Stringers Knob Wairewa, Victoria, Australia
By Paul_the_Hippy on 16-Aug-10. Waypoint GC2DGEQ

The towers gone and there is no longer a story to tell here.

cache and stump missing due to bushfires. the fire tower that the cache was about got burnt and about half on it left burnt lying on the ground. Not sure what I am going to do with this cache until I find out if there is any plans for what remains of the tower.

This geocache is in an area impacted by bushfire. I expect the cache is gone, but I am not going to disable it yet. I plan to come and check all these caches in June of 2020. If you are the first to come here before then, and you cant find the cache, I will be happy to approve a find if you can provide a photo of where you expect the cache to be hidden and any photos of the pile of ash that is the old wooden fire tower, that was a single pole, or any fence blocking access to to it. Your photos will help assess if it is worthwhile keeping the cache in place.

Having not long completed Splotchy cache we drove along Monument Track towards Stringers Knob Fire Tower. Coming up the rise before the tower, we had a Lyrebird cross just ahead of us, which added to the things we'd seen since being in this area. As noted earlier, plus the advice from the Parks employee half an hour before, we found the access to the fire tower temporarily fenced off, but we could still see enough without going all the way up to it. Petal went up to read the Information Board while I located the cache, although damp on the outside of the contained, it was dry inside, so duly signed the log and went back to the car. Although this end of the track wasn't as good as the other end with flora, it was still nice to be in here.

Thanks Paul_the_Hippy for this placement, well worth the drive in.

Took the Monument Track to the cache and returned to the bitumen on the Tucker Box Track. Both tracks were good but the Tucker Box is a slightly easier track.
Sadly the tower and picnic area are fenced off at the moment. You can just glimpse the impressive tower between the trees. Luckily the cache is not in the fenced off area.
TFTC

School holidays have started and that means time for a road trip. Sydney to Mt Gambier via the Little Desert, then back home via the Great Ocean Road, Melbourne and the coast back to Sydney. Caves, rock climbing, cache and lots of photos along the way. Cheers to all the cache owners who placed them along my route. All the ones we found were in good condition unless i have made a note.

Nice drive. Found trackables.

Nice place! Would love to climb up there haha. But anyways great location for a rest. Thanks for bringing us here.

Correcting Mileage for my Sherpa Geocoin.

Easy find on Christmas Day, very hot up there, Judy & Cat - my tuppence. Left pathtag PTBYM1 after travelling with us for 7 months, hope it reaches all it's peaks

Not a great spot to get a flat tyre but the kids loved the adventure!

Not a great spot to get a flat tyre but the kids loved the adventure!

Not a great place to get a flat tyre but the kids loved the adventure!

THanks for the find

What an interesting tower. We have been looking forward to coming here all week and it didn't disappoint. We spent some time looking around the tower and reading the information board. It must have been a lonely life back in the 60s all by yourself. Thanks for bringing us here and for the cache.

Out for a day of geocaching with the family on a gorgeous Autumn day. We loved the bush drive and had to stop a few times to clear some small fallen trees that were blocking the track and to wait for the local goannas to cross. Fascinating bit of history with the fire tower. We had a giggle at some of the comments on the information board from the men who had manned this tower. You would have to enjoy your own company for sure! Made good use of the handy picnic table before locating the cache. A well earned favourite from us.
Thanks Paul.

Nice house on a pole. I would not like to be in the tower on a windy day. TFTC

Glad to see heritage listing. Have climbed to the cabin with my kids, but not with their kids. Tfth.

11:00AM

11am

Thanks for a nice drive in the bush, interesting spot, TFTF note to Paul , inside the tub was a bit damp.

TB "Scrat" visited your cache whilst on his Great Aussie Adventure.

Where do I start....

I keep forgetting that my 2WD is not, I say again "IT IS NOT A 4WD!"
I was on my way back from Orbost and thought I would knock this one off the to list, as well as the "Splotchy" cache, I had been up here, this was before I started caching. It had been raining but I thought the road in should be ok, if I remembered rightly.
It was ok until about 3/4 of the way in then it got a bit slippery but the Ranger handled it well.

I found the cache in good condition and signed the log.

