Good Bye Terra Firma Don Valley, Victoria, Australia
By Geof on 10-Mar-07. Waypoint GC11BKM

Finally the road is open and we can doddle our way along one of our favourite drives. Such awesome views and no-one around

Due to unforeseen circumstances Mr Smokey Bear will no longer be a part of Team Smokey Bear and will continue his adventures as "SmokeyBearOG".

So I'm relogging all previous finds under my new account.
Unfortunately this log will not show the original logging date.

**Thanks to Geof for this adventure, looking forward to many more.**

Adam
SmokeyBearOG

Today was the day I decided to tick a few caches off my wish list.
A chilly early start, with the mountain in the clouds.
With the road still closed to motor traffic, I headed out on the gravel bike towards Ben Cairn.
No view to be had from this vantage point today, as visibility was about 300m, but I did find a cache tucked away as the hint described.
In good condition.
TFTC Geof

Thanks Jeff, it was a tremendous day for a view today. I was astonished to find that someone had let the safety railing down. I rectified the situation being a responsible geocacher, to leave the place slightly better than it was when we arrived. There's some real Nongs out there eh! regards from Victor

TFTC what a view!

Found it TFTC

Found it on a surprisingly chilly day for January! A very atmospheric drive up the mountain and thanks to the brilliant clue, it was an easy find. TFTC.

Find number 8208 at 10:38:35 am
Ducked out for a quick drive to hopefully pick up 1 degree angle in my 360 degrees of caching from home, the last degree.
Picked up a few leaches on this one, I knew shorts and thongs were going to be trouble
**Thanks for placing this cache Geof**

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Great view from up here, I let day1976 crawl around to get this one.

A great day out today. Some stunning hikes. A really beautiful part of the bush and was happy spending it with ilukaperi, even if she is dragging her feet a bit on the finding of the caches bit. Today it was me finding all the caches, I think she has lost her mojo.

Another excellent spot for a cache Geof, really enjoyable. Nice to get along this road and grab these caches. TFTC, a FAV point for the view.

I found it

*Found on the 8 Jan 2020 @ 4:51 pm.*
*Cache find # 10586.*

After spending a lot of time up the top and on the other side of the mountain, it was now time to head for home heading along this road as there were a few caches to find along here.
There was certainly no comparison between the last cache I had found a few hours earlier by this CO and this cache as this one was step out of the car and the cache is in hand as the other was a major hike of several hours and a bush bash to get to GZ.
It’s a nice view from this structure but I wasn’t getting too close to the end of it, I like to keep my 2 feet on Terra Firma.

**Thanks to Geof for placing this cache.**

We're out for a drive on this gorgeous back road we've never been down before. Just the kind of scenery we love. Thanks for bringing us to this area.

Thanks for find #1518
TNLN

Incredible view from the platform!

Really amazing views here, not quite sure if I would be brave enough to jump off but I'm sure there are many who would.
TFTC TNLN

Day Road Trip: Home- **Healesville-MtDonnaBuang** -[AcheronWay]-StFillans-Buxton-CathederalRangeSP-Taggerty-Rubicon-Home

In my view it would take some seriously large *cajones* to launch oneself off that platform! It’s either that or a measurable deficit in the grey matter that’s otherwise lodged between the ears! This “hobby” makes about as much sense as turfing oneself out of a perfectly good aeroplane, even with a parachute. I’ve seen a few of these ramps around, with the most notable being of the side of Mt Buffalo which has the old original wooden ramp, now unused, and a newer studier steel ramp. Also Mt Emu (near Mt Beauty) has a couple of steep run-off points for paragliding enthusiasts to use which provide entertainment to the casual observer (me) when they fail to get enough air into the ‘chute and end up face planting into the shrubbery further down the hill! Laugh? You betchya!

I wonder how many people remember “Possum” Bourne or the fact he was won the Australian Rally Championship an unparalleled seven times! He certainly knew how to flick those Subaru’s around dirt roads.

TFTC

Out for a day of caching and sightseeing with Wetjala and Mrs Biggles in an area away from the bushfires. Continuing along this road this was the fourth of many caches for the day. After a short search, with the help of the hint a relatively quick find was made then we stayed to take in the amazing views. TFTC and bringing us to this spot.

