Crossroads Mount Macedon, Victoria, Australia
By the Gardners and the Roaches on 10-Jan-02. Waypoint GC3550

Cache lid wasn't quite on, and the contents were all wet and mouldy.. Given my distance from the cache, and the amount of no-find's, I think it's just easier to give up on this one..

The Coffee Clan came up here for Lunch today and spent a fair bit of time searching for this cache. After phone calls to Caughtatwork for assistance we were still unable to find the cache. As we were leaving Caughtatwork rang back again and directed Shelby via a photograph to where the cache should have been. On close inspection it seemed that at some time there was a container at that location by the grass growth, and by the sounds of the phone conversation we were in the correct spot. The GPS showed us within 1 metre at GZ. We had 3 GPS units going with EPE of 6 metres and a PDOP of less than 2 nearly all of the time.
If ever I need to hide a million dollars I have found the perfect place.
Thanks Gardners and the Roaches for a reason to visit this place.
Regards Mr.Coffee and the “like trying to find a coffee bean in a Haystack†Clan.

Decided to take a drive down to see my folks for the Canberra long weekend (why do they have labour day (my birthdate in vic!) in October up here?!), so we went up to check on the cache..

My little eTrex couldnt' establish a lock under the trees, so I simply did the 50-metres from the aircon unit (though I note there's now two of them - sorry folks, it was the one with the 'keep out' sign in front), then looked around for a likely spot. 20 seconds of looking, and there it was

Unfortunately the lid wasn't properly on, so the cache was wet and mouldy. Since I'm 600km away, and my folks aren't really in a position to come up here to check, on it regularly, we decided to take the cache home, and archive the cache..

Thanks to everyone who went searching for it

On the upside, our other cache up at Camels hump is back again! (With a CFA keyring inside, so perhaps it was removed during a cleanup, and then put back later?)

Searched for 30 or so minutes but was unable to locate. GPS barely had a signal. Checked hint but was no use. The area is not heavily grassed it's pretty well carpeted. Take care when walking around the area as it is hard to see holes, logs and rocks under the grass.

Hmm I post that the cahce needs archinving and next thing an owners message appears. I tried to send an email I dont know if you recived it. But thanks for your concern. I hope to be making my way in the area in the next few weeks for a Family Dinner. Thanks from M.B

Ummm, you actually requested it be archived a couple of days AFTER I posted to say that the cache is still safe and sound... You may wish to try the 'Refresh' button occasionally..

And I'm not responding to emails, as you haven't yet sent any... (Seriously.. My mailserver handles > 25,000 emails a day, and hasn't 'lost' an email in over two years.. So if I'm not receiving emails from you, you're not sending them..)

Good luck on the caching..

Hello, I see it has been a while since this cache has been found, Some poeple have tried looking for it, I might be in this area in the next month, but I dont want to fall victim to another DNF. Could you please check if the cache is still well and truly there.

Thanks M.B.

It's a bit hard for me to verify this one, as I haven't been in the same state as it in a year or so (I'm in Canberry)

My folks took a drive up there 6-7 weeks ago, and confirmed that it was still there (though well covered by scrub..).. Though they don't own a GPS, so can't confirm whether the coords are perfect.. However if you follow the hint, you should be able to find it without a GPS..

I went looking for this Cache today, bad idea . Came to the clearing near the phone towers but once I entered the forest everything went south. Not only was there hardly any reception, but there was a few places it could have been and I nearly slipped over and hurt myself badly.([B)] <-- could've been me)

After looking where the GPSr was indicating for around 30 minutes we looked at the hint and moved our search about 30 metres north. We had a pretty good idea of where the cache would be hidden, but after looking at the many possible hiding spots and another 20 minutes, we pulled stumps and let this one go. Thanks Gardners and the Roaches. Next time we are up that way we will be armed with Muzza's and Caughtatwork's suggested co-ords.

TheDarknight & Shimachic - tried but failed.

With spirits high we entered into the trees, only to find hundreds of potential hiding spots and a gpsr that couldn't make up its mind under the tree cover.

After searching for about 10 minutes, our hunt was cut short when Shimachic discovered she was being attacked by leeches and ran from the trees screaming. We decided it was time to give up...

What a pity about this cache. It is the only cache in the area, and is so frustrating. Tried the original coordinates for a while, then tried caughtatwork's. Eventually decided it wasn't worth wasting any more time on.
A nice place to visit though. We went on to Hanging Rock. Why isn't there a cache there, I wonder? Maybe they keep mysteriously disappearing.

