Excel Yourself #1 Creswick, Victoria, Australia
By Pyrenees Kid on 05-Sep-03. Waypoint GCGV8W

Almost forgot to log this one. I was lucky enough to be on board with Wozzle68 and ST37E who were both previous finders of this cache. The container was still tucked away in its hidey hole. High and dry. Thanks Pyrenees Kid.

Suscoe headed north of Ballarat to the Creswick area today in the great company of our mate Bushfire.
It was a cool Summer's day with plenty of cloud cover during the morning and as the day went by the sun poked through every now and again. It rained and drizzled early on but even that dried up during the later parts of the day.
We had a terrific time visiting caches and enjoyed the various hides, locations and containers.
This was our 19th find for the day.
A nice series, glad the caches are still here.

Caching in and around the Creswick district today with Wozzle68 and Bushfire we had this series on our to do list. Even though we have been sitting on the answers for such a long time , we haven't had the opportunity to search for them and add our name to the log. Its unfortunate that this series has since been archived as it is a very old, unique historical cache . All 4 caches are still in place and mostly in good condition.
Thanks Pyrenees Kid for your early innovative style of cache series.

Some years ago we made a start on this cache and then run into some problems and then later it was picked up again and this time we were confident as the figures looked pretty good, but we have not been back in the area until today and wondered if they were still to be found.
Well I am happy to say that all were found in varying condition.
This guy was found down a hole with a cracked lid so it now has some more camo to keep it dry.
Thanks to the Pyrenees Kid for placing these guys so long ago

Found these long archived caches each still in tip top condition while in the area with some out of town cachers. It's a shame they could not have been maintained and went the way of the dinosaurs.

Sages4 - we livTe local in Creswick. These are our very first four caches ever. We chose to get this one done before any others in town. And we did all four in about 4 days. Excel #1 spreadsheet still works although WP5 and WP19 have been removed from original GPS. Local knowledge helped get them out. Thanks PKid.

As there has been either no response from the cache owner, no cache to find or log to sign, or it has been a number of months since the last owner note I am archiving this cache to keep from continually showing up in search lists and to prevent it from blocking other cache placements.

If you wish to repair/replace/make available the cache sometime in the near future (next 30 days), just contact a reviewer (by email), and assuming it meets the current guidelines, the reviewer will be happy to unarchive it.

Should you replace the cache after 30 days has passed please create a new cache listing so it can be reviewed as a new cache.

The cache appears to be in need of owner intervention. I'm temporarily disabling it, to give the owner an opportunity to check on the cache, and take whatever action is necessary. Please respond to this situation in a timely manner (i.e., within 30 days) to prevent the cache from being archived for non-responsiveness. If you require more time please be sure to post a note (not an email) explaining the situation and how much more time you require. For ongoing issues please ensure you visit the page and post a note every month or so to keep everyone up to date.
[size=1][beige]#2872ef2a22269449ea8af776b47f0ea9[/beige][/size]

We really feel this should be archived. We were prepared with our laptop, got started, ran into a hitch, read other logs and disappointed we wasted so much time. It would be a fabulous cache if it was in working order.

Headed off for this one next. It took a little while and a few prickles before I located the very wet cache and log book. I brought along another log book and added it to the cache for any one in the future to use as the owner is not responding to emails.
I know the frustation of working on a puzzle and getting to the end only to have the cache go missing or the owner archiving it.
This was a really great area and I am sure was even more interesting when first set up.

Happy to help out on any question if needed.
Thanks for setting this up Pyrenees Kid.

(This NM log will be copied for all four caches in this series as it is based off the same Excel spreadsheet and waypoints)

Multiple waypoints have undergone changes since the creation of this series ten years ago and the spreadsheet has not been solved for almost a year - the most recent Found log before mine is based on answers obtained in the past.

The waypoints that have changed are:

WP5: Presumably refers to a sign, but only a pole remains.

WP10: Another sign that must have been removed. I obtained my answer through brute force - keying in every year since the town's creation to cache's year of publication.

WP15: *Might* be my fault? There is just one structure here, and I used every synonym I could find for it but could not obtain the answer. Note that I also tried the term(s) for it as it is also shown on the map of the area in the carpark a few hundred metres away and was still unable to get it right.

WP19: This information has been missing for at least a year, according to a previous log. There is a circular mark on the ground where a sign must have previously stood.

