PPP South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
By Muzza on 30-Jun-02. Waypoint GC6A6D

Since the owner of the cache hasn't contacted me, I'm reluctantly archiving this cache. If the owner wants to reinstate this cache, they should contact the reviewer that first published the cache.

After an alert, I checked GZ for this cache. The tree in which the cache was hidden has been chopped down. My thanks to Rob from Team Rubik for alerting me to this fact.

Due to the effort involved in getting through each of the waypoints to get to GZ, I have allowed him to log this as a find.

I will need to consider its ultimate fate. Long multicaches like this were appropriate 6 years ago when it was set, but these days, less so.

Many thanks to Muzza for the permission to log this. After spending a couple of hours wandering about Albert Park today it was such a shame to discover the cache and indeed the tree it was in had been removed. We had a great time visiting the various locations, a couple of noteworthy ones for me where the carved stone memorial for a young lad I found while looking for plaque at the tree and the huge lookout tower that left me quite sore after a long kayak trip yesterday.

It would be a shame to see it go, a few of us don't mind earning the occasional long multi.

Thanks again,

R + A - B

Found this one at 15:20 on a glorious afternoon. I had picked up the clues yesterday while EuDes herself was at m's (of ssmc4) birthday party nearby. Unfortunately, I had to use Google to find the answer to WP9 and that gave me some final co-ordinates. Instead of waiting, I made sure I was in the area today and nabbed the find .

It's always fun to find a cache that has been around longer than I have been caching. TNLNSL, although the two travelling Geocoins stopped in for a look. Many thanks Muzza.

Used this cache to guide us on a complete circuit of the park, picking up 4 outher caches on route. We couldn't find the informaiton for point 9, but had enough numbers to go for GZ. Spent a bit of time searching, and then quite a bit more time trying to retrieve it after spotting it. Great outing, Thanks.

It was my third visit to GZ on account of grand prix activity over the past two months. Finally today had the place to myself and can confirm cache is still safe and sound though as wombats say somewhat degraded site around gz. Another triple letter muzza cache draws to a close. Thanks for the tour of a park that has unfortunately lost a lot of its former character.

found this one after a loverly day in the sun and quite a long journey around the park.

final co-ordinated had us outside the park but using the hint we located the prize.

muzza you may need to have a look at this site due to the work going on around the area.

TNLNSL
TFTC

Found by Bob at 1600

This area holds a lot of memories for me - I played baseball for St Kilda for many years and we were based at the Junction Oval and played on Oval 20 (near where the club is currently located) and often trained at various spots around the lake. There were a couple of games in progress while I was doing the cache, but I didn't stop to see if any old mates were there - I was on a mission . It was quite a long haul, but I was on my motorbike which was probably the most efficient (time-wise) mode of transport. I must have got the calculations right, because GZ was pretty much perfect, although I did pause over the last few metres to examine another object which I thought was a more likely candidate.

TNLN

Thanks Muzza - this one brought back a lot of memories

Found @ 11:55. Got about two thirds around this one when it started to rain. Tried hiding behind a tree but the rain wasn't going away. Finished up getting soaked so decided I may as finish it as I couldn't get any wetter. It did however stop raining just as I got to the final cache location. Have spent quite a bit of time training around the lake with some cycling buddies getting ready for the Around the Bay in Day bike ride. One lap with them took about 10 minutes, today one lap took about 90. Thanks for the cache. TNLNSL

This was great on the bikes. The kids loved the wooden park to play in.

Done a lot of walking today!

I finally got the time to do the tour around the lake and complete the cache. Thanks Muzza.

Did this one for a second time as Oenze mentioned, this time on the bike and it was a good deal quicker than last time when I did it in bits and pieces in my lunchtimes. No less enjoyable though, and I gave no hints to my companions.
Took the TB that was there. Left nothing, sorry.

Found at 2:13pm Accompanied by Chewinprickles and friend.
We took our bikes out and it couldnt have been a better day for it, it was an enjoyable ride around the lake, got to GZ and we got bombarded by about 3 golf balls[B)], I am glad we were wearing our helmets.
In:Dinosaur, Out: Turtle, Signed Log. Thanx Muzza...