Wow...

On the face of it, this seemed a pretty easy find. We took a leisurely walk to the cross before heading back to the carpark area for some lunch.

We consulted the trusty iPAQ and then the Meridian Platinum... then set out to walk the 350 odd metres to the cache. Piece o' cake... NOT!

Heavily grassed and treed area meant that the evidence of previous visitors (flattened grass) really stood out... a pity really. We found GZ based on the coordinates, though it seemed to float quite a bit. The Magellan had a pretty good fix with 4+ satellites, but they were low signals due to the tree cover. GZ was floating in about a 10-15 metre radius circle, meaning discovering the cache was nigh on impossible.

Luck was not with us, and we were doing more flattening of the landscape than we're really comfortable with, so we bailed... The 4WDer's maxim of "tread lightly" applies well to geocaching too!

Our experience seems consistent with other logs for this cache, so it may be worth rethinking the locale and placement.

Anyways... a gorgeous day and a nice drive up-country. Certainly NOT spoiled by the DNF.

Cheers!

Azonic
Norm & Sue

We wandered around for quite a while looking in the many possible hiding spots in this area. The eventual location was very well hidden, and quite different from what we were looking for. We used the co-ordinates provided by Caughtatwork, and suspect that our problems were more due to the tree cover than incorrect co-ordinates. Took toy and left bike lock.

This cache need either archiving, transferring to a more locally based cacher and the co-ordinates corrected.
See the various logs that state that the co-ords are out by up 30+ meters.
This is essentially a haystack with fallen trees and long grasses covering every meter of the area around GZ and hundreds of meters away.
With incorrect co-ords this makes for an extremely frustrating cache, evidenced by the number of DNF's followed by an occassional found (though luck).

Found by caughtatwork at 12:05

This is actually the 2nd time I've looked for this cache. My two girls and I came out this way a while ago to have a look from the top of the Mount and we had a quick look for this one. By quick look, I mean took about 10 minutes, discovered the satellite reception sucked and moved on. That's why we didn't log it. Too short to really be called a hunt.

Today however, I decided that I would come out and have a jolly good look. A jolly good look I did. Hands are filthy, jeans are muddied and runners are wet and weed seed infested.

I came armed with 2 GPSr today. My Garmin etrex and Uncle Jiffys Magellan 330. I know my reception under heavy tree cover is bad, so I was hoping that the two side by side would help. It didn't.

I spent the better part of an hour and a half looking here and looking there. Moving in towards where the 2 GPSr were converging, then following one and then the other. They were quite good compared to each other, both within about 5 meters at each location I paused by.

The clue was essentially no use as I decrypted it about 60 minutes into the hunt. In hindsight it probably is, but with foresight, it's not terribly.

After 90 minutes were up I was of the opinion that this cache had beaten me and I was heading back out of the trees when something (don't know what) prompted me to turn around. There was the cache.

Wooping with glee (I was really on my way out) I placed the two GPSr down so they could get the best reading (with the Magellan averaging for around 10 minutes) while I did the swaps and logs.

Took bubblemix, left baby basket ball.

After the 10 minutes were up I had a look at the two GPSr readings. Each one was around the 35-38 meters away from the suggested GZ. This seems to tally with other logs advising that the cache is not close enough to the co-ords to believe in them.

Garmin:
37 22.976
144 34.549

Magellan:
37 22.978
144 34.547

Hopefully these two readings may assist a future finder. This is supposed to be a 2/2 caches, but is more like a needle in the haystack with the coverage under the trees.

I do thank the Gardeners and the Roaches for this cache. It's quite a nice area in general and the view from the lookout is spectacular.

GPS was giving some inconsistent readings due to the tree cover but even when allowed to well and truly settle and searching for over nearly an hour were still without success. The clue didn't really help and attacked by a nasty (and very full!) leech which was a surprise given the warm day. Another time.

I'd been up here fairly recently as the project I'm involved with installed some radio equipment on one of the towers. The mountain was covered in cloud and once in the bush, everything was cold, damp and eerily quiet. The four of us searched for ages as the GPSr was giving some inconsistent readings and we couldn't successfully use the clue on its own. Two leeches later we decided to call off the hunt and return to the comfort of the car. Another time perhaps!

2.15pm.
Found by Roma and Max. Our second attempt, this time with accolades to Muzza, we widened our search from GZ.
Took: Bracelet.
Left: Smiley Face.
Thanks G's & R's for a close up to some high tech equipment.
Romax.

