Animal, Vegetable or Mineral? Abbotsford, New South Wales, Australia
By maccamob on 15-Jan-04. Waypoint GCHGQZ

After 8½ years, it seems this cache is no longer in place. We're unable to replace it, so sadly have to let it go. Thanks to all who found it over the years, to Riblit for keeping an eye on it for us and to Lowebro for confirming its demise.

45 minutes of searching. Looked up n down. Scratches and bruises. Say down n re. Re read the description. Brain must not be turned on today. Upsetting but happy for a good challenge. I'll be back. Would love a hint but! Haha

Rocked up with lowebro with hopes high, spent 45 minutes searching but to no avail. Would love to come back and rock it

Boo! Will be back!!!

Found multi and we were confident with this BUT With so many possibilities, fruitless search, as we live so far away, we probably won't be back.

Unfortunately no luck for us today. Looked in every place we could think of but nothing seemed to stand out. Hopefully we'll return one day with an additional hint so we can find the cache!

No luck for me here tonight, when I got to gz my torch batteries went flat, returned to car for new batteries and searched for a while but couldn't find the cache this time.

Thanks.

FOUND on the 4th attempt. Great cache. Thank you.

Yay!! Finally found it with help from CO, thanks maccamob! After signing the new log Geodog and I did the coastal walk and read the history about the Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum. Thanks for bring me here(several times!).

May 8
Back for my second try at this cache today and still looking, looking and feeling but still it eludes me. sat down today and read the logs, not too many clues there, I just know its small! I'll be back.

This entry was edited by Beammeout on Friday, June 08, 2012 at 6:20:17 AM UTC.

No luck for us on our first visit but part of a good walk so thanks.

Called in today to check on the cache and to replace the log. Our thanks to Riblit for looking after the cache in our absence.

Great camo. What a nice area. I can see why you would place a cache here. TFTC SL

Two extensive searches in the past month have yielded nothing. I am in desperate need of a hint. I need to find this cache.

Thanks.. after 15 minutes the cache found. J-LEST-TEAM

We spent a considerable time at GZ, or what my iphone thought was GZ, and left without a trophy.
Have to check past logs for hints. We'll be back!

TFTC maccamob, looks like this one will be hard to get!

... came back as promised and made the find fairly quick. After reading some logs this morning, I was more aware of what I am looking for and more importantly where it is NOT likely to be so I don't waste time.

Thanks maccamob, crafty cache and good spot to hide it!

WOW. That's all I can say. This cache is AMAZING! It looks home made? A truly fantastic cache. Well worth the 13 favourites (14 as soon as I get my premium membership renewed!!) This cache was becoming my enemy- as I just couldn't find it. The GPS being "jumpy" didn't help either! Thanks to maccamob for giving me a hint! Wouldn't have found it without it! This cache is amazingly constructed. The place is amazing as well- it camos so well! What are those big blocks of cement near GZ that are filled with water?

Thanks for bringing me here- my mum loved Banjo Patterson's "cottage!" Thanks for showing me this nice piece of history. Next time i'm running through this park- with sweat pouring down my face i'll think- "hey! There's a fantastic cache there!!"

I'm surprised I found this, the camo is excellent!

An amazing cache! TFTC TNLN SL

Two eager geoboys and a geohound who was afraid of walking on the metal walkway were of no help. But the lovely little sandy beach nearby will be a good reason to come back and try again soon

Damn it! Spent a good 20 minutes looking for this after rowing (at wharf street!!!) and was unsuccessful. Judging by the amount of favourites this has got to be a good cache! To be fair I didn't have a GPS!

good views!- even better to be on the water

Will return!

Reperio at 1340. Arrived to GZ with a multitude of places to search for a micro, and I was thankful the area was muggle free so I could conduct a thorough search. After 15 mins I was still cacheless, and resorted to looking at previous logs to try and work out where the cache was lurking. Once I had a good idea what the cache was, it still took another 5 mins to identify it. Blends in very well, and a lovely spot to visit.

Gratias maccamob.

Thanks Yurt.
I probably would never have found this otherwise, our GPS had us well off.
We searched long and hard in all the wrong places.

Can't believe the geoboy found it so quickly. He must truly have "the gift".
Cheers,
Wit C.


This entry was edited by fimbles on Monday, 15 August 2011 at 04:08:57 UTC.

This one has been on the list for a long time, funny how folks from another state (Australia's leading geocachers no less!) could place a cache here in those days. But what a great area. Hadn't ever been down here even though I've lived in the northern suburbs most of my life. We parked opposite Banjo Paterson's restaurant and went for a walk. Circled around to GZ and I had something completely different in mind before I started searching but geoboy made the find in less than a minute. So much for my theory! Signed and replaced.
Thanks!

huh?!?

