Left in the dark... (night-cache) Menai, New South Wales, Australia
By The Hancock Clan on 16-Sep-09. Waypoint GC1YQBG

Sadly this one has to go as the reflectors have all melted away. Surprisingly the final cache was only slightly melted but the fake hand had seen better days. We decided to reuse the cache and found a nice 'fun' location for it nearby. Thanks to all the finders of this cache, we loved reading the great logs!

Disabling due to bushfire

Checked on this one and also replaced the first reflector

I must say, as my first introduction to night caching - it was great! We truly felt alone in the dark.
Some notes:
We fixed the 3 reflectors at the end as one had fallen down and was covered by leaves (see photo).
The first reflector seems to be MIA. We took a wild guess as to which way to walk and it paid off - others might not be so lucky.
Other than that, it was a very enjoyable evening! TFTC! #teamscrubs

What a night caching, we did a survey of the terrain and headed off totally ignoring the warning ***If you don't see anything at the starting co-ordinates then don't bother to continue***.
All I can say (since my log follows pipersand's very creative one) is many thanks to the Hancock Clan we had a great time, one to remember, but did think that we were just a tad mad.............the children said "imagine if we had done that!!!" Bless them (I had to agree though - shhh).

To the Hancock Clan TF another memorable C
Cheers
Odlid Deb

Sing to the tune of the Gilligans Island theme song.

Just sit right back,
And you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip,
That started with the Hancock Clan,
This night cache might be quick.
The mate was a nervous "pipersand",
The skipper brave "odlids".
Two cacher-gals set off that night,
For a four hour tour,
A FOUR HOUR TOUR.

My torchlight started getting dim,
And those shiny tacks were lost,
If not for the brightness of the odlids torch
I think we might be lost,
I think we might be lost.

The two sat aground in the midst,
Of this eroded fire trail,
With Pipersand,
The Odlids too,
A bright headlight at eye height,
A GPS,
Damn reflective bright little things,
Here on Hancock Clan's Trail.

(ending verse)

So this is the tale of our cacher-gals,
They've been out for a long long time.
They have to find these little things,
Of a triple marker kind.

They're past the point of no return,
They still are heading west,
Self doubt has reared its ugly head,
I hope I pass this test.

At last we spy a triple mark
And a single limb we see,
We need to find the box itself,
It's dastardly as can be.

So join that track back to the car,
At last we get to smile,
We're two ole crazy cacher-gals
Out on Hancock Clan's trail.

#4,488

Our final cache for the day. I was ready to abandon the hunt before even starting when I read the description while eating dinner. But Canary got this look on his face, and said please, so we headed over to the parking coordinates. We walked down to the start and tried to pick which way to go. The others soon realised they couldn't let me go ahead of them, cause the reflective strips on the back of my jacket were being mistaken for tacks. So I was relegated to the rear.

I'd already had a fall at Menai Monster, so I was limping from the start of this one, trailing behind the others most of the time and letting them make all the decisions about what direction to go. Every so often I'd trip over, and add more bruises and grazes to my collection. There's probably a lesson in that somewhere - maybe don't do this cache when you're already tired and hurt? Or maybe just keep up with the others, so you have extra light from other torches to see where you're going?

At one point my torch caught sight of something strangely familiar looking, so I checked it out and found a trig. An intact trig, with vanes still attached, right next to the track. The others had walked past without seeing it. I guess they were more focussed on the cache.

I'm not sure how far we'd gone, but Canary and bikerbuddy suddenly got all excited, and then we weren't following a track anymore, but going through bush. Then somehow bikerbuddy had the cache found. They were both feeling chuffed with themselves, and happy they'd made it to GZ. I was feeling chuffed that I got to sit down and rest a bit. I probably should have asked for details, but honesty, I didn't care care by that stage. I was just happy to have found the cache and be able to stop walking.

I suggested that the spot we were in was quite comfortable to sit at, and that maybe we should stay until morning. They weren't having any of that, and made me walk again. That was probably the sensible thing to do, but tired me didn't think so. Tired me would have happily curled up for a nap.

Now that I'm logging several days after finding the cache, I'm feeling a little more positive about the experience, but tired, sore, grumpy me was not feeling positive about anything on the walk back. But tired, sore, grumpy me has gone away now, and been replaced by well rested, only slightly sore and not very grumpy me, so I'm willing to admit that was definitely an adventure, and well worth the high terrain rating. But I will also admit that I was relieved to get back to the car, and know that I could drive home and get some sleep.

Thanks Hancock Clan. That definitely was not what I was expecting when this cache was first suggested .

This was the last cache in a long day of caching which started with three kayak caches and also included a terrain 4.5 cache by land. We decided to get something to eat before attempting this one, which turned out to be McDonalds. Toriaz checked out the cache notes as we ate and realised that this was no ordinary night cache. She read the estimated distance in some of the logs and the hours it took to complete. Canary pretended to be preoccupied with some fluff, as though the epic nature of this undertaking was something that had completely slipped his mind to tell us, or had not occurred to him.

Nevertheless, we returned to the car and drove to the spot, walked down the track and got to the starting coordinates and looked about with our torches. Unlike other night caches, this one had no tacks. We spent a while looking, but nothing. In the end we decided to walk down a track in the faith that we would see something further on. We walked some way until we decided that we must have taken the wrong track. So we returned to the start and took the other way, crossed the creek and eventually picked up the first tack a couple of hundred metres along.

After that we kept at it, every now and then being rewarded with a tack, then spending long periods walking on faith alone, or finding ourselves excited again, only to discover we were reflecting Toriaz's jacket. Sometimes it was a star we were seeing through the trees. At other times it was distant lights from houses or streets. I think we may have even followed one or two, but occasionally another tack would turn up. Then, there'd be two tacks within fifteen metres of each other and we wondered at the profligacy of the caching Gods amidst their general niggardly nature.

Part of the difficulty is that it's harder to walk at night while doing this. Desperate not to miss a tack, we constantly had our torches held to our heads, which became wearing. However, the terrain, at the same time, required our attention. Toriaz fell several times as a result and hurt her leg with a nasty graze. She was tiring and yet we continued on the forced march across the dark landscape of Canary's soul. I called to Canary to stop. We rested. Toriaz pulled out a pad where she usually makes notes about caches and wrote a last will and testament and told me where the keys to the car were. Then her eyes rolled back and she expired.

But Canary was determined to push on, so he whipped me into action once more. I managed to take a waypoint so we might find Toriaz's body on the way back. It was all I could do.

But I wasn't doing much better. I was faint. My legs were sore. I stumbled. I picked myself up. Canary waited, for seconds only, and then I saw him move away in the torch light, and in his place a light airiness formed. Another tack? Not bloody likely! The light coalesced into the figure of a woman. It was a Vision Splendid. Toriaz had come to me in her spirit.

"Follow the path, bikerbuddy," said the Vision Splendid, "And seek ye well in the lands yonder!"