A quick find allowed us to soak in the amazing views of the valley below. Awesome spot! Tftc

Found while admiring the views with Rennige. Good place to go sky-flying

Hubby and l were here last Sunday, but was a beautiful summers day but covered in fog.. still beautiful though and today is clear sunny and amazing views... HAd to stop and just take it all in... Thanks for the cache

Did read the tip about avoiding the nettles, but forgot when up here, taken by the views; spectaculair! S_38 took me here, as he loved it when he was here almost 2 years ago. TFTC.

Wow, what a view from this spot, great spot for a cache for slipscache and I to stop. We wondered what the structure was. After a bit of research and a YouTube video we discovered it was a hanggliding take off point. Wow, that's excellent.
The cache
I disappeared underneath the take off. In an excellent hiding spot, after a couple of minutes, the cache was spotted. Thanks for the cache!

**7/06/2018, 14:12**
**Find #3082**
**Traditional Cache Find #2114**

I headed to Warburton and Mount Donna Buang in search of unloved caches. I was now on the mountain. I met two bike riders cycling up the hill. Their support car was almost at GZ for this cache. I informed one rider that I was geocaching and he had heard of it. I found the cache fairly quickly and wished the riders a good and safe ride.

SL TFTC

**Thank-you to Geof for placing this geocache**

We were very happy to be able to make this find while still standing securely on terra firma. The take off ramp looked very scary so we stayed well clear of the edge. The cache was exactly where it should have been and all was well with it. Our thanks go to Geof for placing and maintaining this cache.

A nice quick find after an afternoon walking the nearby mountains. There was a guy there setting up his hang glider and his car. The car was gone, so I'm assuming all went well? Great view, and it must take guts to run off the end (with a glider...) Thanks.

FBTJ #2027

A quick find, introduced Emily , a muggle to caching and combined her into going to the 'the Great Forest' picnic protest.
TFTC and great views.

Find no. 1632

Easter Sunday and looking for a great place for a drive in the mountains. Beautiful scenery and a cache or two... today's trip ticked all the boxes!

We had to back track for this one as on the first drive by a family was having a picnic at gz.

Used a tool from our geokit to help find this one in no time.

Thanks to Geof for placing this cache.

Such a beautiful view! Found on a nice lil adventure with Psymanic13

Found it with my lovely magickelmumma13. What an amazing view! Tftc

Over the last few months 88andy88 has been introducing me to geocaching.
Took a while for me to grasp it all and have finally joined up so now i am backtracking logs of the caches i have been to to find with 88andy88....
Thanks for the cache.....
PS: the cut and pastes will stop but as most say Andy writes logs big enough for both of us lol

18/2/17 Found @4:18 pm #2295 This one was on our drive down the hill and took a while but we absolutely loved the view and the surroundings.. hard to imagine people jump off here lol
Tftc

Was looking for ages ... but I took in the beautiful view in the breaks from searching. TFTC

Hang out!

Some reason GPS all over the place so relied on 6 sense always loved stopping here for the views
TFTC

Goodbye indeed. I really don't like heights. Out tackling a T4 with Team Smokey Bear today and with plenty of time left we went for a drive around. This popped up on the map and with the magnificent view we had to stop. I wanted to hang glide when I was much younger but never took the chance. I can only imagine what it must be like to run out here, jump off and soar like an eagle. Thanks for placing this cache

Found with the Pelican. An uncomfortable location- plays with your perspective and plays on your fears. Tftc

Helps to know what a purlin is

Day for it! My first find! Really hard find - go exactly where the gps says. It is possible to be standing ontop of it. You'll have to reach where you can't see.

Found it! Mark and geokids 1, 2 & 4 out doing some maintenance and looking at few new placements. The kids decided that we should drive up to the summit and have a look, unfortunately the term 'look' didn't really apply as the place was totally fogged in. We headed home along the ridge and grabbed this cache as this was about the only spot with a view below the clouds. As with the earlier find, GPS reception wasn't to good but the hint had us in the right spot...TFTC...

Thanks for cache. Amazing views.

sign of this one

A quick and easy drive by as we wind our way to the top of the mountain. We admired the view for a while and debated the sanity of those who choose to jump off a perfectly good planet just for the fun of it. Thanks for bringing us here and thanks for the cache.

Mid week escape with Gunks for a few drive bys.
Hoping the weather stays fine.
Would be a great view if only it wasn't night and misty.
TFTC

Mid week escape with Gunks for a few drive bys.
Hoping the weather stays fine.
Would be a great view if only it wasn't night and misty.
TFTC

Quick short evening drive out with Poptoppete. Nice little adventure. Tftc

After a few nettle stings, got my hands on this one today. TFTC SL

Great views. My first encounter with leeches and stinging nettles. Wear a glove to retrieve this one. TFTC.

