TDOC23 Santa's Pacenotes North Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia
By ILookedThere on 16-Jun-23. Waypoint GCA9NMH

9 November 2024 4:10pmNote to future finders....Cachenotes are just as important as Pacenotes.In our defence, we had a bit of a go at this one once before (from its original start point) but had to bail on our run as we had lost the light and this definately isnt a nightcache. It was a DNF.... Did Not Finish.This time, with a whole lot more time on our side, we had another go from the new starting line, still pretty sure we knew what we were doing.There was one teeny weeny bit we had forgotten.After picking up the last checkpoint marker (with a little confusion at the last) we crossed the finish line and then....... sat in the car on the side of the road trying to figure out how to turn the info we had gathered into something you could sign a log with. It wasnt digital root, it wasnt alpha numeric conversion......READ THE CACHE PAGE DRONGO!!!.Doh!Simples.......and there it is.Yep. Our names are now proudly inscribed on the logbook of another ripper from the ILookedThere team. Thanks guys. We get a star stamp and you get another fav. TFTC.

9 November 2024 16:02 Well, what a lot of fun that was!After visiting family in Albury, we headed straight down to flashed me Wangaratta to drive like a Rally star and put the Hilux to the test.My navigator for the day was dalerious; no, that's his name, but I can tell you by the end of the race, both he and I were in Delirium, well, some may call it Dementia. They both start with a "D".We got to posted coordinates and grabbed our destructions for the race.We moved up to the start after downloading the Rally app, and we were off like a cut snake , until I realised I didn't turn on the permission for the app to use location, so a chucked her into reverse, and waited for the starter to give us the all clear to begin.Peddle to the metal and we were off, doing a break neck speed of 40kph. I looked out the side window and a tortoise was suddenly gaining on us and ready to overtake!I can't have no tortoise overtake me, so on the accelerator my heavy foot went and we got to the heady speed of 45kph.I looked over to my navigator who was looking decidedly green around the gills, on go the brakes, as we were at our first marker.Off we go again, our time was heading toward a race record; well at least for the tortoise that is!My navigator although sweating with fear, was doing a marvellous job..................bugger, I jinxed us, didn't I. We had a slight stumble at the last marker and that bloody tortoise showed a clear set of heels and won the bloody race, just in front of the hare.We limped in over the line, proud of what we achieved. What a race, what a finish. Thank you to ILookedThere for organising such a novel race. If you see Santa please let him know that dalerious is looking for a job as navigator, and I can tell Santa, he is definitely up to the task. His nose is definitely RED enough! Damn that hayfever.Favourite point for the FUN!

*Found on the 2 Nov 2024 @ 12:29pm.**Cache find # 15938.* I headed to Wangaratta for an event later in the day but before that, there was time to find a few caches.When this one first came out I thought, I need to give this one ago, this is my kind of cache, but as it is over 200 kms from home it was going to take a little while to get here.Time went on and I then noticed to my disappointment that the original version had been archived.More time went on and now It was back again, a new version, so when I decided to attend the later on event, this was the first cache I headed to today, this time I was going to get it done.I headed to Santas rally HQ and collected a set of pace notes and then the game was on, I headed off following the notes and before long I had made it to the end and had collected the letters that I needed along the way.With my letters entered into the checker, I then had the numbers that I needed, a second look at them and I thought okay then and off I headed shortly after my name was in the logbook.This one was certainly a bit of fun.**Thanks to ILookedThere for keeping the game going by placing this cache.**

Well did we have a great adventure with this one today! The biggest learning curve for both of us was the use of the app to help us measure distance travelled. We enjoyed most of the route we traveled, which is just as well because we did most of the circuit three times - learning more each time. Like some previous finders we also forgot to look for the letters, which is why we needed the third trip. In the end we could only find three letters! In desperation I used a PAF who, unfortunately hadnt kept a record of the letters found. She did give us a hint of where to go for the final and the code for the padlock. However none of us realised that the code had been changed since she did it! Very sneaky! Finally we were able to contact the CO who kindly supplied us the one missing letter, the rest of the puzzle fell into place and we were finally able to open the cache and sign the log.Thank you I Looked There for a fabulous trip and education, not to mention the fun we had. An hour and a half of our lives well spent!

