Dark side of the cache #72 Queensland, Australia
By 4ando on 18-Aug-19. Waypoint GC8CC51

I reckon it must have been sometime around midday ish on day two on the water that we came up on this gz.It was a whole lot of fun throwing ourselves through lantana and assorted spiky shrubberies to get to and away from all of the tangles.Love it.This puzzle was actually pretty fun once I'd stared at it long enough to guess what I might have to do.Turns out squinting real hard does help.Whatdyaknow.Thanks 4ando for putting in so many long hours crafting this helmet of adventure for us sad addicted geocachers. This is another of those combinations that set the geocacher frothing.Good times.Here's a random sample for good luck. Oh wow that's a whole lotta unloved

A last minute chance to join a small group of cachers on the lake today. We had a long, enjoyable day puttering about, jumping in and out of the boat and walking up and down the shorelines and surrounding hills to find a good chunk of this series. Thanks 4ando

Celebrating the beginning of Spring by spending a day on Lake Somerset with good friends, finding caches. TFTC, 4ando. =^.^=

Quite the slog up the hill to this one, up up up and through all of the prickly bushes. They are starting to get on my goat at this point, I’m not gonna lie! My shins and arms are not loving life with all the scratches, but there’s caches to be found and you gotta do what you gotta do! Finally got our names on the log. TFTC 4Ando!

Pretty proud moment for us when we solved this puzzle I gotta say. Loved the variety of puzzles in the series!

Krcamber was the lead in the run to GZ, and thank goodness! Sometimes I’m Shera, Princess of Power, but today I’m a bit of a pussy cat. Maybe it’s the lack of snacks available to us. Did I mention we left them at the cabin??

Nevertheless, our names are on the log and we are super pumped!

Thanks for the puzzle and the cache, 4ando

This puzzle was only recently worked through in the past couple of months in preparation for a trip like today. As a Star Wars fan, I was able to complete the majority of puzzles myself, but I did need help and a few nudges for a couple of more difficult puzzles.

We approached this geocache from our hire boat, and then made our way to GZ. We managed to make the geocache find reasonably quickly, and the cache container and logbook were in good shape. We signed as Team "GSW" (as per [GurTheWanderer](https://coord.info/PRWMPWQ), [stairman1](https://coord.info/PR4R27Z), and David"W"azza). Thanks 4ando for the cache placement and ongoing maintenance.

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During this extended weekend, it was a trip north to find the 65 Roses geoart in Kilcoy, followed by two days boating on Lake Somerset to defeat the Dark Side series joined with [GurTheWanderer](https://coord.info/PRWMPWQ) and [stairman1](https://coord.info/PR4R27Z).

Today, the plan was to attack as many of the *Dark side of the cache* geoart on Lake Somerset as daylight, time and energy could handle. After staying in D'Aguilar, I stopped at Kilcoy to participate in Yowie parkrun, before then making my way to Hazeldean to meet [GurTheWanderer](https://coord.info/PRWMPWQ) and [stairman1](https://coord.info/PR4R27Z) and pick up our hire boat.
We set off from Kirkleagh Boat Ramp just after 08:45 hr, and we made our way south / south-east whilst attacking the various geocache clusters. The lake was at 80% capacity with not too many boating muggles about, although there was one boat testing its speed limits as it "flew" across the lake. Ultimately, we managed to find all 108 available geocaches by the end of the day, which none of us expected to achieve. The Winter weather was fantastic as it wasn't hot, and the three of us had a lot of fun boating and walking/hiking across the lake's peninsulas.

Team GSW found these cache today. With Davewazza and Stairman.

I AM GUR

Found with Team GSW. GurTheWanderer, Davewazza and I spent a great day caching on the lake here today. I was lucky to receive an invite to spend the weekend camping and boating and to track down the dark side caches. As it turned out we never need the second day and managed to find all except a couple of archived caches. The Co ords were great and it didn't take much to find them. Thanks heaps 4anddo for this great series you have placed for our enjoyment. The amount of work you put into these must have been extreme. A great day out on the lake weather perfect and not a wave to be seen. We even got to see a Koala at one of the caches. A bonus. Thankyou again.
As we had hired a boat from the local hire place for the weekend Davewazza and I stayed an extra night to nab the last few Traditional caches we hadn't found. Gur decided he needed to return home.
Thanks team GSW for a great day out.
TFTC

We started this series 2 years ago and the unfound 45 have been bugging me ever since. We joined up with Peppa who has mentioned he needs these caches once or twice.

With the long distance that needed to be covered we opted to hire a boat rather than paddle, although it’s debatable which is the faster option. JDavs and Peppa took turns at being the wave break as we battled the winds, the rain and the wakes of speed boats on our journey. Despite the obstacles it was a great day out with awesome company.

