O&A 03 - Where-D-Locals St Arnaud, Victoria, Australia
By FUF009 on 14-Aug-18. Waypoint GC7W4B0

Took the opportunity of getting as many caches along and to the east of Centre Rd as possible this morning, finishing with approx 40 finds and 1 DNF. Appreciated the ingenuity and construction of some of the cachesTFTC

Its been a while since i have found some of your inventive constructions, this is a ripper, love it. Often i cache midweek and it is a little unusual for me to cache for a whole weekend so I decided to head off this weekend for two days of caching fun. As it turned out i was able to get away latish on Friday afternoon so it will be more like two and a half days, yippee! I have been itching to get back over to St Arnaud and to do more of the fantastic series laid out around the surrounding areas. Friday saw me pick up a couple of newish caches near Kooyoora, (Melville Caves), then get started on some cache series to the north east of town. On Saturday morning i finished the Eucy Drive series and then in the afternoon i enjoyed collecting caches and adlabs around town. Today i am heading a little further south. O&A 03 - Where-D-Locals is find number 3,967 for me. A fun regular sized traditional cache I enjoyed finding as one of my caching adventures in Northern Grampians Shire. I am logging this one on Sunday 8 Sept 2024 at 10:39 am and the weather is Scattered Clouds 14C 62% 8 m/s . Thanks for placing this cache for the rest of us to enjoy FUF009.*Found with [Geooh GO](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobiltal.geoohGO)*

Tftc

Cool tyftc

Full time Nomads, travelling around Australia since 2014. This is the first time we have been back to St Arnaud since June 2015. We were lucky enough to meet Mrs Tyred and Cranky and FUF009 when we were last here as relative newbies. Wow you guys havent let up steam here! Your caches are amazing, definitely up there with the best we have seen! Thanks for another awesome amazing visit! Exhausted after another full on day of dishing out favourite points. Today we drove 70km around and around, but Mr Felix walked approx 9km (on average 100m to each cache obviously some were double that and some were way less) He will sleep well tonight. [:o)]TFTC FUF009 [^]

When we arrived at this one, it was as if we have arrived at a miniature city in the Bushland. Beautifully crafted, brightly, coloured, and lots of fun.We chose the right house and found where The Geo Cache family lived. We drop off a favourite point here. Thanks FUF009Domsky

Day two in the St Arnaud bush and decided to try this series because of the high favourite points that have been awarded. We really enjoyed the themed cache containers and the work that's been put into the hides, accurate coordinates certainly help. TFTC

TFTC! 29 September 2023 4:56:14 pm 6014Arrived in St Arnaud for a weekend of caching, caching all the away through. Started either the O and A track. Busy collecting clues and enjoyed all of these caches!

Went for a drive out the bush around the Out and About Series (O & A) to do routine maintenance on caches in this series.

Up in the St Arnaud area again for a few more caches and concentrated on this area today.

With so many cool cache containers, it was fun to wonder what was next. Was also busy grabbing the clues for the final caches that it was hard to remember which cache was which, so there'll be fav points added for a few. Log was signed here without issue and it was off to the next one.

Thanks FUF009....love the effort.

Tftc on our way home to dunolly

Having 4 days off from work so my wife suggested to go geocaching so took her advice and came to St Arnaud for 4 days of cache searching.
Cool cache
Thanks to all the cache owners for placing them.

Chating to the local muggle prospector was interesting he answered a few of my questions on St Arnaud in particular about all the smashed crockery I was finding. And yes apparently their is still some gold to be found.
After our chat, another cool cache was located.

Due to unforeseen circumstances Mr Smokey Bear will no longer be a part of Team Smokey Bear and will continue his adventures as "SmokeyBearOG".

So I'm relogging all previous finds under my new account.
Unfortunately this log will not show the original logging date.

**Thanks to FUF009 for this adventure, looking forward to many more.**

Adam
SmokeyBearOG

We spent a about 10 days on the road with aqau caching around St Arnaud, Ballarat and Daylesford areas.
Thanks for your cache

Out with Shumba7 for a day caching around StArnaud. Plenty here to get. TFTC

TFTC. Today Algae and I decided to go for a drive to St Arnaud from Ballarat to grab some caches on our day off together. We managed to miss the rain, and only drove back home in the rain. We had lunch in town which was nummy. We decided we going to have to come back for the night to grab some of the night caches in the area. Some great quality caches out here.
Cute cache

12 April 2022
9:45 am
1744

Hi FUF009, I found O&A 03 - Where-D-Locals today.