And I said, "Wait, take me with you!"

But the vision was gone, and I was forced to stumble after Canary.

Soon we had the cache. It must have been one of those magical talisman things that reset our assumed realities, because I found myself in bed, clicking my heels together crying "There's no place like home!", with Canary and Toriaz sitting either side of the bed, smiling benignly at me, with Mr Hancock at the foot of the bed with an award for being a very brave cacher, and Thomas the Tank Engine and the Fat Controller doing a dance about the room.

And then I stirred and realised I'd just fallen asleep in the bush, right next to the cache, it seemed, and I was still going to have to walk back to the car through the night with Toriaz slumped over my shoulder, and persuade Canary that he really needn't look for any more caches tonight.

Thanks

Okay, I take full blame for planning this little night adventure but I swear I had no knowledge of its length until it was discussed over dinner. By then I was in for a penny, so I might as well be in for a pound!

This was easily the toughest night cache I've done, in terms of distance, terrain and space between fire tacks. It also featured the most night creatures I have disturbed, I hope that was two kangaroos I heard!?!

But after a good three hours of effort I was back in the car with the log book signed and 23000 steps for the day on my pedometer. (Plus 5kms of kayaking!?! And about 200kms of driving.)

TFTC.

YAY! Found with Seemyshell, Aries44 & Brewmaker. What a great cache ti find with a great group of blokes.
TFTC The Hancock Clan

Having completed another night cache recently, I thought this should be fairly easy! How wrong I was! Definitely the longest time I have spent seeking a cache. Meeting up with Seemyshell, Aries44 and Sesblocker we ventured to find the first waypoint marker. Once that was spotted we followed the trail of markers until they seemed to stop! Some backtracking and me separating from the group for awhile, we were soon back on the right trail and found the double marker. Or was that the triple marker?

We eventually agreed that we still had some further trecking to do and off we went once more, seeing a few more markers until we reached a junction and realised we had to return again. Boy, is this taking a long time! Then from out of nowhere A44 saw a marker just off the main trail, and once more we made our away to the real triple markers, which we finally found! Hooray, but we're not quite there yet! Gotta "hand" it to Mr H to make it even harder!

So with the new information we bush bashed our way to GZ and there it was! Finally, mission accomplished and it only took us about 2 and a half hours! What an adventure, and what a great way to spend a Sunday evening just to get a badge! And what great company, as we then made our way back to the main trail, with some more bush bashing just to make it even more difficult. At least we had Sesblocker to help get us out if we really did get lost in the dark. And with A44 and his super powered high-viz jacket, we were never in any trouble from being seen from above! And SMS, well he had his trusty video so that there was footage of our actual find if we never made it back to civilisation!

Thanks for another fantastic cache Hancock Clan. A favourite from me. Though I think I need to come back in the daylight to appreciate the bush settings a little better. We really enjoyed this 10km hike to do a night cache. What better way to spend a Sunday night?

### TFTC ###

**Needing a multi for the weekend souvenir, I managed to team up with A44, Brewy, & SESBlocker. We started off with a headstrong A44, all dressed in his hiviz reflective vest... "Turn it down Aries".
Saw out first firetack, oh they are small, after a while, few and far between. We backtracked several times, before finding the 'two & one' is this the three or something more sinister. So thinking that MrH would love red hearings we went in the wrong direction, only to loop back again. So is this GZ??? 10min of searching, we checked other logs, nope.
So onward and upward, again missed a turning firetack and backtracked (who knows how far) finding the small trail, before the three tacks revealed themselves. Shook hands with the WP, and made a direct bee line/bush bash to GZ. Cache in hand, now let's get out of here... Oh hang on, SMS needs to remember this cache, and what do you know, an over stride between rocks resulted in a severe tear in his pants, showing the world his own personal cache...
Walking back to the cars took a while as we were all getting tired and poor Brewy hadn't eaten dinner.**

Thanks for a great long cache Hancocks. favourite point for a new pair of pants.

Oh, I did make film segments which will feature on YouTube soon

My first night cache and a fun one with Seemyshell, Brewmaker and SESBlocker. A great bunch of guys. I had already received my sovernir for the weekend.

Oh those fire tacks are sooo far apart (at first). I was hot on the trail with my hi power LED torch and managed to spot the tacks from a distance. There were complaints from the rear about my hi vis vest causing blinding glare...so I eventually took it off.

The others have given a comprehensive report about our excursion but I would like to say that it was hard work with a couple of false diversions but a most enjoyable cache. No Yowies sighted on the night and no wildlife either. TFTC The Hancock Clan. Another gem from the masters of caching.

Wow. Short story: 3 hours.

Long story: I've found somewhere between 10 and 15 night caches, and usually they are knocked off relatively quickly and painlessly. After a long afternoon of caching, EDF and I arrived at the provided co-ords. Annoyingly, I realised I had left my most powerful headlamp in the car, and was left with a second decent one and a torch. Made the decision not to go back (which in the end was possibly a mistake).

At the provided co-ords we couldn't spot a single reflector - took both options and it was quite a way before we found the first. Came to a reasonable junction which had a single reflector. Which way to go? Perhaps one is missing, and this is the decision point? I went one way, EDF the other, both hoping the other would find a reflector. Took ~15 - 20 mins before EDF hit the jackpot. Kept going, but were often quite nervous about the route and there were quite a few choices, and not many reflectors.

Came to a junction that had three reflectors, but strangely two together and the third a couple metres away. Is this the final? Had a long but fruitless search, before I sent out the first PAF to Noodles (thanks!). He told us that this was in fact the decision point. Ended up going the right way, and walked for more than a kilometer spotting only two reflectors before hitting a dead end. Retreated back to the decision point and decided to concede. But here Noodles confirmed that we had gone the right way, and that we should have another go. So back for another go, and luckily spotted a missed junction! w00t! But even then it still wasn't over, as at one point there was a long gap than had us going back and forth a few times wondering if we had missed something else ....


In summary: perhaps some reflectors are missing / obscured, perhaps our lighting wasn't sufficient, but man, I would rate both d and t above 3 for this one! I wouldn't try this one solo

It was a beautiful Anzac Day afternoon, perfect for a caching trip down Sutherland shire way with Chudles. Trips with Chudles are almost certain to find high terrain caches, and I ended up with a couple of new DT combinations. Overall a great day to be out and amongst it....

What a long hard cache!

After taking a detour while waiting out dusk, sunset finally arrived so we headed back to the starting co-ords. There we found a junction, but couldn't spot any markers.

Chudles went one way I went the other. This became the pattern of the night. We would walk for sometimes hundreds of metres without seeing anything. We found many junctions, and tested all sorts of paths, hoping to find something that would tell us we were on track.

Part of the problem is that Chudles brought his second best headlamp, and I only brought a torch as my headlamp was injured.

We were convinced to have found the junction already so that when we finally got to a place with two tacks on one tree and one tack on another, we thought this was the place to search for something. Chudles had the sense to contact a previous finder who told us that this was the junction!

