Float Your Boat 7 Helensvale, Queensland, Australia
By Herbz on 10-Sep-12. Waypoint GC3WGE8

I am regretfully archiving this cache since there's been no response from nor action by the cache owner within the time frame requested in the last reviewer note.

GeoCrater
Geocaching.com Community Volunteer Reviewer

I had found all the waypoints for this cache some time ago, but had not been in the area to find the final. I received a notification to say that this cache had been disabled, but was still available to be found. Last weekend, the decision was made to head to the final. I parked the geomobile and made my way to GZ. As we neared GZ, two big dogs started baking. The closer we got, the louder they barked and the closer they came to the fence and the angrier they seemed to bee. With discretion being the better part of valour, we retreated without a find. I messaged the CO, advising him of the dogs as I had genuine concerns about them. When I received his reassurance that the dogs would not bother me, I decided to head to the coast again today. This time, the geomobile was parked a little closer to GZ. I decided to approach from the bush this time, in the hope of not annoying the dogs again. No luck with that, but I did find the cache after a bit of a search. With my name in the logbook, I headed back to the geomobile and the days adventures. TFTC

GZ for this one was our backyard...but we have moved. Will relocate soon. Container will remain in old location until done.

This has been on the to do list since Mothers Day last year when I managed to get only FYB #1 and #3 as the muggles in our boat didn't want to stop at any of the others because they wanted to go crabbing elsewhere. I convinced them there was a crab pot on this little island further down stream so that got their attention but when we got there we couldn't find it. Anyway, after a PAF they said they couldn't locate it either but gave me the final co-ords just the same. So after a year has now passed and having just finished adding the missing smiley faces on my map in this area with joojoo57, it was time to find this one.
A nice stroll and still in our gum boots from Shores 5 - the Swamp, we made a nice quick find whilst admiring the huge pumpkin vine and also found lots of passion fruit on the ground nearby that looks like the birds have attacked.
Thanks Herbz for yet another great adventure, a favorite point from me and TFTC

Yes, Snickersallan's log says it all. It was fun walking to GZ in our wet footwear - the neighbours working on some mini-buses must have had a bit of a chuckle as we walked past!!!
Thanks Herbz for this multi.

Originally a member of the WADERS we looked for this WP for AGES! After coming up empty one of the other team member tracked down the final coordinates and today was the day I managed to make my way over to collect! Thanks!! Sorry about setting all the dogs off

Unfortunately we were unable to find the WP for this one - we suspect the crab pot may have been washed away in all the recent flooding. We did find an old crab pot float with rope attached about 60 m away from the listed coords (we were really keen to find it), but had no luck there. You might like to check on this one Herbz We enjoyed our paddle here anyway.

Was assigned to pick this up for the WADERS Team (W-selvagirls, A-stortigirls, D-neversaydi, E-E(:, R-Roddyc, S-eatsleepcacherepeat). We went on a boat hire last Saturday.

Nice day for a hunt! Easy quick find, just got distracted by a nice pumpkin growing out of the fence. I was hoping it's the next one with a concealed fence but too late to duck, I got busted by the CO who pointed out a large kangaroo looking at me!
Cache container had water but log was dry! Clever CO! If I can give an FP for CO, he surely will get heaps!

Thanks for the adventure and cache Herbz! And thanks for the 17th year anniversary souvenir!

This is the reward for a wonderful adventure on the weekend! Thank you so much for the series and for being a really nice CO! One of the WADERS!

Out on a hire boat with the WADERS (Wanda, Amanda, Di, Elena, Rod & Sam) today to claim some water caches and some good terrain ratings! Lots of fun and laughs as sandbars, mud baths (damn soft sinking mud), songs and stories were enjoyed by all. Thanks for the opportunity for a great day out on the water Herbz, and allowing the team to log this one..... .....Tftc!

Was here with the WADERS Team today (selvagirls, stortigirls, neversaydi, roddyc and eatsleepcacherepeat).

Caching around Coomera today with Team Benders to find some green dots. Almost twelve months ago we completed all the "Float Your Boat" series bar this one, so today we decided that we would turn it into a yellow smiley. Guess what? Today the mosquitos were just as bad as they were when we were here before. But today there is a cache.here, and it became Team Benders 8000th find. Congratulations! The CO and Mrs popped down for a quick hello.

