Man Hole Faulconbridge, New South Wales, Australia
By Hardtail on 21-Aug-09. Waypoint GA1564

This has been on my radar for a while – for me today I didn’t want to dwell on an upcoming medical issue, so I figured I wasn’t in the mood to do other things I'll give this a go & if I didn’t make it us it as a recon for another time. Reading other people's logs helped heaps & photos helped also. After what has happened in the last couple years with the rain – it was heavy going at times bashing my way through the bush but got there in the end. This is defiantly a highly recommended cache to do – many thanks - TFTC / TFTH / SL

Rated: for Overall Experience

After over a week of high temperatures we finally had a cool morning. Mr T headed out to do to this and the GC cache out on the end of the track. Arriving at the gate he found the info he had downloaded to his GPS has vanished. A quick contact home and he had coords re-entered into the GPS. He headed out to the end to do the GC cache first. Then back to the closest point on the track for this cache. He found there was a gully between him and the cache, so went back and along the track and entered at another point. After hiding his bike (and taking GPS cords so he could find it again later) he headed along the ridge to GZ. Crawled up the rock, down the hole and then back inwards to get the cache. Clip is broken on the container but the inside was dry. Signed log and returned as found. Then back up through the hole and back to the bike, the car, and home (a little muddier and wetter than when he left). TFTC

Rated: for Overall Experience

i have been eying this one off for ages and decided to pop in for a visit en route to camping in the engineers cave on the grose.

The area at GZ is awesome and i made a loop before looking for the man hole. it was a bit of a squeeze but I wasn't going to give up too easily.

there where quite a view visits in the logbook that haven't been logged online.

TNLNSL. thanks for a great cache.

Rated: for Overall Experience

Hi all,

This was my first ever cache. It was a great first choice. Little bit of bushbashing ...easy walk, nice view and great treasure.
I took out the Geocache CD, and the Canada Key ring. Put in a sling (rope).
I will now take a group to this cache and then we are off to other caches and will even create our own.

Rated: for Overall Experience

For some reason I had neglected this awesome cache. This has now been rectified and while on a walk from Faulconbridge station to Faulconbridge Point Lookout I made a slight detour and 300 metres bush bash to GZ.
What a lovely vista from the rocks and the Man Hole was rather scary, at least to me and my vertigo but I did go down the hole and gingerly hung on foe grim death lying on the powdery sand on top of the rock.
The cache is obvious once you get there and I did the log duties before carefully making my way back up the hole.
Another 300 metres bush bash and I was back on the track to my original destination.
It is a shame this is rarely visited as it deserves a larger audience. Thank you very much indeed for bringing me to this great place.

Rated: for Overall Experience

I decided this would be my 100th GCA find. So today on a brilliant sunny day I set off. I walked to the closest point along the track and went bush and soon realised what set particular area I was heading for. I backtracked and walked another 275 metres along the firetrail and went bush again. This time I was able to meander my way through some grassy scrub much more plesant than the usual rough stuff. Before I knew it I was approaching what I had just seen across a small valley. A very nice area area presented itself and soon enough I had found the man hole. It very much reminded of Michell's Rest cache. It was a very frilling experience. TFTC.

Rated: for Overall Experience

I had heard from others about this cache and how those were pretty impressed with the location. I very much agree with those cachers. This was a great cache to hunt down to come to this awesome location. Plenty of views to the north west and back towards the fire trail. Great cache hide really goes with the cache name. This really was a fantastic spot.Very well done, I'm quite impressed for this adventure to this spot. TNLN SL TFTC.

After what seems like a second biblical flood this week, Toriaz and I made the 'logical' decision to walk through the bush, laden with water, to a rocky location that was still slippery. There was no real challenge in finding the cache - I managed to do that before even entering the manhole - and the extraction process wasn't difficult, but I did wonder about the slide out of the arse end of that rock if gravity became too enthusiastic.

By the time we got back to the car everything was wet and I was carrying a small sandpit from where I laid to retrieve the cache. A great little adventure with some fantastic views. Thanks

Bikerbuddy suggested that we should try another local cache this weekend, offering this one as the preferred choice. Despite his denials, I have some lingering suspicions that this was his idea of suitable revenge for my suggestion of the easy sounding Flora last weekend & our resultant bush bash.

