Bare Bones Illabarook, Victoria, Australia
By vp4 on 10-Apr-09. Waypoint GC1PRWB

Unfortunately I will have to list this as a DNF

Gone possibly in some floods.

I think its gone. We looked everywhere

Out for a walk and a drive with Shumba7 around Enfield State park. Thanks for bringing us here for your cache.

TFTC quick find with Algae, late find for the day exploring the area.

It’s time for a weekend road trip. After speaking to the bank and remortgaging my house I managed to scrape enough together for half a tank of fuel. So I buddied up with OzHockeyChick who took out a loan for the other half a tank so we could get home again. Definitely won’t be leaving the engine running this weekend .

A nice quick find beside the remnants of this old bridge. I guess the water doesn’t flow as much given it wasn’t replaced?

Thanks vp4 for placing this gamepiece in the wild for us to find.

A weekend road trip to the Ballarat area, incorporating an event, a cito, a couple of solved puzzles and exploring Enfield Forest.
Nice to find a cache at an interesting location such as this.
Thanks for bringing us here today by placing this cache, vp4

A beautiful bush location here, nice and quiet also. Took a moment to take it in before heading back home to the burbs. Thanks for making the effort to put this out.

Tftc

Tftc. Nice old bridge

Tftc! Beautiful area

Love this area thanks for the geo

Nice little easy find on our way through

May 30, 2020 12:13 PM # 2943
Not the first cache I've found this week at a very old bridge, but the condition of both of them is about the same, not much left...
Thx vp4 FTC, found in not the place I expected.

Great spot to get my nails did! Thanks for the nail polish

Painted my nails

The day was spent caching in Enfield state park along back roads enjoying the solitude
The structure is down to its bare bones and just hanging on to its existence.
Log signed and replaced as found.

Thanks for the cache vp4
#5,682

Wow! Love this history! There was also a biiiig roo close by here so quick log sign and outta here! Tftc

Found at 10.30am whilst having a drive through the State Park. The bridge is almost gone now, the size of the floating debris during floods give one the reason for its demise.
A lovely drive in the bush.
TNLN
Thanks
K&M

Driving around the bush today when we decided to detour here and find the cache. The bridge looks like is fallen even more since we were here last. Tftc

When we were driving to the cache we assumed that the hide would be in the skeleton of an animal instead we found a skeleton of a different variety/ We wonder how many more years it will stay here. SL TFTC

Luckily I have been to this spot before some years ago so it has been on my list to revisit when next in the area. I took the road I remembered taking some years ago, fortunately my memory served me well as when I arrived I had no ph service. Decided to hunt around anyway and the cache was found, phew! Pity about the bridge. TFTC

Find #6999

A day off work and what else is there to do.... yep, go caching in an area I've never really gotten into and to do some site seeing on the way around

Thankfully I took the low road to GZ not much left standing of the old bridge now.

TFTC. vp4

Day out caching with kazzacosmo, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit in the area, a lot of history.Tftc

One more for the day

Having a drive around the Linton area. Great out of the way road, found in the 3rd obvious place we looked! TFTC

Not a marathon cache find for me today
I was driving [^]
Now I feel like I'm being lazy finding this cache

Great spot though.
Lots and lots of ruins scattered here and there.
It's gotta be an olde gold mining area methinks

TFTC and exploration of this not oft traveled road [^]

Doing 42 km in a day walking from Dereel to Smythsdale.
This was stop No.1
TFTC

Tonight we were heading off to Enfield for a BBQ with friends so a quick cache or two was in order! A quick find here. I think cache had been underwater as it was soaked. Added in some fresh paper but it might need a new logbook from someone else. Many thanks for the cache - great old location.

Quick find today with FerociousFlea.
Found on our way to Ballarat for a day of Christmas Eve caching.
Found on warm summer's night... bugs in this spot were in their billions
Logbook absolutely sopping wet but tried to sign the log as best we could.
TNLNSL
TFTC
TTFN
Beaker

Found with Beaker on our way to Ballarat. Last one for the night before heading off to find a campsite. Thanks

Cache dry but log sopping wet, put in sun to dry enough for me log my find. Tftc

** Smile # *3885* / Traditional # *2987* **

After a successful day in and around Ballarat collecting some puzzles, I made the long way home detour to find a few more. The day was pre planned a number of weeks ago but when I looked at the weather for Friday a few days ago, I was very worried. Oh well, it won't stop me. The morning was nice and mild until the sun came up and then the rain started. I had a little help on some of the puzzles and others I was able to solve myself.

