Drats! (Ich sehe rats!) Myrtle Bank, South Australia, Australia
By chillibutts on 12-Dec-12. Waypoint GC42KJR

The plan was to go cycling today. But for one reason or another that plan didn't work out. So the fallback was geocaching. Not a bad fallback mind you. A lot of mint tins were found. And I was reminded how much I don't like looking for caches in candle pines. I think I read somewhere once that pet ownership soared during covid...that may be the reason why there were so many dogwalkers out and about. Luckily lunch coincided with a cache being found within 10 metres of a hotel - great day for Welsh Rarebit and a dark ale. Anyway, enough of the waffle...this cache was quickly found in a nice neighbourhood. TFTC

After picking up the Rat these two Confused Puzzlers headed to Glen Osmond to meet another Confused Puzzler, the Starfish, where the confusion was lessened by finding out the plan for the day. The three of us didn't venture far afield but quite a few caches were found. Some were drive-bys but most involved shanks pony and by the time we split up to head home the legs were feeling the need for some relaxation.Another one just for me and another quick find.Thanks to chillibutts for adding to the playing field with this cache.Cache #14810 for me.*This log composed and published using GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife).*

We were in Adelaide for the mega event and our accommodation was very close to the original co-ords of these cache so it was added to our list to try and solve before we arrived here,We managed that without too much difficulty and were pleased to see that it was in walking distance from our planned accommodation . After a lovely dinner today we decided a walk was in order so we headed off with micaparamedic to look for it.Once at gz the cache was located quickly where the GPSr was pointing and our names were added to the log before returning everything as found.Thanks chillibutts for the cache.

With Kayakviking coming to visit for Christmas, he decided I needed to try some more puzzles. With his help I finally managed to solve some that we could go and collect while he was in town. I needed a lot of help with this one... however, I eventually got there.. TFTC

TFTC from the Kayakviking! Did some puzzle solving b4 heading back to the old town for Xmas.One of many picked up with ANVIC.Loved the history element. Twigged to the solve quickly just needed to work thru logically.Nice walk to pick up.

What a great puzzle. I looked and gathered information, then realised what bits needed refining. With the right details in hand, the puzzle fell out not long after.

Today on the trip to MB I stopped by here. What an amazing park. I had the whole place to myself in the rain, and was able to identify the item hiding the cache pretty quickly. Getting the little fella out was a bit tough but in the end my nail was able to make purchase on the bottom lip.

Cache signed and returned as found. Thanks for the puzzle and cache chillibutts. Nice work. I really enjoyed it. Find #8866 at 8.34am

A nice walk between showers to find this one that had been solved for a while thanks for the cache

This one was cool, but needed some strength!

The checker smiled upon me a few nights ago so today it was off to GZ.
The prize was quickly found once a muggle moved…….well tucked away from prying eyes
Never knew this area existed, very pleasant so thanks gif bringing me here
TFTC

I had been to an early morning event at Norwood and had a couple of spare hours until I was meeting friends for our usual Monday walk so I decided to find some caches on a round about way home. [^]

I had not been to this park before and it was lovely walking around early in the morning. The well hidden cache was soon found once I arrived at GZ.

Thanks for the cache chillibuts.

Not sure when I solved this... but it was a while ago. Finally made it to this lovely area. Wish I lived nearby.

Thanks for the cache, chillibutts.

This evening after dinner on the parade my partner and I decided to do a few caches around the suburbs.
Parked up here and made the walk across the oval. Played on the equipment and then the cache was found. Cache and contents are all good
TFTC

This evening after dinner on the Parade gridge98 and I headed out to find a few caches together.

Thanks for the cache

A little unlove for this one, with my find being the first one this year.
Needed assistance with the puzzle but then with a set of coords that took me to a logical spot a neatly tucked away cache was found. Log signed

For a2 start puzzle this one proved tough for me.

Easy find today.

Tftc

Gelato[?] Gelato Gelato[^] Gelato Gelato[:X]
Pre-Christmas Gelato event at that place that has some amazing and varied flavours! Rex and I are there![:X][^]
As the event was close by to this cache, that's been teasing me for years now, on the way home from the event Rex and I came and enjoyed some coolness in this lovely green spot[^] while finding this cache so that made 2 smilies today[^]

It's been a long time since I've found a chillibutts cache
So cool to find one now even if it was much easier to find than most of the others that I've found[^]

TNLN. SL. TFTC chillibutts

This is one of those caches that was solved while we were away working many moons ago. War is never good and we do need to respect and honour the people who have served to ensure that we have a country that is safe to live in. Once at GZ a quick look and we were onto it. SL TFTC

Couldn’t find it!

