The West Side Story Mitchell Park, Victoria, Australia
By Shamus1 on 27-Jun-12. Waypoint GC3PDPP

With Kenare tftc

The container was full of water. Jenno3 logged us as I tipped the water out. Tnln tftc

Time to say goodbye to this one

Tftc

Driving by, nice quick find. Glad it wasn't wet and muddy too

Driving by, nice quick find. Glad it wasn't wet and muddy too

This was pritty easy

TFTC. Staying at the RV Freedom camp across the road. Good opportunity to pick up some caches close to the RV. Nice easy find. Used GZ to shelter from a very heavy shower.

Cache zombified.
In the area again to clear up the leftover caches. Quick find. Cache in good order.
TFTC from ZombieCats.
"I used to wander around in circles aimlessly, now I wander around in circles geocaching!"

Found!

A walk in the trees on a hot day

Found it. Re hid it. Onto the next.

[font=Comic Sans MS]Hi there Shamus1. We found your cache "The West Side Story" at 10:17:00 AM today,. This cache makes our find count 10135.
[Blue]
We are attempting to log at least one cache every day, so we can add to our streak of "Most Consecutive Days Cached", which we started on New Years Day 2014. Our route today took us to, and past, some really scenic locations.

Today's cache run was a "Next closest" surprise trip. We picked a start point at random and wandered wherever the GPS took us.
[/Blue]
Coordinate Accuracy: We found the cache around 2m from where the GPS said we should be looking.
Cache Condition: Container and log book are in good shape.
Took: Nothing.
Left: Car
Dropped Trackable: "Flying Pig travelling tag."
Thanks for the hunt today,
Regards
Ian & Penny.[font=Verdana]

Another trip to Ballarat today for some appointments and errands, and another chance to find a couple more caches on the way to make the trip more fun. The grass had been slashed and not a soul was in sight, so it was an easy walk from the road. The cache had been nicely camoed by previous cachers and we returned it that way. TFTC Shamus

Little bit difficult for a beginner. Haha!

A quick find as it was laying all exposed. We signed the log and covered it up as best as possible.
TFTC

Found with 2peasinapod2012 not hard to see as it was out it the open
for any Geocacher or muggle to see? so we gave it a bit more camo.
thanks Shamus1

Snakes? Didn't see any but always a bit nervous near long grass and water. Tftc

Seventh find on a trip west with geobuddy BJ. Unfortunately I discovered the cache, retrieved the log, reached back to my pocket for my pen... and, it wasn't there I hope you don't delete my log - I can describe the cache and hide if need be. TNLN. TFTC Shamus1

After being offered a weekend caching to and from Ballarat with Tounga and Moneydork, how could I refuse[?]
Sushilord joined us too and for 3 days we laughed and cached and laughed and cached until we could cache no more. [|)]
As for the topics of conversation, apparently mirth, maniacal murder and mayhem were the common themes for the weekend along with a few other topics
My total for a great weekend was 1 event attended in Ballarat , 113 cache finds 7 DNFs and a FTF as I wound my way home, alone, in the early morning

I love West Side Story so I loved this cache
Sadly, many of my friends who don't geocache think the following excerpt applies to me when I geocache, this weekend it probably did

We're disturbed, we're disturbed,
We're the most disturbed,
Like we're psychologic'ly disturbed.

TNLN. SL. TFTC Shamus1

Found on the weekend attack on Mexican caches by a couple of Kiwis and a couple of Aussies, surprisingly there were no slayings although we talked a lot about maniacal murders along the way.

A quick find thanks Shamus1.

A nice big park and an easy find.

Found on a fantastic weekend away with Moneydork (Hero Husband), Locus Cache and Sushilord. It was not a quiet trip but oh so worth it! Lots of caching, lots of laughter and finally some sleep thrown in when we just couldn't carry on!
Thanks for your cache and helping make our weekend so great.

All good container dry but paper bit damp
Signed and replaced
TFTC

Nicely Hidden

A good nights cacheing with geo buddy Darth Briji.

A good nights cacheing with geo buddy Darth Briji. No TB'S

A good nights cacheing with geo buddy Darth Briji. No TB'S

Out and about tonight with Ganny78 for a couple of finds in the area. We took the dodgey way from the previous caches.
Thanks Shamus1 for the cache
Log signed & replaced. TFTC & smiley face

#811

Another great find and my brother loved it! Swapped happily and loved the idea. I think I've given him the geocaching bug. Thanks for the easy one

Kids had a great time finding this one. Took us a little to find it

Found with Eminor93 on a geocaching trip to Ballarat. We discovered this cache quite quickly after carefully walking over to it in the dark. TFTC.

