Kariong Series - Remains of a Treasure Kariong, New South Wales, Australia
By Kavaju on 27-Nov-14. Waypoint GC5H3HA

Just checked. All good.

My sincere apologies to the CO, I punched in a wrong digit weeks ago when I performing the waypoint run around. Note to self: As the saying goes, always check twice and cut once, mainly, double check.Being so gung-ho previously searching in all the wrong places.My maths were spot on, but, transferring GZ had me in a world of confusion. It took hold, so expanding my search at my wrong GZ and found the sucker. Wow, up to 40m, there it is. Well, arent I going to rev up the CO, 40m out. Lemme check this GZ, S and E taken, now lets see where it should be, hold on, wait. Its where it should be.What can I say, hours spent, giving a fav as I enjoyed the bridge, last WP, thanks Kavaju

I have kept looking at this cache for a long time, and decided today was the day to go get it. Parked at WP, did the WP's in order, sat and worked out WP5. OK. Off we go to see a pirate. And once again, Kavju has found a spetacular setting for walking. All this sandstone is amazing. I have always considered myself pretty good at Maths, but i always seem to get something wrong with my Field Maths. Searched an area for a little while, with nothing really showing, so i checked my sums, and quickly saw an error. Recaclulate. OK, Its just over there, lucky i was not too far out. After a quick search one way, then the other i soon found our Keeper of Secrets. Said Hi, but no response.... I found what i needed, and worked on the next puzzle. Got another set of coords, and off we go, along a trail i did not take to get out here. Soon had 0 on the needle, and there was a million hidey holes to be checked. Oh Boy. Searched for around 45 minutes, and had searched every where suspicious i could see. Must have something wrong again. Could not see it, so started sending a message to the CO, to ask if i had the final correct, and then i noticed it. Rejig the coords, Oh, another 30M south, over there. After another fruitless search, and the mood getting darker as the sun sinks over the horizon, I finally send that message, and ask am i in the right spot. I got a pretty quick reply, but was a "Hold On", so i continued searching, eventually having exhausted what i thought were all the hidey holes for a wide search area. I went back to the car, and it wasnt long before I got an answer, which gave me the thumbs up on the corods, and a little hint as to the hide. Twas a forehead smacking moment, as i cannot explain how i did not look there. Camo is excellent, but i did not even see the spot. My mind was dead set on another type hide. Anyway, a huge Thankyou to Kavaju, for her help in geting me past the post today. Really appreciate it. Fav from me, for everything good with this cache, and the CO.

Checked. All good.

No luck here today

Found today with BillHill531. Had a bit of trouble locating the keeper because of the recent rain but he gave up his whereabouts soon enough. Back tracked back and find a clean replacement log waiting to be signed. TFTC Kavaju.

Found with shaneo58, doing some caches around the Central Coast. Looked like rain for the whole day but luckily it held off. On our quest we got to the keeper who was in good condition to give up the final coords required. Located the cache within 1m from GZ.
Signed log and Cache replaced as found.
**Thanks For The Cache** Kavaju.

This makes the 4th cache of 7 for today making a grand total of 3404 at 1:41PM on this Thursday the 9th of December in the Year 2021

Thanks Kavaju! What a beautiful place to explore abs a fun multicache to find the treasure! Thank you for taking the time to help us re: the maintenance of this cache. We can now log success!!! Forgot our pen on this third time lucky

Cache enabled. Final location and container changed due to bushfire. Be aware of muggles around. Some of them are not reliable, as I have witnessed. Make sure there’s nobody looking.

Missing container. Will replace as soon as I can, probably with new coords.

Enjoyed this cache. Thanks Kavaju! +1 Fave point.

After parkrun some weeks ago my wife and I obtained the first set of numbers. I took them home to suss out as I figured my wife wasn't going to be keen to head into any bush for the next waypoint. Came back to day and heading to the likely looking co-ords, pleased to see much more interesting terrain than just bush. Good idea to have multiple waypoints to visit for this one! Found the secret keeper who is cute as a button, ignored the red tag then hoped I understood the message. I did quite a bit of back and forth approaching the treasure, until I realised that I had my phone orientated upside down haha . The compass never really worked well, so I often just navigate off the map, which is fine when the map is right way up.

At GZ had no luck in the first couple of places, and then - you know that feeling when you see something, put your GPSr in your pocket and get out your pen, just knowing that the cache is going to be found just in front of you - well, got my pen out and .... nothing doh! But I did in the end find the treasure and signed the log. Replaced as found. This cache might be hard to find if natural elements are at play for a few months between finds. TFTC!

