The Almost Secret Garden Lara, Victoria, Australia
By jandaw on 22-Sep-13. Waypoint GC4HZW5

Cache container is definitely MIA. Archiving so somebody else can hide in the area if they wish.

Was hoping to turn this one into a smiley last week (9/10) and was happy that my GPS was behaving. Coordinates took me right to where I believe the cache should have been last time I looked. Armed with a TOTT to see if I could reach further this time and still came up empty but made friends with a worm. I do believe this one has been muggled but would love someone to prove me wrong. Still love the spot this geocache takes us. Very calm and peaceful.Could the CO please check on this one? Thanks a bunch.

----------### **OWNER MAINTENANCE REQUESTED PLEASE** ###----------Hi there Cache Owner,This cache has been flagged by Geocaching HQ as a cache that **possibly** needs some attention. You may recall having received an automated email from Geocaching HQ which explained what you needed to do. Unfortunately, nothing seems to have happened, so the cache is being temporarily disable - see here: [**Geocache Health Score.**](https://www.geocaching.com/help/index.php?pg=kb.chapter&id=38&pgid=713)**You do need to respond in some way within 14 days,** so others know you are on top of it, as well as indicating exactly what is happening with this placement - please don't let a lack of communication scuttle this listing.#What you need to do:-#You have a number of choices so pick the one that applies from this handy list:-- **Check On The Cache** - once checked, place an Owner Maintenance log and then enable the cache.- **Place A Write Note Log** - indicating a date when you expect it will be restored. - **Adopt Out or Archive** - depending on whether you want it kept or for it to disappear.Full details for each of the above choices can be found at [**GEOCACHE MAINTENANCE**]( https://wiki.groundspeak.com/display/GEO/Victoria) on the Regional Policies page.You might wonder what happens if you don't pick one of the above. Well, when the cache is next checked by a Reviewer, if the issue has not been addressed, or there is no acknowledgment as requested above, it will be assumed the cache has been abandoned. [xx(] It would be far better if you decide, so please do something before then. Please don't send an email but instead follow the information/advice posted above.Thanks for your cooperation,Bunjil (Pete & Helen)Volunteer Reviewers - Australia[3AS]

DNF

Not today, maybe try again another time. Lovely walk

No luck on this one today but it is such a nice hidden garden here

What a gorgeous spot!!! Followed the hint but unfortunately were none of what the hint was at zero where we looked. Will be back

No luck today with GPS bouncing and the odd muggle passing. Had to fake photography for awhile there! After some time, I am fairly confident I found where I’m meant to be looking but after searching I just couldn’t see it today! If it’s where I’m thinking it is that is one tricky hollow log! Fingers crossed I can find it next time!

Thanks for taking us to this pretty little wilderness.

Peace,
Tara

What a lovely garden area
TFTC

Out with the Geobro for a local tidy up of caches - TFTC

Sometimes we get fed up with a dnf but not this one. We didn't really mind cos it's brought us to the most wonderful gardens that we never would have discovered otherwise. They are absolutely fantastic, thanks

Nice hide, right on the edge of the path. #781 We are back in the area following up missed caches from International Geocaching Day.

Found it

Found with pwala after the event jandaw, thank you so much for placing it and highlighting this area

Found with Crank1 during crawl cache day. jandaw, thank you so much for placing it and highlighting this area. Good hide!

Second attempt! Found it thanks to the help of fellow cachers we met at Larafolks event today

Second time looking and found almost straight away this time.

No luck today

Epic, nearly gave up. Congrats great cache ️

Looked for a while, finally found it. Well hidden!!

Absolutely beautiful! An almost quick find for us today!Great cache placement!Thanks for placing and maintaining this cache!

TNLN
May 14, 2022 5:22 PM
Cache Number: 1322 TFTC HoodedHooligans

Getting to the cache area is a nice walk. Finding the prize requires patience. Tftc

An evening caching session after work today brought me to this lovely garden.
It took me quite some time to find the correct article to match the hint, very well concealed as it is.
Very neat.
TFTC jandaw

First find in Lara, and it was a good one. TFTC

Hmmm...I will be interested to see if I am completely wrong, or if the cache might have gone missing. After much searching and reading of previous posts, I did find what I thought to be the most obvious spot according to the clue given.