Found with blossom* after initially trying a long time ago!

I first attempted this cache about a week after I discovered what geocaching was. At that time, I didn't know much about sneaky hides or clever cache containers and we spent a bout an hour combing the area looking for a cache box. So today, two and a half years later, we came back. Even though I had a lot better idea about what to look for and I now owned a nice accurate garmin oregon 300, it still took us 10 minutes to work out where the cache was! Good to finally have this a nice smilie face on the map instead of a nasty brown frown

This entry was edited by blossom* on Wednesday, 10 August 2011 at 12:14:01 UTC.

Cache Hunt 558; GAFF1; Weather, Sunny; Helpers, None; Cache condition, Great; Find of the day, 1st; STATUS; Found; GPS at GZ - 4M

While diong another cache close by, I walked over this one and had to stop and do it. GZ is a mix of many things Animal, vegetable and mineral (well maybe not so much animal) and I started my search of the area. Not knowing maccamob's hides I didn't know what to expect. I went to one place straight away, looked at something strange, checked it, and BAM the cache came into my hands. just as I SL, I could hear people approaching, so I replaced log and put cache back in it's spot. Really clever cache, I liked this one. Also nice to finally do a maccamob cache after finding one of your path tags many months ago. TFTC.

second time around for this little sneaky cache very well dome tftc

this is my first DNF..
had a virgin geocacher with me, so no patience...
great location..
i need to read up on the clues and other logs... i think that this one is going to be a challenging find..
looking forward to another crack at it soon

Nice quick find after work. TFTC

I had a quick look for this quite a while ago without luck but decided to persevere this time. Fortunately it was quiet today so I spent enough time to finally find it, after almost giving up again. Congratulations on a fantastic hide - loved it.

It's my problem I know.... visited this cache in a cold morning without a proper GPS unit, together with little geosense, I decided to leave this cache for next time.

Its with some trepidation that I started my search for this cache at GZ; so many places, so many things to pick up and put down! Animals? None that I could catch anyway. Vegetables? Plenty of Bathurst Burr. Minerals? Yup!!!!

I decided to take a thoughtful approach rather than the blunt instrument of brute force. Read a few of the logs and figured out where it was likely to be; in fact when I put my hand on it it was exactly what I was looking for in the first place, although a couple of metres from where I started. Sometimes you just score good luck!

Now this is one very cool cache container maccamob! A bit of work to put together I imagine; anyway thanks for a fun challenge and for giving me a find that is rare indeed!

Found this nearly a year ago with geodad and geobrother the very first time I went geocaching. But never actually managed to completely solve this. This time, however, the puzzle was solved. SL

Im thinking that the amount of tree cover as well as the amount of cloud cover
might have effected the GPSr. Hope to get this cache on a dry and sunny day.

With a lot of luck (excellent GPS fix) and even more sitting, thinking how the clue could work, the cache was delivered. A clever and most enjoyable challenge. Many thanks.

By the time I arrived Baktrak had already found it and was exploring the nearby tracks. I had already worked out that iPhone didn't like this place, so some directions from Baktrak to the general GZ area were much appreciated.

Geocaching is still such a mystery. The people I have met or emailed all seem so pleasant. Yet clearly a darker side lurks, for how else can such mischief as this be explained?

Thanks for a brilliant hide maccamob. This is memorable.

Log replaced. Thanks to Riblit.

Found a small space on the log to write our name. Great hide!

TFTC.

New log will be placed shortly.

Thanks for the clue, maccamob and losingtheplot. We tried without and it had us beaten - even with it we didnt find it straight away. But for those of you less cache-blind than us, dont be discouraged, the cache is totally findable even if you are clueless.
TFTC - we will come back to sign it as we havent found the carved stone nearby for HH3 - Bedlam

Looked high and low - so many people like this cache it must be clever - too clever for us at the moment. A clue would be nice?

Attempt #4 and finally success!
Found w/ LTP.
Fave point here.

Thanks to maccamob's kind hint in response to desperate plea for help, this one can FINALLY be ticked off!!
A very quick detour this morning via Bedlam was the order of the day - a few tense minutes then... YES!!!!!!!
The funny thing was that it was actually nearly found yesterday.... And dismissed....urgh... A lesson well learnt, i hope !!
Thanks again maccamob, this definitely deserves one of my favourite points !!

ps.. Used up the last space in the log.

Sadly we couldn't find, but we are determined to return and find this evasive cache! Would love a hint if someone would like to message us - geokiddies were very disappointed!