I also tried to use the 'monument cheat', however either the spreadsheet is bugged or my version of Excel is incompatible. Obtaining the random 'OK' answers only fills in the '?' with '0' for all the missing digits in cache coordinates.

As a result, I had only enough information to locate Excel Yourself #1 and insufficient answers to 'trigger' the bonus questions which might have allowed me to find #2 and #3, let alone the Bonus.


Lastly, the Bonus cache's log is in the hands of Fergzster, another site member, who has been attempting to contact the CO without success so far.

This entry was edited by storchburp on Thursday, 02 May 2013 at 11:15:13 UTC.

This was the only cache in the series that I was able to find today. The series is urgently in need of maintenance and this particular cache was also waterlogged, with the logbook tearing as I tried to sign in it.

Detailed NM log to follow.

Catching up on on a few hundred missed logs
Found with bucketeer
Thanks for the hunt

08/04/2013 17:29
I solved these virtually back in or before 2010 and haven't had the opportunity to attempt a find since...until now.
While on our way from Bendigo to Ballarat we stopped off to find all the caches in the series.
This one proved to be an interesting walk and the cache was exposed when found and the log book was quite damp and very mouldy.
Thanks for this interesting challenge

Damn! I just discovered that the Excel file will not work on Excel Mobile. Might have to borrow the kids laptop...

King Sr. and Queen on a drive around Victoria in the motor home stoped by to check out your cache DNF
GCGV8W 3/9/12 Took photo but needs to have a computer with you to do this cache

Finally completed the co-ords, so ST37E and I set out to find them.

Nice hide, great series.

TFTC!

Nicely hidden cache

TNLN

TFTC

We absolutely enjoyed explored the area today - another place we would know nothing about without geocaching. The Landcare projects and artwork are fascinating.
TFTC

We had a good look around here, but no cache was to be found.
Is this really a traditional?

A little over a month ago, my very patient boy friend accompanied me and the geoScotties on a day trip to Creswick from Melbourne for the day. We work away and drove around Creswick, very diligently collecting all the clues for Excel Yourself series. It was really very wet that day, all of us were very wet by the end of the day and unfortunately we had missed out on collecting two of the clues! Oh No! I emailed Pyrenees Kid, as I was fairly sure things had changed since 2003 when this excellent series was set up. A couple of pointers and a return visit today proved that at least one place has changed (I have emailed owner). Today could not have been more different from our last trip, as today was all sunshine and blue skies. We had a great little trip around the town and I am happy to say have been the first cacher to be able to pick up all four caches in the series since GJMMelb in September 2010. There must have been some fairly serious flooding in the area recently as evidence of it was everywhere. As we approached the hiding place I was getting worried we wouldn’t find it at all, but despite some encroaching blackberry plants, the cache was in almost perfect order, a little damp, but fine. We took a little toy and left a stamping pen. Thanks sooooooo much for the series Pyrenees Kid

My first find for this unusual series that I started several years ago but had to abort when the laptop decided it wanted to have a sleep.

Thanks for the tour Pyrenees Kid.

Was sure that this one had been washed away during the recent floods since all the surrounding ground looks like it has been swept clean compared to how a forest floor usually looks. But cachers intuition stepped in and the hide was soon found. In absolutely perfect nick, I might add. All caches so far today have been spotted and retrieved by GeoBlake, he's getting a real knack for this

This was the last one for us to collect in this great series and it was our favourite GZ.
The tiles are so cool! It is a lovely area and we signed the log to the sound of frogs and birds
Cache was a little damp but not too bad.
Took painting brushes. Left IKEA Soft Toy Polar Bear
TFTC and the brilliantly devised cache series Pyrenees Kid
GJMMelb

This series has been on the books for far too long. Took the opportunity to head out to work through the questions over the last few weeks. These are a terrific series and there has defiantly been a lot of work put into them. We had some trouble at a couple of waypoints as the signs were no longer there, esp waypoint 19 as we had to ask a caretaker for the answer.
Well done and TFTC

Good concept

Find 7/12 for the day, didn't really come at this from the right angle but found the track on my way back up the hill to the overgrown road. The hide was a bit tough but I was happy to avoid the blackberry thorns.

This cache seems to be listed under the wrong cache type.
We were expecting a Trad

Likewise. Was looking for a trad, and was surprised when we read the cache description after not being able to find the cache that it was in fact a multi. Strange. Cheers Gav

We had a ball doing this cache and have decided to rename it the U turn cache as I reckon we did about 100 of the things during the cache!!! I now certainly feel that we know Creswick very well as a result! What a great little town. Very much enjoyed the Chocolate Cafe as our reward for the hard work of this cache! Thanks Pyraneese Kid for this cache!