As we made our way up the hill from #73, there was no easy way round the lantana. At times we had to go through it to get closer to GZ.
At GZ we were completely surrounded by the spiky weeds, I found a way in by going over the top of a fallen tree and made the find. Now to get back out…

Tftc 4ando

A day of adventure with Davinells… Apparently I’ve had an annoying focus on this Geoart for sometime… it’s all the T4.5s… and then Georode published his December challenge…

A date was set, plans were made, a floating sewing machine was secured, the CO was contacted… and now here we are… Someone has to be ballast… It rained, it was windy, it was sunny… and the Lantana, so much Lantana… an awesome day on the water with Wadda Mooli & LDavs…

Another cache that required us to dance with the Lantana… there was zero option but to dive right in… LDavs was the hero here…

Travelled down from Mackay with alphag_25 to find these caches. My grandpa came out on the boat with us. We had rain yesterday but sunny today. Cache container was found in good condition. Thankyou for creating this cache. Travelling back to Mackay on Saturday.

Logging old caches originally found with alphag_25. Now have my own account and logging them separately so that i can claim the finds or not as the case may be. TFTC.

27/1/22 Travelling down yesterday from Mackay to do some GeoArt caches. On our trip down lost a bearing buddy from boat trailer near Rocky. Then near Gin Gin blew a boat trailer tyre. Got both issues sorted as had spare parts. Arrived at Dam yesterday and was raining. Setup our camp at Somerset Camp Ground and got a good nights rest. Woke up 530am and on the water at 615am. Rain has moved on. First lot of caches supprised me on the landscape as different to other dams I have done. The water shoes definitely getting a work out. Found caches secured and gps co ordinates good. Have Geokid CAITLYN1105 hiking around with me which is good company. Thanks for the variety of puzzles to solve and some I did get assistance on as good value mysyeries. TFTCs Signed Logs.

I've had this puzzle series solved for some time now and finally got the opportunity to be in the area, I met up with Wazza & Kara who were great navigators and set off in our little hire boat that we soon named HM Slow Snail.
Once we had found a few caches we knew what to look for and quickly had the first few areas done. We would have liked to complete more of the series but time and the weather soon ended that mission.
Many thanks to the CO for the time, effort and cost of setting up this puzzle at series, hopefully I will be back to complete the series and

TFTC

We really enjoyed the challenge of solving each of the puzzles in this series, so a big thank you to 4ando for his creativity.
This was to be our final group of caches that we would find this afternoon. As we set of in our little, underpowered dingy the breeze had increased and we were now faced with some small white-caps as we motored even further south to this group of caches.
Of the three areas we visited today, this area had the steepest sections which had to be walked, but fortunately, the accurate coordinates made for easier finds once at the GZ.
A big thank you to our caching partner, Fullboar who captained our craft.
Now he just has to get us safely back to the boat ramp before the storm that is brewing up strikes.
We hope to be back in the near future to continue this wonderful series of caches.

, Bris and I are after the remainder of the DarkSide Series today. This intrepid Trio were ready for a better day than last week’s dreary experience.
Alas, last week was a dream run compared to this week . We launched as the wind increased its intensity and started chopping up the water which initiated the longest bailing session I’ve had to date. So while our pilot guided the boat around the dam Bris& I tried to maintain our equilibrium by bailing. As a team I thought we worked well to remain afloat & collect the caches we did. It was a painful thought to concede the day, so we made the decision to persist and carried on. This week we got wet from the spray from the dam rather than from the heavens. There was a lot of wind today which increased the chill factor… I prefer last weeks experience. The most disappointing moment was when I showed how clumsy I can be and smashed my shin & the funniest made me fall over & rolled around laughing after finding that birds had swooped in & taken our bread rolls. What was left wasn’t worth eating. It was an unforgettable day of caching & we found all caches in good condition. Thanks for placing them EVERYWHERE!!

Muggle65, Brislions and I wanted to gather the rest of the Dark Side today. But the best laid plans of mice and men. Well we all know how that ends. The wind was really strong today and the waves kept swamping us. Brislions literally spent the day bailing while Muggle65 and I grabbed the caches. It was freezing cold and I had to actually pretend I was having fun when I was actually nearly freezing to death. The highlight of my day was when Muggle65 nearly went into the drink but he actually got a bit of a gash on his shin so it really wasn't as funny as it looked. The actual highlight of the day was when we returned to the dinghy and the birds had found our bread rolls and basically polished them off. But that was funny compared to my hyperthermia. I truly thank you for an unforgettable caching day. I think.

This is my 3rd time kayaking on Lake Somerset and continuing on the great series. Today I started from the southern launching point and was able to find a big number of caches on my 4 hours, 16km kayak / walking round trip.

Thanks for this great series!

Georode

Down from Townsville for the mega we were up at the crack of dawn to collect this series after solving these months in advance.

With the master Karicka at the helm and Padewans BenM70 and myself we aimed to complete the art in one hit.
Big day in the water which was most enjoyable. Mission complete.

Thanks 4ando for the massive effort in creating and placing these for us to enjoy.

Heading to the Dayboro mega from Townsville. Out with burgo78 and Karicka. Worked on the Darkside series before coming down and have now recovered from the eyestrain. Time to clean up and give some smiles to the geoArt. A few teething issues sorted with the boat and we were racing all around the lake. Great quality and well tethered caches should see this series last a while. Plenty of peoples out using the lake, for boating, skiing and jetsking. Thanks for placing these for our puzzling enjoyment 4ando.