Had a really good look in the 'hiding spot' but nothing was there. Will put it on my watch list and see if anyone else finds it.

Was a beautiful spot on a lovely walk, so not all was lost.

We saw the Kevin Hoffman Garden on Gardening Australia and decided we needed to visit the garden. Our next thought was, "Is there a cache there?" Well, lo and behold, there is a cache there, so we were able to combine a couple of our hobbies in one spot, gardening and geocaching. We parked near y and wandered around the garden admiring the variety of flowers that were out; the Banksias, in particular, were spectacular. This garden is amazing. We then set about looking for the cache, this was complicated by the appearance of some muggles, but we found the cache and sat on a nearby bench and carefully signed the log before returning it to its hiding spot without being detected by the muggles. The cache was in excellent condition. Thank you for this cache, jandaw.

Bit of a tough one to find, had to really look hard. No pencil to log, just a notebook, tried to use a stick to write with!! Nice walk though

What a lovely little sanctuary, a little tricky to find in fading light but worth the visit TNLNSL TFTC

Took a while but found it! Such a beautiful area ️ TFTC

Found

Found today

Hi there jandaw.

We found your cache **"The Almost Secret Garden"** today. (This makes our find count 24143).

Wow it's been so long since we found a cache we were getting withdrawal symptoms. Luckily the COVID restrictions have eased so we could venture out and enjoy a decent walk in the sunshine. We found 7 caches & DNF'd 0 today.

Over the years, Geocaching has taken us on many adventures and to lots of wonderful destinations all over Australia. Without 'caching as our guide we would never have found so many interesting places on our nomadic wanderings. 'Caching has also introduced us to a diverse group of like-minded people, many of whom we now call friends.

**Cache Condition:** The container and log book are in good shape.
**Took:** Nothing
**Left:** Smiley Badge.
**Dropped Trackable:** "Country Cow".

Thank you for placing this cache here & adding to our adventure.

Regards

Ian & Penny

Well hidden
TFTC

Tftc! Quick find

Wow that was hard! JelenaGreenleaf and I looked around here for ages and didn't see it/anything that matched the clue.... a previous log helped a lot. What a sneaky hide! Very glad to have gotten the smiley here! Nice little garden, the6 should extend the walk further on. Tftc!

Found with georocks101. I've been wanting to do this walk for quite a while and it was lovely, a great job by the volunteers. This cache confounded us though and we nearly gave up. It's thanks to some previous logs that we were able to find the hide. Thanks jandaw

With a few more minutes to fill in before attending the Annual Xmas Dinner we headed over to this cache as it wasn't too far from the dinner venue.
After enjoying a short walk it was Mrs Perpetuallylost who found the potential GZ and Mr Perpetuallylost who was game to put his hand in the hole where the cache was found.
Thx Jandaw for placing a cache in this reserve, we really enjoyed the layout and the planting here, a real hidden gem. A fave point from me for the location. Cheers!

Dnf

LeeLee decided to head to Lara today to pick up a few caches around town. A warm day so I was staying away from paddocks where possible. I was on high alert here (watching for silvery things) a few birds certainly caused the over sensitive LL to jump a few times.

What a lovely area. Absolutely loved the gardens, natives and the wander through here. A beautiful spot. Noticed a few plants we have in our garden at home including the Queensland Bottle Trees.

Took a bit to find this one, especially with GPS jumping around. Eventually it settled and a clever hide was found.

A FP added for a lovely location which geocaching has brought me to.
Thanks jandaw

Found on Tuesday 22 October 2019 at 17:30:16

With an extra half an hour or so up my sleeve before having to pick the eldest GeoKid up from Gymnastics I decided to clean up a few more finds in Lara and pick up some minecraft clues and a couple of other caches in the area.