TNLNSL

I've had this one on the list for a while but software issues prevented me from tackeling the cache. Today using a borrowed laptop my geokid and I whipped around Creswick in an hour and a half and would have been quicker just for some spelling mistakes. After completing all but one of the questions we had just enough time find this one cache today.
Really enjoyed the trip, had fun finding and guessing the answers and finally finding a cache was a bonus. Will finish off the rest soon.
At cache 1 we searched a few meters off GZ initially and came across an echinda watching us, I wonder what it thought as it watched us, probably that we were some sort of human relation, digging around !

Found 2.15pm
WE really enjoyed this series and the novel way of calculating the different locations to visit. This one was a great area to visit and the GPSr pointing us in many directions before finally grabbing the cache.

TNLNSL

TFTC Pyrenees Kid

Found the first cache today. Will get to the others shortly when time permits. An interesting and enjoyable way to determine the co-ordinates, especially in view of the fact that I don't have a laptop at present. Lucky I live nearby. I think I can find my own house from anywhere in the Creswick district now. I need never feel lost again. Thanks Pyrenees Kid. And thanks for the software help. Worked fine in the end.

Found at 1135. A fantastic innovative way to not learn some history of the town, but to work out the coordinates. The geowife had the laptop while I worked the GPS and answered the questions.

TNLN. TFTC.

Found a few days ago, but I have been to busy to log it. Don't you hate it when work gets in the way of your caching
TNLN. TFTC

Found by McAdies.
Worked it all out on the weekend but didn't find the geocaches as ran out of time. Quickly found on lunch break.
Nice series and good location for the cache. nice walk through the trees. also noticed the tiles.
TNLN

cache # 7 of 12 today while out touring around with Mrs acts2.. This was the first in the series, the gps had us this way and then that way before we finally closed in on the cache, I enjoyed the near by mosiac tiles. My thanks to Pyrenees Kid for the cache.

Worked through all the questions on a pleasant Sunday afternoon. I had expected to be able to walk around the clues, but they were further apart than that. A couple of times I was sure I had punched in the wrong numbers, and once I was sure that the clue had the wrong numbers, but a little more observation found the answer each time.

I also worked through the Bonus questions, but I needed the help of the internet at home for some of those.

I only had time to find Excel#1. But the co-ordinates are loaded in the GPS, so hopefully it won't take too long to get back and clean up the rest of the caches.

Thanks Pyrenees Kid.

Another nice spot and find. Thanks again.

Not sure if this was No1 or No2, anyway, a nice spot and a quick find (after all those questions )
Thanks, Robmc.

even thou i have market in the log book i viseted on the 16 it was the 17.
it was a very cold day and i need a new ran cait.

i with some help from my faimly i found ask to the last 2 quistions and the bouns q.





thanx Pyrenees Kid

Found with sKinc. Thanks For th cache.

Found @ 11am with The GeoMrs and GeoLoch.
Fairly easy once my GPSr settled down, bounced me around for about 10 minutes.
Fairly easy find after that.
Strange thing though,
the cache log book had the name as Excel Yourself No.2, not no.1.
I had these co-ords as for No.1!!
Anyhoo, a beautiful area. We really liked the approach, nice lake, with water!!!
Thanks for this series. I could only collect one today, but I will return for the rest soon.
TNLFC&HSL

Not having a laptop didn't daunt me. On visit one I was able to find at least a dozen answers and some googling and trial and error had several more - enough for a stab at 1,2 and 3. A tip also helped to make it a little easier too. On visit 2 I found the cache at night without any problems and very pleasing it was too. Thanks Pyrenees Kid for creating one of the more interesting and inventive caches I have done.

Cheers Pyrenees Kid for a good challenging cache, Glad I started the challenge in the field than trying to nut out at home. 2nd cache for the day.
TNLN
Cheers
Highrod

There is only so much of this cache that can be attempted at home. Today I bit the bullet and went out and gathered the rest and began this series. Interesting locales and an easy find here. thanks pyrenees kid.

Thought we'd do these EXCELlent caches today. Took us around a nearby town, which we didn't realise half existed.

This one was in a lovely place, we'll come back next time and walk around.