This was always going to end in tears. With Steve as our usual navigator and driver, he wasnt quite prepared to relinquish either of those roles on this occasion.We had done our homework over morning coffee and absolutely nailed it getting to the posted coordinates. Armed with our Pacenotes and a newly downloaded odometer app, we were off and racing with absolutely no idea what we were doing.Things started off well. We were pleased as punch when we spotted our first signa Give Way sign. But the next NQR sign we found didnt match up with our Pacenotes. After rereading the cache page (God, we are idiots) we headed back to the start to try again.Take 2. The next hurdle. We couldnt figure out how to reverse the mileage on the app, which meant manually calculating the differences in our heads. For two people who practically need a calculator to add single digits, things werent looking too promising. We eventually identified the first marker, and Steve figured out how to reset the odometer. Feeling a little more confident, we headed back to the start once again.Take 3. We noted down the first marker and continued. This time, instead of continuing straight as we had on our first attempt, Steve turned right. I could not convince him that hed taken a wrong turn, but to keep the peace, I got out of the car and we both wandered around aimlessly trying to find the marker. At this point, our moods had deteriorated, and Steve was ready to pull the pin. I think the only reason he eventually headed to the location Id insisted on was just to shut me up. Of course we found the marker, much to his surprise. I know a bigger person wouldnt have said, I told you so, but turns out Im not that person.The third marker was easy enough to spot, but not the fourth. By sheer luck, we eventually found it and were able to make our way to GZ to sign the logbook, which I dated 31/9/24.Approximate time to complete = 30 min? Try 2.5hrs for us .Despite our pathetic performance, we had an absolute ball ILookedThere. Well done and thank you for this memorable cache.

Signed the cheeky log at 15pm. Took a little longer than 30mins for us since we didnt know what we were doing and missed the first marker. Used the hint for assistance and got into the grove and spotted the second marker. Well, the driver was in the groove and the director was still, huh? with some of the pacenotes.Having said that, got there in the end and loved it. Love the fact that it doesnt feel like a normal cache. Makes it stand out and different. Well done and much deserved 2023 nomination.TFTC, fave point given.

A day trip to Wang today, to pickup some geocaches we missed last year while on our BIG Lap of OZ...It was damn cold, so park and grabs took priority...and this interesting TDOC23 cache caught our eyes...This was our 2nd TDOC23 cache, and we thought the first one was great, but this was an absolute rippa !!!Drizzling rain, so after the pacenotes were retrieved we sat in the sleigh and Google taught ourselves to interpret the shorthand, made some notes and then setoff to the starting point...Mrs poolpool was in the co-driving seat, odometer app in 1 hand, pacenotes in 1 hand, ready-set-go !!!But a bit of a mistart finding the first marker, we realised our rookie error and made our way back for a restart, ready-set-go !!!And now we were off and racing, making speedy progress, no need to even leave the comfort of the sleigh to collect all the markers without any trouble, well done Mrs poolpool great co-driver !!!The checker gave Santa the green light, and we had a good laugh on the whereabouts of GZ, so with the info at hand we made our way to GZ, retrieved the logbook, stamped our passport and signed, TFTC and an absolute HOOT, ILookedThere, this will take some beating for our FAV in the series, definitely a FP awarded !!!The muddy sleigh now needs a wash...

