Under rock Howrah, Tasmania, Australia
By stainless-steel-rat on 23-Dec-17. Waypoint GA11197

Nearly 2.5 years since a find but still there and in good condition. Was very well hidden as my GPS kept bouncing around!

Caching in the area we found your cache along the way.

Many thanks SSR for placing and maintaining this cache and adding to our geocaching experience today.

Cache and contents in excellent condition.

Rated: for Overall Experience

Wow!! 60 weeks without a find.
Pulled up at the access point for the area late in the day and debated whether to tackle the 2 GCA caches or not.
We knew we wouldn't get back this far south again for a long time so Mr Beetle waited with the van while I headed off. About a third of the way to GZ I came across a muggle raking the track. He was very busy and had earplugs in and didn't hear me coming so I just stopped a little way from him. Still managed to scare the wits out of him though. Had a quick chat and then he sent me on my way telling me to enjoy my walk. Didn't tell him that there was no way I would be walking up here this late in the day if there wasn't an alternative purpose.
Finally got to GZ where a quick find was made of one of favourite container types.
Thanks for the exercise [even though I'd had plenty by this time of the day] and the find.

Rated: for Overall Experience

out and about with 1 Rafa caching for the summer GCA game, this was on the list, lots of webs around but found in the end, TFTC TNLN log dry warm cloudy day.

Hello stainless-steel-rat thanks for the cache

If I didn't know better I would have said I had found this cache container earlier today.
Great views as you walk up the hill.

Found on Friday 26 2018 at 1135

TFTC

found today with miss 8
took small yellow hair tie
TFTC

Thanks for giving us an excuse to wander these hills. Nicely constructed container. Nice to find a decent sized cache. TFTC

With our southern commitments completed we headed to the eastern shore to look for a few caches to help with our State of the Nations scavenge points before we headed home to put out a few more.

There were two caches near one another so we decided to start with this one and its partner. We found a parking spot close by and wow what great views!! It was then uphill to this cache. Recent rain had made the track quite slippery so we were glad to leave it and pick our way through the scrub to the cache site. The cache hide was soon spotted and another large SSR cache container was extracted. All was in good condition. A muggle wallaby watched us sign the log and replace the cache - don't think it will attack the cache hide.

Thanks for another of your great big caches Stainless-Steel-Rat, also for bringing us to this area with great views over the river to the mountain and also for a cache that will earn good scavenge points for the State of the Nations summer game.

Out and about with the GeoGSP tonight doing some scavenging for the State of the Nations game. Enjoyed the views on our walk to GZ and located the cache quickly. All is good at GZ, thanks for the cache SSR.

Found while out and about doing the odd cache

TFTC

Now that this cache has had 3 finds it was fair enough to wander back and log it now. Approaching from a different direction made this a much less strenuous walk plus it was easier for me to spot GZ from this angle. Hopefully the half a can of bug spray emptied at GZ today will make this a more salubrious stop than it has been . SSR sprayed whilst I logged. No bites so the spray must have worked.

Hi SSR
A caching day instead of boredom and waiting:

Mum had to go to dialysis today instead of tomorrow as it is Christmas Day and the centre is not open. With the “State of the Nation” in motion; it was time to use my day for hunting plastic to overcome the feelings described above.

Weather:
Overcast and windy at Huonville but warm at the start of the day – sixteen degrees here. Clouds stayed all day and threatened rain
Temperature was cool: At Hobart while doing the first cache it was fourteen degrees Celsius; Mornington and Tranmere saw the temperature decrease to twelve degrees Celsius; at New Town it was about twelve degrees Celsius and back in Huonville it rose to sixteen again.
It had threatened to rain for most of the morning and only got a little at GA11197 and GA11198.

Travel:
Drove from Huonville to Hobart, then to New Town, over to Mornington to look for GA11195 “Knopwood Hill State Recreation Area Bush View” and GA11196 “Knopwood Hill State Recreation Area Water View”; to Tranmere to look for and find GA11197 “Under Rock” and GA11198 ‘Not A Gnome Home”; to Bellerive to hide one cache and over to the Domain to hide another; the to New Town to collect Mum covering a total distance of 145.5 kilometres in the car by the time we returned to Huonville.
For the day, it took 5869 steps burning 1355 calories to cover a total of 4.58 kilometres and find four caches on foot. A total of 150.08 kilometres for the whole caching day.

GA11197 “Under Rock”
Drove some 4.5 kilometres to arrive at a unknown car parking spot. I had 152 metres as the crow flies to trek to the first cache. I followed tracks and also did some scrambling through the bush to get to this cache. A short search soon had me find the hide. It was mozzie heaven here, the little blood suckers were every where and mos annoying. They were there in their kamikaze squadrons – they’d land, I’d swat!!!!
The cache was Sainted at 1000 hours.
It had only taken 468 steps to get here, burning 46 calories covering a distance of 0.36kilometres.
All the protocols were completed and it was time to head to the next cache; GA11198 “Not a gnome home” hidden by gooseandegg. That walk was 0.13 kilometres long and most enjoyable.
Really enjoyed the exercise and being back in the scrub - THANK YOU.