CanClan

Took: Pooh Bear Pez
Left: Ring

Dear Pyrenees Kid,

We found your cache today at 12:25pm as the fourth of eighteen on our Circumference de Ballarat Tour II. Another nice spot for a cache. Unfortunately, we can't say more lest we give away hints on the locale. Thanks for our 2nd Pyrenees Kid cache.

Kind Regards,

D & H B-A

Nice easy find but everything was alittle damp. Left a rubber and took rubber bands lol!!

Excel Spreadsheet has been re-hosted. Any problems with download or operation please contact me.

We had been wanting to have a try at this cache for a long time and being in the general area with the coffee clan, we decided to team up and do it today and the pyreenees kid decided to tag along for cache maintenance visits and also to have a bit of a laugh at our expense. We really enjoyed our tour of Creswick, collecting all the required information along the way with PK grinning over our shoulders This is one location that we definitely would never of found without geocaching and certainly is a fascinating area with lots of very unexpected surprises
At gz ,PK had a slightly worried look on his face instead of the evil grin that we had become used to during the day, as there had been a lot of work done in the area and he was slightly concerned for the caches safety, but all was ok and the coffee clan soon had the cache in hand
TNLNSL
Thanks Pyreenees kid for a great series of caches, the effort that had gone into setting this up is phenomenal

We have had this series on the Coffee radar for some time and being in the area with Team Crackers and the owner of this series The Pyrenees Kid it seemed fitting to complete them.
The Pyrenees Kid was along for maintenance purposes but I think there was an ulterior motive of watching us go crazy trying to solve all along the way.
We gathered information and in a team effort found each cache in a fun filled afternoon whilst exploring a town we had never really bothered to stop at. There is also a small café that sells Coffee with a difference (coffee good – difference different)
Many thanks PK for the cache, series and a lot of hard work that made it so much fun to do.
Regards Mr.Coffee and the “One more waypoint and it could be a sing along cache series†Clan.

Interesting little area here, what is it used for?

TNLN

R + B

Found at 5:45pm with assistance from the Mrs. as Navigator and Scribe.
3rd find out of 6 for the day.
We worked out all the clues except for 2 questions on the bonus cache
but it was enough to get all the coords.
I realy loved the colourfull tiles that are on the paths here.
In: Car, Out: Smily Ball, Signed Log.
Thanks Pyrenees Kid....

Found at 1.15pm GAFF1 Peacefull spot. This cache was very rewarding and satisfying. It has a lot going for it - technical intrigue, good location, interesting history and can be done by car - except when the cemetery gates are closed! Thanks PK tn/ln

Found at 4.30pm
Finally, It has been almost 2 yrs since we started the series.
The first attempt was a DNF as the cache had been pinched.
This time, no problems - Didn't even use the GPS
Cache contents were damp
TNLN
A great series
Thanks
K&M

Found by Roma and Max.
Getting the necessary program was our first hurdle, solved thanks to 2Dudez, and then getting it to run properly was another thing altogether. We certainly approached these finds in a round about way. Most items on the circuit were clear cut until we discovered what Bartholemews Co vehicle was spreading, this raised a smile!
We took a Penguin Soft Toy and left a Mondo Figurine.
Thanks Pyrenees Kid,
from Romax.

found by bevfre 2.00pm took car Left bevfre
Count Down Excel

Really enjoyed this series and the bonus (where we found a travel bug).
Took Sticky Tape
Left Mini Football

i'm getting the 404 error too.
I really want to do this one as it is a local cache
Does anyone have a copy of the excel spreadsheet?
If so, can you please email our team a copy.
[email protected]
Thanx

While cache prepping today for the weekend, the Excel link was giving a 404 file not found... looks like there's been a hosting change and the link's no longer there

Found it. Can't remember when, but we did.

TNLN

Nice biking route from Excel #2. This was much easier to find. Two suggestions if you don't mind: Link to spreadsheet needs to be fixed. Finding the caches is too tricky without it. Perhaps this cache should also be reclassified as mystery. Aussie approver can help you with that.

Found by caughtatwork and brother-in-law at 10:45am.
Despite the spreadsheet no longer being located at the link in the cache description, dak's emu mob was kind enough to lend us his copy (no the details weren't complete!).
We found the way in after a few false starts and had the cache in hand after just a minute a ground zero.
The took a crocodile stuffed toy and left a car.
Thanks PK for the interesting cache chase.

