Joes Cage West Toodyay, Western Australia, Australia
By Team Gunn Parker on 16-Jun-07. Waypoint GC13P4G

Thankyou. Didn’t have a pen but can describe if needed

Thank you for placing this cache, without this cache I would never have found the remains of one of Moondyne Joes cages. It is a shame that the recent bush fire has all but destroyed this significant landmark.

Out caching in the area on a beautiful autumn day - perfect for this type of caching. Great history lesson here. Thanks for enticing us Team Gunn Parker.

Full time nomads stopping in Toodyay for a while.

With the hot weather forecast for the coming week (isnt it Autumn nearly Winter?) we decided to head into the National Park today.

We had fun with the GeoCruiser on the gravel roads, saw lots of other 4x4, even some 4x4 gators, and hikers. then had some close encounters with a quad bike and an emu!

Wow that 2022 fire burnt hot! Such devastation in this area. Cache found and the 'inner' replacement all good too.

TFTC Team Gunn Parker

A pleasant summer's day so decided to head out to Chittering to pick up some caches we didn't have time for on the IGD weekend.

We came prepared and have signed and left a preform tube and new log inside the ammo can.
The CO can now remove the NM flag.

TFTC Team Gunn Parker this is find #14583 for us.

Another quick visit to town so things came together for some caching. Always nice to be out in the bush and saw a few Roos too. Given dry tracks we had no issues making our way around.
While the GPSr was a bit laggy geo senses generally kicked in for most locations.
As others have said the fire has certainly my been through here but the ammo can is ok. Suggest the next cacher bring a replacement log book and then it’s good to go again. TFTC.

Big fire has burnt the interior. Container lives on though. Took a photo and also signed a leaf. Thanks.

Off for a camping weekend for the IGD2022 in the Chittering area. Out caching in the area for a few smiley faces with a few different teams signing the logs as GGKNAFRC TFTH!

Couldn’t sign this cache as a fire has gone through and damaged it. Will need maintenance.

Out today with 8 teams collectively known as GGKNAFRC. Enjoyable and very eventful day collecting caches on the way. Left the group too quickly grab this one as the others had it previously. Found the ammo cab out in the open and burnt out front a recent bush fire. Contents were all burnt too. Unable to write a log. Sorry didn’t have any spares on us either. Thanks for the hide anyway.

Need TLC
see other comment .
Thanks

Out in the Valley cleaning up the map in preparation ahead of IGD 2022. Thanks for all the COs that have brought life to the map in this part of the world for the event. Cheers Team Gunn Parker!

Out and about again, the weather is finally good.

Found a variety of hides and in different areas which made for a nice day. Generally quick finds today. The fire got to the ammo box, all the paper inside was charred, managed to scribble L1.77 and my name on a scrap.

Thanks to all the CO’s for the hides I found.

Quick find here TFTC

Came back to this one with Agent_Q and had success. So close last time.

Found

Thanks to some short people we found it!

Thanks for bringing us to this spot. Found a well maintained cache.

I came, I saw, I signed the log. Thanks for placing and maintaining this cache.

Cache is in good condition.

*Found with [Geooh GO](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobiltal.geoohGO)*

What a lovely path! Very interesting area too. Cache found safe and well. TFTC Fave point from me.

Had a good look and could not find hopefully no one has taken it!

Great find thanks

Headed out with Kyzabra, Barnzy12 & cravo10 for a spot of caching out in the Avon Valley, it's the first time this combination has joined forces and I'd have to say it wasn't all that bad. Pretty sure they would've a learnt a thing or two.

Decided to take the trek down to this one, always love a bit of history. Cache took a while to locate but we got there in the end. Awarding a fav for the location.

Team Gunn Parker I found your cache at 12:10pm, this was the 23rd of 26 finds for me today and brings my total find count to 5155. The cache was in good order and I replaced it as found.

SLTFTC

Out with Barnzy12, Kyzabra and Granett.
Met up at 6am at the usual meeting point at gateways and was lucky enough to not be the driver for the day, here is to logging caches on time after copping some flack for being delayed.

An amazing piece of history here add fav

Out for a huge days caching with Cravo10, Kyzabra and Granett.

We headed out nice and early to grab a bunch of caches in the Avon Valley National Park.

