Pig Blaxlands Ridge, New South Wales, Australia
By teamMerlin on 14-Jun-17. Waypoint GC75KEX

Find # 13071Following an epic weekend including a on the Colo yesterday, a few challenges and trails today before the group goes their separate ways to head home.Always energy for just one more - with Smittengranny, KittyKatch, Joolay, and a bunch of others and signing at CC24 (Canberra Cachers 24) to save space in the logbook. Many thanks to teamMerlin for placing Pig for us all to enjoy. Your contribution to the game through the placement and maintenance of this cache over the years is appreciated.

It is now Sunday and we (the group who had driven up from Canberra) allowed ourselves a bit of a sleep in after the kayak adventure on the Colo River yesterday. It wasn't much of a sleep in though as there are just so many caches up here to be found - some of the mysteries having already been solved at home. The day dawned sunny and very humid, which didn't bode well for some of the hilly walks. However we were blessed with 100% finds of the caches that we targeted. This was one of them and the logs were all signed as CC24 (Canberra Crew) to save space.Thanks to all the COs for placing and maintaining these caches.

Found on a kayaking weekend with a group of Canberra cachers. We signed as CC24. TFTC.

Found with minniek and the rest of Team CC24 (Canberra Canoeists 2024).Day 2 of our Colo River Region Caching Adventure. After an amazing days caching yesterday mainly on the river, it was time for some bushwalking for caches today. The main aim were the Challenges and Yin Yang series (or at least as many as we had solved). Nice quick find. Signed, returned, and we continued on our way to the next one.Thanks teamMerlin !!

Found with a fun group of geofriends while in the area for a geocaching adventure. Signed as Canberra Canoers 24 (CC24). TFTH

Colo River TripHeading to Wiseman's Ferry area for a weekend of caching with Joolay, contesta and Smittengranny. We joined up with a bunch of Canberra cachers to find some challenges and puzzles today. Signed as Caberra Cachers 2024 (CC24). Thanks for hiding and maintaining this cache teamMerlin

Today the Canberra crew that had gathered in the area for the colo River caches, met up this morning for group caching. We started the day walking a trail of challenges, before moving on to ying yang puzzles. Our group consisted of kittykatch, joolay, contesta, MinnieK, Fitzy, search4, Aykayem, smittengranny, FurfacesLL, loci, Nibletricecakes, Gliss, TikvaNZ, sacada and myself. We signed as CC24 (Canberra Canoeists 2024) as our group name to represent all cachers.A nice walk through the bush for the challenge caches. The cicadas were loud, oh so loud at times! But a good series and a stunning view out over the colo River we had paddled from the morning before from the trad at the end.With our walk complete, we convoyed from cache to cache mostly doing the ying yang puzzles solved. A ferry crossing saw the last cacher cross, but the ferry sat on the other side chatting to the one car returning and after a long time waiting we turned and went of caching our own way unable to cross. Later, we crossed elsewhere only to meet up with the group returning!!! A warm day and the walks become too much for me with hills, a great day (Weekend) though and time to return home. A great area to visit and cache, thanks for your cache!

Spending some time caching around the NSW/ACT southern tablelands with lots of side trips. TFTC.Another day around the hills of Colo River collecting challenges, solved puzzles and traditionals.A great day out with the Canberra Crew signing as CC24. It was hot & exhausting with lots of bush walks over many hills. Wonderful scenery. A long convoy of cars carrying kayaks. Awesome.Many great puzzles that are well thought out. Many to still solve.

Spending a few days in the area for some hikes and a paddle down the Colo river. A beautiful part of the world. TFTFun!

A great day exploring the region with ESCR. We just selected caches and walks that looked interesting to get a feel for the area and ended up collecting a decent number. TFTC!

After finishing up with our aim of the Kayak series down the Colo, Rats, Steeba and I had a bit more time in the afternoon to cache before we needed to be home.We targetted some more caches in the area, some of which included chalenges that I do not yet qualify for.It was a stinking hot afternoon, and I was pretty fried by the time the afternoon thunderstorm hit.Cheers

Out for a weekend in and around the Colo River with The Rats and Hoojar to find plenty of caches- a fair bit of legwork needed beforehand though. Some enjoyable country.TFTC!

