A Stream Of Consciousness East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
By GeoRRider & Abby on 14-Sep-21. Waypoint GA26737

Well, I have a lot of feelings about this geocache. First and foremost - I procrastinated on this one; to an almost unbelievable degree. I hid this mid lockdown on a lunch trip with my friend, as I’m writing this, that was seven months and a day ago. Dang, not even a neat number. That was such a long time ago that three people seem to have spontaneously found it in the mean time. Congrats, I suppose, to “Ian,” who found it on the first of December last year and shot me a text message when he did so.

Also congrats to the two other people who found it after him, also without any intervention from me.  I suppose the camo is bad enough that people can spot it accidentally, but good enough that it hasn’t been stolen in the… seven whole months between my placing of the box and my writing of this description. 

Christ alive, yeah, maybe I should be finishing that late university assignment right now but oh well. Procrastinators unite?

Otherwise, I have nothing but fond memories for this cache and this park. As a kid the model village absolutely fascinated me, and while its lost a bit of its lustre in the years since, it’s still plenty charming. The park as a whole is charming, it has this very planned, Old Melbourne, Old World sensibility that is just incredibly charming. This whole planted line through the park is part of that, a lovely string of eccentric plants and rocks and little bridges. Lovely, through and through. 

I’ve also spent a good while exploring this park while waiting for doctors appointments. One of those whiles, I stumbled across what looked like a potato plant growing out of a spot of mulch. Can’t comment on the status of the plant, or the legality of its planting, but it was certainly a funny moment. It says something that this park is so large and sprawling that a whole potato plant can grow alongside its many wild and wandering paths. This is the kind of place you can get lost in. 

On the day me and my friend planted this geocache, (which, at time of writing, was seven months and two days ago - yes, it has crossed over midnight while I’ve been typing this) we found a garden bed surrounded by carved bricks, each with messages and art created by the people of Melbourne. Apparently, it’s called the People’s Path. It was laid out in 1978/79, and it has quite a lot to say about the Vietnam War. 

The hide itself was inspired by another Geocache that I have very fond memories of, that being Tranquillity 1, a micro in Perth. I used to visit that city quite a bit back in highschool, because one of my mums was working there at a local university, and when she was at work I had freedom to wander the CBD. That geocache led me to one of my favourite spots, and whenever I stopped by to visit I’d make sure to sign the log. If you’re ever in Perth, I definitely recommend visiting that garden, it’s a great place to nibble lunch and read a book - pretty sure I finished both V for Vendetta and Andy Weir’s The Martian under those trees.

Well, that was a long, rambly, and mostly irrelevant stream of consciousness description.  As for the geocache - It’s a box, fairly simple camo, not bigger than two large human hands. Good luck!

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