Dark side of the cache #21 Queensland, Australia
By 4ando on 09-Aug-19. Waypoint GC8BWNC

After we found the traditional caches further North on this Dam, we headed back to tackle this series.I got stuck with a lot of puzzles, but good team work helped to get to the final coords. TBU joined in a team to hire a boat and to tackle caches on the Somerset Dam.We heard a lot of Lantana, thorns, long grass, cattle, time consuming walks .... Now it was time to check out this ourselves.Couple of logs were replaced and broken containers exchanged until we had no more left. Tftc 4ando

I think it was at this cache that the cap was missing and the logbook inside the open ziplock bag was a sudden gross mush.We added some more logpaper in a new a ziplock bag,Then put it in then shoved in the rest as cover/lid. but it still needs a lid, if the next finders could bring along a soft drink bottle cap. The puzzle was an easy and fun solve sometime back. Possibly during a lockdown.Good times.Thanks 4ando for such an epic undertaking.

Found with HRH54- terrain ratings are definitely correct but our coordinates so far have been spot on! TFTC

Lid is missing Log in plastic bag is dry WITH juju54 TFTC

Day #2 Lake SomersetThe puzzles were solved during Melbournes first lockdown. They kept me sane, though at times, also drove me insane. I had been wanting to pickup this series ever since, but unfortunately, something always prevented us from coming hereuntil this year.At least this morning, we knew what to expect. After mooring the boat at #1, we walked to a few of the other caches but then decided it would be better to focus on the caches closest to the shore.We found 14 this morning. Some were quick finds, while others took much longer than expected. Cache found without a lid or log and the container filled with water. We added a sheet of log and placed inside a ziplock bag as a temporary fix.Thank you 4Ando for a terrific series and in such a picturesque setting.

This puzzle was only recently worked through in the past couple of months in preparation for a trip like today. As a Star Wars fan, I was able to complete the majority of puzzles myself, but I did need help and a few nudges for a couple of more difficult puzzles.

We approached this geocache from our hire boat, and then made our way to GZ. We managed to make the geocache find reasonably quickly, and the cache container and logbook were in good shape. We signed as Team "GSW" (as per [GurTheWanderer](https://coord.info/PRWMPWQ), [stairman1](https://coord.info/PR4R27Z), and David"W"azza). Thanks 4ando for the cache placement and ongoing maintenance.

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During this extended weekend, it was a trip north to find the 65 Roses geoart in Kilcoy, followed by two days boating on Lake Somerset to defeat the Dark Side series joined with [GurTheWanderer](https://coord.info/PRWMPWQ) and [stairman1](https://coord.info/PR4R27Z).

Today, the plan was to attack as many of the *Dark side of the cache* geoart on Lake Somerset as daylight, time and energy could handle. After staying in D'Aguilar, I stopped at Kilcoy to participate in Yowie parkrun, before then making my way to Hazeldean to meet [GurTheWanderer](https://coord.info/PRWMPWQ) and [stairman1](https://coord.info/PR4R27Z) and pick up our hire boat.
We set off from Kirkleagh Boat Ramp just after 08:45 hr, and we made our way south / south-east whilst attacking the various geocache clusters. The lake was at 80% capacity with not too many boating muggles about, although there was one boat testing its speed limits as it "flew" across the lake. Ultimately, we managed to find all 108 available geocaches by the end of the day, which none of us expected to achieve. The Winter weather was fantastic as it wasn't hot, and the three of us had a lot of fun boating and walking/hiking across the lake's peninsulas.

Found with Team GSW. GurTheWanderer, Davewazza and I spent a great day caching on the lake here today. I was lucky to receive an invite to spend the weekend camping and boating and to track down the dark side caches. As it turned out we never need the second day and managed to find all except a couple of archived caches. The Co ords were great and it didn't take much to find them. Thanks heaps 4anddo for this great series you have placed for our enjoyment. The amount of work you put into these must have been extreme. A great day out on the lake weather perfect and not a wave to be seen. We even got to see a Koala at one of the caches. A bonus. Thankyou again.
As we had hired a boat from the local hire place for the weekend Davewazza and I stayed an extra night to nab the last few Traditional caches we hadn't found. Gur decided he needed to return home.
Thanks team GSW for a great day out.
TFTC

The cache was there but we had to put new paper in it.

Team GSW found these cache today. With Davewazza and Stairman.

I AM GUR

Found the container but the lid and the log were missing. Sadly didn’t have anything with us to do a replacement.

As the self appointed and self designated Director of Events in the Bromance it has been impossible for me to arrange catch ups as I have been incapacitated by surgery and recovery. I finally felt it was way overdue to get together again, and after a test last weekend in the Kayak, the Dark Side Caches seemed a perfect opportunity.

After an ungodly get up time (so early that even the bakeries were not open yet!) we arrived at Kirkleigh at Sparrow Fart. Of course CrookedPete was nowhere to be seen, and once we were all set up and ready to go I kindly suggested we piss off before CrookedPete arrives! Unfortunately he decided to arrive as our yaks hit the water, so we had to wait for him to put his swimmers on the right way before heading off together(ish). My favourite part of the day was the gentle, quiet, chit chatting paddle down to the first cache. It was GREAT to be out on the water again, and with my caching buddies in tow. Ahh the serenity.

The day was a paddle south and meander our way back north, picking up caches I had diligently solved many months ago when I completed the first half of these over a year ago. I recall the puzzles ranging from simple to excruciating, with a combined effort to get as many as we did. Thanks to the CO for the amazing effort that went into this series. Truly a special effort.

Another highlight of the day (commencing on the water at 6:30am and back at 3:30pm) was the stop for lunch under the trees and having a swim. I say lunch, but really only seffnjarah had a lunch lovingly prepared for him by the latter half of his namesake. The rest of us, due to no bakeries, had the odd snack and a few gummy bears to share between us.

