Dude, where's my cottage? Hughesdale, Victoria, Australia
By Alan-san on 26-Jul-03. Waypoint GCGH58

I seem to be having tto much trouble with the cache not lasting long so I've decided to archive the cache. Like the original cottage the cache has now gone.

I would like to thank all visitors to the cache for making the effort and for a number of amusing stories.

The cache container and contents have been put back in place.

I need to collect the cache container from LIVERPOOLRED, restock it and replace it. I should be able to do this within the week. Thank you LIVERPOOLRED for bringing this to my attention.

I have tried to contact the cache owner & have informed him i have his muggled cache not too far from G.Z. at home ! Still waiting to hear from him ?

Found this today & it looks like Muggles have also been here too !
This cache needs maintainance & have taken home & contacted the owner as it was open/nolid & exposed on the ground at G.Z.
Last log was by Dave_5 on Sept 25th .
Thanks for the cache Alan-san

LIVERPOOLRED

Y.N.W.A.

Found this one on the way home with La3Kean. Was a very easy hide. Might have to make it more muggler proof. TFTC

Didn't find it - my working things out wound up pointing me to some person's house... so what's the Grandel Group and College thing... I made a guess based on info in the paragraph provided and did a google search, but there was no result other than this page with regard to grandel group and a college. So I'm assuming my guess was wrong due to finding myself at someone's house. I'm going to try look again today.

Found at 1 pm. My second attempt at this one. The first time with jazwoz we were looking in the wrong spot. Re did the calculations and found OK this time.

Found the clue board today at 3.30 ,worked out the clues and took the walk.After a minute found the neat hide and well rolled log.TNLN and thanks to Alan-san for a good multi.

Found at 18:30. Had tried for this once before with Daringdadwoz without success. Had lost the answers so after getting those again had the cache in hand soon after.
TNLN.
Thanks.

We got the clues many months ago but stuffed up the calculations and gave up. Finally worked out the mistake and quickly found it today.

Took hook, left water balloons.

LOTS OF MUGGLES AROUND BUT AFTER A BIT OF WORKING OUT AND AN ICECREAM WE WERE OFF TO OUR SECOND CACHE OF THE DAY

D'oh! Damn post-Xmas sales made parking a nightmare!!
The cache was easy enough to find however.

R + j - B

couper 1
Found without too much trouble.Thanks alan-san T.N.L.N.

Had to do some latenight shopping at the centre so thought I would knock off this Cache at the same time - interesting history in the area - thanks for the journey

And this was the second of yours Alan. Drove right around the perimeter of the joint at GZ trying to find the right way in but got there eventually. Found the necessary info and the final waypoint in due course, and the cache was ours, so to speak.
TNLN
Thanks again indeed.

Found at 5:58pm Accompanied by Chewinprickles.
15th find out of 16 for the Day.
TNLN, Signed Log.
Thanks Alan-San...

Well this was certainly an interesting one. Located amd noted the requested information and off I went. The near location was not looking good there had been so much work in the area that I was sure the cache would have disappeared. Searched and Search and eventually gave up and went an had some lunch. After lunch checked the details and the coords once more and figured I would give it one more shot. Went back did a little bit of mmm maybe hah huh. And my my 'possibly could be over there' turned out to be correct; I soon had the cache and was signing the log. TNLN thanks for a bit off a challenge. Luch was good. Nothing like a bit of extra hot chilli to kick start a caching expedition.

Cottage long gone. A nice hide away from the maddening muggles.
TNLNSL. Thanks, Robmc.

This was our fourth attempt at this cache. After talking to Alan-San at the Dash picnic he confirmed that it had been muggled but would be back on line shortly. Heading into town down, checked and saw that it had been reactivated and found it the first place we had looked previously.
Thanks Alan-san for a very interesting hsitory of the area and for the cache

After missing this twice within the last couple of months, I thought I'd put a watch on it to see what was happening, especially as it was a one star difficulty. Lo and behold, it was missing.

Taking a break from nursing duties, I mosied on down to GZ for a nice easy find at 11:40 and a FTF(itNLB). Chalk up some more time in the "time looking for caches that weren't there" column.

TNLNSL. Many thanks for the info on an area that I know little about Alan-san.

Replaced cache after I found it missing.

A great multi cache, with a nice bit of history, I remember the convent and church building, such a shame that they dozed it for the monster that is chadstone.
TNLN
Thanks

Found this one on the way to work at 7.40AM. After getting the co-ords previously, but it was to busy at the GZ to pick it up. What a great hiding spot.