Another spot I was so very glad I stopped for. I was only expecting to stop for a quick cache find but ended up exploring this great little location for some time as well. Cache was found quickly after a little circle work. Signed and returned as found.

**Thanks for this trad cache, vp4** [^]
**Cache container and log good in good condition**
**Took Nothing, Left signature**

Tftc

Another quick find because of accurate coords. Cache in good shape. TNLN TFTC

Tftc

While heading out for a lovely drive we just couldnt resist adding a few smiles, we have passed here many times over the years, such an interesting area rich in history, thanks for giving us a new reason to stop here too. TFTC

Found

Camped the night on the camp area and made our way around to the last in this great park. The bridge is something to stand back and admire as driving over it is impossible, still a feat when it was constructed. The cache location is an easy find.
Signed logsheet 9 am and replaced all as found.
2 x TB Visit.
vp4 - TFTC.

Thanks for getting me of the main roafs and exploring a few back roads rich with history

What an impressive structure this once was!

Cache was soon found and log signed

TFTC and for bringing me here

Love this Spot, been hear lots of times, but never knew what easy hiding hear. Thank you sebriley

Found It... After a afternoon of caching while returning from Ballarat we decided to make this one our last for the day and while looking at the I Pad we realised it would be our 600th cache and with that in mind we set off looking and after a short search the cache was located and log was signed, after that we took in the surrounds and the old bridge and thought about the miners that where here in the early days trying to make a living and how it has changed today. Thanks vp4 for the cache and bringing us to this special place. P.S. moving the T.B. on

Nice old bridge out this way. Was lucky enough to find a GC in the cache.

Find #190! Geokid wanted to go driving in the mud, so what better reason to geocache!! Thanks for bringing us to this beautiful place! Tftc

Found this one after admiring the awesome bridge near GZ

TFTC

This was my 9th find of the day.
Thanks for bringing me here and telling me about the area.
Nice bit of land I enjoyed exploring.
I saw the piece of history before searching for the cache, I stopped my vehicle that thinks sometimes it's more of a 4WD than a 2WD, admired the work and took some happy snaps.
I knew there was a cache down here somewhere but my phone wasn't picking anything up.
So I went on a hunt anyway and soon discovered a container! Awesome =D
Proud of my Geo-senses. Located around 5.50pm.
Took- little doll.
Left- Geo token and 2 TB's.
Cheers & T.F.T.C =]
Safe travels and hoppy caching!

We had just arrived home from a caching trip to Queenscliffe, when the call was made by Beckster 22 to have a go at some of the caches in the Enfield Forest. Hmm, do we stay or go? We go!

What a great structure at Gz. Thanks for the hide.

Interesting structure from a bygone era, we were trying to decide if it was a rail bridge or a road bridge. the cache was found and signed thanks for the cache vp4.

Found on a nice day off after visiting the Dereel Craft Markets. I love this old rail infrastructure from days long gone. Thanks for bringing me to this place vp4.

Awesome place, thanks

Out taking photos today and collecting caches along the way. This rickety old structure has seen better days. Love this spot. TFTC

Milestone 40 as well as number 5 on caching run

In the area today with Westall0299 and Tomstache. Westall0299 made the quick find. Very interesting wooden structure. Thanks for bringing us here vp4.

Thanks for the cache cool cache. Found pretty easily. Found with Westall0299 and McLookers.

One of my favorite places, TFTC

Found by Chris, Andrew and Lorraine on the 06-01-14 TFTC

Found by the-geobots, 6/1/14 - TFTC.

15/12/2013 1:09 pm
We thought we'd pick up the few in the "thanks to" series that we are missing and others in the area, on this lovely Sunday afternoon.
As we travelled to this cache, Madonna's song "this used to be my playground" was playing in my head! I (Mrs Highrod) spent my primary years living in Tantaus Rd, so we did a drive by to see the old place..... all the trees have grown and we could hardly see the house!
I actually had planned to place a cache here a little while ago, but when I saw "bare bones" I knew my spot was gone
cache in good condition.
thanks vp4 for memories and the cache- Highrod

La balade continue et hop une cache de plus maintenant retour à la voiture
Merci vp4

10:19
Bare Bones certainly is all that is left of what once stood as a magnificent structure. It is always interesting to contemplate whether current construction methods and materials will stand the test of time in the way the ruins around here have done.

TNLN . . SL . . Thanks for the hunt vp4.
7068

Such a great old bridge to have a look at. A nice quick find. TFTC.

