The Heart of the Matter - Victoria Mandurang South, Victoria, Australia
By
EuDes on 01-Sep-13. Waypoint GA6419
Cache Details
Difficulty: | |
Terrain: | |
Type: | Virtual |
Container: | Virtual |
Coordinates: | S36° 51.250' E144° 16.867' (WGS 84) |
55H 257597E 5917854N (UTM) | |
Elevation: | 292 m |
Local Government Area: | Greater Bendigo |
Description
One of a series of virtual cache visits to the centre of Australia, its states and mainland territories.
The thing I really like about the Geocaching Australia site is that it allows 'unusual' caches that aren't permitted on the International site. A recent GCA find that had me confused for a while got me thinking about a series that gets to the heart of our great nation and brings a smile(y) to those who find it.
The rules of the caches in this series are simple — find the cache, log your find. That's it.
So, let's go.
Centre of Victoria
According to the Geoscience Australia website, the centre of Victoria might be considered to be located at the posted co-ordinates on the steps of the Mandurang Uniting Church approximately 10km south-south-east of Bendigo. No longer in use, the church sits on the site that corresponds with centroid calculations from several different organisations, including Geoscience Australia, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE), and the Department of Geospatial Science, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).
The Google Maps view of the centre of Victoria looks something like this:
Position on SJ55-01 Bendigo 1:250 000 and 7724 Bendigo 1:100 000 scale maps.
If you decide to journey to any of the locations in this series, please remember:
- Travel in outback Australia can be extremely hazardous. Plan your trip with care and seek and follow local advice on what precautions to take.
- Be aware of private property restrictions — 'private' means exactly that!
- Do not risk your life to log a find on any of the caches in this series.
Hints
Purpx gur qvssvphygl naq greenva engvatf |
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Decode |
Logs
Today i decided to tackle some virtual type caches around town. i usually prefer physical caches but i have had a really enjoyable time finding trig points, virtuals, and history ones today.
Wonder if this person realises this is on their property? On checking through the logs we discovered a competitor plaque in Bendigo, so that is two place to visit.
Thanks Eudes
Very easy to locate (Family friendly) with parking available.
This is literally a 'Drive To' GeoCache.
SMES website has named this geolocale [MANDURANG PM 182].
https://maps.land.vic.gov.au/lassi/SmesUI.jsp
UTM: E258681.807 N5921310.520
Latitude: -36° 49' 23.9544"
Longitude: 144° 17' 39.7100"
As mentioned by C@W, the actual Center of Victoria is at the coordinates I have listed above. There's a survey marker and a plaque to signify it, too.
We arrived at the posted co-ordinates to only find a private home and no church in site. The residents arrived by we were sitting in the car and were able to direct us to the appropriate location. It seems that they might have this happen a few times.
The actual location of the geodetic marker and plaque are some 3.6kms in a northerly direction from the posted co-ordinates at S36 49.400 E144 17.661
A photo is attached to the log with the proof of feet and GPS at the geodetic marker.
Thanks for this cache here today, although a co-ordinate update is in order.
*Overal Experience: 4*
GAFF 1
For Victoria we have travelled the Calder Hwy from Bendigo on several occasions which placed us approx 4.7Km from our target. However we plan to return to Bendigo in 6 weeks with caches as our target so will no doubt reduce that distance. TFTV EuDes.
TFTC
TFTC EuDes
I haven't travelled very extensively through Victoria -- only visited Melbourne several times -- so make no pretense about visiting 'the heart' of the state. This is as close as I've ever got!
Thanks to EuDes for the Virtual.
Thanks for the great idea, loved it.
TFTC and cheers
OldSaint.
My old home State and the only one in this series I've actually physically been past! TFTC!
TFTC and the yabbie.
During our time geocaching we have found 3 caches at this central Vic GZ and we believe another one preceded our time, certainly a popular geo destination.
There is currently an active cache of another flavour close to the marker.
Back in February 2006 another 2 were hidden almost simultaneously with only one managing to get reviewed and published although we found both during our search at that time and we did get an entry in the failed ones log book before it was removed.
Google Earth isn't very accurate with the actual location of the geodetic marker and plaque which are some 3.5kms in a northerly direction from the posted co-ordinates at S36 49.400 E144 17.661 or just use GC3A47X numbers for GZ.
A very worthy destination for a geocache.