Another wonderful creation. And another favourite point.

Unfortunately the trackable listed is not in the cache.

Many thanks FUF009 for providing and maintaining this game piece for our enjoyment.

It’s built in the city that never was … but no inhabitants were seen. Perhaps it has something to do with the Hidden creatures TB {Uplifted}

Out with BogongHazy for a few caches this afternoon.
We decided to head to St Arnaud to grab these highly thought of caches.
This was found easily enough, and another great cache, fave added.
Great hide, thanks again FUF009

Out for the afternoon with LittleBoss2 , so we headed to St Arnaud for a few caches and a couple of Lab caches to top it off.
We loved the work put into these caches.
We are so lucky to have dedicated cachers like you that put so much work into bringing smiles to our little group of slightly mad tupperware seekers. The variety of hides and the quality of the work involved is beyond imagination.
You are all truly gifted and unbelievably generous to our game.
Our thanks to FUF009 once again.
Fave added, of course.

Today we decided to make a day of caching and very excited for some night caches in St. Arnaud.
The race is on for the most finds...
21st stop for the day

Love to have a beer with the locals...

#8 GeoKid2
#9 GeoKid3
#4 Mr ReganSeekers
#4 Mrs ReganSeekers

Found the locals!

With the summer quickly coming to an end, the decision was made to have at least on good caching day, and were else to go than to the fabulous caching fields of St. Arnaud. Many thanks to all once again for these wonderful trails. Oh yeah the wing dings and chips at the roadhouse deserve a mention also.

Oh well done, a geo-masterpiece !!!!

Dropped A TB here.

Find 2532
Another great example of well constructed cache. Log signed and all safe again.
Thanks

Geokid getting into the swing of things now. Won’t be long and I won’t be able to drag him along on ‘our’ hobby. Cherishing it while it lasts.

Easy find on a morning walk.
TFTC

We decided to try for the first 10 of this series to give us a total of 50 caches for the day to add another number to a Challenge we are working on. Love letterbox caches, but decided to take the No. 2 way to find GZ as we were getting tired from our big day of caching. SL at 5.08pm #7239 TFTC FUF009

Cute find

Kids were onto this one first what a cool find

Hi there FUF009.

We found your cache **"O&A 03 - Where-D-Locals"** today. (This makes our find count 24193).

We headed to St Armata to escape all of the shenanigans happening in metro Melbourne. It was also great to meet up with 80 Degrees and venture out and enjoy the sunshine - because the weather forecast for the next few days is rather bleak. We had a successful day & found 27 caches & DNF'd 2 .

Over the years, Geocaching has taken us on many adventures and to lots of wonderful destinations all over Australia. Without 'caching as our guide we would never have found so many interesting places on our nomadic wanderings. 'Caching has also introduced us to a diverse group of like-minded people, many of whom we now call friends.

**Cache Condition:** The container and log book are in good shape.
**Took:** Nothing
**Left:** Smiley Badge

Thank you for placing this cache here & adding to our adventure.

Regards

Ian & Penny

After discussing with Ian & Penny that we would join them for a while at St Arnaud and with the change of regulations happening we headed off a little earlier. Today was a group caching effort on a foggy morning and a sunny afternoon. This was our series for the day and we completed all 20. Favourites for all. TFTC

Quick easy find, nice cache, TFTC

I love the quality of caches in St Arnaud!! This is super cool. Found first by bigj21. TFTC

Very cute cache. Love it. TFTC

Wow. Thanks.

Found in my stay over in St A to clear as many caches as I can before returning to QLD or what's left of it. Enjoyed solving the puzzle side of this cache visiting all of the cleverly constructed caches. Some I took pic's pf to show the folks at home what sort of mischief the Vic's get up to. TFTC.

Now tat the Mega was over, there was still more caching to be had so I joined up with fellow Canberra geobuddies kittykatch, Smittengranny and Joolay, AKA Capital Crunchers.

Onto the O & A trail and we had so much fun discovering all of the amazing creations and many laughs were had by all. Easy fun finds!

Thanks for the hide, FUF009 Awarding a fave point to each one! Well done!

Found this cache on the Victorian Mega weekend with Loci 612 and ZQX. Signed the logbook DSD or Darksidedan.