#1) Long walk off a short pier. That didn't work
#2) Wander along the correct track, check what seems the obvious place with no luck
#3) Decide the coordinates are probably entered wrong like was done for the bonus cache, so wander back to car to check them.
#4) Find coordinates are correct so drive up a little closer and search again properly, finding the cache within a couple of minutes.
Took: Car
Left: Duck

Found at 0930. I started this series on 11 December last year, but unfortunately this cache was missing.

Emu-M and dak attended last night at dusk. I knew where the cache was supposed to be, so we made a bee line for it, but it wasn't there! We searched all around the object, and made a cursory search of the surrounding area, but darkness defeated us. I put in a call to the Biggles Bear help line. It turned out that Pyrenees Kid had replaced the cache in a slightly different place, but still within normal coordinate tolerances. We attended again this morning, and Emu-M found it in a few minutes. It was good to finally complete what was an enjoyable multi cache.

IN: Bag sealing clip
OUT: Purple necklace

Bit of luck having this cache replaced without us knowing ... On the very day we found it too!:)

Found in conjunction with Hall of Fame.


Left TB: Sterling Marlin and platypus toy
Took nothing

Found by our young daughter,took TB & swivels left beads,lovely walk up track after initial try up the board walk.

Found 12:35, after giving Pyrenees Kid time to race ahead and place a replacement cache. Our third visit to this area over the weekend.

Thanks Pyrenees Kid for a great series of caches, we really enjoyed the concept. Took tooth picks and left set of measuring spoons.

Looked for this last on the way back from a great days caching. Have since looked at other logs and we too could not find this particular cache

Despite a thorough look we couldn't find it either.
K&M

The mind boggles when you consider the work and preparation that went into this series of caches. This morning was the most fun I've had geocaching so far. The only sour note was not finding this leg of the series.

I spent an enjoyable morning gathering the information necessary to get the co-ordinates for the four caches, but I looked for this one last. I thought I knew where it was likely to be, but a thorough search turned up nothing. I widened my search and looked at all likely other hiding places, to no avail. A GPSr that wouldn't behave under the tree canopy didn't help.

I rang the muzza help line, and he confirmed that I was looking in the right place. I conducted an extra thorough search, but alas, the cache would not give itself up. I suspect that it is not there.

Since team Derringer don't have onboard computing equipment we are doing this one the hard way.
Managed to answer 1/2 the questions without leaving my desk at home.
Our trip to Creswick today answered another 6.
We will polish off the rest of the questions over the next 3 months as we travel through the area.
A great concept. Trying to find answers with just latitude does take time though.
Thanks PK
K&M

Couldnt find this one.....Confirmed with Darryn its whereabouts and it must be gone.

Another great caching adventure....embi, J and Andrew (J's nephew) all loved this series.

thanks Darryn

found while walking with friend took for a walk and left a gift

According to the spreadsheet, this one was cache number one and the second one of the four that we found. However, the log book actually said that this was cache number two - we ignored that.

After a short walk to GZ, Kiwi-deb cried 'I've found it', though we didn't believe her. Its amazing how many times this is said by each of us, often 100 metres away from GZ, just to psych out the others. But she had found it.

I took a comhination suitcase lock and left a glue stick. We thoroughly enjoyed this series of caches and look forward any other like it. Thanks Pyrenees Kid.

[last edit: 9/20/2003 6:56:02 AM PST]

Happy to say I beat the guys to this one. They thought I was joking when I yelled out found as we all seem to do that even when we haven't.
Swapped a wallet for a glue stick.
Many thanks for this cache pyrenees Kid.

Found 3:55. I don't know how it happened, but Kiwideb beat us to the find - oh! Well done Deb. Getting to this point has been interesting with Muzza doing the driving, for example we drove right up to the spider we needed to find and only needed to open the door to check out the clue. It’s all fun and games, which is good. My swap has been a safety flasher out for a pink elephant toy in. Thanks Pyrenees Kid for providing the adventure.

Found by Mary & David at 1340. Second in our Grand Tour of Creswick as we Excelled Ourselves. Haven't we been along here before? Probably, as we completed all the questions before tackling the caches. A marvellous caching day thanks to all PK's hard work. Took photo frame, left bundle of system cards. Thanks again to Pyrenees Kid.

You need to use the provided serial number to unlock the answer columns.
Once unlocked you are able to enter you answers. TIP! save the sheet under a diferent name so you have 2 copies in case something goes wrong.