Log signed & replaced again. Found at 12 noon on 15th March 2017. TFTC, Herbz.

#8000 cache find. Woo hoo!
Well after 11months, RoddyC and I finally completed the Float your Boat series.
We arrived at GZ and immediately located the cache.
We were greeted by the CO who happened to be near GZ.
I enjoyed being out in the rivers and the Gold Coast Waterways and thank Patrol14 for taking me out and RoddyC for organising the day on the water. A great day was had by all.
And now to top it off by finding this cache today.
Signed the log and returned to where we found it.
TNLNSL TFTC Thanks Herbz All good with this cache
A favourite for the series and this cache

We are back at the Gold Coast for a week, visiting family & time to get away to do some geocaching.
Todays trip was caches closer to where we are staying.
After seeing quiet a number of DNFs for this I decided to PAF to get additional hints before heading out. The checksum proved correct so it was off to the final location. Spotted on arrival at GZ & left our new pathtag in here.
Thanks for placing this cache Herbz

The tide was fairly high when we arrived and the area was accessible from the boats. A few of the adventurers took to the mud and water and felt around but nothing could be found.

Almost twelve months ago we first mooted the idea of boating up to do the T5 caches on the northern Gold Coast waterways. Over the last few weeks we settled on today to ire the boat, but somehow it grew to three boats - a party of , including DiamonJS, Rusty85, Team Benders, Crew 153, Nadine1989, Temingi (from Yeppoon), Vennfamily and Patrol14. Our first port of call was Float Your Boat 7, ending up with the GCPT - Humpback Whale.

Unfortunately, despite all the sets of eyes and mud-waders in the water, even a PAF or two, we could not locate a waypoint location with any sort of coordinates on it. Hmmm. Where did we all go wrong?

On a brighter note, we took time out for morning tea to celebrate Rusty85's Birthday today. Nice cake, Mrs RoddyC!

Didn't happen for me today. Couldn't find WP1 info. Thanks anyway.

Had a good look around all the bigger trees here but no crab pots or remnants of said pots anywhere to be found. Beautiful day for a paddle however.

Searched for ages at high tide but found no tag

Tried hard to find the crab pot tag, but no success. To large trees either side of the coordinates but couldn't find anything attached

Found with barbbowman fasted59 and JAT

We were out for a day of caching with barbbowman, FastEd59 and bubba89 trying to increase our difficulty / terrain average to 1.9 It is slow going, but we know we will eventually get there Even though it was an overcast day and we had to make our way through a few showers, we still had a very enjoyable day out, mostly on the water.

After finding a few nearby caches, we soon launched our boats for the main event for the day. We admired the scenery as we made our way along this part of the river system, taking care to keep watch for areas of shallow water to avoid running aground (we only did that once or twice ). On arriving at WP 1, we found ourselves needing to anchor our boats about 100m from shore and wade across to locate the information required for ground zero. It was proving a little elusive until Mr Just a Trifle spied something lying in the mud and after washing it clean, revealed a set of very useful numbers. After securing the information to a tree we continued toward ground zero, again avoiding the shallow areas and eventually locating a nice green patch to pull up near a fairly large mob of kangaroos. We continued on foot to ground zero where we were able to locate the cache easily and with our names added to the log book, we were finished with the boats for the day.

Thank you Herbz for having placed the cache and maintaining it for everyone to enjoy A favourite point for the series and the fun we had finding the multi.

way down south for the day with fasted59 bubba89 and JAT

our last for the day and the biggest adventure
after a nice walk we arrived at wp
had to leave bubba where she was ... up to her thighs [B)] [:o)]

mr jat found the tag
it is still at co-ords but attached to a branch with a ziptie

info called out to bubba to write down safe
finals entered into our gps's and time to make our way back to boats

hmmm ... gz there [?]

find a spot to leave crafts and off to gz we go
now that is a nice looking mob

keep going and meet a fur-baby we recognise

Down the coast today with barbbowman, bubba 89 and Just a Trifle.

Arrive as close as allowable due to the tide, and set off on foot. No carb pot, but a tag was found in the mud. With this washed off a set of co-ords were revealed. Mr JaT re-attached the tag to the tree.