Geocache Poem
By DARKSIDEDAN

My endless search goes on and on
Looking for treasures of every kind
Always chasing just one more find
Putting past DNF’s out of my mind

I step out into the world outside,
Seeking what is hidden from me
What size, shape or form will it be?
Only time will tell, I can’t wait to see

Will I find my prize at the end?
I will search in the failing light and cold
Filling with despair having looked everywhere
Where is this thing that gives my life pleasure?

Looking all around from every angle
I read the logs and check the hint
I curse out loud as I walk in circles
Screaming the bloody thing it not there

As time flies by and I fail to see,
Never once stopping to realize
It always been there before my eyes
No need for sorrow, there’s the Geocache.

Found today with the Capital Crunchers while attending the St Arnaud Mega
Very cool hide
TFTC FUF009

It’s all been too funny crazy geocachers.

Up in St Arnauds for the Mega and looking forward to picking up the caches around.
Will be signed Capital crunchers. Found with Kittykatch, Specimen X and Smittengranny.
Unless otherwise stated cache is in good condition.
TFTC

My oh my why do I travel with this "crazy " mob from the ACT? Having a great day out with Kittykatch, Joolay and Specimen X grabbing as many caches as possible. TFTC Signed as Capital Crunchers.
left pt

Last cache for this mega experience. Funny houses. Favourite. Tftc tnln

No one home and no wrigglers either! Yippee finally here in St Arnaud for the MEGA after a pretty long road trip across Victoria in a back road! Starry starry night too so that’s a bonus.
Geocaching Victoria has impressed us and put together another enjoyable Mega event, and what a great place to have it with such variety of caches. got started on the GeoArt Series when it was released but needed the odd prod from the CO to work out a “method” - good learning so now not such a nuff nuff! All fun puzzles to do and easy hides to find.

**Thanks to StArnaud Geocaching Event for placing this cache.**

We certainly like being Out & About in the bush while hunting caches with ilook4geo. Each cache we looked for was easily found and appreciated. Each log was initialed and returned to its place before we moved on. So much thought and work has gone into the construction of the caches in this series. Thanks for the effort! Thanks for each placement and for adding so many caches to the St Arnaud caching opportunities.

After the Mega we had to get some more caches of course. Headed out with goingplaces2. Found a lot of really good caches that were a lot of fun. Names were added for the record of our visit before all was put back. TFTC.

This cache was found in the company of Team Crackers and The Drovers, We had been to St Arnaud numerous times since the first cache was placed here and unfortunately due to an accident and many other factors many St Arnaud caches were never logged but most were recorded in a diary and on Shelby’s GSAK database. There are some amazing caches produced by some amazing locals and from myself and Shelby we say thank you for the memories, friendship and fun, well deserved favourites on these caches, I still remember the cache cry “place it or organise it and they will come”, well St Arnaud be proud you are the best.

Regards
The Coffee’s

Another totally awesome series of caches - how do you come up with all the ideas and then produce them???? Would have loved to give a favourite for each and every one but used most on your lastest series. Will be giving a fav though at the end for the series. So many thanks to you for all your effort.

17/11/2019 8:06:00 AM
After camping near the basin we made our back into St Arnaud for breakfast caching as we went.
First find of the day and an interesting arrangement at a GZ. One can only wonder what a muggle might think when discovering this in the bush.
A cut above the rest .
Thanks FUF009

These caches were outstanding and we worth anyones time, so much so each one gets a fav point from me, thanks for all the hard work that has gone into these.

Our last day in St Arnuad as we head out in the morning to melb to fly back to Tassie, so it was grab a few of the local caches we had overlooked and a couple of series's we had heard good things about.

This was the Mega trip that started out as a simple trip to St Arnaud for just the Mega and turned into a mega road trip starting with myself and GooseandEgg flying into Adelaide to collect a rental 4WD so we could drive an indirect route to St Arnaud and then on to Melbourne so we could fly home again.

The Goose had put a lot of planning into the trip so we could both complete or get close to completing our D/T grids, collect a number of good interesting caches and cache types we didn't have many off.

For me this was the best organised Mega I have been to, the stand out was how the committee had managed to get the whole St Arnaud community to welcome us all to the area, just about everyone we meet knew what we were there for and I had no awkward moments explaining what Geocaching was.

