Hillgrove Billiard Saloon Hillgrove, New South Wales, Australia
By magpiecottage on 24-Apr-14. Waypoint GC53B84

Nice hiding place. Tftc

Took a bit of searching but got there after reading clues again. TFTC

Quick hello to the locals and soon enough had it in our hands, tftc

A lovely spot with a road side stall First to sign new log

Coordinates changed from:
S 30° 34.254 E 151° 54.165

Coordinates changed to:
S 30° 34.252 E 151° 54.161

Distance from original: 24.3 feet or 7.4 meters.

New container at new location nearby

A trip to check out some of the awesome places in NSW and grab some old caches. TFTC.
Quick find. Beware of the little shop on the fence.

Felt a little uncomfortable at this location but thankfully quickly signed and returned. The owner of the property called out once we found it. Haha.

Once again the AL brought me by this one. Lovely little produce stand here. I wished I had some cash. I would have bought some seeds.

Met and enjoyed a great chat and cuppa with the lovely Claire and picked up some goodies in the stall.

Great spot had help from m the owner of the house next door

LOOK AT PHOTO FOR SPOILERS!!!!!!!

LTF

While chatting with Michael at the museum we were told about the jams/chutneys that were once sold at the museum and while arriving at GZ for this cache we saw a stall with jams/chutneys and they are made by the lady who sold them at the museum so we bought some. She asked if we were geocaching and pointed us in the general direction but said she didn't know exactly where it was. It didn't take too long to find once the GPSr settled.
Thanks for the hide magpiecottage.

Aha! A billiard saloon. That sure conjures up imaginings of an old saloon with swinging doors and cowboys with bandy legs and guns on their hips and horses tied up out front. Nothing like that these days but a geocache to find was just as good to us teetotallers.
A look here, a look there, what about there? What about here. Haha. Tried a few spots coz we missed the obvious one on first look. Returning to there we had the cache straight away. Good one Magpiecottage!

Drove into Hillgrove last night, with a plan to stay at the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park. Unfortunately it was getting late, so I only managed to complete the AL and quickly find this one afterwards, before heading down to the campsite. TFTC magpiecottage

Went to stop here on the first pass but the owner of the property was at the front gate. After doing some of the AL we found ourselves back here, where the coast was now clear but got waylaid talking to the owner.
It was an enjoyable conversation as she generously showed us some newborn chick's and around her hard won garden. It's always fun to talk to someone so enthusiastic about what they are doing and I love supporting roadside stalls so it was a win win situation. I got some early Christmas presents and she apparently will get a new fruit tree.
She knows about the cache so I made my find and we were on our way to the next one.

Rolled into Armidale on a drizzly morning but soon cleaned up to a lovely day for caching and exploring. Then decided to head out to Hillgrove on a discovery tour Completed the labs as well. Scored a free dessert with dinner. A fun day pour moi

This hasn’t been found for a while, so took a bit of sleuthing. Love the garden!

TFTC magpie cottage

Tftc

Out tackling the PT, enjoying the drive in the country. TFTC

Last full day of caching in and around Armidale so we decided to tackle the Hillgrove area. Nice quick find, TFTC

5:03:00 PM: (31 of 41) Find#12204
stopped but met the CO and had a long chat and even a look around her small house excellent to see locals and appreciate the effort they put into the hides
thanks
Day 4
Armidale
caching in the Armidale area today around Hillgrove loop
This is a Road trip north from ACT, originally to Dayboro, but now a caching trip around NSW for the Easter break.
found with StrangeTrousers
thanks magpiecottage

#7063 Day 4 of our "Dayboro Plan B" trip. mtrax & myself, having decided to ditch the mega came up with a last minute re-route using some of the accommodation we'd already booked and find some interesting caches. To this end we were very selective and only chose caches with sufficient FPs along the route. Today was just around Armidale, but we took a side trip back to Hillgrove after having to skip it due to time yesterday. Glad we did as it was a great place to geocache and we also grabbed a short trail on the way. Weather was more favorable today with some wind but not cold.

We met the adjacent resident and had a great chat and tour of her unique and wonderful place. Grab some of here home made chutneys too.

Thanks magpiecottage

Find # 6825
Nice quick find. We met the lady who lives here, had a chat and bought some plum chilli sauce.

TFTC magpiecottage
31 March 2021 4:40 pm

We are working our way towards the mega in Daybro, it was good to see a day with no rain so we were just grabbing a few caches that were close to the road trying to make up a bit of time in case we get turned around by floods.

We are really enjoying the way that these interpretive signs have been laid out and although there is nothing left today you can still get a feeling of how the place must have bean during it's heyday. This would have been a thriving location along with the pubs that the miners would have frequented regularly.

Again our thanks for this little tour around town.

