Flake Clontarf, New South Wales, Australia
By Don's discount shark cages on 26-May-16. Waypoint GC6ENMK

Tftc. This puzzle sure took some working through, big bites and all that. Finally in the area to visit GZ and find this cache. Container was wet and unfortunately not sealing as well as it once did as the log inside was saturated and crumbling. Replaced with a fresh log before signing and returning. Found with red_ear_slider

Found with Portstevo who did the solve. I spotted the hide pretty quick at gz, nice spot here, tftc

Solved a long while ago - and can't recall if I needed to reach out for help. My notes on the solution remind me that it was quite involved as would be typical for the CO's puzzles. Today we were nearby watching our eldest son play his first season in the all ages soccer comp. Because he had his own car to get home I looked around for nearby caches and was drawn like prey to the solved puzzle symbol. A beautiful location and a nice fun hide. The original leg was a bit fragile due to previous damp, but i was able to sign a recent supplement. Thanks for the cache - an FP for both puzzle and location.

#12352 16:05
At the start of the June long weekend a short walk in Northbridge. No wet feet were needed to get to GZ where something obvious marked the location of the cache.
A great collection of puzzles which I solved in the Covid period, ages ago in my mind.
TFTC!

Solved the puzzle a number years back, but knew we didn’t have entirely accurate numbers as it would mean getting wet feet no matter the state of the tide. Thought we were close enough to give a go. In the area today. After searching around we spotted something unusual and there it was. Log too wet to sign, so added another log. However this will also soon be wet. Thanks.

Found the cache broken as the bison had snapped off. Had to carefully extract the bison out of the hidey hole .
We did it and bought an extra key ring to attach the bison back. “Solved the puzzle” relatively easy and much easier than normal as we know the surroundings pretty well. TFTC

This was great fun, and not quite as terrifying as it looked. All the bites looked bewildering, but they each came apart with peristance. Some I had to walk away from for a few days, and then had inspiration and found a way in. To be honest, one sort of defetaed me - I did get the answer, but not through solving the actual puzzle - I had enough of it by other means to guess. And of course, when you think you have solved it, there's more to unwrap. It all fell into place on Friday night, and an opportunity came up on Sunday afternoon; so after checking the tides, off I set. Cache was easily found, and slightly damp log quickly signed - first time in a year and a half, with no finders in 2020. Nice location too. Favourite point. SL TFTC.

Quick cache Check while in area. Tide was at wrong level so scampered down the other way. Flake in good order, now I'm hungry for some fish and chips.

Anominous Sign solved this one probably over a year ago. I remember looking at it and have no clue where should I start. Today, we finally heading to the GZ. Before getting there, we were trying to remember how to read the puzzle again, and Anominous Sign's notes are only half readable.

High tide add additional terrain rating for this one, but it certainly won't stop us. We managed making our way to the GZ via an alternative (also higher terrain rating) route. Just add some more fun. Cache was soon found after we made it to the GZ. Thanks for the puzzle and the cache!

We'd solved the mystery over a year ago, but never seemed to be in the area to make the grab. Today, I arranged a day of caching with this cache in mind. We were not disappointed! It was just after high tide, so the easy access was under water. That left us a higher terrain rating access route which I do enjoy . Thanks for the fun puzzle and the fun find in a beautiful spot. Favourite point for me!

Have just realised that we have not logged this cache. Found late last year or early this year, and have signed the log. Will write a complete log soon as we can find out when we found the cache. If any one logs the cache can they please check our log and let us know the date we found the cache? Many thanks.

Amid the discounted shark cages, my geoson caught a port Jackson shark in a net but too heavy for him to lift some 10 years ago now. Really enjoyed the puzzle and still negotiating its spider friend.
Drove part way down the driveway in which appeared private property from the street. Then I made it a 3 terrain hide by scaling down the slope, plonk, tide just coming in and CIH was made in relatively a short time.
Nice one asbestiform and FP

Quick check while in the area. All good.

Finally Solved. i had most of the solution staring me in the face i just needed to interpret what I had and view it in a different light. now to solve your others

31 May 2018 @ 2:13 pm
Caching buddies: EverestHigh, Brewmaker and The Bebes

Fantastic view ! Loved solving it with my geobuddies too.. wishing I had a kayak!
TFTC Don's discount shark cages

Something fishy about this puzzle. With teamwork we hauled in the catch (cache) and headed to GZ. A nice spot, quite apt for this puzzle. Found the flake and signed the log. TFTC

Much easier finding than solving! Glad to find it at last.

I must confess to having consumed more than my fair share of Flake in past years, but none in more recent times, and always over indulged on my work trips down to Melbourne. Flake always seemed to be a much more popular seafood dish in Victoria than here in NSW, with numerous varieties being available from their fish shops & markets.

