Is That a Camel Up There? Edmonton, Queensland, Australia
By A Herd of Camels on 12-Aug-08. Waypoint GC1F5E3

With overseas travel currently out of the question and state border closures still a lurking as possibilities, my family and some close friends decided that travelling from Brisbane to North Queensland was our best option for a Christmas/New Year escape.

Through pure coincidence my good friend and fellow The Bromamnce team member Crookedpete was in town today as well. As he was not flying home until late afternoon, this left us all morning to head out caching together. Our main focus for the day was some significantly unloved caches including this one.

Boy oh boy the climb up to this cache is steep! This would easily be the steepest sustained climb that I have done in quite some time, compounded by the humidity that you could almost chew. I was absolutely drenched in sweat by the time we arrived at GZ. Crookedpete was spent, and was more concerned checking his body was still alive than searching for the cache. The photo hint was very useful as there were numerous places a cache could be hidden and with 5+ years of leaf litter and other debris possibly covering the cache our task was not likely to be easy. After pocking and proding around in a few spots with my walking pole, the dull thunk of a hollow container soon announced we had located our prize. Scrapping a thick layer of dirt, leaves and roots away, the rock covering the cache was removed to reveal an intact container but the logbook inside was pure mush and disintegrated as we tried to open the ziplock back. I had carried spare paper and baggie for just this eventuality so deposited this in the cache after adding our names.

The walk back to the car seemed longer than the walk up, but at least gravity assisted the downhill walk. Arriving back at the car, Crookedpete flopped down, ready for a sleep and definitely done for the day. TFTC

With a flight home to Brisbane this afternoon, today is the last day of the Crooked family Christmas holiday in Far North Queensland. However, there are still caches to be found before the flight!

Knowing fellow Bromance mate, SeffnJarah was arriving in Cairns last night for his holiday, we planned a morning out caching together.

We love chasing unloved caches, so naturally Seff has put together a challenging list for the morning. Having already found the fifth most (with 1,975 days) unloved Queensland Cache "High in the Saddle" on the mountain side near Kuranda, this cache, Queensland's third most unloved cache at 2,109 days , was the next target.

Now there is a very good reason this cache is unloved. It is at the top of a very steep nasty hill which no sane person, or camel, would climb without good reason. By the time I arrived here and collapsed, I could certainly not think of any good reason to come here. I lay on a large rock - too exhausted to move - and let Seffnjarah search solo, confident in his ability to find the cache. Soon enough, his excited call indicated he found the cache.

The container was full of water, and the old logbook mush. After cleaning things up as best we could, we popped a new logbook in (along with the old one).

Many thanks a herd of camels. The unloved tally today is somewhere north of 15 years. The calf cramps I got later in the day were just choice. Have a crooked favourite point for the air conditioning in the car and the cold drink I enjoyed at the bottom of the hill.

Pete

#5,924

Didn't find the cache, it is in a rocky area covered with lots of leaves. No obvious hiding spots. Intense walk to get there, super steep, but great views and great workout. Enjoyed the walk alot

Decided to tackle this track this morning for a good uphill workout. A little of slipping and sliding on the way down on the dry leaves. Retrieved a trackable the cache so it can continue its journey. TFTC SL

Cache Owner needs your help - I no longer live in Cairns and can not maintain this cache. There are a few travel bugs in it that need moving on - could someone please make the trek up and retrieve them to keep them moving.

Man, what a hike! Awesome views from halfway. Raining & cloudy at GZ! First find with Rummaging_Remmins, Fullboar> & jerms12 since 2012. Container still in good condition.

This entry was edited by Stinky.Cheese on Sunday, 10 August 2014 at 00:51:47 UTC.

This entry was edited by Stinky.Cheese on Sunday, 10 August 2014 at 00:52:47 UTC.

in the good company of Rummanging (Machete) Remmin, Stinky-Cheese and Jerms we set off on this mostly unused trail, surprised at how well defined the trail actually was.

using the upward is the right direction theory we soon found GZ and Stinky had the well preserved cache in his hands.

Log signed, pics taken, quick discussion as to whether we push on and up to White Rock and back to the car

Thanks camels for bringing me on this journey

TFTC

Found in the drizzle with Rummaging_Remmins, Fullboar> and Stinky.Cheese. Great hike and ended up on my backside a few times... sturdy footwear recommended TFTC!

After weeks of previous hikes with Stinky, you think I would learn that they are always in need of a wheel on the nose to complete.

