Annihilated Arboretum Brindabella, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
By Tankengine on 04-Mar-16. Waypoint GC6CKZ2

Caching around East Coast and a bit inland for a while. TFTC.Today was a big caching day. Unplanned as usual. I decided to attend an event over the Brindabellas and into Namadji Park.I left my caravan at EPIC and picked up my nephew, Boaham at 8:30 and we were off.First stop was Picadilly Circus with an Adventure Lab way point. I had to get that one ready at Uriarra Village while I still had reception and then constantly tap my phone all the way to Picadilly Circus to not let the app close and have the answer become enabled. It worked and I finally could upload the answer the next day.Also at PC I could finally finish the Wherigo that was started a month earlier.We also grabbed the close by cache which required a bit of mountain slope bush bashing.Arrived at the parking for the event to find one Cacher had camped there the night. The event was great with a nice small turn out. The birthday cake at the event was about all but a few muesli bars we ate for the day.The group then started the large multiple way point multi. There were people going all directions looking for overgrown tiny signs in the scrub. We managed to find them all with the help of those with the foresight to photograph the map. Checksums weren't working but we finally had an answer. Yay.After the event Boaham and I did all the caches from there to, and up Mount Franklin. An awesome collection of trads, multis and puzzles.Driving back past the event parking lot at dark and the camping cacher's car was still there. Planning for another very cold camping night in the mountains, I guess.Sure was tuckered by the end of the day.Back in Canberra we met up with my Son and his wife who are silent cachers for dinner and energetic challenge rooms. Phew, what a day.Finally sleep time.Nice short bush bash to GZ on the way to an event.

Drove with baristayan and buckoraider to the Bendora Arboretum event and found this cache on the way back. A bit of a bush bash but a fun way of exploring yet another arboretum, 2 in one day! Great to hear from the CO today about how he found these old arboretums. Quick find once the GPS settled. TFTC!

Found this one with Toy Hunters and Baristayan after the event at Bendora Arboretum. Gee whiz that Mr Hunters can move when theres a cache to be found! My goodness he was like a jet carving his way through the undergrowth.Found, signed, replaced and a slightly easier path taken on returning to the geomobile. Thanks!

My notes from todays cache: I waited while Toy Hunters and buckoraider went inThis area has little reception and I usually take quick notes to remember which cache was this one Well, I remained vigilant on the safety of the road while the crazy boys went for itThe truth is: I would have go with them, but earlier on we saw bull ants on this forest, and bucko and TE were sharing stories of how painful their bite can be. So I chicken out of the little bush bashBut my name made it there. Ill be braver one day I hope

I wouldve check this one out but theres a designated burn going on in the area so I decided to skip today. Thanks anyways.

Find # 10698Looking at my stats I have a personal goal to meet before year end and its not an altogether small one. BUT when Im on a mission anything could happen. So, on a brief work trip to NE VIC and I have a long list of caches to collect so no time for spinning the wheels Picked up the trusty SUV hire car and off I go. Making the most of the opportunity for a few hours of caching fun. Via Piccadilly Circus at long last, its been a long time since Ive been up here. Pre-C in fact. Seeking out the occasional challenge or two, or trying to mop up as many solves as I can to keep that long list under control. Seems to increase faster than it decreases Well that was a bush bash and a half. A little unexpected, or maybe I was a little under prepared. Determined though to get my name in the log despite the best efforts of those ginormous March there were just plain nasty.Thanks so much for the many caches Tankengine and of course for giving me a reason and incentive to get out here, and to experience this part of the world in a different light

Today we spent some time walking around the area in Blue Range. It was a spectacular autumn day; cool, sunny and with blue sky overhead. Almost no wind, which was an asset for us.
We are new to this area, and this particular cache was not on our radar, but having arrived at Picadilly circus, we decided to walk our way to GZ. The road nearby was closed, so we parked the car, and with a little cross country, made our way to an arboretum cemetery.

Nice work Tankengine in locating this one.

Why would we have an arboretum here!?

Now, there seems to be little evidence of the Arboretum, despite how hard we looked to find those chestnuts.
What we did find, however, was a cache, and we are very grateful to the CO for having done the homework to lead us to this remote cemetery of an arboretum.
Thanks Tankengine
Domsky

Got this a while back. However, nice to be back here again. Interesting to see maintenance work on the NSW side of the Brindabella Rd.