Beautiful drive into this cache, came across some people on there motocross bike having fun, if I didn't live so far away that would be a great way to cache. But today my dog and I are out in the 4wd instead. Great spot thanks

We got totally sidetracked here looking at the bridge and didn't even pull out the GPSr, just started searching around the bridge... and didn't find it. I read the logs confused as they said it was an easy find, it was only then I noticed how far I was from GZ hahahahaha
Thanks vp4 for the laughs and sharing the great spot.

Bare Bones is what is left of my feet after a long day caching with stooy

Thanks vp4 it has been over 5 years since i have been back up this way use to come up here gold panning TFTC

This was one of over 110 caches I found during a huge day and night of caching with my fellow cachers Trailrunning, Rebel Acts and Blacklegend (The Demolition Crew). As we all had the day free we carefully planned in advance the run and decided to call it Ballarat Smackdown II. The plan was ambitious and resulted in almost 22 hours of continual caching.

The day started in the early hours of the morning in the far eastern suburbs of Melbourne, then moving through the northern suburbs then onto and along the Western Freeway to Enfield State Forest then north up to Ballarat itself. We cached through Melton, Pykes Reservoir and Bacchus Marsh and many of the country roads north and south of the Western Freeway as we made our way west.

We had a fantastic day finding all the different types of caches and there were some quite inventive, very tricky and well constructed hides that we found. I thank all the cache owners for the time and effort they have spent in placing all the caches we found today.

I found making our way through the Enfield State Forest to be the highlight of the day and my Prado handled it very nicely. We couldn't believe it when some more caches were published in here the next day so we immediately began planning our next Ballarat Smackdown trip.

Another legendary cache run by The Demolition Crew (myself, TrailRunning, Quasar3671 and Rebel Acts). We have dubbed it Ballarat Smackdown II. This was a huge run taking us all the way from near Cardinia, via the northern suburbs of Melbourne, to Bacchus Marsh and Melton and finally Ballarat. A massive loop, and over 100 caches for the run. The company was as always fantastic, a lot of laughs, good dinner, and great caches. Many thanks to all the CO's for the hides, without them we wouldn't have been able to find anything.

Another hide with great historical value. Found without a problem. TFTC.

This was, cache # 77 of 117 finds for the day in the company of The Demolition Crew. I thought were going to find some bones at this one. My thanks to vp4 for the cache.

This cache was found by me today in the company of The Demolition Crew.

While I strive to make my logs personal to every cache, I have far too many logs to do, that I apologise in this instance for using a generic log. I thank you for the placement of this cache as it was one of many that made up a great day for me and the crew..

The Day's Blurb...

The annual holidays is always a great time to relax and take it easy, but not today. The Demolition Crew had decided that after such a long break from caching together that we would start the year off with a bang! So the planning minds were put into operation, and Ballarat Smackdown II was conceived.

The smackdown started along way from Ballarat, in fact in the hills around Cardinia Reservoir and from there is was a push across the northern suburbs of Melbourne through Melton & Bacchus Marsh. It being such a hot day, the waters of Pykes Creek Reservoir cooled and refreshed us, and we were soon off to start on the Ballarat caches.

Since our first Smackdown in the area, many new caches have popped up, so it was a fruitful run which ended well into the early morning. A couple of caches were replaced as a way of saying thanks to those who took the time to place them, and I think in the end my tally was well over 100 for the run.

It was a completely awesome day, and I thank you for placing the cache. We will return to the Ballarat area soon as there are still a number of caches we left undiscovered.

I thought that it was a railway line but apparently not? I wonder what it was. Cache found easily thanks vp4.

First of what ended up being a very short days caching unfortunately. Geeze they built things well back in those days. Thanks for showing us this bridge.

With the GPS wanting to take us around the long way, We went the shorter way.
Arrived at GZ and found what we were looking for, then admired the remains of the bridge

Thanks vp4

Lucky last for the day as it was getting dark. Took some photos before heading off to find the cache. TFTC vp4

Found with Mum & Dad.
The old bridge is cool!
Thanks VP4.

A fantastic old bridge, or what remains of it.
We took a couple of photos then found the cache.
Thanks again VP4 for another great spot.

On arrival at this site, Sully1, a previous finder, and myself, were worried a young family of muggles had found the cache and were reading the logbook.
So we wandered over to see, but found the Dad was actually reading the instruction book to a metal detector he had that had come from his grandfather. After explaining what we were up to, he and his kids eagerly followed us and were amazed at what we'd found only a foot from where he'd been scratching around moments earlier. Think we've got a convert, as he has a GPS, and wanted the website details before we left.