So much history here

Found with bedlem2

An easy find in this interesting town.
SL TFTC

Caching with Magpie Cottage. Lovely, cooler summer's day. TFTC magpiecottage 16 January 2021 13:21 # 508

Tftf

Lot if history here, would love to have seen it in it's heyday. TFTC

Quick solo weekend getaway to the area down from Lismore. Today I will be tackling the l
Trails in the area and enjoying the wide open spaces. Tftc

Tftc summary of trails at Gc6rxbg.

Out collecting the various trails and a few extra caches today. A good day in total with only 1 DNF

Thankyou to the CO's for placing and maintaining the caches

Another big day of caching with @itsonlybarney, @TeamPQS and @hubbyandmrs. We decided that we would head out to Hillgrove from where we were staying in Armidale. We had a great time on the Hilllgrove-Metz trail, then we headed into town, luckily we had lunch with us and stopped off by the little playground for the geokids to be able to have a run around to stretch their legs. Once lunch was done we collected all the caches in Hillgrove and then headed out to complete the Long Point Trail. Loved all the Hillgrove history with all the signs indicating what was originally there. The Oyster Saloon sounded yummy. TFTC.

**Total find count: 1058**

After what has felt like an eternity, we are finally taking our first geocaching road trip since Clear Waters with Crzymelly, TeamPQS and HubbyandMrs.

Today was "trail' day. We elected to complete the Gara Loop, Hillgrove-Metz and Long Point geocache trails. All found logs were dry and had room for more names.

**TFTC magpiecottage**

------
The following TBs and Geocoins helped with the search to find the hidden cache:
* Miniature Itsonlybarney
* GeocachingNSW 2016 Geocoin
* GeocachingNSW 2017 Geocoin
* Geocache Talk Geocoin
* Planetary Pursuit Micro Geocoin
* Geocoin Club Jan 2015 - Rescue Coin
* Geocoin Club May 2018 - Blodeuwedd
* OzGeomuster 2018 Geocoin
* Col Miner HAVOC Geocoin
* Geocoin Club June 2018 - Illumination
* Caching Under the Moon
* Geocoin Club July 2018 - Dive Deep
* Geocache Talk Blackout Geocoin
* GeocachingNSW 2018 Geocoin
* Clear Waters 2019 Geocoin
* OzGeomuster 2019 Geocoin

Found on a cold afternoon. SL and replaced. TFTC.

Thanks for a fantastic series showing a beautiful part of the country. TFTC

Found this cache and had a lovely chat with a local who lives here. Tftc.

A quick find in the first place I looked. Love it when that happens. TNLN TFTC

We pulled up near GZ but then got muggled out by a local, so alas we missed this one.

Quick find while touring Hillgrove Hillgrove. TFTC

Tftc!!
Going to coffs

Found while on a geocaching holiday with tmann421.
Enjoyed the trip around and all the great hides.
Stamped TM/WW NZ, or if in pen our full names

Another very nice find today with woolwood9.
*Thanks for helping make our tour around fun!*
Stamped logs as TM/WW NZ or our full user names or tm421/ww9 in pen.

Really liked the signs of how the town was, really quite a shadow of its former self now.

found on a caching day around armidale. thanks

Thanks it was in a good spot

I did my first drive and grab geocaching tour. Coming from Switzerland, normally we would go for a walk to look for caches. So thos was intersting and I finally got the hang of it. I did the Gara River Tour, did some hikes and finally took a detour through Hillgrove following the magpie cottages trail.

With our base established at Uralla we headed out to different surrounding localities finding caches as we went. We enjoyed exploring the area and this was one we (us and Snakepiters) targetted and found. Thanks to magpiecottage for hiding this cache and adding to our enjoyment of the area.

Serious day caching around the Armidale greater area with Liz and Bruce. Good country dirt roads with the car again covered in dust. No DNF's today and some creative caches or great hides were given fav points. we didn't get all the caches in the two days here so we will be back to enjoy the locals hospitality.
TFTC magpiecottage
Total Cache Finds 6081

Found ty

A few minutes and we had this one found. Nice to see all the history boards around town and other signage, gives you a much better understanding of what used to be here.

We decided that another country drive was on the agenda for today. We drove to Historic Hillgrove then continued to Oxley Wild Rivers NP collecting magpiecottage's caches along the way. We even had the pleasure of meeting the CO at one of the caches. We only had one DNF and all the finds were made fairly quickly because of accurate coordinates and helpful hints.

Thanks for this great series Magpiecottage.

Great hiding space!!!

FootyFanatics and I had a reasonably quick find here. Tried imagining what thugs used to look like and had a good read of the sign. TFTC

Spending a couple of days caching in Armidale and surrounding areas with Geodad Whitey Wiskas ..
The co-ords seemed to be in the middle of the road, so I let dad find this one ..
Have given this one a Fav. Point, but it's not for this particular cache, but for all the Hillgrove series, we have really had some fun doing them .. Thanks ..

All Good .. TFTC ..

