👜 #8 sharkiefan's handbag series 👜 Balwyn North, Victoria, Australia
By sharkiefan (adopted by frilk) on 11-Aug-18. Waypoint GC7VYXX

Finally completed the handbag series! For some reason this gave me more trouble than all the others combined. I hope no one is looking out their window, because I visited on 4 different days I'm so glad to be able to do such a big series while I'm in Melbourne! Thanks again to the CO!

After many hours, our puzzles are complete. Today, we ventured out to begin the hunt for the hidden cache. Thank you for the puzzles and TFTC. Love exploring our parks

A speedy in and out here after finding a park nearby. TFTC.

Easy find. Good size. TFTC

An easy find on the way home from work after solving some months ago. Thanks.

Quick, easy find by my partner in crime Willywombat27

Wow! Not hard to find- we wonder if the size of the cache relates to the size of the bag?TFTC

Happened to get here as soon as it started pouring. Waited a while, but then found it. Tftc!

Had to wait for a gap between passing muggles, but got it in the end, tftc

Jigidi are definitely not by favorite puzzles to solve but being so close to home I felt obliged too have a go at this series. Most took hours to solve. Out this morning in the sunshine grabbing a few in the series. Not many limbs on the tree so made for a nice find.

Great little spot with trees! TFTC

Another one down!

GPS lead us a little astray here but used geologic and got there after a few false starts. FairyDust01 here too.

6 for 6 today. TFTC

**10/04/2024, 10:32:00****Find #5737****Mystery Find #1094**I solved all these jigsaws not long after the caches were published but never had a chance to attempt to find any of them until today. I had to come up to Balwyn North on some business and so took the opportunity to make a start today. The weather wasn't kind to me. Drizzle for most of the time I was there and then drizzle turned to rain. Around midday, I headed home. I was hungry. Three DNF's is I think, a new low for me but some days go like that. **Thank-you to frilk for placing this geocache**

On secondment to Melbourne, Australia, combined with short holidays here and there. Day 30/74, Tuesday. Yesterday, I had a long walk finding caches in the handbag series. It was so much fun that I decided to continue today. After the working day, I took the same bus than day before, and continued this fun. I searched for 11 caches and found all of them. I had a great evening. All handbag series caches were quickly found. I really appreciated the hints! Thank you for the cache and greetings from Vaasa, Finland! Logged with [GCDroid](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gcdroid).

I was working in the area, and I thought I would collect a few local geocaches to help me towards my next big target, my 6000th find. The Handbag Series and some old caches looked like a good plan for this afternoon's caching run.Solved these Jigsaw puzzles years ago and have only been able to collect half so far.Found this one in the second tree I looked in. After a walk from previous geocache, simply because I couldn't be bothered finding a car park again.Thanks for the cache, frilk.Hunter

very quick park on the side street and a little bit of looking up the wrong tree, found it and signed, forgot what handbag im up to today, but a few down a couple to go! TFTC

FUF009 was visiting for the long weekend. We decided to find the handbag series, seeing as I adopted it out over 4 years ago.It was very strange being back in the old neighbourhood. Many things have changed, and it was interesting to see if I recognised any areas and hides. It was probably around 50/50! My thanks to frilk for taking on these caches and keeping them up and running.

Find # 13377 Found with sharkiefan After the Australia day event in Werribee we headed out east to tackle the old handbag series.Had these worked out when they first came out, can remember some of the puzzles taking hours to complete , it's just been that long since planning a day to go get them. TFTC sharkiefan (adopted by frilk)

Out early today to finish another batch of this puzzle series, then home again to beat the heat. All caches were in good condition, although some of them were exposed and very easy to find.

Questa serie stata risolta a casa, oggi andiamo a raccogliere i frutti.Con NitiFlex faremo parecchi km camminando quasi sempre in parchi e percorrendo una zona residenziale, posti tranquilli e ben tenuti.Saluti dall'ItaliaTFTC

