Houdini - Aviation Pioneer Diggers Rest, Victoria, Australia
By Team Ladava on 07-Feb-15. Waypoint GC5MEAT

Terrific cacheThank you 73vk3elf

lovely place for a cache. loved the history.

Tough nut to crack

Fitting end to a great day catching up with friends for lunch at Houdinis, only to find the cache at the site of Houdinis first flight all those years ago. Wow has aviation changed a lot since then!TFTC

Beautiful spot for my 100th find TFTC

Found on a chilly Saturday morning. Didn't have the required fingernails or small pointy ToTT to extract, but otherwise, all good. Such an unremarkable monument for a big deal!

Log sheet replaced

Smart spot thanks

I've found one of these same builds before, really well made! Hard to get open though. No room left on the log, so I've added some extra paper to it. TFTC

Good one, thx.

Well done me! Tftc

Twist rather than pull made it hard with cold fingers: David and Simone

Log is full

Found on the 25/96/24 Couldnt sign log as it is full

Found

thanks

I did not find it

Quick find in a gorgeous spot with some fascinating back story thanks

Interesting spot someone ruined the cache for us as it was left on top returned it to the right place but needs new logbook as this one is full tftc

Easy park and grab. Interesting history here!TFTC!

Tyfc no pen to sign the log

I decided to go on a solo day trip out to Mt Macedon today chasing some specific cairns and picking up some other caches of interest along the way, especially those that scored me some new LGAs.I'd heard about this strange historical feat a year-ish ago and was surprised that it took place over here!It was quite nice to be able to visit this monument in person and read up about the endeavour before finding this cache reasonably quickly with the hint in mind.This is certainly the sort of place you'd hope a geocache would be!Thanks to Team Ladava for placing it here!

Tftc

Luckily the force was strong with this one. Very wet- choose another runway! Thanks Team Ladava and clear skies from TeamAstro. Cache the planet! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *SAs Leap Year Event - GCA1DNA - keep the date free - 29th February 2024. Keep looking up!

Really interesting history and place to stop that you may never even go past and certainly not notice otherwise. Thanks for highlighting this spot Team Ladava

Thanks for the cache - monument is interesting!

First cache of the day! Team_Riley taking our kids for the first time in years. Our 6yr old sons first geocaching experience.TFTC

**Houdini Aviation Pioneer**Its been said before and Ill say it again; I love where geocaching takes me and the things you find. Youd drive past this spot and never knew what happened 113 years ago!Thanks Team Ladava for this highlight and bringing it to our attention. Great coords and hide too! Fav point for you. Cache on *Throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Explore. Dream. Discover.* **Mark Twain**-The **Ballarat GeoTour** ends on 4 March 2024! Be sure to find all the caches, and earn the souvenir, before the tour is archived. Join us for the [Farewell Ballarat GeoTour Event - GCAFQ8B](https://coord.info/GCAFQ8B) on 18 February 2024.

Very cool and creative, nice to have a stop and read about Houdini TFTC

Searched all around, nothing...

Nice easy find

Super hard

Cool find. Thanks for the adventure and mini history lesson for the kids

Having attended a recent event in Brisbane where a fellow cacher brought my attention to the geo tour in Ballarat and its up coming finish in February, i knew this was something I had to make an effort to get to.I also quickly realised that the attribute for the geo tour is the last one I need to achieve a personal challenge so the planning began.Today is day three of the mission and Ive completed the geo art and the tour so Im very happy. Todays mission is to get to 100 in this local LGA and then head towards Sunbury in the hope to pick up another 25 to also reach 100 in that LGA before my flight out tonight. Obviously this is for a local challenge cache at home. What else. Unfortunately I missed the events in Castlemaine. Time got the better of me.I jumped in The geowagon and ventured off the o soon find a nice parking spot. A short stroll later soon found me at ground zero. It wasnt long before cache was found and my name was printed for prosperity. I returned the cache to its hiding space and made my way back to the car. Ready to head to the next adventureA big thanks to the cache owners of Ballarat for making this cache available to be found.Cheers

Found it, was a bit tricky

Great find kiddos loved it and reading the history

Houdini was an amazing chap, brilliant magician, brilliant showman and an aviator as well. I have been finding a few Team Ladava caches recently, so this clever hide did not fool me for long. Great stuff.

Good bit of history for the young lad!

We just got back from overseas yesterday and the countries visited had hardly any caches, so we are well behind in this month's wheel of challenge. So, a huge day of caching: ad labs, trads and of course hunting out those with lots of favourite points. I can see why this one has lots of points, and we added another point too.

Over from NZ for a weeks holiday and with nice weather today, we made the most of it by getting out into the countryside for a few caches.

First stop was the Organ Pipes park and the opportunity for four earthcaches. Once they were ticked off, we headed west for some more virtuals and trads with higher FP's.

Stopped off here and it wasn't long before the nicely made HIPSter cache was located, the log signed and replaced again safe and secure. Another nicely crafted cache. TFTC

Another great cache here in a little unknown spot. Grabbing a few caches on the way home from caching in Sunbury and Diggers Rest today. Great hide. TFTC

Thanks for bringing me here!! There is no way I would have seen this plaque if it wasn't for the cache placed here. Well crafted and hidden cache too!! FP from me.

Thank you

A spot of caching with RoamingHowie over this side of town - as long as the rain holds off.

I’d only recently researched Houdini as part of a puzzle I’m currently solving, so it was nice to visit this location.

Thanks for bringing us here by placing this cache, Team Ladava
~~

One hell of a magnet… barely pulled it out!

My third geo and the smallest, loving it

D

Nice work on the hide.
Great to bring me here to this lil spot in history from over 100 years ago!
TNLNSL
Thanks

Found it with premedbeast. Didn't have s pen so couldn't log

No pen, but found it on a nice hot sunny day.