Finishing with a few DNFs most likely due to past flooding, we finally got to head home. What a relief to finally paddle back to shore, but such a sense of achievement. Still a few to collect to complete the series, but maybe we can convince seffnjarah to bring out the speed boat next time.

Between various injuries and illnesses, work and family commitments, it has been a while since the full Bromance caching team, ventured out together. And it has been even longer since we were on the water in our yaks.

I had solved almost all the puzzles, but had to lean on my puzzle solving guru team mates for a few. We set out with three puzzles today unsolved, but with a bit of geologic, managed a clean sweep of all three.

Last cache in this cluster. A nice quick find. It is pretty hot, so on return to the yaks, it was time for an extended swim and a laze around in the shade (not a lot of shade in this neck of the woods either).

We certainly appreciated the enormous effort that has gone into this geo art. Many thanks 4Ando

Pete

#6,481

A full complement of The Bromance assembled today to gather up a number of solved caches in this series (and with the aid of geo-logic and a pinch of luck, some not yet solved). A warm sunny day provided the perfect opportunity to enjoy a paddle along the dam and put the long neglected kayaks to good use.

After finding this one it was time for a break, with a swim for those so inclined, and a chance to eat lunch for those of us who were smart enough to prepare in advance rather than rely on bakeries which we passed too early to be open.

Thanks to Crookedpete, Dez (JezNDez) and Swellerfungus for helping me to make this cache one of our successful finds. And thanks to the CO for placing this challenging series of puzzles. TFTC

27/1/22 Travelling down yesterday from Mackay to do some GeoArt caches. On our trip down lost a bearing buddy from boat trailer near Rocky. Then near Gin Gin blew a boat trailer tyre. Got both issues sorted as had spare parts. Arrived at Dam yesterday and was raining. Setup our camp at Somerset Camp Ground and got a good nights rest. Woke up 530am and on the water at 615am. Rain has moved on. First lot of caches supprised me on the landscape as different to other dams I have done. The water shoes definitely getting a work out. Found caches secured and gps co ordinates good. Have Geokid CAITLYN1105 hiking around with me which is good company. Thanks for the variety of puzzles to solve and some I did get assistance on as good value mysyeries. TFTCs Signed Logs.

Travelled down from Mackay with alphag_25 to find these caches. My grandpa came out on the boat with us. We had rain yesterday but sunny today. Cache container was found in good condition. Thankyou for creating this cache. Travelling back to Mackay on Saturday.

Logging old caches originally found with alphag_25. Now have my own account and logging them separately so that i can claim the finds or not as the case may be. TFTC.

A big day ahead on the lake. Muggle65 and I met Brislions at too early o'clock. It was freezing and raining. Rain did not let up till lunchtime. We are very lucky today to have a small poly boat and an outboard. We have a bit of a shortage of photos because of the rain but we did manage to get a couple of good ones. Cache was found without the lid and with a very soggy pulpy log. We searched through the grass and eventually found the lid. Did not have a spare log on us or anything to dry out the cache so it is upside down with the lid very close by. We will endeavour to replace the log next week and return cache to its proper state. Thank you so much for placing it

On Somerset to collect the spoils of puzzle solving, accompanied by our pilot & in Business Class passenger Briswho’s joined us this morning to collect some previously uncollected caches. A Day of in da out da walk abit finda very wet hide & sign a very soggy log.

I meet up with Green Geckos and Muggle65 today in the cold and wet. I had 24 to get, then home for me to finish my work
I found 23 caches today with one Dnf. The breakdown was 21 mystery and 2 traditional.
Oh what a wet day it was.

Sorry for the generic log

4ando *TFTC* 5469 *Finds*

After completing the center part of this series around Christmas, today was my second time with my Kayak at Lake Somerset to target the northern area. I started just before 7am and finished my loop of 17km on kayak and walking on land after 4h15mins. It was quite windy by the time I came back to the launch point but I had a great time walking through the countryside and enjoying the quietness on the water.

All caches were found within seconds.

Thanks a lot for this great Geoart with I really enjoyed solving as well as finding!

Georode

Heading to the Dayboro mega from Townsville. Out with burgo78 and Karicka. Worked on the Darkside series before coming down and have now recovered from the eyestrain. Time to clean up and give some smiles to the geoArt. A few teething issues sorted with the boat and we were racing all around the lake. Great quality and well tethered caches should see this series last a while. Plenty of peoples out using the lake, for boating, skiing and jetsking. Thanks for placing these for our puzzling enjoyment 4ando.

Down from Townsville for the mega we were up at the crack of dawn to collect this series after solving these months in advance.

With the master Karicka at the helm and Padewans BenM70 and myself we aimed to complete the art in one hit.
Big day in the water which was most enjoyable. Mission complete.

Thanks 4ando for the massive effort in creating and placing these for us to enjoy.

Wow, what an adventure we have had. We had such a fun time collecting this series. Up bright and early, we set off on our grand adventure. We thought we were prepared for this journey, maybe we were not. Boats secured, supplies, maybe not enough, water to drink, maybe not enough, tech in abundance. We had heard rumours of previous finders being shot at, luckily it didnt happen to us, climbing trees, scrambling up hills, and keeping an eye out and checking for snakes at every step. A day in the life of a geocacher really!Thanks for placing the cache 4ando, and for the puzzles. The series was a lot of fun.We signed the logs as VIC to make signing easier, to represent becknmonts, McLookers, Alansee and myself, micaparamedic.

After a massive effort to solve these caches and an equally massive effort to get to Somerset Dam, we had a great couple of days. The boat hire at the lake made this a very achievable series. The co-odds for the hides were spot on and the placements secure and effective. Caching and boating this series with beckNmonts, Alansee and micaparamedic, we signed the logs as VIC. We have many laughs, we made a great team and we had a ripper adventure exploring the dam. Thanks 4ando.