Revisited today to drop off 'WOODY' TB, to continue his journey.

Armed with a message from Muzza I found this one without any problems today. Could have had it earlier if I'd looked harder too! Took Elephant, Left Seahorse.

Found this cache with ohbeeone it was a little difficult as we didn't have one of the co-ordinates and we were thrown by some trees that had been removed around the cache position, but enjoyable afternoon.

I visitied WPT2 today - the old answer has disappeared. I have modified the question for dd (it still has the same original answer).

Found today at 4pm. with penndragon, in fact she found cache while I was picking up stray golf balls from under GZ. Had no idea Muzza was here today, we worked out clue two by counting back from an exersise point we knew the number of. Did over a couple of days and visited parts I never knew existed. TNLN, thanks Muzza.

Not one to give it away too easily, I went home and set up a spreadsheet and found that only a few values for waypoint 2 could apply, and then that only two were reasonable. Going back to the area, I found that only one could be it, and that one in fact fitted extremely well, given logic and previous postings. Except that there was no sign of the clue location! Lots of signs of heavy machinery though. Hopefully someone else will have more luck and I will continue to monitor.

I got all the clues, on an enjoyable and informative outing, bar one - the exercise number on the board at the second waypoint. It threw me because I could not find a number! There were in fact two boards and one had a symbol which I took to be a number (which was actually logical). However the calculations became a nonsense with that particular number. I tried looking at other exercise boards in order to extrapolate, and found six, and none of them had a number! So, close but no cigar. The boards I found were about 1.5m high, with white writing on blue background. They did not look new, and I was looking where numbers may have been removed, but no luck there either. Will monitor to see if anyone esle finds what I hopefully missed. Otherwise a nice walk, especially in the SE corner.

Hi Muzza
Thought about this one many times over the past year and have been bypassing it because of it's reported length. Not that a mind a walk, it's just the time factor. Anyway I drove to the start during lunchtime and did a couple of waypoints, then the same again the next day and so on untill I'd completed it. Took 5 trips all told I think.
It took me back to when I was doing Partics MM series, also during my lunchtimes over a month or two.
Anyway I enjoyed the outings and the challenge and the cache find itself. TNLN
Many thanks Muzza

I went by to check WPT1 and GZ. I have altered the starting co-ordinates slightly and the associated question and calculations.

GZ has changed a lot since I was last here, and the location of the cache itself has moved, but it is still there. I have left it where Team Crackers left it.

There have been times in the past before I spray painted it when it was obvious to the whole world but yet it still survived.

Diane started this cache a couple of weeks ago on a lovely sunny last day of her Xmas break without a GPS . With a bit of forward planning and a couple of educated guesses she was able to find five of the seven wpt's
Today was the day to complete three caches she started that way. We collected the final information and headed off to GZ, pulled up and thought to ourselves that this didn't look like a muzza hide, a quick recheck of the calculations and we were off to the correct GZ where Mark had the cache in hand quickly
Took Turtle
Left Elephant
Thanks Muzza for an enjoyable trip around the lake

Found at 11.21AM.

Alot of little troubles and guess work for this cache, but eventually got there.

Instead of attempting this cache by foot I took a train into the city with the bike.

I got to WP1 and Looked around.. Oh no, this place has changed since the last time i came here which was about a year ago. Newly poured concrete and a totally different looking building.

I couldn't get the numer for the the frist waypoint so I called up the Muzza helpline. He tried his best to offer assistance but unfortunately was interstate so he didn't have the answers on him. So I decided to Start off from WP3, as I had no idea what WP2 was ecause it needed data from WP 1.

I got to the calucation side of things and had to do some serious guessworks. First shot.. Wrrroongg, Second shot got me even further out. So I rang the Daks Emu Mob helpline. He didn't have the co ordinates for the final WP, but he did remember where the cache was and what was around it. With this, I did some more number crunching and ended up with the cache in hand after a good 1.5 hours of guess work.

A big thanks for the cache to Muzza, a great setup and a lovely ride around this glorious park on such a fine day.

Now for lunch This has made me very hungry.