Thanks Allan-san

TNLN

Found by Facitman and s-Facit at 2:55pm

After working through the clues months ago we finally got a clear shot at this cache after many aborted drive by attempts when seeing muggles at GZ. But when out of the car the calc'd co-ords pointed in a unlikely spot . Checked the hint and spotted the hiding spot but foiled by a muggle talking on a mobile in her car. Did a drive around the block and again foiled, this time by a guy with a whipper snipper [:(!] Another around the block and finally the cache was in hand, very nice hiding spot! Again had to drive away due to approaching muggle, wait around the corner and s-Facit quickly replaced it before more muggles descended

TNTLSL
Thanks Alan-san for an interesting cache, tricky hide and muggle full afternoon!

Found by Bob and Dan at 16:30 by using the hint.

Haven't been to Chadstone in many years - boy has it gotten big! Think I'll try to leave it for quite a few years more before my next visit

Took: Canadian 1c coin
Left: 1 dice

Thanks Alan-san

The final coords ended up in the middle of Hoyts for me. decided to move on.

Second of 3 finds for the day on my way home from work. Interesting history. I'm a country person and most of my searches have been country locations. This poking around in suburban areas freaks me out. I feel like everyone's watching. Found with the help of the clue. Thanks Alan-san. TNLN

Mr.Coffee and the Clan said "dude wheres my cottage", and the GPS said over here, and here and here, hate those bad EPE days.
We fianly secured this cache on a hunch that paid off.
Thanks Alan-san for another cache which tells a story i didnt know.
Regards Mr.Coffee and the Dude Clans.

TNLN | So that's the history of the Chadstone site!

Found quickly while shopping. Had overlooked doing this one the other week as I hadn't been categorising multi's into "Easier 2 point" ones as opposed to "Multi's from hell"

Nice easy find to disrupt the shopping experience this evening.

Found at 1300hrs
Second time lucky, sorted out the problem with my maths some time ago, just didn't get a chance to visit.
The cache wasn't what I was expecting, so it was only a TNLNSL today.

This was my second attempt at this cache and armed with the revised coordinates it was an easy find.

TNLNSL

TFTC Alan-san

Found at 1.00PM. When I saw where the GZ was I thought, oh no I wont be able to get a car park. But I drove in and found one very easily only 60 metres from GZ. The information was interesting as I had no idea about the history of the area. After having some lunch in store I took the walk and found the cache easily. I love these containers. I need to get some. Thanks Alan-San for another interesting cache.

Forgot to add before, but this is XF KINGS 150th[8d] Cache.
TNLN

[This entry was edited by xf king on Thursday, January 20, 2005 at 3:34:19 AM.]

Wednesday night is SE suburbs caching night for me whilst my eldest son is getting educated.

Tonight was my worst night so far. Two attempts and two DNF's.

Before heading out tonight I checked the logs to see if this cache had been found lately and XF King had been there today. Safe in the knowledge I headed off with the clue sheet I had printed in November last year.

After finding a location that fitted the coordinates and the hint I came to the conclusion that the cache had gone. - I was right

Now I am back home I have read the clues and logs again and find that EEE = C x 5 not EEE = C x C - C as it was before [:(!]

Armed with the new solution I might just fit this cache in tomorrow.

Stay tuned

It's always a good thing to look behind things, especially when you are collecting clues. And, it is always a good thing to add, subtract etc. when you are instructed to...at the time. Once you get that straight, you are on the right track to finding the cache. I overlooked both of those essential things in my excitement to notch up No.160.[:o)] It is a good thing that your caching friends are around to help you out in the hour of need, and while they are on holiday as well. Caughtatwork said that the cache was very exposed when he found it. I found the same thing. I placed some camouflage over it as well, in the form of large leaves that were nearby. It will still be easy to find. Perhaps future cachers could please note our logs and keep an eye out for the same problem?
Thanks Alan-san for my 160th find.

IN: Walking stick pin
OUT: Silver thimble

Also had no trouble with the clues, caught the bus so parking was not an issue (never is on public transport). However GPSr reported cache to be in some ones house, maybe I got the calculations wrong. Never the less found the cache in a really cool hiding spot. There were loads of muggles around so retrieving and replacing the cache was somewhat troublesome.
Did some CITO to disguise my tracks.
Took pen lid
Left 1cent Canadian coin
thanks Alan San

Found at 20:30 with Shimachic.