A great morning out with some nice 4x4 driving by Kyzabra and good finds. One of the finds today fills a gap in second loop of the DT grid.

Thanks for the fun.

A post on Facebook by Barnzy put thexall our for interested parties to join a caching run today so I raised my hand .
An early sstart had myself, Barnzy12, Cravo10 and Granett meeting in Cockburn. We piled into the Pajero and headed out to the Avon Valley for the day.
Took longer than it should have. But found eventually.

Team Gunn Parker, Kyzabra found your cache Joes Cage, on 29/12/18. Happy to add my name to the log sheet.
Thanks for placing this and bringing us to this spot!

Test

My boys love Moondyne Joe's story, so it is a shame that they weren't here. You could make out some elements of the original trap - not bad I reckon after 100+ years.

A lot of bouncing about by the device made for a frustrating search, but persistence paid off and I was eventually able to make the find.

TFTC Team Gunn Parker.

Another great out with Parkacruz, 36 caches with no dnfs. We both had previously found caches that the other person hadn't found, so in the end we both got around the same smilies. The Avon valley was spectacular today, lot of kangaroos and great vista's. We also dropped off a lot of trackables to continue there journeys. tftc

Another great day out today with Neva2old, both teams had previously found caches in the area that the other team hadn't found, so in the end we both got around the same smilies. The Avon valley was spectacular today, many kangaroos were out enjoying the views of those valleys with us, WOW how specatular !!. We dropped off trackables to continue their journeys, good luck little guys As requested by Lazarus_68 we replaced a couple of caches for him with the right style of cache Thanks to everyone who placed and maintains these caches, we had a fantastic day and the old girl who clicked over 460,000km on the way out carries a few more battle scars to tell the story TFTC

tftc team gunn parker we were in the area doing some other caching and found this very quickly. The difficulty and terrain ratings need upping a little bit tough. Interesting piece of history here.

Out in the bush caching with geo-buddy. Interesting historical place. TFTC!!
Personal opinion, this one could be: D=2 / T=2.5

Finally ticked this cache off the to do list.
Fantastic to visit this iconic bit of WA history
TFTH

I had not planned to head here today,
but isn't that the fun of geocaching ??
One cache leads to another, and another, and another

So after being detoured down Plunkett road, I ended up at the entrance to the Avon Valley NP.
And from there to Joes Cage !!
Whatever that was !! [:o]

I soon found out !!
What a great drive, stroll and bit of history at the end [^]

So this is why I chase geocaches ...
... for these great little gems which I would otherwise never have found [^]

TFTC

Fave point ?? ... of course [^]

We recorded a DNF back in 2007 but today, at last, we return to turn that frown upside down.
Wow, big changes since we were here last, the roads are much, much better but the bush has all but taken over and the cage is not quite what it was but still this cache is well worth the effort.
Thanks again for your cache Team Gunn Parker.

Nice easy find early Saturday morning with a few friends. Not sure if dpaw have cleared recently but the track in is easily navigated with the odd branch. Easy find as we approached from the ruin, ammo can standing up well in the elements.
Thanks for the cache Team Gunn Parker
Cheers TLC

Trackable visit

A good history visit for the boys. Bit overgrown though. TFTC

pug002 found it on 25/1/2016 at 10.15am TFTC TeamGunn Parker. Lovely walk

TFTC track very overgrown, awesome piece of history, in good condition

Out and about grabbing some of the caches off the beaten track,

Made a quick find at gz ( gotta love ammo cans)

Nice little bit of history

I've spent quite a bit of time in Avon Valley NP over the past 8-9 months and this cache has been in my sights for a while, but I'd never quite made it here until today. Parked in the obvious place and headed down the track. Arrived at GZ after viewing the historic site, and initially ignored the obvious hiding spots as my GPSr wanted me to look elsewhere ... eventually gravitated back to the obvious area and soon had the cache in hand.

SL. TNLN. Thanks for the hide Team Gunn Parker and for bringing me here. I would never have known about this spot if not for your cache.

Found this one whilst on doing the Tourist Drive series. Was great to stop and grab some of the pre-existing caches along the way. Thanks for showing us this spot Team Gunn Parker

Now that is an interesting bit of history about one of our notorious forebears. Thanks heaps Team Gunn Parker

Found with jasenjanine... TFTC Team Gunn Parker

Staying in Toodyay for a few days to explore the Avon Valley & the surrounds... After finding a spot to park, we made the short walk to this cache From there it was a quick find of the cache (in-between the 50 questions from the kids about Moondyne Joe ).

