CRGPT - 20 Lower Portland, New South Wales, Australia
By GrumpyOldMates on 16-Feb-20. Waypoint GC8KV6C

#15318This power trail has been staring me for years (just like nearby YY) and I have been keen on paddling for quite a long time.For today, Mighty Minions organised a kayaking day to finally conquer this trail. A group of over 20 kayaks came together from HAVOC, Sydney and Canberra (hence the abbreviation HSC24 used to log the caches).Starting at 8:15, we paddled our way downstream, along bushland, sandstone caves and rock formations. Some of the cache needed some maintenance (with GOM approval) so we came prepared with an assortment of ties, bisons and logsheets. A big thanks to Lee737, Samuel737 and Big Matt for supplying the equipment and doing such a great job on the maintenance.All in all it was 15.36 kilometers over 5:30 hours.Thanks to the GrumpyOldMates for an awesome series

Ltf

FLTF TFTC

Out on a big yakking trip on the colo river with Havoc Sydney and Canberra . We signed all caches HSC24 (not the test!).No problems here, a quick find all good!TFTC!

Find # 13013Following an event at Colo boat launch, it was the start of a day kayaking down to the bridge and junction with the Hawkesbury. Fun times!! Large group off down the river. Signing today as Hunter Sydney Canberra 24 or (HSC24).Joolay, KittyKatch, Fitzy, Minniek, FurfacesLL, GLISS!, Aykayem, Flintstones, Sacada, Aquillis, Search4, Smittengranny, Boots65, Nibletricecakes, Loci612, Googlehihihi, TikvaNZ, Foxnjox, Angel, MightyMinions, BigMat, Everest, Its_Dozzie, Samuel737, Leon737, gavingo4, Many thanks to GrumpyOldMates for placing CRGPT - 20 for us all to enjoy. Your contribution to the game through the placement and maintenance of this cache over the years is appreciated.

#8335Two previous trips here have been thwarted by floods in the past few years, so it was great to finally get boats on the water for this trail. It has certainly helped our DT grid efforts!Spotted!TFTC!

#8334Its finally time! The long awaited HAVOC Colo Kayaking Trip!After the event this morning, at 8am sharp the kayaks were on the water and we were off. A beautiful day for a paddle, and a nice series of caches and DTs!Permission to replace missing ones granted by the COs, and all logs being signed as HSC24 (Hunter Sydney Canberra 24) end of copy paste Quick find and all good. TNLN SLThanks for placing and maintaining this cache GrumpyOldMates

Find#2996The HAVOC geocachers are coming to Colo to complete an event and then a paddle. I was up at 430am to drive down the Putty road to attend. Most of the caches were quickly found or we did some maintenance to ensure that these caches will be able to be found by future geocachers. TFTC GrumpyOldMen

We started the day with a 40 minute drive, a mass kayak drop, car shuffle and an event. An early start to have us out on the river about 8am. Lots of Canberra caches taking advantage of the opportunity to join in on a paddle up the Colo River had made our way north to join in for the day. We signed as HSC24 (hunter, Sydney, canberra) for all our many people, and groups, almost 30 people.The tides were gentle and flowing with us. A beautiful river, calm, great bushland setting with the hills high about us and crazy, fascinating sandstone rock formations into the water by us.The caches were a mixed of finds. Easy generally but just the attachments, strings, or tops on occasion. Permission sort prior, to replace any needing maintenance that were clearly missing or in need of repair.A great day out on the water, shallow at times across sand backs and fish jumping. Great scenery, it was easier going than expected. The change of tide brought a calm stand still to the water and 14km and 5 hours later, a gentle tide change to paddle against which wasn't noticed and we made ut to our end spot.Quicker than expected to finish, off for some caches, shower, rest and then the dinner event at Wisemans ferry before a few caches on the way home. I'll sleep well tonight, but a great day. Thanks for the cache and fun!