A few of us had worked on these puzzles when they came out and with the Mega in Daybro it was time to come and find them.
We over estimated how quick we would find these hides and a very slow boat did not help matters but we are happy with what we got.
The hides were great, we only struggled on one where we found the coordinates a bit off but perseverance paid off.
To save room in the log books we signed as MMP. We are not sure how we came to this but can guarantee alcohol was involved
Many thanks 4ando for the interesting puzzles and great hides.
Apologies for the generic log but doing so many in a day we cannot remember each one individually.

Found by Mary and David with a great group of friends. Logged as MMP, CMP or similar. A very enjoyable day out on the lake in a hired slow boat. Our thanks to 4ando for all the work in setting up the series, and the fun of solving and finding.

A very tough series to do especially if you haven't got a fast water craft.

Thanks 4ando for the massive effort in placing these caches and for the puzzles that kept us entertained for days!

Wow, what an adventure we have had. We had such a fun time collecting this series. Up bright and early, we set off on our grand adventure. We thought we were prepared for this journey, maybe we were not. Boats secured, supplies, maybe not enough, water to drink, maybe not enough, tech in abundance. We had heard rumours of previous finders being shot at, luckily it didnt happen to us, climbing trees, scrambling up hills, and keeping an eye out and checking for snakes at every step. A day in the life of a geocacher really!Thanks for placing the cache 4ando, and for the puzzles. The series was a lot of fun.We signed the logs as VIC to make signing easier, to represent becknmonts, McLookers, Alansee and myself, micaparamedic.

What an adventure! We had such a fun time getting down this end to start the caches. Up bright and early (later than we wanted, earlier than the boat hire wanted on a week day), we set off on our grand adventure, ready to be shot at by bull farmers (it didn’t happen to us, but we had heard rumours), climb trees, scramble up hills, and check for snakes at every step. A cachers dream really!

Thanks for placing the cache 4ando, and for the puzzles. The series was a lot of fun to solve.

We signed the logs as VIC to make signing easier, to represent Micaparamedic, McLookers, Alansee and myself.

Found in the company of McLookers, beckNmonts and Micaparamedic over two days. After solving the puzzles we decided to come here and so we did. It was physically challenging but worth in the end. I personally found the coords to be generally very good and the method of attachment excellent.

After a massive effort to solve these caches and an equally massive effort to get to Somerset Dam, we had a great couple of days. The boat hire at the lake made this a very achievable series. The co-odds for the hides were spot on and the placements secure and effective. Caching and boating this series with beckNmonts, Alansee and micaparamedic, we signed the logs as VIC. We have many laughs, we made a great team and we had a ripper adventure exploring the dam. Thanks 4ando.

Bit of a hike up to this one though quite a few weeds, maybe a highpoint. Thanks again 4ando.

Before leaving home all these puzzles had been solved& then it was a matter of when would we go to find them
On our way to Dayboro we took a detour by Sommerset Dam a few nights camped here with the Snakepitters & also my muggle brother who has kindly lent us his tinny for the few days.
Day one was to place the yabby pots & check out the closest to the camp as to get an idea of what to expect.
Day two was a larger assult day, & to find as many caches while the weather was O'K.
Day three turned out windy so only managed to find 14
Day four, as we had extended our stay to finish the series off & also to wait to see of the latest lockdown
A great variety of puzzles to be solved some easily & others a PAF for a push in the right direction.
The views of the lovely green banks & the dam views were amazing.
Thankyou 4ando for placing this series of cache.

Our first big day on the dam. CANCEL that gym membership for another couple of months, hill and tree climbs, many thousands of steps and nuemerous water crossings. There were some great views from the top of the hills. A long day but we have broken the back of it and a much easier day tomorrow.

The puzzles were the easier part of this venture..

10676
TFTC 4ando

A marvellous puzzle worthy of a FP or two.. okay, so one.

Took a cross country approach to the cache.. some long grass, obstacles, orbs, but nothing too taxing. Our clothes from the earlier dam dunking had drip dried and we were missing the wet coolness, though not so much we were hoping for another unplanned dunking. Found the cache and wandered off to the next. TFTC 4ndo.

A wonderful day out in a little runabout with Crash, Canary and Tardis collecting Dark Side caches that we so assiduously solved during Covid lockdown 12 months ago.
This was the third grouping we attacked and the most southern group for the day. All the caches are in good condition. Many tanks for a fabulous series. SL TFTC

#4837
Lake Somerset Trip - Day 4

Today we started the main objective of our trip which is to find all of the Dark Side series on Lake Somerset. After an early breakfast, **Tardis0061**, **Team Canary** and **Purplepeopleater** collected our hire boat and set off south with the aim of collecting the caches on the western shore line to the southern most cache before returning along the eastern side. While we knew the hire boats wouldn't win any races, we were all pleasantly surprised that our speed got above 8kmh although a few patches of sea weed did slow us down. The forecast rain held off until mid afternoon and by that stage, we were all ready to call it a day, having visited 60 caches. All containers were in good condition except one which had a cracked lid and soaked log sheet. A great collection of puzzles and very impressive work with all the container attachments - hard to see them going astray.

TFTC 4ando

Full log to follow

Our thirty seventh for the day on the Lake with TARDIS0061, Purplepeopleater and Crash2079.

Up and up we went for this one.

TFTC.