Out for a weekend caching with steeba and Hoojar. We targeted NW Sydney and the Colo area. With plenty of choices we had a great weekend canoeing and hiking.Today we enjoyed a paddle along the Colo river collecting the Grumpy P.TTFTC

Found it on a lovely hot day. TFTH teamMerlin!

Find it and sign the log as EV, and thanks for the cache and hunt.

Found it easily, thanks again

What evil twisted sick mind came up with these puzzles....thanks to the cache owner for his patience and assistance helping me solves these puzzles. A quiet walk after showers this morning, was really wanting the CO's bacon for the puzzle and I remain convinced that he should be locked up in a pigpen.

Came along today to add some more smileys to the map of the Hawkesbury area. You just have to love geocaching, especially on Valentines Day. It was a good run and goingplaces2 came along for the ride. This cache was a successful find and the log was signed. TFTC.

#11626 11:00
A day of geocaching around Sackville and Wisemans Ferry. Main focus for today the solved birdhouse caches together with Team Canary, Martin Cousins and Everest High. 

Eventhough YY puzzles were not the goal of the day, this cache was too close to the road to ignore.

TFTC Team Merlin.

I have solved most of the Yin-Yang puzzle series, but until today, had not found any of them. Today was planned to go finding solved Birdhouse puzzle caches, but I managed to find a few Yin-Yangs along the way. OCW Martin Cousins and It's Dozzie. TFTC Team Merlin

Found with Ev and Dozzie as we were passing through, easily spied the hide, one of only three finds to this series today, thanks TM

Found today on a nice cache drive out this way with my brother, Dad, Mighty Minions and barefootjeff to get a few high-terrain caches and also some of the roadside yin-yang ones, had a nice time out here even though BFJ hurt his ankle at one of the first caches, we still had a really fun day around here!

TFTC

#5434
We were caching in the Colo/Sackville area today with Mighty Minions and barefootjeff, with a couple of good walks and interesting terrain and a handful of more roadside finds, we had a great day with perfect caching weather.
We decided on more roadside stuff for the afternoon, so headed out towards Sackville raiding solved yin-yangs as we went. Another little cross-road, and a quick hide. This puzzle had me thinking, and messaging for advice too! TFTC!

A great day out caching with barefootjeff, Lee737, Samuel737 and Oliver 737 today. The weather was good and we didn't have any dnf's. Thanks for the cache teamMerlin tnln replaced as found sl

Out for a day of caching with Mighty Minions, lee737, Samuel737 and Oliver737. After injuring my ankle at Decoy, we headed back to the cars for lunch before going for a drive and doing some of the roadside Yin Yang caches we'd solved. I'd attempted this puzzle quite some time back but didn't make much headway and in the end had to rely on lee737's coordinates. Once at GZ, I hobbled over as close as I could comfortably get, letting the others make the find and bring the log over for me to sign.

Many thanks for the hide and the series.

Found with my Dad and brother and friends! TFTC!!!

With this puzzle, we learnt something new (again) to start us off. Fortunately we were able to complete the puzzle without further assistance. TFTC and puzzle teamMerlin

**The Series:**

I have been eager to do this series ever since it was published! I remember someone posted about it on one of the geocaching groups I am in, and I started to look at the puzzles straight away and solved a few before the first to find!

I solved a bunch of the easier ones by myself, and got some help with the tougher ones from a couple different people. I had a full set of coordinates a couple years ago now and have always wanted to visit, but this part of Sydney is a long way from where I usually frequent, and I was waiting for an excuse to visit!

I saw there was a Community Celebration hosted close by, which presented the perfect opportunity this weekend! Only had a single day to give these caches a crack, found a bunch of them but will still need to return for more. No DNF's either which was a blessing! Especially considering the condition of the bush some where found in, and the time between finds too!

This is easily one of the best series I have done, I really loved how the caches are all hidden in bush with varying Terrain ratings, I love climbing and sandstone so this was a pleasure!

TFTC teamMerlin!

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**This Cache:**

Missing logbook - signed the temporary piece of paper left by previous finder.

Apart from that the cache is still in good condition despite being unfound for so long which was good to see! No abandoned mountain bike here anymore though!