Spent a couple of days in the Armidale district with geoson. Enjoyed the challenges. Found it TFTC

Found it on a sunny winters Tuesday while caching in the area with evangt. Thank you magpiecottage for putting all these geocaches around the area, your efforts are very much appreciated by all who enjoy this pastime. A quick find. TFTC

There are so many really good caches to be found in this part of the world and we wanted to spend some more time here. Today we thought we would work out a run to find more of the Hillgrove-Metz series.
Hillgrove is an interesting town with all the signs indicating where the businesses used to be and the fact that some buildings have beem removed and erected again in other places. We found all the caches we looked for, signed each log and replaced all as it had been found. Thank you to maggiecottage for a prolific contribution to the caching game.

Quick find. Thanks for the cache.

On our way home after a 5 day camping trip around Dorrigo and Armidale.

A fairly straightforward find here, a quick sign of the logbook and we were on our way to find another.
Thanks for the cache

The rain had settled a bit by now but had left us a bit cold. I really can't believe how big this village once was. Found with Staybe and Co log signed SO or OS we tended to get ourselves confused. 3127 4:51:00 PM magpiecottage without cachers like you we would have no game. Thank you. TNLN SL

On a geocaching weekend to Armidale with Ozglory. Had a lovely time and saw some beautiful countryside & buildings.

What a gorgeous little town!! We absolutely fell in love with the history!

A nice quick find today.

Thank you so much for placing this cache.

Some logs may be signed as O&S to represent Ozglory and Staybe & Co.

We found this cache while out and about exploring more of this wonderful region, it's so very different from our home in northern WA.

Thanks magpiecottage

Ian & Sue - Team Pathfinder uses T.P. to sign smaller logs.

A quick find. Would love to have seen the original billiard hall. Shame it burned down. Thanks magpiecottage

While staying in Armidale we planned to spend most of the time caching around Hillgrove. We thoroughly enjoyed our two trips out here - driving the quiet country roads, searching for a variety of containers, meeting the CO and stopping at some amazing lookouts. Thanks magpiecottage.

Today was Hillgrove day during our stay in Armidale. The weather was great and hopefully we find the caches we are looking for!
While at GZ - no one was playing billiards today Found cache. TFTC

Found this one
Nice and quick
TFTC

TFTC

TFTC

It sure was windy when we arrived at GZ this afternoon! A very quick find of a nice little cache. Made a swap and kept going. TFTC

Amazing to see all the name plaques round the town and see the history - it must have been a thriving community in days gone by. Cache was soon in hand. TFTC magpiecottage

Me tour of Hillgrove continued
No need to keep your dog on a lead here
The locals don't

They don't keep their kids on a lead either !!
One tweenie was kicking up dust and making noise on a dirt bike this morning,
tearing along the streets and through the park

Cache found

TFTC

TFTC smile 3211# out and about with miss millie geo dog good fine?

TFTC hunting with Team Barnsey.

Tftc

TFTC!

Nice view

Done

Gotcha !!! TFTC

Enjoyed this road!

We thought we would come over to Hillgrove for a day of Caching. A glorious sunny day and some lovely country side views, to make for an enjoyable days outing. A quick find was had at GZ. TNLN SL TFTC

Tftc.. easy Find !

Hall of yesterday

Found on 9/10/16

Staying in Armidale from Sydney to explore the Waterfall Way. Headed out to Wollomombi Falls for a hike this afternoon. On the way back we stopped at the Historic Hillgove sign and, the next thing you know it, we were headed to Hillgrove. At this stage we drove as far as the road went to come across the mine. At GZ we learned more about its long term continuous operations and back at the mine we learned about four deaths between 1970 and 2000 at the mine. Needed some muscle to extract the container and did a bit of CITO here. T the Tassie Devil TB LN SL TFTC Cheers... Gaztek

Tftc

Tftc

Tftc
Dropped Tank the Tasmanian Devil Trackable off here. Have a long safe trip little fella.

Quiet and easy find

TFTC

Tftc

Given that I arrived early for uni residentials, I had some time to kill, so thought a bit of adventuring was needed. This was the last cache for Hillgrove... We are definitely coming back to finish those that we didn't get to. Thank you for bringing us to this little town.

All quite at the Billiard Saloon today so a quick find. Thanks magpiecottage SL TNLN

An easy find. TFTC.

Today we left Dorrigo & headed to Hillgrove. We found a few caches before we stopped to camp at Wollomombi.
We had a wonderful tiki tour ariund your area. We knew nothing of its history but have learnt so much from our time here.
Thanks for placing this cache magpiecottage

Found on way to Long Point camping ground on a geocaching weekend with Anissa288.

SL TNLN TFTC

TFTC. Found with nudge74 on the way to Hillgrove camping ground!

After an early morning 5.6km walk along the trail to Wollomombi Gorge we then ventured to Hillgrove to see what was left of this once thriving little settlement. TFTC

Almost too easy. TFTC.

This was no. 5 of today's tour. Easy find for dule.

Found it, picked up travel bug tftc