Had no trouble with the clues - made sure to visit when car parking was not an issue.

Had a little difficulty finding the cache, but perseverence paid off and we were quite happy to find it in the end. Didn't really have any suitably sized items to drop off, but we wanted to contribute so deposited a pen lid.

Took : purple bracelet
Left : pen lid

[This entry was edited by TheDarknight on Wednesday, December 22, 2004 at 7:44:39 AM.]

Not sure that we got the co-ords exactly right, but after resorting to the clue, we moved north about 25 metres and found it straight away at 2.30pm. I think we didn't read the whole story board to get the correct value for YYY. Anyway good little hide, but as I didn't have anything appropriate with me I TN/LN.
Thanks Alan-san

Found by caughtatwork at 09:15
Now that this cache is back on line I decided to check it out on my way to the Dandenongs for some other caching.
The clues were easily obtained and I headed off to the cache site.
I wasn't really sure whether I was meant to be here or over there, so I tried there and there it was. Cool!
The cache was very exposed, so when I put it back I placed some more camoflauge over it. It should still be easy enough to find.
Took mood ring, left bracelet.
Thanks Alan-san. An interesting piece of history in the concrete jungle that this area has become today.

Found today at 19:30 on second attempt.
I initially drove past at 13:00hrs on Saturday, however with the nearest vacant car park being about a days walk away quickly decided to try again after hours.
To start with I didn't read one of the questions carefully enough, so I ended up driving in a circle around the complex with the GPS showing the GZ as being in the middle of the complex. After sorting that out, I did another circle before arriving at the correct GZ.
Took nothing and left (signature) golf tees.
Thanks Alan-san.

The cache has gone missing again, either 1) a cacher thought they were meant to take the whole cache, or 2) it had been muggled. I'll accept 2).

After preparing a new cache container I've put it out in a new location, not far from where it used to be. Note EEE in the calculation is different.

Either I missed something or my maths sucks, but I ended up watching a movie.
I'll go over hte figures again to see where I went wrong.

The cache is back in place and has been restocked. Photo of contents included.

Sbalogh53 had a look around 10:00 on 25/9/2004 but did not find the cache. It was easy to find the initial clues because the construction works are long finished. I am sure I found the correct hiding place, especially after reading the other logs. I suspect that the cache is still missing because it is currently unavailable. Anyway, I will keep an eye on this one in case it comes good again.

---

Email from Alan-san states that I found the cache but it had been vandalised. He said I could claim it as a found, so I am changing this entry from "Not Found" to "Found". Thanks Alan-san.

Obviously TNLN.


[This entry was edited by sbalogh53 on Wednesday, September 29, 2004 at 8:19:59 PM.]

Found on 13/06/04 at 1647 AEST. Oooops ! I didn't know that this one was archived as I was working from my Palm Pilot and hadn't updated the cache list for a while so off I went searching for it. After finding the hoardings up precluding access to the information I took a guess at what year it was. My memory can't be that bad 'cause it led me straight to GZ and an easy find of the cache . 3rd Alan-san cache for the day.
TNLN (the cache is very full!)

Well we found it. First waypoint is now in a construction area and is not accesable to the public. We were there around 2:30 am. there was no lock on the gate and dodging the security guard i went in and got the answers to the clues.
Would suggest a susspension of the cache for a month or two until the construction work is completed.

found the cache at 2:55am. Extremely good hiding spot. Well done

Found by evil_hitman, BeccaJ, and Em_Eagle

Found at 0255 hours by myself, Evil_Hitman and Em-Eagle.

The initial point was obscured by building works, so it may be a bit hard to find. Fantastic hiding spot though.

TNLN

Thanks Alan-san!

Again we're out in the dark, cold, wet night.
At 0253hrs, Evil_Hitman was dodging security to get the clues, while BeccaJ and I waited with the getaway car.
The final spot was a fantastic one.
My suggestions, a good one to be finding at night, especially if you dont have any spare money, and hate trying to find that spare parking spot.
Nothing taken, but we left a bead bracelet made by me.

But i would have to agree with Evil, maybe wait until construction works are finished.

Thanks Alan_San

Evil_hitman is right! Chadstone is going through some growing pains... once again. To be fair on everyone, I will put this cache on hold for a little while, just so you don't have to go into the ‘authorised personnel only’ section. Thanks to everyone who’s gone on this adventure, I’ve enjoyed reading your stories or trappings. Those yet to find this will have a chance soon.