Found with WaywardWoman while caching in the area. This mystery really had MrT and I puzzled. Had to get help numerous times only to get to another stumbling block. I was ready to give up but the CO gave me one more shove in the right direction! (I think it was so I didn't annoy him over it any more!) So with a solution within my reach, I sat with WW before heading out caching, solved the puzzle, and finally got the OK from the checker!

So after lots of time solving, thankfully the cache was a shortwalk and an easy find. Signed log and returned as found. TFTC

#5254- On a wet, soggy morning after a few weeks of rain, I met thomo31 at Richmond McD in order to do some more of the Yin/ Yang series. She was just working the last of this caches Co-ords as we ate breakfast, but that had apparently been the simplest part of this difficult puzzle. All cudos to her, Mr T and the CO for help in working this one out. My head went dizzy just looking at it.
Driving through the Hawkesbury after the rain, lots of trees down and I wasn't sure how we'd go with the caches today. Once at GZ, this was a short stroll for an easy find thankfully.

I'd planned for the last few weeks to take today off work to try and pick up all the remaining in Yang series.Unfortunately the nearby bushfires and my fear of being savaged by Eastern Brown snakes (thanks to a friend who lives at nearby Colo) caused me to scale back my plans. I managed to find another 17 Yin Yang caches today and this was the fifteenth.

A really interesting puzzle - I learnt a couple of very handy things on this one and if I recall correctly I had a bit of a nudge from the CO. Unfortunately when I got to GZ the container was out in the open with nothing in it (although there was an abandoned mountain bike right next to it). I put a temporary piece of log paper in it and hid it where I suspected it hold have been. TFTC.

It's been a while, but i finally managed to get back to this area to find the rest of this series. While not as hot as the last time he, the sun still baked me on my trek.
Thanks for the cache.

Arriving at GZ I got a phone call from my Dad requesting IT support. A pop-up box on a website has assured him that all the files on his computer are out of date, and unless he installs this genuine certified Microsoft update in the next 241s, his computer will be wiped. Should he install it?

This one I can understand a bit, but the one I don't get how people fall for it, are the ones where the Tax Office is demanding urgent payments, and that you have to provide them with iTune vouchers?!?

Out today enjoying a school holiday geocaching day with my two sons. The plan was to take care of a bunch of our solved Yin Yang puzzles today. This was our 11th YY find today. We'd all pretty much had enough of the heat by this point in the day but fortunately these last few didn't involve much of a trip beyond the geocar.

I'd got onto solving a number of the intermediate and higher D puzzles in the series back when they were first published. This puzzle was tricky but after getting a feel for the kinds of things to look out for with others in this series, and some perseverance, I finally made it through the first step. Later, Orssome86 and I were working on some others in the series -some of the highest D ones- when he sent me a very cool tool for this one after twigging that I had picked up on something unique and apparently fairly significant on the cache page. I'm glad I got the nudge though I have to say 'cause I learned a new thing which was something I prolly would not have gleaned here otherwise!

At GZ, eldest geokid made the find of a cheekily hidden cache where we both signed the log and replaced as found. We also visited the same TBs we'd been dipping all day. TFTC, teamMerlin.
#846

On our way back down south as our holiday comes to an end, we headed to the Yin Yang series to pick up as many caches that time and weather would permit.
With many hours spent solving these mysteries, a little nudge or 2 from the CO was needed to get us over the finish line for a couple. We found the themed puzzles to be extremely clever as they flowed together giving us the coordinates needed today to make a few finds. Unfortunately we weren't able to pick them all up as the daylight started to fade and we still needed to be on the other side of Sydney, so we had to move on We will be back in NSW next year so we certainly will make our way back here to finish the series and enjoy the area once more [^]
An interesting puzzle , one I hadn't seen before
Enough of high Terrain caches, now its time for both us to get some of the easier hides together.
Thanks teamMerlin for all the hard work put into this brilliant series , testing our mental and physical abilities, we loved the views that the caches took us to

A selection was made this morning of some of the Yin Yang series that we had not found as yet. It was time to go bush walking again and get them out of the "puzzles with solved co-ords" list. There was no problem with walking the tracks or doing a bit of cross country bush walking to get to each GZ. As each container was located and each log signed, we stopped to take in the views and notice the spring flowers starting to bloom.
Thank you to teamMerlin for more puzzles and more caches to find. Some were more challenging than others, but all were enjoyable.