And so the adventure begins. After the compulsory photo was taken at this morning's event, 23 kayaks of all shapes and sizes were launched into the Colo River. Then we were off in search of the caches that had been set out by the GOMS to entice people like us to conquer their incredible trail. It was a brilliant sunny day that was just perfect for being on the river. Luckily we had a safety boat as a few of us needed a helping hand at times. (Thanks El Capitain).Most caches were found in an acceptable time, while some were real challenges. Unfortunately, some were not found at all, but we had permission from the COs to replace them. This resulted in just one DNF. All logs were signed using the name HSC24 - Hunter Sydney Canberra 24. This has been a remarkable day thanks to the company and the challenges that we overcame on the river. We didn't loose a single person - not for lack of trying at times! ??????Again a huge thanks to all involved in making today so enjoyable

Cache # 11555 on 9 Nov 2024TikvaNZ, Fox in Jox and I had been eyeing off this series for a couple of years and had been plugging away at solving the various puzzles, so when we saw the event being hosted by HAVOC, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to focus our attention and finally get on the water!With a few hints for the last few puzzles, we finally got them all sorted and it was time for a trip up the Hume. TikvaNZ lent Fox and myself a double kayak, so after the event photo, we launched onto the gently flowing Colo River for an epic paddle and 50+ caches! It was around 14kms and around 5.5 hours on the water for us. We beached at one point for breakfast rolls and to reapply sunscreen, but other than that, the paddle was straightforward with the outgoing tide for most of the way. Lots of wildlife spotted and heard, and the rocks along the sides of the river were epic! Surprisingly, we had to replace quite a few caches, but only did so after a thorough check. With 20+ kayaks and a boat making up the flotilla, there were many eyes searching for the sneaky caches. Signed as HSC24 to save room on the logs. At reasonably low tide, there were quite a few exits from the yaks to sign or replace the caches. Thank you GrumpyOldMates for this epic series and the mental and physical challenge!

This cache was found today and brings our overall cache find tally to 13761. This trip had been in the planning for quite a while and had a few false starts due to high water levels we finally made it onto the water today. Now, the group was a big one and it took a while to get everyone into the water but it wasnt long and we were enjoying the current taking us down stream. The challenge with this series was the sheer number of caches that were needing maintenance, we found lots of bison kids, strings without bisons and the like. Wed come prepared for this and had spare bisons, stainless rings and zip ties and had the owners permission to replace caches that couldnt be found. In just over 5 hours we covered the 14km paddle down stream and it was only the last few hours we had to work against the current due to the tide coming back in. Overall a great day on the water and a good chat with loads of different people. Thanks GrumpyOldMates for the cache.

Joined the large flotilla of kayakers from Sydney and Canberra (signed as HSC24 HAVOC Sydney Canberra 2024) to paddle from Colo River Park to Skeleton Rocks Reserve, including a few extra on the Hawkesbury. AngelG was my doubles partner in the yellow sit-on-top. We powered along for a 5-6hr paddle, collecting over 50 caches. Replaced a lot of missing containers along the way, but now ready for the next flotilla. TFTC GOMs

Colo River TripHeading to Wiseman's Ferry area for a weekend of caching with Joolay. We joined a great bunch of cachers who had arrived to attend today's event and tte planned paddle. So many friendly cachers brought together for a common purpose. We signed caches as Hunter Sydney Caberra 2024 (HSC24). We had a great day on the river finding caches, replacing the missing caches we found bits of. Thanks for hiding and maintaining this cache GrumpyOldMates

The caches in this series I have wanted to do for a very long time, quite a few years actually and I have had 2 previous events planned to do it, but the floods decided to change that, so I was very glad when today actually managed to happen. The weather was brilliant, the scenery was stunning with such incredible sandstone caves and rock formations and our timing worked out really well with the tides as well. there was a large group of kayaks on the water from Havoc, Sydney and Canberra so the logs were signed as HSC24 because the puzzles are a real test, and it has taken a long time to get here.The time went really quickly because of so much chatting with friends old and new, I was pretty tired by the end but so happy to have made it the whole way. Some of the caches needed replacing along the way, which we had prior permission to do, A big thanks to Lee737, Samuel737 and Big Matt for supplying the equipment and doing such a great job on the maintenance.Thanks to the GrumpyOldMates for an awesome series