After finding a cache only a little down the road I continued up into the clouds to park just off Mt Franklin Rd and trek down to this cache which I had inexplicably missed on my previous visit. Although there are references to bush bashing in previous logs, I found very easy access down the old arboretum's access track, and then following an animal trail through the lightly forested area all the way to GZ.

How this cache is still in place amazes me - the tree it's hanging on has been heavily pruned with all but two trunk branches (fortunately one of these holds up the cache!) sawn off at shin level and left next to the tree.

Nonetheless all good with cache and log. An interesting, though slightly sad, place with all the piled up decomposing logs.

Thanks, Tankengine!

The bush bashiest of the day! The log piles are still there but the chestnuts have given up the fight it looks like. Still a couple of pines hanging on around the place though. Interesting bit of local history. Tftc

Had a good look around but no luck today. Will have to bring my young eyes with me next time!

#3934 The road to get here from Canberra was dirt. After finding some caches in the area with Green-martian and IamCoust, this cache was just a 5 minute walk off the road on the way back home. Signed and replaced as found. TFTC.

More to come

Heading out to the group run for the Long Way to the Top, with isopeda, Aykeyam and Kittykatch in the back seat. Had to stop for one on the way - a good 15 minutes of bush bashing in both directions for a tree that was hard to see for the trees.

TFTC Tankengine

I was on my way to Mt Ginini Recovery Event but decided to look for some caches before the event was due to begin. I had read the logs that a couple of friends had written and thought, yes I can do this. Well the cache is called Annihilated Arboretum, the track was annihilated and the walk almost annihilated me . Finding the cache was easy as I could see it from my approach, not that would be the normal direction for most people!!! But as Dty said at yesterday's event, it's not caching unless you find the easy track on the way out. TFTC TE SL

Stopped here to grab a cache as we were running a bit early for the group meet up. Bit of a bush bash

Out with a group of mates to get some caches out at Mount Gingera.

Condition Report:. Good
Log Book: lots of room

Thanks for hiding this cache Tankengine

Found with Froggycache, Aykayem, Kittykatch on the way to Long Way to the Top.

TFTC

A beautiful day in the Namadgi. The bushbash down from the road wasn't too bad with half tracks all around the place. Not cold up here either, couple of little clumps of snow left at the top. TFTC

This one caused us some problems with bouncing coords in the thick bush. Once they settled GLISS! soon had the cache in hand! Now we just have to find our way back through the scrub to the car! Thanks for the interesting history lesson. Thanks dog the cache.

Found with Nibletricecakes before heading to the Tharaw BBQ event. Finding this cache involved a fair bit of bushbashing in parts. Occassionally, an old track was found but I guess there can be a lot of regrowth in17 years. TFTC Tankengine.

I couldn't make out any of the arboretum at all unfortunately! It just seemed like a thick bush bash from where I parked, and I am not awfully good with fauna so the different tree's didn't really grab my attention or mean much! Wish there was more relics here, would be cool to stumble across something that reminds us of it's existence, but nothing I could see or find today!

The cache was a quick find once at GZ and in good condition!

Thanks Tankengine

Decided to come up here before heading home. Road locked at the circus, so walked along the road and then down onto the trail. Went cross-country a bit near the end and found the cache quickly and all OK. Found a better way out, as usual.

Thanks,

After such an epic walk with Tankengine and Aquilus1 yesterday, I really needed a smaller flatter walk to stretch my poor sore legs today. We went and did a couple of other caches for that, but by this one luckily my legs had warmed up and the terrain was easy enough to get through.

After doing the couple of caches further down the road at other lost gardens, this one looked like there was nothing but pines, until we got to GZ where there was an awesome chestnut tree. I haven't ever seen one before and I didn't realise that the outer shell of a chestnut was spikey! Learn something new everyday!

Not only was it awesome to see the chestnuts there was also a tiny bit of snow around and we had an whole lot of fun throwing snowballs at each other and making snowmen.

Thanks for a another great day out Aquilus1 and Tankengine. And of course tftc Tankengine!!!

Another beautiful winters day and another day to cache. dty73 picked me up early afternoon and we drove to meet Tankengine, swapped cars and headed off. We had a few caches in mind but with time and a nice day looked at a few other options while in the area.

After stopping to do a couple of cachers earlier and a short walk to them, we continued on in this direction. This was close to the road and an area dty73 had not been to before. The road was quite dry after the earlier in the weeks snow, but a few slushy spot in places. As we approached Piccadilly Circus there were a few patches of snow still about which although small was still quite exciting to see!