What an adventure! We had such a fun time getting down this end to start the caches. Up bright and early (again), we set off on our grand adventure, ready to be shot at by bull farmers (it didn’t happen to us, but we had heard rumours), climb trees, scramble up hills, and check for snakes at every step. A cachers dream really!

Thanks for placing the cache 4ando, and for the puzzles. The series was a lot of fun to solve.

We signed the logs as VIC to make signing easier, to represent Micaparamedic, McLookers, Alansee and myself.

Found in the company of McLookers, beckNmonts and Micaparamedic over two days. This was our second day and this time we followed in another group's footsteps, although I reckon it was an easier day. Many thanks 4ando for all the work in placing them

A few of us had worked on these puzzles when they came out and with the Mega in Daybro it was time to come and find them.
We over estimated how quick we would find these hides and a very slow boat did not help matters but we are happy with what we got.
The hides were great, we only struggled on one where we found the coordinates a bit off but perseverance paid off.
To save room in the log books we signed as MMP. We are not sure how we came to this but can guarantee alcohol was involved
Many thanks 4ando for the interesting puzzles and great hides.
Apologies for the generic log but doing so many in a day we cannot remember each one individually.

Found by Mary and David with a great group of friends. Logged as MMP, CMP or similar. A very enjoyable day out on the lake in a hired slow boat. Our thanks to 4ando for all the work in setting up the series, and the fun of solving and finding.

A very tough series to do especially if you haven't got a fast water craft.

Thanks 4ando for the massive effort in placing these caches and for the puzzles that kept us entertained for days!

Before leaving home all these puzzles had been solved& then it was a matter of when would we go to find them
On our way to Dayboro we took a detour by Sommerset Dam a few nights camped here with the Snakepitters & also my muggle brother who has kindly lent us his tinny for the few days.
Day one was to place the yabby pots & check out the closest to the camp as to get an idea of what to expect.
Day two was a larger assult day, & to find as many caches while the weather was O'K.
Day three turned out windy so only managed to find 14
Day four, as we had extended our stay to finish the series off & also to wait to see of the latest lockdown
A great variety of puzzles to be solved some easily & others a PAF for a push in the right direction.
The views of the lovely green banks & the dam views were amazing.
Thankyou 4ando for placing this series of cache.

Day two on the dam and after three false starts due to winds, we managed to get out and grab a few more. Nearly done, just a few more tomorrow.

10739
TFTC 4ando

Out on Somerset today with Mr CuriousQuest. His son in-law kindly brought us out on his boat and he fished while we cached. We had a long list of solved puzzles and a few trads to find. A quick find was made and the log signed. TFTC

Many thanks to my son-in-law who took us out in the boat while he did some fishing. SelvaGirls and I had a good day picking up quite a few of the geoart on Somerset. We didn't get them all but happy with the nice quick finds in one day. TFTC

Full log to folow

#4886
Lake Somerset Trip - Day 5

After collecting 60 of the series yesterday with **Tardis0061**, **Team Canary** and **Purplepeopleater** it was time to hit the water again. The weather was not quite as cooperative as yesterday with a steady drizzle for most of the day. We enjoyed the elevated view from a number of caches on the hill as well as the one about 100m off shore. All containers were found in good condition and well secured. Saw plenty more bird life and turtle shells on our journey today.

Thanks again for all the puzzles and placing and maintaining all the caches in such a picturesque setting

TFTC 4ando

Day 2 of the GOMs Somerset Dam Assault.
Another wonderful day out in a little runabout with Crash, Canary and Tardis collecting Dark Side caches that we so assiduously solved during Covid lockdown 12 months ago. An excellent series and well worth both the mental and physical effort.
Many tanks for a fabulous series. SL TFTC

Twenty ninth cache of Day 2 on Lake Somerset for the Dark Side of the Cache with TARDIS0061, Purplepeopleater and Crash2079.

We landed at a logical spot but it was a few hundred metres from this first one on out fifth trip.

TFTC.

It's been wetter than an otter's pocket but we were going to take our chances with a day on the Dark Side. It was a bit after 7.00am as the geonosians set off in the motorised kayak. This was a new to us addition to our kayak solely because that's a dam big dam.

An enjoyable puzzle as these sort don't give trouble. TFTC 4ando.

Out for the day with our friends Steve (otherwise known as Urdera) and Michelle to see how many of these Dark side caches we could get. We were on the water by 8am and we left the water at 4pm. We were sunburnt, scratched, tired and had enjoyed a wonderful adventure. Each piece of headland was different to the last. Some quite hilly others nice and flat. Grass not too high but sometimes where no trail was evident it was bush bashing through head high lantana etc. We saw cows, lots of rabbits, a huge goanna, two snake skins and several turtles. We had leisurely stops in scenic spots as we enjoyed lunch and morning and afternoon tea on the boat. Our thanks to 4ando for placing this cache series and enhancing our enjoyment of the area and we would not have visited this area if it had not been for the caches.

A lovely walk on this island, greeted by few cows, saw great old things. thank you for the hides. Logging with DeafPVC

Found it with DeafPVC
️

Hooray thanks for share DeafPVC boat walk

Wow another awesome time caching, I just love getting out and caching, a big thanks to 4ando for this series.

A couple of weeks back I tried to organise a few regular suspects to come and grab the dark series. It wasn’t looking good as only one solid confirmation and three can’t confirm till last moment. Then it was a mad week to finish of the rest of the puzzle caches and be ready. A bunch of phone calls in between and a rough plan in place all of a sudden things changed and we had a group to attack this series. An overnight camp Friday, a few drinks and a few laughs. Saturday night brought the excitement and the stories to tell after the event.