Now we set off for the final and after a few wrong turns and a few more sand bars, we found a good spot to anchor up. Made our way to GZ and was greeted by a couple of familiar furry friends.

Log signed. Now to weave our way back to the ramp. TFTC and series.

What a fitting way to end the Float your boat series. Signing the log and then heading out for dinner with the CO

certainly had fun along the way. Not too taxing and although it was drizzly it made the day more comfortable

Thanks Herbz

Up this way with Griffo on a mission to get some high terrains,we started here with WP.1 being our hardest find for the day although not to hard,the water was really smooth and temperature low,we both agreed we picked a good day for this series.TFTC.Herbz

This waypoint took us a while to find, but finally CrookedPete came up with the goods. He had gone a little further afield than my coords had us at. We motored around to the final (noting the unusual location) and were confronted by a LARGE MAMMAL. This animal must have annoyed the neighbours, as we knew in the house owner had been home they would have come to greet us.
As I tried a PAF to make the animal control appear, SNJ went in under cover and managed to infiltrate GZ. A quick sign before running away with his tail between his legs. No PAF needed after all!

Thanks for the great trail. Fave Pt from me (how unusual for a Herbz cache!)

Certainly spent more time than we thought we would need on the final cache of the series. The information at WP1 proved very elusive as we hunted high and low. As we expanded our search Crookedpete came to the rescue and located the tag right near an area I had previously looked but only half-heartedly as it was about 10m away from our indicated GZ. The challenges were not over yet as we had to negotiate the shallowest water we had faced so far today to get to the final. There even more challenges awaited in the form of cache guardians who were adamant that no one was coming near this cache today. We retreated to regroup and rethink our strategy (and give the neighbourhood some peace and quiet). As a PAF was contemplated I reread a few logs and returned for another try. The vocal guardians retreated to occupy the high ground which gave me a chance to inspect a possible GZ an sure enough the cache was located. Its probably the quickest I have signed and replaced a log before making a mad dash back to the boat. A memorable way to complete the series. TFTC

It was time for fleet maneuvres and the Float Your Boat series looked like just the spot to put Admiral Seff's fleet through it's paces.

With Admiral SeffnJarah and his brother, Admiral (ret) Mark, in command of the two fleet vessls, the small flotilla ventured along Coombabah Creek, finding caches and battling with the mud, mangroves, shallow water, and even Herbz's over protective guard dog.

At the first waypoint, we employed all our flotilla's big guns. Yes - even Fungus got his feet wet here. After a reasonable time searching, I expanded my search a little north to the other quite obvious feature and was quickly rewarded with the tag in a spot the other boat had already searched. Funny that!

Knowing the CO, I was not surprised by the final location and quickly guessed the nature of the hide. Whilst our boat battled the shallows, Admiral Seff in the other boat employed his secret weapon - moveable Fungus ballast - to quickly make their way to the final.

When our boat arrived near final, all hell was breaking loose on the shore line. It was a still day and I reckon the holidayers at Surfers could probably hear the commotion cuased by the cache guardians. Heaven help the brave person who thinks about jumping that fence! Whilst Fungus and I were planning a second attempt, Admiral Seff had snuck in (perhaps his short stature helped) and secured some names in the logbook.

Many thanks to my ship mates today. Thanks for the cache, Herbz. A favourite point for a fitting finale to a fun series.

Pete

#2,673

Only a few more hundred metres further on from No6 we continued to this. What we should have done was check the latest cache logs because that crab pot was definitely not where it should have been. MrG knows first hand there's none in them thar mangroves. A check of the phone gave us a reassuring answer but hey, we can't find that either! MrsG thought she might have spotted something a little further away.....she did, it was a piece of broken branch that meant nothing to anyone but the tree but the very thing we needed was there as well.
We took a different route to the final. We still had Nos 1 and 2 to do and the tide would be coming in soon. After completing the rest of the series we arrived at GZ.......interesting! TFTC and the series Herbz, we had a fantastic day on the lake.

Out on a southern adventure with Orange Crew and Luke from Slow Puncture and boy were we in for a day of surprises, ending in one of the worst storms in 30 years!!

