Thiel Rock Bullabulling, Western Australia, Australia
By Thiely on 01-Jun-08. Waypoint GC1CXPV

This was another of my ‘impromptu’ caches (which seem to be becoming a bit of a habit!) as I travelled over to the west for a few weeks from Adelaide.

I had camped not far south of Norseman, then made an early start to resume my journey west on the Norseman-Hyden Road. I had already been somewhat distracted by an unplanned ‘impromptu’ trip into Twilight Cove, another into the Baxter Memorial, then another south from Balladonia to ‘Halfway House’ and a climb up Mt Tower. Today I thought I would finally make it to the wheatbelt!

And I did make it, but not before noticing this rather lonely cache only a few kilometres south of the road.

I read the cache description and the logs. It looked like a bit of a challenge. I wondered how I’d go as I was travelling alone, but I wasn’t going to die wondering. So after creating some waypoints in the phone from the very helpful information provided in the previous logs, I headed off.

The old track itself was not too difficult at all. The hardest part was working out where it went through the re-growth, dragging a few fallen branches and small trees out of the way and finding a way around those that I couldn’t. There had been sone rain, but not enough to make it boggy.

I got to the point where the last finders had left their vehicle to walk to the rock. It was easy to see why, as the fallen trees had become much more numerous and it was harder to locate the track and identify detours around the obstacles. I had a look around and found that I could pick a way through, but it was going to be a very slow process on my own so I too decided to walk from there.

The 2.7km walk to the cache was flat and quite easy, taking me about 40 minutes each way. The rock is impressive - not so much for its size, but that it remains relatively undisturbed compared to most. The cache was found quickly and after signing the logbook and reading the enclosed information about the history and Thiel, I had a wander around to explore the rock. I was surprised at the number of similar rocks I could see across the landscape.

I then retraced my steps back to the car and continued back out to the road, stopping to have a look around at the remains of the old mine/camp on the way.

I am a bit surprised that this cache has not had more visits - I was only the fifth finder since it was published more than 11 years ago. It was not as difficult as I had anticipated, due in part no doubt to the fire through the area a few years ago. But I think it will get harder as the regrowth increases, so I’d recommend visiting it sooner rather than later.

Thanks Thiely for a fantastic cache, and a favourite point for the adventure!

10,000th Find … 2294 Days Unloved

We have noticed this lonely cache over the years & always thought it would be quite an adventure... With talk at a recent event of our upcoming milestone, this one was mentioned & got us thinking that it would definitely fit the bill [^] In the timeframe we had, we had to time it right - especially with the expected cold front that was to hit WA… Once there is some rain, there would be no chance of getting to the cache until the next summer!

It was decided that we would give it a crack, so we spent the day preparing for our big road trip setting off early morning and stopping in Hyden for lunch & supplies. Onto the Hyden-Norseman Road we were surprised to find 50km of bitumen before hitting dirt which was in great condition. A couple of hours later we were arriving at our destination for the evening at "Dissappointment Rock”, where we set up camp. With our excitement levels building, we had an early night in preparation for the morning assault

The winds grew wild over night & there was even a small shower of rain, we awoke racked with nerves about what the weather was going to do? We had no phone reception, so the plan was to go as quick as we could We had done our research & were using LPN’s coords to guide us on our expedition so plugging in the coordinates for the start of the track we were off, although even the start of the track we could not see from the road 50m in we were surprised to find the track opened up & at some stage this track had been graded, but the wide track had still not been used for some time and it was not long until we started to clear fallen branches and small trees along the way to get us through.