Had the opportunity to invite Fullboar and Jerms12 along on this one. After burning calf muscles, ripped skin from wait-a-while and sore cheeks from all the laughter, we finally arrived at the GZ. Fairly quick find for Stinky who is always on the ball.

After little discussion it was decided not to continue on to White Rock from this angle, so we headed back. Much easier on the downhill but the old knees did not agree.

Thanks for the cache Camels.

Returned as I said I would to re-tape the non-existent track. Starting from the tanks down the bottom from the east got to this find easly enough. Than headed onto White rock to find myself 770 m from it tracking about 5m every 10 min. So I decided to turn around due to time restraints. Wait-a-while and Spiders were everywhere!!!!

Well despite reading the description, this was more of an adventure than we expected. Along with 'Wazza&Kara', we made the trek up the ridge. Thinking 1.2km (+/-) isn't far, this really got the heart pumping. The first 2-300 metres had me doubting that we were going anywhere that any other man had ever been before as The track was quite overgrown. We guessed our way through the first couple of hundred having all faith in the GPS. The sight of the yellow markers was a relief, indicating that we were in fact on the right track. As we ventured on, I'm sure at some point each one of us silently thought "this lunchbox better be freakin worth it". We pushed on to find GZ and the cache. Whilst there I had a split second hope that the Rescue Helicopter was going to come and pick me up and drop me back at the bottom. Reality kicked in and we made our way back down the slope. The trek back was much quicker but could have been even more so had we not got sidetracked once or twice and perhaps spent more time on our feet (we all spent a reasonable amount of time on our backsides sliding down some of the steep slopes). We did have a great time, and enjoyed the morning 'walk' with Wazza.
It's be great to see this track marked out a little clearer and maybe even used a little more.

Took the Appalachian GC as it has been up here for quite some time. LN.
TFTC [xx(]

Joined with Hot_Wheelz team to undertake this hike.
After reading the comments posted by the previous cache finders we were expecting a challenging climb so we left early while it was still cool.
We definately weren't disappointed.
The track was a bit sketchy in parts and a steep walk up in many others. Perserverance paid off and after more than one and a half hours we reached the GZ.
After a brief search the cache was located before the walk back down was undertaken. With the track difficult to identify in sections, we did tend to stray a bit on the return.
Some great views out over Mount Sheridan and the southern part of Cairns city.
For anyone else considering this hike, take plenty of water and expect it to be as challenging as the previous finders have indicated.
Thanks to the Camels for placing this cache and to the Hot_Wheelz team for their encouragement to persist to the cache site.
I took nothing and left nothing but did enjoy signing the log.

Read the description and the last visit and thought surely there is no way that this track would be recognizable. The long grass and no clear indication of no recent visits made it hard. The words in the back of my mind, ridge line! So off I went, trekking through long grass, and nature against me. Eventually found a hint of a track 200m in and then yellow ribbon appeared. Yasi has made a mess but thats the way it goes, this track is for the adventurist and for those who dont mind getting dirty with nature. Steep walking towards bottom of GZ but once there found it with ease. I will be back soon for i want to re-tag the track to the GZ and then further onto white rock!

t: nothing
l: geo coin

thank you a herd of camels for a fantastic walk and great location!!!!!

I had been looking at doing this one for a while now, decided to try and get in before the wet season came round full swing. Started at the pathway on timberlea dr and headed up from there. After a quick look around for spinout's sanctum i gave up and continued upward. Past the second water tank the grass really has taken over and for about 300m or so the path does get a tad hard to see in places, although its definitely still there if you look. Lovely breeze blowing in from the ocean and had some great glimpses down into mt sheridan. I would have been able to say 'i can see my house from here' had i still been living on gallery drive. Wow does that track keep going up and up and up. It was a bit slow going with about 500m to go, walking up the steepest part of the track i found i could get 1 step forward to half a step sliding backward. All the leaves and needles covering the ground did make it rather tough going. Eventually got through and up to the gz... at which point i went past about 35m until a clearing got me a fix on the gps. (It was still telling me i had 130m further to go.) Lucky i had a peek at the spoiler photo and once i was back up where i should be found the cache without a problem. Alas! The cache had around an inch of water in the bottom. I took what time i could to empty it out and try to let it dry, but the rain was looming and not wanting to be sliding back down in the wet i made my getaway. Surprisingly the logbook was relatively dry and still easy to write in, even though the ziplock did seem to have some small holes in it. I resealed the bag as best i could and put everything back as it was. Thanks for the views and the walk i would not have taken otherwise. No camels in sight up here though.