Grabbed the numbers on a couple of earlier visits and took them home for careful calculations, having been thwarted in the field by silly errors more than a couple of times. Returned today and was glad I hadn't made the attempt on a wetter day. I made a couple of approaches that became boggy and tangled before finding the sensible route. Arrived to meet the Keeper and he certainly was shy; after looking high and low and to and fro, I spotted a possible den and there he was. He gave up his secret readily enough but it could have two meanings but he turned his back to me and refused any further assistance. With so much boggy ground, I backtracked along the known dryish route before heading in for the treasure. Nature had conspired to keep it well hidden. I found it in the second place I looked, after looking there three times. It wasn't really 'buried treasure' but was well absorbed. Thanks Kavaju, good fun.

For the next finders after 'Team Novo', until I fix it:
When you get to the WP5, the info needed is NOT on the red tag.

The weather was expected to be rubbish today but by midday I was wondering why all the pessimism so out I went a-geocaching.

Decided to just duck out for some local caches for a change. We still have heaps of unfound caches around our neighborhood waiting for days like this to be found. Just had time for maybe this one and another down Phegans Bay way.

Picked up the info at the WPs ok and stood by a structure resembling a desk near WP4 to put the numbers together. Yup that looks likely and also checks out with the checksum. A cool little adventure began as I made my way to WP5 to uncover the "treasure secret keeper". He had some info attached which was very hard to distinguish and just as I was about to give up with a photo to the CO, he presented something a little more obvious ...once I looked a little harder lol.

At GZ I had some trouble because a freak-of-nature event meant that I couldn't get access to the whole area to search. After 20 mins I decided to execute the PAF move to the previous finder in that I wanted to check if they might have experienced this with their search. While I didn't get an answer about that specifically, I did get confirmation that what I was looking for was indeed right where the inaccessible spot is in my pic (which I sent them). Damn. So it was time to really get down to business BUT soon enough I finally got a hold of it. It was quite difficult to remove from it's spot but I did manage to do so and without damaging it. I SL etc and replaced as found and I do believe I found the original camo which had dislodged as it seems to fit perfectly over the spot. I think I can see how this is supposed to look now! TFTC, Kavaju. I wouldn't worry too much about going out for a look as I think all is good and so future finders just need to be aware that you don't have to do anything impossible to get to the cache. It is accessible but only just I will send the CO some pics for reference.
#1197

#3857
Out on a raid in the Central Coast to make the most of the cooler weather. Managed to pick up 4 solved puzzles, a virtual and 2 multi's including and oldie from 2003 with 12+ months of unloved.

This was the final adventure for the day. I had visited the waypoints back in August with asbestiform where we had an issue with one of them. After checking with the CO, we found the error in our way and stored the secret keeper coordinates away for another day. Well today was that day and having forgotten the details of this cache, I thought I was off to GZ. Skipped along the mostly dry creek bed for a while before ascending to the calculated coordinates to make a super quick find with perfect coordinates. BUT - whats this? There's more to be done?

I wasn't sure what to do next so reviewed the cache description and info I had gathered previously and still nothing... None of the other logs seemed to mention any difficulties at this stage. Had I missed something? Eventually I thought of something and it looked reasonable so off I went. Let me say that I got lucky here and immediately noticed something that led me to the container. Struggling to get the inner out of the outer but eventually added my name to the log and replaced everything as found. Well I certainly got more adventure than I was expecting. Headed back to the car happy with my achievements for the day.

TFTC Kavaju

I started this cache with Mr Minion a couple of weeks ago but I had trouble with one of the waypoints and after the CO kindly helped me figure out where I went wrong I got a much better answer. Today my daughters and I were going to do the new virtual nearby so stopped for this one on the way. My youngest was reluctant to do the walk at first until we found a nice path and the lovely waterfall. I went to low at first when looking for the secret keeper and had to back track. Then when found he gave his secret easily. Walking to GZ my daughter said I think it's there but I said no and kept walking , Walking back again later to find my daughter had been right. SHe was so happy to find the coin inside which we took to move along as it's been sitting in this cache for a while. Thanks for the great cache Kavaju def fav point worthy for the fun and the location.

Cache checked.
The "Treasure Secret Keeper" went for a walk, but he was placed on his point of duty to tell his message.
The cache itself was too much covered by nature, due too much time unloved. It was brought back.
Good luck!

