Lake Illawarra Oak Flats, New South Wales, Australia
By Wilbert67 on 28-May-18. Waypoint GC7QBT4

Spotted the cache and headed towards it. Almost trod on the dead bird next to the cache. Tftc

Middle of winter and raining so what would you do, go for a paddle down Macquarie Rivulet to grab a few caches.A leisurely paddle down to this cache with a stop to have a chat with an angler in a YAK. he only had one small bream but hoped of better things to come as all fishos do. He was sitting under a tree waiting for th rain to stop as he had forgotten his wet weather gear.Anyway got to the island and stepped out straight into the MUD which was to be a factor in all todays adventures. Managed to retain my crocks and made a quick find.There were very fresh fox tracks on the island but withstood the urge to find where it was holed up, not many places here as there was more paddling to be done to get the next ones here about.TFTC WilIronbark.

The lounge spotted by 4Rods is still in place. It was tempting to have a seat, but was nervous as to whether some crabs had made it their home. Made a quick find.

We had a lovely day kayaking down the rivulet and lunch on the island.

Found this one with the group today. I’m giving an FP here as there was a lovely sandy beach to pull up on and a straight forward trek to the cache.

OCW brewmaker, Everesthigh, 2Rods and Martin Cousins.
Warm day, loads of sunshine, got a weird sunburn on my legs shaped like the cockpit of my kayak. Today I struggled with getting in and out of the boat every attempt was an ungraceful plop or an uncontrolled capsize. It reminded me of a bike tour I went on in Germany where one of the tourists fell off the bike every time she stopped.
TFTC!!

The YAKs (Young Able Kayakers) were out on The Illawarra waterways today. Our group consisted of: EverestHigh, Martin cousins, Jennyfromthefarm, 2 of the 4Rods and Brewmaker (himself). I was keen to try out my new kayak, so we planned to meet up at Darcey Dunster Reserve. After we found a place to launch our yaks we headed upstream. We enjoyed 4 hours and 12km of paddling, with a bit of walking, in glorious sunshine.

A quick find after docking on the island. It had been a long paddle from the past find. TFTC

Group find after paddling down the river, spot on coords made for a quick find. We needed the rest from that long paddle

Paddled down Macquarie Rivulet to Lake Illawarra for a quick find on a little Island. OCW YAK. TFTC Wilbert67

Brewmaker wanted to test his new watercraft and pulled together our intrepid group of kayakers YAK (Young Ablebodied Kayakers) consisting of Everest High, JennyFromTheFarm, Martin Cousins and the 4Rods.
After finding the Macquarie Rivulet trio we paddled down to this cache. Aong the way we paddled past a lounge in the middle of the rivulet and a hay bale. Interesting. There was a fisherman camping close to the cache, but we were still able to find the cache quickly and easily. TFTC Wilbert67.

Out on some lockdown kayaking and stopped in on this island for a break. Cache still in place. Log is a bit damp but still can be written on.

Send kids downstream in kayaks. Thought I could walk beside the river as that what it looks like on the map. Nope. Private property. Thankfully a friendly neighbour (not the ones with the dogs) let me through. Kids spent an hr at GZ but no luck. Will be back. Next tine from the other side.

On the water with friends at 5 a.m. this morning, what a morning to kayak, not a breath of wind, so calm, so many jelly fish, birds, got up to see the sun rise, did not really do that, it was too cloudy to see much of the sun, but still glorious, and then saw that there was a cache near by, so had to land and get it. TFTC

TFTC. Unexpected stop in middle of kayak Sorry no pen/cil to enter log book.

I just got my new sea kayak yesterday, and I was determined to go out and give it a go this morning. My first plan was to go to tallow dam for a nice 26km paddle, just to find that the Np was closed for a few more days for feral animal control.
After driving all that way, lake Illawarra was the next closest for a kayak cache. Parked Oak flats, and hit the water from there.
Well that was an experience! I reached speeds twice that of my other yaks, but oh boy do I have to work on my balance! After the quick landing to find the cache I tipped the boat over while trying to get back in.
Thanks for the cache.