Yet again, out collecting this series with LouLou0212, in between moving house. The locations and puzzles are all fantastic with this series. Thank you for placing the puzzles and series teamMerlin. I’m sorry for the generic logs, but it was a while between solving and collecting the puzzles, and then a lot in a short period!

Out and about caching with BeckNmonts this week, this series has had some amazing views and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to find all of these - thanks for putting out this fantastic series - TFTC teamMerlin, I really enjoyed it!

The yin yang series has been on our radar for too long. After finishing up work for the week, we made the trip down for the weekend. Over 2 days we travelled around the different trails, finding all these caches. Thanks for the effort put into this series, it's been fun.

This puzzle took a little bit of time. We went through our process and started analysing different pieces of information. Something caught out attention and the next step revealed itself. The green light lit up soon after.

Quick find. I think I quite like this area . Tftc tnln

Tough little puzzle. Satisfying to get the green light. Quick park and grab. Cache all good. Tftc

An enormous day out with the whole gang - M95, GD__, B7, 154C, MCMD.
Admittedly I did not and could not solve most of these puzzles. I was tagging along for the drive and physical manpower. Thanks For The Caches!

After alot of endless nights working on the puzzle series we had ourselves the coordinates needed to make a start on the series we now just needed to find a weekend the gang could all get together.muppet called out again late last week,this weekend suited us all so the plans were soon made to meet for a very early start.We cached all day and well into the night finding all the target hides,a good balance of terrain and difficulty provided perfect harmony.
Another really enjoyable day out caching with good friends.
Thanks teamMerlin for all the hard work you've put in setting up this series.

Apologies for the repeated logs
TFTC

Admittedly I had only worked part of the way through these puzzles but when I got the call to participate in some trail walking and bush bashing I was packed up and ready to go in nothing flat. Bit of a drive to get here from Wollongong via the Southern Highlands but the day was well worth the effort. I'm glad to have earned some hidden creature souvenirs while getting some great geo-art. Thanks for the caches and the series.

We've been working on this series on and off since they first appeared last year. Today we set our sights on a power-binge to snag them all in a single day... only to discover many of them were just as challenging to get as they were to solve. No matter, though, because we attacked them like a well-oiled machine and plowed through the lot with precision and determination. The weather was on our side and it was a perfect day to accomplish our goal: we were out before sun-rise, rendezvoused with the usual suspects, made the trip from the Southern Highlands, made the first find by nine, the last by seven, and scored two bonus caches in the process; then we had a bite to eat where we could reflect on the day's adventures before refueling and heading for home. All up, a challenging series of puzzles, definitely a challenging day out, and some great art on our map. Thanks Team Merlin for the caches and the series.

What an adventure it has been to get here…

This all started back in August 2017 when I was notified of the puzzle series. I was really on top of puzzle solving skills at the time, so I set to work on the GeoArt. The puzzling process reflected the Yin Yang philosophy – a balance of easy, hard and everything in between. By February, I only had 8 puzzles to go. A few emails between the CO and other puzzle solvers had set the last 8 straight. We have sat on the completed list for 5 months, waiting patiently for the stars to align.

Now that I am on session break, my time has been significantly freed up. It was by chance that I had a weekend day off work, which was an ideal day for the others. A few messages were sent around late in the week to see if everyone was interested in finally getting around to doing the Yin Yang series. We had enough interest to go ahead with the plan.

Rise at 5am. Rendezvous at 7am. Arrive at 9am. Cache until 7:30pm. Return by 9:30pm. Home by 11pm. We managed to find all 59 caches in the Yin Yang series in 10.5 hours. Just like the puzzle solving, the cache finding reflected the Yin Yang philosophy – some caches being effortless, extremely challenging and everything in between.


An absolutely mad achievement! We wanted to smash out the series in a day to appreciate the whole series in its entirety. A momentous day spent in great company! Thanks to teamMerlin for this wonderful series – a lot of time and energy has been put into developing such a cohesive and interconnected set of Mystery caches.