Started this multi, but had some trouble with the diamond calculations. Worked out where I needed to be, but there was construction blocking the way. Will come back when they are done.
Thanks for the walk!

Out with my sister dlturner and thought we would give this one another go before heading home from doing a some of the Ozmuster series. Well it paid off. Finally found it

This has been a long time in the making. Got the cords about 1 year ago. Have not been able to find a way in. Passing today and thought we would have another try. Yes we made it,well almost there.
Nice to make this one a smiley.

Dropped "Doctor Gecko? Geocoin"

Today I went for a check. Council removed two mattresses and a tent blocking the creek, but the place is still a spot for people to dump rubbish. I removed a piece of a couch, which probably dumped after the Council work.

Logbook replaced. I'll call Council to make a clean-up.

Trees are being cut. The vandalism and graffiti are worse than the last time I was there.

Thanks to Billy&Jad for letting me know that the log is damp. I'll be replacing it as soon as I can. Actually, I'll try another kind of protection for it.
Yes, agree. It's a shame and sad that an area like this is forgotten and being damaged. Cheers

We started with W2-4 as we were able to park pretty close on the other side of the highway. It took a while to do some of the calcs after misinterpreting one equation but a good set of numbers were soon obtained so we ventured off to find the secret keeper. Some great natural features were found along the way and there was no bush-bashing involved. It is such a shame an area like this is spoiled by so much rubbish and vandalism. It seems the caves are being used a hobo's home or more likely a bunch of pot-head's party haven.

The secret keeper was easily found. There were nice red colours in the plants at the moment. Then it was off to the final GZ. Looked in the likely spot and feared it missing until we looked around further. We enjoyed the idea with the treasure but unfortunately the cache had water in it and the log is damp. Thanks for this fun adventure, TFTC!

Looking for some caches to do in the area that we could do while walking the dogs, we stumbled on this one and the WP's looked friendly enough. Had a nice walk from WP1 to WP4 and then up to the cafe at the Penang gardens for lunch. Leaving the WP5+6 for a more adventurous day without the dogs.
Great cache so far Kavaju, will be back for the higher terrain parts shortly!

Checked. Everything in place and dry. The path to WP5 is much better. Apparently, the route is being used more frequently.

Hint updated

This search started off easily enough, and the initial four data bits were found, and number crunched, and the co-ords for WP5 (The Keeper) were there.
A short walk via a very pretty route along the creek and heaps of spider webs in the face, and The Keeper was unearthed. A cute little bloke!!
Date collected from here didn't mean much, and then doubts started creeping in. A quick walk to the numbers that I had calculated revealed a very large tree, and area swept of vegetation and debris ( by recent heavy rains?) ( or bush turkeys?), and a red plastic container that once may have held a cache.
Was this a muggled cache?
I contacted the CO who confirmed my calculations and co-ords.
So, back this afternoon to GZ for another look, but really thinking all I was going to do was take a photo of an empty container for the CO and declare a DNF.
After a cursory look and a bit of a poke around, my poking stick went into any empty space where I wasn't expecting a void. On further examination, a container was discovered under a pile of vegetation, but firmly wedged into a fold in the tree. Its been so long since the last finder that the tree had started to envelop the container! So, is the red container a decoy??
Anyway, cache extracted and log signed and container replaced.............not so tightly!
Thanks, Kavaju, I enjoyed this cache. The first in my new area of abode. TNLNSL TFTC

After 49 days of my enquiry to Council for a clean up, today I went for a checking. Yes! Council did a good job removing the blockage! Before, there was a massive twisted metal frame over the little creek, which was causing the accumulation of more rubbish. How this huge metal ended up in the bush?? I believe the rain could never drag it over there.. A few meters away there was an old rusted adult bike upright laying in its kickstand. At that day I failed to take a picture to post in the "Caring for our Home" cache ( http://coord.info/GC5JDM4 ) . I'm very happy that Council took action properly!

I took the opportunity to verify the waypoints. There were some drops of water inside the final container.. As I wasn't prepared, I used my shirt to dry it out.. Took some pics and left the Treasure behind.. All clear! And most importantly, CLEAN..!


This entry was edited by Kavaju on Thursday, 15 October 2015 at 20:55:00 UTC.