Thanks for bringing us here Team Gunn Parker ... & TFTC [^] This is a fantastic spot for a cache... So much history here & we would never have known about it if not for geocaching!

(Chwiliwr team catch up log)

We were doing the new caches on the tourist drive when Chwiliwr decided that he wanted to come over and do some of the caches near this one. Was a quick find.

Thanks Team Gunn Parker for the cache.

Was doing the new caches on the tourist drive when I decided that I wanted to come over and do some of the caches near this one. Was a quick find.

Thanks Team Gunn Parker for the cache.

Thanks for the cache

Found Whilst on my bucks camping weekend with a few of the boys.
Thanks for the cache

That’s one more find for me! Thanks so much for hiding this geocache.

Beautiful day to be outdoors.
Time for some caching adventures around the Avon Valley.

Nice cache. Good hide and learnt something as well.

TFTC

Great spot! I wonder what the place looked like in the late 1800's. Did not find the cache. Gps pointed definitely at larger tree - looked in up behind around - to no avail.

Unfortunately could not find it, maybe moved/removed?

I was out for a drive in the bush today, and I've been wanting to come to this area for a very long time. It was a great drive to get here, from the Chittering end of the park, and I put the 4WD through its paces today.

This was a great spot, with historical significance. Thanks for bringing me here Team Gunn Parker!

This is a good place with lots of history. Almost missed it. TFTC

Great WA historic location, would never have know about it if it was not for geocashing.

Great fun cache. First find for year, shame we missed the travel bug though. Learnt a bit of local history too. Bonus

2nd time round and (relatively) cooler, the spoils of the cache was mine.

Noting Signal NZ to the world hasn't been seen since 2008 and should be marked as MIA.


Took smilie paddle and left kaleidoscope

TFTC

A few places looked ideal for GZ, but it was not to be. Apart from the fact it was very hot and I was fed up with the foliage sticking to my sweaty neck and back.

I'm coming back later in the week so I'll have another crack then.

Found cache with Woodslost ,no sign of cage.
TNLN TFTH.

Loved this one! The locator was on fire again!
4been 4conquered 4gone
tfth

bloody hard climb up the hill no other venturers would come with me but at least i found it

Thanks for showing us this little bit of history.

This was a relatively hard find with the GPS not settling.
However, when we found it, we discovered we'd already walked past it 3-4 times and it was easily visible!

Thanks for bringing us to this awesome spot Team Gunn!

We were heading through the park to find a Pumpkin Munzee and thought we should check for caches along the way. We got a bit lost and came across this one. Nice walk along an overgrown track and spotted a sleepy little echidna near GZ. SL TNLN TFTC.

Been meaning to check this cache out for awhile, always found the history surrounding Moondyne Joe quite fascinating.

Our friend Megs found this cache straight away, not bad considering this was her first time out geocaching.

Didn't spot the actual remaining cage though, but the surrounding bushland was lovely. TFTH. TNLN.

Over cast day, wet under foot, great hiding place TFTC - LNTNSL

[:(!] Love the history, can see where he had the post and rail to divert the cattle and his cage. It was a fathers and their siblings afternoon out. Easy find
with so many of us looking. Great hiding place. TNLNSL - TFTC.

This entry was edited by GrumpyBump on Monday, 01 August 2011 at 09:10:28 UTC.

This entry was edited by GrumpyBump on Monday, 01 August 2011 at 10:21:53 UTC.

Out and about with GrumpyBump and Ower's Corner. Great little bit of local history. A wet day made for some fun on the dirt roads. TFTC

Great cache. We add a favourite for this one. We loved the drive to it, loved the walk to it, loved the history, loved the container. Excellent one. Keep it up Team Gunn Parker. As visitors to WA we were letting the geocaches decide where we would travel and meandering through the countryside just discovering wonderful spots as we went (thanks to geocaching). This was certainly one of them.

nice drive in the bush cashing, while wife is away. met up with a muggle dad & son also out 4wdriving who came for a walk. luckly they did because they found what i couldn't. thanks guys.great to meet you and we might see you caching soon.(took ball left fish toy) tfc sl.

