ROCK HOPPER Fingal Bay, New South Wales, Australia
By MADSTARS on 30-Aug-09. Waypoint GC1XZ14

Currently do not live in the area.

Unable to maintain.
Somebody can have this location.

Found at 1240.

After google mapsing our way to the end of the road my family wasn't impressed. I had to explain the poop plant, and the smell was almost unbearable. After a little convincing they decided to follow me down the little path.

First thoughts of the beach weren't great either, we all went different ways. After I scrambled over the rocks and got to GZ the cache was found rather quickly and I signed the log. Things picked up from here.

The smell disappeared and the wind dropped. Looking through the rocks was fun and we found all kind of cool things, we picked up some rubbish too.

We took photos and had rock stacking competitions!

Overall the adventure was actually a heap of fun, even if my log doesn't suggest it! Thanks so much for showing my family and I this lovely area of the coast!

Thanks for placing and maintaining this cache MADSTARS.

Unfortunately the lid has been broken off. The log is damp, but still easily signed as it's flash paper! A new container would be good (:

TFTC Thank you for going to the effort of hiding this cache. You have shown us a new place and have helped make geocaching an enjoyable activity.

High tide, low waves, easy All ok TFTC

Great spot. TFTC

For my first geocach I really enjoyed it as it was so close to my house yet I had never been over there.

What an excursion! Found easily after an expedition over the rocks, to which the backside of my favourite shorts fell victim. The cache was wet and the all weather paper slightly smudged but still serviceable. Nice place to visit, might come back to commemorate my shorts (RIP). TFTC.

We ummed and ahhed about passing this cache up because it all sounds too hard but since we were here, we might as well get as close as we felt comfortable and we kept going. The log is a little wet but we still managed to sign a name.

TFTC was pretty hard to get to but was fun

Tftc! Was a bit of a trek to get to but worth it

bit late logging this, but TFTC!

20 Years ago we would have just about have run across these rocks. Great view easy find TFTC

I have tried to find this one before, but I got confused by what I thought was construction work between the road and the GZ.

I learnt a lot today:

1./ You can follow the track to the fence line and down to the GZ.
2./ Even though it is cold and almost June, the are still some rather large fat snakes (red belly blacks) down here.
3./ Wear shoes

After finding pebble beach cache, I followed the instructions and 'rock hopped' to this cache.
It was easy done. I followed some advice from a previous log and came back the same way I went.

TFTC.

Another cool cache in the area that doesn't get enough visits. Geowife got bitten by a massive red ant on the way back. She's tough. Gritted her teeth and powered on carrying one of the geokids! TNLN TFTC

Found with Orrsome86 and my son on a morning up at the bay. After finding Pebble Beach nearby we thought we should find this one as well. We followed the rocks just above the water line, which got very tricky at the point, so we headed inland and arrived right on the cache. Somehow Orrsome made a very quick find (even though it was pretty small container) and then we were on our way back to the car. We decided the rocks near the water was too hard and we followed a track on the ridge line, but it just stopped and there were bushes everywhere. We kept going, but it was pretty hard, once we got through there were fragments of track, but nothing that helped. When we finally got back to the treatment fence we agreed it would have been faster to go back the way we came, but where would the fun have been in that?
Thanks for the great morning and getting us out to all these great locations!

Found with TOMBI and his son on an outing to Nelson Bay. TFTC

Needs a pen. Nice view

Needs a pen. Nice view

Found on our trip to Port Stephens. After getting the nearby cache, we took a nice little walk across the rocks towards GZ, for a very quick find once we got there. Another fantastic view of the area, that's surrounded by a lovely area. There was no lid on the container, however the log is dry because the cache is in a sheltered spot. TFTC MADSTARS!

Found it

Found it

I took my 6 year old son with me on this one. He enjoyed the rock hopping and pool exploring. Lots to see along the way. Seemed fairly safe too.
On the way back we saw a monitor lizard climb up a tree. Once there it was swooped by an angry bird. I guess they steal eggs.