After solving the puzzle a while back got the chance to find today. Cache was nicely tucked away. TFTC

Out and about pick up some more cache finals that had been sitting in my gps for a while now. I started with Adit up and immediately knew what I was meant to be looking for and it did not take long for the cache to be found. However, I had left my stamp back in my bag so I had to go back for that before being able o put my name in the log. Then it was back down to the flats for a few puzzles and despite the presence of muggles some quick finds were made.

TFTC

Found in the dark after we returned to our accommodation nearby. A little stroll with torches.
Found with FUF009.
Today was Day 7 of our 8 day SA trip.
On the agenda today was a bunch of OTD series.
This was the only day we didnt make our target.
The August OTD series took twice as long as expected as it ended up being more of a 4WD road which meant we had to go slower.
I still ended up with 105 finds for the day.
Lots of driving today.
We started out from Tarlee and ended up in Adelaide.
Again we enjoyed the diversity of the countryside. SA is a wonderful state.
Apologies for the generic log.
Tftc

Find # 6498
Day 7
The only day our plans did not go as according. We had a 6 months of OTD's on the list but the Roads for August were a little rougher than expected and slowed us down quite a bit. Never less we still got OTD June, July and August and a couple of others, and finished off the day in Adelaide were a couple of urban grabs were made. These still got our days total to over 100 and makeing for another fun day in SA.
 
Found with sharkiefan
 
A Big week was planned to travel around South Australia, staying in Minlaton, Tarlee and Adelaide. We cache along a number of Trails, managed to grab a few off the beaten track, some well known caches and the odd one that
came up on the map as we were travelling around.
 
It ended up being a massive week of 2960 odd kilometers travelled, with day find counts of 25, 256, 361, 318, 66, 205, 104 and 76 (yep thats 1411 for the 8 days)
1062 micro, 238 small, 60 Regular, 45 large, 3 Virtual and 3 Other.

After tea it was back to the motel and a couple of close by grabs. Under torch light and in a logical location, made the find a little easier to grab. Thankfully darkness makes the muggles more scarse.
 
TFTC chillibutts

A nice little park visited at last TFTC

Coming from a military background with a dozen or so active duty deployments this should have been easier than it was.
However eventually there was an opportunity to visit the calculated GZ. The GPSr wanted us over there but we thought it would be better to look over here.
And it was.
TFTC again chillibutts

Find 2689
Found on a trip up to Stirling today with e.gregory one to catch up with Featherwaite for a long, leisurely lunch also provided an opportunity along the way to find a few caches that had been sitting in the 'solved' pile.
Thanks chillibutts for the puzzle and the cache.
Reel Fine Elsewhere.

A trip up to Stirling today with BFE to catch up with Featherwaite for a long, leisurely lunch also provided an opportunity along the way to find a few caches that had been sitting in the 'solved' pile.

Thanks chillibutts for the puzzle and the cache.

Anotyer easy enough find kind of where we expected. A cache that has been neglected and unfound for a while. It is still there safe and sound. Thanks for the cache and placement Drats! (Ich sehe rats!) ___ Blackadders. Find Number #3716 at 23:12 Hours

This was solved sometime ago.
It has bee sitting in the needs to be found folder.
The adder slithered up to the cache .
Cache quickly found. Tftc

Easter Sunday started with mogni, Anymules and Kiwi Ozzie arriving at my house to join in with the Easter Egg hunt. [^] Then it was time to pile into the geomobile to go and grab a few caches.
This had perplexed me and I was always so close to solving it but in the end took it a puzzled puzzlers meeting where I got the head slap moment and out fell the solution. Doh. I should have seen that!
Today was the day for a nice stroll and a quick find.
Thanks chillibutts for the history, puzzle and cache.

Out and about with AnyMules, mogni and Brisal5 getting some caches. Good company, good weather and if course more than a few boxes found. TFTC 16/4/17, 11:09 am Find #2103

At Puzzled Puzzler's Night we did a brute attack in solving this one. After much to-ing and fro-ing, we came up with a suitable answer. Today, Brisal and I were keen to get this one off the list and from showing up on the map on a route frequently driven. Parked on the opposite side of the park from where it is located and talk a short still to GZ where the cache was quickly located. If only the puzzle had been that easy. But where would the fun be in that? Thanks for the great puzzle. 16/4/17, 11:11 am Find #4584

So its Easter and luckily for me, school holidays too.... So off to the big smoke I go, and of course I catch up some caching friends for another big day of geocaching.
Joined up with Brisal5, Anymules and Kiwiozzie so I knew a fun day was ahead of me.
Thanks for placing this cache and adding to our fun.

Grabbed this with a local ...... soceofficer .......really enjoyed looking around the area contain the GZ!! Thanks chillibutts for the hide!!

Had a solution for this one for a long long time, but only finally gat around to searching today!
Oh for the fingers of a mechanic
Got it eventually though.
Cheers & TFTH chillibutts

Worked out and found by The Boofs TFTC ☺.

