Black Ops Riddells Creek, Victoria, Australia
By kw46 on 22-Nov-10. Waypoint GC2JK63

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Ahh the bush.

No luck on this one for us either we had a good luck around but didn’t find anything
Beautiful area for a walk though so well worth the visit

Im feeling quite crap writing this DNF log. Its my first D1 DNF on a regular size which is my favourite!. Im pretty sure its not there, but i dont see why it wouldnt be. Might give it another crack after a few log finds or a check from CO.

Lovely variation in the bush on the walk to this cache. Cache container wasn’t what I read it was meant to be, but never mind, I found it and signed the log. Thanks for bringing me here

Found. Good fun

Found with 2beez

Nice find with Sims_family, n0w0rries and Ausfox;

What time do you leave home when you are heading to Mt Macedon for a night cache? 1 pm of course, there are always plenty of caches to be found on the way so you need the 8 hours to make the 1 hour drive .
We didn't have plans to make it to this area today but when n0w0rries called telling us he had lost his keys while on the trails here we had to make our way over to assist in the hunt.
SO this was a bonus having a chance for a smiley while doing our good deed for the day. Fortunately the day hunt ended with a happy ending with n0w0rries finding his keys and we got a few caches as well.

Thank you kw46for the cache and smiley

Out to grab a few more caches before the end of 2018 with Simsfamily N0 W0rries and Neville Devil.
We made our way to Mt Macedon grabbing a variety of caches on route.
With lost keys found it was time to enjoy the walk. I hope that this area is note affected by cachers coming from a Cinnamon Fungus area and destroying the pristine area.
Log signed and replaced as found.

Thanks for the Cache Kw46
#4,575

Found after visiting the Earthcache.
Returned a second time with mates as we searched for my lost keys.
They were soon found at the point where I left the trail to visit this cache.

Find number 7038 at 3:50:50 pm
I was working in Gisborne this afternoon and need to de-stress with a cache or two.
There was a threatening thunderstorm looming (a few spits) as I raced up the hill (staggered), I forced my way through the thick jungle (open grasslands) and the giant crows (flies) started to attack but I beat them off as I approached my prize and the jungle turned to a paradise like no other. They look like, like a swarm of black boys, pristine and silent, like sentinels protecting their treasure, mine for the claiming...
**Thanks for placing this cache kw46**

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Big things are continuing to happening in Victoria! *Are you joining in the fun?*
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*16th & 17th November 2019 - GC7DN55 - St Arnaud - Victoria*

thanks for the great drive to this place

Great drive in, such beautiful countryside!
Thanks for the cache

Found it with woodwhittty didn't have my phone on me

Trek through the bush in trouble for walking off hahaha

What an amazing patch of forest! Thanks for this one. It made for a fantastic walk on a lovelt warm spring day.

Black Oops. A black day for me here. I really enjoyed the walk but then everything went pear shaped. My phone had the wanders but there are only so many places to search. Spent almost an hour here with my frustration rising. Resorted to PAF which just sent the frustration rating a few notches higher. Total cache blindness and only a D1!!! Definitely not my day but loved the bush. Thanks

Was in the area and noticed the container for this cache. I'm big fan of these containers so I suggested to my bestie that we continue down the trail. We got to the cache fairly easily and the cache was in hand. 1st ammo can in Oz!

Enjoyed the walk. Our attempt was in the middle of winter in balmy temperatures and great sunlight.

Thanks for the mission.

Nice walk of the beaten track, tftc!

Lovely spot!

Tftc

Thanks

Bit off the trail but pretty neat!

Out for a walk in the sun. Haven't been out in the back of these hills since camping here in the early 80's. saw a bit of wildlife on the way: echidna, kangaroos, lizards (thankfully no snakes). Some lovely wildflowers too.

Logged in 30 + degrees with my geowife. Black ops are carried out all around the world, often if challenging climates and conditions. I have been on many a more challenging mission, but this one was worth doing.

A lovely walk with plenty of wildlife to see. TFTC

A bush bash and an ammo can, Thats what i'm talkin' About. TFTC.

Getting a nearby multi and the earthcache, we couldn't go past getting this one. A nice little bit of bush bashing to get to it. We seemed to wander around a bit trying to get a good read on the GPS before finally finding the hiding spot. Interesting trees and plants in the area.