TNLN

TFTC Paul

After spending the weekend in Orbost, I was doing some caching on the way back to Melbourne so I took the long way from Newmerella to Nowa Nowa to get the forest caches here. The weather was very muggy with rain expected but the Subaru should have any dramas. Drove up the Orbost Buchan road and used Memorial Track to reach GZ. This is possible in 2wd if driven carefully though if sopping wet it would be tricky. Got to GZ and found the cache quickly, then had a quick look at the fire tower and what a structure it is. Thanks heaps to Paul for bringing me up here, off to splotchy now.

Quick find and a lot of mozzy eating me! Tftc:-)

What a nice adventure! Found it together with Dundee2002 and Geokid! TFTC

Geojubby saw sign to this spot and after checking GPS decided it would be worth a visit. Interesting spot. Enjoyed lunch here

Great spot, awesome view.

Wow..late afternoon run in terrible weather but an amazing structure. Good info board and the area is well maintained. Found the coords spot on so no drama. The rain and the wind were incredible that week in this area with very cold temps..wind chill factor huge. Would enjoy another look when weather is better..TNLN TFTC

Decided to take this sidetrack detour on the way to Buchan Caves, having read the advice that a 2WD could do it. Cranked up the GeoMazda as we looked at the start, and decided to press on. In dry conditions like today's a 2WD to the to top (about 1.5-2km from the road) was fine, but I wouldn't like to do it in a 2WD in the wet. A fantastic sight at the top as we arrived to see the fire tower. Sure would be an interesting way to go to work!
Found the cache about 10m from where the GPSr was pointing, but it was in a pretty obvious location.
TNLN
thanks Paul_the_Hippy

Tftf
Found it

What a beautiful tower.

Took mini beer stein, left go go sign .

Out for the afternoon with djcache. Was amazed at the fire tower and the stories on the information board. cache was found quickly and quite intact, grabbed TB to move it on as it had been here for some time now. Thanks for the experience and TFTC.

OMG! What more can I say?

I think that there was one of these, or at least a timber supported tower just out of Bruthen up Engineers Rd, but it has been burnt by fires long ago. This structure is amazing - and just a little scary.

As an OH&S person I'm horrified.

TNLN Another great location found caching. My first favourite allocated!

DJ

The fire threat appears to have now passed. Fire got a little bit closer then originally thought, but cache area should be fine. Will check it up next time I am out that way. Any issues let me know.

This is now the only way between Orbost and Nowa Nowa, due to fire, so would prefer it if nobody was on these tracks. The cache area is unlikely to be affected by fire, but safety first in a bush location.

Thanks for bringing us to such a great site. Pity it's such an effort to get here. Left TB.

4th find of the day, and 2632nd total find at 15:10.

A very interesting fire tower. It's a real pity that there is no easy way to access the lookout these days.

Took: Nothing
Left: Screwdriver
Thanks Paul_the_Hippy for the cache

Ian and Penny

Another great drive along in the bush in an area we hadn't been before. Another beaut fire tower with some great information nearby!
Many thanks for showing us this area, it has been a great day out!
TOOK: Bubbles
LEFT: Green Star Sunnies!
TFTC

1546 re-logging due to name change

1546 Isn't it always the way - ya park in the middle of the track and some muggle comes along. Easy find in an interesting location and a great little drive to get here. TFTC Paul_the_Hippy

Found it! An awesome place - been here many times before, wish I had of thought to put a cache here.
Took: Incense
Left: Scissors
TFTC.

Found by Master E after he was our runner for a while. We travelled here from Splotchy and Master E was out front removing tree limbs and branches as we drove along! Found the cache quickly once the GPSr settled down and swapped a stubby holder and keyring for a pair of socks for Miss E. TFTH

*FTF* for this one too.
Drove here after completing Splotchy, and had to negotiate the myriad of branches across the tracks from the recent strong winds. Returned back to the highway via the Orbost/Buchan road, a much easier drive.
A fascinating fire lookout. We had never seen anything similar. Glad you encouraged us to get out of the comfort zone and come here. Thanks Paul the Hippy for another interesting cache
TNLNSL TFTC
cheers
greynomads Bill and Diana

This entry was edited by greynomads on Monday, 01 November 2010 at 23:00:19.

Good stuff Paul. I was thinking of placing one here myself.[^]

Published

The Travelling Kombi TB was accidently dropped in here. It is not here, it is over at Nowa and Forever cache on Mt Nowa Nowa. If your doing this as a set. Could you record it as not here or found it and moved it.