Found late at night, to fill a calendar spot for the day. I solved this one a little while ago, and it's been on my to-do list for a while as I try and get through as many as possible in my puzzle solving event bookmark. Took a little while to get the numbers to fit into something that made sense but eventually the penny dropped and the green tick acquired. TFTC chillibutts!

We had to play around with the puzzle for some time before we could make progress and then generate a set of coordinates which were acceptable to the coordinate checker. Today we went to look for the cache. It was a quick find but it took some time to retrieve the cache. The cache and contents were in good condition. Thanks for the cache chillibutts.

Out for an afternoon caching with geoson Sebastbat
Launched an offensive on the final target, and tried out the nearby commando training course!
tftc chillibutts

Couldn't find it

Don't mention the war! SL TFTC

Looked at these Rats for ages until an aha moment occurred which didn't work out! lol
We got a lil tip about where to look and then it fell into place!
Nicely set up puzzle and a well hidden cache.
We eventually managed to prise the prize out, it was hidden deep!
TNLNSL
Thanks

Gotcha!

Damn Rats!

Normally, I hate them. But the legendary Rats of Tobruk are a different story.

But this puzzle stared at me for so long that I was worried that I was starting to go trench crazy.

But eventually, the right numbers were found, and today, the cache was located.

Thanks chillibuts

ZZzz..

CACHING Member - Cachers Against Canned Hunting In Nomadic Groups

Cracked the puzzle a few weeks ago and finally got round to finding the cache. Second puzzle for griff and balley! Thanks chillibutts

Looked at this one a few times and even got the checker saying close but not quite right, reread the text and suddenly another solution presented itself all quite at GZ making for a easy find TFTC

This "simple" puzzle has Mr Tardis quite confused. I completely over thought it and missed the obvious. Eventually it all came together. A late night grab tonight with no-one around.

Signed the log. Thanks for the cache chillibutts.

Gott im Himmel, Ich fand die kleine Ratte.
Danke fur das Katsel und den Cache. Prost!

In the pole behind the metre box

Found it

Took a while to work out the puzzle but got it eventually. TFTC!

This entry was edited by MisuVir on Sunday, 27 October 2013 at 08:24:38 UTC.

After a moment inspiration enough information came together to get me started on solving this little beauty.

No Huns were seen while at GZ today (good camo or where they not there?).

Thanks for an interesting puzzle and the cache chillibutts.

Ich sah nicht, Ratten, aber ich habe viele Hunde zu sehen.
Ich sah auch den Cache, aber die eigentliche Schwierigkeit wurde Extrahieren des Cache. Meine Finger überlebt. Ein leichter regen begann zu fallen. Zeit, um wieder zu den Gräben. Vielen Dank kühl Hintern.

Corporal Owl burst into the officers’ mess with the communiqué. General Eagle and Colonel Hawk immediately started complaining about the accuracy of the friend and foe identification, unit movement and unit size. Corporal Owl pointed out it was a coded message, but General Eagle merely muttered into his eggs, while Colonel Hawk dictated the numbers to Corporal Owl. She spotted the infantry diversion and determined the location of those pesky Eye-Ties. Today she made a sortie up the ridge, avoiding enemy muggle spies, to confirm her intelligence. Mission accomplished!

Hmmm. A little too complex to start with methinks.[?]

Tiger muffin asked me last week if I had had any luck with solving this as he had looked at it every way but the right one apparently. I replied I hadn't even known it was out. Five minutes later, after an unnecessary Internet search I looked at the map, offered a suggestion and he emailed back with language that usually has one confined to barracks.
Then it all unravelled onsite... Neither of us had the final coordinates in the gps, no notes scribbled on paper, I couldn't connect technology pt 2 to technology pt 3 to visit the website, and we were under assault from a mobile unit belonging to the local parks and gardens division from the east.
Eventually I deciphered it & TM entered them in the gps. I'm not sure if we won the war or lost the battle, but we found the cache.

Damn rats!! After FourW enquired as to his possible solution I realised the flaw in my calculations. I had all the right numbers, I'd just put them in the wrong order. The result being, the concept behind the solution was thrown over the wall into 'no-mans' land where it was blown to smithereenies by a German Panzer tank.
The resulting outburst of frustration saw me placed in the naughty corner and ordered to clean latrines for a week. After some communication problems with HQ were sorted and an enemy Panzer departed the scene we snuck in to grab the cache.
If I see another rat...............TFTC chillis.

Of course the map made no sense at all at first, but after careful analysis and a good amount of pondering, a likely possibility emerged. Tackled the find on a very hot afternoon. The cache was difficult to extract but no-one was that silly to be out in the heat to witness the antics. Thanks for the puzzle and cache chillibutts!