Signed the log and returned. Cache in good order.

Found by Team Justice #1164

Great walk and pleased we did it, easy find. TFTC

Today myself and the Geomutt Bentley head out for a cache around my old hometown of Riddells Creek and surrounds. There isn't many other places in Victoria I find as beautiful and tranquil as here. Weather held off just fine and no DNFs for the day!

A great spot, however this one took me way off track and got me a bit lost.

Cheers

Nice. Thankyou. All in order.
Might be a few metres off the mark.
Cheers

We would not have had the opportunity of finding this beautiful grass tree grove. Thanks for taking us there! This is going to become one of my favorites.

A bit of spare time today and after a chat at a recent event I planned a quick trip out to Riddell's Creek to try and gather some of the local hides. I haven't found many out this way so I had plenty to chose from.

A beautiful reserve here tucked away in Riddell's creek that I didn't know existed. The answers were quickly gathered and I set off on the enjoyable walk around the reserve. Plenty of birdlife spotted and a few kangaroos on the way to GZ. I'm intrigued by the idea that people would exchange computer games here, couldn't they meet somewhere slightly easier to get to?

Thanks for the cache kw46.

Great Cache, Great Location. This one has been on the radar for quite some time. Glad to finally have conquered it. Now to find our way back!

Found it on a hike with the Blissful Pirate. What a great place for a Geocache amongst the native grass trees! Easy walking off the track to GZ in open woodland bush and not too difficult to find. The Cache is in good condition. TFTC.

Going of path for geocaches makes me happy. Really enjoyed this one! Followed the gully back to the path. Interesting seeing the erosion where the creek sort of begins. TFTC

TFTC

TFTC.

This entry was edited by Crack'n'LeeLee on Friday, 02 October 2015 at 04:26:04 UTC.

Great

Found it. Finally! That was quite the hike!

This cache is a great little detour off the main path!
It would be awesome at night, but today I will just have to settle with the threatening rain clouds as the best I could manage as a 'black op'.
The cache was an easy find after wandering through the grass trees? needle bushes? what ever they are officially called.
Thanks for a great little cache kw46.

Absolutely magnificent! I've walked this trail quite a few times and never knew these grass trees existed! I certainly didn't expect to find the cache 'hidden' like it was, it took me a few moments to spot it, despite it being right in front of my eyes!
After trading a mini kaleidoscope for a lanyard I was on my way.
TFTC kw46!

Definitely an awesome cache. I thought I knew the area pretty well. This proved me wrong. Lovely scenery!

Really enjoyable cache to end the day!! Beautiful part of the ranges. Thanks.

I was walking to this one and found that I could not get closer than about 200m following the track and then I read the cache and understood some bush off road action was needed! Marked a WP to return back to and went bush. Found the cache, but annoyingly it had been signed in Jan but not logged so I missed the unloved days. Nice cache though. TFTC

Good stash nice lil trek. BCBs

Bit off the beaten track. TFTC

This entry was edited by dazmac27 on Friday, 25 October 2013 at 23:42:48 UTC.

Was too hard for us, long way off the main road.

Nice little walk off the track.

Thanks for a great cache. Were surprised to see that this cache had not been found for a fair while. Took the TB and will hope to move it on soon. Will log the TB later when I have it with me!

Lovely walk to GZ on a cold May afternoon. LTB and Dayna grabbed tiger. TFTC kw46

Found this cache hide, after a short while, thanks to the last geocacher who logged their find. Cache is in good condition. Tn Ln . It was great to see so many lovely grass trees. We have walked this track quite a few times over the past ?40 years and enjoyed the many orchids and wild flowers that grow here but this may possibly be our last time, sad to say, but getting rather mature now does change our capabilities!!!
TFTC kw46 and for bringing us back yet again to this lovely Flora Reserve with its many wonderful memories of times past and the many photos taken of the flora.

I had a day off and some time to stroll around the area....
TFTC!

A short jog from the earth cache site lead me to this sturdy geocache, a pretty spot in amongst the grass trees.

16:33
I've been treated to really contrasting landscapes since the start of this walk, and the sudden entry to this ferny area came as a pleasant surprise.

Approaching GZ, I then walked across to one possible hide that was empty, turned around, and there was this bloody big ammo can. Wow.

