Puzzle Praxis: Coloured Shapes Bowral, New South Wales, Australia
By Muppet95 on 08-Feb-19. Waypoint GC83BA6

It is time to archive the Puzzle Praxis Series. I enjoyed creating these puzzles and maintaining these caches.

Hammock Hill Reserve has become quite overgrown with what appears to be an invasive plant species. This has made some sections of track and bushland dense and unrecognisable.

Searching for bison tubes in this area would now feel like finding needles in haystacks. This was not my intention, nor is it my idea of a quality cache or quality caching experience.

Thanks to all that enjoyed solving these puzzles, finding these caches and logging their finds!

Hi Ministro - the recent rainfall has affected the walking trails in Hammock Hill Reserve. The tracks and bushland still require attention. I am still waiting on email correspondence with an update.

https://www.wsc.nsw.gov.au/Facilities/Parks/Hammock-Hill-Reserve-East-Bowral

Still inactive.

Need to head back out to Hammock Hill Reserve to assess trail damage after the floods.

Still inactive.

I will take a walk through Hammock Hill Reserve in a few days now that I am back from the Wangaratta Mega.

This cache remains disabled. The bushland is still quite overgrown.

This cache remains disabled. I am monitoring the quality of the bushland, hoping that council will slash the overgrown vegetation.

This cache remains disabled. The regrowth in Hammock Hill Reserve is still of concern.

This cache remains disabled. I plan to have a solution by the end of October.

This cache remains disabled after concerns about the overall quality of this series.

I have disabled this series after checking on these caches yesterday afternoon.

Completed a quick maintenance run this afternoon.

This cache requires further attention.

Found this cache while out geocaching near the Moss Vale, NSW area. The cache was in good condition unless stated otherwise. Thanks for the cache and the adventure.

Here is a little information about me. I have been geocaching since March 2015. At the time of finding this cache, I have over 8550 finds plus 1120 hides. I am the creator of the “Duck Dip” Lab Cache that won 2nd Place for the Australian Capital Territory in the State Vs State - Battle of the Lab Caches at the OzGeoMuster - The Gong Mega (GC7N7ZC) 2019 in Wollongong, Australia. It was my love of Geocaching that helped me find my lovely Wife. I have dedicated a Geocache to her that explains how Geocaching brought us together. That Cache is The Blueiris of Tidbinbilla by DARKSIDEDAN. | GC80WHA | Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

Currently I have over 10,000 Pathtags in my Collection plus over 500 Etagz. My collection includes over 300 JMC Pathtags and 180 Charlie Harper Pathtags. I love to trade pathtags with people at events or via post within Australia only. I currently have four Personal Pathtags 45762 / 46950 / 47696 / 47987 with another three in the works. Note: I do not trade overseas (Australia Only) so please do not ask. Also I do not log my Pathtags on Pathtags.com to keep what I have in my collection private. If you are selling your Pathtags or want to swap Pathtags send me a message. As a bonus to reading this very long log, please feel free to discover my Virtual Trackable AR6QTT. Yes this is my Personal Virtual Trackable and I give permission for you to discover it. Please feel free to share my Virtual Trackable with every geocacher you know.

I have included one of the Geocaching poems that I have written. I hope that anyone reading it likes it.

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.
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***** I am currently writing very detailed logs because of a challenge provided by Project-GC called "The Author". This Badge challenges geocachers to write logs with an average one hundred words or more in each log. As of the May 2021 my average is 160 words per log, which seems close to the 200 words per log target. However given that I have found so many GC caches, I have to write many logs with well over 200 words for a long period of time to get my average up. Apologies to anyone who finds the logs tedious but it is the only way that I can strive to attain this challenge. After more than 8000 caches (which includes all cache finds up and including today I am now entertaining the possibility that I might be able to achieve my task very soon. Progress has been better than anticipated.
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Included with this geocache log is a selection of random photos. The photos are not related to this geocache and are not a spoiler photo. The photos with this log are all photos from my geocaching adventures over the last 7 years.