After parking close by we made the short walk in towards the cache. I had been surprised to hear that there were so many of these arboretums about in these areas, they would have been something quite spectacular to see when they were all here. A lot of stacked logs and there was indeed a large amount of trees here once. A few more glimpses of some nearby snow but made our way across to the cache. The chestnut tree was in its winter bare but still a number of the husks about on the ground and this tree seems to be fighting back well.

The cache and its discoveries complete we then made our way across to the snow, just a little but enough to make some mini snowmen, a few photos and the obligatory snow ball fight! Thanks for the cache Tankengine and to dty73 and TE for the company and the fun!

Geocaching with Nighthawk238 with our penultimate goal being Mt gingera. This cache was the worst bush bashing of the day, nothing that I haven't seen before. At GZ was surprised to find 2 golden elms, certainly out of place in this area and they seemed to b thriving. Tftc

Great afternoon up in the Brindis. More driving than walking which is definitely not the norm. Made it to the top of Mt Agie bringing back lots of fabulous memories of our last visit. Enjoyed the history of the arboretum. Quick and easy find. TFTC Tankengine.

I was happy to spend a day caching out west of Canberra with MinnieK and Fitzy1965. We headed out via the new set of Uriarah road caches, including the Starwars ones. Then we went up the ridge behind Cotter Reserve and finished the Paddys caches. Last was a trip in to the Bindebellas proper with a visit to Sherwood and finishing on Two sticks road. A fantastic day with a bit of fog but no real rain.

I have no idea what would be a good way in here, we went in via very thick forest. GPS made sure we went in the right direction, it would be so easy to get turned here without realising.

Thanks.

25799.48 TNLN
Visited: World Traveling Gold GC A#6 & Pyramid A#23

**Albida**

A planned day out with fitzy_1965 and Albida33 to collect some hard to reach caches. Headed out rather early and thankfully we did as there was a cycle race on down to Uriarra today. Met Binliner heading in the opposite direction. Once at the end of ALL7's series it was clear sailing around the Bullen Range and beyond. 22000 steps later we were utterly exhausted but certainly had a fun day. Most logs signed as AMF.

This certainly has been annihilated and was tough going just to get to GZ and back. Quickish find when at GZ. I was so close to finding it but fitzy & albida were standing at a better angle.

16,510. Found with minniek and albida33 during a caching day out at Uriarra and the Cotter regions - mostly signed as AMF.

We had planned a trip out this way today to pick up some far flung and difficult to get to caches - and after grabbing the 23 new ALL7 caches we continued on to our original list. Next find of the day. At this stage we were just picking relatively easy caches to get to until we ran out of daylight. Parked just off the road and with a bit of bush-bashing we arrived at GZ for a quick find. Signed the log, replaced the cache, and we moved onto the next one.

Thanks Tankengine !!

TNLN - TFTC !!

Must of been a nice sight here in its glory days.
Nice crisp air and cache found with spot on co ords.
Thanks to Tankengine for the cache hide.

This was a fun but tricky bit of Bush Bashing to reach the cache.Doing this in autumn made it easier because the yellow chestnut tree leaves stood out against the bush.

Thanks for the cache and the obscure history lesson.

A bit of bush bashing to get there with no path but the chestnut trees (dead) are a help to look for.

Out on a birthday drive and walk with the two kids we thought we would take a look at the old arboretum.
Kids loved the bush bash to the cache.
After finding the tree (would be easier to spot in summer when the tree has leaves) the cache was found with ease.
TFTC tank engine.

Found at 2:59:00 PM

"Only 150m from the road" he says, "I'll be 5 minuites" he says. Well that is some pretty thick bush between the road and the cache! After dodging around piles of logs I eventually found the cache quite easily.

Thanks Tankengine

#7739 @1225
I went in most of the way via the road, and the open area with just a little bushing on the final approach. Cache quickly found. Lovely autumn colours at GZ. I then followed what appeared to be an old track leading roughly straight up from near the cache. Unfortunately it petered out, so I ended up bush bashing half the way. TFTC.

Found with Captain Tomato on a day of adventure
Appropriate name

Wow, what a mess. Found with SecretSquirrel-BJC.