Finalmente con Eletab sono arrivate le nostre vacanze in Australia e New Zealand.1 e 2 GiornoViaggio davvero lungo, pi di 18000 km da casa in linea d'aria !!!Appena arrivati affrontiamo una Traditional per ottenere il badge ma poi alziamo subito la posta con una multi ma la stanchezza prende il sopravvento e abbandoniamo velocemente per uscire a cena.La vera caccia inizia solo domani..3 GiornoCi svegliamo presto e abbiamo 2 ore e mezzo prima di colazione per cui i primi 10000 passi volano cos. A fine giornata arriviamo a farne le quattro volte di piu' (39.000). Abbiamo visitato un mercato di prodotti alimentari locali e esplorati 3 bellissimi parchi. 4 GiornoOggi abbiamo deciso di provare a usare i monopattini. Io non posso reggere un numero tale di passi per due settimane.... Una figata, io sono abituato ma Elio si comporta divinamente e per me se lo comprer hihihi. Nonostante questo arriviamo a oltre 20000....5 Giornomattina presto ci facciamo 2 ore e mezza di monopattino in giro per Lab poi partiamo per Dunedin per cercare le cache storiche che ci interessano. Qualche sosta obbligatoria a cache di elevato valore statistico allietano il viaggio !!! 6 GiornoTorniamo a Christchurch ma prima un'altra Novembre 2000 a Dunedin. Nel tragitto facciamo un po' di belle soste all'HQ di Steampunk e Moeraki.Domani all'alba partiamo per l'Australia... Iniziamo una nuova avventura!!!7 GiornoAereo OK Auto OK SIM Australia semi OK. Partiamo carichi come molle ma ben presto ci rendiamo conto che il traffico dati difficilissimo. Zone scoperte?!? Boh. Adesso in paese vicino ai Twelve Apostles tutto funziona bene.8 GiornoPartiamo con calma e dopo una buona colazione ci dirigiamo piano piano verso Melbourne percorrendo una buona parte della Ocean Road !! Ci fermiamo per alcune tappe programmate ma anche a sentimento.... Ricordiamoci che siamo in vacanza !!!!9 GiornoOggi abbiamo Ottobre 2000 in programma e un PowerTrail da fare in auto di regular, per Elio sar una faticaccia ma a lui questi posti piacciono da morire !!!10 GiornoGiornata dedicata a Melbourne centro citt. Alle 12.00 c' anche l'evento organizzato da Elio.La partenza in sordina in quanto non abbiamo ancora capito come muoverci. Da una Virtual troviamo due partecipanti all'event e ci invitano a geocacciare insieme. Finito il meeting facciamo un gruppetto per cercare qualche altra cache vicina.Geocacher tutti molto simpatici e disponibili. Thanks 11 GiornoVogliamo disintossicarci per una mattina dalla citt. Elio ha risolto una bella serie di Mistery per cui andiamo a farci, di domenica, la classica passeggiata fuori porta..Poi nel pomeriggio torniamo in centro a Melbourne.About this cache:vorrei dirvi chi ha trovato l'ultima ma non posso. Sar una delle cose che mi porter nella tomba.... Forse !!Con questa lascio un Punto Favorito alla bellissima serie. Thanks Owner

**Find 2500!** *Not an official milestone, but a fun one none the less!*Last year my caching resolution was to try and get close to to qualifying for [ahomburg's](https://www.geocaching.com/p/?guid=1ded3729-fe62-40bb-9f5f-fd559e7163b1&wid=dc135a03-cc4f-4381-a4b2-0feb0a96e411&ds=2) [The Non-Traditional Calendar Challenge (GC7RCQ3)](https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC7RCQ3), and I ended up getting close with only needing to find a non-traditional cache on another thirty (30) different days. So for this year's caching resolution I decided to set my sights again on another one of [ahomburg's](https://www.geocaching.com/p/?guid=1ded3729-fe62-40bb-9f5f-fd559e7163b1&wid=dc135a03-cc4f-4381-a4b2-0feb0a96e411&ds=2) challenge caches, the [WCW - Almost a Complete Mystery Challenge (GC9Z59N)](https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9Z59N), which requires me to find mystery caches each calendar date.I started to work on this challenge a bit towards the end of 2023 and have been using this series of caches to fill in some of those calendar dates. So I am back out here today to find another cache in the series in order to fill in yet another missing calendar date. As someone who is not much of a puzzler this series has been amazing, as I always know how to solve a **jigidi** puzzle, and only needed the time to do so. With this one still having under 100 pieces I was still able to solve it relatively quickly and definitely in one sitting. Which was nice as some of the later ones in the series took me a few nights to be able to complete them.The weather was less than stellar today, as it rain...and Rained...and RAINED! Which meant I was in for a wet hunt at GZ, however with the weather being so poor, it did mean that GZ was completely muggle free and I was able to make a nice uninterrupted search at GZ. Lucky for me it was a fairly quick search once I arrived at GZ and I was able to find the cache and sign the log before I got too wet. A big thanks goes to [sharkiefan](https://www.geocaching.com/p/?guid=34aa4c48-9615-4751-ae99-44e63866e71c&wid=d6d1b5a5-f77c-4e7f-9e08-3126adab0029&ds=2) for originally hiding this fun series and to [frilk](https://www.geocaching.com/p/?guid=b232cbe3-1e56-43e6-b542-a1749314fd52&wid=7bbce2f6-7d7e-4a91-81d3-30adb21c17ac&ds=2) for maintaining it now for me to find. TFTC. **Cache Maintenance Status**The cache container was in good shape. The attachment mechanism still seemed strong and the logbook was clean and dry. One side of the logbook is now full but the back side of the logbook only has a few signature and so there is still plenty of room for future cache finders to sign.

