Where are the rides??? Bayswater, Victoria, Australia
By kiwideb on 23-Sep-04. Waypoint GCKM97

Well I am happy to report there are now heaps of rides in this park. But unhappy to report they have taken away the slide where my cache was hidden.
Many thanks to those who found this cache. And sorry to those that didn't. Can't call the cache "Where are the rides" now can I?? Will hide one here in the near future.

Just a comment from us as well that we think that the area has been redesigned and the cache probably removed.

We tried this one before reading the previous log. The moment we arrived, it was evident that the playground equipment was very new - the heads of the coach bolts were still shiny and there were no cobwebs under the seat I inspected. We found GZ to be where Helmacron indicated - at the edge of the playground area containing tanbark and no likely hidey spots. We gave the pine trees a cursory inspection and I stuck my hand down some watering holes next to new trees, but nothing looked likely.

Upon reading the old logs (last find was 2 months ago) I would guess that some older style playground was here when the cache was placed and if the cache was hidden anywhere on it then I suspect it is gone. Wish I'd taken a picture so Kiwideb could see whether it looks the same - I asked a lady whether she knew how old it was but she was a visitor, however the 2 kids she was with were locals and they said it was very new.

Sorry, but I think this may need archiving.

We turned off too early, and spent a good hour driving around hilly back roads of the wrong block. So that wasn't a good start (although it was fun!).

But we finally get to the place and the GPS says it's right HERE, at the edge of the tanbark of a playground. We're getting 5 metre accuracy, and we check everything in the area and we dig in the tanbark for a while. Nowhere to be found.

I get back, read the webpage and the cache's called "where are the rides???" and then I remember, the playground had this new gleam and the tanbark was soft and light and the last person who found it was the 20th of March.

Is it safe to assume that this one's gone? Or was I looking for Wally in the wrong book?

After arriving at the GZ the boys were greeted by some foul mouthed junior muggles who had not seen Shelby yet.
The boys went to climb on the slide and where stopped by these youths from climbing up, UNTIL Shelby got to within ear range [:(!].
The boys then enjoyed the slide!!.
Bayswater may have nice parks but over the years I have experienced another side of this suburb[?][B)].
TNLN, Thanks kiwideb.
Regards Mr.Coffee and the Clan

had no idea this park existed nice quick find this one

easy find another one in the bank tnln thanks

Found very easily by eldest Apprentice chef, whilst second eldest and head chef watched for muggles at 5.30pm

Thanks Kiwi Deb, for yet another enjoyable cache

Finally found one.
Now I know my GPS settings are correct.
I am now hooked.

Found on 07/02/05 @ 1517 AEDST. Finally found this one after many visits when the muggles were swarming all over GZ . This afternoon, no muggles in sight , and I walked straight to the hiding spot and back to the car to write the log.

TNLNSL

Cheers Kiwideb

Nobody around at this time of morning so it was fairly devoid of other life. The GPS was somewhat random at first and I didn't know how you could hide a cache in the open, but then it pointed at the real feature and it was found in fairly short order. I luckly had bought a pen while filling with petrol, as otherwise I woudln't have been able to write in it.

Found by sbalogh53 at 20:55(approx) on 31/1/2005.
Found after a short torch-based search. Easy but had to be very careful of muggles.
TNLN

FINALLY! Got this one on my 5th try, after a hint from Kiwideb. It was of course in a location I had looked 12 times before. Thanks for the hunt Kiwideb! This was a difficult one.

This one wasn't to far from home so i took the fam and friends out for something to do on a hot night. we only had a small torch but made good use of it.

TNLN. 10.30pm

OK, I will have to admit defeat on this one. 3 attempts, I've searched every square centimetre of the structure, every nook and cranny, to no avail. I can't believe everyone else is finding it so easily! What am I missing? Is this actually a secret virtual?

Visited today with Tim(tahpee) at around 8 PM. Well hidden! Plenty of cars there but only two young kids throwing pine cones at each other kept us away.

TNLN. Thanks.

Found at 8:10pm with Hamish (hamishm).

