Soldier Settlers Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia
By Quiffle on 31-Aug-24. Waypoint GCAXAT1

Friday caching with oldmorty. Today, we are in the Campbelltown area.After parking in the huge car park nearby, oldmorty made our way around Koshigaya Park, collecting a few caches along the way. After a short scratch around, oldmorty soon uncovered what we were looking for.Thanks to Quiffle for the cache.

Frazeydaze and I headed down to Campbelltown today to hunt down some caches that had been placed since our last visit here. Next cache on the list after our dnf on the other side of the park. After a bit of poking around among the leaves we had this familiar container in hand for signing. Cache all good. SLRC as found. TFTC Quiffle.

I guessed what I was looking for but it still took a while to locate. Definitely a different colour to ones I have seen before. The pile of mulch is still there. TFTC

We looked for at least 20 minutes before giving up and returning to the GeoCruiser to continue our journey south. That pile of bark chips is still there!

4th find

I paid another visit to the site today to take some samples to help with a new cache, and the first thing my baby blues spotted was .... yup! You got it. Good ol' "Soldier Settlers" (Mk 1). My working hypothesis is that the gardeners must have inadvertently covered it with a layer of dirt, not a lot, but sufficient to escape detection by all searchers. Last night's heavy shower must have been sufficient to remove enough soil to render it observable (at least to someone who knew what it was). There was indeed a bit of residual dampness around.So it's there, and good to go.PLEASE NOTE THO ... THE PILE OF MULCH IS STILL UNTOUCHED, SUGGESTING THE GARDENERS ARE NOT THROUGH WITH THIS AREA YET. PLEASE BE SURE TO PLACE THE CACHE BACK WHERE YOU FOUND IT, AND ONLY LEAVE A PORTION (say, a quarter - a third) ON VIEW.

After two consecutive cachers not being able to find this, one of these in spite of huge hints by me, I paid a visit to the site and saw the problem straight away. The general leaf buildup right along the wall has been removed down to earth level by the gardeners. In addition, there is a generous heap of (?pine) bark mulch waiting for distribution over this area. You couldn't do that WITHOUT finding the cache (although I noticed that other cache-like objects had been cast back onto the main garden, no such luck for our boy, I'm afraid) So I need time to 1. Sort out a replacement 2. Wait for the garden maintenance to be completed. No sense replacing it before that ... it'll just "go" again. I'll have the replacement in 3 weeks or so, and will review the situation regarding the completion of maintenance then.

Found the right one after lifting the big one. TFTC

Spent like 30 - 45 mins lifting every stone and rock, couldn't find it

Glad there was parking nearby. OCW Brewmaker. TFTC Quiffle

Was nearby so why not grab this one. A nice quick find. The nearby plaque caught my eye during the visit of King Charles.Thanks Quiffle.

Thanks for my first find! I seen it straight away after I walked around

Tftc found with earthly 65

Tricksy..esp in the dark...but fun...thankyou...fave point

A cache trip to Penrith and the Blue Mountains with a large group from Canberra, as we all split and made our different ways home the local charger brought me here as did Dino and Pebbles who I collected here. This cache: A quick find. Indeed slightly different than normal Thank you Quiffle for putting the cache out and maintaining it.

Found this nice Cache together with Dino and Flintstones. Thank you for putting it out and maintaining it Quiffle.

Found together with Fred. TFTC Quiffle

First, thanks for placing 3 caches in this park. Makes it more worthwhile to visit. Second, it is always nice to learn things, such as this bit of history, in small chunks. Enjoyed our walk around this park early this morning before too many people arrived. TFTC Quiffle

This one proved elusive as I had preconceived ideas. Eventually I felt it. TFTC.

Third and final cache of the day. 5 Kids all enjoyed being monkeys while one geokid and us mums looked for it. Quick find in between telling kids to put that stick down thanks for the hide and some fun out in the fresh air

TFTC. ??Sarah and Bethany

Can remember a workmate showing photo of grandparents with a market garden off Waminda Avenue. Now all gone. Nice coloured cammo, but lost some of its cammo abilitity by being all covered up. Returned as found .TFTC.

A find on a damp weekend. Can't say it was a quick one as it left me scratching my head for a while. Thanks for the cabs.

Great little spot

This one had me stumped for a bit I tried to act natural and kicked a few leaves. haha found it. TFTC

Another log for the geo-ironing board! Full log to follow.

A slight detour after grocery shopping brought my by here on my way home, and as I didnt have the muggle missus with me, I thought Id have a quick look for the couple of hides in this area. Parked in the carpark nearby and wandered over. Bit of an awkward spot here this time of the afternoon with all the traffic, so I did the pretend tourist thing while I circled the GZ multiple times. Eventually the hide revealed itself, which then made the hint make sense. Signed and replaced.Interesting to hear the story of Waminda Ave. Had no idea that went on over in that part of Campbelltown. So much history still unknown in a city Ive lived in for over 40 years.

I used to live off Waminda Ave and I recall that the area of East Campbelltown was set aside under the soldiers Settlement scheme . The old cottage " Cransley" a lovely sandstone building with its slate roof is still standing and is privately owned was the center piece of the estate. " In 1918, the Government purchased the Cransley Estate as a soldiers resettlement scheme and the 391 acres was divided into 44 small farms with Cransley being the manager's residence while the project got underway."A small walk from where I parked the car "Apple"directed me to a likely area for a nicely camo cache which blended in quite well . TFTC Quiffle and for some local history

Thanks to the CO for their help. Clever cache! Tftc

Published

Woo hoo FTF. found with Mobsey. Excellent park and grab with interesting history.

Woo hoo FTF with Jaybeem! Great history. There was an original settler's house in Waminda Ave that I looked at purchasing back in the early 90's! Not sure if it still stands today. TFTC