Found with geogourmet, in an effort that proved that you shouldn't believe the GPS when you are under heavy tree cover.

Left Carrot (#24?)

Found by Mrs Gourmet as our last cache of the day with the killer bunnies and extras. The two GPSRs were 25m - 30m of the cache, and while the rest of us were messing about following them, M took the smarter path and worked from the clue instead.

Left purple braclet, took nothing.

Did the tourist thing and checked out the view from the cross and took photo's , then decided to do the cache thing and could't find it - the Geko was in hysterics, tried every likely looking spot at what i thought was Gz but to no avail. I'll keep it on the watch list.

Mum and dad went out and checked the cache this morning, and it is indeed still there

Not sure what has been going on here as it was an easy find and I spoted it from 10 meters. I think there may have been an entery in the book by a local fire brigade. Could they have taken it away and then returned it.
Any how the cache is in good shape and dry inside - the pen even worked after some warming up.

My GPSr put it about 2.5 meters from GZ and the clue still is "on the money".
Could the radar be "blinding" GPSr front ends as I have had trouble before near some microwave instalations.

Took reed switch
Left carabina

Thanks VK2TDG and friends

Greetings from Geocaching.com

I noticed this cache while approving new caches in the area. It looks like your cache has been under the weather for some time. While I feel that Geocaching.com should hold the location for you and block other cachers from entering the area around this cache for a reasonable amount of time, we can't do so forever. Please either repair/replace this cache, or archive it so that someone else can place a cache in the area, and geocachers can once again enjoy visiting this location. Also, if you haven’t done so already, please pick up any remaining cache bits as soon as possible.

It may be possible that if this isnt done in 3 months after being temp disabled that an approver may archive it.

I want to thank you for the time that you have taken to contribute to geocaching in the past and am looking forward to seeing your cache up and running in the future.

Thanks,
embi
Geocaching.com

NOTE: Do not select reply in your e-mail program if you wish to respond to this message from the geocaching.com mail bot. Email embi via the email link in my profile: http://www.geocaching.com/email/default.asp?aid=19721 or email me directly at [email protected] , referencing the cache URL, or waypoint number. Also, do not remove any admin notes as they aid other Geocaching.com admins if they need to work with you on your cache.

Am disabling this cache until I can get down there to check it out (probably next christmas?)

Also couldn't find this one, but it was getting late and I didn't have much time. GPS seemed very sure of where it was, many satellites locked, and got right to GZ, searched in a wide area around, but nothing like a cache. The grass is very long, it may have grown right over the cache since it was last found.

We headed into the very tangled bush at GZ and there are lots of deep, dark hiding places. We only tried Muzza's co-ordinates since it was getting late. The eTrex (with fresh batteries) seemed to be directing us all over the place which may be due to interference from all the transmitting towers. It was also very foggy and that may not help GPS reception either. Anyway, we didn't find the cache but this was probably due to the lack of a bright torch. Next time...

Logging all my old finds....

After the disappointment of the Garden Roach failure, we were determined to get one out of two on the mountain. Alas, it was not to be. The signals from the GPS satellites bounced around the place and sent Dragon's Pearl and I in circles. Without the clue we were lost. Gave up after 20 minutes...we shall return!

Found by Adam while shelly was in the US in a couple of minutes of finding the aircon unit, did not take anything but left a magnetic reed switch.
Another great cache to find keep up the good work!

Found it in about couple of minutes of finding the aircon unit, did not take anything but but a magnetic reed switch in.
Another great cache to find keep up the good work

Alan-san and myself looked around for at least 30 minutes, spreading out from a GZ that was fairly consistent. When we couldn't find it, I decided to branch waaaaay out as a last ditched effort. Luckily, I spotted it, not long before we were going to give up.

By the reckoning of both our GPS's, it was 30 metres from GZ. The above co-ordinates are those from my GPS.

Having found it, I took nothing and left nothing. Its a great area which I've seen from great distances but have no recollection of ever visiting. Thanks Gardeners and Roaches for taking me there.

Found at 12:50pm, and spotted by Muzza 29m off the published coordinates. The hint provided was necessary to finally track down the cache. The searching was made more difficult with the cold, wet slimmy conditions, but we prevailed in the end. Swapped a cup for some bubble bath. Thanks Gardeners & Roaches.

Unarchived.