Screwy GPS readings had us wandering around for a bit and we had almost thrown in the towel when we decided to go back for another look. Found it and then had to wait for the two kids throwing pine cones at each other to go away.

TNLN

Thank Kiwideb

this one had eluded me last time i was here, not to mention the local cricket team turning up. but little bit of rain and the park was all mine. thanks to a little hint from caught at work got it this time.
thanks Deb

Found by Ray and Maya at 9:46PM on the 3rd of Jan. A quick find in the dark with a torch. We had to sit on the sidelines for a while, whilst a family played at the site. Thanks from The Nomads.

We were in the area and thought that it was about time we tried this one.No one around today so it was a nice easy find with the uni student doing the finding
Took Frog
Left Seal
Thanks Kiwideb for the cache

~1300h
It definitely pays to know how Deb has hid previous caches as it is very hard to find. We searched the obvious structure very thoroughly and didn't find it. The GPS kept pointing towards the grass and the little trees. Must have looked under every rock and pine cone just in case. Even rang someone who had done it to make sure we were on the right track. Turns out our first hunch was right - and then we got it. Bit tricky to reach. TNLN
Well done Deb.

I think this one needs checking out again. I searched high and low. The GPS had ground zero in the middle of the grass, but I gave it a bit of leeway and searched the obvious structure. With many hidey holes, it wasn't in any of them. Perhaps it has been muggled, in this popular spot?

Third time lucky! On the first 2 occasions there were just too many muggles about. Thanks for a challenging cache. TNLN Greg and Bev

First I pull into the carpark to find a muggle smoking and not looking like going anywhere in a hurry while his dog runs amock [:(!] . Then, the whole bloody local cricket team with extended families in tow arrive . Mental note to self....don't try this cache @ 1730 on a Thursday evening again .........or on a Friday

[This entry was edited by Rhinogeo on Thursday, November 25, 2004 at 11:46:44 PM.]

It was raining off and on so there was no one around. This made the search easy and the rain had mostly stopped. The cache was found in the first place checked at 8:15pm. We retired to the car to write the log and then (since the rain had now stopped) went for a short dog walk. The cache was returned without incident. Thanks Kiwideb.

Found by Mary & David at 1145. Very 80s! Think all the children have grown up and moved away. Had to wait a while to retieve the cache as the council men were mowing. Love the custom log book. Our thanks to kiwideb.

After a big day in the hills caching, we had to rush off to Mitcham for a party. We were running a bit late, so what did we do? We stopped to find this cache as it was nearly on the way. Thankfully the GPSr was spot on this time and we walked upto it straight away. After a day of experiencing readings of upto 17 metres out, this one was correct to the metre.
Thanks kiwideb.

This was the start of a long day of caching. Found the cache quite easy to grab, despite the cricketers. Quick play on the swings and we were off again.

0700 - Operation 'Cache Replacement' complete. Cache was replaced in its position as part of the precision operation 'Cache Replacement'. There were already numerous persons around posing as 'cricket' players, any one of which could have jeopardised the mission. Through the skilled use of 'waiting until their backs are turned' and 'body blocking' the cache was returned to its previous position. Thankyou to everyone for their patience while this mission was in progress.

0730 - Operation 'Get Breakfast and Coffee' complete.

0800 - Operation 'Vote' complete.

Whew! I'm exhausted already...

We found this cache at 9pm tonight.
**Please note WE HAVE THIS CACHE IN OUR POSSESSION**
We thought it would like to stay over with us for the night. You see... We pulled into the car park to find a white falcon parked there. This was the same car that hindered our attempt last saturday night at 12am. We had pizza, so we sat back to see if he would leave and sure enough, after 20 minutes he did! We bolted out of the car to find the cache while the coast was clear. It took a little longer than we would have liked, but we found it and took it back to the car to log it. The second we stepped out to replace the cache a familiar car pulled back into the carpark and the weird guy looked like he was settling in for the night. He had his dog and all, looks a bit like he might reside there. So instead of replacing the cache, when he would have surely watched our every move, we thought the cache might be safer with us for the night. We will replace it first thing in the morning (weird homeless folk permitting) and hopefully we haven't inconvenienced anyone.