While typing this log I found this great quote I thought I’d tack on:
“Yin and yang, male and female, strong and weak, rigid and tender, heaven and earth, light and darkness, thunder and lightning, cold and warmth, good and evil...the interplay of opposite principles constitutes the universe.” – Confucius

Apologies for generic copy/paste logs. There weren’t many cache-specific field notes that we needed to record. We were just really impressed with completing the series as a whole and overlooked potential points of interest.

Reperio at 1610. Found in the company of the_garbageman.

Having worked on this series for the past few months, the_garbageman and I were keen to knock a few of them over today. This was a puzzle that took some time to work out what was needed, and even then I think I needed a nudge from somewhere. It was really pleasing to see so many different techniques used in this series. It’s been one of the better geoarts I’ve done to date.

Gratias teamMerlin.

MV and I have been planning an assault on some of the high D:T caches in the region for some time, but the stars rarely align for both of us to be available. This week we got lucky, and with an absolutely glorious day we set off in the hopes of claiming 29 targeted caches - we squeezed in 25 for MV and 22 for me - walked countless km, climbed up and down numerous rock faces, and had an amazing day.

So much effort on the whole setup of this series. Thanks for creating something which has given me so many hours of puzzle solving, hikes, climbs, great views, time with mates on trails, etc. Much appreciated!

Another tricky puzzle. Where do you get all your ideas from? The diversity in this series is really impressive and I’ve learnt a lot along the way. Thanks!

Woohoo! A drive-by! I’m knackered! A quick find at GZ - although only after my GPS stopped pointing me at a fallen structure 15m away. Damn you satellites! TNLN TFTC

This cache was such a relief after a few walks along tracks for other caches in the heat. We were able to park right near this cache and find it easily, before considering another cache nearby. Thanks

#5,421

This was the closest we got to a drive-by all day. A much appreciated drive-by after our previous physical exertions. Thank you for the variety of hides in this series. Although we went to a few spots today that were great to discover, by the time we got here, we weren't keen on any more long walks.

Thanks

Streak Day #1693 - Out again with dave8153 and had a little help to solve this one and i made the find. TFTC

**## Found Cache No. 2204 ##
(Caches Found Today: 1 OF 1)
Streak Day: 804 **

Headed back out here today with Snoopy1976 for our daily find. An easy find. TFTC

We've been chipping away at this series for a while now, resulting in several visits to the area in search of the caches that we've solved. This extremely diverse series has since become highly addictive, and over the last few months, countless hours of frustration, puzzle solving, and eureka moments have consumed so much of our time. This weekend we decided it was time to raid the area of Yin Yang caches!
Wow! These puzzles have made our toolbox so much bigger than it was before! We have learnt a lot of very clever methods that we didn't know were possible. TFTC!
Cheers,
The Hancock Clan

after solving this one some time back I decided to come for a drive out here tonight & collect this cache. thanks teamMerlin for placing this series of caches

Log 1307 Streak Day 396

Field log. Full log to follow

@1045
Found with ZQX and Fox in Jox.
More to come ... TFTC

How many evil ways are there to use images as part of a puzzle cache? I thought I'd seen most of them, then I came across the Yin Yang series. Wow! Image-based puzzles are not my strength, but after this series I'm feeling a lot more confident with them.
This puzzle resisted all my initial attempts to solve. I couldn't find a crack in the surface. What was I missing? Well, I had to learn something totally new here. But learn I did, and once past the first hurdle everything was smooth sailing. A well-constructed puzzle once again, with all parts working perfectly. Glad I persisted with it because I learned another trick.
Thx TM!

A roadtrip from Canberra with ZQX and TikvaNZ for a day of caching in the Hawkesbury area.

Puzzle. Fot a slight nudge from ZQX in the car on the way. Worked my way through until I got some good coords.

Quick find by ZQX. TFTC TM

Whew, a swine of a puzzle until you know how and have the right tools to take on the task. After several looks at the mystery, and futile attempts at cracking it, it had to go on the back burner for a while. No good ending up with a fused cerebellum or some other brain outage from trying too hard.