Now to the cache site, an amazing old bridge structure, where do you get that timber nowadays?
Thanks vp4 for bringing us here. BTW, Dean (The Dad) thought it was a railway bridge too bringing contents from the mine

Suscoe arrived nice and early today.
Great weather.
Terrific spot.
Left bear, took footy card.
Thanks to vp4 for another great location.

Great old bridge! We took some photos and had a look around, once our olfactory devices got used to the stench of the animal right where we parked. Thanks for bringing us here and for the cache. Tn l: pathtag.

Found whilst one a sunny day out with geo-kids

A pretty easy cache to stop by and grab, I saw some rainbow birds later on in the day, none in this area however.

This is a great area to drive through, very picturesque with lots of historical interest.
TFTC.

great spot

Nice spot out in the bush and interesting to have a look at the old structure, great to see it still standing. TFTC

Found by Team Ranger on a full day round trip caching.

Thanks for the cache, would never have visited this area otherwise, we were surprised by the number of guys in the area with metal detectors.

Cache found, logged and replaced, then a stop for some coffee and a feed off the tailgate. While the coffee was brewing I headed off to take some photos of the bare bones structure. A couple of trail bikes also headed past while sully1 and I were stopped here. TFTC

Another wonderful old structure of times gone by. Along with a previous log, having spotted the white steel post in the ground over the road, I had envisaged a different mode of transport, other than it obviously was. Micaparamedic lays claim to having this one in hand quickly, TNLNSL, replaced and then had a coffee stop and a mid avo feed here, whilst enjoying the peace and quiet of the area, and the structure. 2 x trail bike riders came through, but at a very reasonable speed, which was nice to see for a change. Many Thanks vp4, for bringing us here and for the cache.

Checked today while daughter of VP4 clocking up L plate hours, topped up swaps, all else ok

Quick easy find. Braught us to an interesting area.
Took nothing.

Thankyou.

Certainly a noble old structure. I imagine it could have carried quite a weight in its time. Good to see the "powers that be" have blocked off the old road. Hate to take a wrong turn here in the dark. Might have been a bit of unexpected drama had it not been for the dirt piles. Many thanks, Vp4, for motivating my journey to such an interesting place.
Took the TB to move on.

These are really great caches to find. I felt we were the only people about in this area today and indeed this cache sees few visitors.
I too thought the structure over the way was of railway origin.
Nice spot for a bit of poking around.
Thanks vp4
Took horse, left keyring

Found today with feathertop. At times I thought we would never get here, ducking down various side roads before getting here.
Nice remotish spot for a cache.
Thanks

Dropped in to check all was o.k. Also left Ocean minded TB.

There's so much old mining era stuff out here. I had a bit of poke around before having a look for the cache, which was not hard to find.

Thanks for bringing me out here.

My 7 (and a half) year old nephew (Dale) found this one with his dad's eTrex with virtually no help from his dad (Daz) or me. Good spatial relations in one so young. Our third one for the day, right on dusk. Dale wanted to do another one.

RedPaw64 found this cache at 1059. Enjoyed the cache
TFTC VP4 NINO
Happy Caching

Found by Mary & David at 1405. We've been enjoying the drive along the Rainbow Bird Trail. Where are the Trail brochures available? This is another interesting spot with a historical flavour. Loved the old bridge and the trees. All the site needs is a bit more rain to freshen up the creek. TNLN. Our thanks once again to vp4.

I'll wave the Ballarat cachers flag today, second find on the way home today at 5.30pm. I have visited here before and even seen water flowing in the creek. !
Picked up TB.
Thanks for the cache

Out and about this morning to locate a few caches Found the cache at 9.15am with beanie Left a travel bug and took nil
Thanks vp4 for the cache

Wow my 47th FTF and one we did not expect to get as we were so far from home. Where are the Ballarat cachers, enjoying their Easter break!

Bushfire and Speedy Stamps headed off towards Linton for a day’s caching on a late summers day with the sole purpose to put a few more smiley faces on our profiles in this area and to see lots of interesting places that only geocaching can show you.

Well this location was well worth the drive in to this very peaceful spot and to see a bit of past history. We were very surprised to find that nobody had been here before us. The scratchy did not bring us any luck but that's OK. NI-NO and thanks vp4 as this was my second cache of yours today.