Happy Geocaching
Daniel

**This Cache:**

Decided to take a break from the easy trads and have a bit more fun walking around this beautiful little reserve and finding some solved puzzles which have been on my to-do list for WAY too long! I was disappointed to miss finding the original series in this area, so thankful to be able to find these new ones! We only had one DNF which wasn't too bad. Found one cache in the dirt too so replaced it safely in the fork of the tree it had fallen from, and then eventually found every other cache even if it took us a while to locate a couple!

Thanks for the puzzles and fun Muppet95! A pleasure, and my favourite part of the day

**Today:**

A trip to the Southern Highlands today with DSD to clean up some of the more "Park and Grab" style caches, rather than being super focused like I usually am! We also managed to sneak in some of the solved puzzles on my list too which were on my to-do list and happened to be along the routes we were taking!

All up a fairly productive day, with 45 finds over a 5 hour period excluding the driving time to/from Canberra. We had a few DNF's and a LOTTT of Did Not Attempts, unfortunately there seems to be a lot of missing caches around the place.

Thanks to all the CO's!

Beautiful down here

#7171 (1 of 10 today)

I'd solved the seven Puzzle Praxis series a while ago - no great problems there - but with lockdowns, I'd not headed back to the Southern Highlands for a while. Despite the weather looking a little iffy I decided to go today, as I was hoping to up my calendar finds for today.

Got five of the seven - one DNF one DNAttempted - and then five other caches besides, including another puzzle and a Virtual. All with differing levels of wetness!

Ended up driving home barefoot as my shoes and socks were absolutely sodden.
###END OF CUT AND PASTE SECTION###
Walking through Hammock Hill Reserve today, I was confronted with continual intermittent drizzle. That actually wasn't too much of an issue, but all the grass and leaves were wet, and more than prepared to transfer that wetness to me!

First up was this one - after passing a family on bikes fleeing the drizzle - which had started less than 5 minutes before I arrived here.
Not knowing what the hide was going to be it was a few minutes of wandering before I spotted it.

Signed, replaced and on to the next one.

SLTNLN
TFTC

I'd solved the seven Puzzle Praxis series a while ago - no great problems there - but with lockdowns, I'd not headed back to the Southern Highlands for a while. Despite the weather looking a little iffy I decided to go today, as I was hoping to up my calendar finds for today.

Got five of the seven - one DNF one DNAttempted - and then five other caches besides, including another puzzle and a Virtual. All with differing levels of wetness!

Ended up driving home barefoot as my shoes and socks were absolutely sodden.
###END OF CUT AND PASTE SECTION###
The caching gods giveth, and the caching gods taketh away.

After a quick find at my last target, I paid for it here. A lot of wandering and peering, and circling, and spreading out. But no sign of the cache.
After a good 20-30 minutes I gave this one up.

Now do I head back to the car or go for the final one in the series?
Decided on the car, as I was quite wet, and if I leave it I still have two caches to bring me back to finish off the series.

Found on a fine cool Winter day for a drive taround again.
A few good safe hides and lots of muggles around today.
I found it 7m from my GZ.
Cache condition is OK/good.
Thanks for the cache Muppet95,
***Roostaman***

Completed some maintenance on an afternoon bike ride.

Freshened up this cache with a new logsheet.

A nice series for a bit of exercise today. Thanks for the puzzle and the hunt. TFTC!

Completed a quick maintenance run this morning.

Puzzle Praxis caches were in good condition and logbooks were fine.

###@@@TFTC@@@###
Muppet95, new to this and your puzzles were good practice. Thanks for the series.

   CUT AND PASTE SECTION
Streak day 65
Below is a blurb about us.
We are trying to get a badge from Project-GC for writing found log files of 100 words or more. Once we get this badge we will stop writing this. We are also trying to
get badges for adding photos to our found logs.
We Started caching in December 2019 and by January 2020 we were hooked. As we are on the road full time (living in a caravan), caching fits in well with this lifestyle.
It is taking us to places that we would normally not have gone.
When we move to a new place we also look at what caches are in the area and how many days we will need to be there to get the caches we want.

A big day in the Highlands caching today. With so many new caches popping up, there was a plethora of caches to choose from. Taking advantage of the longer daylight hours and many solved puzzles, I was able to find some good numbers.

I had to walk away from this one as the nearby dog was waking everyone up. Upon returning he was a lot friendlier

Thanks to the CO's for placing the caches I found today.