So we set off again, not finding many tacks, got to the end after missing the next turn off, came all the way back, tired something else, then retraced our steps. This took much time and energy. By the time Chudles found the turn off I was pretty much spent and was too tired to see any tacks. But I did find lots of bottles and cans as I scanned the undergrowth. Fortunately and eventually Chudles found three tacks and something that came in very handy. He also found the cache soon after.

In all it took about two and a half hours, and maybe double the distance actually needed.

I am going to fix that headlamp before I venture out again. Having said all this, no regrets, it was a fitting end to the day, as we had obtained many terrain points earlier which we felt we earned here! It was also a beautiful night to be out in the bush.

TFTC The Hancock Clan

2255 GAFF2 Even tho I live 'quite a distance' from the Sutherland region I keep an eye on their Facebook page, and recently saw a request for some company on this night cache. I'm always up for some more NIGHT caching, whether it is an actual Night Cache, or just one of many that I find in the dark. So a quick plan was made, and everything worked out for meeting at 2100. Great to meet 'the crew'.
No moonlight (new moon), but there was some ambient light from the city and suburbs. A range of torches showed the track quite well, but "where are the firetacks", was the question when we got to the start of the cache. Persistence paid off, and we were off on what I believed to be the right track. (I had that day read about a comment made by The Hancock Clan on a separate 'matter') There seemed to be quite some gaps between the tacks, and I have no idea how they were placed without a ladder (or stilts).
Not too many spider webs, but enough to keep alert. About 2130 we found something that 'matters to me', and may become a Waymark. From there we could hear a helicopter chugging away just a kilometre north, and it brought back some memories of other caching adventures.
A few more options to choose from; and finally the 3 tacks together. Lovely waypoint container - I have one of my own Loaded the coords, and then off to find the cache. All good there, and I left a Correct Site Marker - surgical marking pen. We then followed the instructions, but the GPS track showed the way.
It was only when we were ALMOST back to the cars when it became very apparent why it is good to cache as a group - especially at night, when a 4wd came chugging up the hill with FULL high beam.
I may have stirred them up a bit with a spotlight to 'encourage them' to dim their lights.
Farewells said back at the cars, then off to the south for more hunting.
Will add a bookmark for the Challenging Cache elective #4, of which this becomes #340 of the required 400 caches. I may also create a bookmark for Unloved caches, as this hadn't been found for 9 months.
Through for mileage: 12-12-12 Multi Event - Auckland, New Zealand; 15 Years of Geocaching 2000-2015 Geocoin; 2014 Geocaching NSW geocoin; 3.1415 Pi & Ice Cream Slice; 3Brothers-NSW; Auckland NZ '13; Bridge2Bridge Travel Ingot; Cache Critters - Baa, Neigh, & Oink Geocoins; CII-35Z; CITO - Upper Swan, and Beyond; Discover Me & Animals: GCookie; Flash Mob XII GCookie Geocoin; G Cookie Earth Cache 10 Year Celebration Coin; GCookie FIZZY coin; Grahame Cookie t-shirt; Hello Cocky TB; IconicBridges2012; NZ Mega 13; NZ Mega Auckland 2013 Signature Trackable; Oz Mega 2014 GCookie; Petervan1966-1,000 Found's; Qld Mega 2015 GCookie coin; Spindoc Bob & Friends Coin; Suzie@2431; and Transaustralia.
TFTC The Hancock Clan

TFTC The Hancock Clan,

There was a post asking for company to attempt this cache by tronador and since I was free, I accepted and joined a small group for the adventure.
We walked into the starting point at about 9:00PM and thought we would see a sign from that spot. Unfortunately it wasnt that easy and we spit up to look I went the wrong path and Grahame Cookie found the first reflector along the other path.

Good company and plenty to talk about between individuals and the group led to a very pleasing walk. If only the Helicopter buzzing over our heads would go away. My facebook link tells why it was there.
https://www.facebook.com/nswrfssutherlandshire/

After some time and a couple of incorrect turns leaving us in the dark, we arrived at the intersection where we had to make a choice. Would we go left or right. One member of the group put forward a very good argument as to why we should go one way rather than the other and we agreed. It was some time (and at that stage we were thinking about going back to try the other way) before we were rewarded with a glow in the dark that told us we had made the correct choice.

It was good to find that in the thick area there were plenty of guiding lights. At this stage you could easily loose your way and never see another light again.

Eventually we saw what we were looking for and a search began. Tronador was able to make the discovery and we were all surprised at what was found. Very fitting. In typical Hancock style, this wasn't the end. And so after a short break it was on to GZ and some time later I spied the container. As we removed it we noticed a reflector and wondered why we didn't see it in the night. Oh well, the next person might. We all spent some time looking back through the old logs and having a laugh at some of the comments (one about a person suffering an injury at GZ).

The trip back was an easy walk in the park. It always is when you are returning to the start because you seem to know where you are. With about 20 minutes left, a 4X4 approached with a group of young people in it (just what you don't want when doing something like this). A comment was made by the driver about us shining a torch at him (don't know what he thought he was doing with his High Beam to us) as he went past and that was that. No idea how they got into there or how far they would get before they either bottomed out or arrived at a section that they couldn't negotiate. There were several sections that we commented about probably needing the high clearance and grunt provided by a truck to navigate over.

We completed the walk at about 11:45PM. Left a trackable to encourage others to take the step into the dark, visited others and added a favorite. High on my must recommend list.

Well than was an adventure, I came home recently and Wazza9 said there was a night cache walk on and was I interested (I hate the dark and scared of getting lost) and as I had never done a night cache, I thought I would give it a go, at least we shouldn't get lost with others. At the start when we couldn't see anything I was ready to go back to the car, the glow lights are not what I thought they would be. Anyway off we go up dale and down over rocks through creeks before finding the first what I thought was the cache, but no off we go again and at last 10.45 pm we found what we started out for. Signed the log had our photo's taken and the cache was replaced. I had been feeling very guilty about the CO's finding my cache in floodwaters near Lighting Ridge recently, but what they put me through was just as bad I thought.

Owls were flying around, Kangaroo's or Wallabies were bouncing in the undercover, arriving home at 12.15am never before have I came home from geocaching at that time.

A big thank you to the Hancock Clan for an interesting adventure, not that I think I will be rushing out again soon to do another one. Not that there was any problem the company and the experience was good.

