Everyone's Gone to the Rapture Bilambil, New South Wales, Australia
By
MattyRx on 15-Dec-18. Waypoint GA13324
Cache Details
| Difficulty: | |
| Terrain: | |
| Type: | Traditional |
| Container: | Small |
| Coordinates: | S28° 12.937' E153° 28.411' (WGS 84) |
| 56J 546464E 6878821N (UTM) | |
| Elevation: | 169 m |
| Local Government Area: | Tweed |
/153.473517,-28.215617,14/400x200?access_token=pk.eyJ1IjoiY2F1Z2h0YXR3b3JrIiwiYSI6ImNqa2l4ZzNzMDE5bjgzdm1sZGpuODF1Mm0ifQ.q8YMzVyzDJJlJHHV8EMjwQ)
Description
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This place has changed a little since 1996. On a nice summer morning, I thought I would go and grab a counter lunch and put some Keno on at the Terranora Country Club - but there was no one to serve me. It looks like the zombie apocalypse had been and gone. Every piece of glass has been smashed and then smashed again, walls ripped down - and the ceiling has completely fallen in places. Old televisions, cash registers and washing machines are littered throughout, as are empty spray cans. A smell of rotten wet carpet and scorched plastic fills the air.
This was once a ritzy country club, complete with 18-hole golf course and more poker machines than you can poker stick at. (See what I did there?). Its doors closed in 1996, and the place quickly fell to ruin.
In 2009 a $1.3 billion plan was reportedly announced to turn the site into an aged care facility, schools, tourist accommodation, a retail precinct and homes for thousands of people. But nothing happened.
Currently there’s a chainlink fence around the site with a few warning signs forbidding entry. The cache is located in the old carpark, which is fully accessible to the public. You don’t need to venture inside to get a smiley for this one – but if the adventurous side of you just wants to take a little peek… there are plenty of big holes in the fence, although easiest access is to climb over the gate to the left of the site. The fence finishes in 50 meters or so, allowing you access the building. Walk back around and head to what would have been the foyer. Absolutely amazing what entropy does.
Hints
CIP - Nggnpurq gb byq yvtug svkgher. |
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Decode |
Logs
Awesome spot for a cache! And quite a well built cache hide to! After signing the log I went for a wander inside. Interesting place. It would have to be the most smashed up abandoned building that I've ever been to. It seems a colony of bats has now moved in to the downstairs level, which certainly adds to the apocalyptic feel of the place!
TFTC
another great cache from the legend known as MattyRx. I ended up finding 3 of your caches today! All without having to turn my car off. Hahaha
Looks like this place is going to be redeveloped soon enough. see pic.
TFTC
Caching in the area with whitewebbs and this was one of the caches we found. Couldn't miss this one - parked right beside it. How does a Country club end up like this?
Many thanks MatttyRx for publishing this cache and adding to our geocaching experience.
Tassie Trekkers are now a locationless geocache we have published a 'Geocacher cache' - Travelling Trekkers GA10932 - so if you spot us in your area sign our log book and receive a code word to earn yourself a
Have you joined a clan? Enhance your geocaching experienace by joining a clan and being a part of the Dragon Zone. Choose a team
Gold - Griffin, 
Green - Phoenix, 
Blue - Cerberus or Orange - Minotaur. Earn trophies and rise through the ranks from Dragon Fodder to Ruler of the Universe. Out and about caching on the way to Murwillumbah and we stopped to find this cache. Another clever hide! I would have to say a "signature hide" of the CO. A shame about the building, what a waste. TFTC
This is a popular spot for urban exploration and if others are like me and prefer not to crunch through broken glass and discarded paint tins, a Google search of urbex and Terranora will reveal some interesting moment in time photos and videos.
The recent storms haven't been kind to the cache, the inner container has leaked and there was several cm of water in the bottom - lucky the log is waterproof paper. I tipped out the water and attempted to air-dry it but the moisture has made the 'lead' inside the pencil loose too. I had planned on swapping pencils but do you think I could find a spare in my canvas tote? grrr.
Thanks for placing a cache here, it may not be the prettiest location, but its certainly worth visiting. Even if on the 'correct' side of the fence, as we did today.
Have they been captured by the rapture? I will never know. Although, the building must have some awfully big rats as I could hear noises inside the building and I was outside the fence. Perhaps another reason why I am too scared to venture inside.
Thank you for the cache.