Didn't spend too long searching for this one, as I wasn't sure what I was really looking for and there were so many possible hiding spots! Having read more of the logs now, I'll def come back another day to try again. The "X" evaded me!!! The rudimentary tree house up the fig tree looked pretty cool ;p

So many places to hide a micro and the cache name has you wondering what form it will actually take, none the less persistence paid off and cache was in hand after a sound search of all AV&M. There is only one spot left on the log. TFTC

On arrival at GZ I decided what type of hide I was looking for, and proceeded to search for a good 20 mins - reread the description - oh, micro, not nano - re-scaled the search, and had it found very quickly.
I had also read too much into a previous log comment.
Funnily enough, I have one of these in my car, just sitting there waiting to be placed (though not quite as elaborate). That could be a useful clue - if you knew what the several cache containers I have in my ute look like - but I doubt it! (what?, surely everyone else has spare containers laying around in the car/ute, or am getting carried away like some family members say? - no answers to that, please)

Back in Sydney again & had to have another go at ths one, as it eluded us the first time. Not raining this time & without Geo toddlers, we knew this was our best chance. Geo-wife on fire as she found this one within 5 minutes, lucky she did as I doubt I would have found. Love this cache & very glad to have knocked it over. Feel we have gone o another level now!! TFTC & great area for a picnic!!

Wasn't sure I had the right place until I read a few logs to confirm. Scoured over site but unable to find it then the rain & geokids became restles so had to leave in fading light - will be back again to find this rascal!!

Nasty moment, when dropped the logbook. Luckily managed to get it back again. TFTC

Took me a few visits to actually find this (once with geokids, who were the ones that helped find it) - and have a pen handy at the same time. Glad to tick it off. TFTC.

Compassreading took us along (me and our geo-partners) to search for this one. He had found it some time ago and wanted to sit back and watch the pain of others searching and failing. Cruel bastard! And for quite a while it looked as if this one was going to be a failure.

The praise of others for this cache is well-justified. Very clever and so easy to overlook. But with lots of perseverance and even more luck finally found it. Thanks maccamob for a top cache.

Still none the wiser as to what this place was. We searched for about 30 minutes crawling under and over things looking for something not quite right. Took a break ro re-group and read the description again. OK, now that gave us a new focus.

The second search was pretty quick. Hey, what's this. You little beauty,a ..... cache. A great hide Maccamob, you have put a lot of work into this.

Well, this cache universally came with big raps from cachers I've met who've done it, so seeing as I was in the vacinity, I decided to make this my last for the day. Another spot I hadn't been to previously, I drove in past Gladesville Hospital, parked, and walked to GZ. I took the long way round, and ended up rock-hopping past a few fishermen before ending up on a tiny beach, which actually had small pockets of gorgeous sand!! From there it was up a staircase, and I found GZ...or so I thought. Initially I was looking at a big old tree, which someone was in the process of fashioning a tree-house into it!? Still, with great views, a private beach, hospital facilities on the door-step and quiet neighbours I was beginning to think about moving in myself!

Then the fun began! I went round and round in circles not getting any closer to this so, eventually, and with cap in hand(!), I phoned Zalgariath not once, but twice, to get me over the line. I'm not sure I'd heve gotten this one otherwise...I'd done one recently with a similar hide technique, but this one took it to another level! Very, very clever! Only one suggestion: the log was incredibly difficult to remove (I used my car keys in the end, but I roughed it up a bit), so perhaps the next replacement could be a nano log to overcome this?!

TNLNSL TFTC, Maccamob!!

CC.

4:30pm Recommended by CardzQuest when I bumped into them at Macarthur M.
So many places to hide. Lucky to stumble onto it but still took time to work it out.
Very devious Brought a smile to my face (and sweat to my brow).
TFTC

Yeah!!!!!!! This cache, of which I agree with other finders, was very clever and the clue only revealed its self after finding the cache. With the help from our friends, Cachefinders2 we were able to located the cache after our fifth attempt.

[This entry was edited by cardz quest on Saturday, January 09, 2010 at 3:58:32 AM.]

First find of the new decade!! Great location with an amazing hide. Could not figure out the multi cache there but gave this one a go. it wook a while but wow, great start to the new year. TFTC

A nice hide, we had it pretty quick. TFTH SL TNLN

With giving nothing away. Very clever. But today the Gods let me find the cache quickly. SL TNLN TFTH

Im going to be annoying and say I found it really quick After having read about it 'cleverness' (to which I fully agree now!) I had an idea of what to look for once I hit GZ. Did it as part of Hidden History 3: Bedlam. Both take you on the same interesting walk. Start HH3, get the numbers you need, do this one on the way, then find the HH3 cache. 2 birds, one stone

Rated: for Overall Experience

Found it after 5 visits. Man this one was very hard.
If this is a 3 out 5, I would love to see a 5 out of 5.
TFTC

Third attempt still no find, can I please have a clue? I'll go for another search this afternoon with an extra set of eyes.