Enquiry made at Council on 27/08/15 to perform a clean-up in the area. I'll check in a few days. Meanwhile if someone goes for the Treasure, please let me know how is the condition. Thanks

Made easier to grab the 'Treasure'. Everything is in place and reachable. I'll probably ask Council to clean-up the little creek. Too much 'no natural' material blocking the water passage, which is impossible to perform a Cito by myself.

Got after a few self doubts.
Found something down low but it was empty- and disappeared down a hole as soon as it moved a la Alice.

Arm deep into said hole but nothing inside what was pulled out...

Concerned about location had a last stroll about nearby looking at likely treasure troves, then back at where I'd started. Inside then outside high and low and saw a potential spot. Totally covered.

Poking and twisting brought this treasure to light again.

Replaced as found but if high and low (or up and down) has meaning, low is not active.

Have some photos if co interested.

Thanks Kavaju - kept me occupied a few arvos on the way home!

This entry was edited by Lavinian on Wednesday, 24 June 2015 at 09:31:41 UTC.

Not yet but found secrets - spikey!
Will be back to finish as dusk fell

As per description, it's not prudent to try this cache after heavy storms, so I followed my own advice..

The waters were lower today, so I went for a check. Well, not as lower as I hoped, but as I have done this walk so many times, I could make it very carefully straight to the 'Treasure Secret Keeper' and the cache itself.

I was fearing for the cache, but this was the one completely dry and more protected than ever. I even positioned it a bit easier to be grabbed.

On the other hand, the curious "Mr Keeper" has left his shelter to verify the weather and couldn't come back to safety in time.. Naughty little fella! He was lying down a few centimeters from his haven, totally exposed, with a needy look.. (: Poor thing.. I rescued him, and gently brought him back to his home.. This time, he has a better protection, just in case a new storm event come to happen. So, please, if you come to ask him the secret, make sure he has the same protection! The same applies for the Treasure!

I'll be changing the terrain difficulty to 4 stars. The area is a little bit wilder than before due to recent storms.

I noticed that no matter the weather, this place has its particular beauty, in different facets!

Summing up, cache in shape and good to go! Happy hunting

First of all, thanks all for searching the cache! Specially this first one:)

I’d like to kindly ask those who found difficult on the math, please send me a message, so we can clarify any issue and work it out.

Thanks for your help and ... sorry my poor English...

This entry was edited by Kavaju on Monday, 26 January 2015 at 09:43:11 UTC.

Well this cache has sat as my closest to home for too long now, being less than a kilometre, I just had to do it. All the waypoints I have been to hundreds of times before growing up as a child, especially the countless trips waking/riding with the dog or mates around Mt. Penang.
The cache was published while I was on holiday (of course) otherwise I would have pounced on that FTF.
The waypoints were ticked off quickly. Even spotting a red belly black snake on the way to wp4.
The final bit of math just wouldn't work out, with decimal answers, but that number was easy to guess anyway so it didn't matter.
On to the keeper of secrets I passed a few more very familiar locations. One being where I once had a cache hidden myself and the other where I held a CITO event a year or so ago in atrocious weather. The water had come up so high we couldn't cross the creek! I guess that's what took my cache away, at which i decided to archive it.

The keeper of secrets shared us some interesting information after a few prickles in the hand, at which we bid him/her farewell and continued to the final. Mrnoo17 found the cache in the last possible hole on the object at gz.

Thanks for a nice local cache kavaju.

This little multi proved to be a little more effort than expected. Found all the Waypoints with ease (still not sure why the choice of these waypoints). Some funny math which didn't work properly but was easily averted led us to a waypoint which was pretty hot today. Thought we had the wrong numbers but we soon spotted the waypoint. The cache was in a location which felt a little like de ja vu. Nice little hide. TFTC!!!

Coordinates changed from:
S 33° 26.576 E 151° 17.197

Coordinates changed to:
S 33° 25.852 E 151° 17.449

Distance from original: 4583.8 feet or 1397.1 meters.
Updating coordinates.

Cache good to go!
Reading the feedback logs, I decided to change the waypoints (puzzles) to more convenient spots. I hope it's for the best. Thanks!

I'd like to invite Mr&MrsFish, opa-bob, Mumma-Kel and barefootjeff to check the new virtual waypoints when walking around Kariong. The 2 last physical ones remain the same. Thanks for being the 5 first ones to find it!

This entry was edited by Kavaju on Wednesday, 14 January 2015 at 19:49:53 UTC.