Out for the day with our friends Steve (otherwise known as Urdera) and Michelle to see how many of these Dark side caches we could get. We were on the water by 8am and we left the water at 4pm. We were sunburnt, scratched, tired and had enjoyed a wonderful adventure. Each piece of headland was different to the last. Some quite hilly others nice and flat. Grass not too high but sometimes where no trail was evident it was bush bashing through head high lantana etc. We saw cows, lots of rabbits, a huge goanna, two snake skins and several turtles. We had leisurely stops in scenic spots as we enjoyed lunch and morning and afternoon tea on the boat. Our thanks to 4ando for placing this cache series and enhancing our enjoyment of the area and we would not have visited this area if it had not been for the caches.

Some of these are going to be real fun to get to soon. Luckily the cows seem to like wandering through the lantana. Followed their tracks around and through to GZ.

Today I've made only a morning paddling and have looked for the rest of our solved caches of the Dark side series.
TFTC

Wow another awesome time caching, I just love getting out and caching, a big thanks to 4ando for this series.

A couple of weeks back I tried to organise a few regular suspects to come and grab the dark series. It wasn’t looking good as only one solid confirmation and three can’t confirm till last moment. Then it was a mad week to finish of the rest of the puzzle caches and be ready. A bunch of phone calls in between and a rough plan in place all of a sudden things changed and we had a group to attack this series. An overnight camp Friday, a few drinks and a few laughs. Saturday night brought the excitement and the stories to tell after the event.

A great day, a long and fun day, lots of laughs and some awesome caches. With Team Tyrrell setting off on kayak while we waited for the slow boat to be loaded and launched, then it was Willis007, Simber15 and CHAMAD following up in a “hasty” pace, we had turtles asking us if we needed a tow, we even got passed by a butterfly at one stage, however this was just added to the fun of the day. The caches took us all over the dam area with some great views and some nice cache placements. Mrs Simber15 cured her phobia of cows and Willis007 learnt how to deal with angry magpies. The bird life on the dam is remarkable, there were a couple of sightings of roos and rabbits but nothing could beat the views from the tops of the hills, just inspiring; surprisingly no DNF’s and all caches are in good condition.

I really had a great day, the memories of the day just added to the great caching experience. Thank you to all that came along and be ready for the next assault on the next geoart. Thank you to the CO for the time spent placing these and setting this up. If it took us a long day to collect them it must have taken you weeks to organise and to set them out.

Puzzles were solved and a plan was hatched. We were going boating! We had started solving these shortly after they were published and I remember the speculation around the shape of the new art as the caches were published slowly over about a 24 hour period. It didn't take long for the enormity of the task ahead to become clear and so we parked the idea and the second half of the puzzles for another day. A week ago some geocaching friends invited us along for a weekend of camping and caching. An opportunity we couldn't possibly refuse! A quick scramble over a few days and the final touches were made and puzzles solved that had been neglected. We arrived the night before and made a plan of attack allowing for changes as required based on the flavour of the wind. An early start by kayak followed by the SS Slow Boat resulted in 11.5 hours on the water after first launching before the final cache was signed. We couldn't possibly have achieved this task without the help, support, entertainment, laughs and all round fun of Chamad, Willis0007 and Team Tyrell. The scenery was stunning and the bird life abundant. Views from some of the hills were magic and we couldn't help but stare in awe up at the bright stars from the campsite of an evening. Mrs Simber15's irrational fear of cows was overcome on a few occasions and a brief encounter with magpies completed. A few times we found ourselves beached or engine stalled and then Chamad would remind us "I know boats" and it wasn't long before we were up and running again. We made good time working in a clockwise pattern and tried to be methodical in our attack. The ground was dry and crunchy and it amazed us no wriggly sticks were found. A favourite moment for me was wading through a shoulder high patch of weeds with strange seed pods that sounded like christmas bells as you brushed against them. I have never seen/heard anything like it before! Thankyou so very much 4Ando for the incredible effort that you have gone to to create this art and the unique experience that it provides. This was a weekend of caching we won't soon forget! A fave for the series.

What an awesome series you have here 4ando.

I've had these puzzles in my solved box for quite a few months now, but haven't seemed to get the right timing to make an attempt at grabbing them. The puzzles were solved by various means of PAF's, getting hints and nudges from the CO working together as a team and good old fashioned time spent banging my head against the computer. Being somewhat of a Star Wars fan, some of the answers came easy to me. Others i had to knuckle down and search through Mr Google and various other sites to come up with the Co ords.

A few phone calls early last week had a rough plan in place to come up to Somerset this weekend and make a smash and grab for the series. A small but dedicated team came together for the challenge. Willis007, Chamad and Simber15.

I had previously decided to attempt this series by using my Kayak ONLY for the transfer between GZ's. On arrival at Somerset camp ground boat ramp very early this morning and looking out across the expanse of water the challenge seemed to be a bit overwhelming. Anyway in i plopped and off i set with a determined and healthy paddle stroke. By utilizing my kayak sail i was able to hold my own against the rented SS Slow Boat and the other team members. It was a monstrous day on the arms and after approx 10 hours on, in and around the water i opted to get a tow from SS Slow Boat to the last 8 caches as the wind was really starting to pick up.

An absolute great day out in an awesome location.

