Maria Maria Island, Tasmania, Australia
By
kake is good on 30-Oct-03. Waypoint GCH65P
Cache Details
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Archived Cache Notice:
This cache is currently listed as Archived in our database.
The could be for one of several reasons:
This cache is currently listed as Archived in our database.
The could be for one of several reasons:
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Logs
(Actually adding this note 4 April 2007; kake is good archiving this cache made me realise I never did record my DNF!)
After taking the ferry to Maria and leaving our over-night stuff in our room at the penitenary in Darlington, off we went to seek this cache. We headed off up a slight hill, which was especially arduous as we had a considerable head wind. We were barely out of Darlington, and I was beginning to wonder if this was going to be a bit much! However, once the track turned inland and we were walking through the bush and my legs were over being cramped from the journey over, we were out of the wind and warm and making a good pace. The sun was shining, there was much bird song, and we were exploring new territory. Our first stop along the track was at the ruins of an old oast house. We continued on and eventually the track headed ever more sharply up - and up. Scott spotted a snake (and managed to keep control of his bowels! But not his vocal cords), and up and up we continued. We stopped off on a sandstone shelf with a view west towards the mainland and lunched, then off we went for more fun going up hill!
Between our lunch spot and the summit was quite a bit of steep clambering over boulders and climbing rock faces. And lots of wind. Evil, mountain sweeping wind. And one of those rain clouds that had been occasionally interrupting the clear blue skies (and adding cool relief when we had been under the canopy of the bush and protected from the wind) hit us when we were just below the summit. I just couldn’t do it. We had climbed up and we in a protected spot at the top of a climb, with the next part of the track across an unprotected area with a sharp drop-off - and I couldn’t do it. Now my question for myself is: why is it I am so obsessed with summits and trig points when I’m scared of heights? And why get married on the RIM of the Grand Canyon? In any case, Scott continued to the summit, I cowered just below. He hung on tight to the trig and took photos of the panorama; I hunkered down and wondered what was taking so long. He hunted around for the geocache; I was convinced he’d been gone so long that he must have been blown off the top of the mountain. Just as I was steeling myself to get to the top to see where I would have to tell the rangers the body needed to be retrieved from, he came back to the land of the living! YEAH!! DNF on the geocache, but at least he was alive.
Down the mountain we made our way. As we were crossing the second bridge, we thought we saw an animal scampering across the streambed. We took a second look, and no, it was just a boulder. But on closer inspection the boulder was cowering in the side of the creek bed and trying to convince us it was a log. WOMBAT!! It was actually fairly relaxed about us being there, so we watched it for white a while and when we started off he headed up the opposite embankment. We were quite chuffed and pleased with ourselves for having seen a wombat on our walk!
Our entry in the walker registration book had said we expected to be back at 6pm, and we still had time for a short detour to the Painted Cliffs, so we decided to check out the tide. Shortly after our track joined the coastal track, we saw several Forrester kangaroos, and spent some time watching them. As we continued along the track back towards Darlington, we saw more. And more! And wombats, just casually walking around and grazing, totally unconcerned about the humans passing by. And wallabies! And strangely enough, the closer we got to Darlington, it seemed the more animals there were grazing around the fields. We had decided to stay overnight on Maria Island because someone had told us how much wildlife there was, but we hadn’t realised it would be so easy to spot them and they would be so close to the settlement.
So thanks for the experience, even if it was a DNF. And I am sorry to see this one archived. Another piece of Tassie caching history gone.
After taking the ferry to Maria and leaving our over-night stuff in our room at the penitenary in Darlington, off we went to seek this cache. We headed off up a slight hill, which was especially arduous as we had a considerable head wind. We were barely out of Darlington, and I was beginning to wonder if this was going to be a bit much! However, once the track turned inland and we were walking through the bush and my legs were over being cramped from the journey over, we were out of the wind and warm and making a good pace. The sun was shining, there was much bird song, and we were exploring new territory. Our first stop along the track was at the ruins of an old oast house. We continued on and eventually the track headed ever more sharply up - and up. Scott spotted a snake (and managed to keep control of his bowels! But not his vocal cords), and up and up we continued. We stopped off on a sandstone shelf with a view west towards the mainland and lunched, then off we went for more fun going up hill!