Anyway, getting back to the cache. The family's chief puzzle solver had spent quite some time on this one and was relieved to finally come up with a solution. That was a while back and we had been waiting for a convenient time to visit GZ and, with our 2400th (unofficial) cache milestone coming up, decided that a detour after work today would be a good option.

Drove the geomobile down close to GZ, utilising the access road that seemed more like someones driveway than a public road, then strolled past the rows of colourful upturned boats on my way to GZ. I had previously checked the likely effects that the current phase of the moon would have on the terrain, and so was rewarded with a dry passage to GZ. Quickly spotted the hide on arrival and had the nicely themed CIH shortly afterwards. Signed the log sheet and then replaced as found.

Thanks King Shark, Don (of Don's discount shark cages), and asbestiform for the challenging puzzle & GZ cache placement. Our 2400th cache find and a Favourite point from us.

Find #2400

Logging caches after our one-week holiday in Sydney, and I thought I should post a note on here. We solved the puzzle hoping that it would be on the way of one of our walks, but it turned out not to be the case, and we didn't have to time to get to GZ. I really enjoyed cracking this mystery though, so I'm going to do the slightly unusual thing of awarding a FP to a cache we haven't found. Sharks FTW Thanks for the great puzzle, and greetings from Singapore!

Edit: it appears that you aren't allowed to favourite a cache you haven't found. Bummer. You'll have to make do with the compliment!

About two days ago we solved IT'S A HIT puzzle and all hyped up we got into figuring out another cache of this CO.

We enjoyed bite after bite of the flake and chips but at the end we cut the bull by some reverse approaches and got just the info we really needed, the coords and the cache hint.

Today I picked up Mrs Flint from work, made a short drive to GZ and had CIH in minutes.

Thanks "Don's discount shark cages" for another awesome puzzle cache! Definitely a FAV point from us.

Previously logged under team account BoogieRogue. Re-logging with my individual account. Had this one worked out for a bit, but never got to this part of the woods to actually attempt to collect the cache. Today I was coming home from work, and took a detour in between the patches of rain to GZ. Despite the hint, I came in from the top as it was high tide and would not have been able to get to GZ with dry feet. Looked at the wrong end of GZ but after I corrected my error I spotted the cache almost straight away. TFTC for a great hunt

Had this one worked out for a bit, but never got to this part of the woods to actually attempt to collect the cache. Today I was coming home from work, and took a detour in between the patches of rain to GZ. Despite the hint, I came in from the top as it was high tide and would not have been able to get to GZ with dry feet. Looked at the wrong end of GZ but after I corrected my error I spotted the cache almost straight away. TFTC for a great hunt

Yea! Solved this one a couple of months ago and rushed out to get it. Unfortunately there was a massive party happening at the huge house so we were getting a lot of funny looks so we quickly gave up. Vowing to come back soon. I decided this weekend was the time but I thought to double check out co-ords with The Bebes and turns out we were just slightly out. So today it was back to the big house and this time we had it our hands in minutes. Nice camo. Fav point from me.

Finally!!! I have been working on this puzzle on and off for absolutely ages!

I had a huge amount of fun with it then hit a brick wall near the end......a gentle nudge from the CO had me on my way again. Why on earth I didn't continue to read on when I knew I was on the right track is a mystery to me. As soon as I tried again the solution was right there in front of me.

I arrived at GZ this morning and thankfully a low tide meant I didn't need to go swimming with the fishies.

Cute camo in a beautiful area!

Fav point awarded for a fun puzzle now on to that dreaded spider one!

TFTC

Having arrived at a solution a little while back with a bit of help we made the most of the light after work and a falling tide to make the find. Nice evening views. A quick find of an appropriate camo was made and signing duties completed. TFTC A favourite point from us.

The tide was in today so it was with glee I took the shoes off and went for a splash.
An intriguing puzzle and a great finale.

SL TFTC

After solving The Hämähäkki, the Flake cache appeared on the radar, so we set about filleting the layers of this puzzle away. Used TARDIS 0061 as a sounding board and soon made short work of what was needed to calculate coordinates for GZ.

Fast forward five months and we had an opportunity to be down this neck of the woods today in nearby Chatswood. So with a spare hour we drove over to GZ with JJCC and started searching. With the phone floating around, we finally spotted something and on closer inspection had the final fillet in hand. After both signing the log we replaced as found.

The following TBs came through for the mileage: Bob geoMinion, Dave geoMinion, Evil geoMinion, Jerry geoMinion, Larry geoMinion, Stuart geoMinion, teamMerlin's 7 Deadly Ducks Tag (Lust) and Vanlith The Youngling.