My highlights of the day would be :-
3 of the tree climbs that i managed to scramble up
The awesome views over looking the dam from the top of the hills
The numerous birds and animals putting on a show
The great condition the cache containers were kept in
Climbing out of my kayak when we returned back to the boat ramp

Low lights :-
Not really anything to complain about.
My legs got a little torn by the scrub on the Southern section of the cache's but that's all part of the fun.
The wind picked up from a NW direction as the day went on.

Well done 4ando.

Love your work.

A plan was hatched last week to visit Somerset and collect the Dark side caches which for me meant drop everything and start solving these puzzles
Ah one of these puzzles! It took a bit of work and a lot of squinting, I was very happy to find what I was looking for. These types of puzzles quickly became my favourite type to work on.
With more plans put into place, a camping and boating weekend was closely looming. A bunch of dedicated cachers - Team Tyrrell, CHAMAD, Simber15 - and our high tech transportation fleet of a super fast kayak and what has become affectionately known as the SS Slow Boat - came, saw and conquered some lovingly placed caches in the most beautiful of locations.
A lot of bird life and cattle were seen through the day, along with kangaroos, a rabbit and did I mention magpies?? Thankfully there were no snake encounters given the super long grass we walked through in some places.
A long but very satisfying day with some great company, a lot of laughs and scratches, a day which will long be remembered.
A huge thank you 4ando for a very well thought out puzzle series and for placing this cache here for us to collect today. Your efforts here are amazing! One of many favs from me.

TFTC smile 7206 out and about with Hatzoff, Echocage1 ,RoddyC, Snickersallan, 5days on the lakes (or dams)having a great time walking , boating, caching ,and thanks to the muggle fur baby sitter a favorite point for this cache



Thank you, 4ando, for placing this cache for our enjoyment.

***COs- Currently in the process of catching up on my logging backlog- some of it, I'm embarrassed to say extends back a number of years.
I'm logging each cache on the date that I actually visited it, not the day I'm logging. Cheers??***
***************************************
??????????
We'd been busy beavers solving this series and could finally come and collect the goodies here. It took us 3 days in a slow boat but we had a great time out on the water and being away from home.
As Ratty?? said to Mole??...
“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing–absolutely nothing–half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
We didn't mess about too much though or we wouldn't have found them all in the time we had the boat.

The logs were signed as either team GERSH or sometimes GRESH, depending on the memory of the signee and the caches were where our coords led us and no issues were encountered.

We saw plenty of turtles and cows, both live and not so lively, also all sorts of birds. There must have been plenty of fish too by the number of muggles fishing. We had a good haul too but not of what you could have thrown in the pan.????

One highlight here was finally getting my first D/T loop with this series although sadly I wasn't aware of it at the time. Probably just as well as I may have capsized the tub in my excitement! No happy dancing possible in a plastic tinnie without soggy consequences!???????
Thanks 4ando for the huge effort in making the puzzles and placing the caches.??

Another Great day out doors and on and around the water.

Great day, great weather, great company.


All caches signed as GERSH (Granny Smith 1947, echocage1, RoddyC, Snickersallan, hatzofff)

TFTC 4ando

Visiting from the Gold Coast and spending several days in the local area. This is our second day on the water after hiring a neat little tinnie to get us to and from the various islands and we certainly enjoyed every minute of it especially with the large volume of different types of birds flying around or just keeping a watchful eye on us combined with the herds of cows coming & going.
To save on paper, all our logs were signed as Team GERSH (grannysmith1947, echocage1, RoddyC, Snickersallan and hatzofff)
Well done CO on a fantastic series of puzzles and hides, thank you.


TFTC 4ando
Found September 4, 2020

This is day two of us deciding to join forces for a few day's caching on Lake Somerset. Today, we 'boated' to find the two traditionals we missed yesterday, then right down to the other end of the Lake to start finding these. All together, we found 43 caches today.

All logs were signed as "G.E.R.S.H." (Grannysmith1947, echocage1, RoddyC, Snickersallan and hatzofff).

Of those found today, all were in good order. Some required a little effort to retrieve (especially the odd tree climb or two - did they warrant a higher D rating?), and again, a couple had me panting for breath after a steep climb (at least for this old fellow).

Cache located, log signed and all replaced as found. TFTC, 4ando, on 04/09/2020

Today is an important date on my 'My Finds' calendar as it is only 1 of three dates that are still on 10 finds only, so I must find a few today.
So, I camped the weekend at Somerset Campground and set of about 0830 this morning in the kayak. The weather was a bit overcast and there were a few showers during the morning but nothing serious to dampen my geocaching drive.
The went paddle, walk, paddle big walk, then paddle back to start point arriving just before 1pm.
Enough caches found for today and I get to repeat it all again tomorrow. [^]
Thanks for the caches.

A quick find today.
The cache and logbook are dry.
Thanks for the cache.

Came back today to finish off the lower half of the dark side puzzles. We enjoyed the solving and the collecting. Today we saw a couple of rabbits, scored a couple of lures, avoided the rain and enjoyed a calm day and rolling hills. TFTC 4ando

Out and about at Somerset Dam with El Peregrinos doing some of the Dark side series. It was a bit windy when we put in just before lunch but there were plenty of sheltered areas as we went along.

We had a great time out walking, talking and climbing many hills to find the caches. The cobblers pegs and spear grass, which is nearly waist high in places, added to the fun. Plenty of cows and birdlife around the dam too.