Found on 17/11/2019 at 2:35:00 PM
The best caches I have found so far by type are:-
Traditional [Moorgreen P3:1, Penny Pincher](http://coord.info/GC32Z5B) By [Sven&Cup](http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?A=6596795)
Multi [CoaledHearted](http://coord.info/GCKGZ5) By [CraigRat](http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?A=256663)
Unknown [Men In Black Holes](http://coord.info/GC1DVB0) By [SG-3](http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?A=918045)
Letterbox [Rolf's Letterbox](http://coord.info/GC5NCYM) By [membsec](http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?A=5318842)
Earthcache [Alum Cliffs and Gorge](https://coord.info/GC5KVHA) By [jandalfan](http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?A=2409043)

Sunday was our last full day so before meeting Tassie Trekkers to do the fantastic TLT series we popped out and collected a few puzzles, traditional and wherigos but not before we picked up a coffee!
It was quiet out on the streets around town but we did meet up with a few others as we went further out of town.
We split up with Tassie Trekkers who had done this series and pushed on, on our own. Again we were not disappointed! Another great set of extremely well made and well themed caches. We appreciated the time and hard work gone into these caches. My only disappointment was we didn’t have time to do them all. I would love to come back to complete these some day.
Brilliant series FUF009

When planning the St Arnaud mega trip I was keen to incorporate some missing D/T’s from my grid. Stainless steel rat suggested flying to Adelaide ‘on the way’ and driving across so a route was planned and a fun week of caching began. I cherry picked in my planning so as not to run out of time for the ones I wanted, and we added a few on the day if there was time. We met up with various teams along the way including a planned rendezvous with Tassie Trekkers in Kaniva for a fun days caching. I ended up with around five hundred finds (including labs) for the week, and still had plenty of time for socializing along the way. It was great to catch up with some old friends and of course make new ones.
Special thanks to the St Arnaud mega committee for a great weekend.

I'm so pleased to be able to get out to do this series. TFTC

A shorter day today as Michells&hound was heading home so we decided to go and get the O&A series in the morning before the GIFF event and picked up a couple of others that we came across. [^]

As with previous series this one was just as good and we thoroughly enjoyed finding the well constructed caches and trying to work out what they would be before we got to GZ.

Thanks for another great cache FUF009.

After a morning of caching around St Arnaud then lunch back at the Mega Site (another yummy beef roll) we (ourselves, quiet1_au and lochb) headed off to do the O&A series.
Now all in lb’s car, this was the next cache For some reason I don’t have noted who spotted this cache! We took note of the clue and we’re on our way.
TFTC Fuf009 - GJMMelb

During my holidays in Australia, I'm here in the area for the St Arnaud Mega Event. So I also searched for some caches nearby . This was one of it.

Thanks for the hide.
Greetings from Germany.
Ereff

In:
TB677X7 - Doktor Schlumpf

Day 3 St Arnaud Mega
Today was a much lower numbers day as we had done all the 'mega' trails. So it was about quality over quantity and of course you have to leave some for next time, right?! I still have a few FUF T&C trails to come back for, plus way too many puzzles!
We went back for more coffees and sandwiches from the Dabbling Duck, we did like their coffee! Fueled up in town for the journey back home too.
So JJ52 and I did a few randoms and then headed into the forest to do the O&A series which was great! We had also planned on doing the TLT series but just not enough time.
Then back into town for a few more random caches, several of which JJ52 had found on a foray with other cachers earlier in the week. Then it was off to the GIFF and then the big long drive back to Adelaide. Luckily the company was good and LiB and I chatted all the way back to Murray Bridge, it was a much 'safer' drive than the one over!!!
All up it has been a most excellent weekend and I am extremely grateful to all the cachers who placed hides for us to find and the awesome Mega committee for putting on such a great 'show', brilliant.
Loved this creative series TFTC FUF009

Tackling some geocache "powertrails" on our last day with limited time, we (G&J of GJMMelb and I) piled in to lochb's Forester for the second time to tackle this series. I didn't record who found this one either so perhaps it was a joint one spotted from afar? TFTC

Found in the company of quiet1_au and GJMMelb while attending the Mega. TFTC

In St. Arnaud for the mega event. Day 79 of our trip. Caching along the way. A total of 12 for the day and 2299 for the trip. TFTC

Found with Bucketeer while in St Arnaud for the Victorian Mega Weekend.
Loved attending my first Mega. Can't wait for the next one!!
TNLNSL
TFTC FUF009
TTFN
Beaker

Tb in
TB677X7
Doktor Schlumpf

Finished up at mega event and completed challenge find before meandering home and finding these. TFTC

Making our way back from the St Arnaud MEGA. A few stops on the way back to break up the journey. Thanks for the fun everyone.