Thanks for the fun.

Found with geo boy in very windy conditions

Found without difficulty Thanks MADSTAR.

We tackled the cache location from above and found it fairly easy going (it's winter after all). Freshened up the cache contents and left some nice dry paper; SL, TFT ramble MADSTARS

Took a while to reach the cache as the track is very overgrown but once close to the cache was able to retrieve very quickly..
TFTC
#140

Loved the hopping adventure! Saw many a crab as I made my way towards GZ. Found the cache easily enough but it was so wet that there was no point trying to write on it. Took a photo of it instead. Still, enjoyed being here. TFTC.

Yay, found it!!!

TFTC!

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

What an amazing spot! Well worth the rock hopping!

What colours white black green and brown beautiful ta

Took the rocky route but in hindsight could of went by hill. Once again great views TFTC.

After finding Pebble Beach, the kids were up to the challenge of continuing on to this one. Across the beach we went and up a steep hill, then along a burnt out ridge to a very rocky gz. Cache was quickly found and I managed to squeeze in a TB. Thanks MADSTARS, great views, great spot.

This entry was edited by lasramblas on Sunday, 22 December 2013 at 02:57:34 UTC.

A very small little container. There was only 3 small pages inside the container and they were damp. But still worth the effort!!

This was the high lite of the day for my Geo Boys, They loved the idea of Rock hopping and we had lots of fun getting to GZ. I too enjoyed the adventure getting there.
Found safe and SL took some pics too share.
Thanks so much for bring us here and all your caches we found today.
Keep up the great work and we look forward to finding more up this way.
RNTD safe.
TFTC
Steveishere

What a spectacular spot made it makes me so angry at the way humans treat the ocean. Rubbish everywhere and surprisingly but normally most from fisher scumbags.

Got a performance from a sea eagle so giving it a favourite

I tell you the mad stars will have some serious cache maintenance if there is a tidal wave. So many caches just above the water level. Climate change will also be a problem for them.

Tftc tnln

Amazing view! TFTC

We enjoyed rock hopping on the way to GZ coming from Pebble Beach cache. The area and the rock formation reminded us of Mimosa NP. We found a container in minutes with team Be3dexod. Amazing secluded beach with two snorkelers having fun at nearby reef. We took a straight path back to our car and found this way was heaps easier than the path on the other side of fenced facilities. Fav Point from us!

We took a couple of different tracks and landed at GZ with little rock hopping. There were fishing jumping in the water and more eagles watching the water. Thanks for a good hide and another great location.

Enjoyed the rock hopping. Excellent spot. Many TFTC!

Drizzly light rain today, Great enjoyed around of Port Stephens caches... Nice easy stroll to GZ, easy to find as also lognote full wet, need replace very soon thanks

The rock hopping was really fun! Unfortunately the logbook is totally wet.

Left Mrs Grub Fred and her mother in the Mighty Prado after lunch at Fingal Bay Bowlo, on the way around the treatment works I don't know who got the biggest fright, me or the kangarooglheimers, see the photo, been a while since I found one of your "Trademarks", TFTC and all the best MADSTARS!!

When to this one from Pebble beach lots of bush bashing and rock hopping only to find a super highway track back to the treatment works quick find and sign Thanks again MADSTARS

In Port Stephens again this week to pick up a few caches.
Number eight today. After returning to car from pebble Beach we discovered we hadn't done ourselves any fovours as we could have saved ourselves a walk. Anyways, we headed back for this one and found far less rock hopping to get this one than we did at pebble beach. Cache was soon found but log was wet again. Placed some paper sheets in new plastic zip bag to hopefully keep it dry.
This is a great time of the year (spring) for caching as all the wildflowers are coming into bloom and there were plenty around here. We also saw a cactoblastis caterpiller hard at work on a Prickly Pear cactus. Thanks again madstars

This entry was edited by colleda on Wednesday, 29 August 2012 at 21:58:52 UTC.