A great day, a long and fun day, lots of laughs and some awesome caches. With Team Tyrrell setting off on kayak while we waited for the slow boat to be loaded and launched, then it was Willis007, Simber15 and CHAMAD following up in a “hasty” pace, we had turtles asking us if we needed a tow, we even got passed by a butterfly at one stage, however this was just added to the fun of the day. The caches took us all over the dam area with some great views and some nice cache placements. Mrs Simber15 cured her phobia of cows and Willis007 learnt how to deal with angry magpies. The bird life on the dam is remarkable, there were a couple of sightings of roos and rabbits but nothing could beat the views from the tops of the hills, just inspiring; surprisingly no DNF’s and all caches are in good condition.

I really had a great day, the memories of the day just added to the great caching experience. Thank you to all that came along and be ready for the next assault on the next geoart. Thank you to the CO for the time spent placing these and setting this up. If it took us a long day to collect them it must have taken you weeks to organise and to set them out.

Puzzles were solved and a plan was hatched. We were going boating! We had started solving these shortly after they were published and I remember the speculation around the shape of the new art as the caches were published slowly over about a 24 hour period. It didn't take long for the enormity of the task ahead to become clear and so we parked the idea and the second half of the puzzles for another day. A week ago some geocaching friends invited us along for a weekend of camping and caching. An opportunity we couldn't possibly refuse! A quick scramble over a few days and the final touches were made and puzzles solved that had been neglected. We arrived the night before and made a plan of attack allowing for changes as required based on the flavour of the wind. An early start by kayak followed by the SS Slow Boat resulted in 11.5 hours on the water after first launching before the final cache was signed. We couldn't possibly have achieved this task without the help, support, entertainment, laughs and all round fun of Chamad, Willis0007 and Team Tyrell. The scenery was stunning and the bird life abundant. Views from some of the hills were magic and we couldn't help but stare in awe up at the bright stars from the campsite of an evening. Mrs Simber15's irrational fear of cows was overcome on a few occasions and a brief encounter with magpies completed. A few times we found ourselves beached or engine stalled and then Chamad would remind us "I know boats" and it wasn't long before we were up and running again. We made good time working in a clockwise pattern and tried to be methodical in our attack. The ground was dry and crunchy and it amazed us no wriggly sticks were found. A favourite moment for me was wading through a shoulder high patch of weeds with strange seed pods that sounded like christmas bells as you brushed against them. I have never seen/heard anything like it before! Thankyou so very much 4Ando for the incredible effort that you have gone to to create this art and the unique experience that it provides. This was a weekend of caching we won't soon forget! A fave for the series.

What an awesome series you have here 4ando.

I've had these puzzles in my solved box for quite a few months now, but haven't seemed to get the right timing to make an attempt at grabbing them. The puzzles were solved by various means of PAF's, getting hints and nudges from the CO working together as a team and good old fashioned time spent banging my head against the computer. Being somewhat of a Star Wars fan, some of the answers came easy to me. Others i had to knuckle down and search through Mr Google and various other sites to come up with the Co ords.

A few phone calls early last week had a rough plan in place to come up to Somerset this weekend and make a smash and grab for the series. A small but dedicated team came together for the challenge. Willis007, Chamad and Simber15.

I had previously decided to attempt this series by using my Kayak ONLY for the transfer between GZ's. On arrival at Somerset camp ground boat ramp very early this morning and looking out across the expanse of water the challenge seemed to be a bit overwhelming. Anyway in i plopped and off i set with a determined and healthy paddle stroke. By utilizing my kayak sail i was able to hold my own against the rented SS Slow Boat and the other team members. It was a monstrous day on the arms and after approx 10 hours on, in and around the water i opted to get a tow from SS Slow Boat to the last 8 caches as the wind was really starting to pick up.

An absolute great day out in an awesome location.

My highlights of the day would be :-
3 of the tree climbs that i managed to scramble up
The awesome views over looking the dam from the top of the hills
The numerous birds and animals putting on a show
The great condition the cache containers were kept in
Climbing out of my kayak when we returned back to the boat ramp

Low lights :-
Not really anything to complain about.
My legs got a little torn by the scrub on the Southern section of the cache's but that's all part of the fun.
The wind picked up from a NW direction as the day went on.

Well done 4ando.

Love your work.

A plan was hatched last week to visit Somerset and collect the Dark side caches which for me meant drop everything and start solving these puzzles
Enjoyed solving this puzzle, and soon had some good looking numbers for Certitude.
With more plans put into place, a camping and boating weekend was closely looming. A bunch of dedicated cachers - Team Tyrrell, CHAMAD, Simber15 - and our high tech transportation fleet of a super fast kayak and what has become affectionately known as the SS Slow Boat - came, saw and conquered some lovingly placed caches in the most beautiful of locations.
A lot of bird life and cattle were seen through the day, along with kangaroos, a rabbit and did I mention magpies?? Thankfully there were no snake encounters given the super long grass we walked through in some places.
A long but very satisfying day with some great company, a lot of laughs and scratches, a day which will long be remembered.
A huge thank you 4ando for a very well thought out puzzle series and for placing this cache here for us to collect today. Your efforts here are amazing!

This hide was made for this cache... it fits perfectly. We know what we’re looking for and the caches aren’t too hard to spot. Thank you.

Today was the day Eskies5, Davinells and myself (DEK) made plans to travel to dark side. With an early start to the day we were on the water just before 8 and returning to ramp just before 4. A great day with just enough clouds to make sure we didn’t get burnt to a crisp. Most of the caches were straightforward finds and all were in great condition.

Thanks for an awesome day out on the water 4ando, we will return for the others another day. Apologies for the cut and paste logs!

Team DEK (Davinells, Eskies5 and Kestal) embarked on Somerset Dam in our little hired tinny to put Darth Vader's head back together! I was on driver duty while Eskies5 and Kestal were the navigators and look outs for the submerged logs and shallow banks. The weather was kind to us with not much wind, that was until the end of the day when we made our way back to our starting point and the wind had picked up. The waves were unavoidable in the little boat and Kestal bore the brunt of them and got soaked! Sorry! A total of 65 caches were found in 8hrs, a great day out and with great company.
Thanks 4ando for putting together a fabulous selection of puzzles at a beautiful location. Thoroughly enjoyed our time at the lake and look forward to returning and completing the series!