#23013 @1043Over 20 kayakers (accompanied by others in a saftey boat - thanks boot65) paddled the Colo River, from Colo River Park to Lower Portland. Departing at about 8am and finishing about 2pm, finding over 50 caches. Caches were signed as HSC24 (Hunter Sydney Caberra 2024). Most were found ok. Some were found with the base and log missing, some were 'found' with just the attachment. These were all replaced. A few were unable to be found at all (even in part). All but one of these were replaced. (The one not replaced because the location had been destroyed by flooding.) We had perfect weather for the paddle - a great day out on the water. Solving the puzzles occurred over several months/years, with the last few solved with team work in the days leading up to the trip. TFTC.

Spending some time caching around the NSW/ACT southern tablelands with lots of side trips. TFTC.Today was a trip to Windsor, Sydney to join a group of cachers from Hunter, Sydney and Canberra to kayak the Colo River. Signing as HSC24 (HAVOC, Sydney & Canberra)Today was the big day with a large turnout of many cachers with many caches. There were some caches with signs of being swept away, one totally gone and quite a few in need of repair. The maintenance crew did a wonderful job.14 km later and we were finally at the end. What a long paddle.Finished off with dinner at Wismans Ferry with a few caches on the way there and back.

OCW cherryfromtheblock and leaping lizzardo today on a nice spring day. It was cool enough to not get burnt to a crisp but warm enough to be pleasant out on the water. Did a good run of finding 12 out of the 15 we looked for.Thankyou for placing and maintaining these caches, a very nice part of the world out here!

TFTC

Out for a long paddle with ESCR - we launched just after 8am and finished about 7 hours later. Great weather made for a really enjoyable day. TFTC!

An amazing stretch of river. Highly recommend anyone who loves a paddle to visit here the water was crystal clear in places, and wildlife was abundant. Almost all caches were found with only a few DNFs. Some caches were just remnants of what used to be and some are obvious throw downs. But even if they were all mint tins this would still be top 3 paddles of all time (so far!) TFTAdventure!

TFTC

Out for a day of kayaking on the Colo with Rats and Steeba. We had targetted this series as our primary objective for today. The day started off foggy, but the weather cleared up into an absolute stinker around lunchtime and early afternoon, before a classic summer storm rolled through in the late afternoon. THankfully we were off the water by then.On the water we found many caches. Some were high and dry. Some were floating under water. Some were just lids (missing their bottoms). Some were missing altogether. Where possible we replaced those caches that were missing, but we did not have enough replacement cache containers to do this to all of them.A truly excellent series, on a river that I had actually not kayaked on before (but I have hiked and li-lo'd further up-river). Thankfully we timed the trip right, our early start coincided with the high tide, and it dropped throughout our trip. I highly reccomend this series!Cheers

Out for a weekend caching with steeba and Hoojar. We targeted NW Sydney and the Colo area. With plenty of choices we had a great weekend canoeing and hiking.Today we enjoyed a paddle along the Colo river collecting the Grumpy P.TTFTC

Out for a weekend in and around the Colo River with The Rats and Hoojar to find plenty of caches- a fair bit of legwork needed beforehand though. Some enjoyable country.Some we replaced, some we only found half.TFTC!

Cruising down from BtisVegas, (The Green Geckos) & I met up with Bris to take on the Colo River Challenge. With all puzzles solved, Coords & equipment ready we set ourselves up & went for a paddle.
One by one we meandered down stream, thanks to the CO for their assistance in making this outing a great one. It’s such a great paddle, the scenery was fabulous & seeing where the recent flood waters reached. I spoke briefly to a resident who described it.

Thanks to the Grumpy Old Mates for this great series.

Muggle65 and l were on our way to Rutherglen and we met up with Brislions to enjoy a group paddle. We planned a one way paddle with a vehicle at each end and hoped to make the most of the receding tide. We were worried about the low tide as in Queensland, it means a lot less water and wading through crotch deep mud. Turns out we needn't have given that a thought. The scenery was out of an episode of Skippy and we couldn't stop staring at everything as we paddled by. Many thanks to the CO for the generous input on this series.