Well done on a great series.

Like everyone else, my apologies for the generic logs.

TFTC 4ando


This log was written in an environmentally friendly way with reused letters of deleted emails and is completely digitally degradable.

Up to Sommerset dam with Konie chasing the Dark Side series in the tinnie, had a great day out hiking , climbing, boating and generaly having a great time . Thanks for all the work in placing this series so far .

Sorry about the generic but it's an endless task and doesn't alter the fun factor.

TFTC 4ando

I was having a lazy Saturday when I received a call from DoratheExplorer! asking if I wanted to go to Somerset Dam and find some of the Dark Side caches with her and CDAH55. I would have to leave home straight away to meet them. There goes my lazy Saturday! I hit the road and before long, was meeting up with them. We piled into Dora's geomobile and headed off towing the tinnie behind us.
Before long, we were at the dam and our adventures began. Lovely boat rides, some hiking and, of course caches to find. What a great afternoon!
Sorry for the generic logs, but I was having way too much fun to keep track of all the hides. TFTC

Dora the Explorer!, Selva Girls and I headed out to the dam today to grab a few more caches in this series.

The last time Dora the Explorer! and I was here, we attempted the caches on a jet ski until it developed a problem and we had to leave early. This time we took a tinny and had no such problems.

The grass has certainly greened up since we were last here and the water levels are a lot higher also.

We loved the variety of hides and the puzzles in this series.

This time we grabbed the caches at the most distant end and will work back on our next trip here.

Thanks ***4ando*** for the enjoyable caches on this dam. I will apologise for the generic logs.

Find #2756

Lovely day out on the water. Wow, the place has really greened up and water level has risen. Unfortunately lantana has come back and has started growing around a few of the caches.

Reading the quote from Gcoven, thought I'd do a little research myself and came across this gem, The Sith Code: "Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power".

What a lead in to using the force and when it doesn't fit, don't force it. So many connotations associated with this. Then I guess Slave Driver 4ando never forced The 6 Sith to solve the puzzles then collect them, so the collective 'we' can only blame ourselves. Cheers 4ando!!

To we who dwell in the Force, normal life is little more than pretense. Our only actions of significance are those we undertake in service to the dark side.
“To be a Sith is to taste freedom and to know victory.”
We were today The Sith and we indeed tasted the freedom of boating on the lake . At the end of a day where litres of sweat were lost we had claimed victory with the Dark Side conquered and a few traditionals as well !!! An enormous team effort and a few cows disturbed by the Force. A brilliant art and the trads were awesome too! Congratulations to Ardom on his 5000 find and 6th DT loop. Bestowing congrats on TeamARF for a 4000 target achieved ! What a day!!! Thanks 4Ando for the series and we are in awe of the efforts to create it!

There were six of us out on the water today in two boats (plus a muggle driver). So I thought our team name was "The Six" and someone was a bit lispy at the very early morning start time. But "The Sith" is much more appropriate for such a geoart!

We have had these puzzles solved since first published (and were FTS on quite a few), but distances looked too long for kayaking and we needed more than one boat. The stars (or boat availability) finally lined up quite nicely for today, so we made an early start. By the end we were all very hot and sweaty, and were struggling to walk another step. But it was a highly successful day, with good fun all around!

Thanks for the effort in making this awesome series 4ando. The amount of work putting all those caches out astounds me. TFTC!

Tftc. A team of six out on the water today. Thought our team name The Sith most appropriate. Beautiful day and not a drop of wind which made the event very smooth. Thanks for all the hard work that has gone into making these caches for all to enjoy.

Out caching with a group of 6, plus one semi-muggle boat driver
With the Star Wars theme, 6 of us caching together today, and being Ardom’s 6th D/T loops we decided on the team name, The Sith!
The Lake was beautiful and quiet, I saw lots of turtles and turtle shells today - a ridiculous amount of inquisitive cows, and one cute little fox!
Another amazing adventure with an amazing team. Thanks for the caches and the effort that went into placing them

Finally come today has. Yes, hrrrm. Changed and evolved over the time plans have. Our name for the day the Sith was.. Yrsssss.. Found slowly caches were. Long and hot the day was. Hrmmm. Complete we are.

Enough Yoda! We truly had a fabulous day, the weather was perfect although very warm and humid. The dam ever so quiet thanks to the ban on ‘in water’ activities after the rains. We did get stopped by SEQ Water doing a check on all watercraft and thankfully we both passed being fully kitted out boats and four licensed drivers between the seven of us. I am thankful that we upgraded our motor last year as dang that spread is huge!!! Even though the second boat was much zipper than ours we still managed to hold our own and get the wind in our hair.

Huge thanks to my muggle husband who drove our boat and managed to get us in and out of some tricky spots. Lots of debris up the top end and we may have clunked on a couple of submerged trees. The turtles in the water were curious things almost as much as the cows who at one memorable point thundered past us and down the cow track to the skinny bit of the island about 2m from the front end of the boat where Mr JACS was having a catnap!

I was pleased to see the growing tick piles of caches done growing bigger and bigger, because I was done!!! So glad to be able to finally say this fabulous Geo-art is finished. Congratulations to both, Ardom who completed his 6th DT loop and 5000th Cache and Team ARF who achieved his 4000th Cache.

