

A first for me...

Wherigo caches - indeed I shall look into it further. I've heard about them BUT never taken any real interest in them - Naively I pushed them aside.

Both BendSinsiter and were in the area picking a few hides awaiting for the cover of darkness to tackle a nearby NC. It was I that actually suggested that we should nail this one as I knew that Marc is into Wherigo's. I'm glad we did as I enjoyed the concept. A very well put together Wherigo ... a view also shared by Marc.

I loved the stages, different, fun and EZI - Overall a highly recommended Wherigo - A must do!

Shogun- and I were bad and travelled substantial portions of the circuit by car, on a largely deserted and unobstructed track. Mostly a little before midnight, though we had visited the first few zones around sunset when passing through. The journey was fun, the zones well-mapped out, the textual content was informative (for me at least, as navigator; one disadvantage of driving is that I didn't get to convey much of it to my companion in real time), and the soundtrack was officially the loudest I've yet encountered in a Wherigo. The cache itself was found fairly quickly (the credit for spying it goes to shogun- IIRC) though it was very nicely camouflaged indeed. Thanks ThePacman!

We thought this is the perfect cache for Christmas day. We walked around but unfortunately on point 14 our phone had a problem and our cartridge was broken. It is a lovely round and we really enjoyed this one but it was really disappointed that we had this technique problem. So we finished our round without having the cache.

With Water Monster completing a last training session before Christmas it was now or not for a while. Having got turns one to six the day before I hoofed it to that point then strode out in search of interesting facts about an event that had been in my backyard for a long time. Really enjoyed the walk and the tit bits along the way. Thanks ThePacman as it was obvious a lot of effort had been put into this cache. Ticked all the boxes, taking me to a cool place and leaving me knowing more about it after the journey. TFTC.

Well... what an adventure! The day started out with a trip to the cricket at the nearby Junction Oval. I had spotted this cache on the map and had been looking to complete Wherigo. So, after a while I decided to get up from my seat and do some caching!!!

Starting off nice and easy, completing some traditionals, It was time for the main event. I only had a limited amount of time, so my chosen vehicle was those blue hire bikes. After some trouble with organising the bike, I was ready to make my way to the starting grid. It sure was a great ride around the lake, although a bit more effort was needed to ride on the grass.

It was really interesting to learn about the elements of the race track, especially the car park bit. I approached the final straight, and after my victory, I made my way towards the final co-ordinates. Searching through a pile of leaves and rubbish, I was about to give up when suddenly, the cache was spotted.

This is definitely a well thought out cache. Thanks to ThePacman for an enjoyable day. Definitely a favourite point from me!

Found it during walk around Albert Park. Nice park. Great wig. I enjouyed very much. I finished race in 107 minutes. That was my score. Thank you very much for nice cache.

This looked like a suitable morning walk in cloudy & windy weather. Nicely created simple but informative wherigo that offered pleasant & unhurried stroll. In GZ I had to hand around for a long time before I spotted the clever cache. Right after logging the clouds sailed away as if the sun had celebrated the find with me

Given that this was the first day of the long weekend I thought that Albert Park may be suitably sparsely populated as all the health fiends had decamped to other venues. I was mostly correct but there were some leftovers. No matter, today was going to be the day where I could get into Melbourne's very own F1 race via caching!
I was a little hesitant given that this was my very first Whereigo but other than the interspersed bits of commentary sending the Whereyougo app on my Android phone for a loop (and thus needing to restart the app) everything proceeded smoothly. All turns were taken (albeit at a much slower speed) and straights sped along.
Once at GZ I proceeded to locate the cache, did the duties and visited a trackable I have been carrying called Webber (after Mark of course) for bonus points. Unfortunately the cache wasn't big enough to house a sizable geocoin so I guess I'll have to locate another around the F1 track.

In Melbourne for a few days and naturally am using my spare time to grab a few local caches. Today I figured I'd target a few cache types that aren't readily available at home, which brought me to Albert Park for my first whereigo.

After figuring out how the technology works (i found that I had to create the requisite folder in the internal storage of my phone), I thoroughly enjoyed doing an interactive lap of the circuit ... remarkably finishing in 1st place in a time of 53 minutes.

Thanks for a wonderful experience Paceman ... which gets a fave point from me. I'm now looking forward to doing more whereigoes in the future.

# 13569

Such a great idea for a cache! We took our time, logged a few other cachers around the track, looked at the wildlife and the views.

Next time we watch this race on tv we will know every corner of it.

This one gets a FP.

We found this cache during our vacation in Singapore and Australia. It all started last autumn when it was decided that the GP Speedway would end the season this year with a race in Melbourne. We decided to go and later plans expanded.

Thank you ThePacman for the cache!

I have had a liking for wherigo's since writing the cartridge
for a couple. Staying overnight very close to this one so it was
definitely on the radar. Late afternoon was probably not the best time
as all the health nuts were arriving to partake in all sorts of activities.
Despite that Coruze and I pressed on and finally crossed the finish line.
Thanks for the wherigo ThePacman your efforts and time taken to
produce this cache is really appreciated.
troobloo

Staying in the big smoke, we decided to only pick a few caches for the day to take it easy due to the hot weather.
This one was on the list and was one of our last for the day. Probably a bit dumb in hindsight as all the health nuts were coming out to play
There was some barriers in the road as we made our way to the starting coords, so I drove through them grand prix style, yelling the screeching sounds as we went
Anyway we made our way through the course enjoying the story and sound effects as we went. Dodging muggles and trying to stay out of the sun proved difficult at times but we got there in the end, screeching over the finish line
As we approved GZ I saw what i thought was a tuff of possum hair on the ground but after closer inspection it was a baby bird that obviously fell out of a tree. As soon as I said "Oh its a baby bird" two girls on bikes came to a screeching holt and ran over to investigate. Another dumb mistake because we couldn't shake them for what seemed like an eternity. One said "Oh, can I take it home" and I was thinking bloody oath you can..go go go... but I kept my thoughts to myself behaving for change.
Finally they left and we could get in to grab the cache, nice camo and a great lot of fun, thanks for amusing us ThePacman! [^]

Find #748
On 2 wheels today so still not as quick as 4 wheels but beats walking! Gz was a little busy at the end so it took almost as long to get a break to make the grab and return! Tftc

This entry was edited by evangofind on Wednesday, 07 October 2015 at 21:36:14 UTC.

Well this was one of the main reasons to visit the Lake today.

Besides the awesome weather and a bike lap for the geokids while I walked.

It was only fitiing considering I was lucky enough to go to the Singapore GP a couple of weeks ago.

No issues with the cartridge today.

The sound was much better than the real things these days.

Enjoyed the commentary at each cnr too.

The cache log was a fairly quick find and the day was done.

Fav from me.

TFTC

It was so far to ride the bike today.

I was so tired but I had so much fun.

We looked round and found the cache hide.

It was a fun day.

I had lots of fun today.

The bike ride was cool.

The weather was so nice.

Then we logged the cool hide.

Thanks

Been a long time since I last did a wherigo. In fact back then I used a PDA. Now I have a smart phone to which i had to download and app etc. It played up a tad on the way around but we got there in the end.
Thanks indeed.