0020 GAFF3 (Okay, this must be the last D+T>4 Madstar cache) A lovely evening for a cache hunt on the way to Sydney from Taree. Having recently bought some 'Nordic walking poles' I was wondering why I didn't pack them in as well. But the Metro is only so big! I did grab a gymea lily flower spike along the way, and it was very handy for assisting over all the rocks.
Tried to dry the sheets out a bit, but with it so windy they just wanted to fly away. So dried out the container, and added a sheet)
Thru: only B2B ingot would have fitted, and trackable shirt through.
TFTC Madstars
(Another Night Caching one logged)

A huge thank you to spikeymikey for replacing the log and pencil for this great little cache.

I have been posted and been very busy in my new job so everything has fallen to the way side.

THanks mate you are awesome keeping this cache alive.

May the caching gods grant you 100 unhindered finds.

Madstars

After skirting around the edge of the sewerage treatment plant, stumbling across an echidna en route, we found the cache. TFTC.

Continued on from whale wonderland and it was a great trek through the bush. Made a meal of this after taking a wrong turn at one point. We eventually found the right track which led us to a campsite complete with plastic table. Then the rock hopping began. Geoson made the find quickly - this is on the micro side of small I guess. Another fantastic location - but ran out of favourite points as just gave the last one to whale wonderland! TFTC

We rock hopped from Pebble Beach. Glad the co-ords were good or we could still be searching. TFTC.

This was a very enjoyable rock hop from the pebble beach cache. We found the cache easily due to spot on coordinates. Thanks for the cache

Again, like previous finders we thought we could have been in for a long hunt.
As Blackie_71 was signing the log book my GPS settled on 0.0m from GZ. That doesn't happen very often. As we sat down for a breather we looked back towards the other nearby cache and could see some sort of shelter made from what appeared like driftwood, like a scene out of Castaway.
Cheers and thanks from Browngang

TFTC

NEW LOG PAPER PENCIL IN BAG

Approached this cache from nearby Pebbly Beach. Rock hopping wasn't so difficult. As I approached GZ, I thought this would be a difficult and long search, but there are surprisingly few places whre the cache could be, so it was soon in hand. As per previous logs, Log paper was only mush, so I replaced it with a few sheets in a plastic bag with a new pencil.
TNLNSL TFTC

Reperio at 1335.

After grabbing 'Pebble Beach', it was off to do a spot of rock hopping to grab this one. The rocks were still quite wet from high tide, but with careful stepping, I was soon at GZ enjoying another great point of view. Cache was found pretty quickly, but unfortunately the log was saturated, and I hadn't spotted Chippyroo's log until I was at GZ so didn't have a new one me....so not to sound like a broken record, but could the next finder bring out a new log sheet in a zip lock bag. As always, another great location.

Gratias MADSTARS.

Managed to finally work out how to bypass the poo farm so was off to find the last few standing caches in the bay area. Had found peddle beach first so there was no denying a continuation onto this one. Being 6"4', I made short work of the rocks and came across a wonderful view. Once I had a good look I found the cache only to discover the log was dripping wet. I made a mark, as best I could, and returned to it's hide. Sorry but I had nothing with me. An excellent cache. Thanks

Can the next visitor please bring a new log sheet as this cache is too good to let it be archived as the CO are no longer in the area. Cheers

Logsheet is wet can the next visitor please replace with a new one

TFTC

Tough walk in with 2 kids easy find once we got in there

Hopped on over from Pebble Beach to the next great spot for the day. After the pleasant trip across the rocks it was a quick find at GZ, a sit to take in the views and an easy walk over the top on the way back.

Thanks.

Fantastic spot, highly recommend this one to any one who is sure footed enough, baby cacher didn't get to come to this one, but I loved it none the less.TFTC

I just happened to be down this way (haha) at a nearby pebble beach (see pic). I had braved the methane plant so any excuse to hop over to this cache was a pleasure. Don't you just love these spots. It was a work day so I was the only one around. Not a muggle up or down wind. Gotta love that and clear skies and these sort of rocks!