Who’s idea was it to stick a cache in a shopping centre? Strewth, 2 hours later and a much lighter wallet managed to finally leave the place.

Found this cache on my second attempt (having approached from the wrong side last night) at about 6.45pm. Another nice hiding spot Alan San!

Signed and took nothing, left nothing (its tight in there anyway).

Cheers Alan San.

I have only been to this shopping center once before and was not to impressed. However this time the trip was well worth it as we came to find a cache. It was a really interesting history cache to.
TNLN
Thanks for a really intersting cache Alan-san

Liked the sequence of clues...found it at 1500. Nice easy one to start the day. Left a Polish Groszy, took a green pencil (mainly because it wouldn't fit back in!)

I will put some ant powder around the cache to make it a little more hospitable. Thanks Rabbitto for bringing it to my attention.

Found at 12:00pm. Nicely done. K & myself started looking in the "obvious" places before H spotted the real place virtually straight away. He wasn't too game to look himself though as a colony of ants is also currently using the spot. Left Pencil. Took 10 sided dice.

Thanks from D,K & H B-A

Rated: for Overall Experience

Found at about 1300hrs. No Exchange (again due to lack of room) I liked the build up of clues. Tricky to do when lots of eys about. After that - found cache straight away.

Initially was on the wrong side of a particular obstical. Loved the cache hiding spot

Took nothing, left 2 kina from PNG

Cheers

I found this one at about 6:30pm, after spending at least an hour playing with my new compass, taking bearings from all over the place to figure out which side
Took a spider, left a 10-sided die.
Thanks for a cache with an interesting story, so close to my regular lunching grounds, Alan-san!

The GeoQuacks would like to officially declare that where there is a possibility of a cache being hidden on two sides of a solid, immovable object (or a wet one) that they will always start looking on the wrong side of it. For this reason such geocaches should be banned.

Thanks Alan-san for the history and the exploring. Things certainly are different on either side… We made no exchange.

This was my first cache hunt, and it was a good one to start with. I had my 13yo daughter and her 12yo cousin with me. We mucked up the maths and ended up 300 metres away before we realised our mistake (a failure to use all of the Magellan's features contributed to this). The smell of dog poo at the site was overpowering! We left a Singaporean 5c coin, but took nothing.

Found by Quasar and Skyfox. After getting some strange looks from people entering the shopping centre, we proceeded to the cache site. I walked straight up to it and said I bet it's there. Took and left nothing. Thanks Alan-San.

Found at 1.00pm.
A cold wet windy day, just right for a bit of shopping.
An interesting piece of history and a good spot for the cache.
No exchange made.
Thanks Alan-san
K&M

Beaten AGAIN by Derringer, although this time it was by a few hours. Good hiding spot, especially since we originally started off on the wrong side of the wall.
Took the Stretchy Man and left a Glow in the Dark Spider.
Thanks Alan-San

An interesting piece of history that we have previously walked past without noticing. Thanks for the experience. Nothing exchanged. Greg and Bev

It was a lovely sunny day as I arrived at the initial co-ordinates. Having found a parking spot, I answered the questions and did the maths, then started looking for the cache. There were no likely spots, it was very busy, and the GPS was leading me onto the actual car park. Time to check the maths - ok. Now check the GPS - oops.

Once the correct co-ordinates were loaded, the cache was found easily. Unfortunately, I had nothing on me small enough to fit, so no exchange was made.

Thanks, Alan-san, for another enjoyable and informative cache. I still remember the original shopping centre from the 60's. It certainly has changed a lot.

A nice early start for me today. Arrived at the location at 0710. Quickly gathered the clues then went on my way. Found the cach at 0721 and sorry I didn't have anything small enough to swap.

Thanks Alan-san for the wonderful cache and the bit of education.

Found by Mary & David at 1540. Even a dedicated GeoWife's resolve wavers in Shopping Heaven. Gathered the data and worked out where the cache was supposed to be. Headed off for our 'short walk' but after a few minutes, we concluded we weren't in the right spot. Rechecked the numbers, and they were correct. Another walk, more serious searching, and still no luck. Thought about it a bit, tried a different approach, and there it was. Took small perfume vial, left koala pin and two hair ties. Loved the cache pen - are you going into production? Our thanks to Alan-san.

Found 13:05, We collected the initial information and plotted the final cache co-ords, then went inside to do a little shopping, the cache was completed whilst we waited for our new jeans to be taken up. Thanks once again for an interesting day out. TNLN.