Arriving at the “Turn Right” section, the graded track continued straight ahead & the track we were to follow decreased in size. Before too long the track was covered in debris where the kids & I walked along ahead pulling branches to make our way through. It was lucky that we took the chainsaw as it was used many times along the way to cut fallen trees away. After spending hours clearing, we got to about a kilometre from the “Turn Left” waypoint before the track got uglier from a bushfire that had been through. There were so many small fallen trees ahead that we decided it was time to park the car & make a bee-line for the cache which was 2.7km as the crow flies

We marked the waypoint & all set off on foot. The scrub was easy to walk through, so we just walked as fast as we could as we could still see lots of nasty looking clouds in the distance & a downpour could have us stuck out here for along time! It was around 600m to go when we arrived in a clearing & we could see the rock, it was amazing! We were so close

We did not see any wildlife on the way except for what we thought were camel footprints at the base of the rock & Jase was swooped by an owl when we went through the “enchanted wood” as the kids called it [:o)] With 300m to go, up the rock we went ... We were elated that this cache would soon be ours [^] At GZ we did a lap of the object & the lonely cache was discovered with the last find in 2013 & the revisit to claim their lonely TB in 2016.

We were stoked with our achievement & took time on the rock to have a read of the history & also to rest before heading back in the direction of the car. Thanks to Thiely for bringing us out here, despite the weather this location was fantastic & what caching is all about for us Now back to camp some 5 hours later for a cold beverage & barbecue, we have earnt it.

** For future finders the track is now clear but any rains will make it unreachable again until the area dries out. We parked our car at S32 09.858 E120 53.685. **

We (M4YB, Megawat60, Ebanie and myself) came past on the Hyden to Norseman Rd today but did not attempt this cache. Our plans were laid waste by nature... while traveling a major storm came over - resulting in very heavy rain, thunder and lightning. The main road was not washed away, but several longish and many shorter sections had water flowing across the road. We did manage Disappointment Rock in the rain, and found up to 50mm of water flowing down the rock in places. I expect it will take several weeks of warm to hot weather for the ground to dry out enough to hold vehicles but we certainly weren't going to risk getting bogged.

Perhaps next trip.

We follow this cache as its one of the more interesting finds we have done over the years and the sort of cache we call REAL geocaching. We love its history and its location.
Its an adventure but we would not consider it a big risk if its dry weather and not too hot. It would even be a nice place to camp for a few days. Theres an idea for a group find.

Had to revisit this one pick up our new GC that's been sadly languishing there for nearly 3 years. It's a shame so few geocachers do this cache as it is a real adventure. We've added a photo of the best waypoints to get in there and their relevant coords with approx distances between the wayoints. Maybe this will help. Picked up our GC and a TB as well. A great Christmas Eve, thanks.

Didn't attempt today. The area was too wet and we were a too tired to plod through the mud. At one stage we had a riverside camp at Disapointment Rock. Will return another day.

Realized few people had been here and decided to give it a go even though we had already passed McRock cache further west. Despite the big backtrack on a baking hot day we really enjoyed the travel to this cache and the waypoints by Lyn, Pat and Nathan made the journey easier. We were pleasantly surprised that it was easier to get to this cache than previous logs had us believe. The track is in good condition with very few tight bushes to negotiate and no rocky terrain. The last 1.5km had to be done by foot because there was no sign of a vehicular track in. Even the walk was quite pleasant considering we were in short sleeves and trousers. Glad we had the sunscreen on though. The rock was a pleasant sight and seemed so much bigger than all of the other ones we have visited in the area. It must be great to have your own family rock rich in history like this one. The cache is in excellent condition and the information it included was great to read. Had fun up here with the lizards and added to the cairn. A fave from us, hope more people make the effort to visit as it is a great place. Dropped a TB and new GC to start its travels. TFTC

Checked Cache, all good, visited it with Kylie and Darcy, Kylie is one of Peter and Dredas great grand children.

Checked tha cache, all ok. This year all the Perth Thiels walked onto the rock. Brook is three and she never complained or carried on. Simon and Corey did the walk for the second time and Katie did it with her dad and Brother, not a windge or wind from her as well, all three girls - solid performance. Hans Greyling did the walk for the first time, it was good to have him with us.