Thanks from M.B

Oh and i forgot earlier.. The cache not in a happy place, the place where it has has been hacked by some council workers, I hope this cache lasts where it is as i tried to hide it a little better but i dont think it will be there for long.

TNLNSL

[This entry was edited by xf king on Wednesday, January 11, 2006 at 11:53:10 PM.]

This cache took 3 visits. Initially we visited in an attempt to circumnavigate the Pond for the first time using this cache as an excuse. We have visited said Pond many times at various points but there has always been a fascination to doing the full circuit. The first visit on 4th December we were stymied by the changes at Waypoint 1. There was no chance of getting the info. We retired to search the Internet and soon had the required information

The second time on 11th December we calculated the final coordinates but the geodog (alright, we admit to going the wrong way a few times which increased the distance) was exhausted. We went alone and found the cache but were worried about the health of the geodog so hurried back to the car without logging the find.

Today we returned at 5:20pm to claim the cache. The contents were wet so we spent a few minutes drying everything. This is a great park and we are glad to have finally walked it. Thanks Muzza. We took a tortoise and some rusty batteries and left a monster finger puppet.

Found at 1.15pm after a very pleasant drive around the park. Found some new spots that were interesting like the meeting place and the tower. Took: Clamp and TB Will's train, Left: Golf ball

12:00 My first cache in Melbourne. Since the hotel won't let me check in until 2pm, I went hunting for a cache. I nearly gave up when I saw the barbed wire at stage 1, but I didn't travel thousands of miles to be deterred by that. After that it was a long, but pleasant walk. Thanks for the cache.
Left: train TB

Stage 1 can (IMO) only be solved by either climbing a barbed wire fence or gaining entrance by other means. Since I left a TB in the cache I feel I need to make this cache accessable to other, more law-abiding cachers by giving the solution here: 1962. If the situation gets resolved, please feel free to delete this note.

This cache is now available again. Thanks to Partic for letting me know.

TNLN | It's all in the timing.

After taking the time to ride around the PPP course just over a week ago, I finally went back with the coast clear this morning to get the cache after not spotting it, and not having the hint work when I was there last.

Each time I've stopped by over the last week, the compound had had a team of muggles painting boards for around the track, so wandering in was pointless. This morning, paint was drying and there wasn't a soul in sight long enough to quickly grab the cache, sign the log and replace. 30 seconds later as I was making my exit, 4 vehicles passed the area, so it was a close one.

Ahh, PPP will now stop taunting me in GSAK as being the closest cache not found to my place Thanks Muzza!

I emailed Muzza the other week to check if the cache was still live even though disabled... it's the closest one to my place that I haven't done, and I didn't want it taunting me for two months over GP season!

So this afternoon I jumped on the pushie, and headed off to do a lap of the pond. After riding past Point 9 on the way round, I got back to find that it's location - just inside the line of the track - meant the sign had been replaced by some holding markers, and as such, that final part of the calculation became that little bit harder.

After doing some guesstimating (how long can a cricketer remain with a club after all!) I worked out the rough area the final GZ could be, and headed off.

A call to the Muzza line confirmed I was in the right location, but my hints were playing up, so a quick jump into the compound (looks like the GP staff have been using the fence as a shortcut to their forklifts) I got to the tree... and then found my hints weren't working

After returning home, I've read the hint, banged my head, and will head back at a suitably stealthy time (ie low traffic, low staff, low security) of day to collect this cache this week!

Thanks for highlighting some interesting components of Albert Park... at least 4 points you'd never stop to look at on a regular visit there.

Found with help of robmc after an enjoyable walk on a beautiful day. However GZ is now fenced in and we do not recommend trying to avoid the security on motor bikes.
TNLNSL

[A very enjoyable walk around several sections that I have never seen before. I was wondering how a 5km walk was going to be approx. 7 km. ]
It was a bastard climbing the 5 meter fences and then doing the 200 meter dash thru the firing range.
We also had to dodge the security muggle to get into the fenced off area that contained the tree.
[Took: frog, Left: Turtle. Great hiding place. Thanks, Robmc.]