I spent a little while checking out the contents, before adding a couple of Garfields liberated from a recently archived hide, swapping them for some Star Wars tattoos.

Thanks, kw46, for the great hide.

#1057

Finally made the stroll beyond my normal walking path through this area to find the stash. Can't believe it's taken me so long to get this owing I live in the same town. Great location and yes I cheated a little as I went at dusk not full night conditions.
TFTC

Having little local knowledge, I parked at the Royal Parade Cemetary and hoofed it along a 4wd track which I think would need winching by the time you got to the top of the steep bit. From the end of the 4wd track, I traversed along the hillside contours before crossing a saddle and making my way down to the cache. A few minutes of wandering around waiting for the GPSr to settle and then I went wider and found the cache 5m from my indicated GZ (but allow for the tree cover, though thin, upsetting the satellite signal strength).

Very interesting countryside - is there gold in them there hills?? It looks so similar to other gold bearing regions I know of. Thanks for the cache, log only.

loved the walk into the cache and the surrounding vegetation
thank you kw46 for the cache.

Since I was completing other caches in the area this one had to be found as well. At first I thought it was to do with the bushes in the area. Reading other logs I realise I was wrong.
TFTC kw46

With the Saturday afternoon free I headed out to collect a range of cache that had been on my to do list for quite a while. With the weather being nice a warm and with plenty of driving and walking ahead of me, I was set for a great afternoon of caching.
I headed into Riddells Creek to collect some caches that I didn't have time for when I went on a 'Ballarat Cache Smack Down' cache run with some goood caching mates recently. There were a few caches in the gully for me to collect including this multi, the Earthcache and a trad. I parked in the car park along with two other cars and made my way along the track. After fining the multi and doing the Earthcache and ran into the bush to find Black Ops. After a bit of a hunt around I found the nice sized cache and signed the log. Thanks for the hide.

I came to the area to do the Earthcache.
When I checked my Iphone to see what other caches were nearby, I found this cache.
Certainly an easy find during the day.
This is quite a nice little park.
I enjoyed the walk to GZ.
TNLN SL
Thanks to Riddell for the cache.

I had a few hours before the official start of the Ballarat Cache Smackdown on the weekend of 23-25 March with caching buddies Quasar3671, Blacklegend, Haveanez and Dazrascal so I decided to go for a bit of a drive along the Calder freeway and pick up a number of caches. I soon found Blacklegend on his way down the Calder freeway, so we paired up to gather a few caches we both hadn’t done. He was travelling with three geokids so it was a bit of fun along the way. We had a great run visiting some pretty interesting places. I like this type of caching where you visit some really interesting places. Thanks to all the CO’s for their efforts, I really enjoyed the search. On our way to the nearby earthcache we took the high road and this cache was found. Cheers.

One of 182 caches I personally found on our "Ballarat Smackdown" trip. This was one of several I found before the official trip started, but for me traveling from Tocumwal, it was the first of my finds. "Ballarat Smackdown" trip included teams Quasar3671, Trailrunning, Haveanez, Dazrascal and myself. Caches included around 30 mystery caches, a few earth caches, lots of trads and multis and both day and night caching. Some 4WD action was encountered as well, which was great. All puzzles within 60kms were solved.

I took three of my kids, Jasmine 7yo, James and Jemma 5yo twins, traveling from Tocumwal. The trip covered 3 days and two nights, staying in Ballarat. Quasar3671 took his two boys as did Haveanez. One of the best caching trips I have been on, and certainly lots and lots of finds, almost clearing out the main Ballarat area.

Found on the way to the Conglomerate Gully earth cache, took the high track and grabbed this one. TFTC.

A good walk on my RDO left puss in boots

Found @ 14:20hrs in a very interesting bush area.TFTC

great cache, hard to walk through the terrain but easy to find tftc

Great walk & gorge is worth a look this reserve is a hidden gem
Tnln
Tftc

Out in the the great outdoors & thought whilst in the area of India, might as well do this one as well. Was a cool day & the cache proved to be a bit further away than we anticipated. Took Slime Left jester.
TFTC.