With Lozzie88

Nice one, Houdini!
Who would’ve thought this’d be such a creative cache involving a red herring.

This cache was found today and brings our overall cache find tally to 12074.

Captain Terror and I were out and about finding caches and ticking off LGA’s and we visited this spot. I like the ideabwing this one and we put our new tools from the Mega to good use.

Thanks Team Ladava for the cache.

I had made a bold (for me) decision to fly to Melbourne for a weekend and the [Whittlesea Mega-Event](https://coord.info/GC8EW40). I've never been to Victoria really before this year, and here I am, twice in a month (a few weeks ago for work)! This trip is all about geocaching and with the events for the weekend complete, I am touring about with [Big Matt](https://www.geocaching.com/p/?u=Big%20Matt%20and%20Shell) for the second day now, grabbing some favourable geocaches before I need to be at the airport.

We're hanging around the west of the CBD and Yarra River and I spot this geocache a short distance away on the map, as we cut a phat lap of the airport before I'm due to catch my flight. And speaking of flying, the description on this listing I thought was fantasy, some bollocks story made up by someone, somewhere backed by but a grainy video. But nope, I had a quick Google and Wiki and sure enough, it's bloody legit! Ah, the things you learn when geocaching, eh! Love it.

Not far from a major city and this area was all but deserted and decidedly rural feeling. We could park roadside and wandered up to GZ and the obvious feature. I looked and felt about but no geocache. I had strong suspicions about one thing, because it seemed wrong *and* the hint matched, but it wasn't playing.

Matt had a crack too, and pressed for time, we couldn't afford for this to take too long. Only the tools in the back of the hire car and none were appropriate. Some new toys we were given at the mega turned out to be useful. And the hint is right, but heck it's a strong magnet. Just after 19:00 the logbook was signed and all replaced as found. Including the tools from the back of the car.

And that's it, my last find in Victoria for this trip. Onwards to the Virgin Lounge and a flight home. I would say it's been a very successful and enjoyable trip. And an odd place to wind up for the final geocache! Thank you for this hide and teaching me a new story from the past, Team Ladava

#217

Finishing up after lunch at the lovely Russo Estate Winery. A 2019 Rose for me.

Had to stop and imagine what this place looked like all those years ago.

Cool

Found. Rainy. Good day out.

Out on this beautiful day with my son to find some quick ones near home. Nice easy find. TFTC

TFTC!

quick and easy find

So fun!

Cool little one to start the morning

Nice quick find for us today! Interesting history here too!

TNLN,SL
26 August 2022 2:01 pm
Cache Number: 1663

TFTC HoodedHooligans (H.H.)

Awesome find, cool history in my town too !

Found it but couldn’t open it.

Found it ️

Good info, nice hint

Had to make a trip to the airport today so decided to do a few caches on the way home. My usual way through Sunbury was held up by a traffic accident so i looped around via m80, found a new lot of caches to tackle and away i go. This one is a great little hide. Glad the hint was there.

Found it

So cool,best one yet!

Flying overhead today, Boeing 737; 12000 feet, 360 knots! TFTC

Melbourne Cup Monday the unofficial Public Holiday!!! We decided last week to go for a drive to visit Regional Vic, we headed up towards the airport and headed north winding our way to Romsey for Lunch, across and over Mount Macedon before venturing south and finishing up near Calder Park, We ended up with 30 finds, one DNF, and lots of laughs. Thanks for all the cache owners for placing their caches.

Last one for the day, great history.!!

Great hide tftc

What a good hide

Found it

Taking our grandson home, we stopped for this little beauty. Great hide, thanks Team Ladava.

Found it but after a lot of rain it was difficult to get out, clever hiding spot

Got our feet a bit wet in our eagerness to get to the cache which was hiding n plain sight.. Took us a while to figure it out and the kids found it fun. Good piece of history too. Thank you!

Found it

TFTC

Needed the hint but found it

Out for work this way and noticed this on my way home.

A nice cache hide here. Fav. A good read too of the local history.

Thanks to Team Ladava for the placement and fun.

Awesome historical location

Lovely history

Another bit of history from the area

Log sheet replaced

I found the right location but could not retrieve the cache. Maybe it was my cold fingers on a rainy day. A multitool might be useful for this one.

Found it , it needs a new roll of paper .

Easily found, great for beginners

Needs more paper for log. Interesting monument. Had never heard of it.

I love Toni Curtis.
Handsome, fit and personality to boot.
He was the bananas Houdini after performing all those tricks that the real Houdini did in that famous black and white movie.
That he flew an airplane here in Australia was surprising as I don't think Tony Curtis ever came to Australia. And if he ever did come it would have been by aeroplane,which would have made this stunt far less attractive to so many people. In those days you could just go to Essington Airport to see all the planes coming and going.

Certainly not trying to land in these paddocks.

Though it is extremely interesting to visualise the scene here in the unchanged landscape of this area.

Though it all can not happen.
Tony Curtis is dead.

Good find thanks 16/2/21 10.40am
Waz a1956

Our second find of the day! Great location

Omegaman1971
The Omega Empire
@ 7262 finds
Out in the area with Rebel Acts for our last day of caching in 2020.
Wow never knew about this awesome bit of history.
Cheers for the cache.

Out with Omegaman1971 for our last big days caching of 2020, We decided to head out West to what I call the western waste lands, sure is dry out here compared to where I live in Gippsland. We had a great day out doing some great caches and most were decent size containers or novel hides. We all so did three lab caches in the area.

This was one of the caches we did on our travels. A nice piece of history highlighted by this cache.

Thanks Team Ladava for the cache.

Found it

Tftc, unfortunately log has been filled up

Good spot, logs all full though

Good find.
Great history.