Cheers!!

We did White Rock coming from Bentley Park - beautiful day - thanks for the idea!
The cache contents are still dry. There is a crack though.[^]

We made the way from Bentley Park to White Rock as a preparation for the bushwalk I am going to lead on 30.5.10.
Anyone interested is invited to join in. Start is at 8 am at the top end of Herald St.

T whistle
L saurus
Walter and Ingrid
walterhellmut

Looked for this one on the way up to White Rock with no luck. Anyway on the way down I was determined to find it. Bingo found it signed log and took nothing. Thanks for the cache.

The answer to the age old question, "Is That a Camel Up There?". Is "NO, not today anyway." TFTC TNLN SL

Found at 9:18am along with Searchwise015.
We did this one from the top of Whiterock heading downhill until we came to the cache area. Rather glad we did it from this direction as the trail is very steep in places and I would rather be sliding down the hill than walking up from the bottom and the day was starting to warm up. Looked for the distinctive hiding spot and found cache after a short search. Followed the yellow trail markers all the way down to the reservoir, we even found the metal cooking plate and treehouse on the trail. Inspected my cache 'Spinout's Sanctum' before heading home.
T: Penny and marble
L: Rings and Poker chip
TFTC SL


[This entry was edited by Spinmeout on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 7:24:03 AM.]

Walked up and down with Herd of Camels and used his assistance to locate all the caches today. This tricky hide showed the results of almost six months of foilage adding to its concealment and it was a tricky find. Add to that the issue that the Oregon insisted that GZ was some 9metres away and without assistance I would have been here a bit longer looking for this cache. Thanks for the hike and the well concealed cache which now has a more prominant bit of cover that any judicious cacher would notice.

Found this one on a reasonably hot morning. Definitely a climb to get the heart pumpin'.
T: TB
LN

This morning I went to see if there was a camel up there. I parked the car at the top of Herald st and started the long up hill climb.
My first stop was to revisit "Spinmeout's sanctum" and raid the stash of trackables.
Then the real climb started. The track was ill defined in a couple of places but you really only have one direction to go and that is up and up and up. It took me approx an hour and a half to go from car to cache via the sanctum.
Thankfully the whole time I was climbing there was a lovely cool breeze blowing up the ridge line and the lure of a bag of sweeties at the top made the climb more bearable.
Once the cache was located it was time for me to head back down.
This cache is certainly not wheelchair friendly but if you don't take care coming down you might end up in one, as the leaf litter is very slippery under foot.
I didn't find any camels up there but I did see them playing in the park on my way back down.
I only lost sight of the track once on the way down, around the area you come across a small steel fire plate in a small clearing, so take note of the area on your way up.
Thanks for the climb and cache.
T. Bag of sweeties.(Thanks Walter) Vickram TB.
L. Mutton head TB.


[This entry was edited by WhatsAMap on Thursday, October 23, 2008 at 10:52:07 PM.]

Forgot to drop the TB.

Walked past my cache this morning on the way up to White Rock to replace the old log book pages into the cache up there. The return walk from the top end of Herald Street, Bentley Park, to White Rock and back took us 3 hours 50 minutes with plenty of stops for drinks, views and heart recovery. The Cairns Bushwalking Club has done this walk since my last trip up here, and the trail is now in quite good condition - considerably wider and clearer, and quite well defined in most parts, but the steep parts are still just as steep. The yellow tape is prevalent in all the tricky places. You still need to be aware of the wait-a-while, but it is much better than two weeks ago.

13.8.2008 7:25 am
Yes! That is a camel up here. And it is a double humped one called Walter. I did the approach from Mount Sheridan S16°59.92' E145°43.65' and it took me some 45' fast walking trying to get along with no extra water like camels do. I passed by a spot offering an impressive view over Cairns, its southern suburbs and the Trinity Inlet.
It is a real ideal hide for a camel in this rocky environment.
T dinosaur
L Clown Fish TB, emergency whistle
TFTC
Walter
walterhellmut
PS: Left sweeties for the next camel coming up here.

Just made the way to "White Rock - the high life in Cairns" which unfortunately needs maintenance.
The way is managable apart from the few wait-a-whiles the bushwalkers left to leave a genuine bush experience.
It is nice, cool and quiet up here. But when you listen you can hear the traffic noise from the Bruce Highway and occasionally the train and its horn.
Cheers
Walter
walterhellmut

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