The Viaduct Belair, South Australia, Australia
By Laighside Legends on 23-May-15. Waypoint GA7216

Cache Details

Difficulty:
Terrain:
Type:	Traditional
Container:	Small
Coordinates:	S35° 0.822' E138° 35.979' (WGS 84)
	54H 280978E 6122804N (UTM)
Elevation:	153 m
Local Government Area:	Mitcham

Map

Whodunit Geocache

Description

An interesting bit of Adelaide's history that needed a cache!

I discovered this interesting feature while completing a nearby multi cache and thought it deserved a cache of it's own.

In 1883 the Adelaide to Nairne railway opened. At the time it was a single track the entire route and included 9 tunnels and 3 large bridges. This cache is located between the 2nd tunnel and the 1st bridge, also known as the Sleeps Hill Viaduct.

In 1919 the duplication of the track began - the first stage been Adelaide to Eden Hills. Since the existing tunnels and viaduct couldn't support the 2nd track a new (larger) tunnel was dug (approximately 200m north-east of GZ) which replaced the original 2 tunnels. The viaduct was replaced by a large embankment which can be seen from GZ (look to the east). As it was no longer required, the viaduct was removed at this time - although the concrete foundations can still be seen from GZ today. The 2 old tunnels have had a number of uses over the years including ammunition storage during the war years, mushroom farming and to wine storage today.

The next stage of the track duplication was from Eden Hills through to Belair in 1928. This resulted in a second tunnel been dug at Eden Hills (parallel to the first) and two other tunnels on the route been turned into cuttings. The other two original bridges (one at Bridgewater and the other over a "Scott Creek" - near Kanmantoo mine) are longer in existence today - both have been replaced with embankments. Five of the original tunnels are still in use by the current railway.

From GZ have a look to the south and see if you can work out where the viaduct was once located. Below are some photos that may help...

The Viaduct (looking east from the bottom of the valley)

Looking south from where the cache is now

The view from the south looking north (GZ is just to the left of centre in this photo)

Looking north east from Eden Hills (GZ is on the left hand side)

The construction of the viaduct (note the tree the cache is under wasn't there in 1883!)

GZ appears to be get a lot of visitors ranging from photographers through to homeless people. As such I would suggest you visit only during daylight hours.
Please make sure you re-hide the cache so that it can not been seen from any angle - there are plenty of loose rock around you can use. The survival of this cache depends on it not been seen!
The above photos are from the Facebook page: Adelaide Yesterday and Today

Hints

Rnfg fvqr. Haqre gerr. Va n penpx oruvaq ebpxf.

ROT 13:	ABCDEFGHIJKLM
	NOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Decode

Logs

07-Feb-20

Team Conquest

Awesome location! Haven't seen the old tunnel before so thanks for highlighting it. Unfortunately, I couldn't put my hand on the cache after spending quite a while searching. Hopefully it'll be like GC63Q5X - hidden in plain sight Wink

Thanks for the walk!

25-Apr-17

dezzabills

tftc lajghside legends. i parked up and had a short walk and then a steep track down to the railway line. i crossed the tracks and then a short walk to the cache. the cache was found quickly and the log signed. it was great to come to this historical spot and reflect on the incredible work and achievement of the viaduct. Clapping

Rated: for Overall Experience

20-Apr-16

wildebeast

Found it on the same walk as the Shepherds View cache with the GeoKernel great area and check out the old quarry caves over the train line too but be careful its a steep climb up and loose as well

Rated: for Overall Experience

01-Apr-16

AnyMules

After the CO mentioned this unloved cache at an event last night, I decided that I should get this one while I was in the area. A walk down the hill with muff and we soon had this one in hand. I used to play in this area 30+ years ago as a kid. Thanks for brining me back.

Rated: for Overall Experience

15-Jan-16

n0rtherndick

S35° 0.822' E138° 35.979'

We set off from the Ayliffe's Road carpark to find this cache and followed the Viaduct Track to the end. As we got to the end of this track (as per my GPS) I walked across the tree log and decided to scale the rocky hill Doh

. Not a good idea. Thankfully my better half was much smarter and decided to follow the thinner path further round and she tells me this bears left and weaves its way round and was much easier than trying to scale the hill. Once at the top we spent 10-15 minutes trying to locate the cache before needing to access the hint. Found and replaced as per instructions. This cache is in a fantastic location and the photographs provided really compliment the experience. Thanks for this top cache. Clapping

Rated: for Overall Experience

04-Jan-16

Bushwalker53

Had a great walk down here yesterday afternoon after we visited this spot together for the first time many moons ago! Not much had changed since I was last here, except the heat... The heat killed me this time round! It's amazing to see the old photos of the area, and just to think that such an impressive bridge once stood across the valley is amazing! I'd love to see inside the tunnel, but they've blocked it off pretty well! Looks like people have tried to get in but failed in the past! The concrete's pretty thick! Thanks for hiding this cache! It gave me an excuse to return here after all this time!

Rated: for Overall Experience

29-Aug-15

J_&_J

What a cool spot for a cache. I'd love to have a look inside that tunnel, it'd be like opening a time capsule. Ironically, it's only once I got home today I've just worked out what the TDC's are I was supposed to be looking for when I attempted Sleeps Hill Trio many years ago. I think I was standing on one today!

There are a few logs in the book that aren't on the cache page, but the cache was hidden from view quite well.

Thanks Laighside Legends.

Rated: for Overall Experience

17-Aug-15

2y'stassies

This morning we set out in light mist to find this cache. We walked along the ridge to the end of the bike /walking track and then followed a narrow path down hill to the present railway line. We had to wait for a train to go by before crossing and heading up hill. When we reached the area near GZ we stood back to survey the area. It was disappointing to see that the nearby tunnel stonework had been covered in paint. We were able to quickly locate the cache hide and extract the container and log. We were interested to see that 3 other groups had signed the log after fourw but had not logged their finds on line. It is a fascinating historic area as well as being a beautiful natural location. We then continued our walk to the other side of the reserve. Th
Thanks for another great caching experience Laighside Legends We hope other cachers will take the time to visit this cache.

30-Jul-15

FourW

Yay First to Find! Very Happy

GCA comes through for a confidence booster for me again. I am surprised that it took over 8 weeks for a first to find, even for a GCA cache.
The view over the track is great, but the street art kind of brings it down a little, as does the polystyrene chunks. A little bit (maybe a lot) of CITO is needed here.
Logging this in situ - I'm still impressed I can do that sort of thing with my phone carrier but I had at least one bar of signal.
Thanks for the cache LL! I'm going to try to set a few GCA caches myself in the area now.

26-May-15

Laighside Legends

I think it's all good to go - if you notice any errors please let me know...