We had seen a number of small aircraft in the area over the last 2 days, but while we were at GZ, a small red bi-plane flew low overhead. It looked old (in style) and was unusual to see around here.
All good with the container here and a great view from on top of this hill. The Lantana has loved the recent rains and is really doing its best to overrun the area as much as possible.
I remember being quite excited to finally get a solution to this puzzle. We had got halfway there but just couldn’t get the final bit at the end, and then suddenly... voilà!
Thanks 4ando,
Domsky 

Out with Beardman75 and Ms Maddy to collect the remainder of the dark side caches. A fun day was had as we putted along in our boat that travels at walking speed (but still quicker than my yaking skills). Thanks for fun and challenging puzzles which lead to spot on coords at GZ.

Once more we set forth in the big blue bucket upon the non-briny sea with dark, ominous clouds in the sky to test our mettle against the Dark Side. Skipper Ms Maddy, first mate and navigator nikid1 and cabin boy Beardman75 made up the scurvy crew. Many caches were found and stories told, murderous cows avoided and empty turtle shells prodded. One slimy cache escaped us to taunt from afar but we had a fun day out. Thanks for the caches

These are the voyages of the Dark Side and the intrepid crew of Beardman75, Nikid1 and Ms Muddy (that’s not a typo) An early start had us hurtling up the lake in the fresh morning air at a staggering rate of knots. Nic was seriously well organised with a plan and maps I was skipper first up but roles rotated during the day. A few highlights included my new boat driving skill of doing donuts and well worth it to see the look on Beardman75’s face A personal mud spa with not one, but two, mobile phones taking a dip as I went down Over protective cows A snake skin Bitey red ants all over one of the knobs. Lots of birds!!! Black swans, pelicans, water birds of all kinds. Yummy snax. My shoes disintegrating. Caches that challenged the vertical limits of Nikki and me. Creative use of a cow pat. Have to say we made very good time! What an absolutely fab day Much cooler this time which was nice. Can’t think of a better way to squander a Sunday

TFTC 4ando

Nearly all solved. Time to put the tinny in and log a few of these suckers.
Easy find TNLN TFTC.
A lovely day on the water.

A week of camping at Wivenhoe Dam meant I would be able to come out here and grab some of this clever artwork. I am always amazed at the effort some cachers go to, and the effort here has been as significant, as it has been worth it. Well done.

On the water with SayWot!, Keepingupwith and crookedpete nice an early, trying to avoid the heat, and as it turns out, to avoid the masses of water crafts!

Lots of paddling, walking, towing and chatting as we worked around the list of solved puzzles. I had a lot of fun solving these puzzles, though a few went right over my head. My nephew is a star wars nut, and proved quite useful! There are a few unsolved puzzles (about so we tried the occasional jetski, but without luck.

The paddling was hard work, and into or across the breeze as it picked up around linch time proved challenging. Heading home from the last cache was indeed hard work. Water across the bow was not uncommon. The speed boats seemed to get great pleasure from creating large washes for us to navigate!

Coord were very good, and all caches found in good order. We will be back (with others I suspect) for round two in the near future to pick up the remaining caches. Thanks for a great adventure.

After a hectic year of all sorts of non-caching things, I accepted an invite to join a motely flotilla in an adventure on the Dark Side. I even managed to find time to solve a couple of the puzzles of the what-the list.

On the day, getting a nice early start from Bris-vegas meant that I had time to stop for a Fernvale pie and slice (already a good day). Then it was on to Somerset. I hadn’t been up to Somerset before and so didn’t realize our morning of yakking was going to be spiced up with some interesting bow waves.

A short wait at the water’s edge and I was joined by Then Magic Shroom, SayWot? and then Crooked Pete. We were soon in the water and set off across the lake to our first set of caches. As we progressed through the vast pile of caches to find we got into a good rhythm sharing the walking and towing activities.

On the way we discovered many, many cattle; a few turtles; a couple of fish; quite a lot of cow poop; some interesting sticky, sinking mud (almost lost my sandal for good with one badly judged step); many birds including some fine-looking kites; and some interesting carnivorous plants. So with the kayaking, walking, chatting and cache finding a pretty good morning of it all.

We were all starting to feel the kayaking a bit (it was quite windy, choppy and bow-wavy) so the last stretch home felt like a bit of a slog. Back at the spit we decided not to think too much about what was in the water and had a swim to cool down… definitely a nice way to end the caching year.

Thanks for all the puzzle, tidy caches and geo-art. We will be back for round two later, hopefully when it’s not as blowy.

The end of 2019 has been tough, and I am looking forward to starting afresh in 2020. So when SwellerFungius mentioned he was planning a paddle on Somerset Dam with KeepingUpWith and SayWat, I thought this would be a good way to clear my head. The aim was to clear up about half of the series.

There are still a few caches found today where I have not solved the puzzle and needed a piggyback from puzzle masters Fungus and KUW.

An earlyish 7 am start from the Spit saw us beat most of the boat traffic on the lake. Soon enough we are climbing out of yaks and climbing all over the hills and even a few trees collecting these puzzles.