Find #1001
Enjoyed the history, the puzzle and the find!
Thanks Chilli!

Back for another look. I was in the right place but didn't suspect such a sneaky sneaky hide. Finally looked from the right angle. My Grandfather was in the British army and fought through North Africa and Italy, so it was nice to knock off this puzzle and cache. Cheers chillibutts!

Got the nod from Geocheck, but couldn't find the cache. Another cheeky hide no doubt. I'll go back soon and think like a rat (or look for spagetti?).

Hint added re cache placement. (forgot that in my excitement to (en)list.)

I tell you I snuck in here under the cover of darkness. The Moon was very low, capable of casting only the feeblest of a long shadow. The courage flowed to push on through the shadows.

An then it nearly happened. In the darkness and long shadows, I nearly went straigt over enemy lines...head first into the black pit. Boy it was black. It would have cracked the Astrodome clean open if I'd not seen the trap. 9th division eat your heart out. You live on at home....

He’s gone home to be with you now Lord, he lived to be seventy-seven
A good age, some would say, when you called him home to heaven.
He fought for his country Lord, in the desert in world war two
He was a Rat of Tobruk who dug in deep, showing courage through and through.
He was an officer and a gentleman, in everything he did
And he loved the lads who served with him who did as they were bid.
He’d meet the patrols with a mug of rum on the cold nights as they came in;
He bent the rules if he thought it would give some comfort to his men.
He was a soldier Lord, who grieved when one of his young men fell,
But he held it deep inside his heart for there was no one he could tell.
But he carried their memories for the rest of his life, buried deep within his mind,
Knowing they’d made the ultimate sacrifice for peace within our time.
You said that greater love no man has than he who lay down his life for his friend
And I hope they were there to greet him, his courageous forgotten men;
Because I have a feeling that if they didn’t he would have gone searching far and wide,
That he’d muster them, saying
“ Look sharp now lads, get yourselves in stride!”
He’d march them through those pearly gates right up to the Father’s throne
Salute with reverence and say with pride “ Lord the Rats are safely home!”

An old rat once told AstroPaul....the only thing wrong with the Germans is they were playing on the wrong team.....

But this one is funny?

Was ist der Unterschied zwischen einer überfahrenen Ratte und einer überfahrenen Blondine?
Vor der Ratte ist eine Bremsspur.

A little known fact is that some of the rats of Tobruk that were of German descend also engaged the enemy by infiltrating the camps pretending to be defected foreign legionnaires.

They would tell German jokes like this one:

Schick mir mal ein Bild von dir, dass häng ich an die Kellertür. Damit es auch die Ratten sehen und nie mehr in den Keller gehen

Or

Ein Mann kommt in einen Chinesichen Laden und kauft sich eine Goldene Ratte.
Der Händler: "Wollen sie denn die Geschichte zu der Ratte gar nicht wissen?"
Der Mann sagt "Nein!" und kauft sich die Ratte.
Als er wieder nach Hause geht, folgen ihm alle Ratten, aus Häusern, aus Kanaldeckeln, aus Käfigen, überallher kommen sie gelaufen und folgen ihm bis zu einem Fluss in den alle Ratten hineinspringen.
Der Mann geht zurück zum Laden und Fragt: "Haben sie auch einen Goldenen SS Offizier?"

Or

Was ist der Unterschied zwischen einer überfahrenen Ratte und einer überfahrenen Australier?
Vor der Ratte ist eine Bremsspur.

You see German jokes are that lame, but the Germans just can’t help themselves and have to burst into laughter. After telling these jokes the rats were treated like the prodigal sons and as such could infiltrate the inner sanctum of the pantzer division and pass on the GPS coordinates to their mates in the field.

This strategy greatly contributed to the successes in Lybia and ultimately to the end of WWII

"The discovery that one particular arrangement wasn't as worthwhile as it seemed is bound to be a disappointment. Yet, this has been instructive. First, you've learned you can't trust certain individuals. Also, just as importantly, you now realise that no matter who you are dealing with, you must do some serious investigation before you act." Gemini SAWeekend-dec 15 2012.

"Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is: "Do not march on Moscow". Various people have tried it, Napoleon and Hitler, and it is no good. That is the first rule." Bernard Montgomery, (Monty) 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, Hansard 1962

"It is a little known fact that a company of French foreign legion were part of the allied garrison who held the Libyan port of Tobruk for 242 days against the Afrika Corps. In their home country these brave troops are known as Le Frogs de Tabrook. Their motto: Non vierge est sûr" Freddo, 15 Dec 2012

Minor wording changes in the text below the diagram - trust this helps with the order of things.

Attempts 9 and 10 were almost there. Just not quite the right theory being applied.

Published

But is it the third reich!!