Between our lunch spot and the summit was quite a bit of steep clambering over boulders and climbing rock faces. And lots of wind. Evil, mountain sweeping wind. And one of those rain clouds that had been occasionally interrupting the clear blue skies (and adding cool relief when we had been under the canopy of the bush and protected from the wind) hit us when we were just below the summit. I just couldn’t do it. We had climbed up and we in a protected spot at the top of a climb, with the next part of the track across an unprotected area with a sharp drop-off - and I couldn’t do it. Now my question for myself is: why is it I am so obsessed with summits and trig points when I’m scared of heights? And why get married on the RIM of the Grand Canyon? In any case, Scott continued to the summit, I cowered just below. He hung on tight to the trig and took photos of the panorama; I hunkered down and wondered what was taking so long. He hunted around for the geocache; I was convinced he’d been gone so long that he must have been blown off the top of the mountain. Just as I was steeling myself to get to the top to see where I would have to tell the rangers the body needed to be retrieved from, he came back to the land of the living! YEAH!! DNF on the geocache, but at least he was alive.
Down the mountain we made our way. As we were crossing the second bridge, we thought we saw an animal scampering across the streambed. We took a second look, and no, it was just a boulder. But on closer inspection the boulder was cowering in the side of the creek bed and trying to convince us it was a log. WOMBAT!! It was actually fairly relaxed about us being there, so we watched it for white a while and when we started off he headed up the opposite embankment. We were quite chuffed and pleased with ourselves for having seen a wombat on our walk!
Our entry in the walker registration book had said we expected to be back at 6pm, and we still had time for a short detour to the Painted Cliffs, so we decided to check out the tide. Shortly after our track joined the coastal track, we saw several Forrester kangaroos, and spent some time watching them. As we continued along the track back towards Darlington, we saw more. And more! And wombats, just casually walking around and grazing, totally unconcerned about the humans passing by. And wallabies! And strangely enough, the closer we got to Darlington, it seemed the more animals there were grazing around the fields. We had decided to stay overnight on Maria Island because someone had told us how much wildlife there was, but we hadn’t realised it would be so easy to spot them and they would be so close to the settlement.
So thanks for the experience, even if it was a DNF. And I am sorry to see this one archived. Another piece of Tassie caching history gone.
After a wonderfully long and steep 5 hour hike/climb/scramble, we finally arrived at the top of Mt.Maria, found the space where the geocache lived, but, alas, found the space empty.
VERY Disappointed !
Time to climb back up there and restore the cache.
Beautiful views and photos, incredible climb. Incredibly sore legs
VERY Disappointed !
Time to climb back up there and restore the cache.
Beautiful views and photos, incredible climb. Incredibly sore legs
Found at 2.15pm
Reading the other logs, we decided to camp on the Island to give ourselves enough time.
A fantastic walk with stunning views at top. A little scrambling near the summit made the walk up more enjoyable.
Cache was found easily, We took a rubber duckie and left some English Breafast teabags and a fridge magnet.
We spent the next day exploring the history of this unique Island.
Thanks for the Challenge K.
K&M
Reading the other logs, we decided to camp on the Island to give ourselves enough time.
A fantastic walk with stunning views at top. A little scrambling near the summit made the walk up more enjoyable.
Cache was found easily, We took a rubber duckie and left some English Breafast teabags and a fridge magnet.
We spent the next day exploring the history of this unique Island.
Thanks for the Challenge K.
K&M
We just did the same as embi. We went to the Painted Cliffs first and had to head back at 600m NN at the top of the last boulder field to catch our ferry back.
Well, my wife didn't like the bouldering anyway.
At the end, our way back was much faster, so we had some time to stroll around in Darlington.
Well, my wife didn't like the bouldering anyway.
At the end, our way back was much faster, so we had some time to stroll around in Darlington.
Not sure if this is a non find or a just a note. I attempted this one obviously a few days just after the last guys. I wonder if they were still on the island. This cache is a classic. I didnt get to the top. I was running out of time to get back to the ferry after taking a detour to the painted cliffs. I should have gone straight to the cache. I got within cooee of the cache and actually took a photo which i'll upload when i return home. I was so close. This is the first cache I have not been able to reach and knowing it is "just" there. I would suggest trying to stay at least overnight on this one. I had 6hrs from getting off the ferry to getting back on and that is the recommended time for the walk. If you do try to do it in one day dont detour. Thanks for the experience. One day I may go back.
Great cache! We took the much wanted teabags and left some other goodies... There are no shops on the Island, and we were hanging out for tea the night before!
We brought the bikes to Maria (pronounced Mar-I-ah) Island and set up camp for 4 nights. The bikes were fun to have there as there is no other transport on the island!
We brought the bikes to Maria (pronounced Mar-I-ah) Island and set up camp for 4 nights. The bikes were fun to have there as there is no other transport on the island!