Found it before lunch. HahaThis was so much fun! Seriously, if you are in the area and reading this log, do not pass it by.Kristys Adventures and I are on a mini-break in Wangaratta and this one definitely sparked our interest:a) its a TDOC23 - will it have a clue? b) its a nominee for cache of the yearThis puts it right at the top of our things to do in wang list.Having read the cache page before arriving in Wangaratta, we downloaded the shorthand explainers and knew we would receive Pace notes at waypoint 1. We decided it may be beneficial for us to pick up the Pace notes the day before, and so we did. Did this make us super quick? No, it didnt. Haha, but it probably saved us a few laps.In the warmth of the living room (oh was our AirBnB warm, we couldnt figure out the heater so it was on full blast) we started to analyse the Pacenotes. I figure in real rally driving that you need to do this on the fly, but we are beginners. It was decided that Kristy would be the Driver and I would be the Navigator. I wrote out the notes in longhand so I could just read them out to Kristy as we went. We were set.The morning skies were blue and the air freezing, but we didnt mind, this cache meant we didnt have to get out of the car much In fact, it turns out that getting out of the car was our fatal flaw. **Ladies, start your engines!**(I bet they dont say that in rally driving - its a scene-setter). Off we went. The navigator was already having problems with her oversized iPhone - touching buttons by accident. If my mother could see me she would know I have joined her ranks of the fumbling digitally unaware elderly. On our first run we didnt even get to WP1 before heading back to start again. We did find a V that was quite impressive. We had seen this COs effort into caches before and we decided this could be real. We did not relook at the cache page. Another fatal flaw. Back to the start for us.**Ladies, start your engines, again!**Off like a jack rabbit and this time we found the marker. Now at least we knew what we were looking for! All that prep and still missed the vital info. On to WP2, then WP3, woo hoo, we got this! Then WP4 hmmm. We hopped out of the car convinced it had been knocked over and started to search. We looked around. Nothing. We thought for a bit and the Navigator said we should travel further up the road. The Driver decided that was not a good idea and we should contact the CO to double check our position and we agreed to do so and head back to the beginning.**Ladies, start your engines, again!**We navigated carefully to arrive at the same destintation but still no marker. We did this even though this was the only waypoint where the description did not match the pace notes. Might be something in that!Contact with the CO was made. We had not imagined one of the pace notes to be so well, you will find that out when you do it. With a hint in hand, we went to where the hmmm, navigator had suggested - and well, what did we find then! A marker! We had done it! Now only to solve the puzzle and find the cache! This was tremendous fun and something I suggest you do I cant say any more about our adventure except this is one of the best caches I have ever done.Thank you to ILookedThere for imaging it, for creating it and then re-creating it. The effort put into your caches is very much appreciated, just fabulous!Fav point, of course

Out and about today with Grannan55 and Geodogs. What a great cache. The drive was interesting and enjoyable. Thank you ILookedThere for taking the time to place this cache. All good here. Now, onto the next one for the day. TFTC

Santa's Pacenotes has been resurrected. In no small part due to those who nominated it. We did not realize just how much people enjoyed it. Thank you both

Unarchiving at CO request - cache being adjusted to facilitate new road structure.

# ***Congratulations*** #Your geocache has been nominated for the **Best Other Geocache Award** (combining Earthcaches, Letterboxes. Virtuals and Wherigos) in the *****2023 Victorian Geocache of the Year Awards*****.With your nomination, your geocache has been placed in a geocaching.com list with all other nominees so that the community can more easily find the nominated geocaches. You might expect to see a little more activity over the next several months leading up to the voting period.You should feel free to add a nominee banner to your cache page, as well as a badge for your profile if you like, all of which are available [here](https://geocachingvictoria.com.au/2023-victorian-cache-of-the-year-awards-resources/).I hope you can make it along to the Awards Ceremony later in 2024 at a time still to be determined. More information will be available on the event page when it is published, you will find a list of upcoming Victorian events [here](https://geocachingvictoria.com.au/events/upcoming-events/).You can find out more about the awards on the Geocaching Victoria webpage [here](https://geocachingvictoria.com.au/victorian-cache-of-the-year-awards/)*Thanks for contributing to the Victorian geocaching community.***Geocaching Victoria Inc.**

# ***Congratulations*** #Your geocache has been nominated for the **Best Overall Geocache Award** in the *****2023 Victorian Geocache of the Year Awards*****.With your nomination, your geocache has been placed in a geocaching.com list with all other nominees so that the community can more easily find the nominated geocaches. You might expect to see a little more activity over the next several months leading up to the voting period.You should feel free to add a nominee banner to your cache page, as well as a badge for your profile if you like, all of which are available [here](https://geocachingvictoria.com.au/2023-victorian-cache-of-the-year-awards-resources/).I hope you can make it along to the Awards Ceremony later in 2024 at a time still to be determined. More information will be available on the event page when it is published, you will find a list of upcoming Victorian events [here](https://geocachingvictoria.com.au/events/upcoming-events/).You can find out more about the awards on the Geocaching Victoria webpage [here](https://geocachingvictoria.com.au/victorian-cache-of-the-year-awards/)*Thanks for contributing to the Victorian geocaching community.***Geocaching Victoria Inc.**

5 years they have been talking about building a solar farm at this location and nothing ever came of it. Sure enough, now that we placed Santa's Pacenotes here.... So as the start point is muggle tradie central and one of the public roads is no longer public, we have no choice but to remove this cache.We will find a new spot.

Oh how annoying and that is sad. However, when you redo it it means we can do it again - bonus!