Solved this awhile ago (loved the jigsaw puzzles by the way) but now out while the weather is nice with my 6 month old daughter to find the caches

GPS bounced around leaving us with a few options to explore. Spotted it from afar.

Nice find enjoying the beautiful weather on a day off from work. TFTC

Completed most of these jigsaws quite a while ago - they were my introduction to jigidi. Enjoyed discovering the range of handbags Located five caches back then but never got back to look for the rest. Completed the last few puzzles earlier this year. Today was the day to locate the rest with Cybergran V, Loved the range of lovely leafy parks they took us to. This one was located after a short search. Thanks for this great series.

This cache will need a new ring on it soon it is almost rusted away. But I was still able to locate the log to inscribe my wonderful chauffeur TanSaf and my names upon it.Thanks for the fun in finding this one.

Easy find and lovely and quiet! Beautiful suburb, enjoy looking at the gardens. Off to the next in the series!

Made a quick stop here to collect a smiley on this nicely tucked away cache by the main road. Thanks for this geoart sharkiefan and frilk

I solved a number of this series during a quiet fire season early this year.
Today I had an appointment not far away, and with some time before my next obligation, took the opportunity to search out some local caches.
This type of placement can be my nemesis sometimes, so I was pleased that the find in this small park was made quite quickly.
Container and log in good condition.
TFTC sharkiefan and frilk

I've worked on these puzzles on and off for quite some time and I took the opportunity to find quite a few of them today while visiting ConnieandRick. It was a beautiful winters day to be wandering around and most of the caches were in good condition.

What a cute little reserve! The flowers on the tree were in bloom during this sunny day. TFTC

A 3rd handbag for the morning. This series keeps on giving.....

So that’s the whole handbag series. I had a good day. The cache were not complicatred to find. All the hard work was done on my computer.

Came from the Gold Coast to visit my parents and decided to find this series.

I had one DNF which is going to bug me but that’s the game.

I AM GUR

I solved the puzzles a few years ago during the never-ending lockdowns and today I found 22 caches in this series. I decided an urban walk was the go as I wasn't sure when the rain would hit. I did these as a few park n' grabs and the rest were done in long looping walks. There are only 2 that I didn't attempt today - there was school cross-country run right next to GZ at one and the other had a string of DNFs so I didn't bother. All the rest were found relatively quickly thanks to the excellent coords and hints. A really enjoyable way to spend my fortnightly day off.

Last one for the day. Am exhausted!

Nice quick find on my way to our second week of shows in Malvern. Tftc

Love the hiding in plain site 3rd handbag today TFTC

I had trouble deciding which location fit the hint. I tried one place, then went larger, when I should have gone smaller. I eventually got to the right one. TFTC.

Found with gwd.aussie
Down in Melbourne as I needed an Event for a challenge so after the event and an additional CITO made our way to this series that we have had solved for a while before making our way home. Sadly with limited time wont be able to complete the series this trip.

TFTC

Found after a morning event and helping at a cito event.
Solved the a while back and only had to correct a couple of cache on-site.

I look there, thanks to d@geo for looking again

Thank you for the Puzzle and the hide sharkiefan and to frilk for adopting them

Not were I was expecting it to be. GPS was wondering again but the cache was eventually found.

Loved the puzzles and now enjoying the tour of the area to collect the caches.
Thanks sharkiefan and frilk.

Found with O319.

Quick find with SJG66 TFTC.