Left in the Dark... we were not. This was a really fun walk through the bush with some excellent company. Not wanting to go alone, Graham Cookie, Nana Nel, Wazza9 and ziggiau ( with encouragement) came along for the adventure. And what a great one too. We arrived at the starting coords and for a little while saw nothing. Wazza9 went down one track and Graham Cookie the other, while the "girls" stayed put. At the same time, that Graham Cookie shouted out he'd found a marker down the track, I also shouted out I'd found the starting marker. Good spotting and we were on our way. Between us we found the little reflectors that would light our way. Not long after we started we were buzzed for quite some time by a helicopter... wondering if they were looking for us.. we continued. Later that night I found out a bush fire had started very close by and we were heading towards it. Arsonists!
The walking was easy going and we only stopped a few times at a few minor trails to decide which way to go, but we continued along the most likely track. Might I say being up front, the numerous spiders webs with their beautiful residents were aplenty. Just waiting for unsuspecting cachers to plough right into them.... face first. Having avoided most of them by ducking, none of us had any hitch hikers. After quite some time we spotted the double markers and the point of no return. Which way to go? I came up with a logical solution and it was agreed upon. Walking walking walking..... and there shone another marker.
Good choice. The area was now becoming quite beautiful with some majestic tall trees. Even in the dark the place was quite surreal. We eventually left the main track and what we were on was quite narrow. not spying a marker for a while I began to wonder if we were now "lost in the dark." Eventually both myself and Graham Cookie spotted a reflector. He went charging through the scrub while I took the track. No need to the leave the track..... the cache description said.......haha.
Not long after a few of us spotted the elusive 3 markers. We had arrived at GZ. A most cache worthy area too. We hunted high and low, in an around..... when I stopped in my tracks and burst out laughing.... good one Mr H. I called the team over to come check out this little "extra", Nana Nel was a little unsure if it was real or not.Wanting a lot of reassurance that one particular end was indeed man made and not man. After the joviality, we continued on our search for the cache. Nice little hide, and no other residents having a little nap. We completed the logging duties and returned the cache to it's hole. Making sure the extra implement with its little reflector was clearly seen. Fancy someone in our group using that to check that nothing slithery was nearby. It was only when it had been discarded that I saw what its intentions were really for.
Frivolities over we returned the way we'd come. Delloro's log in the log book made me laugh. If only bandaged bear was around then. No problems returning to the cars, except wazza9 almost ended up in the drink...... albeit a teeny one. I'll let him explain that one.
Thanks for another fantastic caching experience. Great fun, easy to follow and a nice area. Heard lots of owls or tawny's, heard many many ,kangaroos bounding through the scrub and saw loads of golden orb weaving spiders. In fact, their reflective eyes could be mistaken for a marker.
Thanks to my fellow night cachers for heading the call out. Hope Nana Nel has overcome her fear of the dark and that ziggiau enjoyed her first night time bush experience.

What was I getting myself in for? When tronador was looking for others to join her on a night cache I thought "I'd never do this on my own and if I don't go now I never will" but I spent the two days prior talking myself into and then out of the trip, even loosing sleep! I ended up posting on Facebook that I wouldn't go but somehow tronador (and my husband) gave me enough of a kick up the bum to go.

I arrived early with long pants on, a headlamp that I'd never used before, and a brand new torch I got for Christmas (why ask for a torch if you're not going to use it, right?). The others arrived and after a quick application of bug repellent we headed off. The first marker wasn't obvious and even when discovered by the group, Nana Nel and I had trouble working out what we were supposed to be looking at. Finally it clicked and this was probably the first of many moments in the evening when I was extremely grateful to be with some experienced outdoors types.

The trek took us over boulders, across creeks, to high points and low. The markers weren't as frequent as I would have liked and there were probably as many of them as there were spider webs blocking our path. Thankfully our light illuminated the webs and gave us a step or two warning. Maybe with more experience I'd be able to spot the markers with greater ease, but I think I was too busy looking at the ground under my feet to look up enough to see our guides. It became easier as we went along, but even when Nana Nel and I knew where the markers were, I think we doubted what we were seeing. The evening was quite humid and by the time we'd arrived at the final set of markers we were sweating buckets.

We'd been on the go for about an hour and half and our mood was boosted when we realised how close the GZ was. But there was no track and the potential of unknown unfriendly-to-human creatures seemed to increase (of course it didn't, but this was my first time in the bush at night and I didn't want to disturb anyone I didn't have to) but the GZ wasn't far. Success! We each signed the log, took photos, hydrated, and worked out how to get back.

Trip back was easy (I'm an phone only cacher and seeing how the others were using their "real" GPS's made me realise that there's more to them than just a dot on a map - more trawling on ebay and gumtree required me thinks) other than coming across a 4WD with some rowdy young people in it. Very glad to be in a group. Not more than 15mins before arriving back at our start point I felt something on the back of my neck - I shooed it away but copped a bite! Nooo, just what I was worried about, getting attacked by something random in the bush in the middle of the night! But the sting subsided and I didn't keel over, so I now apologise to the insects that we annoyed on the way and thank them for not punishing us any more.

My initial reluctance was unfounded as I was with a great group who all chatted easily, shared knowledge and stories and made the trip well worth the effort. Thanks Hancock Clan for placing this challenging cache and thanks to tronodor for rounding us all up and her kind words of encouragement. Lovely to meet the incredibly experienced Grahame Cookie and as always, great to spend time with wazza9 and Nana Nel. I'm glad I did it, but it's still not something I'd do on my own.

Faced with the prospect of a quiet Saturday night at home, and needing to work off a rather large lunch, I made a spur of the moment decision to finally knock this one over.

Headed out into the bush at about 8.00, what are all those little shining spots on the ground? Must be some kind of reflective fragments of stone? No, they're spiders. All spiders.... Masses of the little buggers. amazing how well their eyes reflect.

Fairly straight forward start to the cache, my only issue was a possum's eye reflecting back at me at one point and looking remarkably like a track marker, until I realised that Mr H can't be THAT good at climbing trees. A quick detour to pick up Armistice Day - Give a Hoot! along the way and I made it to the double marker with no real issues.

Thankfully went the right way at the junction and soon had a few more markers in sight. However as I got to the creek there were none for a very long period of time. Just as I got to the point where I decided to turn around (way way way too far past the turn I had missed) a couple of 4WDs came down the track. Had a quick chat with the guys who were out exploring this area, turned around and retraced my steps.

Back to the last marker seen, I started off again more slowly and thankfully found the marker I had previously missed. Made it to the triple with no more problems, then headed up to GZ.

After barely a stumble up to this point, I managed to slip and fall heavily on a rock literally right at GZ. Thankfully nothing broken but gave myself a very nasty graze right down my right forearm. The cache was quickly found (though I did wonder for a sec if Mr H was using an echidna for camo) and I manfully resisted the urge to sign the cache in my own blood...

Headed back as directed, passing what was to me some very familiar territory from my previous detour.

Couldn't resist a bushbash over to pick up one last cache on the return trip.

All together an amazing trip - saw a couple of types of bats (loved the heavy swoop swoop of the flying foxes), possums, an echidna, heard masses of wallabies and saw more spiders than I have ever seen in my life!

This one is an absolute classic!!

TFTC

jgk92 pretty much sums up our night. TFTC

What a cache. By far my favourite cache i've done to date.