Found with DoorMatt on a lovely (freezing) day of caching around Ballarat. Not too hard to seek out. TFTC

Found while out caching with Misschief18. A nice easy find and a surprise find for a cache from this CO. A nice stroll to this cache.
SL TNLN TFTC

Found while caching with The 2 Wanderers. Did not expect to find this one where it was! Only came across a little bit of water and mud today. TFTC

Really easy find! Very obvious spot.
Hidden a bit better.

Very exposed. Hid a little better for the next finder. TFTC

Cooper & Edie treasure hunters strike again.

Found on our "Making Memories" tour of Mainland Australia.

Today we explored Ballarat with whitewebbs using geocaching as our guide.

Many thanks to all cache owners for placing and maintaining caches for our enjoyment.

Today we cached with Tassie Trekkers around Ballarat on a cold autumn day. TFTC

In Ballarat for a friend's birthday party. Thought I'd grab a few caches that I hadn't found before. TFTC!

Tftc. Shame about the litter around though

The ageing Bushfire and ozbob had a big day caching in and around Ballarat today with our aim to find and get a smiley on most of the mystery , multi, earth and a few traditionals along the way.

After many hours of research, head scratching, emails to the CO’s and help from others the list was compiled and placed into GSAK phew!! With the new co-ords sorted it is so much easier to work out a route so as not having to backtrack.

We have had a roundabout trip to arrive here for our 21th cache find today.

I think we followed wozzle68 into this cache as we could see fresh tracks and as has stated in his log we added a little more camo just to help this guy survive.

Thanks Shamus 1 for placing this cache.

On the road with Bushfire today. Found this one quite easily. Signed the log and rehid the cache a little better. Accurate co-ords and cache in good nick. Thanks to Shamus1 for the hunt.

Not very well hidden, we fixed it up took something left something TFTH

Found by The_Tritonz on the 26/01/14 TFTC

It's wet...& pen doesn't work so be sure to have a working pen with u

Very exposed placement. Bit damp inside cache. Thought it could do with some camo from the local flora. Still visible from GZ just, and not buried. One I found today Shamus1. Still having trouble with a few others. TFTH. CICO swaps - 888KR 4 white star.

Found with ScifiRulz Papa Grouch and our geosister. Lots of very long grass so we made lots of noise to scare the snakes away.....and made Papa Grouch go first. TFTC

TFTC found with SciFiRulz

Found with PapaGrouch and WeRAmused. Cache was in the open and log was somewhat damp, replaced the plastic bag and hid a bit better. TFTC

Geoboyfriend saw a snake about halfway to gz and hightailed it out of there leaving me to continue on with the quest. Not well covered tried to hide as best I could. Log damp so I couldn't sign it. TFTC!

Thanks for the hide Shamus. We are armed with boots as we expected it to be wet. The find was relatively easy as it was not well hidden. We did the best we could to replace.

Cool cache. Thanks Shamus1. A bit of a bush bash to get there!

Thanks Shamus 1,for the cache, and for me getting my new sneakers very muddy!!! Cache was just lying out in the open, tried to hide it as best as I could.

Mmhh cache très facile, en arrivant sur le spot la boîte est posé à même le sol... du coup pas cachée du tout.
Merci pour la découverte, direction l'autre cache qui n'est pas très loin

Easy, was exposed, tried cover it a little. Made a swap

Found it. Tried to replenish some swaps, was only pen and log in the cache, may have been muggled?

No problems with this one as it was quite exposed. Signed the log and replaced it but covered it more carefully.
TFTC shamus1

Quick fins on a cold day all safe and sound here TFTC

Easy peezie

Found by Mary & David at 0800. A brisk morning walk in from the road, but not as bad as Saturday morning. Circled GZ a couple of times before we spotted something. Caching our way slowly home, after a great long weekend, to go to a family birthday dinner tonight. Our thanks to Shamus1.

Good one.

Takes us ages to find things. Learners!!

Master 9 found it and was very impressed with himself

En route to and around Ballarat to do a bit of exploring / caching. Thanks Shamus1 for hiding this cache for me to find today.

Pulling up along the roadside we wandered across and noticed where the cache could be hiding. A nice little park in the sunshine this morning. Thanks for the cache.

17May 2013

Not a muggle in sight today.

Found cache, signed log.

TFTC.

Found

I walked to GZ from the road and at first was stymied. Reading a find from that day encouraged me and before too long I had the hide.

Found it on the westside away from the burnt area after driving almost right to the cache

Because the area is dry, I decided to drive all the way to GZ with Mr and Mrs HoneySucker on board.
We weren't very confident after the previous log, but Mr HS kept searching and came up with the hide intact. Have you replaced it Shamus1?
Thanks

yes, yes I did replace it

Found it but can not log as the cache is a melted little lump at the moment
Pic with this log to show.

No muggles today. TFTC.