Next. Happy with these nice easy finds. After numbers today to reach our 1000 finds for 2022!
TFTC and SL at 10:10am.
#2426

TwoEms have been filling gift bags and hanging decorations on Christmas trees all week. We thought we’d take a break from bags and ornaments, but this one we could not miss. Thank you for the cache.

In Melbourne to attend the Mega at Whittlesea with tmann421.
Enjoyed the short trip around locating a few caches before heading to the event
Log signed tm/ww NZ
Thanks to the cache owners for the efforts with the hides

Arrived in Melbourne to attend the MEGA Event at Whittlesea with woolwood9.
We came over a few days before to do some geocaching in the area first!

ww9 and I had a great time and this was a cache we located.
Very nice series!

SL tm/ww NZ
*Thank you for helping to show us around different areas and adding to our enjoyment*

The streak continues after a coffee break. TFTC!

Dropped into my Aunt’s house on the way to my friends’ and managed to convince the delights that I needed to find another handbag cache. These have been solved for so long that I can’t remember them but my note said “I don’t like white handbags”. All good with the cache. Found with CuteOtter and Geocachpro.

Found it! Back on the trail of these caches today. Beautiful sunshine! A quick find once at GZ. Very interesting specimen of this species, not one I am familiar with. TFTC SL

I found this one tonight and was thankful. I was searching from tree to tree and found the lid of the cache. I didn’t know if the lid wasn’t screwed on properly or if a muggle tried to steal it. Thankfully, I found the rest of the cache on the floor. I logged my name in the logbook and then put the cache in its rightful condition.

I visited 3 TB

TFTC

A lovely day to be out and about, clocking up 11.5 kilometres: one of those perfect Winter days. I enjoy solving jigsaws, though trying to do the higher #s are terrible on the computer. Did you know there’s a caching Facey group where you can get tips how to manipulate the puzzle site, full of disgruntled cachers who don’t like spending time on puzzles over 150 pieces. I see their point

Thankfully, the caches were not as tricky to solve as those last puzzles! TFTC Series.

Amazing how things can stay hidden in plain sight.
Thanks!

Nice one to end the day. Will be back to finish the series soon. Thanks!

Back on the trail of these amazing handbags today. It's been a while since I did the puzzle and I'm surprised I don't have any notes on what I think of the handbag - those handbags are what I like so much about this series! Oh well, not to worry! Phone gps not good today so a little wandering and found. Thanks for the fun sharkiefan and frilk

Quick find in a relatively exposed spot. Have enjoyed this series and all the thought and effort that has gone into it. Thanks sharkiefan!

I tried to pick this cache up several years ago but I had parked my car inadvertently in front of a speed trap. I was getting out of the car and a man came up to me and asked me to move as I was blocking the view of his camera! Today, I parked in the court and it was a straight forward find at GZ. Thanks so much for placing and maintaining this cache for us to find today.

Easy find , getting closer to M

One of seven caches in the Sharkiefan Handbag series that I found this afternoon on this glorious February day. I’m still doing the jigsaws for the harder ones! Nice to be lead around some of the small parks and green spaces in a part of Melbourne that I’ve not really explored before. It all made for a most enjoyable day’s caching. Thanks so much Sharkiefan and frill. I’ll be back for more soon.

Found new log easy 9m out which wasn't consistent with other excellent coords
Found in another lovely little green spot in suburbia.
After solving these puzzles at home during lockdown and having the satisfaction of many clunks of pieces fitting together, I finally arrived at GZ.
Tftc Frilk. Love your effort for the puzzles and placement of these geocaches in green spaces. Really resonates with me

The log was indeed very full. I meandered past this afternoon and have replaced it...all good to go!

This geocacher reported that the logbook is full.

The eighth of ten finds in this series for today; coincidentally also the eighth in the series.

After waiting out a passing muggle this was found pretty quickly.

The log strip is absolutely full on both sides, so signed sideways in a bit of margin, but it definitely needs replacing. Visited a couple of trackables. Thanks for adopting and maintaining this series, frilk.

*Found on the 25 Jan 2022 @ 8:10 pm.*
*Cache find # 12465.*

Very full log on this one, needs a replacement.

Another trip to Deakin and I had a few hours to fill in before I had to be back there so I headed further North to see if I could finish this series off.
The rear of this series was a straight forward find all except the last one.

**Thanks to frilk for placing this cache.**

Today we set out with geokid and geodog for another great walk around the parks in the area to find another bunch of solved handbags.