We were lucky enough to be the crack beta testing team so we got to test and experience this great cache before everyone else had a crack at it.We were only given the same information as everyone else, and after a false start we went back to the start and reset to give it another go, after that it all went tickety-boo and we got around the course and at GZ in 17 minutes.having a background in off road motorbike racing helped.Another great ILT cache.

Almost got bogged twice. Had to give up this time.

Another great cage put out by I looked there,. Well I could turn around and say I drove day and drove there again and drove there again and one more time and definitely worth a favourite

On a run up north with McLookers, feathertop and micaparamedic and this was our next stop.

Great cache and something different to boot. Had no idea about the symbols, but a little research soon had heading along the correct path. Managed to arrive where we needed to be and soon had the logbook in hand and then signed. From there we were back on the road and off for the next one.

Thanks ILookedThere...a fun cache and a fav point added. Not surprisingly, we used some of the things we learnt along the way.

Well, this was a lot of fun! We grabbed the notes, downloaded an app and we were on our way. We eventually caught on to the lingo and spotted what we needed to see. Excellent cache construction at GZ too. A favourite from me.

On a caching adventure today with feathertop, Sol de lune and micaparamedic.

Thanks for placing the cache ILookedThere.

Found today in the company of McLookers, micaparamedic and Sol de Lune.
On a cachemas quest up north.
We spent the night before learning the jargon and funnily enough we used it all the way to Melbourne!
Loved the concept and execution of this adventure. Best cache of the trip.
Ripper container
Of course a favourite point for the experience

This was our last day of our caching holiday to Canberra and Sydney, we are now basically targeting Adventure Labs and whatever TDOC caches that we can get to in a reasonable time.
We did the adventure lab in chiltern first and then headed of to this one, our fourth TDOC for today.

We pulled up here and were really surprised by what we found, it took us a little while to work out what we had to do and then we were off on a very enjoyable hunt.
This is the first time yjat we have done a letterbox like this and apart from our app crashing once and having to go back to a known reference point tp start agin we really had a ball.
Once we had all the information we were rewarded witha set of co-ords for gz and off we went.
Once there the container was a nice easy find and we added our name to the log and replaced everything as found.

Many thanks ILookedThere for setting up this great letterbox, a favourite point from us.

Found with PapaGrouch. After an event-filled previous night a little easy caching was called for. This wasn't it. You sods, you know what I mean.

We had picked up the pacenotes last night and had a brief look to try and work them out, but after a very late night I still needed to do more research this morning. I still was unsure of some of the terminology but we set out and hoped it would become clearer as we went along. Luckily it did, but by that time we had overshot the first mark and had to backtrack to find it. We continued on to the end and put our results into the checker, then headed to GZ where we stamped the log.

Our fourth TDOC23 cache. TFTC

Time to head north for a bit of a break from work, targetting a few special caches along the way, with some night caching and 4wding thrown in.

We picked up the required info while we were out and about last night, so we could do some research and download an app, so now we were ready.... or so we thought.
It began ok, with some slip-sliding which put a smile on RoamingHowie's dial. A few u-turns later, we reached the end of the notes... Now what?
We re-read the cache page.... Ohhhh!! We were supposed to look for markers!
Another u-turn, and doing the entire course in reverse, we eventually had what was needed, including GZ.
We arrived at the clever GZ, and soon had our names in the logbook.
After the first over-shoot and u-turn, the app was redundant, with cumulative distance no longer matching. I dont think this co-driver should apply for Santa's vacancy!

Thanks for bringing us here by placing this cache, ILookedThere ??
~????????~

OzHockeyChick and I had decided to join the Eldorado night cache group assault and headed off early (a whole day early!) to grab a few caches along the way. We had a target list as well as visiting the north eastern TDOC23 caches.

Another fun cache from this CO and a unique way to follow directions.

We had collected the instructions the night before and OzHockeyChick had completed some research for us to follow. We started down the track, slipping and sliding through mud - good preparation for tonight perhaps!

We made turns here, u-turns there and made it to the end. Great…. Now what?

We reread the cache page. oooops…. We were supposed to look for markers. Ok, so let’s get tricky and do this in reverse! With markers now to hand we had all we needed and set off to the tricky GZ to claim our prize.

Thanks for the different adventure.

Thanks ILookedThere for adding this cache to the worldwide collection for us all to enjoy.

