Elephant Foot Little River, Victoria, Australia
By caughtatwork on 01-Oct-23. Waypoint GA27432

Elephant Foot

You Yangs Regional Park is part of an Aboriginal cultural landscape in the traditional Country of the Wadawurrung People.

Magnificent views, birdlife and a mecca for walkers, horse riders and mountain bikers welcome to the You Yangs! The distinctive granite peaks of this park rise abruptly from the flat plains below. Flinders Peak and Big Rock have panoramic views out to Melbourne. The You Yangs are home to a geoglyph of Bunjil, a Dreamtime creator deity to some of the Indigenous people of Victoria, depicted as an wedge-tailed eagle. The geoglyph was constructed by the Australian artist Andrew Rogers in recognition of the local Indigenous Wathaurong people. 

The name You Yang comes from the Aboriginal words Wurdi Youang or Ude Youang which could have any number of meanings from "big mountain in the middle of a plain", "big or large hill", or "bald". The area around the You Yangs was called Morong-morongoo after the murnong that was abundant there in the past.

Contrary to popular belief, the You Yangs are not the remains of a volcano. They are an inselberg or monadnock, and the granite that forms them was originally a mass of magma that had worked its way up into the surrounding sedimentary rocks during the Devonian period, when the land surface in Victoria was several kilometres higher than today. The magma crystallised before it reached the surface, so it did not produce any volcanic activity. Instead, a very slow cooling rate allowed many large white crystals of feldspar to form. These can be seen in many of the granite outcrops throughout the ranges. 

The land surface has eroded over the millions of years since the granite solidified, leaving it exposed. Because granite is a hard rock, it has resisted erosion better than the rocks that surrounded it. The size and shape of the rounded tors are controlled by fractures in the granite that resulted from slight shrinkage during cooling. Weathering and erosion of the granite has formed a blanket of sandy soil that covers any contacts with surrounding rocks.

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Yangs

The geocaches are all hidden amongst the many Eucalypt trees that form part of a plantation area with almost no scrubland, just fallen trees, branches and leaves. The area abounds with small colourful Jewel Spiders which provided an interesting sight. Beware of them at head height and try to avoid walking directly into them. They are harmless to humans and temporary reactions like redness, swelling, or itching can sometimes be experienced if bitten.  They are not aggressive and will invariably flee from potential threatsthough the webs can be a nuisance for bushwalkers and geocachers alike. They are most abundant during the summer months.

But enough of the area, you are here to find a geocache.

This cache is a 400ml sistema container, hidden in the usual fashion at ground level and you should be able to walk up and grab it. 

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