Setting off after 10 o clock, we headed down the hill and found the first marker without a hitch. We headed off. The markers spaced irregularly enough to build doubt at every moment and doubly so at any fork in the track. Familiar with the area we arrived confidently at the point i thought the cache would be around. Turns out we weren't even at the double marker yet!!!

Some hesitation after not spotting a marker for a while, a backtrack and some second guessing, there it is, we were on the right track all along and off we headed and all this before we reached the "left in the dark part". Double marker finally located we thankfully made the right decision and soon had another marker in the torch beam.

As we pushed on, Surely he doesn't want us to go down there. Like many before we missed the turn and hit the "four ways" but even without previously reading the other logs we assumed this was too fiendish...even for the hancocks. So a backtrack on our only genuine wrong turn of the night and down that overgrown fork. Across the creek and steadily uphill with markers now thankfully regular.

Soon had our handy instructions pointing to the final location and made short work of finding the cache. All this way and we'd forgotten to bring a pen, luckily the cache's pen was present and in working order. was 2357, just manged to squeeze this one into February. Thanks hancocks for a great adventure and fantastic cache. Spotted some Possums (including babies) an echidna and heard but did not see plenty of wallabies. Shortcut worked perfectly and time for the trip home. TFTC

This entry was edited by jgk92 on Sunday, 01 March 2015 at 00:27:10 UTC.

Wow! What a trip!
I have been eager to get out and find this since the Hancock Clan went and replaced the missing reflectors. Now it was a night with a clear sky, and I was out there straight after work. Well a 10:30pm start.
The track was decorated with large grey spiders, spinning their webs across the path, strangely with a large enough gap to walk around without disturbing the spiders.
The title is more than ideal. I found myself left in the dark several times, thinking that I missed some important marker. Other times I found myself going in circles thinking I could out-smart the instructions, all to find myself further back again.
After much longer than I thought, I found the double marker, and took the plunge into the dark.
Eventually I saw a light, no it was several lights. Hopefully just a bunch of campers in the bush. A bit further on I could see they were walking along another track that joined mine, and just before we crossed tracks I spotted the markers leading away into the bush, so off I dashed, hoping that they didn't beat me to the cache.
At the triple marker, I followed the instructions, and ... YES! CIH! @ 11:55 PM. And no new logs since the CO's visit!
I took the trackables in celebration, then back on the track back to the car.
I kept my speed up, hoping to catch up with the others to confirm whether they found the cache before me or not. There was a lot of spot light activity going on. It sounded like some people had bypassed the locked gates with 4WDs. The lights were strong enough, but just on the last hill before the road I managed to catch the walkers.
Apparently they had started 2 hours before I did, The Pistachios (I think they called themselves) A fairly new geocaching family, 3 young kids with them. They made it all the way to the three markers, before the youngest ones wanted to turn around! SO CLOSE! Oh well. Welcome to a fun and sometimes challenging past-time.
And thanks for this great challenging night cache!

Good to go again...

All ready to go again! Decided to perform a daylight maintenance visit this afternoon and replace all the markers - wow it was hot work! Also took a TB & left a couple of TB's

Got to the starting coordinates. Used the correct technique to try to locate the first marker...nothing. Spent 30 minutes, 4 different people and different torches...still nothing. Walked up and down both trails... nothing. Geokids (& parents) very sad. Hope the CO can confirm that the markers are still in place.

As this one's not been found for so long, a maintenance visit has been high on our to-do list. Judging by the recent logs it seems that some markers are indeed missing so we'll disable it until we can source some more. Apologies to those who have attempted it and been unable to continue.

With some experience of finding night caches, a new set of batteries in my torch, I was set to find this cache.
Scrambling down the slippery trail, with thousands of spider eyes reflecting back at me I made my way to wp1.
Torch on high, shine down both paths, no reflectors stared back!
I made my way for about a hundred metres down both tracks, but still no reflectors.
Either seriously overgrown, or the bush is taking back control of the nightlife here and removing any markers.

Tonight we do this!

Let's go Donny, have enlisted the help of the spitfire!

No climbing of trees, no 0230hrs finish

rml978

Tonight we did this!

more to follow...

Fantastically we found it this time - with RML! Thanks to the help of friends. It was just 30 metres down from where we were looking last time. We cleared the tree a bit so it's easier to see the double marker now. We didn't see them at all last time. It's on the way down the hill a bit on the right. Left a c3po, took the fox whistle.

When I say the double marker, that's the one that is supposed to be the triple. Where the first hide is.

Attempted with RML978. hmm... not quite sure where to start. Thanks Hancock's for making the cache, and taking the time to make it a cool one. Christmas night, rain, dark, tiny reflectors, many of which have fallen off, rambling logs speak of 4 ways, broken fences, cubes and triangles?? Well 6 hours walking has to be good exercise doesn't it?
OK, firstly, there are now no double reflectors that we could see, or triple reflectors, only single. The first decision we were supposed to make wasn't made because we didn't know we had to make one. This was at the first 'cube' marker. Obviously we went the most straight way and ... broken fence... etc. No idea how we made it past that open kind of area that looks heart on google maps and around to the left, we checked every path before we made it down there, making scores of left right decisions? (first 3 hours!) There are so few markers that it was simply guesswork. Once we went down around to the left we saw a few more markers than before, then when we crossed the creek (not the creek at the bottom of that rocky road after you turn left, or the one at the start) and went up, there were heaps of markers. We then came to another "cube" marker (single), but could also see a triangle one just 20m down the track?? After that triangle one, there were no other markers for ages, and then we hit the main track?? Anyway, we thought maybe the first cache was at that cube so we searched for about half an hour. Nothing there that we could find, I even checked up a tree and fell out, spraining my hand. Marked the waypoint and legged it home for a lovely 3am bedtime.
So maybe put up some more markers at the turns (though others have found it, so maybe I'm just inept) and replace the depleted 'double', and 'triple' markers (clarity is golden in the dark). Apart from that, it's an awesome idea.
If someone can clarify if that 2nd cube is where the first cache should be, then I'll go back and look again. Thanks, merry Christmas.

Set out tonight with "Sat Down" as we thought the weather was cool enough for a long walk. Made our way to the coords and looked and looked - it was still too light so waited for a while then found what we needed. We were making the correct decisions and thought at this rate, we'd have the cache in hand pretty soon.....wrong! After finding a conspicuous marker, we continued, ending up at the notorious "4 ways". We tried one option, following this track for a while, before heading all the way back to the conspicuous marker. From here, we realised we had missed a marker, and diverted onto a different track where we continued to spot the them, nearly getting our feet wet.

The markers were becoming more frequent, until we couldn't find anymore, and we soon stumbled onto the main track. So we returned to the last marker that we had found and set off again, looking much harder. Same result. So we returned again to the last marker (which was a different shape), figured that perhaps it was the double marker, and started searching for a container. After a minute searching, we found the missing marker of the two on the ground, and replaced it as well as we could on the tree with its buddy. We soon found the container and made our way to GZ. We soon had cache in hand and signed the log at 2225hrs. We made our way back to the car after trekking 8.4km. Thanks for a great adventure The Hancock Clan!