Loved this cache, one of the most clever hides I have ever seen TFTC!

144 - A clever hide in a very pleasant location.... TFTC

12.45.... It was a clever hide and found it with my assistance sevabo. TFTH

Found with sgttrf and Jay. tnln. Fun cache in my favorite area, Dolly Sods.

Found after a short search; it wasn't so much what I was looking for as where it was placed. Having seen this type of hide before, it wasn't all that hard, certainly not like the first one I encountered, and was spotted once I was in the right location with the right perspective. Glad I had my special cache log extraction tool with me. A beautiful place, I went all the way to the water's edge in a loop to check out the view. Thanks for the cache maccamob

Rated: for Overall Experience

Stumbled across Rainbow Spirit at this one and came up lucky with the cache this time. Good hide. TFTC.

After scrambling about for 20 min with no results, reinforcements showed up in the form of two lovely young lady geocachers, namely del-n, and surfin-eme.
While fiddling about with some metal thingies, there it was!
del-n and surfin-eme were happy as this was their second visit to this cache.
The X only showed itself AFTER we found the cache, typical!
We all happily signed the log, thanks for the head scratching!

2nd visit to the cache with del_n and we were hopeful for a find. Came across Rainbow Spirit who proved to be the good luck we needed. Very ingenious cache, haven't seen anything like this before.

Easy find believe it or not. We had seen where other cachers have gone crazy all over the place[:o)]

There were trails all over the place but we followed our GPS. It took about five minutes of searching before we had a different thought.

We decided to expand our search area and have some more places. soon after 5 min 10 in total we came up with the goods.

TFTC
Easy find
Cachefinders2
Michael & Russell

I guessed what i was looking for and found something after a systematic search but it still had me baffled for a while till I went to replace it ... then 'ding' the brain switched on!! Log was then signed and swiftly returned.

TFTC

There’s so much history packed in this park! It was interesting to learn about the Bedlam Point punt wharf, and its part in the Great North Road. What a pleasure to see “Rockendâ€, where Banjo Paterson lived with his Grandmother (poet Emily Mary Barton) while he went to Sydney Grammar School. We somehow missed what the area at GZ actually was though. Part of the Harold Meggitt linseed crushing mill? Or the sewage system for the mental hospital? On to caching business… it took a good 45 minutes until Pip spied the cache. Signed the log (wrote wrong date), and replaced just as it was found. Thank you for sharing this surprising spot and for the cache maccamob. Oh, almost forgot… we took the Maserati, and left the keys to a condo in Aspen, Colorado – ski right off you’re backdoor to the slopes.

Must have had my geosense switched on for this one as it took maybe 30 seconds to find once I got to GZ! Nicely hidden cache in a lovely piece of harbourside bushland. Very sneaky. Thanks for the cache maccamob. *recommended*

Rated: for Overall Experience

this one is driving me batty! looked under, over and all around GZ for the second time today to no avail.. can someone email me a hint?

This is a very sneaky cache. Loved it - but it nearly drove us nuts. After half an hour of searching, we finally succumbed and phoned a friend - you know who you are - thanks. We got a couple of hints and back in to fill in the log book.
TFTC
Cache # 240

Goodness knows if the co-ords had us looking in the wrong area or not. We did look at, under, over and through every object within a 50 metre radius of where we thought GZ was though! With no friend to phone, we decided it was a good thing that it was about the journey and not the find at the end It was great to explore the path and see another snippet of history. Thanks for the location, hope to find the cache when we get more friends! Or just a better brain snap

The co-ords had me looking in the wrong area and I must have turned over every stone in that area.
Finally having used up all my lifelines I had to "Phone a friend".
What a sneaky hide.
Thanks to all involved for a great history lesson and a great cache.

Hunter/Finder

Found quickly and thought that a poor newbie would have trouble with a cache like this. Enjoyed some of the history of the area.
JABs.

Found it quickly but that could of been just luck. Seen a few of this type of hide now and can understand why so many DNF it.
A top hide, well done.
TFTC

Ye Gods!!!

After a tip off (thanks Frank) I had a better idea of what size to look out for, still took a little bit of searching until I found the "X" and was perplexed again until the penny dropped.

