Thark Grotto Lenah Valley, Tasmania, Australia
By Sue&Peter on 06-Nov-13. Waypoint GC4RKVJ

Today we headed up Mt Wellington to tackle the first 12 caches on the Thark track. We arrived at the nearby parking at 11.45am so decided to have an early lunch and then head off.Really enjoyed the walk and the rock hopping to the final of the 12 caches. Then the fun began as we cached our way back to the car. We ended up skipping one of the hides as I was all rock hopped out and it was 90m uphill from the trail. Other than that one all caches were found safe and sound.No snakes spotted but we did see a kazillion lizards. We thought the weather was going to be drizzle all afternoon but the clouds dispersed and we were hit with the searing Tassie sun. Sun burnt necks for both of us as the sunscreen was in the car .Nice quick find here TFTC

On a walk today with my non-caching partner, so couldn't spend too much time looking for all the caches on this walk - I'll have to come back another day! Quick find here, my caching sense came into play thankfully.TFTC

A great day out with the wife and kids for extra searching capability and banter on what at first was looking pretty grim weather wise but we were rewarded for taking a chance as it cleared up and the rain stayed away for the time we were out. We managed the first few in the Thark ridge series with firm plans to come back for the rest when we get a better day. Shout out to Zozetta who came along as well and while she had already found them was great company on the trail. TFTC

TFTC!

The caches along the Thark Ridge Track have been on our to-do list for quite some time, so today Zozetta and I decided to try and find some of them. The weather was perfect for doing the walk, blue skies, no wind and a bit of sun in some places as well. In total we found eleven caches, leaving the car at 10:00 and getting back at 13:40. We saw what felt like thousands of skinks, plenty of bumblebees and one white lipped snake.Found in the first place I checked. Unfortunately this one was also quite wet, we added some paper and a dry bag, but it will need some maintenance!Thanks for the cache Sue&Peter!

We did a circuit walk on and off track and on our return leg we found a few caches. This was the third. Unfortunately the log was saturated so it was impossible to write anything. I'm hoping to come back this way soon and will replace the log if I remember to. TFTC

Up in Brisbane there is a challenge cache where you have to find 10 caches above 1000m on a TUESDAY! Knowing I would be down here in Tassie on a Tuesday, I made sure to reserve this day to visit kunanyi. What better place to collect the caches I needed. Of course I had already found the easy ones on previous visits which left this trail of Thark ones. The not so easy ones!Just as I had put my bag down to hunt for this beasty, what would you know, a muggle appeared! Always the way, walk for ages without seeing a single soul and as soon as you need some alone time to hunt for a cache up pops Joe Blow on the trail. I pretended I was taking photos, said gday and waited for the muggle to pass. He disappeared around the track and then I quickly spotted a likely hidey hole. Woot! There it is Again the log had seen better days and I cursed myself for not being better prepared. I did attempt to leave my autograph but the paper just started to mush up. A quick happy snap of the log and I placed it back to bed.Thanks for the cache Sue&Peter

Tftc

Wow what a day, at 5am the alarm went off and the day began. Mr T met up with goose & SSR and we made our way to Betts Road, parked and we were driven to the top by Membsec. We met up with the others at 8am, Mr_Johna, KingSmev, EeePees, Budgietas, TeamSwampy, Jabs and Zozetta for part of the walk and headed off to the event. We found some caches along the way and this was one of them.

To start the track was reasonably good, but as time went by the terrain became a little more difficult. The company was great and we all had a good time in challenging conditions. Near the end of the track we encountered steep sections, up and down as we descended down from the mountain.

A great day out, blue sky’s until the end of the day where we all got wet but dried out when the sun came out as we headed to the car park. A 13.5 hour trek, arriving back at the cars in the dark, All logs signed Team Tassie.

#19340 @1815
In Tasmania for 2 weeks to attend the Oceania Orienteering Champs. Caching all around for DT combos and counties. Perfect weather this afternoon for this walk - sunny, warm and windless. Just over an hour to Thark Ridge with one stop. An hour and a half back to the car, finding all the caches on the way. Cache easily found thanks to the hint. Log was very damp. TFTC.