A breakthrough came at a recent CCC event when I got a bit of an insight about the right software that could be used, and how it needed to be applied. The minute-long chat with someone else who was chipping away at this tricky enigma was enough for me to make a fresh start and find all the right tools. Once the first phase of the challenge was cracked, the next one was a nice and easy bit -- I liked the connection with the name of the cache; little plays on words and themes tickle my mind.

Considering how hard it was to crack this nut, I was rather surprised as how quick and easy the find was. But no complaints -- with the rest of the family waiting in the car it was easier for me to say I would be two minutes and that they didn't have to go on some death march through the bush yet again. Yip, you guessed it: they aren't really cachers and mostly just suffer through my enthusiasm for solving some nasty puzzles and looking for Tupperware (or sistema here in Australia) in some odd places.

Log signed and one of my signature small wire dogs added to the container. Another blue ? on the map turned into a yellow smilie. We keep plugging away at this puzzle series.

I got help from Deep_99 who did all the hard work in solving this cache. I feel a touch bad finding this one without him, but I'm sure I'll get over it
SL #3392 on streak day #1989 TFTC

Have been exposed to these porkies before but took a little while to work the numbers.
Today work put me in the area and took the opportunity to check out some fire trails and the Bush. Focus was to collect solved puzzles with easier access back with Mtb at another stage to make those longer trails more fun. Spent a pleasant afternoon walking and driving on quiet roads. Kudos to the Co for the excellent series.
Quickly found with accurate coordinates.

Day two for our grab on more of these great caches in this picturesque area. We managed to find all of the puzzles that we had solved and some of the other traditionals along the way.

The terrain ranged from nail biting cliff scrambles to easy flat walks that just varied in length. All of the hides were well tucked away and sometimes presented us with a challenging search. Some of the locations played havoc with the GPS and we found ourselves using the 'Where would we hide it' technique which also served us well.

We had a good solid day and certainly feel a bit stiff and sore but with a huge sense of achievement. Thanks again for the obvious effort injected into these interesting and challenging puzzles and for showing us a large portion of your backyard. We enjoy geocaching here and will return again for sure.
SL TFTC

I've learnt something new. I'm damn impressed.

Saturday morning Sackville puzzle cache blitz. #7
Fun puzzle - Quick and easy find
SL TFTC

I am at the better end of a good cold, and by midday, I was tiring. I soldiered on and found this without too much hassle. TFTC...I'm sleepy.

#1449
I found a fuzzy way into the puzzle quite early on, but it took a nudge to get clarity. In the process, I eventually discovered something that I hadn't noticed previously and added some new tools to my inventory.

Headed back to Sackville for another excellent day of finding caches. I found myself heading down a combination of new and familiar trails. This was the fourth of the day. My map suggested there was a shortcut from Hidden History 5, Obelisk, but I was met by a closed gate with a private property sign. Now taking the longer way, my petrol warning light came on and I had my fingers crossed that my plan for the day would unfold without having to walk for fuel.

Finally made it to GZ for a quick find.

TFTC teamMerlin

This proved tricky to get a clear next stage but I had enough to get the basic of an answer and fill in the missing pieces.

At GZ it was an easy find.

TFTC.

#1231 got a hint for this puzzle on how to obtain the coordinates. With them safely to hand we headed off to see if we could get FTF but were beaten by B@W. Oh well it had been a great day picking up solved puzzles with Lucky1955 & a catch up with CO at the winery to tell of our exploits.
Signed the log and replaced as found. Both the cache and log are in good condition. Thanks for the puzzle teamMerlin

The following TBs visited for the distance - 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, & 2016 phlphotos NSW geocoins, phlphotos' Spindoc Bob Memorial Geocoin & Rainbow Spirit’s Caching Dilemma's Geocoin,Help for Heroes Geocoin, Heart Strings, Mission Monopoly, Jasmer Geocoin, Icelandic Viking on Safari, The Travel Ddraig, & Kitac 2

to finish a strong days caching Phil and I tried for a ftf but had been beaten to the find by b@w.

a nice drive by park and find my eleventh cache to finish the day of walking fire trails. tftc

TFTC **FTF** Full log to follow

First to log but not FTF log to follow

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