With pwala and crank1 at St Arnaud Mega, enjoyed the puzzle, multi, adventure lab, wherigo etc...
Signed the log Thanks for the cache and hide

Fav from me

St Arnaud Mega 2019 event,  thankyou  for the cache, enjoying the challenge found 16/11

This weekend was the St. Arnaud Mega event and I was looking forward to hitting the road for a few days doing some flat out caching, visiting many new and amazing places and catching up with lots of caching friends. The event was a great success and heaps of fun. The caches provided by the local cachers were, in many cases, absolutely mind blowing (FUF009 caches most notably). All in all it was a great weekend, very warm weather and lots of caches found.
Cache found and log signed. TFTC.

Out today riding shotgun with TSB and joining the fun was Clever Monkey, Skullracing and their respective families. Looking for a series to get away from the crowds of the mega and in the comfort of the bush we decided to collect a few of this series.

What an amazing series and a credit to the CO. They have certainly provided inspiration to lift the creativity and set a high bar for all to follow.

Thanks FUF009 for the cache.
Found at 12:27 pm on 16/11/19.
Find # 1989

Dirtbags and the Ratbags decided to spend the day out doing some bush caches Tim was riding shotgun with me and navigating between all the caches Massive credit to the CO for all the effort that was put into creating these awesome caches let’s just hope the creativity has rubbed off and are an inspiration to all the other minttin lovers to step it up
Us Dirtbags left plenty of swag throughout this series

Thanx for the Adventure Stay Dirty ??????????

1787

In St Arnaud for the Mega event but of course also to tackle as many of the surrounding trails as I can manage.

With a mixture of driving, cycling and walking it was a pretty full on but enjoyable day. The windy conditions made it difficult for cycling so I didn’t do as much as I originally planned.

All caches were found and all were in great condition.

Thanks for the cache FUF009.
# # #5730 # #

After a pub dinner and attending the Saturday night event we headed out to start and finish the whole O&A series and all the night caches.

Where D locals? I think they're all out playing monopoly!
Thanks FUF009.

***

This cache was found during the 2019 St Arnaud Event getaway.
Highlights of the Mega were attending all the weekend's social events, finding all 50 challenge caches in under 1 hour, finding all 40 lab caches, all 6 wherigos, and doing all 7 night caches in one night. No DNFs. Finding 11 cache types in 1 day. And of course making a start on the impressively creative constructions that FUF and TnC have made St Arnaud renowned for over the years.

Day one proper of the Mega, and after doing all the sign in and stand around talking type stuff at the event site, we all jumped in the 4wds with Jascat, Clever Monkey and a few Dirtbags to head off into the forest to find some of these creative caches we had all heard about.
And they didn't disappoint, there has certainly been a fair bit of time, money and effort gone into the caches and accessories out here, a credit to the COs, we were all very impressed.
Each cache we attempted was found and signed by everyone en masse.
Cheers

I was up very early to take advantage of another beautiful weather day around St Arnaud. Headed out to the bush to continue enjoying these great series of caches. Many more favorite points were left behind. TFTC!

TFTC great cache

*16 Nov 2019, Found @12:29 pm, Find # 3452.*

In town for the mega, out and about with skullracing, clevermonkey and TeamSmokeyBear picking up some local caches. A cool hide very creative.

**Thanks to FUF009 for placing this cache.**

A rough night sleeping in the back of my car - couldn’t get comfortable. So when the sun was up so was i. Plus - there were caches to find. Had heard good things about this one at the event the previous evening. Found a few of the O&A series this morning and came back in the arvo with a team to get the rest. Awesome cache. Don’t know how I’m going to pick favourites this weekend. TFTC

We came for the St Arnaud Mega Event with becknmonts and gabs1963. We have had a great weekend here, your caches are fantastic thank you.

The cut&paste bit: Went to the excellent St Arnaud Mega and now logging everything from the comfort of my Central Coast, NSW home. I enjoyed myself, everyone I met was lovely, and I came across so many awesome caches. Thanks to everyone involved!

Wow, when I saw this cache I had to have bit of a chuckle at how awesome it was. What a cool little place you've made hidden out here in the bush. Cache found, log signed and cache replaced, then more looking on in awe. Great cache. Magical. Fave point added. TFTC!

**This Cache:**

Very colourful and very cute Spotted it from a mile away but the cache container only presented itself on closer inspection!

Thanks !

**Today:**

Day 3 of the St. Arnaud mega with DSD and ZQX!