After many hours of puzzling "The Shroud of the Dark Side had Fallen"....all around Somerset Dam. So it was that Team D.E.K (Davinells, Eskies5 and Kestal) came together to right a wrong. Kestal and I had an early start travelling down from Toowoomba to meet with Davinells who had camped overnight and organised our transport for the day. With Davinells at the helm we headed out with much excitement on calm waters. The weather was kind to us with a bit of cloud cover giving us sporadic reprieve from the biting sun. A great adventure with lots of walking in between the boating. Heading back to the boat ramp the wind picked up and by the time we got back we were pretty well soaked but spirits weren't dampened as we were super happy with our tally for the day. Many thanks for a fun day out, 4ando.

Arghh.. this was another puzzle that did my eyes and brain in. Nonetheless we got there and got a green light in the end.
Anyway, the puzzle was totally worthwhile for the walk involved to arrive at GZ from the direction from which we had come.
So much history to see here. We have attached a few photos of the area in this surrounds. Birds, remnants of buildings and and an old carriage of some sort.
Definitely a favourite here!
Thanks 4ando. Awesome!
Domsky 

Out doing Dark Side caches for the third time. Windy day on the lake. Getting wet in the little tinny.
Easy find.
TNLN, TFTC.

Found on 7/9/2020. Out doing Dark Side caches for the third time. Windy day on the lake. Getting wet in the little tinny.
Easy find.
TNLN, TFTC.

Structure nearby cache.

TFTC smile7173 out and about with Hatzoff, Echocage1 ,RoddyC, Snickersallan, 5days on the lakes (or dams)having a great time walking , boating, caching ,and thanks to the muggle fur baby sitter a favorite point for this cache



Thank you, 4ando, for placing this cache for our enjoyment.

***COs- Currently in the process of catching up on my logging backlog- some of it, I'm embarrassed to say extends back a number of years.
I'm logging each cache on the date that I actually visited it, not the day I'm logging. Cheers??***
??????????
We'd been busy beavers solving this series and could finally come and collect the goodies here. It took us 3 days in a slow boat but we had a great time out on the water and being away from home.
As Ratty?? said to Mole??...
“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing–absolutely nothing–half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
We didn't mess about too much though or we wouldn't have found them all in the time we had the boat.
The logs were signed as either team GERSH or sometimes GRESH, depending on the memory of the signee and the caches were where our coords led us and no issues were encountered.
One highlight up this end of the dam was seeing a large flock of swans.
Another was finally getting my first D/T loop with this series although sadly I wasn't aware of it at the time. Probably just as well as I may have capsized the tub in my excitement! No happy dancing possible in a plastic tinnie without soggy consequences!???????
Thanks 4ando for the huge effort in making the puzzles and placing the caches.??

Another Great day out doors and on and around the water.

Great day, great weather, great company.

All caches signed as GERSH (Granny Smith 1947, echocage1, RoddyC, Snickersallan, hatzofff).

TFTC 4ando

Visiting from the Gold Coast and spending several days in the local area. This is our first day on the water after hiring a neat little tinnie to get us to and from the various islands and we certainly enjoyed every minute of it especially with the large volume of different types of birds flying around or just keeping a watchful eye on us combined with the herds of cows coming & going.
To save on paper, all our logs were signed as Team GERSH (grannysmith1947, echocage1, RoddyC, Snickersallan and hatzofff)
Well done CO on a fantastic series of puzzles and hides, thank you.


TFTC 4ando
Found September 3, 2020

We decided to join forces for a few day's caching on Lake Somerset. Our first day, and we are motoring our boats to do the northern end where there are some traditional, caches, then start on the caches of the Dark Side series.

All logs were signed as "G.E.R.S.H." (Grannysmith1947, echocage1, RoddyC, Snickersallan and hatzofff).

Of those found today, all were in good order. Some required a little effort to retrieve (especially for those vertically challenged), and a couple had me panting for breath after a steep climb (at least for this old fellow).

Cache located, log signed and all replaced as found. TFTC, 4ando, on 03/09/2020

Day two at Somerset dam with Konie chasing the Dark Side series in the tinnie, had a great day out hiking , climbing, boating and generaly having a great time . After starting at 0800 and stopping for lunch we completed the series at 1430 and headed back for a well earned brew.

Konie did a bit of maintenance on one that we only found the tether.

Thanks for all the work in placing this series.

Once again, sorry about the generic logs.

TFTC 4ando

Out for another day Somerset Dam with El Peregrinos completing the Dark side series. We headed off around 0800 and after stopping for lunch completed the series around 1445.

We had a great time out walking, talking and climbing many hills to find the caches. The cobblers pegs and spear grass, which is nearly waist high in places, added to the fun. Plenty of cows and birdlife around the dam too.

Well done on a great series.

Like everyone else, my apologies for the generic logs.

TFTC 4ando

#4983 [11:11] 22/52 from the series today
three women in a boat (to say nothing of the myself) - that how it looked today well, boat... at least we didn't have to paddle. we had plenty of time and weather was great. so what more to wish? points, points, points, of course! and we had definitely enough today!
thanks for placing all these caches here and preparing fun for us. we really enjoyed. and there is enough for another trip see you next time!

Having solved all the puzzles it was finally time to head out and turn those little dots on the map into smileys. So I wrangled up a crew.... at the wheel we had Captain VikoCZ and then matey wombles and 1MinnieMoo.

It was a grand adventure on the dam today collecting lots of smiley treasures. Thankfully the weather was fair and we managed to collect about half of the caches. It was not danger free however and at times we had to battle with black snakes and cows with guns. I won’t mention the jungles of spiky plants and weeds I think wombles was still picking prickles out of her shoes a month later. Haha!

