Windmill Troubles Warrandyte, Victoria, Australia
By TeamGeoPlesk on 23-May-09. Waypoint GA1463

This cache is located within Glenns Reserve, a very little known about reserve opposite the Pound Bend tunnel exit in Warrandyte.

Glenns Reserve is a wonderful place to relax and soak up some of the Australian bush. Its a magical area of open woodlands, wetlands and riparian vegetation where people seldom visit. Infact I spent the most part of my year 12 studying down here and only once have I come across anyone!

Some History...

This reserve, as you will notice walking around, has a reasonable amount of infrastructure built into it which is for the most part, now in a state of disrepear. The area was origionally earmarked to become an environmental centre for Parks Vic, thus the boardwalks around the wetlands. There was origionally planned to be a bridge accross the Yarra from Pound Bend, however for whatever reason that never happened and as a result of this the plans were never carried out. I would imagine that this is because the access to this area is somewhat off the normal track.

A Great Walk...

If you are going to attempt the cache, park at  S37 43.955  E145 11.848  and jump the fence. Its all Parks Vic land and they allow visitors so all is good! If you wanted to explore the area but don't know where to start I'll let you know of the track i usually follow...

You follow the main road down the hill untill you reach the buildings, have a look round before taking the road to the left that you would have just past. This takes you down to a landing just above the yarra. If you look closely you will see some of the old pylons from a bridge that once spanned the yarra here many many years ago. Continue following the Yarra downstream along the track and have a look at the wetlands. These realy come in to their own in the winter and i have very often seen turtles down here, so keep an eye out. Keep walking along passing the old boardwalks but beware, they are in bad condition so i don't recomend that you walk along them. If you keep an eye on the other side of the river you should be able to see the exit of the pound bend tunnel. Keep going along the track and eventually you will come across the cache near the windmill. At the time i placed this cache the wetlands here were more or less empty... i've never seen them empty so this was quite a supprise and really brings it home as to how much trouble (waterwise) we are in at the moment. Once you have foun d the cache you should continue up keep going downstream to find the other cache here called "Some Inspiration" at S37 44.305  E 145 11.560 which is a gc.com listing. Then return to the windmill and continue up the clearing where you should come across heaps of kangaroos and a realy large open space. As you walk up the slope take note of all the trees here, they were all revegetated about 15 years ago, looks good but could use some understorey and ground cover! All in all its interesting to see some of the older revege projects (i'm also an enviro nerd!). Keep on walking accross the field to the buildings and return back to your car. Also keep your eyes out for the albino kangaroo which i have seen here many times, its a very interesting charactor.

The Cache...

This cache is not so much about the difficulty in the final hide, its about the location so don't expect that you have to climb the structure. Its an eclypse container slightly camoflagued and hidden away. It shouldn't be a difficult hide to find. Enjoy this spot, its one of my favourite places just to go walking and to chill out!

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