Today's main goal was to complete all of the lab caches, swap pathtags, complete our registration, hit some of the traditional trails, some more letterbox's and of course the two events + CITO. We also ticked off a few more solved puzzles that were on the list! A 12 hour day between the first and last find!

Thanks again to all the CO's for your efforts

Found with DarkSideDan (the path tag man) and Loci612.
A fun little adventure. TFTC!

Found with bektheraccoon during the mega event. I thought the last house was cute house, this is even cuter! FP awarded TFTC

13393 Found and Logged at 12:29:00 PM
A great day out and about caching while in St Arnaud
Thanks for the cache FUF009
Lgoody

What a brilliant concept, thanks for placing this nifty cache!

Day 3 of caching in Vic,
Came over from Geraldton for St Arnauds Mega event,  out and about finding Caches with Becknmonts, Team_crumble and having lots of fun,  tftc

'A lot of flipping work in these caches' says Pac Man. I agree. Having a ball. St Arnaud, the geocaching Mecca.

Found during a trip to St Arnaud to attend the Mega event.

FeatherWaite, gridge98 and I left Adelaide on the Thursday, taking a circuitous, but scenic route to St Arnaud to pick up a few caches in some other Victorian LGAs. We met up with Freddo and Davidwazza at the event that evening and teamed up to complete a couple more caches that night together before camping out of town.

Over the next three days we cached very solidly in and around St Arnaud, finding a diverse range of Traditional, Multi, Unknown, Virtual, Letterbox, Wherigo and Earthcaches as well as attending all the events associated with the Mega. We also managed to complete all the Lab caches over the weekend. Logbooks were signed D.E.F.F.98 (Davidwazza, e.gregory1, FeatherWaite, Freddo and gridge98).

On the Sunday afternoon, after the final GIFF event, FeatherWaite and I began making our way back to Adelaide, picking up a couple of caches before camping in the Little Desert NP. The following day we continued towards home with a side visit to Mount Rescue to pick up a few caches along the tracks there.

Thanks to all the cache owners for placing and maintaining the caches. They included a huge variety of containers, hides and puzzles, many of which were very clever and/or amusing and had obviously taken considerable time and effort to construct. Thanks also to all those who organised the Mega and the associated events. I’ll be looking forward to the Mega at Millicent in South Australia next Easter!

Found as part of our trip to the St Arnaud Mega event. On Day 1, e.gregory1, gridge98 and I left Adelaide on the Thursday morning, straight after the Earlybirds event in North Adelaide. We travelled a long and circuitous route via Bordertown, Nhil and Warracknabeal to find caches in 5 additional Victorian LGAs that I had yet to visit (namely Buloke, Loddon, [Greater Bendigo - I’d previously visited], Mt Alexander, Hepburn and Central Goldfields). On Days 2-4 we met up with Freddo and Davidwazza. As a group we systematically completed each of the many series around St Arnaud and found all other caches along the way, signing the logbooks as DEFF98 (Davidwazza, e.gregory1, Freddo, Featherwaite and gridge98), as well as attending the events and completing the Lab caches. After the Mega, e.gregory1 and I headed back to Adelaide camping out in Little Desert NP overnight. On Day 5 we had intended picking up caches around Mundulla and Mount Monster but a last minute change of plans saw us head into Ngarkat CP instead, for a solid drive and a few extra rewarding cache finds. Many thanks to all the cache owners for placing the huge variety of caches around St Arnaud and to all those who organised the Mega and the fantastic weekend away. Thanks for the cache and the Out & About series FUF009!

As we wander the great land seeing the sights, this is one of the caches we have done.

As we wander we also stumble upon lovely events this weekend it was a Mega Great to see evereyone even had some fun

Thanks to FUF009 for placing the cache for us to find.

Found on the trails.