TFTC asbestiform - a favourite point awarded

With Team Merlin solving this puzzle cache with a little helping hand we were able to set forth and pick up the cache to claim our catch. With a short walk to GZ from our calculated coordinates we eventalluaty had the eye on the prize. It was a quick catch and we both signed the log and released the log to where we had found it. This earns a favourite point form us

TFTC asbestiform

I remember getting a giggle out of the initial exchange between Paul the Hippy and the CO
Solved it a while ago, but never quite had the time in the area to make the find. Today Mouse90 suggested an impromptu caching trip to find another new cache not too far away, so we thought we combine the two.

Forgot to bring the notes, didn't check the tides, but none-the-less Mouse90 made a quick find!

Beautiful location on a stunning day! Thanks for taking a side trip to find this fun cache Chudles! Such a lovely place TFTC (Cache is in great condition!)

Flake 7 in the news...
Study ranks Greenland shark as longest-lived vertebrate.
New radiocarbon dating of eye lenses suggests life span up to 392 years

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/study-ranks-greenland-shark-longest-lived-vertebrate

The puzzles were solved during the week, and today was the time to finally earn the smiley. A bit concerned about previous cacher's comment about high tide, and of course the tide was on its way in when we arrived at the location. But what would Geocaching be without some challenges!
A fun cache, well worth a favourite from us.

I made this a Terain 4 last week at high tide!?!

Today it was much easier like this animal compared to its spider companion.

Another great puzzle and fun find.

TFTC.

I had a failure here as darkness fell, the tide was wrong and I couldn't find the cache.

I shall return.

It was nice to see Baktrak's reference to Marcia Hathaway, I grew up near the shores of Middle Harbour opposite from where she was taken on that unfortunate day in 1963. We spent our summers swimming in the harbour pool at the end of our street. Even though it had been over a decade since she died, we all knew that a famous actress had met her end nearby. We would dare each other to dive into the "shark water" on the outside of the perimeter and then scramble back to safety as quickly as we could. But I never knew her name until now.

And so to another multi-puzzle bonanza from Asbestiform! I had only just recovered from a multi spider bite so didn't take the bait until someone asked me about a toothache they were having. I managed to get a filling for that one then ended up spending a fair bit of time on the wisdom teeth, they needed complete extraction.

But then I slipped right into the gullet and couldn't find a way out, I had a misconception that was proving impossible to shake. I got some help at that point and realised my mistake.

It was a beautiful afternoon, we dropped the geodaughter at camp and as the geowife was asleep in the car shattered from a 15 hour shift the day before, I figured she wouldn't mind dropping by GZ. I got close to GZ and thought "this could be anywhere". Then I remembered that there was info in the solution. It took a while to decipher because I hadn't put in any spaces and the very small text was highlighted in blue for some strange reason. But I am glad I persisted as the instructions were very clear.

When I found the cache for some strange reason a James Reyne song started in my head. Looks like I missed Canary by less than an hour, as the sun was starting to disappear.

A great location and an excellent piece of work - TFTC - favourite.

(681) Up in Sydney for a longish weekend. Plans to take the fam to Luna Park were shelved when I realised what it spelled backwards. Actually it was the weather that put us off. What could I do instead? Hmm I wonder.
Quick find at GZ. Nice little hide.
The solve: slightly more tame than Black Widow and her minions, and a lot more tame than Mrs Julia Smith, this one still posed issues for me. I plugged away at a few of the tougher sections and took breaks from those when I got stuck. Fortunately most sections gave up their secrets without too many headaches. In the end there was just one tricky bit. The CO pointed out an error in my working and I was away again.
A brilliant nine puzzles in one. Great value for my caching membership!
The O-ring on the cache is looking a bit sad. Might not be keeping things quite watertight.
TFTC!

Found this today after a short search. Thanks asbestiform for the effect you put in to creating the puzzle and cache. Also thanks to TM for doing the heavy lifting on the solve FP awarded. Found cache in good condition awaiting it next victim?

3/6/16. 1:28 PM. Cache #3892.
2nd of 6 finds (& 1 DNF) - Allambie Heights, Clontarf (published as), Phillip Bay & La Perouse.

I had a good crack at the puzzles this week, working with a couple of fellow puzzlers. Two of the chompers were still unsolved by Wednesday night, but I still made quite a bit of progress on the final puzzle without them. Yesterday, my cold had regrouped, so I didn't go out at all and spent the time on the final parts of the puzzle. I finally had a good solution and decided I'd head out for this one today.

Then overnight, a slew of new caches were published and one wasn't too far from this one. I had a busy morning, however, so by the time I got out and found "The streamy nook", it was a surprising FTF. That out of the way, I headed over here next. I followed the path downhill to the coast, then boarded the *Orca* to head to GZ.