Thanks to the tips from Lynn, Path & Nathan easy to find.
Thanks again for breaking up the long road with some nice caches you place along the route.
We found this one on our 10 days 4000Km trip from Nannup through the goldfields and wheat belt, with our goal to find to oldest (6 years) awaiting ftf cache in WA: Nichols knob

Calvin and I checked the cache, still in good nick and same place. Was good to be back on grand-dad's rock. Used the route given by Lyn Pat and Nathan and its much better. I logged the route and once donwloaded from my GPS will put it in as assistance for anyone else wanting to make the trek.

2:30pm Found and logged for the first time.
We hunted up and down the Norseman road trying to find a suitable way in to the cache. We decided one track seemed usable so we scouted along to see where it lead. We think there may be another track that comes in from the other side of Dissapointment rock and may link to this track via an inland parallel track but we only followed this one to locate the cache so its just a guess.
At about 2.6km we turned hard right onto a track that ran parallel to the main road it passed an old camp area with rusting 44 Gallon drums and then started to deteriate into an overgrown log strewn track which at times was hard to follow. There were some recent tracks from another 4wd that must have been out here while it was muddy. They had had a few extreme boggings so we had to divert around their mess often.
6.2km later we turned hard left after deciding to follow an even fainter track that led almost directly to the cache. This track was overgrown with small 20-30mm thick trees that spung back when you let them pass under the car. No damage to the car or the tree. In 2 or 3 years time they will be too thick to do this so it will mean you have to walk in.
1.2km later we could drive no further. There was a thicket of bushes and the ground felt soft under the tyres. Spongy would be a good choice of words. It felt like we could be driving on a crust that could drop us into thick mud underneath.
We turned the car around and parked and marked our position on the GPS
Distance to cache from here was 1.72km and looked like it would be hard going as the bush so thick it prevented straight walking. 50m from the car we had no idea where it was and relied totaly on the GPS for navigation.
The bushland varied between thick to open to scrubby but we managed the walk in about 40mins.
the runoff from the rock makes the surrounding bush lush and it took us a while to find a place we could enter the rock from. We marked this with the GPS and some sticks so we could find it on the way back
Once on the rock it was a straightforward walk to the cache.
The rocks are spectacular and much larger that we expected. There are numerous swampy areas and the bush that grows in them must have some interesting wildlife and plantlife. It would be a great place to spend a lot more time on and if possible camp overnight.
We found the cache took the TB and Passport coin and then visited the rock cairn to take a few photos.
After this we took our time to walk back to the car following our bread crumb trail on the GPS and looking for our marks on the ground we made with our boots to confirm that we were on track. We made good time as we seemed to be better at negotiating the trees.

We had a great time doing this cache and it could be done in a softroader if you clear up the track a bit.
We highly recommend it.
Thanks to the Thiel Family and sharing their family history with fellow geocachers

Here are a few tips for those that follow

1: Take some fluro tape to mark trees every 20m or so so you can find your way back. This will also help those that follow in the future and create a walk trail.
2: Take a second GPS and write down your coordinates
3: Tell someone you are going and give them the waypoints
4: Camp the night if it hot and do the walk in the cool morning
5: There may be other tracks than those we found
6: Be prepaired for a slight amount of marking on the paintwork or maybe take an axe and rope and clear the track for the next team to follow.
7: Take note that it is remote and that in summer it could be very hot. We would advise cool season only. Be Prepared for a longer stay just in case you have trouble.
8: Dont attemt this if its been raining heavy. You will get bogged although the ground does dry up fast.

These are our waypoints

1: Track start S32.07.974 E120.56.730
2: Turn Hard right S32.09.371 E120.57.110
3: Turn Hard left S32.09.872 E120.53.268
4: Park here(suggested) S32.10.485 E120.53.204
5: Enter rock area S32.11.162 E120.53.626

Published

Enclosed the Peter Thiel Trasvel bug to start its journey and the Geocache license collected from the Pinnicals north of Perth