This cache will be used as part of the States of the Nation games currently running from 16 December 2017 until 21 January 2018. As the new caches have so many options, a decision will be made as to which scavenge to use it against. It is nice to have a choice. Thanks.

States of the Nation is a real and virtual geocaching scavenger hunt where your home state will compete against other Australian states to find and hide geocaches. Over the 5 week course of the game there will be hundreds of scavenges that you can track down, find and convert into points for your state. Some scavenges will be easy. Some scavenges will be tough. Some scavenges may be impossible. Don't despair. You are not competing just for yourself; you are competing as a state.

There will be a number of scavenges released on a weekly basis but each scavenge will remain until the end of the game. This means even if you decide to join the game part way through, the early scavenges are still available for you to claim. Scavenges will require you to find a geocache, hide a geocache, attend an event or do something else completely different. The game focuses on all aspects of geocaching and so all cache types, sizes, terrain and difficulty will be up for scavenging. TrigPoints, Events, History, Virtual, Webcam, Podcache and Locationless geocaches are all scavengable, so you're not just looking for a box under a bush. Each week there will be a mix of physical, non-physical and locationless geocaches so even if you are not in a geocache rich area, use the locationless component of scavenger series to get out, find something to log and gain points for your state. If you watch the scavenges as they are released you might also spot the 'not so hidden' patterns and plan for future weeks of the series.

Hiding geocaches will also be a large part of the scavenger series, but please remember this is a game of geocaching and geocaches that you hide should be long lasting, be of good quality and you should be proud of what you hide. Please avoid hiding a geocache just for the day so your state can find it before you archive it. Geocaches that exist for a short period of time may result in any claims on that geocache being disqualified. Play creatively, but also play fairly. More geocachers hiding more geocaches makes for more geocaching fun.

If you’re not participating, get into the game and help Tassie come first please.
These caches will also help collect points for the Dragonzone Game.

MERRY CHRISTMAS
TFTC and cheers
OldSaint

Rated: for Overall Experience

There we were just at home when notification came through that six new caches had just been published . We threw on the walking shoes and headed out the door. We drove along Oceana Drive looking for a way through to the Rokeby Hills Reserve behind the houses. We went up Coventry Rise and into a brand new suburb still under construction. What a lovely view from here. We parked the car and headed bush. Not sure about tracks to follow as we only found tracks that animals had used! This was the second cache we found as we went to Not a gnome home first. Nice to see some new caches published that fit well with the scavenges published for the States of the Nation games. A well stocked cache as well but TN. Claiming FTF at 5.05 pm. Now off to three and four on our list. We bush bashed back to the car and went past a track that came up between two houses that would have been closer than where we parked.

I will use this find as part of the States of the Nation games currently running from 16 December 2017 until 21 January 2018.

States of the Nation is a real and virtual geocaching scavenger hunt where your home state will compete against other Australian states to find and hide geocaches. Over the 5 week course of the game there will be hundreds of scavenges that you can track down, find and convert into points for your state. Some scavenges will be easy. Some scavenges will be tough. Some scavenges may be impossible. Don't despair. You are not competing just for yourself; you are competing as a state.

There will be a number of scavenges released on a weekly basis but each scavenge will remain until the end of the game. This means even if you decide to join the game part way through, the early scavenges are still available for you to claim. Scavenges will require you to find a geocache, hide a geocache, attend an event or do something else completely different. The game focuses on all aspects of geocaching and so all cache types, sizes, terrain and difficulty will be up for scavenging. TrigPoints, Events, History, Virtual, Webcam, Podcache and Locationless geocaches are all scavengable, so you're not just looking for a box under a bush. Each week there will be a mix of physical, non-physical and locationless geocaches so even if you are not in a geocache rich area, use the locationless component of scavenger series to get out, find something to log and gain points for your state. If you watch the scavenges as they are released you might also spot the 'not so hidden' patterns and plan for future weeks of the series.

Hiding geocaches will also be a large part of the scavenger series, but please remember this is a game of geocaching and geocaches that you hide should be long lasting, be of good quality and you should be proud of what you hide. Please avoid hiding a geocache just for the day so your state can find it before you archive it. Geocaches that exist for a short period of time may result in any claims on that geocache being disqualified. Play creatively, but also play fairly. More geocachers hiding more geocaches makes for more geocaching fun.

Go Tassie! Go Tassie!! Go Tassie!!! Go Tassie!!!! Go Tassie!!!!! Go Tassie!!!!!! Go Tassie!!!!!!!

Rated: for Overall Experience

Published for the States of the Nation game, cache ready to be found.