TFT new cache TE!
What a chestnut!!!
Eloise @ The Plaza

A day of mainly mountain bike riding collecting caches around the Brindabella Road with JohnnyBoyACT. This cache however was a walk in and find. Lots of piles of pine logs. TFTC.

A geo-trip in the Brindies on mountain bike and foot with Marmaduke Rothschild. Trip report at [http://www.johnevans.id.au/wp/13-september-2016-more-brindabella-geocaching-ridewalk/](http://www.johnevans.id.au/wp/13-september-2016-more-brindabella-geocaching-ridewalk/) . TFTC.

SDL and my first proper stop on our Bulls Head/Mt Franklin/Bendora adventure. Followed the trail down for a while before spearing off into the bushier bush. Crisp low temperatures but a great day to be out and about.

1st stop for a joint.......cache, with Agent Basil, as we headed up to Mt Franklin and then Bendora. Parked up top for this and follow the trail for a short distance before it was time to head bush. Arrived at the GZ unscathed and soon noticed the cache waiting for us. Log signed and all was good with the world. Retraced our steps back to the car and it was off for the border.....

Thanks Tankengine.....fun as always....and yep, it looks like an Annihilation......

Early in the morning MBO took us to this area for some biking, bushbashing and caches. This was the first one on our tour.

Thanks for the sad story about the annihilated arebortum!

Fogg & Consortin

First cache for the day with Fogg & Consortin mountain biking around this area. Interesting to see all the old logs lying around. Wondered what type of (foreign & deciduous) tree it was there in the native Australian bush, ahh, now I know.Interesting find, Thanks TE.

Another weekend of glorious Autumn weather! So a plan was hatched to head out with AngelG27 to nab several higher terrain caches in beautiful spots. The day was about quality not quantity!

Well this one was more like "Annihilated Angel" after AngelG27 came a cropper on a loose branch! Had me very worried there for a minute as I thought she'd done some serious damage. Luckily not! After little bit of a sit to recover we gingerly made our way up to GZ where we were greeted by the sight of a beautiful yellow leaved tree Easy find and sign at GZ and then we made our way back to the car along the same track we came in on.

Thanks for yet another one, TE!

Time for another geomission with Specimen X. She wanted to test out her new GeoJeep, and I wanted a couple of higher T rated caches, so our interests coincided perfectly! We headed off the bitumen on a perfect Canberra autumn morning and had an awesome time, finding 18/18 caches attempted. back by dark - just - we had to stop ourselves from finding "just one more". Thanks to all the cache owners for their caches, and to Specimen X for her fab company today!

Another TankEngine cache on our way south to grab the new Earthcache. We found an okay way in to GZ past piles of annihilated trees but that did not stop me falling over on some loose sticks and banging my knee and scraping my hand - OUCH! But it could have been much worse, so that was something to think about. I had to stop for a few minutes to regain my breath, and then we walked gingerly to GZ. Lovely specimen tree - and fabulous colour at this time of year - bright yellow leaves. SpecimenX made the quick find at GZ. Then a slow walk out while I tested my knee's stability. It did me for the rest of the trip thank goodness, and am going to apply some ice when I get these logs done.

Thanks TankEngine for another interesting find!

Bit of bushbashing but found the lovely tree with autumn leaves.

Fun bit of bush bashing to get down to this one.

Found after quite a bush bash and running the gauntlet on the trespass signs. Enjoyed the challenge. TNLN SL TFTC Cheers 4 Now

Post- Found Note:

As is often the case, we found the easy way out. We now have the coordinates to our "secret entry point"!!!!

Well that was an insane 20 mins on serious bush (not jungle) bush bashing! Mrs RoddyC drew two lots of blood. Mr RoddyC was more fortunate

Then we spied the really light green chestnut tree and we were able to zero in on GZ

Nice sized cache. Now for the 160 odd meters back through that bush!

Found at 11.45am on 30th March 2016. TFTC.

4735. Another excursion with Relish64 on a lovely Sunday morning. A rather indirect route was chosen to get to GZ that we probably should have chosen for the way out. Why this one and why here we asked ourselves ??? Some interesting flora all the same! They do seen rather resilient!!!
Thanks TE for the cache and the fun.

Also the Chestnut shells on the ground were really cool !

Published

12/3/16 @ 1730. Drove around thunderstorms to find this hidden oasis and survivor of the Bush fire's that didn't annihilated everything . A nice unexpected *FTF* . Lovely spot as always Tankengine