It appears as though preparations for this year's Grand Prix have begun and prevent the cache from being retrieved. Cache will be temporarily disabled until middle of March.

In spite of lenghty walk this cache was worth finding. Enjoyed especially the surroundings at stop 5.

Found by Facitman, e-Facit & s-Facit at 13:30.

The kids had the day off school so I also took the day off and we thought a bike ride around this park would be fun. Nice ride with lots of Swans and their cygnets for the kids to enjoy. Found the cache comfortably with s-Facit's sharp eyes!

Cache was a bit wet so we dried off the contents, repacked and re-hid. Not so easy as the passing Muggles were surprisingly frequent!

Took Stamps
Left Lion toy (a tight fit), Turtle toy and packet of hairclips

Thanks Muzza for an enjoyable outing!

Found it @ approx. 15:30

What a fantastic way to see this great inner city park!
Found it without to much trouble.

TNLN

Thanks muzza for a great day out.

P.S. Added golfballs x5 to the supplementary cache.

Found by sbalogh53 at 16:10 on 24/8/2004.
We actually walked the whole distance of approx 7km. So there!
Of course, after the first couple of locations I was starting to think we could have done it all by car. But the day was beautiful and the swans were out in force, so what the heck, I needed the exercise.
Put: Small squishy frog and yellow golf ball (PLEASE NOTE: I BROUGHT MY OWN!!!)
Took: US$1.00 banknote and small dinosaur
Thanks Muzza for another great cache. We enjoyed our walk (even though my wife just gave blood 20 minutes before we started and felt faint a few times) and discovered a couple of new places... especially location #5.

As a result of a tipoff by caughtatwork, I have moved the cache ever so slightly. No change in co-ordinates is required, but the hint has now been changed. Thanks to caughtatwork.

I admit it, I cheated. Well not cheated as such, but being such a dismal day in town, I had to resort to car and walk and car and walk, othwerwise I felt I would drown.
A very interesting tour, although in hindsight, I am so glad I didn't walk all the way, but I wish I could fit my bike in the car, it would be grand to do on bicycle.
I left for lunch in the middle of the cache so it took probably as long as if I'd walked.
The final cache place was found extremely easily (I'll send Muzza a note about this), although in its heydey it would be been very tricky indeed.
I took a WW2 figurine and left something, but my rain sodden notes are defying my ability to interpret.
Thanks Muzza for an excellent cache that showed me more about this pond that I'd previously known (including that lookout which I was tunned to find there).

Found at 3:45pm.

We knew by the clues where this one would take us and finally made the time to complete it today. As it was intermittently raining, it turned into a bit of a drive and walk but I reckon we still clocked up around 4km anyway.

Location 5 actually held some memories for us we had searched through this spot around 3 years ago as a possible hiding spot for a $50,000 football in a local radio station competition. As it turned out this wasn't the place (and we didn't win ) but I remember wondering then how many people were actually going to stumble over and read the plaque.

As per all the triple letter caches, this one was well executed and the final hiding spot was one of a type that we hadn't yet seen pulled off, but one that I have often thought would be a good idea.

Thanks Muzza from D,S & H B-A

Took nothing. Left a mondo figurine.

Rated: for Overall Experience

Thought I bit off a little more than I could chew with this one. (My first geocaching experience)!!!! Took a few days collecting clues while doing my daily jog around the lake. I would take clues home each day and sit for awhile with a map and a ruler....GPS would definately make it easier but I didnt mind.
found it today at 3.30 Took the little duck and left $1.00 USD.
what a fascinating passtime, Hidden treasures.
regards
VUK

A full expedition cache, thankfully our maths was all correct, and there were no flat tyres. The footy game provided much more amusement than anything else enroute. An ingenious hide, although the aroma in the final cache area leaves a little to be desired

We couldn’t believe that we missed teamkittens by an hour! The Captain chose PPP as nobody had visited it for ages, so we were stunned to find that somebody had just beaten us to it . It’s a great cache to do by bicycle, a lovely smooth pottering type of ride. Lots of swans and ducks scrounging for the odd bit of visitors bread. The maths is nice and easy, it just took a little while. Rode home afterwards through South Melbourne and admired the houses.
Took a giant gold clip and left a little duck. Thanks Muzza.