What a hike. Gps was picking up the hot rocks i think sending me everywhere. Later i moved car to 1 car parking bay on Sapper Rd. Stuff walking in from Quarry rd side but I did walk way more that that, even bush bashing. Took alot of gear with me in my pack. TNLN SL. I found a .22 shell & .303 bullet with detector. TFTC.

So, so AWESOME!
I've said it before but this is one of the reasons why I love geocaching!
We would NEVER have discovered this place otherwise.
Very interesting and historic spot.
I reached the GZ after leaving the family at the camp site on the top of the ridge and my iPhone read 1% power. I managed to get the direction before the phone died but luckily (or was it skill???!) was STILL able to spot the cache.
So headed back to grab the family and returned to open together.

Left a sharpie and took the Mint Tins after being begged to do so by a little Askalon so we do hide some more caches...!
There were NO TBs in the cache.

Thanks so much for this cache and hunt.

We had set up camp at the ground and decided to go for a nice afternoon walk to find Joes cage. After hiking up a big hill we finally reached ground zero and it wasn't long before the cache was spotted.

This was the first cache that I was show by Ruler. This time I did it myself. TFTC

A nice walk to gz and an interesting bit of history. TNLN. Thanks Team Gunn Parker

In the area for some other caches but once we realised the track we were on was going to leave us with about a 4k hike to our destination we decided to call it off, it was then we looked around at other caches and was surprised to find that this cache was only a short distance away.
A short search had the ammo can in hand and log signed.
When we returned to the car there was another group arriving, I spotted the yellow E-trek (?) and thought ahhh Geocachers! A pleasure to meet Team Roganru out on the trail It was a shame we did not have more time or we would have walked the 150 meters back in and continued our chat but there was an 1hour+ drive home and a pork roast waiting for us.

Always a buzz to meet geocachers on the trail and this time in the middle of nowhere.

AlliedOz aka The Jokers

Stumbled across some other cachers who had found this one and thought we were on our way to Avon Calling - alas not. Figured that the cage was probably where the cache was hidden, but decided to move on and try and find the one we were looking for (to no avail). Lesson learnt: don't make so many assumptions!!

TFTC

Walked in from another cache about 8km round trip.
Prior to entry saw a sign saying stick to formed paths as used to be an ammunition test site in the 50s. Got concerned when we had to leave path to find the cache, but left with legs intact!
TNLNSL
The Signal NZ to the World G/coin was not there and is mentioned having been taken back on January 4th, will log as such.

Surprisingly easy to get to in a 2WD. We were expecting a longer walk than just 170m. We've often heard the name Moondyne Joe but know little about him, so this was interesting. Retrieved the Diabetes TB. Thanks TGP.

Notorious, but kind, bushrangers are my favourite kind of bushrangers! Interesting to hear about one of the people from WA's early days.

We were passed on the way in by a volunteer firefighter who stopped to ask if we had seen a large amount of fire trucks in the area. When he found out we hadn't, he gave a bit of a laugh and said he must be on the wrong side of the river! Thankfully he's a volunteer firefighter and not a volunteer cab driver!


Thanks for bringing us out here.

Took: Signal NZ coin, he seems to have been here a while.

Four of us walked in from Avon Valley park. Two hours to go 2 K's. Hot day, no water but we had some beer. Good trek in. I am sure there is an easy way in but we enjoyed the path we chose.
Dropped off Signal NZ to the World Geo coin.
Took Der TB "Drei Dreiecke"

On a 4wd trip round Avon Valley... Part of the valley that we have never visited before.

After finding "Avon Calling" we followed the gravel road up the hill, and this is where the flies started to make their appearance! In the end, it was a great walk, followed by a nice easy find. Dropped off TB Drei Dreiecke TB which had recently made the trip from South Africa. Thanks Team Gunn Parker.

Expected a much longer walk TB Fish out of Water was here resting up from wearing out his tail on the climb up from the river. T:TB L:N

MBL wasn't feeling well, so it was another solo PBL expedition into the wilderness.

There was more driving than hiking for this cache, but the approach to the area is quite lovely in places, and I think we might need to go back with a couple of ammo cans sometime...