Thanks jandaw for placing this Small Traditional - this is find 1607 for BFMC

FTF in log woohoo love this place old kid fave spot left some coffee tea n coins

Logbook replaced. Gardens are looking fabulous!

Located new logbook required thanks

Found with Coruze and DazzPete.
We continued on down the path to this one, chatting away merrily, until the neat little dude garden was reached, and then a lot of searching by 4 pairs of eyes was thrown into full swing until Coruze found the treasure and we all signed our lives away in the totally soaked log book.
Nice quiet spot this.

Thanks to Skullracing and Coruze for letting me tag along for the day. It was a lovely winter day to get out and about.
A lovely spot for an afternoon stroll.

TNLN SL TFTC

Gave up when I felt the mozzies start to bite

Found it! A lovely peaceful spot for a quiet solo cache hunt. Log still sopping wet so I didn't attempt to write in it.

Believe it or not this log is wet!

However, we certainly did appreciate it his wonderful hidden gem, and we were here at a great time of day too, as the sun is starting to set.
Absolutely loved it.
A fav point from us for showing us and everyone else.
TFTC

Looked in a few wrong places first but found quite quickly. Really nice hiding place in such a nice scenic area. Just walking through here quickly before going home and thought I’d try grab a cache. Enjoying all the caches around Lara TFTC. The log book was sopping wet though. Maintenance and a new container may be needed

This log is to tidy up a mess I made with GSAK . I forgot to apply the template so my finds were published with a nonsensical log.

Rather than try and edit all the logs I post this not with what the log should have been.

My apologies for the confusion caused.




A few days away with Freddo, e.gregory1 and The White Dog Gang.

Fun was had by all. Not too many dnfs

Most logs signed as FETT.

Thanks for all the caches.

Claiming a find as a beta tester.

Too much glitter for my liking.

Found whilst touring Geelong & Ballarat areas between Xmas & New Year with Freddo, Team Waldron and e.gregory1 - we've signed as F.E.T.T.
Some pretty hot days but great scenery and good co-ords & caches hides made for an enjoyable trip
TFTC jandaw

Cache was found in the last place we looked, which as usual was not the first place we looked.

Found on a short, post-Christmas sojourn to Victoria with Freddo, Team Waldron and thewhitedoggang that involved plenty of driving, cycling, walking and even some boating and wading.

The weather was on our side (albeit a little warm at times), which made for some great caching. There were plenty of varied finds, with some excellent and often tricky hides and and just a few DNFs. We signed most logbooks ‘F.E.T.T.’

What a lovely garden!

Thanks jandaw for the cache.

This is a beautiful spot i did not know was there thanks for the cache jandaw
With zedaycee

Grabbing caches while in the area for an event. Quick find today in a lovely area. The log book is soaked however and needs replacing. TFTC jandaw

In the area for the Christmas events yesterday, so taking the opportunity with omegaman1971 to do some of the local hides, while in the area for the weekend. We only had a few DNF's and made some good discoveries and clever hides during the day. We had some fun and laughs along the way.

One last one before heading home. It was a nice little spot to make this find. The log was a bit wet, when signing it.

Thanks jandaw for placing the cache for us to find and doing the maintenance to keep it in play.
8538

omegaman1971
4384 Finds
On the way home from Geelong after a great weekend caching with Happy Feet1.
This was actually the last of the day, what a lovely spot.
Log very wet.

08/12/2018 3:46:00 PM
After logging a nearby DNF scouter decided there were Pokemon he wanted to hunt so after an enjoyable stroll I hunted a cache while he hunted a Pokemon win-win
Thanks for the hide.
Log was quite wet

We decided to drop by this cache on our way home after doing some errands in Geelong. As we walked toward GZ, we met a lady walking her 2 dachshunds. She asked if we were locals and we told her about our house sitting and traveling. The conversation soon meandered further and it turns out our friendly dog walker is Kevin Hoffman's wife! She knew about the cache, having mistaken an earlier pair of seekers for possible plant thieves and knew where it was as well although she kept that to herself 'till after we'd found it. She told us a bit more of the history of the garden and of their travels and we all could have stood there chatting longer except the dogs were obviously keen to get home to their dinner. A lovely garden and a lovely lady - just the sort of experience that makes geocaching so rewarding! Thanks, jandaw, for placing this cache and bringing us here.