Lovely morning for a short walk across the field to an easy find. TFTC

Nice stroll across to this one wouldn't like to do it when it was hot in case of snakes

Was it on the west side ? - tftc Shamus1

Nice and easy find. Didn't take long and no muggles. Thanks.

a really good hide! nice and covered TNLN, thanks!

Found this easy cache. This area is pretty secluded but there were some muggles near by.

Took a few minutes to find this one. TFTC

Found whilst out and about with JungleJodes in Ballarat so decided to do a few caches. A great little walk to stretch the legs and JungleJodes was happy as she needed to collect pine cones to put on the fire. Quickly had the cache in hand and log book signed

Thanks Shamus1 for the cache

Nice out of the way spot. Little chance of being spotted here, through there was still quite a bit of rubbish about.

Cache was uncovered and in the open, which I've fixed, though still be easy to find.

Thanks for bringing me here.

Took longer to find than it should have. Night caching must be like that but the GPS wasnt as accurate as it has been previously.
TFTC Shamus1

This was one of over 110 caches I found during a huge day and night of caching with my fellow cachers Trailrunning, Rebel Acts and Blacklegend (The Demolition Crew). As we all had the day free we carefully planned in advance the run and decided to call it Ballarat Smackdown II. The plan was ambitious and resulted in almost 22 hours of continual caching.

The day started in the early hours of the morning in the far eastern suburbs of Melbourne, then moving through the northern suburbs then onto and along the Western Freeway to Enfield State Forest then north up to Ballarat itself. We cached through Melton, Pykes Reservoir and Bacchus Marsh and many of the country roads north and south of the Western Freeway as we made our way west.

We had a fantastic day finding all the different types of caches and there were some quite inventive, very tricky and well constructed hides that we found. I thank all the cache owners for the time and effort they have spent in placing all the caches we found today.

Another legendary cache run by The Demolition Crew (myself, TrailRunning, Quasar3671 and Rebel Acts). We have dubbed it Ballarat Smackdown II. This was a huge run taking us all the way from near Cardinia, via the northern suburbs of Melbourne, to Bacchus Marsh and Melton and finally Ballarat. A massive loop, and over 100 caches for the run. The company was as always fantastic, a lot of laughs, good dinner, and great caches. Many thanks to all the CO's for the hides, without them we wouldn't have been able to find anything.

No problem with the find, but was a bit worried with where we parked our car.... TFTC and no wet feet for us.

This was, cache # 114 of 118 finds for the day in the company of The Demolition Crew. An easy find on this one. My thanks to Shamus1 for the cache.

This cache was found by me today in the company of The Demolition Crew.

While I strive to make my logs personal to every cache, I have far too many logs to do, that I apologise in this instance for using a generic log. I thank you for the placement of this cache as it was one of many that made up a great day for me and the crew..

The Day's Blurb...

The annual holidays is always a great time to relax and take it easy, but not today. The Demolition Crew had decided that after such a long break from caching together that we would start the year off with a bang! So the planning minds were put into operation, and Ballarat Smackdown II was conceived.

The smackdown started along way from Ballarat, in fact in the hills around Cardinia Reservoir and from there is was a push across the northern suburbs of Melbourne through Melton & Bacchus Marsh. It being such a hot day, the waters of Pykes Creek Reservoir cooled and refreshed us, and we were soon off to start on the Ballarat caches.

Since our first Smackdown in the area, many new caches have popped up, so it was a fruitful run which ended well into the early morning. A couple of caches were replaced as a way of saying thanks to those who took the time to place them, and I think in the end my tally was well over 100 for the run.

It was a completely awesome day, and I thank you for placing the cache. We will return to the Ballarat area soon as there are still a number of caches we left undiscovered.

Cache was easily found.

Quick find whilst on holidays interstate visiting friends.
Great to pick up some local caches.
tftc

This one took a bit of scrounging, but I got him... thank you Shamus1 for the cache.

Nice find on the morning Walk. Thanks!

TFTC Another fun find with my son.

Another one found on a hot afternoon. TFTC

Find No. 173. Found with FUF009 at 6.10pm.
After a day of last minute Christmas shopping we decided to find a couple of caches after tea, that were on our way home.

Took Monkey face eraser. Left Large chook.
TFTC

Find #381 @1810H

Found with Tyred n Cranky

After a big day of last minute Christmas shopping we decided to hit a couple of caches after tea. On a number of visits to Ballarat I have had to drive past this GZ due to the lovely Ballarat climate, the ground has usually been soaking wet and I have let this one go. This day it was all dry and hot and the cache was ready for the taking.

Took Butterfly rubber
Left Polar bear

TFTC

Sorry Shamus1 for the generic log but I'm trying to catch up on my logging, I currently have over 1000 to log before hitting some powertrails in the US after the block party next week. As always I enjoy the hunt whether I'm solo or with some of my caching or muggle friends. Thanks to those who have accompanied me to make the day more pleasurable and many thanks Shamus1 for placing this cache.