I think the last time we did some handbag hunting it was hot and today was no different (over 30). We managed to find 11 more caches on the walk which leaves just a handful of odd ones to find next time we are in the area.

Thanks sharkiefan and frilk for these, great series!

Found it

Easy find! TFTC!

Found 2 October 2021 5:42 pm
Find # 1089

Out for a ride and grab with my son of a few puzzles that is already solved, and a few that I had previously found but lost the logs for when my last phone died! All in all, 7 out of 7 attempts today which is great, plus a nice day to be out riding with my boy.

Thanks to frilk for the cache and the fun.

Found it TFTC

TFTC nice spot

What great parks and areas, nobody around to slow me down, great hides 5 of 6. Thanks frilk.
Greytiger

Nearly walked past this one! Find number 11 for the day, in some rare winter sunshine.

All credit to merkin of loki who spent many an hour figuring out the puzzles on her holidays, good job!! Its the most effort ive seen her put in for geocaching :3 now on ward to our well deserved treasures!!!

SPOTTO!!

Finishing off this series whilst checking out my camper being built. Lovely parks over here and really pretty grevillea in flower in this park

We did the puzzles even though hand bags really not our thing, good lock down challenge. Sunny winters day to sign some of them off. Last one for the day, loved the tour thank you. Will do the rest another day.

Having solved these puzzles while in lockdown a while back, I was in the area today and decided to grab a few of the series. All caches I have found so far have been in excellent condition. While I was searching for this one the traffic wissed by on the main Rd. Gps jumped around a bit on this one but the great clue was excellent. Thanks for the series.

TFTC This was the first set of puzzle cache’s that we had attempted. Not really my type of subject matter, however it was interesting to complete. We had made a start, and soon realised that it’s not something to be done ‘on the run’. So I have been puzzling while waiting for Zoom conferences to start.
Not wanting to venture to far from home this weekend, due to poor weather prospects, we set off to complete a chain of solved caches in our local area. This was the seventh of the day. TFTC. We enjoyed wandering the local parks, bike tracks and roads.

Not sure how this cache was missed a couple of days back But made a quick find today!

TFTC Sharkiefin

This was hard as there was a open house just starting nearby. It was the second open house near a cache today, I had to abandon the first one elsewhere as it was far too busy! I was a bit early for this one so got it done quickly

Took longer than I thought. Good hint

Pretty easy find once I worked out the final location thanks to the hint.
The cache, container and log are in excellent condition.
I visited 4 TB.
TFTC.

Tree to tree. Ah there it is.tftc

Usually I struggle with tree hides... this one was okay

Absolutely loved the Firewheel Tree (Stenocarpus sinuatus) here, it would make the perfect native Christmas tree! I'm normally bad at this style of hide, but this one showed itself quickly. Thanks!

Finding these caches has been a long time coming. I solved all of these caches in the winter of 2019, and found the first half in August 2019. Since then it's been "oh I'll get back soon". Well, over a year later here I am. This series introduced me to Jigidi, which I really quite enjoy. As the owner of a rather rambunctious dog, solving jigsaw puzzles online is much easier! This year I had intended to try and find an average of one cache a day, or more than 366 in the year. It's a small target for some, but normally I'm quite a casual cacher so it's a good target for me. I was well and truly on target and above, and then COVID hit. Now we're out of lockdown I'm trying to get back on track, and of course enjoying leaving my home area! I've really enjoyed this series, from the ranges of puzzle size, to the different hides, and seeing all the random parks of this area. Thank you so much to sharkiefan for setting up the series, and to frilk for keeping it alive!

I was over this way... sort of... this afternoon and decided to come and pick off another cache in the *Handbag series*... most useful when you are trying to qualify for **The Non-Traditional Calendar Challenge**.

A nice easy find on a sunny afternoon... thanks **frilk** for keeping *sharkiefan's* cache series going for us to enjoy.

Easy find

Nice easy find - TFTC

8 of 30...

Out with BackPAQer and monch's mob. Another easy one. Thanks.

Found from metres off with A2986

TFTC Found with devil

Out to geocaching for the first time since we have been able to geocache within 5km. Nice hide. TFTC

This one took a little longer, but got it eventually. Nice mailbox nearby!

Another nifty hide thanks Frillk. Getting some steps up walking to all these!

Found while zooming around Balwyn North by car, skateboard and on foot. Poked around in plenty of paper trees after dark, had the place to myself while everyone was indoors after work hours.

Rolling in!

Found it, just hanging round.