Three generations of geocachers looked for this one. It took quite a while but was eventually spotted.
SL TFTC. # 3008

The ground work was done by Fastfox but it was combined search by Fastfox, Firstfox and ourselves. Took far longer than we should have to find it but got it in the end. TFTC

Completed a bit of owner maintenance today.

Walked around Hammock Hill Reserve to check on the Puzzle Praxis caches.
The caches were fine and logbooks were okay. I found the coordinates were off by 7m in a SE direction. I will recheck coordinates in clearer weather.

Needed a little 'me-time" this afternoon and caching here was just perfect for the occasion.

A quick stroll around the "Hill" to collect a third cache series here. Cache easily located and in good condition. Thanks Muppet!

Found with Orrsome86 on a trip down here to find all the solved puzzles before they get archived and get our last mystery at the museum souvenir. We set out at a reasonable hour, made good time down, then smashed out all the finds, with almost no difficulty, which is very unusual for us, with a 100% find rate for today. Lots of different puzzles and cache types.
Thanks for the great day out and the cache!

The Day
I had a lot of solved puzzles down this way and with the risk of them being archived before i found them i asked Tombi and the_garbageman if they were keen for a day in this area. the_garbageman had to abort plans to come with us due to family commitments so Tombi and I set off in his car. I left the ladder at home which made for a more comfortable drive as we would have had to squeeze it in the car. Luckily, we didn't miss it when we got to some of the higher terrain caches. It was a lot colder down here than home and i was glad i packed my beanie and gloves. Aside from the cold wind in spots it was a great day finding puzzles, earth caches a virtual and a lab cache.

The puzzle
I saw these and worked my way through them all reasonably quickly with the exception of holey card and the logic puzzle. those two i had to sit down on my lunch break and slowly work my though them ensuring i didn't make a mistake.

The hide
What an interesting little area. We parked in a roughly central spot and made our way around stopping to find caches along the way. After spending a few minutes at the first one we made quick time finding the others as we knew what we looking for.
TFTC

Another trip up the highway to grab a few more around the Southern Highlands. Rapidlywild joined us for the assault and the fun. The weather was lovely with a nice cool breeze. Not a bad haul for the day, and we were all pretty pleased at the end of the full day. We left a couple just to taunt us to return and continue our journey through this pretty area. Thanks Rapidlywild for another funfilled day.

We were nearby this series, so we had a nice walk to collect them. Thanks for the series and the puzzles Muppet95

Plan had been in the pipeline with the FFLL ladies to do another Southern Highlands caching run however we have had to move the date a couple times due to changes of circumstances. Today we finally made our way back up the very familiar highway to get cracking on some more finds. Our main target today were a few Muppet puzzles that had comments on them about upcoming archives so we wanted to get the checked off since we had solved them. Target caches were found and quite a few extra more

We had spotted this series a few weeks ago so decided to give them a crack. Most were nice and straight forward, while a coupe required a little more brain work. Whilst in the area today, we went for a wander to pick these one up, would be rude not to being we were so close. The finds were mostly quick, one or 2 had us going round in circles but eventually they were spotted.

Thanks for the puzzles and cache placement Muppet95 and thanks FFLL ladies for another very fun day trip away

Loved this series and the area that they took us to. We arrived to find such a quiet, except for the birds and frogs, beautiful lightly wooded parkland. It had massive wombats and some great views. We managed to get all the puzzles solved although we needed help with some. Some caches were found quickly whilst others eluded us for some time. Enjoyed them all and the walk around here. Thank you for showing us this area and for the puzzles.

We were so pleased to get the chance to look for and find this series. The work was all done back in Victoria before we left to attend the Oz Muster. We happened to stay not too far away and had a little time to spare so chose to take this walk.
It is a very nice, peaceful area and until we came across some muggles, there were only birds and frogs to be heard.
The sculptures were also fabulous. It was such a shame that the wind was so cold, as we both could have sat and looked around for some time longer. It is definitely worth the visit and the caches are a great bonus. Although we struggled to find some of them and had to use a PAF for one, we did manage them all.
Thanks for placing them here for us to find and introducing us to this lovely area.