The log book is very damp and could definitely do with being replaced.

It’s very wet inside!

Found by The Empire
Happy Australia Day! A lovely garden, the sprinklers were on and I got a little shower as I walked back to the car. The cache is very wet, I was able to leave a card and tried to dry it out as much as possible. Thanks for the cache jandaw.
- M

We thought we had already done this one, but it must have been another section of the walk! All was quiet this morning except for the sprinklers which the little bunny thought was great fun to run through. TFTC

Found with FUF009, chooknchunk & misschief19.
We had a bit of a laugh here as the sprinkler system turned on and all of us got a sprinkling. Great fun. Tftc

Find # 4713

Travelling around Geelong and surrounds with sharkiefan for the annual Christmas events and turning icons into smilies.

Well what a memorable cache, for what happened at GZ.
while the walk down was quite warm, things changed quickly as we (sharkiefan, chooknchunk & misschief19 and Myself) got to GZ. Looks like the area is under watch and some one decided to turn on the sprinklers right when we got there.
wile the others ran for the dry area I went in for the grab, while the water was not expected it was actually quite refreshing. seeing as it was quite a warm day.

TFTC and shower jandaw

Found with chooknchunk and misschief18 while in the area for the Geelong Christmas events. Thanks jandaw for the cache.

In the area for tea and as I was a bit early I had time to find a few caches.
This is one on the reasons I love caching as I would not have found this lovely almost secret garden if not for a cache being placed here.
Kevin did a great job in starting this garden and it is nice to see the council and locals keeping up the great work.
There are so many places to hide a cache here but the coords were spot on and I soon had the cache in hand.
Thanks jandaw TFTC.

Travelled down from Raglan to Geelong, accompanied by Wozzle68 and Misschief18, for a massive day of caching and events.

This was found on our way to the Dinner event in Lara. We had met up with FUF009 and Sharkiefan at the previous cache so we all did this one together.

As we approached GZ the smaller sprinklers that had been on the garden started to turn off automatically. Beauty.... or so we thought. Then the big sprinklers started up. FUF009 copped most of the water as he dashed in to grab the cache and bring it out to a dry patch for signing, while the rest of us were laughing too much as we tried to dodge the sprays.

TFTC jandaw.

Didn't have a pen

Nice find. Lovely area. Came with a friend who had already done it so she sat there smiling while i searched and i got a hurrah for finding it. Could reach easily in my wheelchair thank you.

Found

I have been through the almost secret garden for another cache before, but it is still a pleasant surprise and not quite expected in this area. Very nice, cache tucked safely in its spot. Able to grab some EarthCache info here too after rock-hopping across the creek. Enjoyed the QR codes that when scanned played some info on the history of the area. TFTC

1:14 pm #3318
Found whilst caching the area today with Papillon4506, Geoturtle37 and Pinkpiggy7.
What a lovely area. Thank you so much for placing this cache to bring us here. Cheers

This is an absolutely wonderful little oasis. Was very surprised to find this lovely garden here. The cache was quickly located while geoturtle37 was busy taking photos. Thanks for the cache and for bringing us here.

Found quickly by papillon4506 nice little hidden garden here. Tftc

What a beautiful little gem. Thank you for bringing us to this spot. Nice quick little find.

TFTC

Found it, what a beautiful spot plus the sprinklers were on so we got a nice cooling spray tfth

Stopped off at this cache with a packed lunch in hand on our way to Geelong. We met the lady who maintains the garden who told us all about how her husband created the gardens and how she lovingly looks after them. We told her about geocaching and showed her the cache, she was very intrigued and loved that people would come to admire and appreciate the secret garden. Thanks for bringing us here today.