As I was preparing to cook dinner tonight, "The Neighbs" came around and asked me if I wanted to come and do this night cache with them. How could I say no! So a quick tea was made and I was ready in no time, leaving geoson and geohusband at home. My first night cache and what an adventure.
We got to WP1 at dusk, but it was not dark enough to spot the first marker. We had to wait a while until we saw the relfection as it got darker. We started off really well having made no wrong turns. We got to the double marker and luckily picked the correct route 1st time! We followed the markers and went onto the smaller path as directed. From here it all fell to pieces. The path seemed to lead to a few options including the 4 way intersection as mentioned in the log by Zephaniah3:17. We followed one of these paths a few hundred metres until we realised we must be wrong, so we backtracked to the "4 ways!" We found Zephaniah3:17's log most helpful and backtracked until we found the right path.
Then the reflectors seemed to come quickly and closely, and we were sure we were close to the double marker. We kept going until we hit the main trail again and were pretty sure we had missed the markers, so we backtracked to the last reflector we had seen, then walked very, very slowly till we saw another one that we had missed! Hoorah! From there we went back to the main trail, finding no more.
Then "The Neighbs" had a brainwave. " What if the triple marker, that had become a double marker, had lost another marker and was now a single one?" The last one that we had found had looked a likely spot to make a hide, so we backtracked again.
This single marker was different to the others, as the others has been triangular or pyramid shaped, this one was more like a cube. Convinced we were right we shone our torches below and saw the second marker in the leaf litter. We did our best to reattach it, but to be honest it probably need fixing more permanently again.
It wasn't long before we had the container with the co-ords for GZ in hand, and we were relieved that it was not too far away. We found the cache in no time, and laughed at the fact that 3 women in reflective vests had completed this adventure. We did not see any travel bugs in the cache, but on relection there were a few keyrings, perhaps one of these was the TB.
From then it was easy to find the track back to the car, and we arrived back in just under 3 hours from leaving it. 8.44kms total we walked, but we did make a wrong turn and did a bit of backtracking.
What an adventure. Thanks Hancock Clan.

Addit to my log..... oddly enough we saw no wildlife at all on our walk. We expected to see a few possums eyes shining back at us as we looked in the trees. All we saw were the spiders. It was not until "The Neighbs" pulled into their driveway after our adventure that an owl swooped down in front of us. That was all the wildlife we saw all night, although we did get quite close to a few wallabies. We could hear them but not see them!

[code] Long time ago, in a valley not so far away
There came to the place called Menai
A group of intrepid travellers
two teams of the geacaching fraternity
Boldy going into the dark
Where many had gone before

They searched , following the small bright stars
seeking the place called Ground Zero
(rather like Captain Adama , leading the rag tag fleet in search of Earth)
When they came upon the first binary star system they changed course
At one time a giant Cylon (Spider) tried to trap them in a web
But they managed to sneak pass the blockade

At long last after a journey through many star systems
They spied the final binary star system
that led them to the shining beacon
called GZ.

(thanks to Hancock clan for the great cache adventure[/code]

Been talking about this one for a while with Shod and we wanted to complete before Daylight Savings started again. Met at the parking spot 1830 and headed off, each of us with a Geokid. We each had torches, spare batteries, water and TB's. heading of we arrived at the start and immediately saw what we needed. Starting off we made a few wrong turns, but we're soon on the correct track. Arrived at the first double and went ??? .... Walking.... Ah there was the next marker. We kept going and the track got narrow and we lost the trail.. It was now about 1945.... Tried a few tracks and eventually got the scent again. Arriving at the next double marker, Geokid found something to lend us a hand..... Cache cords in the GPS now ... Not far... A quick dash and the cache was found....2000... Great effort.. Left Suncatcher TB and took Koala TB. .. Now the return trip. Followed the instructions and got back quickly..
Thanks to the Hancock Clan for the great Cache... It would be great if we had a few more night caches.
Thanks to Shod and son for the assistance.

Description changed to reflect (no pun intended!) triple marker now being a double marker.

Hectic cache!

2/2 for this tricky cache. the second reflector is more of a hindrance than a clue. also saw a rum bum in the bush. BEWARE!

The group set off full of enthusiasm and found the first few reflectors. We made a wrong turn at an early junction and ended up at a broken fence. Further along our journey we were greeted by a strange man sitting in the dark, making animal noises and smelling of rum, naturally we invited him to join us. We made it to the double reflectors where we made the wrong choice which resulted in us walking in a full circle and returning to the double reflectors again. We continued on and eventually arrived at a divide consisting of 4 separate paths, we tried each path without any lucky so opted to back track and discovered another path we had missed earlier. We made it the the triple reflectors (which is now only two as one has fallen off) and quickly discovered the first "unique" cache and after entering the new coordinates we soon had the prize in hand. Our return journey proved to be the real challenge. After bush bashing and seeking several "short cuts" we became completely disorientated. We emerged from the scrub after 1AM slightly deflated yet victorious! Thanks Hancocks.

Yep, this cache had a fair bit of hype surrounding it, Thactard talking it up big time. Agree with Zeph 3:17, he was a strange man - committed. Those bats are fairly large too. Had the cache in good time. Challenge was getting out - what didn't help was a range of poeple's definitions a car wreck. Great cache, loved the hunt.

Triple reflectors have become double reflectors (one has fallen, we tried to look for it on the ground but couldn't find it).

Found it with Thactards. 2nd night lucky!

Second night in a row with the Thactards. So much quicker this time! TFTC, we had a lot of laughs along the way! So tired now tho...

OK... The Thactards first tried to find this cache on Tuesday night 13/12/11 but we were not successful. In fact we spent 4 hours walking in the bush, getting lost, taking wrong turns, back tracking... it was hilariously bad.

After finding the first reflector we walked down the hill and my geo-dog triped over one of the thactards who fell into the creek. It was a bad start but we pushed on. After finding a few more reflectors we took a wrong turn that led to a fence with a broken section, we knew we had to back track. sigh.

Ventured up the right path and were very relieved to find more reflectors. We also found some discarded clothes outside of a "lair" looking rock cave. creepy. Continued on down a steep rocky path and discovered the double reflectors!! From here on out it went pear shaped. Obviously we are thactards and failed to recognise the clever clue left by the hancock clan, in the composition of the cache description.... derrrrr.

Anyway, after first choosing the correct path, we failed to find the connecting track, couldn't find anymore reflectors, freaked out, back tracked and susequently wrong turn made, which led to "the 4 ways". We proceeded to take a trail, find zero reflectors, back track: repeat process 4 times... We also managed to get attacked by a duck. By this stage it was 12:30am, yay!!! So we did what any rational thactard would do, walk in the opposite direction to where we parked the car until we ended up at Barden Ridge behind the sporting complex.