After quick drive from Brisbane I meet up with The Green Geckos and Muggle65. We drop kayaks at Putty Road end then drop my Ute at the bottom Green Road. Then we drove back to the top end to start our paddle.
With a few shower today it made the rock nice and slippery.
We had lots of fun kayaking on this river. It was beautiful river with a lot lovely rocky cliffs. It is so much different from the SEQ rivers with lots of mud.
Some of these caches were swimming other nice high and dry.
Thank you CO for hiding and maintaining these caches plus for the help with these puzzles.
GrumpyOldMates *TFTC 7940 Finds*

What a great day out with Doc-Who and GeoIan. A soggy cache to sign.
Amazing to see the tide makes from the floods. Trees down and wonderful caves along the way.
Thank you GOM for a great trail and hope to be back to complete the rest!

This one was a little soggy. TFTC.

I put out a short notice kayaking assault on the Traditional caches of this series just the other day and got GEOIAN and MAD RABBITO, as well as a couple of maybe's whih turned out to be No-be's Along with us Cachers, a couple of other Kayakers came along and paddled all the way upto the Tidal Limit with a round trip of nearly 33km, Well Done, us hard working GC'ers managed 23.5 km over a huge day, and we certainly had our aches after several hours on the water with a good stop for lunch.
We started out on the first stretch searching randomly, hoping for a random find of a Mystery Location, we did find one, but Not(?) sure which it is yet....
The water level has come through this river twice this year at around 10m at a guess by the riverside damage we saw. With trees down, banks washed away, trees washed away!, land slides, it's a wonder any cache containers were still here.
We came across water filled caches, wet logs, half missing containers, even a container just sitting atop a branch not tied on! Truely amazing that one didn't fall into the water and disappear. The camo on some caches was very much enhanced by mud, leaves, weed and grass.
Every other search had us wet, covered in branches, mud, dust & debree ICKKKK
We had a super Low Tide today of 0.1m and it didn't vary up to more than 0.4m at a guess, as well as some weird Ebbing going on.
Altogether an amazing day, we managed around 19x caches and the next section from the other end coming back will be a lot easier.
Thanks everyone for coming,a total pleasure once again.


Logged with [GCDroid](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gcdroid).

I heard about this series during lockdown 2020. Then in June of last year, I grabbed a baker's dozen with someone who lives and breathes kayaks. Today I was with my fellow GOMs as we performed a comprehensive maintenance run. I fell into the drink near the Yangtze River (while trying to get back into the 'yak) - the only GOM to take a dip. Highlights included lots of grumpy chatting, birdlife (first time ever I've seen a wedge-tail eagle and a white-bellied sea eagle on the same day), something like 45 caches for me (a CITO, some letterboxes, several puzzles, lotsa trads, a multi, one AL), and perfect weather. My lower back is really feeling it as I log, this, but it was worth it.

During our journey downstream, I suggested to the pedantry of GOMs that a GOM of the month prize be awarded each month, to encourage GOMs to maintain a level of grumpiness, or even aim for grumpy glory. Not sure if this idea will fly, but we will see.

Hmmph - All this whinging about missing caches or caches being underwater!! The GOM's including our ACT Member, took advantage of a perfect day to do a maintenance run.
All caches where upgraded with corrosion resistant fittings, new logs and where necessary given a slight altitude adjustment. 95% of the caches were indeed in place.

Today I made a nearly eight hour paddle tour with my kayak and found this cache.
TFTC

Beautiful part of the river and I was really enjoying myself today. Another one spotted and dragged out of the water.

Time to take my sea kayak out for more practice, and as I struggled with the tidal flow on this river with my other yak last time caching, it was an ideal time for another go.This time I checked the tide times, and as I was arriving 2 hours before high tide I decided to start downstream, and hopefully ride the oiutgoing river flow on the way out.
Well that was my first mistake... I recall finding the caches a foot under water when I last attempted this series. same today. Most of the caches didn't appear above water until the tide had dropped 1m below high tide. I had more luck finding the ones that required climbing out of my boat to retrieve. it wasn't until I decided to turn around and head back that I had more luck finding the 'easy' ones. That is until I dropped my second pen into the drink! There were 4 caches I spied on the way back that I couldn't sign. Until next time!
Thanks for the caches!