As we anchored, the cache information was read out and we set off in search of the elusive crab pot.

We widened the search and even looked in places that could not possibly hold a crab pot, but we were thorough!! It was at this point, about six metres away from the boat that I decided to wash my t-shirt in the water... I had managed to stay dry above the waist for the entire day. But as everyone who caches with Team DNA knows, I am pretty accident prone. As I took a duff step, I tried to put my hand out to save myself, as one would do with natural instinct... Except, this time, the water was just a little deeper!! And in I went, face first into the muddy mangroves water... lovely. I managed to keep it out of my eyes at this point as I flicked my hair out of my face, with my composure, and took a step in the direction of the boat. All I can say is, thank GOD I'm not wearing a white t-shirt!! That could be embarrassing!!!

So, as I made my way towards the boat, holding my wet t-shirt out in front of me, I was met with pointing and laughter from Mr Puncture... As I tried to explain how I ended up soaking wet, I missed the next step, lost my shoe AND went face first BACK INTO THE WATER!!! "You didn't have to demonstrate!" was the comment.... He nearly wore my shoe!!

Mr Puncture made a PAF and got some useful information, we set off once again before Mr Crew made the discovery. So, it's no long a crab pot... "Didn't you search here Angela?" he asked... Yeah, but I was looking for a crab pot not THAT!!

So, we had the finals and the debate was on. Should we traverse over land or water? The tide was looking a little shaky and those storm clouds were starting to look a little dark!!

On we go!!!

We wiggled our way around some very low water levels and made it as close as we could on water. The race was on to GZ as we were a little worried we would come back to a boat on land with the way the tide was receding!

When we entered GZ we were a little confused and tried to step quietly, but we just seemed to alert all the neighbours dogs to our presence!

We were running out of time so we dialled our PAF once more. He confirmed we were in the correct place and we just needed to look a little harder!!!

Mr Puncture braved the spikes and went in, before making the call!

We placed our names amongst the other brave souls who had ventured before us, before literally running back to the boat!!

Off we speed in a race against time and tide!

TFTC

Today, Team Armenia set out for an excursion to the Gold Coast, primarily to attack Wavebreak Island, Terror Island, South Stradbroke Island and Coombabah Creek in Orange Crew's powerboat (tinnie).

Why Team Armenia? ORANGE Crew, Team DNA (of RED Rocket fame) and Slow Puncture (of BLUE Thunder not-so-much-fame). Know your vexillology, people (Yes, I did have to look up Armenia's flag...).

Ah, lucky last! Although, for a while, we thought maybe not lucky. We could not find the object nor the co-ordinates required for the next part of the multi. A PAF ensued to a recent finder who gave us some excellent information, and there it was, what we needed. What a relief!

A quick discussion about whether by water or by land? Water won out. We got as near as we could and moored the boat, then took off towards terra firma. The final location had us a little concerned, but the same PAF informant assured us it was correct. For a first today, Luke actually spotted the cache first.

The nearby house looks very nice

TFTC, Herbz!

Out and about in Coombabah Creek for a boating adventure with Slow Puncture and Team DNA. Arriving at given coords it became apparent there was no crab pot to be found. More fruitless searching led to the placement of a PAF and advice which helped find the needed info (HINT: tag only, head height, no crab pot). Plugged in the coords and set off for the final. With a falling tide and some shallow waterways, I was very wary of being stuck in a boat with no water under it. We made the bold dash and bring conscious of the tide was glad to make the find among the colourful cascade . Phew. Finished the series! Thank you so much for placing a well thought out series, FP from me

I had been bugging Captain Terror to let me borrow him and his canoe to grab these caches. I have been attempting to get my average Terrain higher and this was definitely a great place to grab some higher terrain caches. After a slight fail yesterday we were out on the water this morning and after finding the rest in the series it was time for the last one!