We met at the firetrail gate early this morning & set off down the track. Bikerbuddy used his 5m contours to select a suitable spot to leave the track & off we went. We ended up at the wrong side of 'the place' (to use pjmpjm's useful term), and below where we needed to be, so had to back track slightly to find the right entry point.

Once at the right spot, bikerbuddy made a brave decision to retrieve the cache & leave me leisurely sunning myself on the rocks until he passed the container out to me. I did the logging duties for both of us while he remained inside, trying to stop himself sliding down what was a very slippery surface at the moment.

This was an amazing location, thanks for bringing us here. And thanks for the company bikerbuddy, really enjoyed it.

Rated: for Overall Experience

What a fabulous location. We have ridden and walked the near by track out to the lookout and often said we should explore the area on the way. Of course we never did. We were always on the way somewhere else along the way. Your cache gave us a reason to do what we had never got around to doing.
We must thank Gamma Dei for alerting us to the caches' existence.
Left a whoopy cushion and took the key carbines.
TFTC

Rated: for Overall Experience

This was my 694th geocache (GC and GCA combined) and it's probably one of the ten most memorable locations I've searched. It might even be in my top five . . .

I was surprised to discover that 'Man Hole' hasn't been logged since TC was there back in February. The drive up Grose Road in Faulconbridge takes you to the fire trail gate, almost exactly 600 metres from GZ, and then a short walk up the good quality trail brings you to within 285 metres of the goal -- and the start of your bush bashing.

I found Altaire's advice very helpful -- stay on the higher ground,up on the plateau, until you get within about 100 metres of GZ. Don't be tempted by your GPSr to go down the slope to the left any sooner than necessary.

Expecting to see a 'towering sandstone formation' or something similar, I was puzzled when I got quite close -- within 100 metres, according to my GPSr readings -- and saw nothing except more bushes and gum trees. Having 'overshot' the site a bit, I fell back on my GPSR readings, descended the slope and doubled back slightly, and was within 40 metres of 'the place' before I finally saw it. And once you see it, you'll know it's your destination!

The rest was relatively easy. The view is excellent. 'The place' itself is amazing. The cache container has a broken clip, so the top just sits on top, but so long as it stays within its hiding place, it will never get wet!

There are lots of interesting goodies still in the container, all in good shape. I had a careful look at them all, but in the end TNLNSL.

Wonderful experience! It was especially fun to reach such a special place with no trail, and absolutely no sign -- apart from the geocache, of course -- that anyone else had ever been there.

I have to rate the overall caching experience -- trail-less approach, unexpected rock formation, great views, sense of achievement -- with a full 'Five Thumbs Up.'

Thanks very much, Hardtail!

Rated: for Overall Experience

Parked at the obvious spot and then bush bashed around to the rocky outcrop. Then down through thte man hole to a magnificent if slightly slippery and scary spot. What a thrill.

TNLNSL. TFTC.

Rated: for Overall Experience

Very warm day and quite a bit of bush bashing. My first cache and found it without a directional GPS - just an iPhone as the location stands out on the satellite image. Quite an interesting way to spend the morning of Australia Day.

Rated: for Overall Experience

This was an excellent cache. Left the vehicle at the familiar spot and headed off along the well maintained fire trail. At a suitable point we left the road and headed off into the still slightly damp scrub along the fairly broad ridge, sticking to the top of the ridge until we neared GZ at which point we headed down the still gentle slope to where a huge outcrop of sandstone appeared through the bush. We love these sort of locations. We wandered out onto the enormous expanse of stone and took in the lovely views down the bush clad valley. So peaceful as well - with nary a sound but the birds. The cache is well named and after popping down through it's namesake we retrieved the cache back up to the top where we spent quite some time doing the cache duties, having morning tea and simply enjoying the peaceful solitude of the location. The wind eroded caves & overhangs were explored & photographed - they're always fascinating no matter how many times we see this type of formation. Thoroughly enjoyed this cache. Yes there is a little bit of off track stuff required to reach it but nothing hard and well worth the effort. We made a few suitable swaps. Thanks hardtail.

Went for a walk and found this cache just as described. I could see this from Google and was curious to go see it for myself. It was a great spot. I would never of known it was here. There were some wonderful overhangs to explore. Spent a very pleasant time exploring this ridge.
TFTC and for letting us know about this area.

Rated: for Overall Experience

This was my family's first cache. An enjoyable exercise and a great spot to visit. We went on a more direct route on the way there, which added to the adventure.

Rated: for Overall Experience