Our journey also rewarded 1MinnieMoo and myself both with the next loop of our DT grids and Viko found his 5000th milestone cache! Not a bad haul

Thanks for all the time and effort creating this fun series and placing all of the caches 4ando
I’ll be back to collect the other half one day.

A plan was hatched for four of us (Nyssaflutterby, 1Minniemoo, Vickocz and I ) to come out here and hunt for dark side caches. We hired our putt putt boat and headed out.
Sorry for the cut and paste logs but after the snake, it's all a bit of a blur of cobblers pegs, spear grass and other assorted spiky things and hills, oh the hills....plus assorted attack cows, thongs, bare feet, well earned rests under shady trees and then some more hills.
Only half way done so we will be back...

17/5/20 Find #3623
Apologies for the cut and paste logs - I will try to add at least something individual at the end of each one.
Today we had a mission planned. NyssaFlutterby, wombles and co, VikoCZ and I were to hire a boat and head out to grab a number of Dark Side caches on Somerset and achieve a goal or two in the process.
We sorted out our boat hire and were soon off on our way.
With comments based around pedalling faster, we made our way across the lake..... very slowly. I swear I heard turtles laughing.

A hop back along the dry water crossing to get back to the boat - we had come across in a much wetter spot on the way to the previous cache.
Thanks for the cache 4ando.

Supreme Commander 4ando organised a CITO for all the space debris scattered around the universe. There are only so many wrecked star destroyers littering infinite space before the mongrel general public start to complain.

The Sith were grouped into their general alien types for this CITO. The 6 Sith being predominately humanoid appearance were jettisoned to Somerset to look for space debris and return the rubbish to Area 51, somewhere in Nevada for the locals to sort.

No space junk was found in this CITO so the 6 Sith spent some time resurrecting Vader’s helmet. Great dark side series 4ando!

There were six of us out on the water today in two boats (plus a muggle driver). So I thought our team name was "The Six" and someone was a bit lispy at the very early morning start time. But "The Sith" is much more appropriate for such a geoart!

We have had these puzzles solved since first published (and were FTS on quite a few), but distances looked too long for kayaking and we needed more than one boat. The stars (or boat availability) finally lined up quite nicely for today, so we made an early start. By the end we were all very hot and sweaty, and were struggling to walk another step. But it was a highly successful day, with good fun all around!

Thanks for the effort in making this awesome series 4ando. The amount of work putting all those caches out astounds me. TFTC!

Tftc. A team of six out on the water today. Thought our team name The Sith most appropriate. Beautiful day and not a drop of wind which made the event very smooth. Thanks for all the hard work that has gone into making these caches for all to enjoy.

To we who dwell in the Force, normal life is little more than pretense. Our only actions of significance are those we undertake in service to the dark side.
“To be a Sith is to taste freedom and to know victory.”
We were today The Sith and we indeed tasted the freedom of boating on the lake . At the end of a day where litres of sweat were lost we had claimed victory with the Dark Side conquered and a few traditionals as well !!! An enormous team effort and a few cows disturbed by the Force. A brilliant art and the trads were awesome too! Congratulations to Ardom on his 5000 find and 6th DT loop. Bestowing congrats on TeamARF for a 4000 target achieved ! What a day!!! Thanks 4Ando for the series and we are in awe of the efforts to create it!

Out caching with a group of 6, plus one semi-muggle boat driver
With the Star Wars theme, 6 of us caching together today, and being Ardom’s 6th D/T loops we decided on the team name, The Sith!
The Lake was beautiful and quiet, I saw lots of turtles and turtle shells today - a ridiculous amount of inquisitive cows, and one cute little fox!
Another amazing adventure with an amazing team. Thanks for the caches and the effort that went into placing them

Finally come today has. Yes, hrrrm. Changed and evolved over the time plans have. Our name for the day the Sith was.. Yrsssss.. Found slowly caches were. Long and hot the day was. Hrmmm. Complete we are.

Enough Yoda! We truly had a fabulous day, the weather was perfect although very warm and humid. The dam ever so quiet thanks to the ban on ‘in water’ activities after the rains. We did get stopped by SEQ Water doing a check on all watercraft and thankfully we both passed being fully kitted out boats and four licensed drivers between the seven of us. I am thankful that we upgraded our motor last year as dang that spread is huge!!! Even though the second boat was much zipper than ours we still managed to hold our own and get the wind in our hair.

Huge thanks to my muggle husband who drove our boat and managed to get us in and out of some tricky spots. Lots of debris up the top end and we may have clunked on a couple of submerged trees. The turtles in the water were curious things almost as much as the cows who at one memorable point thundered past us and down the cow track to the skinny bit of the island about 2m from the front end of the boat where Mr JACS was having a catnap!

I was pleased to see the growing tick piles of caches done growing bigger and bigger, because I was done!!! So glad to be able to finally say this fabulous Geo-art is finished. Congratulations to both, Ardom who completed his 6th DT loop and 5000th Cache and Team ARF who achieved his 4000th Cache.

Out with Beardman75 and Ms Maddy to collect the remainder of the dark side caches. A fun day was had as we putted along in our boat that travels at walking speed (but still quicker than my yaking skills). Thanks for fun and challenging puzzles which lead to spot on coords at GZ.

These are the voyages of the Dark Side and the intrepid crew of Beardman75, Nikid1 and Ms Muddy (that’s not a typo) An early start had us hurtling up the lake in the fresh morning air at a staggering rate of knots. Nic was seriously well organised with a plan and maps I was skipper first up but roles rotated during the day. A few highlights included my new boat driving skill of doing donuts and well worth it to see the look on Beardman75’s face A personal mud spa with not one, but two, mobile phones taking a dip as I went down Over protective cows A snake skin Bitey red ants all over one of the knobs. Lots of birds!!! Black swans, pelicans, water birds of all kinds. Yummy snax. My shoes disintegrating. Caches that challenged the vertical limits of Nikki and me. Creative use of a cow pat. Have to say we made very good time! What an absolutely fab day Much cooler this time which was nice. Can’t think of a better way to squander a Sunday

TFTC 4ando

Today I started the mission of finding all of the Dark Side caches. Today's other members of the resistance that travelled with me are Grand Poobah and Beardman. [^]
Most of the puzzles I solved fairly quickly as i am a Star Wars fan and have seen the movies a few times. Though there was a few in there that I had help on, and others that others in the group solved and finally about half dozen that we just swapped.
Good fun solving the puzzles and good fun finding them so far.
Thanks for the caches.