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Voting is also now open for the 2022 Victorian Cache of the Year Awards. The shortlist is available [here](https://coord.info/BMC8QYR)

[Make your vote count - Vote here!](https://geocachingvictoria.com.au/events/Victorian-cache-of-the-year-awards/2022-Victorian-cache-of-the-year-awards

Found by Mary and David at 09:20. Heading home after a few days in Canberra with a group of friends to clear out some caches before next Easter's Mega. We collected our pace notes late yesterday afternoon so we could study them and familiarise ourselves with the notation. Also downloaded an additional app. Set off from the start first thing this morning, and all went well. Some muddy puddles early on, but nothing that the GeoPrado couldn't handle. What an amazing exercise, which we haven't done before. Loved the surprising finish, which we used ourselves on one of our own hides some years ago, Wish we could award multiple Favourite Points. Absolutely the best! Dropped off Steffis sunny Geocoin and Jana's Schaapje TB. Our thanks to ILookedThere.

Well that little rally got our 4WD GeoCruiser nice and muddy! Sorted out the Pacenotes yesterday. So Saturday dawned fine, if cloudy, and with the co-driver issuing instructions as well as keeping an eye out for clues, the challenge was on. The roads were very familiar, because BC (before caching) we owned a farm in the area. We even went past the front gate! Loved the large container and the twist at the end. SL at 10.28am Stamped our paperwork and returned as found. #10,064 TFTC ILookedThere and think we qualify as Santa’s helpers & navigators now. Favourite point for the FUN.

#21241. A wet day to end the week and maintenance at Rutherglen is on the agenda, plus gathering a few caches around Wangaratta and Boorhaman for me. Right on noon the final caches of TDOC23 were publshed and so we decided to go and visit the Hobbit Hole on the way home. A big day with a FTF, a 2TF and a 3TF.

Pleased to be 3TF on this one after Rob and Chewin completed it yesterday. Was so disappointed not to be able to attempt the bog further along the road in my Subaru 2 days ago. This was the first stop on the agenda so we started past this section and Rob drove whilst I followed the notes and spied the other 2 signs. This was such a great concept for a letterbox cache and a most enjoyable drive. Pleased to be able to add my name to the book and pleased to give a Favourite Point.

Thanks ILookedThere

In what is forecasted to be the last dry day of the week, Chewin and I went to do a few caches.

BettyBoo and I had a quick look at this cache yesterday, but the road was crap and not suitable for her Suby.
This morning Chewin and I drove it in his Ute.
We had some trouble with the second marker, but Chewin eventually spotted it. Luckily we weren't doing a Rally!
Neither if us guessed the word.
Nice spot for the final, and well done with the cache container.
Thanks, Robmc.

Had done a bit of rallying years ago but these notes are different to what I remember. Nevertheless we found our way around albeit with a couple of head scratches and eventually had the log signed.
Clever indeed.
Thanks

**FTF** @ 7:16 pm Woopwoop
I saw this new letterbox today when I watched the GoV announcement around lunchtime. I didn’t think I’d be able to have a go after it until later in the week though. After dinner tonight everything was going well at home and the kids were heading for bed, I saw that the cache was still unfound and an opportunity to duck out presented itself.
I headed straight for the posted co-ords, into the darkness and thick fog!
The instruction sheet was gathered and I set about following it after a brief bit of required research. Off into the night I went, misreading the instructions and overshooting the first marker by a lot! Thankfully they’re a decent size and after backtracking I finally spotted it.
Knowing what to look for now I headed off with a bit more confidence. It was slow going but I knew the roads so that helped. I overshot the second mark as well but again managed to locate it after a short search walking the road with my head torch on. Trial and error seemed to be my approach tonight.
Now to find the last marker….This one gave me the most trouble and I tried several locations before having the uh huh moment and there it was!
Happy to get the green tick at 8:45pm!
I definitely made the challenge a lot harder at night and under the foggy conditions!

Great concept for a cache guys! I really enjoyed working my way around the rally course!

TFTC

##Published - thanks for contributing to Geocaching with this Listing.##
*Don't forget that regular visits to check on this cache will keep it healthy as well as keep seekers happy. Be sure to log an Owner Maintenance log each time you visit.*

>**Voting is now open for the nominations of the 2022 Victorian Cache of the Year Awards - use the link [**HERE**](https://geocachingvictoria.com.au/events/victorian-cache-of-the-year-awards/2022-victorian-cache-of-the-year-awards/)**