Parked at the head of the track, donned mozzie net and quite a bit of DEET+sunscreen and set off for a walk on this pleasantly warm Spring afternoon. Flies! A man'd get tired just carrying them around!

I found the sign that DOLA has put there to (pre-empively) mark the cache's proximity and then set out the couple of hundred metres into the bush. About 150m in, I remembered that, although I'd updated the database on the GPSr's SD card, I hadn't actually loaded it into the machine itself...

So, 150m back to the sign... Then the satts were playing silly buggers with me and sent me 30m the far side before slowly bringing me back to the right general area. It was still telling me that I was 10m away, but a typical TGP spot looked too tempting and a lovely metallic clunk rewarded a poke with my hiking pole.

No swaps but a TB drop, then back up to the car for a bit of a drive around the tracks here (just in case one went over to the other side of the valley. They don't.)
I had one bad moment when I decided that a hill was too steep for my station wagon and was sliding ever so slowly down it with the wheels locked or in reverse. Luckily, there was a track made by some 4WDer making the same abort decision that I could follow around and back up on firmer surface!

-PBL

The co-ords are now finally right
Game on.
Andrew

I have been back out and I have taken the co-ords once again and will up date them now.
Andrew

** Coordinates Changed From **
S 31° 34.788 E 116° 13.779
Distance From Old: 655.7 feet
Elusive beggar, that Joe...

Now that this cache has a needs maintenance flag I will have to go out and prove you all wrong I hope.
Andrew

Perhaps I wasnt going crazy! Might be time to re-check those co-ords.

I could not find it !

Im confused...I think these co-ords may need checking. Although I found it only by using another set of co-ords given to me by my son over the phone (and he is 11).

I downloaded co-ords from this site. So they went straight to my gpsr. I checked the download file this morning and they quote the ones listed above. So in theory they should have taken me to the correct location. But they didnt. It was only when I manually keyed in the co-ords my son gave me that I found it. Unfortuately I deleted them so after I found the cache.

Given a previous searcher didnt find the cache...Im thinking the correct co-ords were the ones originally listed? How else can downloaded co-ords (ie no manual input) take me so far away.

I have added an image to prove it!

Well, what can I say? We tramped through the bush; we walked in circles our GPS swinging all over the place, not able to make up its mind which way we should go. Nothing seemed to make any sense. It was raining hard.

We guessed that the Bibras would have already claimed the first to find; well they’d been everywhere else before us, of course they had already been here!

Yes! We are ashamed to say, we gave up in desperation, very, very wet and lost, for the first time ever we had to use… shh! track back to find our way out.

Thank you for an interesting hunt, we will return one day!

A rare first to find, so I feel it my privilege to write an epic for my log (I did in the log at the cache too). Not because of the FTF but the circumstances surrounding it.

Prior to heading out from Perth I saw this was not found. With 2kms to go I was confident I was going to get the FTF however things turned doubtful when I saw fresh tyre tracks then footsteps leading to the cache area. Damn! I thought.

I had downloaded the co-ords direct to GPSr but did note a change of co-ords. Thought they may have flowed through to the download and even remember checking them when I was reading the page to make sure they did..but seemed not! To make things worse I had left all my cache printouts at home.

When I left the track I figured I better mark where I did as there was no way I would find my way back 150m through thick bush. When I arrived at (wrong) GZ, I was confused as the slope of the hill keep spinning the needle at 10m to go. Besides, so many hiding places how was I ever going to find it?

OUt of pure desperation I checked my mobile phone. I had the occasional one bar..so made a call to home (several times as it dropped out) and got my 11 year old son (the other non participating Bibra Boy)...he was able to give me the new co-ords and I headed back to the real GZ.

When it took me to the depression, I thought Oh-oh these simply lead to the site of interest, and figured my son had done the dirty on me. More needle spinning, and I walked around for a while just praying I was in the right spot.

A casual look under a grass tree saw the cache pushed way back and I was relieved to have posted a FTF.

PS: Left a special edition/black label calling card in celebration

[This entry was edited by BibraBoys on Sunday, July 01, 2007 at 2:06:46 AM.]

Just checking, and the page co-ords have been updated...so they should have downloaded ok? Or are they two different systems in the site? Please check when downloading...as they dont seem to download correctly.

Published

Please wait till the co-ords are fixed
Andrew

please wait