Found by The Empire @ 1:30pm
It would be pretty spooky here at night but I was here during the middle of the day. The view of the grass trees was amazing, people walking the track wouldn't get to see this great sight. You wouldn't get to see this if it were dark and raining either! Nice cache, top spot, thanks for bringing my here kw46.
- M

Stopped the car a long distance from gz .
Carefully we walked in watching for hidden booby traps and other hunters. Did not see anyone, did not hear anyone.
Slowly we advanced towards gz, making no noise at all. Terrain was steep and full of surprises.
What is that over there, no it can't be, surely it is a trap, this is too easy.
I send in WOZ (wife of Zeron) to check it is not a trap. It isn't, we are safe.
We leave our information and trek out quickly but quietly.
TFTC
kw46 we really enjoyed the hiding spot.

I carried out this operation under the cover of daylight. The sun was shining and the rain held off. Conditions could not be more unsuitable than this for a covert operation. I wore a bright red shirt. I stood out like the proverbial thumb.
I did however split from my party of 4 some 200m from the cache as I thought there is no point sacrificing more than one operative.
I headed to GZ alone, but probably not unseen. I displayed no stealth tactics.
The cache was found as expected and the mission complete
Time spent in this reserve is seldom wasted
Thank you kw46, over and out.

A black operation or black op is a covert operation typically involving activities that are highly clandestine and, often, outside of standard military protocol or even against the law. A key factor in making an operation "black" is that it is carried out with great secrecy; in many cases no records of the operation are kept. Similarly, a secret budget (such as for military or intelligence operations) is called a "black budget".

Black ops missions often fit into the plausible deniability category, in which there is no claim of responsibility for the action, and/or a false flag operation is used to give the appearance that another actor was responsible, or – most often – black operations involve extensive arrangements so as to be able to hide the fact that the black operation ever occurred. Black military operations, or paramilitary operations, can be used by various secret services to achieve or attempt to achieve an unusually sensitive goal. The methods used in black operations are also used in unconventional warfare. Depending on the precise situation in a given case, and the level of authoritarianism of the national government or other responsible party, some tasks will be conducted as black operations, while there are usually other activities that can be admitted openly. Black operations may include such things as assassination, sabotage, extortion, spying on allied countries or one's own citizens, kidnapping, supporting resistance movements, torture, use of fraud to obtain funds, use of child soldiers, human experimentation, trafficking in contraband items, false flag bombing, etc. "These super-secret operations involve carrying out targeted killings and conducting severe interrogations, even working with foreign intelligence and security services and commando forces to carry out dirty work that the nation's law prohibits."

In business any high-risk assignment, proposed and funded by the employee using his own time on company equipment with the manager's consent and understanding that the company owns the results, is also referred to as a black operation, because no entries exist for said project in the company's task planning or scheduling. If the project fails, then the employee pays the price of their failure. If the project succeeds, the employee is compensated and even, sometimes rewarded for initiative.

So, maybe we found the cache,....but then maybe we didn't.
Maybe someone else found it for us.

It is possible we knew of its location and found it before it was published?
Was the First to find pushed into a time warp so they could find it before we could?
Did they actually find it?

Maybe someone who never went to the cache has their name written in the log.

Was it hidden in a place seldom visited by man or beast. Disguised as part of the landscape or placed in the open?

Is it possible a lot of Black Boys may have been involved. Dark silent sentinels, surrounding, guarding, warding off those who get too close.
There are only a limited number of places you can find Black Boys in the bush around here...

Were we there late at night, in the dark, in the rain, with torches, hunting the cache with a small black sniffer dog.
Did we walk with a partial full moon straining to be seen between the fleeting clouds.
Were we ever there at all. Do we actually exist or are we just a figment of your imagination???

No witnesses, no photos, nothing...
No proof either way is there.

Hmmm...I wonder.
Do we play the game or do we show our hand?

On February 25, 1968, SOG operative Alex Mason is strapped to a chair in an interrogation room. Unaware of his whereabouts, he is bombarded with questions by his unseen captors about the location of a numbers station....

While it was not our original intention to go in under cover of darkness on the cusp of dusk with threatening clouds and impending rain on the horizon, a partial full moon, no torch and no camera to record the event, that is exactly what we did. After tea a decision was made and we all piled into the car.
It was a quick drive to a suitable parking area.
With Imarni the wonder dog on the scent we made our way to GZ.
Mind you she was more interested in the waterholes and having a swim.

It was somewhere around 8pm before the log was signed.
We did get rained on and it was dark on our return.

And so ends another adventure for the Riddellers.

Published