Cache number 31 for a Marathon cache hunt over the Easter weekend. A busy weekend of Madstars, great views, smelly spots, lovely beaches, high mugggle challenges, bush bashing, rock hopping, wet feet, meeting other cachers. Met up with the Shrieking Eels back up at the car park who were not only geocaching and Rockhopping but rock collecting. Please to have met you Eels. Thanks to all the owners of the Geocachers in this area, you certainly made a great weekend away for the dkmacca team.
Cheers
dkmacca

Last cache for the day. We had left two of our team on the path to the Pebble Beach cache, and decided to keep going for this one. We don't mind a bit of rock hopping, and there certainly was a lot of it! We kept finding beautiful smooth rocks that we wanted to keep, so we secreted them in conspicuous places along the trail, to be picked up on our way back. When we got to the cache, we realised that it would be much easier to walk back along the top of the hill, back to the car, than to rockhop all the way back to the other Eels. Thought we'd better go back and prove that we were still alive. Besides, there were those beautiful rocks to go back and collect! It was getting late, so we had to get a wriggle on to make it back to the car before dark. Arriving back with the other eels, we were disappointed to
learn that they had met another geocacher while we were gone. They hadn't even asked him who he
was!! Anyway, we forgave them when we got back to the car and came face to face with the
intrepid dkmacca (who was having a very successful caching day). It's always fun to meet another cacher when we're out, so it was a great way to finish our day. Thanks MADSTARS.

This entry was edited by shrieking_eels on Saturday, 23 April 2011 at 00:05:05 UTC.

This entry was edited by shrieking_eels on Saturday, 23 April 2011 at 00:05:53 UTC.

easy find long walk there and back fab views

toughest one i had yet. quite hard to find and we got lost too

We found around 10 caches during an action packed weekend. We did all the other "normal' activities at PS like the sand driving, toboggan run, dolphin watching, etc. Out of the 10, this one is my favourite as it is in a spectacular location. This is one of those out-of-the-way places that most people will never get to see. And there were no-one else around while we were there! TFTC

What a view!!

Just as the geowife was about to give up she stumbled across it. Left a Keno pencil for further logs to be left.
Again thank you guys.

tftc this was a nice longer walk to get to it as the way I had planded on getting there was blocked and the gps took forever to warm up and I walked past the turnoff before it started. easy find once I got to gz and very little rock hopping needed.

Tried for this one in the dark but was thwarted as the road has been blocked. Normally I would have gone around the fence but it was raining and I was 400m from GZ. Maybe this one should be disabled till the construction is complete???

A group of youths were hanging around the parking co-ords so the girls stayed in the car whilst the boys headed off to the cache just in case they were up to no good. After a couple of minutes, little Mr H slipped on the rocks and decided to stay put whilst dad continued with the hunt. Typical! Just as he arrived at GZ, a family are sat there taking pics. But what's that?! A GPS dangling around one of their necks. It was cachers! We said our hello's and moved on. It's always nice to meet fellow cachers in the field.
Thanks,
The Hancock Clan

The climb over the rocks was almost as good as the view. TFTC.

Bonjour from French Canadians,

Another nice Madstars's cache. It's a great way for us to discover Port Stephens.

TFTC, TNLN, SL

That was an easy find today while visiting Nelson Bay.
Thank you very much for this cache!
Greetings, Colonel Dago from Germany

Haven't done any rock hopping in years. Took a little while to get my balance so that I could get up some speed but after I had it was great fun. Thanks for the renewed experience.

Gotcha !! No. 11 in a one day cache dash. TFTC

Found it & S..L.
T.F.T.C.

Spent a day caching at Port MADSTARS with TheWobblys and The-Don.

I really enjoyed this one. It was a nice little climb and Rock Hop, who would've thought.

Apart from the smell today (I think it was King Wobbly, he was a bit on the nose) it was sensational.

We grabbed this one before heading across the Peeble Beach.

Loved it. Thanks MADSTARS

Rated: for Overall Experience

Found while out caching with The Cashman and The Don.