I was personally so relieved to reach the sporting complex that I kissed the ground. A thactard wife picked us up at the front of the complex after we jumped the locked fence. Got home at 2am. fun times.

We would not let this cache beat us, so the thactards + a government employee returned the next night (Wednesday 14/12/11) and followed the same reflectors again (minus the wrong turns). When we got to the double reflectors we took the correct path and continued on it until we found the next correct trail, which is off to the right and goes uphill. From here on out it was so much fun!

Eventually we came across what once was the triple reflectors (one has fallen off)and after a quick search of the area, we discovered the container that holds the clue to the cache's whereabouts. We had heaps of fun posing and taking photos with the container (it groped me)! We entered the coordinates into the gps and started the short journey to the cache. It was not long until we had uncovered the cache!!!!! We were so happy after all that we had been through to finally be united with it. So we all signed the log, took photos and had heaps of laughs. It was 50mins from the cache back to the cars (just over a 2hr round trip). We celebrated with a slurpee at the Menai servo!

This was an awesome experience that the tactards both hated and loved!! Night geocaching is very fun. TFTC

h_puff xx

This was a great Cache!!! The second night in a row to attempt this cache was a success!! many wrong turns and reflectors that had fallen off (including 1 of the final triple reflectors). Well done team!!

TFTC. Number 400...

Did the walk with cybermew3 - at some points it was very difficult to spot tacs as they were rather spaced out or had fallen off... Great walk in the dark on a great Saturday night...

This was the hardest cache ive done so far, the 5km walk felt more like 15km but it was well worth it! This is my clear fav so far and I think that it would take alot to beat it. I picked up the MICRO RED GERBERA and traided the card for a ball. Awesome cache, thanks Hancock's.

I've done a few caches before, with my son, studyguru, but just really "tagged along for the walk" and never logged one.

This one was so different!

To be honest I was a little reluctant to go out into the bush in the cold. Studyguru was so keen I agreed to go. It was a great night the route was challenging but well marked, I think a little local knowlege of the trails helps.

I took the TB, to continue it on it's journey after a year's rest (almost to the day!)

I will recoment this cache to anyone. Although, I'm sure the legs will be stiff in the morning!

What a nice day, after so much rain in the recent time. Apart from starting the winterswimming season in the morning, we stayed home all day for RockSandra's birthday party. She invited her whole class - so fortunately, the weather was good. Meaning, we needed some exercise whle it became evening - so why not to attempt a night cache. This one fell into my eyes because it contains travel bugs - and shortly I am running out of those - means we need to go hunting. Koolkath was happy to drive to get her night hours done on her L-plate - so everything worked well together and all were motivated to have a nice walk.

I come to Menai twice or three times a week - but this road towards the nice bush was new for me. Knowing, however, the other end - around the Radioactive cache. Eventually, we found the entrance of the track - parked the car, torches on and down the hill to the initial waypoint. Shortly, we saw the first marker - aha - they look like that! Pretty tiny - indeed, it is essential to have a good point light source. A Maglite with AA batteries did the job - while the kids went with LED lights. Focus the Maglite to a narrow beam - and you saw all the humidity in the air - probably 100% - your breath condensing like in frost.

Hmm, just out of the car - a water crossing - enough to get wet shoes. For once I have shoes on - thought it might be better during night time! The girls took the shoes off - but then they had all the mud on their feet. Doesn't matter.

First intersection - here came a creek down form the ones side - so we took the other. Until we hit the fence. Few 100m back again: the creek bed was actually the way.

Over the hills and rocks. Eventually found a marker in great distances. One lying on the floor - but it reflected well - and fixed it on the tree again.

Another bifurcation. Hmm - took right - until we would have to wade - do back up again and down, around - haha - we are just at the other side of the water - doesn't matter in dry times where your go.

Oh, a double marker! That must be the final triple marker! We searched the whole area - no container - lot's of rubbish (what a shame!). As the cache hasn't been found for a while, I really went into the overgrown bush - nothing. Walked the path a bit further, but could not see any markers, so back again - search - nothing.

The little one got bred and tired - and time kept going ... next day school, so better return to the car. I realized pretty soon, the double marker was too close - not yet 5km - not even 1km in a straight line back.

Nice to walk like that at night - that remembers me some adventures long time ago. Once in the Ecrins National Park, we had a walk down from the Refuge de la Pilatte at night time and deep, fresh snow. Had a petrol lantern - and then one of the coldest nights in my souvenirs in the Refuge du Carrelet, which had a winter room accessible. - Or another year - we made La Grande Lozière of the Belledonne ranges and came into darkness - not a light - no torches - not one photon - total darkness! Hahaha ... great times .... have plenty more of those to tell you!

Anyway, the mud sticking well on our shoes, I walked through the initial and final water crossing, giving the girlies a lift.

Had the whole bag of travel bugs with me - thought the night cache would be a good place to drop the Hamburg Night Geocoin (TB2PZJD) I brought from San Diego two months ago. If we had found it! - No worries - next time!

The Arkaroo - who loves the mountains and the waters.

Caching Team:

* The Arkaroo

* RockSandra

* KoolKath

Virtual drop off, awaiting snail mail put in motion today, happy warm Xmas to you cachers, just post the ashes back soon!

Well this was my first night cache and was a fun stroll in the bush. Met Phil at the starting point just after 6.30pm and headed off. Only had one wrong turn where we missing a path and came to a junction and spent some time exploring the options before having to backtrack. Found the cache and headed back to the car with a short detour to pick up another cache on the way. Took almost three hours all up. Thanks Hancocks!

Rated: for Overall Experience

Well it's taken me a long time to make it out this way to do this night cache but finally I got there! Interestingly this cache was published at the same time as my first night cache, but of course is somewhat longer!

The terrain on this one was no surprise to me as I'd fetched the nearby ''give us a push'' cache a little while ago now. We both took Hancock Clan's advice and took plenty of torches and backups as well as a fist full of batteries. All set we headed down just after 6:30 PM, found the first tack OK and found the sparsely spaced tacks without too much trouble.

Some of the tack positioning's had us wondering how it must have looked as Mr Hancock ventured out onto these precarious spots. My thoughts were at the time, these tacks are spaced just a bit too infrequently, meaning your always on edge, but the deeper in we went I realised it helped build doubt in your mind which just serves to help the fear that you'll be left in the dark!