Found on a boating adventure on the colo. Summary of the day at gc8kt94. TFTC

Found this cache and the log was signed Hippy and Friends on behalf of Paul_the Hippy, goingplaces2, ilook4geo and geologic2. All was replaced as found.
Full log on CRGPT P 1 (GC8KT6A). Thanks for all these caches go to GrumpyOldMates.

Took a boat ride along the Colo River and found a lot of caches. Joined with goingplaces2, Paul_the_Hippy and geologic2 to sign the found logs as Hippy and Friends. Had a good day and was happy with the outcome. TFTC.

Have boat, will go caching! Joined by crew members goingplaces2, ilook4geo and Paul_the_Hippy. Found a good number of caches along the Colo River but did miss some. TFTC.

With HEAT WAVE conditions predicted over the coming days (some heretics just call it summer) and some free time decided to collect the ones I had solved and rack up some trads to dispense fav points. Started at the east end at the intriguingly named Skeleton Rock Reserve. Left with tide approaching high with the intention of returning on the outgoing (more luck than good planning). Beautiful day in a beautiful location.

Bumped into it before I saw it. Certainly has an odour to it here.
Some cattle bathing on other the side.

Thanks GOMs for puzzles and Hides.

Today was the day to get my number 500 find (I'm a bit slow but I got there!). DKMacca told me how good this trail is, and I love nothing more than getting out in the kayak, so why not hit the Colo river for a day of caching fun? DKMacca and our spouses made up the rest of the group. We had a brilliant day with perfect conditions, this is a beautiful place for kayaking. Thanks GrumpyOldMates for bringing us here - we are bound to be back. Lots of Smiley faces today!

Teamed up with Martin cousins to find this power trail of traditionals, puzzles ,letterboxes, a Wherigo and a multi cache. Met up with the Purple people eater, Rainbow Spirit, Baktrak, Team Canary, Bella@waggy, Crash 2079, Team Novo at the Putty Rd bridge and splashed our way down river, stopping at given co ords and doing the legals. A great day with perfect weather and a bit of mud between the toes. Thanks to the grumpy man for laying out this terrain 5 trail and the many other challenges of the day.
Cheers dkmacca

A cache was found along the long and winding Colo, I had never been this far upstream before.

Out for a paddle with the grumpy brigade, loads of laughs too. Great weather provided too. I passed the first paddlers technique in entering and even mastered the re-entering a kayak test. Thanks DKMacca,Rainbow Spirit, Team Novo, Bella@Waggy, Purplepeopleeater, Team Canary, Baktrak, & Crash2079.

Joint find with the full contingent of the GOMs, Rainbow Spirit, Martin Cousins, Team Novo and DKMacca. Wonderful day on the river in perfect conditions and great company. Many thanks to Rainbow Spirit for transporting me in style and comfort all day.

SL TFTC

A grumpy gang of ten had a long, but enjoyable paddle along the river picking up a collection of solved Puzzles and Letterboxes, lots of Traditionals and a Multi and a WherIGo.

Logging at home. Tired and sore.

TFTC.

Found by the full motley crew of GOMs, and assorted others (RS/DKM/Novo/MC+orange muggle), making mid-winter merriment and stopping to find and sign with precision on the Colo today. Thanks to today's gang for the good company and the hiders for their incredible effort to put out all the caches.

#4149

A great day on the river with a gang of grumpy (and some not-so-grumpy) old mates.

TFTC GOM

Paddling down the Colo today in search for high T unatvats. Approaching a right hander up ahead after a fairly long stretch of straight Colo water passage. Hopefully *that* brings some excitement...