I had planned on just taking the turn off to Mt Donna Buang but the comments about the view intrigued me. Wow! And... stinging nettles. It hurt a great deal extracting this cache but it was worth it.

Great weather for a trip to Ben Cairn to clear up some of the caches along the road to Donna'.
No flying today, so I was able to grab this one quickly. All good, Thanks Geof.
The views from here are literally awful.

some lovely cool summer weather great for a drive up around donna buang collecting caches on the way. beautiful scenery. at one cache the ranger stopped to see if we were ok, told us that the best time to travel this road is in the early morning, the wild life are very active, lyrebirds every where, must try it some time. what a way to get your thrills, I am staying on very solid terra firma. warning.. mind the stinging nettles thanks geof

Received an invite from Alansee - a drive into the high country for some sightseeing and caching.
Mrs Crackers from Team Crackers joined us, on this great day out.
We visited some very pretty places, and found a good variety of caches.

This cache was found quickly, and in good condition.
Many thanks for placing this cache, Geof, for us and others to find.

Did a drive by to check it out. The cache was in hand seconds after arriving.

Very cold. Very wet. A bit disappointed.

Thanks for the nettles warning. Managed to find the cache with ease. Great spot to view the scenery, nobody using the ramp today.

TFTC look out for the nettles!

Out for a drive to explore the area & grab a few caches, while staying in the area for weekend. This was such a great location, we even had a few muggles, including the park ranger stop to enjoy view, so had to work around muggles to find, sign & return this cache. TFTC Geof.

One of my favorites! Amazing view Found with TJ

Fantastic spot, and met some fantastic people while we were there. They were hang-gliding, and we got to see the set up and actually using the ramp .... I'd never seen one of them used, so it was awesome to see!

Wow, I was so intrigued with the thought that people leap off here, that I didn't look out for the stinging nettle! So now I have a numb, yet tingling hand to remind me of this cache. Would love to come back when this structure is in use!

We found this cache today at 4:30pm as the 24th of 26 on our Donna Buang bound Saturday. Wow, is it that long since we have been up here? A 2007 Geof cache that we were yet to find. Really cool spot but fog limiting views today. Thanks from D, HA & A B-A

On a cache run with TurnerFamilyFTG and Spiffy-.. Very cold today!! but wat an awesome view!....TFTC!

I didn't read the warning about the stinging nettles so while I was being a woos and nursing my stinging finger my geobuddies extracted the cache. Took a photo of the awesome view but decided not to jump off. TFTC.

Wow! This is a scary ramp! I wouldn't go out to the end, but the Moose had a good look over the edge. I wonder how it feels to launch yourself into the air.... I'll probably never try it though. Thanks for the cache and the sights.

Found this cache as part of a caching run with with Spiffy-, E10107 and the geowife and child. TFTC

The Demolition Crew was together again on our regular Monday night caching run. The night was full of caches finds, laughs and a fair distance traveled tonight with our route taking us right out to Warburton then back into the city. We had a great night finding quite a few multis and even managed a FTF as well. Thanks to all the CO's for placing the caches that we found tonight.

Found while out on another legendary Demolition Crew run starting in the Melbourne area, making a big loop out Warburton way then back to the CBD. A great night caching with lots of laughs as usual, and great company of course. Lots of multi and a few mystery cache finds, and even a FTF. Thanks to all the CO's who put out the caches we found on the night.

Got stung by stinging nettle here... But got the find. TFTC.

The Demolition Crew meet once again to cache in Melbourne tonight. Tonight we had not really prepared a run, so it was a matter of "going with the flow" and looking for caches of opportunitiy in the eastern and outer eastern areas of Melbourne. Watch out for the prickles, both Marshy and I got stung!

What a view and it would be mad to jump of the side of this hill. TFTC.

Found on a manic caching run with LionJRB. What awesome view. When I was a teenager I used to live at the bottom of this hill and watched the hang gliders take off and fly about. Thanks for bringing me back here Geof.

Nice quick drive by with the clue.

Found on arvo drive with the wife.
TFTC

Tftc

Found with lukie1987 tftc

TFTC! Great view!

Had a good idea where it was (well, der, the hint told me that!) but I was ill prepared to put my hand where it needed to go so decided to just contemplate what that structure was for. Ski jump? - nah, ramp for dumping trash? - don't think so, launch pad for hang gliders? - possibility for the brave. Mmmmm. Thanks Geof.