Captain Quint had me on chumming duty, but I wasn't that keen having my arm that close to the side of the boat. Suddenly, a fin breaks the water and the beast pulls up along side us. "That's a 20-footer", I said. "25" said Quint. I'd had enough: "Righto, I'm out! You need a bigger boat... Drop me off at the nearest beach!" . Luckily there was a beach right near GZ, so after disembarking (couldn't get off quick enough), I remembered the extra hint and made a reasonably quick find.

I signed as 3TF and replaced, then headed back to the car and off for a few caches down south, starting with a DNF redemption at "Ficus macrophylla". TFTC - fave point worthy!
} : )

Interstate puzzles have been my main focus lately and I was in the middle of solving a batch when this popped up. I took a look and realising there was more than a little work here, was about to put it all away for another day but made a couple of notes anyway. On another day, a set of puzzles as elaborate as these might have had me staring blankly for days, wondering which way to go, but this time early progress was quick and I was soon bitten like a teenager at an Amity Island beach party. It was time to shut down the foreign stuff and go shark hunting.
Bit by bit and bite by bite, answers appeared; some were straightforward, many fought like a well-hooked mako with a mouth full of sore teeth and a couple yielded to a reverse approach.
With the complete message exposed, I recorded it for later and thought I'd whip up some Perfect Fish and Chips to celebrate. Misreading the recipe, I drew a flower, poured the beer and whisky gently, then more beer and whisky vigorously and then the rest of the beer and whisky. Realising my mistake, I drank the batter and kissed the fish.
The target area was completely deserted this morning and I slid down a slope and clambered over the obstacles to get to GZ with dry feet. I'd been spooked by reading all those film plots and wasn't about to follow Marcia Hathaway to an untimely demise by wading there.
The cache was found hidden in one of the customary ways and I signed and took the reward. That's probably my '*FTF* for the year.
Loved all the creativity here and had a good laugh with some of the answers offered, right and wrong. It's quite an effort to put all this together and worth a few FPs, but alas only one is allowed.
Thanks asbestiform.

Congrats to Baktrak on the FTF and thanks for picking up a few non-critical 'typos', now repaired!

#592
2TF @ 7am. Well they say the early bird catches the worm and looks like I was not early enough Congrats to Baktrak for a pre-dawn sprint.

Having found the companion cache (The Hämähäkki) for my 500th milestone, I briefly contemplated targeting this for my 600th. But once I started, quick progress had me addicted and I thought I might be in the race for first to find. Taking a bit of extra time to setup my Excel spreadsheet paid dividends and gave me good visibility as each puzzle was shredded in a feeding frenzy; printouts scattered across the desk. The final bite was tougher than it needed to be due to my poor ability to prove literacy.

With the solution in hand by bed time, I considered making a night time raid given the complex logistics with kids soccer the next morning. Certainly possible in hindsight but I opted for an early morning dash instead. The rest is history.

Thankfully this puzzle was a degree easier than its companion, as was the hide (and may therefore get more visits). However, the CO's finely crafted challenge was up to its usual awesome standard and an absolute joy to solve. Nice spot to enjoy the sunrise as well. Thanks asbestiform - I really appreciate the effort you go to. It's what keeps me coming back for more. Have another favourite.

Published

**Perfect Fish and Chips**
1 ½ ltr vegetable oil
150 g self raising flour
150 g cornflour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
300 ml beer
500 g white fish
50 g plain flour, for dusting
flake salt

1.Pour vegetable oil into a domestic deep fryer and heat to 180°c. Alternatively use a heavy based high sided pot.
2. Combine the flours, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a medium sized bowl. Pour in ¼ of the beer and whisk gently starting from the middle and begin to combine, drawing the flour from the edges of the bowl. Add ¾ of the remaining beer and whisk vigorously into a smooth batter. Add the rest of the beer and whisk until it reaches the consistency of thick cream.
3.At this point you can cook the chips and keep them warm in the oven set at 120°c.
4. Slice the fish into 10 cm x 2 cm strips. Coat in the flour and pat the excess from the fish. Drop into the batter and coat well. Lift each piece at one end and allow the excess batter to run off. Gently lower the fish into the hot oil, holding it at one end in the oil for a few seconds until the fish floats. Let go gently and repeat for the other pieces. Cook for 4 minutes or until the battered fish is crisp and a light golden brown. Lift out and drain the fish on paper towels.
5.Sprinkle with flake salt and serve with chips and tartare sauce.

Humans kill 124000 sharks every hour across the planet whereas sharks might take a bite from a human less then a dozen times a year. Is it really necessary to say they eat humans. Hurtful and offensive to see one of the most beautiful creatures on this planet referred too in such a way.