A very tharking icy grotto
TFTC

Had me thinking a little for this one

We continue to be impressed with your coordinates (and the walk of course).
TFTC

Waiting for a day that's around 26 - 30oC so i can come up to Mount Wellington and go on a big walk to grab (hopefully) the rest of this 'Thark' series of hides and the 'Wellington Peaks E' hide also.
The weather decided to play-ball and i was eager to take advantage of it before it possibly caves in this afternoon (Possible Storm [:o]) so with water and other hike related things in my Caching - Shoulder bag i set off.
The sun was shining and the winds were light. It was a pleasant 21oC as i arrived, bewdiful! [^]

This hide was found pretty much straight away due to, yet again, accurate co-ordinates
Both Accurate co-ords and a hint are very much appreciated in such an environment

Sat myself down on a table-top rock nearby and signed the log at 11:57 on the 1st day of Summer and it sure feels like it too "Absolutely Sweet As!" Everyone loves Summer in Tassie and being up here is the Choice thing to do.

The cache and contents are fine and dry.
TFTC Sue&Peter

Quick find.

A quick find without any scrub bashing required is always nice.
I'm glad this was so quick, it could have taken a lot longer.
Thanks sue and peter for another cache along this tharking ridge!

So that's what grotto means !
Thanks for the cache, Sue&Peter !

Heading into late afternoon now as I made my way further along the track. Peered at the cache map and looked at al the intersecting tracks around this area. Looking forward to coming back to explore more. Quick find here. Thanks

Today we decided to tackle the Thark Ridge walk and the associated caches. Came to this one and it was in an excellent natural hide. A quick find. TFTC

It was at this time on the return segment of our walk from the ridge that the “Thark” innuendos began. Mrs Woodyrothwell had only just cottoned on to the fact that all the caches have a “Thark” in the name and it was time for her to get her inner comedian out. It’s not a show I would pay for.

1. This Thark’n cache is awesome
2. Holy Thark
3. Climbing this ridge is like a good Thark

It just didn’t stop. My wife doesn’t swear much at all but since she was given a license to sound like she was swearing, it just kept coming. I hope she doesn’t keep this gag going all tharking night. tftc

Nice spot, kids loved it!

A nice easy find whilst enjoying a day out walking in the area. TFTC!
Cheers,
The Hancock Clan

Very easy find thanks to the photos!

Tassie Trip Day 105 - Today was a walk on Mt Wellington to collect a few caches whilst it was a little cooler and the mountain was clear so after making the trip to the top and going to the toilet it was time to begin collecting some caches.

This was a nice little spot to stop and grab another cache along the track and a great place to leave a TB along the way.

Thanks Sue&Peter for bring us here to admire the view and the track along the way.

On the Thark track on a beautiful day. TFTC

I was navigating by GPS today. Looking at the cache listing whilst typing in the logs, I’m seeing that I missed out on some photos that would have helped with the hunts immensely

Such a beautifull spot. Can't stop smiling

TFTC

TaurusSix and I are getting into the groove of the day, spotting this hide quickly.

Actually, yesterday was planned in the weather to tackle the trail to feel the rigors of nature. But the road closure has thwarted my calculations.
At the barrier I had a nice and detailed conversation with the ranger. He explained to me why with some snow and ice the street is blocked. Hard to understand for me as an European. In the end he gave me a great tip for the day and so I was in the grandiose MONA.

Today, the weather calmed down and I started the trail. He is a bit exhausting, especially if the track is still a bit snowy and slippery.

The cans (7 + 1) I could happily find all that was not so easy in the snow.

Tftc

Easy find this time

Main goal of this little hike was Thark Ridge with its interesting D/T rating of course ! I really enjoyed this demanding hike on the rough surface leading me through the area up here at Mt. Wellington with not a single muggle around . I left some caches for the way back as pleasant changes [:o)].

My guess was correct and resulted in a quick find .

TFTC

The vegetation through this section was lusher and the boulders bigger.
However I guessed quickly on where you had hidden this one.
Cache in great condition

Hi Sue&Peter thanks for this cache. As we approached GZ we identified a number of potential spots, none too difficult to access, but it was Mr EeePees who identified the right one first. Cache retrieved, log signed and returned, and cache returned to it's hiding place ready for the next finder.