Twelve months ago as we finished the Parkville Mega we were advised by someone that the next Victorian Mega event would be held in Saint Arnold. Somebody else told us that the Mega event would be held in Saint Arnood. And then another said that Saint Arned was the Mega event venue. Who should I believe? Struggling to understand the English language at the best of time. Freddo speaks two languages, Australian and Bad English.
Move forward a year. There is a cluster of events, including a MEGA event, at this town called St Arnaud burning a hole in my GPSr. The big white Pay Hero is loaded with GPSr, TOTT and camping gear and we headed east with a collaboration of like minded South Australian colleagues. DavidWazza, e.gregory1, Featherwaite, freddo and Gridge98 make team DEFF98.
Thursday: 5am event at a bakery in North Adelaide. The bed wetter team meets and says that this is way too early. Travel 500km east for the Thursday evening event. Freddo gets a prize. I am no mug. Camping in the bush under the stars.
Friday: Up early and headed out on the trails. And then back to our campground for a CITO! I am sure we did not make that much mess last night. More trails and 200 caches find for the day including a cluster of caches where freddo left DNA. More bush camping after a great meal in the Sporting Club.
Saturday: Up early for an event. Who puts an event on at 8am. Damn South Australians that’s who. After the event it was back on the trails and the Pay Hero is getting dustier and dustier. Found some awesome caches. Freddo the metallurgist was very impressed with the welding. Quality fabrication. And then another CITO. This time at the dump. Plenty of rubbish here. Some of it good stuff. Can I take some home? And finally a giant queue for a free meal. Nothing attracts a crowd like a free meal. The moment of the evening was receiving a Hall of Fame nomination. That prize is going straight to the pool room.
Sunday: Another night camping in the bush. Some fabulous night caches walks were undertaken. Night caching is a special form of entertainment. We spent the day cruising around picking up the left over unfound caches and meeting heaps of new friends. Boycotted the GIFF event since it did not show the freddo film “Cache Confusion” https://vimeo.com/372568752. One minute and forty four seconds of your life you won’t get back. A quick speech and it was back on the road for home. Well Horsham. More camping. This time by a river.
Monday: Caches around Horsham and following the Duke’s Highway back to Adelaide. Time for a shower for this smelly geocacher. An exhausted chocolate frog slept well.

We came, we cached, we ate, we slept; repeat for five days of fun and dust.


Easter 2020 sees South Australia hosting the next Easter big MEGA event, GeoVenture 2020 at Millicent. GC82DAN. Check it out. We would love to see you there.

We had been told that there were some great caches in this series and so we eagerly set off on the trail. We were certainly very impressed with the creative and inventive nature of the caches and the huge amount of time, effort and dedication involved in creating the specialised themed containers. We soon spotted the locals on homing in on Ground Zero. We signed the log book and then replaced as found. Thanks so much for the very lovely cache and a favourite point awarded. Greetings from Zimbabwe ??????

Day 2 St Arnaud Campground to St Arnaud area B and B

Found after the friday CITO event. Finished the 2 of the nearby series of trads. quick find.

Came over to the 2019 mega in St Arnaud with Mogni. We where joined by jj52, Aussie M and M plus others at different times over the mega weekend. Many caches where found over the course of the 8 day trip. Targeting multi's on the way there and back plus the challenge trail in Mount Beckworth reserve. The creative trails around St Arnaud where the highlight of the trip.

Day three of my Mega adventure. Out and about with sir_spectre, grabbing many of the local caches.
Thanks to FUF009 from mogni

Found during a trip to St Arnaud to attend the 2019 Victorian Mega event. The weekend was spent primarily with e.gregory1, FeatherWaite, Freddo, and gridge98 as we geocached around the vicinity of St Arnaud. All of the events and CITOs were attended, we completed the available adventure labs and lab caches available at the showgrounds, many of the creative trails were gasped at their construction, and interesting puzzles were solved and collected during the weekend.

We all left on Thursday in two separate cars, and met up at the evening event, before finding a camp spot for the night in a very CITO location. On Friday, we targeted the StARS (St Arnaud Ramble Series) and the higher quality, well-constructed geocaches that were famous here in St Arnaud, and got lucky with the 2019 published series that we managed to snag FTFs on. Sunday had us continuing to find the other sets of high-quality caches around the neighbouring town parks, the challenge series, before spending a few hours at geocaching HQ participating in the labs that had been published. The event was also great to see some of the South Australians honoured with geocaching life awards (in amongst everyone on the list). Our final day, Sunday, had us do a big loop finishing off our geocache collection, driving all the way out to Kooreh and around via Stuart Mill, walking the conservation park at Mount Gowar, and finishing off at the GIFF event. A massive weekend that turned out to be a great mega! Thanks to all those who organised the Mega and the associated events. The variety between the local high-quality caches, the new series placed by the mega team, and those who needed to be around for the labs and main centre fielding questions was appreciated immensely.

Today, after completing the stars geoart, and the *Bush Meander* BM and *Bush Wander* BW series, and then the new *Link Trail* series, we finished the *Out & About* series, and decided to find a few miscellaneous caches as we headed back into town. The cache container and logbook were in good shape. Thanks for placing and maintaining this cache. The logbook was signed as DEFF98 (Davidwazza, e.gregory1, FeatherWaite, Freddo, and gridge98).