We had grabbed the coordinates off the well preserved waypoint marker and were making our way to the final coordinates. We had a bit of excitement but that will stay between us and the cache owners

Before too long my name was in the logbook and the cache back in position. I have had a wonderful time grabbing these caches and I thank you both Mr and Mrs Herbz for placing such a great series for me to complete. Thanks for the cache Herbz

I have hired a Kayak for the week-end and was going to make the most of it.
After an outing yesterday I was all set for another outing today.
I teamed with IolantheK again for another adventure.[^]
With the tide coming in (we thought) we decided to head all the way to end, number 7 first.
We soon discovered that the water was still leaving the creek.
After a couple of stops on the way we finally reached GZ and there is not much water and a lot of MUD. After much back and forwards we eventually found what we needed.
So do we go there now? Or can we approach by car?
When we did arrive at GZ we discovered the container on the ground So we tied it to the fence so it does not get lost.
A fantastic series again team Herbz.
Thanks for the cache.

Brother Colin and I set off from Jabiru Island this morning in our hired kayaks, with the intention of getting all of the caches in this series for him. (The only one I had to get is this one, as it was placed after T-Tech and I did 1 to 6 almost 2 years ago.) BC and I decided to paddle all the way to this one first then make our way back down the river, as that was the best use of the tides... or so we thought Seems that was a bit wrong Certainly got my exercise today [xx(]

At the co-ords we spent a few minutes wobbling around in the deep squelchy mud, before BC made the find. Wait, it's a WP... didn't realise that... maybe I should look at cache pages more often, mmm??? Oh, those numbers look a bit tricky... some discussion occurred, and we decided it could wait until later. Fast forward a couple more hours and we finally reached GZ, and I was pretty cold and hungry It took a few minutes of searching in the dark before I discovered I was kneeling on the cache! Don't think it's supposed to be there BC made sure it got put back properly. TFTC, Herbz. A favourite point from me for the series.

Staying with family in Oz, luckily Brad has a boat so wow lets find some caches.

had a great time looking for these, spotted a few mud crabs and dropped some crab pots.

we was nearly up to our waists in mud a few times as the tide was going back out and had to get wet to manouver the boat... but hey thats all in the fun.

Even had a swim in the creek to get cleaned up after taking the boat out of the water nice strong current was swimming and getting no where.

Brad said " Crazy Pomme " i know its you winter and its too cold for you guys hahahaaha.

Tftc

did not see the crab pot with the phone number... im guessing the co-ords on the tag were replacing this, unfortunately the tide was against us and it was impossible to find the cache at the said co-ords.

farewell Queensland until next time, then we shall find it. thanks herbz

After spending the night at the nearby CO house with La Kedi and The Marble we heard this one was close by. So Bedmaker and I trudged off this morning in search of this elusive little cache. After signing our names in the log we headed back for a delicious breakfast.

Many thanks Herbz for the cache and wonderful hospitality.

Tassiegirl and I chose the “Jetski” option for our choice of “watercraft” to make our way around this multi this morning.
We were also lucky enough to have the CO’s within earshot as well to give assistance where required.
Buy the time we arrived at GZ the CO’s were somewhat occupied so we started our search. The cache proved a little hard to locate so we contacted a previous finder La Kedi who was able to guide us in the right direction.
With the cache found we didn’t have to travel very far to a nice breakfast of Bacon and Eggs.
TFTC Herbz

A day of geocaching with our friends the Couchmen started. The weather was not looking good but finally we just had just some drops.

Last one : WP1 found easily after a little search of somewhat something else... With the new location in the GPS we headed there. Oh the shore Couchman and Mr Dhobitock went to search for the container, while Mme Dhobitock stayed in the boat, since the swamp was a little too smelly and too wet But she did encounter a couple of kangaroos, the male one was so curios he approached less then 5m away

Thanks Herbz for this cruise, and Couchman for sailing the boat

These water caches have been sitting at the top of our unfound caches list for so long because we couldn't get hold of any sort of water craft with a motor.

It would have been nice to think we could borrow a canoe or kayak and paddle our way around but when reality bites we are just too old and unfit to even attempt it.

I had never been out on a houseboat and Geo Wife had only been on one once quite a few years ago so we had the idea of combining a houseboat holiday with a caching adventure.

Our next problem came when it wasn't possible to take the boat under the Jabiru Island Bridge, we solved that by hiring a motor for the tender and getting special permission to use it up the lake.

We invited our caching friends the "Dhobitock"s to visit it us on the boat for the day and they jumped at the chance of picking up the "Float Your Boat" series.

The weather forecast was not looking good with possible showers and thunderstorms but that wasn't going to deter us.