I've never seen a cache like this one before. Very well done I must say.

Loved the walk in.

TFTC

This afternoon we were just around the corner organising the last of our wedding plans and decided to have a go at this one. (Priorities!?).
Had read the logs over a few weeks and knew I was up for an interesting time. Going by the GPSr I knew I was close but nothing jumped out so looked a bit wider. After a while I had an incling and decided to investigate and something indeed looked slightly different. Voila!...Hang on! How DOES it open?..thinking, thinking...maybe it has a .....My wife to be (engineer) was also impressed.
Thanks heaps for the Cache...interesting find....great fun...great spot.
Maybe I sould get the wedding party up for a look???...maybe not...Short marriage!
PS Still took about 25min in all.

great cache and hide
TFTC

second time lucky. its marvelous what a bit of experience in caching makes. first time we spent about 45minutes searching, this time 3min.

great cache and nice spot on the beach just below GZ !!
TFTC

After the NSW meeting event we thought we'd check out one or two recommended urban caches in the (sort of) area. It was a glorious spring day - warmest day for a long while. This reserve was a great place to visit, quite a pretty spot to wander around. We searched for a little while before Held Im Einsatz spotted the nefariously hidden little blighter. A very nasty piece of work indeed. Afterwards we found a magic spot atop a rock on which to have our luncheon.

After the event, Altaire and i try to find the Cache. After searching for a while i suddenly got the right idea. I helped me a lot that i've found a very similar cache in germany a few months ago.

TFTC

Held im Einsatz

And you seemed like such nice people when I met you

This was just evil [^] [^] [^]

Last cache of the day as the kids, and me, were getting tired. I'd been here before looking with no luck, but today all went well and the cache was eventually located, signed and returned.
Thanks for the cache!
best wishes,
Wal, Jono, Bethany & Jeremy

Intersting spot. Had to read the logs before the penny dropped as to what to look for. After that tried to open the wrong end as it were but soon sorted that out. TFTC!

Clever hide. Signed the logbook.

29/35 @ 1415

Out for a day of caching madness with The Rats and Gribbly. having made a smiliar find in Wollongong this proved no difficulty. Still very enjoyable.

Grabbed this one with The Rats & Hoojar - one of our 35 finds today!

This was indeed a clever hide. It took us two attempts and this time the wife located it after quite a search. First to sign the new log. TFTC.

Took the opportunity of a Sydney visit to check on the cache. All is in order, but we took the opportunity to install a new log sheet. Again we enjoyed looking through the list of names on the old log.

Mr bloopy found this one really quick - it is one of those caches that could well have you pulling your hair out though so we did get quite lucky this time. Solving the puzzle of the cache container and getting to the log book actually took longer than the find!! Obviously our brains were as soggy as the ground was today. Cheers for a nice little cache!

Found it at 13:30.
We are from the Netherlands and we are visiting our son, who lives in Ryde. For a long time he is challenging us to find this cache. Maybe that was already a hint: I understood that it was really well camouflaged. Anyhow, we located the cache quite soon after arrival at the spot. In first instance I could not open it to get the log book, not even with my Swiss army knife. But then a brain wave suggested that we should try something different and indeed we could access the log book quite easily.
After logging, we followed the track to see other interesting historical places.
TFTC

There is more than a bit of irony in this cache's location next to a mental hospital.....

After a hint from Spindoc Bob It was not that difficult anymore.
I struggled in the first attempt more on which size I am looking for.
Today than an easy found. Easy, not really?
First the cache was not visible from the GZ my device pointed to. OK wander some meters and then you can see it...
Then how to open the cache? OK it worked out without to much difficulty, but how to get the log out of the cache? It was just stuck in there, took a while...
BTW such hides were fashionable in Germany some years ago, however lovely when you do not know that you are looking for that kind of hides. No trade.
TFTC
Alpini
proud PLG member

Found this cache after spending a short time looking. The worst part of this one was that the GPS has a poor signal coming in from one direction and the other direction is a very strong signal. I have seen a few like this now but very sneaky never the less. I think it's more 1 of the 3 than a bit of all of them. Good hiding TFTC SL

What do you do on cold, wet and very windy winter's day? Go caching of cause. It took us about 15 minutes going over GZ with a fine toothed comb before we located the cache. A quick sprint back to the car to fill in the log as the heavens opened up, and then another dash to replace it. We had to jump over a fallen tree that was not there minutes ago. We've got to be crazy. Loved the Cache though, she's a ripper

TFTCSL


[This entry was edited by The Wandering Wilkos on Sunday, June 17, 2007 at 1:49:45 PM.]