Hi Sue&Peter, TFTC. Yes, plenty of grottos here, but goose's recent log prompted a quick find in a very likely spot.
The weather is ideal for our expedition, and the track is mostly dry, no surface water, just a few slightly muddy patches causing no impedance at all.
Found BoxingDay on a lovely walk with all 4 of the EeePees clan along with Lil Rafa.
Thanks for sharing this area which I probably would never had seen if not for geocaching.
#825 @ 1142hrs Tue 26th December 2017

On the way to this one the track got worse but nothing we are not used to walking in Tassie, it/we warmed up some more so coats and layers came off and went in our packs, at ground zero the rock was bigger than I had been thinking and after a quick search in the easy to reach locations I climbed round the back and just as I got there Goose called out 'Found it'

So another one down and this time all dry and in good order, thanks again for the cache and now goes without saying the views.

Myself and Goose of GooseandEgg had long planned to do these but we disagreed on when was the best time of year, I wanted to do them when during the winter so we could add in "Trash or Treasure Island" so the ground would be hard and make for easier going but he said spring or summer.
With that said even today was a bit of a last minute event since we had planned all week to do the caches out at seven and five miles beaches but come late Friday night he raised the idea of doing this area since the forecast looked so good for the day, so come the Saturday morning I picked Goose up and while we got our morning coffee we made the call to go up the mountain and not the beach.

We made it to the parking location about 10:30 and after changing feet and getting our warmer gear on we set off at 10:45 and didn't return until 15:30 after which we drove down to lost freight to grab another coffee.

Found on 14/10/2017 at 11:50:21 AM

The best caches I have found so far by type are:-

Traditional [Moorgreen P3:1, Penny Pincher](http://coord.info/GC32Z5B) By [Sven&Cup](http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?A=6596795)
Multi [CoaledHearted](http://coord.info/GCKGZ5) By [CraigRat](http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?A=256663)
Unknown [Men In Black Holes](http://coord.info/GC1DVB0) By [SG-3](http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?A=918045)
Letterbox [Rolf's Letterbox](http://coord.info/GC5NCYM) By [membsec](http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?A=5318842)

It was warming up nicely as we trudged along the track, sometimes in thick mud mixed with a bit of rock hopping, and then there were the nice bits where we could walk normally. It didn’t matter really except it would have been nice to look up more rather than where the next dry foot step was. As we neared GZ we saw a few options and placed our backs down and scrambled around looking in all the ‘grottos’. Stainless steel rat went up around the back for a look and I pulled out the GPS and it was pointing a bit further. I quietly checked it out, not confident as my GPS has been laughing at me lately. This time it was being very serious and led me to a familiar sight that soon revealed the cache.

Now where is that rat? “Found it” I called out, oh there he is!

Thanks Sue&Peter for an easy find…… for one of us

Thanks for the cache Amazing g to see the work invested to make this track.

I had some idea of what a grotto was but never thought it would be here.TFTC

Fairly quick find on this one. Used this stop to remove a layer of clothing as the temperature was rising.
Some great views along the way.

TFTC Sue&Peter
Find 5370 logged from c:geo.

Yaaay! Another find! Thank you! Loving this track.

Thank you.

TFTC Sue&Peter

Found on a walk with the membsecs.

Yesterday we were considering today's Thark Attack when discussion with Mr_Johna about nearby puzzles led to an organised group attack. The early morning start was aborted by the rain but as the weather improved the "Attack" was on. Good coords again so we looked for a likely grotto. Male membsec (on his knees) spotted a likely hide and the cache. All in good order here.
TFTC

A nice easy find, cache in good condition signed and returned it back to the grotto.
Thanks for the cache.

Found whilst walking to Tharks ridge this afternoon, thanks

Together with Silli1310, we went on holiday for a year. After travelling South America for three months, we went to New Zealand for another two months and then to Tasmania. Since ElMapa had also had Tasmania on his wish list for a long time, we met up for a good three weeks to travel the beautiful island. Unfortunately, the weeks flew by and we had already arrived back in Hobart. As we still had our rental car today, we took the opportunity to quickly drive out of town to Mt Welligton. From up here we had a great view of the city and the sea. After enjoying the view, we drove back again. Since we didn't want to just sit in the car, we did a short hike on the Thark Ridge Route on the way back. Besides the hike, we also wanted to find the few caches along the way. Here we didn't search for too long until the three of us could all sign in the logbook. Many thanks for the cache.