Geocanoeing with the tribe this afternoon on another stunning Illawarra spring day. Lovely little island that we had no intention of visiting unless there was a cache there. Geokids loved the private beach. Nice to give this log it's first 2020 sign. TFTC!

Almost, but not quite, one year since this was last found. Trying to clear out some local caches I grabbed the kayak this afternoon and launched from Oak Flats. Late afternoon meant it was very choppy and the only time I didn’t take the skirt I was swamped. On the way back I think two more waves in the boat and I would have been sunk!

No issues at the island- no GPSr required and cache all good. TFTC!

Launched from the Oak Flats Sailing club on a scorching afternoon. There was a light breeze blowing on the Lake that made the paddle across quite enjoyable. Once on the island I made a quick find but also a mistake - I had forgotten my pen:(. I will forward a photo of the cache to the CO as evidence, as I avoided doing a mud and stick signature. Photo of the log sheet with B@W as last finder. Gets a fave point.
TFTC

An early morning kayak out to this one. We picked a good launch spot that other paddlers also seem to use and had a good paddle unlike some of the shorter ones about. No wind so almost glassy conditions. A few Pelicans near GZ and once landed a quick find was made. A few shallow spots around but easy to navigate. TFTC.

A very enjoyable urban challenge. I waited until the time was right to grab this one, today was the day.

Favourite point awarded.

Cheers

You know when you have that one annoying cache that eats away at ya till you throw your hands in the air and "just go do it". Well thats been me and this cache - its my last unfound cache inside my 30km radius and I just had to get it off the radar.

Today under beautiful skies I combine the chills of winter with the chills of Lake Illawarra as I headed out to find this cache. The lake looked so calming and this isolated spot meant I could have been miles from anywhere, instead I was in ear shot of the hustle n bustle of suburbia. Once at GZ the cache was soon spotted high n dry and I was glad to have remembered my pen.

Thanks Wil

We didn’t have a plan and came unequiped and the Co kindly loaned us required equipment which saved us from walking a tail between our legs, since the water was SO COLD that preventing alternative methods. The paddle was a good stretch, easy going. Making back relatively dry. TFTC Wilbert67

Woohoo! Joint {*FTF*} with Bonfire7

I was keen to do this one over the weekend, however I couldn't fit it in.
Since my bodyboard, swimmers and towel were still in the car from Saturday, I figured that I would head down to Lake Illawarra this evening and get to this cache against all odds. It seemed like a good idea to invite Bonfire7, so we had power in numbers and good company for motivation.

I had spent the week looking at all possible avenues to get this done effectively and efficiently. We met down by Lake Illawarra by 4:30pm and set off along the planned route. By an insane stroke of luck, we had everything going for us - No icy wind, no miserable rain, no cold water temperature and we still had plenty of daylight left. To top this all off, we didn't plan tide times, yet we had unexpectedly visited at low tide!

The cache was located and signed a short while after searching around with phone light. It was only then that I realised the cut I received on the way across was bleeding a fair bit. I had considered what may be lurking beneath the water, but I made it back in one piece.

After a little while, we were back at the cars. The round trip took 1.5hrs to complete!
Really enjoyed the semi-spontaneous late afternoon geocaching experience.
Thanks to Wilbert67 for the addition of another fun water-based geocache in the Illawarra.
Thanks to Bonfire7 for coming up to smash this one out with me!

Woo-Hoo [FTF] with muppet95
Muppet put the call out if I was interested in joining him in finding this cache...of course!
We met up late afternoon at the end of the reserve,from here we slipped into our wetsuits grabbed our body-boards and flippers and started the walk up to the closest point,here we paddled over to GZ to make the find using the mobile phone torch.
Muppet cut his leg on the way over to GZ,I had some thoughts regarding bullsharks but didnt mention any of that til we retuned back at our cars.
We both really enjoyed the late afternoon adventure,well worth a fav point.
Thanks wilbert for the cache

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