St Lukes Marauders found their first cache after ten minutes search time. (Once we found the right tree to look under). Then the cache was easy to spot. The green plastic lidded container was nestled under some grass. Luke spotted it. The cache was in perfect condition.
Luke took the travel bug to put in the Garden Roach Hideout later in the day.
It was a perfect Summer Day in Autumn. We took the baked beans, wallet, cracking balls, canister set and toy car. We left a mug with 3 tea bags and sugar, eminem poster, christmas ball filled with confetti, brochure to Dizzy's Jazz Club and a patchwork cushion cover.
It was a terrific adventure and we plan to set our own cache up in Kyneton, Victoria, Aust. within the next few months.
Thanks for agreat adventure Gardner's and Roach's.


[last edit: 3/27/2003 7:23:55 PM PST]

Guys please archive this one if in fact it is confirmed to not exist. I've just spent over an hour and a half looking for it and couldn't find it (didn't have the sheet with me, it was more of a chance visit and it was showing as active on the cache list).

Nice location nonetheless, and would be cool if another could be put somewhere around there - I was surprised there weren't more caches around Mt Macedon..

[last edit: 2/14/2003 10:38:26 PM PST]

Archiving this cache. - Admin

User's web page
Went and re-placed the cache in a slightly different area.. - no more kids stumbling on the cache while playing around near the picnic area

Cache is probably slightly harder to find, in that where it's hidden, every other spot in the area looks the same [aka grass under trees!]

Finally Left Frequent Flyer, the tavel bug i've been carrying for since the start of the year (yes, yes, I keep forgetting to drop him!!)

Cheers,

vk2tdg

We visited this cache with RPM today and sadly it has been trashed.
We found the container and what was left of the contents scattered all around the bush. As everything was damaged and wet I took everything with me.
I hope that a cache in this area is replaced.
Darryn.

Found the lid, but the lid was lying about 10m away from the box. Some contents very wet, other missing and damaged. Wanderers removed it.

Found by Ray and Maya at 3:35PM on Mother's day. Took the old people for a drive and introduced them to our fun. I don't think we have any converts in this case. It was an easy find and the GPS took us within eyesight of the cache. We swapped a book, Flower Arangements for Beginners, which we got from Bail up in NSW, for a fly net. Thanks for placing the cache. Ray and Maya (Nomads)

Found 13:15. There have been a few changes since I last visited this place, there is now a tea house, and the cross and environs have benifitted greatly from the refurbishments. Took Mondo World toy and left the purple 4 headed dragon from Wombat Forest Stash

Found at 1150 by Mary and David. Not very hard to find, and no picknickers about to make things more difficult. There was a ranger sitting in his ute further up the hill but his view was obscured by a parked bus whose occupants were viewing the cross. Handy having the tea rooms and toilets nearby. Took Roman doll and left pack of tea light candles. Cache in good condition, with no water inside although the log book felt a bit damp. Thanks to the Gardners and the Roaches.

Found by Tony, Consuela and John on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Second of three for the day. Great location. I've known about this place for years but never been here. Incredible views and a great drive. Easily found the cache after a few minutes. Left a mozzie net and took some dust filters.

Team Emb-erers struck again! The Wanderers and Embi, Strike 3.
(I hate cameras)
Thanks for this great cache location.

3/3 and this was the last one....Great location again. Easy find and no-one saw us not even the ranger. Took the map and left a snoopy doll. Map should come in handy for some interesting cache locations in the future...STAY TUNED!

User's web page
Found this cache easily, although getting to it without the ranger seeing me was a diffrent story.
No exchange

We planned on coming this way before we started our trip and as luck would have it two caches appeared here. After finding the cache we went to the cross which has some great views and a handy cache map of Victoria with the location of most of the caches in that state. Once again we find that Mitchell has been on top of another hill. He must have been a fun bloke to work for with trudging around in the middle of nowhere and every time he spots a mountain he has to climb it. What’s he got to show for it a highway and a parrot named after him. At least the parrot looks nice.

Nice one, Gardners and the Roaches.

Found at 11.45AM Nice and cool up on the mountain after a hot drive from Melbourne. The coordinates were spot on making it a very aesy find. Nothing exchanged. Greg and Bev

This was our second cache found today. We had no trouble finding it as the instructions were very clear. Re-hid under rock. Very family friendly cache. Took the playing cards and left a map of Lerderderg State Park. Spoke to a friend who said he left the same Hema cards only a week or two before at a cache near Ballarat.

Found on a cool summers day by Kevin and Meredith
Our approach missed all given clues but found cache within 5 mins
Took a Christmas Mug and left a pack of cards
More caches should be located near coffee shops!!!
Cache is hard to spot so look carefully at rocks in area (we found several suitable rocks)