Geo Wife sent us off with her blessings, so all provisioned up we headed off from north of Jabiru Island.

The weather was now quite pleasant and the lake very spectacular just right to do the multi.

WP1 confused us to start off with but then we spotted something and soon after we had the coords for GZ.

We had just headed off to GZ when the engine started to faulter which scared the "Dhobitocks" but luckily I knew what was happening so I stopped in the wide expanse of the lake and refueled while we enjoyed the bird life that were present.

On the move again we checked out the possible accesses and chose a nice sheltered one and drifted right up to the shore.

Mr "Dhobitock" & I headed toward GZ and Miss "Dhobitock" decided that the swamp was a little too smelly and went back to the boat.

At GZ we looked around for a while looking for what was described on the cache page then resorted to contacting the CO.

It all then became clear as the container size had been changed but not altered on the site.

The cache was quickly found after that and now it was the long trip back and hopefully picking up No 1 on the way.

The only problem now was we were heading into a Northerly wind but we were still heading home (to the boat that is)

The trip was very uneventful and as we headed closer I got a text from Geo Wife asking if we were going for No 1.

I said we may not have enough time and immediately got the response "You can't come back without it!!!" "There have been no DNF's and we aren't going to have one either".

Well that was telling me!!! Now we just had to find it!!


Thanks Herbz for taking us on this cruising adventure.

Log to follow when we get home

This was the last of 8 caches today out on Coombabah Creek. I didn't realise until now that it was a 12km round trip. With just a kayak and paddle Im going to be sore tomorrow. I headed out from Jabiru Island and thankfully it's high tide.
I headed to WP1 from Float your boat 6 and passed another pair of fishing muggles sitting on the boarder of the no fishing zone. They kept an eye on me until I was out of sight behind the mangroves. Went to the wrong tree first as it looked bigger but soon I found the clue. Took down some numbers, done the math and punched them into the Gps.
When the final location came up I thought What! over there, well I guess this adventure hasn't finished yet.
Before heading over I detoured to one of the Shores series caches just across the way. On the way over I couldn't help to miss a massive earth moving truck tyre sitting on a angle out of the water. Birds were sitting on it drying out. How the heck did that get here and where did it come from. Gunna need a tug boat for that one.
Set off around the island towards the final GZ of the day. I found a perfect spot to pull up and drag the yak. Again I praised my choice of foot wear today. Gumboots.
Followed my blue arrow to GZ. Geez this is really close, i'm not to keen on caches that are this close. I spotted a couple of kayaks I saw a few weeks ago then realised where I must be. Still tried to be stealthy but a little geodog found me and alerted everyone in a 5 km radius. Hahaha. After a bit of Gps stager I located my final cache for the day. SL.
I must say this was an epic adventure and I enjoyed every bit of it. Many thanks to Herbz for a great seven cache series and a bonus one. When I become a premium member I will surely drop some favourite points off at these ones. Thanks again. Now the long row home.

Another favorite point from me to Herbz. Was an awesome day on the kayak

This entry was edited by MonkeyMaker01 on Saturday, 08 June 2013 at 02:19:31 UTC.

Cruised down to this one on Patches. Did not find the crab pot, but I did find the info I needed. Put the new co-ords into the GPS. Hmmm. Might paddle back to the car and attack that from dry land. I can get some other caches along the way too . Eventually made it around to GZ. LOL. D. Thanks for a great series Herbz. 13.5Km all up with a couple of extras along the way Saw some big budgies on the other side of the island a t WP1 ;-D

A joint FTF on a fabulous weekend down the Gold Coast, after a stunningly good breakfast courtesy of the lovely Herbz. Fangsoki, Captain Terror, Radnoski and the COs, plus their little dog in a doggy lifejacket, set off in a little flotilla toward GZ, paddling enthusiastically and pointing out local landmarks as we went. The three of us in the S.S.Terror kind of ran out of water en route, so Radnoski leapt out and gallantly dragged us, and then Fang as well, across the mudbank and all the way the the waypoint. Calculations were performed, dark looks cast at Mr Herbz, and with a detour via another cache, we scooted quickly toward the final, where we found the sneaky cache hidden just where we really should have guessed and a beautiful blank logbook to boot! TFTC, Herbz! =^.^=

I had seen this one published during the week and thought it would be well gone by the time our little party turned up at the Chateau de Herbz on the weekend.