Doctor Owl and sushilord are off on a long weekend trip to find some quality caches in Mexico. We suffered the laughs, joys and frustrations normally experienced on a caching trip and bonded as geobrother and geosister.

A cache of opportunity found because we were in the area researching an earth cache. This garden is a hidden gem.

Thanks for the cache jandaw.

Day 3 of Owl and Sushilord's excellent adventure saw them concentrate on puzzles. Plus caches that shouted to be found. This was one serendipitously found due to a nearby earthcache and what a delight the area was! Obviously well cared for and some interesting spots. And a bonus cache! This is what Owl loves about caching - finding spots she would never have discovered otherwise and a favourite point is coming your way for the experience.

Ye

Late on a Friday night, desperate to keep my find run going, I found myself looking for one of the It's Puzzle Time caches... with no luck. Gasp! What shall I do? My phone is dead, and my GPS only holds "preloaded" caches. Luckily, this one is one of the preloads. Doubly luckily, I found it with 15 minutes to spare. Thanks heaps, jandaw!

Lovely spot that never knew existed. Great quick find. Log was damp.
Another find by the McPhail family... TFTC

The secret is out now.

Thanks to jandaw and *clear skies* from TeamAstro. Cache the planet!

I spent today in the Lara area. My tally in the end was 30 caches, 10 of these puzzles and the day was loosely organised around the CITO event early afternoon.
On my travels I ran into my good friend Astro from Adelaide and we teamed up for an hour or two enjoying the weather and the hides on offer.
A lovely hidden secret and thanks to accurate cords and the clue we were onto it quickly
Cache in good nick
Thanks jandaw

On my first day off of the week I have come to Lara to get as many caches as possible. What a great little place hiding in the middle of Lara. Cache was an easy find.

A really pretty spot. Cache was a bit damp, but hopefully with some repositioning it will be drier. Great work Mr Hoffman!

Down to Lara for a family event and a chance to pick up a few caches along the way.

After completing the puzzling series it was time to head off to Christmas in July. What a pretty little park.
TFTC jandaw

yayyy my second cache!!! lovely little track here i love walking here most days. didnt know there was a cache

With 2 events in Geelong we (myself, becca85, neisha07 & Muggle Dad) decided to go along and make the most of our day.
We spent the morning doing the awesome You Yangs series, finsihing just in time to get to te lunch time event. The arvo was spent catching up GemmaSistema & wozzle68 to grab a few challenge caches along the water. Muggle Dad had to climb some trees, was fun!
We finished off our day with a great evening event and one more cache (this one!) by torchlight with a muggle friend.
A great day, can't wait to come back this way again another day!
TFTC!

Found with highrod. A lovely walk in a delightful area. Very enjoyable. TFTC

An awesome day was had today. Traveled from Maryborough to Geelong, completed the Young Yangs Circle Drive, 2 events, a FTF and a few others throughout the day.
So much fun with becca85 & boo09. TFTC

What a wonderful magical area this cache is in. I loved the location and all the vision and the work that has created it TFTC jandaw

After a massive day traveling, caching and socialising, we left the nearby event and decided to grab one more on our way back to our Muggle friends place where we were staying the night.
She was keen too so we headed here as it had some Fave points.
It was completely dark by this time of the night so out came torches.
Geokids neisha07 & boo09 guided our muggle friend through these great little gardens to the cache which was found quickly.
A great little adventure to top off our huge day. TFTC!

We decided to enjoy a Saturday down in Lara for the 2 events that were happening today.
Having not been down here before we had a heap of caches to enjoy looking for.
Needed the hint as it was dark and we didn't have a torch.
Thanks for the cache and the hide.

Found with the family.
I enjoyed the day in Lara and the fun caches we found.
Thanks for the hide.

Found with Mum, Dad and Eddie.
The weather was perfect for some caching in Lara.
I had a great time and the caches were fun to find.
Thanks for hiding them.

We found your cache The Almost Secret Garden
Found with misschief18 on a lovely Saturday morning walk.

The cache is in good shape.
Thanks jandaw for the cache!