By early afternoon, the wind came up - which was fine for the paddle downwind, but the final 3 1/2 k paddle back to the Spit was certainly a slog into the freshening breeze. At least we all managed to avoid not being run over by water skiers.

Lots of wildlife spotted along the way - various birds, turtles, a goanna, plenty of rabbits and even some stubborn cows which were obviously protecting a few of the caches.

All the coordinates were spot on and all caches found in excellent order. Logs were variously signed with full names or our initials to save space. Many thanks 4ando for placing this series of caches.

Pete

#5256

Found with bella at waggy during a great weekend of catching up and finding is very cool series.
Im a bit tounge-tied and unfortunately going to log some generic logs for this series.
Very impressed with what 4ando did here.
So well done.
Hope you dont mind the generic posts.
Cheers,
The Bug.

Episode 2. These are the voyages of the cachers dahumbug and B@W. Oh Wait wrong geoart series. A long long time ago in far off cities dahumbug and B@W plotted so obtain the co-ordinates of the Empires secret stash points to have a terrain raid and turn those blue marks into yellow smilies and return the Force well art work back to normal. Who said Darth Vader can't simile.
This trip had many targets but things changed due to fires, lack of boat hire times on a Friday and so on. The end result was dahumbug and B@W spent two days on the water instead of one on the water and one on the Bluff which due to the heat the number of steps taken was probably just as well as despite having a boat we covered plenty of ground on foot not helped by some very low water levels and that the hire boat so slow.
As a result of the leisurely opening times we headed back into town to brighten the start to our caching day although it was not without issue.
We picked up the boat at Somerset Caravan Park and lets just say the speed to get us in the water matched the speed of the boat but we were grateful we could get a craft and it had a sunshade cover. Perhaps the speed of the ship was limited due to the Empires Tractor Beam?
So with the late launch we changed our plans to two days on the water and decided to get these ones up north before engaging with the art work.
Saw some roos, rabbits, cattle and bird life on the way round.
Appreciate all the effort in going into such a series.
No problem making the find, We completed the signing duties and re hid. TFTC

When I was offered a seat on this starship to defeat Lord Vader I jumped at the chance. All the crew met up early, some opting for the blue cargo ship and our crew boarding the faster quintrex cruiser. A great day was had, with good company, good weather and a beautiful location. Thanks for a fun day out 4ando!

TFTC 4ando. Thanks for the fun puzzle and placing this cache for our enjoyment.

Signed the log as Team KETS (Karicka, E, Tenkae and Stortigirls.

After a lot of changes to the crew in the weeks and days leading up to the mission, two Jedi ships set out from the ramp.
Piloting the fast Qintrex class cruiser our part of the mission crew left the team in the slow blue baththub like cargo ship far behind.
Turning Lord Vader into all smileys one by one, this required some patience

Thank you for this puzzle and cache
R

Gorgeous day at Somerset Dam with E:), Stortigirls, and Karicka. Puzzles solved and off on adventure. Signing as Team KETS. Thanks for all the work that has gone into these.

The Dark Side was dealt a severe blow by the Rebellion last time the 3 Jedis visited, but we weren't quite able to finish the job. This time I came on a solo quest to paddle the dark waters on a journey of self discovery and a battle against evil.

That was a hard slog up the last bit, I was really feeling the effects of the sun by now. This is going to be brutal in summer, best left until the cooler parts of the day. The reward was an awesome 360° view across the water and surrounding hills. Fave point for the view and nice breeze too.

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Log signed at 10:09 and cache returned as found. Thanks for the smilie and bringing us here **4ando**. This log is trackable, mention where you saw it.

.........@__,
/|___||_/__________|\
\\_______/_TGQNRV_/
~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^~

I cant remember even finding this cache but my phone was low on battery so I turned it off and I was writing the ones we found on my hand. After a swim maybe it washed off. Thanks for the fun.

After doing some of the new Star Wars geoart, I decided to go for a paddle on Lake Somerset . Asked Miss Direction if she would go, but unfortunately she was busy.
So this morning off I went to Lake Somerset, Picked up 5 caches, first one was a FTF and my 1900th find.

Then off to the next headland. As I was paddling over I could see someone running around, was wondering who it was. When I landed, went of to the first cache to sign the log. Headed to the next cache, I saw that person again and it turned out to be Que Sera . Grab a few more caches with Que Sera and she told me that Mrs Slow Puncture was out here too.

***FTF*** We met up with Mrs Slow Puncture, they heading of to do the caches that I had done. I finished the ones on this headland and met up with Mrs Slow Puncture and Que Sera and paddled back to the boat ramp. There was so many Boats and Jet Ski’s out today.

Loaded the Kayak and headed of to Kilcoy to grab the last caches in geoart Rose. Had 9 to grab there, now all finished, yippee.

Sorry for the generic post.

Cache a day to keep the doctor away, or is it to keep me sane. No it’s to keep my streak alive. TFTC 4ando, **304** streak, #1909 Finds.

4848

Saturday. I was with Que Sera for today and we met up unexpectedly with Brislions. Grabbing the caches in this area (gosh I hope we’ve solved all the puzzles in this spot or we’ll be back~~~) Such a great day, lovely caching and lovely weather. Excellent!

This was the 23rd of 36 caches found on today's trip.

Thanks ***4ando***, for showing us this place.

Published