Caching with Georode today and it was time to hit up Bowral with a great variety of caches to be collected. I’ve been to Bowral a few times before but it was nice to spend some more time here today and especially in the two big parks where I enjoyed the walk in the peace and relative quiet. Some some evidence of freshly dug wombat (?) holes in the koala park.

Today I teamed up with JACS team to find a few high interest caches in this area. We started quite early and after having decent breakfast in town and JACS supplying the right tools, we found a good series of caches.

Thanks for the fun and workout.

Georode

The journey to the mega resulted in a lot of driving, with a few select cache finds, due to the distance I had to travel. If only there was time to find them all! Once at “The Gong” as there are so many caches, yet again, sadly, only some could be attempted. I’m glad I passed the wherigo colourblind test, so I was able to work this one out! Thanks for placing the cache Muppet95

Found your cache today. Muppet95, thank you so much for placing it.

Day 2 of caching in the local area with Bluewattle and patrol14. Certainly a beautiful reserve to walk around collecting a few puzzles which we have previously solved as a team.
Nice hide here and quick find by the group today.

TFTC Muppet95
Found 5 July 2019

Caching day with Geofriends during Oz GeoMuster 2019, thank you Muppet95 so much for placing it for us to have fun.

TFTC, in the area for the Wollongong Mega, found with Snickersallan and Patrol14

Met up with Snickersallan and bluewattle and now out for some teamwork caching. A quick find SL then returned as found.

Found on 5 July 2019. TFTC, Muppet95.

Enjoy walk around the park.
TFTH

Log to follow soon

I hadnt seen this used before but once I worked out what was going on here it all rolled out pretty quickly.
At GZ I was lucky to walk straight to it for a quick find.
Thanks muppet for the cache

With time and daylight to spare I was able to pick up a few solved puzzles just before dark and driving home.
TFTC Wilbert67

Found this a while ago and figured it was about time I logged it. A very nice puzzle series. Thanks for the walk around the reserve.

17,717. Found this neat puzzle cache during a CITO with minniek and a bunch of other cachers.

We heard about the CITO event during another event yesterday, and so we made a decision late last night to make the short drive up. We were surprised to see the Trads which we did in this reserve only last November were now gone, with a series of puzzles in their place. With a movie on and a few glasses of wine we tackled the interesting puzzles and knocked them off. Arriving at the trail head today as the rain moved away (perfect timing) we waited as a nice sized group of people showed up for the walk in. Off we went on a loop through the reserve grabbing both rubbish and caches - awesome !

Recognised what was required for this puzzle, and using the appropriate Tool we soon had coords that the checker agreed with. Located the cache, signed the log, replaced the cache, then headed off to the next one.

Thanks Muppet95 !!

Fitzy_1965 & I decided to head up the highway whilst discussing today's CITO with GLISS! at our event last night. We had no idea that the trads in the Reserve had been archived and new puzzle caches had now been published. Fitzy got to solving the puzzles before heading to bed. We decided to take just one geo-kid (Death_Killer) with us.

Thankfully the rain cleared as we all arrived which made for a lovely little catch-up with some of the local cachers. Was definitely much cooler here today than when we were here late last year to get the trads. CITOing and caching at the same time is always fun.

Thanks to Fitzy_1965's problem solving and the CITO today, I was able to add my name to this cache log. This collection of puzzles were a definite bonus for me. TFTC.

Headed south for a caching afternoon in order to collect some of our many solved puzzle caches that we have in our solved but unfound list. After collecting several mysteries closer into town, we headed out to find the new Praxis series of caches. After a short search the container was found. With the cache in hand we signed the log before replacing everything as found. Both the cache and log are in excellent condition. Thanks for the cache Muppet95.

The following TBs came through for the mileage : Bob geoMinion, Dave geoMinion, Evil geoMinion, Jerry geoMinion, Larry geoMinion, Mary Hyde's Treasure, Stuart geoMinion, teamMerlin's 7 Deadly Ducks Tag (Lust), Vanlith The Youngling, Hidden Creatures Geocoin TB, teamMerlin's Football, England since 1872

Found with *Throsbyonchurch* and *Little Kitten* TFTH and ride *Muppet*

Found while OCW *Throsbyonchurch* and *DustyJasperJet*. Thanks for the cache hide and the ride. SL and returned cache to where we found it. ♡♡☆☆

Found -- 4:24 pm -- Thanks for the hunt and Thanks for bringing us here to this location Muppet95.