It was a great day for a walk, so Emu-M and I packed a clip board and calculator and headed off. I've always wanted to walk around this pond, and thanks to geocaching, I now have.

The maths were easy enough, and we calculated the final coordinates and headed off. The cache gave itself up easily enough, after we worked out how to access the location of the cache.

OUT: Singaporean coins (which I will spend next week )
IN: Some replacement coins, a giant paper clip, a fridge magnet clip, and a pencil sharpener.

Thanks muzza for the cache and for the exercise. We were determined to find the final cache to find out what "PPP" stands for.

Found at 12:30pm on New Year's day !

Things were pretty quiet around the pond today - I wonder why [|)] - Anyway ... This one REALLY tested the maths skills (and the vertigo with location !

Great way to fill in an hour (or two, or ...)

Different type of 'hide' had me guessing for a while, but still pretty easy to spot and YES... I found this one, with just a few seconds to spare before Mrs Drewscoot piped up '..THERE..'

Took: Sticky notes
Left: Packet of Cat & Dog stamps

Found at 10:40am. My first attempts at this cache were over a month ago, and failed miserably. I eventually found the final location (despite being hampered by a dismal lack of basic maths skills (two times three equals six, not two!), but gave up after over an hour of discrete searching.
I was in the area again today, had some spare time, so I gave it another try, and found it within a few minutes
I took a Hungarian 2 forint coin, and left a 25 something Philipines coin.
Thanks Muzza!

Our third of three caches I found with Will (geoquack3) on a caching afternoon before I’m banished to Shepparton and surrounds for four weeks. Kate and Pete came here ages ago on a bike ride to find this cache. Unfortunately they had forgotten to bring a pen and their memories managed to hold all but one vital piece of information. (This is not a good idea on a long multi.) Will and I returned with the correct info and after waiting for quite a while for a break in the traffic, we quickly found the cache. We made no exchange. On our way back to the car, we marvelled at the distance some people had managed to hit golf balls. There were quit a few stuck in the fence at the end of the range. Thanks Muzza.

What a beautiful day for a bike ride. Met a friend, Maurice, at posted co-ordinate and we cycled to each clue. Everyone and their dog was out today. Found each clue easily enough except the fishing one as I didn't read all the clue and we were on the oppersite side of the pond . Oh well, we do need the exercise.
Couldn't figure out how to work our the r. Called Muzza and was given a quick lesson on maths and the penny dropped. I'm not slow really .

Did the maths (and got it right) and headed on our way. Didn't think we were going in the right direction so called Muzza who said we were. Wanted to find the cache before the sun dissappeared.
Found GZ and the cache about 10 mins later at 1745. Sorry had to decrypt the clue as we didn't have a torch.

Thanks Muzza for the lovely day out. Maurices 1st cycling for 3 years (he'll be sore)

The cache has now been camouflaged to make it less obvious, although, at the moment, it is still easily visible to those looking.

I visited the cache today while I was walking nearby and discovered that it was plainly visible, being a bright blue container. The area in which it was hidden is affording less protection than previously, so I have temporarily removed it so I can camouflage it a little.

Found this one as night crept in....bit chilly...especially up that platform!!! Started off looking like an easy one, but having done two lake caches in Canberra I knew that I would have to go right around!!!.. Might have looked a bit dodgy jogging around the lake in jeans....but had a dinner to try to get to.

Staerted this one on Fri 25th headed for the park and found myself 180 mtrs from the first waypoint with a huge body of water in front of me, a 2km walk later and I was off on the hunt for this one. After doing most of the waypoints I was dying for a beer so I abandoned the hunt for the day. Came back on Sunday and completed the hunt without any problems.