Nice quick find on a Sunday drive
wear long sleeves
tftc

Found @ 3.20 pm
Log to follow

Made the find quick enough but took my time sitting on the ramp and signed the log. Gingerly looked over the edge and was very glad to know that I am keping my feet firmly on the ground from up here. Awesome views, worth a fave. TFTC

27.05.2012 15:01
Find # 1719

Today my caching partner in crime, sedgwickdave and I were headed towards Warburton on our regular cache run day. The weather was much better then yesterday with no real sign of rain.

We parked nearby with a false hope we may get lucky and the fog would clear up. No such luck, got to GZ and could basically only see to the end of the ramp. A nice quick find and we were on our way again.

Thanks to Geof for the hide. I am sure the view would have been spectacular.

(Rated 3 stars with [url=http://www.gcvote.com]GCVote[/url])

I had been here before, but this was before I discovered caching. Nice find in the fog, as it was very cold tonight. Joined by Radioburwood. TFTC.

Found at 1745 16/4 with Goz. This got me a new category - FOG CACHING. Thanks for warning about the stinging nettles, still got a little bite off one, but could have been worse. BTW what the hell is a "purlin"??? Figured it out and had the micro. Maybe a bigger container one day? Great spot for me to visit, thanks Geof. (I think this is my second Geof cache) TFTC!!!!!

good spot and good view

Replaced container and log book. Returned cache to correct location. The cache's demise was a direct result of incorrect replacement. Please return it to the exact place you find it.

Wet log book, no spares as was in a loan car..

I had today mostly to myself after getting duties done early, I had planned it this way as my car was in for a warranty repair.. I put a few km on the loan car and had a ball too.. This was the first of quite a few on a very round about trip from Boronia back to Ferntree Gully via everywhere else I could think of.. Thanks for the cache.. find #1868 Wet log thus couldn't sign, however took a photo as proof of discovery..

I can see this spot from my house, great spot.
some one needs to poison that plant thats next to cache dam thing i cant feel my arm!

Found @1615 #835
Wow!! What a view, very nice. A quick find and Drive-by, the view speaks for itself. TFTC Geof thanks for bringing me here.

How did I miss this the first time. Possibly because it was surrounded by a plant that If I touch, I loose feeling in that part the body (nightshade). Cache wet, but should survive. TFTC

While the gps had me in the blackberries, the spot should have been obvious and according to the hint I looked their but didn't find it.

Never been on this road before. Needed my son to give me a hint on this one.

WOW what a view. I guess it is a launching pad for hang gliders. easy find but I hate kneeling on gridmat and I also do not like stinging nettles!
Regards
Crisp Image & Family

Nice little cache this one.. Took a little bit of looking but got there.. Good view from here too! TFTC! Butterford.

Found this one today. I pass this way quite often for work. Came up to get some pristine water at the ten mile so thought I would find a couple of caches while I was at it. I don,t know how they jump off this ramp but it must feel good to fly out of here and down to the valley.
Thanks KL

How cool is this spot
Fog was too thick to see beyond the end
Would have been nice to come up here on a clear day...
Very pretty area
thanks for bringing us here

Awesome! I don't know how these flyers do it! Nerves of steel!
TFTC! I love being taken to these kind of surprise landmarks.

Found by Bob at 1600

Wow - this one was quite unexpected! I hadn't read the cache notes (recently) before taking a day off work and heading up here for a few caches. The views were quite jaw-dropping and quite a shock as I traveled along the narrow track surrounded by tall forest offering no views at all. After parking about 100m further along the track (it is pretty narrow) I was soon back at GZ for a quick find and a few pictures. I'm not sure whether I admire the types that head off here - or just think they're crazy, but they must get some pretty good views either way.

Thanks Geof - sorry for the late log, I'm a long way behind.

[purple]Drachenrampe[/purple][font=Comic Sans MS]

I always wonder what's the percentage of the guys who ... well don't leave earth.

[green]Dankeschön & Cheers
Philipp[/green]

[url=http://twitter.com/derfuzzel][green]twitter.com/derfuzzel[/green][/url]

Took me a while to figure out what this structure was, great view. Tftc.

Is this an old platform for a chair lift? Too wet and poor visibility to work out exactly what was going on. Last found cache of the day. TFTC

what a great place tftc tnln