Brother Colin and Beardman and I paddled about the top end of the Dam finding a few of the Dark Side caches today. Most finds were quick and easy finds.
Thanks for the caches.

Brother Colin put out the call for a paddle on Somerset and it ended up being just him and me and the mysterious Grand Poobah. We attacked the northern most caches and got a good work out of both the arms and the legs, paddling and then walking while chatting about everything and nothing. It was a great day to be out on the water although it was very hot by the time we finished. Thanks for the cache

Started completing this series with CDAH55 on the jetski. Only completed 20 when the jetski malfunctioned and had to return. It had a stone stuck fast in the propellor. Will return to complete the rest. Saw lots of dead turtles shells and saw a snake skin at one of the caches.

These caches have been solved for some time now. It has just been a matter of when we should get them. Dora the Explorer! and I decided today would be a good choice and a jetski can get us from one area to the other.

All start well until the inlet sucked in a stone and jammed the propeller. We limped back to the boat ramp when we had to call it a day after about 20 finds.

I think there will be some more trips out here to complete the series.

Find #2596

TFTC ***4ando***

Started completing this series with CDAH55 on the jetski. Only completed 20 when the jetski malfunctioned and had to return. It had a stone stuck fast in the propellor. Will return to complete the rest. Saw lots of dead turtles shells and saw a snake skin at one of the caches.

Found with bella at waggy during a great weekend of catching up and finding is very cool series.
Im a bit tounge-tied and unfortunately going to log some generic logs for this series.
Very impressed with what 4ando did here.
So well done.
Hope you dont mind the generic posts.
Cheers,
The Bug.

Episode 2. These are the voyages of the cachers dahumbug and B@W. Oh Wait wrong geoart series. A long long time ago in far off cities dahumbug and B@W plotted so obtain the co-ordinates of the Empires secret stash points to have a terrain raid and turn those blue marks into yellow smilies and return the Force well art work back to normal. Who said Darth Vader can't simile.
This trip had many targets but things changed due to fires, lack of boat hire times on a Friday and so on. The end result was dahumbug and B@W spent two days on the water instead of one on the water and one on the Bluff which due to the heat the number of steps taken was probably just as well as despite having a boat we covered plenty of ground on foot not helped by some very low water levels and that the hire boat so slow.
As a result of the leisurely opening times we headed back into town to brighten the start to our caching day although it was not without issue.
We picked up the boat at Somerset Caravan Park and lets just say the speed to get us in the water matched the speed of the boat but we were grateful we could get a craft and it had a sunshade cover. Perhaps the speed of the ship was limited due to the Empires Tractor Beam?
So with the late launch we changed our plans to two days on the water and decided to get these ones up north before engaging with the art work.
Saw some roos, rabbits, cattle and bird life on the way round.
Appreciate all the effort in going into such a series.
No problem making the find, We completed the signing duties and re hid. TFTC

When I was offered a seat on this starship to defeat Lord Vader I jumped at the chance. All the crew met up early, some opting for the blue cargo ship and our crew boarding the faster quintrex cruiser. A great day was had, with good company, good weather and a beautiful location. Thanks for a fun day out 4ando!

After a lot of changes to the crew in the weeks and days leading up to the mission, two Jedi ships set out from the ramp.
Piloting the fast Qintrex class cruiser our part of the mission crew left the team in the slow blue baththub like cargo ship far behind.
Turning Lord Vader into all smileys one by one

Thank you for this puzzle and cache
R

TFTC 4ando. Thanks for the fun puzzle and placing this cache for our enjoyment.

Signed the log as Team KETS (Karicka, E, Tenkae and Stortigirls.)

Gorgeous day at Somerset Dam with E:), Stortigirls, and Karicka. Puzzles solved and off on adventure. Signing as Team KETS. Thanks for all the work that has gone into these.

Counting is obviously not one of my talents. My name belongs to one of those thumbs down.

Had a phone call from jfindit (James) asking if I would like to join forces with him and hire a boat for the day to find some of the caches that he had solved the puzzles for. So off we set on our adventure on a beautifully calm day in the now named vessel S.S. Dark Dicky - hopefully not to suffer the same feat as its namesake!! But during the day, the wind did spring up considerably which made the return journey rather choppy. Plenty of different birds were spotted as we 'cruised' the waterways on this lovely stretch of Somerset Dam. All the caches we found should last the test of time and would have taken the 4ando team a great deal of time to construct and put out - so thanks for that guys. TFTC 4ando

8567
Set off in the company of Dickbev early this morning to try our hand at finding a few cache on the Damn Dam, After doing the business wiyh the boat hire people it was off into the wide open blue expanses. With Captain "Black .Jack" Dick at the helm, And myself in the Crows Nest keeping a weathered eye open whilst softly humming six months in a leaky boat plus having flashbacks to the 60;s television show Gilligan's Island unfortunately Ginger and May-Ann were missing.
Well what can I say but WOW. What a wonderful place to spend the day. Will have to award a favourite for this one for the location, sheer enjoyment and also the Puzzles

Thanks for the great Caches, Puzzles and adventure 4ando

This Day in Music
22 Oct 1999
It was reported that Sinead O’Connor was attempting to buy the church where she was ordained into the Catholic sisterhood. The church was on the market for £70,000.