On our [trip around the world](http://www.hoppundweg.piekar.de/) we came to Australia as well. We started in Tasmania, rented a campervan in Melbourne and went up the Eastcoast to Cairns. Then we drove all the way to the Red Centre. We finished in Darwin. We searched many caches and found almost every cache we searched for . Thanks to all the owners of these caches. Now, 2 years later, we recognized, we will never be able to log every cache seperately... So: Sorry for this standard logtext and thanks for one of the caches, which accompanied us on our journey.

Found the cache during our round trip through Tasmania. What a lovely island. The TFTC

Auf unserer dreiwöchigen Tour durch Tasmanien gemeinsam mit smellfooth, silli1310 und kapi84 hier vorbeigekommen und ins Logbuch eingeschrieben. TFTC.

Another easy find in a beautiful part of the world.
We really must come back and find all the Tharks.
Thanks for the cache.

Nice easy find. TFTC

Found on a nice relaxing fathers day walk TFTC

Found on our way to Devils Throne. A quick find on a cracking day on the mountain. Love it! TFTC

Ftc

It was great to walk along this new section of trail and see the regeneration that is taking part in the area we now head around. A big thanks to all of those who have made this possible. Again there was the usual head down tails up while the search was under taken.
JABs.

A very nice little grotto indeed. Well done on placing all of these caches to entice others to do what I think could be quite an underrated walk. The weather was unusually warm for the top of the mountain and as predicted, a bit windy at times (just ask Swampy). Thanks again Sue&Peter.

Success here, with such a large party, was going to depend on who picked the right grotto. Luckily we weren't competing, and this was another realxing and quickly achieved find. Heck, someone even signed the log book for me. Thanks Sue&Peter.

Hi Sue & Peter

As part of the Thark Lark, as well named by dippy, we found this cache. Nice grotto

Thanks for the cache

What an awesome day for a walk!
Found this cache during the Tharks Lark event attended by Dippy, Budgie, Old Saint, Sue & Peter, Sam Carter, SG3, JABs & SB8 and Whitewebs. Thanks for the cache!

A beautiful day to have an event on the Mountain. 11 geocachers met and headed off for a great day of walking, talking and caching along the way. TFTC and the company.

Summer's finally here, and a chance to go for a walk on top of the mountain - it's been far too long!
I kept a sharp eye out for wriggly sticks, expecting they would be sunning themselves, but all I saw were a lot of skinks to keep me alert (they have an interesting green sheen up here).
At GZ, I quickly found the cache. This was a pretty area - I like these alpine rock gardens.
Thanks.

A quick find (fortunately) on our way back from a walk to Devils Throne. Perfect weather (makes a nice change for this area). Good clue and accurate coordinates helped. TNLN. Thanks Sue&Peter.

What do 2y'stassies do on their 41st Wedding Anniversary? Cache of course, but not just any caches. We had set aside the Thark series of caches for a special event and today was the day. It was ideal conditions to walk on the mountain - fine, a light breeze, warm without being hot and excellent visibility. This was the fourth cache we came to after parking our car at the suggested parking spot. There has certainly been a great deal of work done on the track and this was greatly appreciated. Again accurate coordinates and the hint led to a quick find. The cache and it's contents were in good condition. It was while taking a break here later in the day that we saw a number of small birds, including a robin redbreast who was quite inquisitive about what we were doing. Thanks for another great cache Sue&Peter.

Hi Sue&Peter
Easy walk in with a fairly dry track.
The work done on the track made for easier walking.
Quick find at 1113hrs.
TFTC and cheers
OldSaint.

A nice easy find.
The snow up here is great.
TFTC

When we arrived at GZ we spotted something unusual in the snow. This led us straight to the cache - thanks Alby (see photo). TFTC

Published

Left a new Travel bug (Bugs Harmless)