But it transpired, it had not gone. To coin Mr Herbz's saying, it would be plain rude of us not to do it and get FTF in the process

La Kedi, Radnoski, Captain Terror and I all prepared our launches. Team Herbz and Louie the geo-hound decided to come along to supervise in their own boats. Louie looked most fetching in his little life jacket.

I had my own kayak, while La Kedi, Radnoski, and Captain Terror were in the good ship, the "SS Doomed" It was a lovely paddle toward GZ. I am very glad I put on liberal amounts of sunscreen. Radnoski ended up giving up trying to get the boat closer in the shallower water to GZ and ended up towing us all to GZ. We took some snaps and recorded the required information. Hmmm.. really? It's "there"?

We all made our way to the final GZ. I arrived first and found the cache after a small hunt. I opened it to find we got a joint *FTF* at 10.15am. The cache was in great condition.

Cunning, is the Herbz. Cunning indeed A fantastic FTF to get with great friends. TFTC Team Herbz

Sometimes the situation presents itself and as Captain Terror says "It would be just plain rude not to" grab a seat in a canoe pointed in the right direction to grab a joint *FTF* on this new cache.

To be honest we were half expecting Culture50 (who FTF'd the other "Float Your Boat" caches) to wizz past our small squadrant of water craft and beat us to the final location...... but Mr 50 and his trusty watercraft were nowhere to be seen on this fine Gold Coast day.

It was easy going for most of the trip to the first waypoint with the Captain of Terror (and the captain of his three seater canoe) powering us along with a little outboard motor.

The direct route to the first waypoint was not an option due to the shallow water, so we kind of lulled it into a false sense of security as we kept our distance and circled around it waiting for enough deep water to surge towards it. We got some deep water and the numbers on the Garmin started to reduce without much effort on my behalf. We got to within about a hundred meters and my easy ride was over.

Out I popped (ooops! there goes my footware... got it back again) and now I was the main propulsion device. I was too busy looking at the Garmin and the water/trees ahead to realised that a certain Fangsoki was also taking advantage of my towing services.

With final location determined we decided to take a detour via the deeper water to check on one of the "Shores" caches. No cache to be found (I already had the "smiley" anyway) but I did come across a cool glass bottle from a company that must have existed in Southport many years ago.

Back on the boat guys.... there is an FTF to be claimed. With the outboard powering along we made it to the final location and the cache was soon in hand.

You have got to love a blank logbook. Thanks for the cache Herbz. Lots of fun and deserving of a favourite point from me.

While signing the log one of those pesky cache dwelling frogs hopped on in.

Word getting around last night at the Hotel Herbz (or is it the Herbz Garden?) as La Kedi, Fangsoki, Radnoski and I sat around was that this multi was new, unfound and only 1.something kilometres away. We had watercraft anyways, so it really would have been rude to not grab this one.

We all trundled canoes, kayaks, paddles and a dog in a life jacket down to the waters edge and set off in the lovely morning sun. The ever-handy outboard made the trip easy for La Kedi and Radnoski who had boarded the Geocaching Canoe with me. However after a kilometer or so, we hit shallow water and Radnoski decided walking was easier. If only we had a camera shot of him pulling the biggest ship of our flotilla across a mudbank, then Fangsoki's kayak hitching on and the whole lot being pulled against the tide towards the waypoint. We really are a bunch of clowns.

The waypoint was sniffed out, TB passed around, photos taken and we sorted out where we needed to go. When I saw where the final was on the map, some more swear words were sent Herbz' way.. they really know how to be annoying.

I detoured my vessel and passengers via another cache but after opening the throttle, almost caught up with the rest of the voyage of the damned near GZ for the finding and signing ceremony. Was nice to sign the logbook and I am happy that I now have a Herbz FTF under my belt.

It was then back to the water for myself and La Kedi to grab some more.. you can't do enough Herbz caches in one day really. You're a tricky one Herbz, TFTC, a most enjoyable start to the day

FTF @ 10.15am with Radnoski, La Kedi, and Captain Terror. Log to follow.

Published