Mr and Mrs slow puncture and I had such a great day out on a hire boat. The weather was perfect and the coords were spot on. We saw lots of birds and cows and cow cakes. The grass is actually starting to green up aswell so hopefully the cows will be fatter soon. Sorry for the copy and paste. I am adding some extra notes on the way and some great photos. Thanks for all the great puzzles and for placing these caches for us to enjoy. Now it looks like storm is going around us. How lucky are we

This was day 3 of our targeting this series. Day 1 was a few hours thanks to J.A.T. providing transport. Day 2 was late yesterday with a quick single landing and walk for a total 90 minute trip.
This morning a 5:30am start (in the world’s slowest boat) meant there was 4 hours before the boat needed to be returned.
Mist on the water meant a beautiful first hour or so.
This was stop 1 find 1. Brad might like to think his thirty plus years in the ADF might help him identify weapons? But not these ones!
Got there anyway. And the coordinates were good as usual. Sign and move on.
FP here for another good start to the day.
TFTC 4 ando

I like to think I am a longtime fan of the Skywalker phenomenon, as I remember going to the cinema in late 1977 as a 13-year-old and watching the original movie “Star Wars” (now known as A New Hope)! It was truly amazing. Of course I have continued to follow along [^]

Over the last few days much effort has gone into the solving of these puzzles, and being a fan made that somewhat easier! I had more than 70 of them sorted by myself. Then I got a request to join Orange Crew on his boating adventure later in the week, and so we set to with a will to find solutions for as many of the others as we could. Soon Miss Direction signed up, and we became the “3 Jedis”, ending up with almost 100 puzzles in the can. Duly this morning I arrived at OC’s place at 6.30am, we picked up Miss_D at 7.10am and found ourselves at the boat ramp just before 8am. All aboard! We spent the better part of 9 hours out and about, gathering 86 smileys, with 29 FTFs All were logged as “3 Jedis”.

TFTC, 4ando.

A mysterious series of transmissions indicates a gathering of Imperial forces on a remote planet of the Dagobah system. With IolantheK and Miss_Direction joining me, we had a crack team of 3 Jedis ready to battle the evil grip of the Dark Side and return light to the planet of Somerset.

Several days were spent making sense of the intercepted Imperial messages, until we were ready to charter a Corellian Skiff from a shady Gungan in a remote outpost and navigate the uncharted waters. While she was never going to enter hyperspace or complete the Kessel run in under 12 parsecs, she was a reliable craft that got on with the job and carried us well, much like a Bantha but without the horrible smell.

Unlike the swampy cessspool we had expected, the planet was teeming with wildlife and had stunning vistas. We battled from early morning until the shadows became long and the 4 moons began ascending. When victory was ours, all that remained was to find a quiet cantina on Mos Eisley to blow the froth off a relaxing Sarlacc juice.

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Log signed as "3 Jedis" and cache returned as found. Thanks for the smilie **4ando**. This log is trackable, mention where you saw it.

.........@__,
/|___||_/__________|\
\\_______/_TGQNRV_/
~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^~

The 3 Jedis went on a mission today. IolantheK, OC and myself, had been willing disciples of Yoda, found the force within, and set off to planet Somerset. Our eyes were might sore after lots of puzzle squinting, our ears sharp from listening and our fingers quick from inputting, so we put on our shades and robes and various gear. We faced off with some cows. Admittedly they had calf’s and weren’t that scary. But we did many miles on craft and foreign land and found gems, such as this one along the way.

The chatter among the Jedis ranged from SW episodes to Dr Who and various other knowledge sources. Our mission isn’t entirely complete but I look forward coming back with paddle craft and other Jedis to finish off the series soon.

Thought our time on this series we chatted at length about how much work was involved in this piece of geoart, and how much 4ando have given to geocaching. Thankyou! It’s mind boggling how many hours went into setting this up. We loved doing a few of the fish ones at South Stradie, and the letters of love/hate on Pumistone passage. TFTC 4ando And thankyou with the clarification re this one.

4821

Monday. Joint (FTF) A lovely nice quick puzzle solve and we were trying to bash a few solves out before we headed out to the dam the next day. Very grateful for Mr and Mrs JAT invite to join for a day out boating. I wasn’t expecting a lovely invite so was very grateful. We had been plugging around the dam for a little while now – gosh this is a big dam. At GZ, we came up to a very likely looking spot for a cache container and it wasn’t long before we had a container in our hands. Log signed we headed off back into the boat for just a couple more caches before we had to head off for home as the wind was starting to pick up. Not good on this much water!

This was the 29th of 31 caches found on today's trip.

Thanks ***4ando***, for showing us this place.

Well what an interesting day and a bit we have had. After seeing that a few new puzzle caches had been published on Somerset Dam, we suggested to Slow Puncture that perhaps we should go for a little boat trip At the time, we thought we were just looking at a dozen or so puzzles Well, as quick as we could solve one, another was published to replace it and so it went on, and on, and on

By midnight, Mrs Just a Trifle's brain was fried and a few hours sleep was had before waking for an early morning start with Mrs Slow Puncture We arrived at Somerset Dam to find it as smooth as glass and a pleasure to be on for the day

We decided to first head south to the cache which was the furtherest from the boat ramp, hoping that we would manage to find all of the caches we had solved before the wind had a chance to arrive It was a good decision as just as we were finding the last few caches, the wind started to build (only to about 10 knots though) and the lake went from smooth to a rough chop within the space of an hour [xx(] Our last couple of caches were just opposite the boat ramp and we were able to get the boat back on the trailer without too much effort, despite the waves that had built up [^]

We had a lot of fun solving the various puzzles and each cache was located easily, pretty much where you might expect [^] With our names added to the log book for a {FTF}, we continued on our way.

Thank you 4ando for placing the cache and for maintaining it for everyone to enjoy We really appreciate all the effort you have put in to creating this fun filled series [^] We have decided to give a favourite point in recognition of the sheer effort required to create geo-art of this magnitude

Published