**Cache Condition:** Good.
**Took:** Nothing.
**Left:** Nothing.
**Trackables:** None seen in this cache today.

**The Puzzle**
Solved: 15 Feb 2019 no.3 - Took about an hour to solve. I have seen the second group of colours previously in travels but that was about the extent of my knowledge - or so I thought until a week after solving the puzzle. I was a tad frazzled at first sight on the first group but had an inkling. Started with group two and then progressed to group one. The time taken was all in the nutting.

**The Cache**
A quick find at GZ. We sailed on past this cache and after riding around the reserve and then back to the car via Harley and Rowland, we ducked in and grabbed this one before tossing the bikes back into the trailer and heading home. I was going to finish off the *Cherry Tree Walk* but after this we were very hot and our tongues were hanging out desperate for more water after drinking all we had brought with us. SL and returned cache to its hide'y hole.

**The Day**
OCW *Little Kitten* and *DustyJapserJet*. With commitments this morning I arrived home and 'ummed and ahhed' about what to do this afternoon. Circumstances at this time prevent us from caching outside the area, so I am pleased that we have an abundance to choose from locally. I packed the bikes in the trailer and off we went. This is such a nice reserve for a walk, and even so, I'm not in a hurry to come here or a 4th caching visit. We ventured to *Wombat View* today, I'd not been here before and realised it was an easy short walk and in a different direction to what I thought it to be. Not particularly a picnic area/lookout you'd write home to mum about, but still pleasant and private all the same, and a great spot to come and chill out alone.

8 = 8 0 0 [8)] not attempted.

424 gottcha welloy

Full log to follow

Putting a find on some of our solved puzzle list. Came here with our dogs this afternoon. TFTC

Found fairly quickly. Noticed it was covered in bite marks TFTC

Some of the caches in this series took me a while to find. I was using a phone rather than a dedicated GPSr so it's hard to know if my phone was playing up, or if some of the coordinates were 5 to 10 metres out. The majority of coordinates were spot on, helping me to find the micros in the bush without too much fuss. But the 5th and 6th caches I looked for did cause me some trouble. Perhaps cache blindness had kicked in, precipitated by several nights of bad sleep.
TFTC!

The first of this series I tried and a nice code which was easily solved. Grabbed this one on the way back to the car.

Thanks,

Well did I have a lot of fun solving these puzzles. Using the correct geotools and a bit of logic, I spent the allotted time during our latest puzzling event to solve all seven puzzles. I'm giving a great big favourite point for the effort put into them, making each interesting and a little quirky, and getting them published in time for the event. Sadly I couldn't then follow the group for the finds.

Finalf29 and I chose this morning to collect the series and to have a wonderful walk as well. Once we broadened our search, Finalf29 quickly spotted it. Thanks

#2986
On my way to the Snowies to celebrate Team Canary's 10,000th cache. Detoured via Bowral to pick up a few solved puzzles.

I'd seen this series come and go before I had the chance to solve and happy to see it reappear the evening before the trip. Aimed at solving as many as possible before midnight and had them all by 1am.

Met up with Team Canary and this was the first cab off the rank. Took quite a while to find even though we had been within centimetres during our search. At least we now had an idea what might be in store for us...

TFTC Muppet95

A nice puzzle with a hide that eluded us for too long.

TFTC.

Find #1000, yippee. A new experience for that type, searched on the suggested site and gradually worked thru it. A find after a visit to movies to see Green Book.. A friend watched while I searched thru a geotrail as coords bounced. Then a find in a more obvious place, tftc

I think I can see some light at the end of the tunnel (Albeit it be tiny) that attending some of our puzzle event will be an advantage.
Nice walk way to spent a pleasant evening with friends.
Thanks Muppet95

We are starting to get familiar with various types of puzzles and were able to solve this without too much trouble, which is quite amazing for us. Joint {FTF} and fav point. TFTC and this lovely series of puzzles.

Published

Joint FTF Log to follow

Published

R