TFTC, GOMs.
#1165

A day out on the river which was enough to make you unGrumpy with The very Orange looking Rainbow Spirit and his orange muggle crew man on official duties to give some of the states toys a work over, Team Novo, DK Macca, Martin Cousins and the whole of the NSW Chapter of GOM. After a few logistics the fleet consisting of powered and non powered craft got under way noting the GOM Founding Chairman and AntiSecretary managed to get a lift on the States Transport. Not wanting to sound grumpy I was happy to paddle.
A great outing with a number of FTF still up for grabs as we made our way on the tour. Interesting to hear of peoples approaches on the puzzle and great to see how the hides survived the floods.
A call in at Wombat Rock to watch some antics for those who have not previous found it.
TFTC

Grrrrr - Well we suppose it is about time that we re-enable these caches, grumble, grumble. Its been really pleasant not being annoyed by others logging caches and asking questions, but its time to let the hordes loose and pollute the river with noise and other social nonsense.

hummph!!
#StayAtHome
To help people comply with Government requirements this series is disabled and off limits. Any new logs or claims from this period will be deleted and you will physically have to revisit and re sign the log when it is Reenabled. While the cache location may appear as social distancing its is far from the Governments 30min of exercise near your home. The action for people to get here will involve unnecessary travel, more interactions at fuel stations etc
It makes us all Grumpy!!!

Previously logged under team account BoogieRogue. Re-logging with my individual account. #Find#: 2731#

Found on: 18 April 2020 12:43

Buddies: none

Muggles: none

Weather: sunny

Cache condition: good



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We had an idea that the best way to socially isolate ourselves is to go on an extended kayaking trip on the beautiful Colo River. We packed the inflatable yaks in the back of the van and started early from the big smoke to head north. After dropping the pushbike at the suggested finish point, we soon arrived at the suggested launch area. It took a little time to get everything sorted and to inflate the kayaks, which meant we were in the water around 10am and paddled for 6 hours and 14kms.



Found almost all of the caches in the series quickly and included a couple extras that were along the way.



After getting home and doing the tally we grabbed 40 caches including 5 FTFs! It was a great day out, thanks for placing this series for us.



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Another quick find



**TFTC Rainbow Spirit TNLNSL**

Discover my trackables: 654EMY, GSVG86, TAKM0W, GM5KY0

#Find#: 2731#
Found on: 18 April 2020 12:43
Buddies: none
Muggles: none
Weather: sunny
Cache condition: good

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We had an idea that the best way to socially isolate ourselves is to go on an extended kayaking trip on the beautiful Colo River. We packed the inflatable yaks in the back of the van and started early from the big smoke to head north. After dropping the pushbike at the suggested finish point, we soon arrived at the suggested launch area. It took a little time to get everything sorted and to inflate the kayaks, which meant we were in the water around 10am and paddled for 6 hours and 14kms.

Found almost all of the caches in the series quickly and included a couple extras that were along the way.

After getting home and doing the tally we grabbed 40 caches including 5 FTFs! It was a great day out, thanks for placing this series for us.

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Another quick find

**TFTC Rainbow Spirit TNLNSL**
Discover my trackables: 654EMY, GSVG86, TAKM0W, GM5KY0

Thanks for placing this great powertrail. We really loved the location, It was so quiet except for the ducks and the jumping fish. We didn’t see a soul all day. Most of the caches we found were found quite quickly due to the accurate co-ords however there were a couple of challenging ones. We were glad we did the trail on a falling tide as this made it easier to spot them however most were covered in dry mud as a result of the recent floods.

We seen this series thru the week and made plans to pay a visit this week end. We ventures out today, unfortunately we were having difficulty locating a launching site for the tinnie.
Once finding a spot we set off, it rained on and off but we ploughed on. Collecting 21
{*FTF*} before running out of time, not wanting to run out of day light.
We will need to return for the others.
Found most of the hides reasonably quick, some more challenging than others, and the current always playing havoc with the boat.
We found the day bein a nice adventure, and having done a series like this in George’s River we felt well practiced.
The mud marks on the banks shows the levels of the recent floods, with lots of pontoons back side gardens and structures showing signs of damage here and there.
The river was quiet, only passing a couple of house boats and water skiers.
Got all packed up and the log journey home, we will be back
TFTC

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