St Arnaud Day 2
We are camped in the overflow section near the club while attending the Mega Event.
We have been travelling around the town & countryside searching for caches. This town has the most amazing & inventive caches that we have found in any area. The locals should be proud of what they have placed here.
Many of the puzzles which we had spent many hours pondering over, we had solve before leaving home.
Thankyou for placing this cache FUF009

This was a great series and had some great caches, a fun one indeed but aren’t they all like this? All the caches were easily found and in good condition

What a big trip this was! I headed over to St Arnaud for the 2019 Victorian mega with e.gregory1, Davidwazza, Featherwaite and Freddo for the long weekend.
The weekend was filled with a lot of finds ranging in puzzles, a few events and some very well constructed hides around the area.

Day 1: I headed over with e.gregory1 and featherwaite, with the aim to collect some unfound LGAs for the guys, with only a 500km drive to the mega from home we added an extra 450km to the trip by going over to Bendigo and further south exploring some regional towns, overall we added an extra 6 LGAs with only 18 finds for the day. Was great to see some of the interesting little towns and what they had to offer for future visits.

Day 2: As a group we hit the trails in St Arnaud as a group signing the logbooks as DEFF98 (Davidwazza, e.gregory1, Freddo, featherwaite and gridge98) to save a lot of room in the logbook. We started off with the geoart Stars and thought it would take most of the day, as we finished it in 2.5 hours we were a bit surprised so hit the well constructed caches in the south of the town in the bush throwing a CITO in the mix. All the caches were amazing and something you don’t see anywhere else. Adding in 15 FTFs along the way with: everlasting, crank1 and Pwola. The evening settled in and we headed into town for a buffet dinner and a catch up with some familiar faces.

Day 3:
After attending the GV2020 event for the morning we set off to hit the last of the trails left in town of the metal containers, followed by the challenges for the mega as well as quite a few trads around the back roads. We ended the day by having a go at the lab caches at the mega then off to the CITO. I don't think I have ever seen so mant people at a tip before. Topped off the day with an evening event.

Day 4: By today the town was almost cleaned out and only a few caches to find, so we did the last few caches within a rough 15km radius driving around finding the odd cache here and there. The GIFF was finished off the mega so we decided to head to Horsham for the evening.

Day 5: After leaving our camp site for the morning, we cached for the morning around Horsham collecting a few grads and a well earned swim. Then made the long drive back home to Adelaide.

Thanks to all the COs for their cache placements and the Geocaching Victoria crew for organising a fantastic weekend away.

We sadly missed last years St Arnaud event so we were looking forward to doing this series of caches as was as hopefully a new series yet to be published.

We joined forces with Mr Coffee and with Honeysucker as the chauffer we took off. As usual we had a fantastic time driving around the bush tracks, enjoying the breaks out of the car to get the caches discussing between us what we thought that the hide might be by the cache name.
We weren't always right but we were never disappointed. Your creativity astounds us.
We found everyone exactly where the GPSr said that it should be, collected the clues as required and left our name sin the log book.

Many thanks FUF009 for another great series which bought a great deal of enjoyment to our day. Apologies for the generic log but it is hard to say something different about each one without giving anything away and spoiling it for the next finder. All we can say is we love your work and a favourite point from us.

**Find# 6,477**
**11 Nov. 2019 9:31 am**
Very cute little community.

**Thanks for the fun FUF009**

Found as a kangaroo was passing by

Here in St Arnaud for the Mega event and today we tackled this series. An excellent series of well constructed caches. We enjoyed caching through this area and appreciate the time and effort gone into placing these hides.

Cache and contents were in good condition and adding to our favourites.

Thoroughly enjoyed this series. We were really impressed with the effort and workmanship that went into creating these containers.
Had lots of laughs and wished that we had unlimited favourite points.
TFTC FUF009

The morning started out a bit overcast But soon warmed up to another sunny day for our 3rd day of caching around St Arnaud. Our goal today was to enjoy the bush tracks, wild flowers and interesting traditionals.
The gravel roads have been quiet of traffic and full of wild life. We have seen lots of roos, shingle back lizards, the occasional snake, so much birdlife and beautiful wild flowers. The cache hides have included lots of variety and are excellent quality.
Thanks so much FUF009 for the amazing effort of creating and maintaining these caches.