So 2 x tacks found we made our decision, well Damo's decision, I was happy to follow along with Damo's theory and he didn't disappoint. as we soon discovered the next tack, a couple more than nothing for quite a while, we walked on with nothing for some 300 - 400 metre's then decided to backtrack and see what other choices we'd overlooked, hmmm you go that way I'll go this way, even after splitting up we did not find anything for a while, then they turned up again and we were soon onto the 3 tacks and well a surprise at the end! That's sick, sick, sick!!!! prising apart our discovery we got the next part to this majic night cache, and soon after were filling in the log book at GZ.
Fortunately the trip out was much easier despite the sideways wander to pick up another cache for Damo, my feet were aching by now and even now as I write this log I wonder how I'll get through tomorrows activities, I don't regret a thing however! Hancock clan you sure know how to setup a great Night Cache it certainly kept us guessing, I'm thankful it's off my closest unfound cache list just the same.
I dropped a coin and bug here, hopefully it won't be too long before someone else has a crack at this terrific night cache now with summer just around the corner. Thanks again A must do cache!!!

my first night cache and the toughest cache i have completed so far but also the most enjoyable

me and azzo89 headed out at about 10:10 pm found the first makers straight away and the rest was pretty straight forward, picked the right direction at the double marker and continued along the trail. at one stage we went slightly off track but when back tracking picked up the trail again and quickly found the triple marker and easily found the clue after a quick walk off the path we found the cache. i think this would of been alot harder if i didnt know these trails already.

thanks for the awesome cache

Found at about 10 minutes before midnight. Most enjoyable find so far with Dkerr88

8pm I turned up at the stated parking co-ordinates only to find a couple of suspicious looking characters lurking in a car in the darkness.
Fortunately it Usat31 and Mr Hancock with whom I arranged to meet.
Mr H had never attempted this as night even though he was the cache owner. I guess he was alomg for an evening's amusement watching our difficulties in the dark.

The darkness was gathering quickly as we set off down the hill in the humidity..
Arriving at WP1 the first reflector was missing - not a promising sign.
Thankfully the others gleamed from the trees in the torchlight. A spotlight works best because you can spot them a long way off - very handy when confirming which is the correct direction.
At the decision point Mr Us had worked out which way to go from a clue.
Then it was off in the dark again following the fire lights.
The cache turned up pretty easily at the end.

Dusty dog came with us with a torch tied to her collar. She struggled towards the end and went to bed as soon as she got home.
She's not a pup any more.

Excellent cache Mr H. It was great to do it as a group. I think it would be harder to spot the reflectors by yourself.

A surprise phone call from Sky Dog this morning asking if I was up for a walk in the dark to find a cache set up the evening's caching activities.

Knowing Mr H, the owner, had not done the cache in the dark yet & wanted to, I contacted him & arrangements were made to meet Sky Dog at the parking location at 8:00pm.

After a brief chat we set off down the fire trail to the starting location, only to find that the first Fire Tack is missing, so it was kinda good we had a little inside knowledge with us. I will say now though, that this is where any assistance from Mr H stopped. He was just along for the walk.

The tacks shone nicely in the torch light, though I will agree with Sky Dog – the spot light type torch was far better than my LED style, so for future finders, you may want to take that into account. Even Dusty did her best to find some of the tacks, but I think her light was just a little low.

Arriving at the double tack marker, it was decision time. I had a theory that I had developed a while back as to which way we should go, but out in the field I wasn’t so confident. Sky Dog backed my original theory, so off we headed – venturing further & further without finding a new tack. I was really starting to doubt the choice when an English voice said “Ya know, the further you go, the further you have to walk back!” Then to my relief, the pointer was found & we were on our way again.

The triple tack soon revealed itself & was in a handy spot to stop & have a search. Final cords were soon in hand & off we bashed to GZ. A short look around & then the cache was revealed. Apparently this part of the walk is much easier in the daylight!

With the caching duties done, we had a bit of a chat & Mr H led a bit of a shortcut back to the trail where we headed back to the cars. Amazingly, the only wrong turn was a a bit further along the return trip, & we wandered a couple of hundred metres until we realized the mistake had been made.

Back at the parking location, poor old Dusty was feeling it & so was I. It was a little more humid tonight than I expected. At least though, I could go home and log a find, whilst others had to just say “went for a nice walk tonight”

Great cache Hancock Clan – well done. Certainly a good one to do with company & I applaud Pipes for tackling this one by himself.

I hope more people have a go at this cache – it really is worth it. I had the track log feature turned on in my GPS & the trek distance in total was 5.5km, not including our small error on the way back to the car. It certainly isn’t a drive-by!

Cheers

Top work Hancock Clan, what an awesome cache! I managed to convince my 13 year old son, Jono, to come along for this one, he reckons you are "evil geniuses", which I can only assume is a youthful expression indicating that he too was impressed.

We headed out into the night not quite sure of what to expect. Found the first reflector easily, and proceeded to follow the trail. We ran into the occasional navigational issue, mostly self imposed as we complicated things for ourselves at times when simple was the best approach. Found the double reflectors and thankfully chose the correct path. Eventually we found the triple reflector set, and a handy placement for final cache directions. Once at GZ, the cache location was obvious, so with Jono providing light, I signed the log and we then began the task of finding our way back.

Overall this cache is not hugely physically demanding, and certainly walking at night does help with avoiding overheating. The trails all tend to be mostly easy walking with a few rough patches along the way, and the points generally easy to follow. I'm a little surprised we were only the second visitors to this cache, it definitely deserves a much higher level of visitation.
I think the night cache concept is a really good idea, it certainly changes the whole feel of the hunt. Definitely take a good torch though.

In the end I forgot to take the GC, so it's still in the cache. No swaps.

Thanks for an excellent cache Hancock Clan!
best wishes,
Wal & Jono

Are these the new black?

TB drop...

Awwww sounds oarsum! Can't wait to have a go at this won. Won't be sat'dy tho 'cos we are off to see the Rads with Spy V Spy..... Can't wait for that neither!

good onya hannies

A hot, sticky, cloudy, dark night with lots of thumps from bounding animals, rustling in the tree tops and noises around every corner. I had heard of night caches with these little thingies but what FANTASTIC FUN this turned out to be!

I drove to the designated parking area at the start of the track just on last light. I wasn't sure if my little torch would manage the trek but it certainly did the trick. I had to backtrack twice before getting to the double markers thinking I may have missed one of them but just had to look around a little bit more before finding the next one. A brighter torch certainly would have helped me.

At the double markers I was definately 'insert cache name here' but I made the 'right' decision of where to go and finally come across the markers again. Winding around the tracks with the teensy torch I had no idea where I was (I would love to do this walk in daylight to see what I missed). Not knowing where I was going to end up or how far I still needed to go, I was starting to fade a little and kicking myself for leaving my water bottle in the car.

In the distance I could see the triple markers. Great! Now all I had to do was find the last clue. I would have hated coming all this was and get a DNF.
THANKS FOR THE HELPING HAND! LOL. Now just GZ to go.

A little dash through the bush and bingo. FTF! (7.15pm). Grabbed some fire tacks and left an emergency keychain torch (with hand crank charger).
I then realised I'd have quite a trek back. Thank goodness for GPS trackback as there are so many other tracks and one could very easily wander to the wrong one. I won't say how long it took to get back to the car (evil laugh) and I kind of think that this should be done with a partner ie. not done alone and also to share the fun.

A big THANK YOU to The Hancock Clan for such an enjoyable evening night cache. I do enjoy your caches and you have many more for me to do.