I'm disabling for a couple of days.
The virtual waypoints need to be rearranged. Thanks!

Dropped off TB

After the CO confirmed I had the right coordinates for the Keeper, I returned to the location, this time paying closer attention to my surroundings. Soon the secret was revealed and it was off back into the scrub for the next leg.

Again at GZ nothing leapt out at me as a likely hide, but after a fair bit of poking around I eventually discovered the treasure chest. I didn't take any pieces of eight, though, as I thought they might be cursed. Perhaps that's why I found an easy way back to the car via a picturesque little waterfall.

Thanks for an entertaining journey through the wilds of Kariong.

Well, this turned out to be a much bigger adventure than I had expected when Mumma-Kel rang me to ask if I wanted to do this multi with her today. A relaxing walk followed by something a little harder, but no too far, the description said .... but not quite what we got!

I had taken a look at the treasure map (a different approach to a multi that I quite liked) and Google Maps while I waited for Mumma-Kel who had a school thing to go to before we could head off, so I had a pretty fair idea what direction we had to take to get the clues to the keeper's whereabouts. As a result, we were able to move the the geomobile to suitable points along the route as we went, instead of leaving it back at Peppermint Park. We were also able to figure out the coords we needed after stage 5, allowing us to then motor up to the point from which we figured we could find our way to the keeper to prise the treasure's secret location away from him.

At this point, we may not have found/used the best route to where we needed to go, since we were forced to do some bush bashing, along what could best be described as animal trails, to get there. Thankfully, my GPSr was in a cooperative mood and it kept us on track though, so we were soon able to make the acquaintance of the keeper of secrets (he certainly is a bit on the shy side) and prise the secret words from him.

Getting from there to GZ was a bit of a challenge too ... indeed, Mumma-Kel and I ended up taking slightly different routes to get there. After a quick search at GZ, I located the treasure but then had to use a helping hand it actually get it in hand.

Even at this point, however, the adventure was not over. Not wanting to return the way we had come, we tried a few other "tracks" before eventually finding our way out and back to the car, along what turned out to be a very scenic route.

Thanks for a fine adventure Kavaju, it was fun even though it was somewhat harder and took much more time than we had anticipated ... but at least we didn't have to then have to hike back to the starting point for the car! Taking all things into account, I personally think the DT rating is a bit underdone ... at least 3/3 would be getting closer to the mark.

I've been without a geo-mobile for a couple of weeks, so this cache had been burning a hole in the back of my mind since I first noticed it on the map...and so I suggested Opa-Bob accompany me to get it done...as he had said he was a good Opa-Bob and did his homework...which is far better than me, for I had just had a quick look, and though 'oh yeah, that's straightforward enough' and left it at that (oh how wrong you can be at first glance however!)

We met up this morning and after an interlude for coffee we started out at Peppermint Park, on the right bearing, which is where Opa-Bob had already figured we quickly collected up the first few numbers and headed on our way - working out pretty quickly we could bunny hop along a little to save us from the walk back to the car, we moved it down the road a little.

Looking for the 3rd set of numbers took us a little longer than we expected, and a lot longer than it should have (one of those, oh der - right there moments

This adventure started off well, with me having no trouble finding the clues for the four card suits along the way. Putting them all together gave me coordinates for the Treasure Secret Keeper, which at first glance seemed reasonable as they were only a hundred metres or so from where I was at stage 6. However the coordinates led me into thick scrub, across a small creek and up a rocky embankment to a flat expanse of rock with really nowhere for anything other than perhaps a micro to be hidden.

Not wanting to go back the way I'd come and seeing on my GPSr that I wasn't far from the Central Coast Highway, I bush-bashed my way through, only to eventually be thwarted by the new security fence that wouldn't let me get from the highway back into Kariong without going around the long way.

So I guess the Secret Keeper has done its job, the secret is safe from me. I'll no doubt make another attempt at some stage after I can confirm or otherwise my coordinates with the CO.

Came to visit my first baby & swap TBs

We had to choose between working in the garden or chasing this new multicache, no contest really. We made our way past the waypoints and did the numbers then walked through a familiar area. The final waypoint was not easy, maybe due to our chosen route, but I found the final info needed and was soon at GZ for the FTF. We took the TB and left another, then made record time back to the car with a huge storm and thunder approaching. All the waypoints worked well and final coordinates were excellent. Thanks to Kavaju for a really good multi, especially for your first, looking forward to your next.

Dropped TB

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