Well i King Wobbly found this one after The Don had a look at GZ and keeped looking elsewhere.

I think The Cashman was wearing his special aftershave ( the scent of wilder beast ).

Thanks Madstars for a great cache.

Headed around the back of the headland and "hopped" to GZ surpised at some of the wildlife we spotted in the pools of water on the way. Had the bay to ourselves and we really enjoyed the hunt. A quickish find once we hit GZ. TFTC MADSTARS. [554]

Found on a days caching with TheWobblys & The Cash Man.
Another great cache with spectacular ocean views.
Thanks MADSTARS for another great cache.

Found at 5.50pm GAFF1. Drove to within 140 metres of GZ and then a straightforward walk to GZ. Loved the isolation and what looked like excellent rocks to fish from.
Thanks MADSTARS - nice to come vback to this area.
ps - this is more a 2.5 terrain.

We found the rock hopping fun with minor injuries and enjoyed the experience. A quick find once we arrived at GZ, unfortunately the log was wet, and found it difficult to sign it. The container does not seem to be water tight it might need to be replaced as well as the log.

It was a very hot day for rock hopping, but I was still thankful there was not a onshore wind whilst I was here.
Nice spot and I paused for a breather to take in the view before tackling the rocks on the return trip.
The log sheet was very damp and hard to sign. TFTC.

We decided to spend today finishing off all of the caches in the Port Stephens area that we hadn't done - boy it was a bit of a tough day! Our muscles were a little sore when we got to this one - thanks to the efforts we exerted getting up to Radar Hill - so we decided to walk along the track rather than rock hop around to GZ. There was some rock hopping at the end and we found the cache fairly easily. It was soaking wet and full of water, so we tried to dry it out a bit and made sure we put it back up-side-down to try and keep it dry, but the log is almost beyond repair and really needs to be replaced. TNLNSL TFTC

TFTC

I must admit I did cheat on this Cache as I was still hot from doing another previously I decided to take an alternate route and let the 4X4 have its head. I came across a few Black Cockatoos that were getting stuck into a nearby tree on the way out. They just sat there and stared at me. Really brilliant birds, lovely spot and thanks for sharing it with me.

TFTCSL

It was later in the day and the Tamykian's plus one who came later and it was an intro to the addiction for one of young Tamykian's friends. We were out at GZ and I explain to young Tamykian to let her friend find the cache. So after some looking and letting her friend she came up with the cache. Then she asked do we keep it, mmmm I then explained the rest of the game to her ""OH now I understand""..So we sign the log letting her place it back and cover it up..I think she is hooked but it will be confirmed when we ask her to go caching next time...
Cheers

Tamykian

DNF for us today in the rain we will be back

Tftc

We just spent boxing day with the relatives, once the were finally gone we just had to get out and do some caching to keep our holiday average up... tftc!

nice view TFTC SLTN

I took the long way in and out, it was much more fun. Yet another lovely lonely location I would never have visited if it weren't for caching. Thanks for the cache MADSTARS

Left: Unactivated Geocoin

Rated: for Overall Experience

My field notes read 'Fabulous'. A fabulous location, and despite coming to Fingal many times I had never been around this side. Really enjoyed the rock hopping in the long way around the cliffs with McPhan, RexTrex and BigON. In usual style we took the hard way in and discovered an easy trail on the way out...Second to find! Thanks MADSTARS.

No matter how hard I looked (and admittedly I did spend a lot of time watching where I was putting my rock-hopping feet) the whales had always just dived whenever I looked up - tricky things whales! Another gem of coastline around Nelson Bay and a pleasure to be out here with Team McWinTrexON during a superb caching day. Thanks MADSTARS.

Found as part of the McWinTrexOn team, the rest of the team have already said it all but what the hey, its was fun playing in amoungst the rocks for a group second to find, not to mention the great cool ocean breeze coming in on a very warm day.
TFTC

I must admit I started by taking the scenic route around the wrong side of the bay. Found it quickly when I went to the right side. TFTC