Swapped a dalmation for a set of earplugs which could come in handy during the alternate use of the park in Feb/Mar.
Good one Muzza

[last edit: 10/29/2002 3:22:57 PM PST]

Found 1740 8/9/02. Started off from home with bikes on car. When we arrived at the starting point Glendas bike had a flat tyre and it was beyond repair so we walked around the pond and collected all the information. was rather tired by the time we got to the end but we did not give up. Great hiding place. Took 50 Rupee banknote and left 101 Dalmation Figurine. Thanks muzza for the physical and the mental exercise.
Wattsaname (Russell, Glenda & Cameron)

Found at 2.30PM Another great Muzza cache! We really enjoyed solving the puzzles and getting a bit of exercise in such a nice park. The nice sunny day, no doubt, also added to our enjoyment. Nothing exchanged. Greg and Bev

Found by Kevin & Meredith at 5.00pm
What a marathon!! - 3hrs it took us
but quite an entertaining walk.
We enjoyed watching the sailboats capsize in the gale force winds.
This cache is bicycle friendly and would save lots of time.
Clues were spot on and the calculations stimulated the mind. great spot for the cache!! We only had to yell incoming once!!!
Took small frog and left an Indian 50 rupee bank note
Well done Muzza

Found by Ray and Maya (The Nomads) at 5:20PM on the 5th of August 2002. It only took us two tries. We originally started the search on the 27th of July and had no problems, until we tried the last co-ords for the cache. As Maccamob could relate, that put us on the other side of the world (might as well have been) and as the sun had just set, and we had another engagement, we decided to continue the hunt some time later. Back at home, a check of the cache web page proved our doubts, so, armed with the corrections today, the rest was easy. We took the key ring and left a frog. A very pleasant stroll (drive) around the pond on a nice Saturday afternoon, even if we didn't find it then. Thanks Muzza for placing the cache. Ray and Maya.

We did it! On Sunday arvo Dan and I took up the challenge and made our way around the p---, actually we drove as much as we could. Overall the clues are not difficult and make sense when you are on the spot. We enjoyed the chance to see some of the sites of the area. Dan replaced one of the Japanese coins with one from Hong Kong. Thanks Muzza for the chance to get out and stretch those legs, again, and again and again...

[Found 15:30. Great cache. Enjoyed the ramble arpund the pond.

Suggested equipment for the visit to the final cache location;
* Combat helmet,
* Flak Jacket,
As protection from wayward projectiles from the nearby shooting range.

Took tape measure and left Aibo (look alike) key ring.

Started supplementary cache in the same general area with five of the above mentioned projectiles.]
supplementary cache is located under a small log

[last edit: 7/7/2002 12:45:55 AM PST]

[last edit: 7/7/2002 12:46:56 AM PST]

[last edit: 7/7/2002 12:53:08 AM PST]

Found first by Mary & David at 1320. Well what an involved morning (and part of the afternoon) this one turned out to be. Mary had been working for the last couple of nights, and when she came home this morning said let's go into town and do PPP. Off we went and, after a combination of driving and walking, we had gathered all the clues and sat down to do the sums. Plugged in the numbers to the GPSr, saw a likely looking distance and bearing as a result and set off to find the cache. Woops - it seems to be well outside the park! Must have done the sums wrong. Double checked each other's work, no change. Remembering our problem misreading a date with JoMac at SSS a week or so earlier, we then assumed we must have done something similar, so round the lake again to re-check the critical numbers. Well they were OK too. So what was the problem. Made a few assumptions and walked off to check a few likely looking places nearby - still no cache to be found. By this time Mary's need for sleep was starting to catch up. [xx(] (''Come on, let's go home and email Muzza to see what we've missed.'' ''OK, just five more minutes to see if we can't work it out.'') Then the penny dropped, as our experience with the Lleyton's Gates cache in SA earlier this year paid off. Spotted Muzza's deliberate error (which has since been rectified), put some new numbers into the GPSr and set off again. (You haven't been in consultation with Freddo the Frog over in Adelaide have you Muzza? ) This time the area we were approaching looked much more promising, but the GPSr chose the critical moment to unlock under some tree cover. A quick restart and there it was. Great hiding spot, and not too many passers-by to disrupt our logging. Took the mini-carabiner and left a butterfly magnetic note holder. Thanks for the physical and mental exercise Murray. [^]

[last edit: 7/6/2002 4:36:27 PM PST]