Thanks Kiwideb for the interesting experience!

Found at 10:15, finally after 4 visits.

I had it figured where it was hidden from the first but just couldn't search with so many muggles around. Once again Kiwideb has done a great job of hiding a cache.

TNLNSL Thanks Kiwideb.

Drove by this cache today for about the 4th time. Those people sure do play a lot of cricket... When does cricket season finish???

Found 14:35, our last for a lazy day's caching.

TNLN, thanks Kiwi Deb.

Found finally at 8:30am.

Attempt 1
"S" out on a jaunt with "xfking" dropped by on Saturday 25th but a sporting match in the adjoining grounds on that day stopped any search.

Attempt 2
"D" & "S" dropped by after work on Monday 27th but people chatting at the adjacent car park were just too close. Decided to try "Take a Halliday" instead. Frustration = Moderate.

Attempt 3
Dropped by again at dusk after doing "Take a Halliday" thinking those chatters would be gone. They weren't. We waited for around 20 minutes but they were in for the long haul. Frustration = High.

Attempt 4
Walked by at lunch time on Tuesday 27th. As I approached from one side, a lady with a young child approached from the other and set up camp at GZ. Walked back to work. Frustration = Very High

Attempt 5
Walked by at lunch time on Wednesday 28th. A lady with 3 children were at the playground. The children played whilst she filmed them. They played, she filmed, they played, she filmed. Decided that she wasn't about to leave until all three children were captured on film at the play ground on their birthday which may or may not be any time in the next 12 months. Walked back to work. Frustration = Extreme

Attempt 6
Drove to work early to avoid children, mothers, sporting events, yakkers, joggers etc. GZ free of muggles . Retrieved cache and walked aside to fill out log. Lady arrived in car and parked close to GZ. She proceeded to start doing something in the boot which involved having all the car doors open. This lasted at least 10 minutes and was not going to stop any time soon. Surveyed the position and realised that there was a large object between her and GZ that if I timed it right, it would block her view. Mission "Return" was put into action with all the precision of Tom Cruise in a film of a similar name. Mission Complete. Satisfaction = 100%.

[This entry was edited by Rabbitto on Thursday, September 30, 2004 at 1:54:04 AM.]

That will teach me to rely on my GPX feed from a week ago. Dang!
After I read the first log, I finally worked out what had gone wrong. Got to the location and was standing in the middle of the grassy area wondering which way to turn.
Had a few perfuctory looks around and started the fun. Turned out to be the right place.
TNLNSL.
Thanks kiwideb.

Came yesterday but chose not to search due to muggles. Today had another go. After the last Kiwideb cache I was all eyes before the search (I still havn't given up on that one but have had a few short goes at different times of the day but can't seem to nail it(or am I to too lite handed on the plants)). The cache was soon in hand and was were I suspected it would be. Getting the cache back was a little harder as the lawn mowing man had stoped doing long strips and was doing small squares so a quick dive wile his back was turned did the trick.

A host of geo-kids could be a handy decoy here.

Is the play ground realy that bad - new ones never seem to had good old stuff like mery-go-rounds etc.

Thanks Kiwideb

Well... not so much as didn't find it, I am pretty sure where it was hiding. But 1800 on a Monday night isn't the time to go caching here, it's Cricket Practice!!! Lucky I had my daughter with me so I was able to narrow down the search while she played. But with about 3 parents in cars watching me while they waited for their kids I wasn't about to retrive the cache.

3.40PM
A nice but old playground for the kids, one of the oldest i have seen around for some time. But atleast there is a playground, some places dont have any at all. Thanks for the easy cache from M.B.

Nice little park. Nice little find by Alan-san. And we were lucky that we had the park all to ourselves at the time. Who was that large looking 'child' on the slide though[?] Chookies' chicks had a lovely time. The play equipment these days is much more appealing than it was when I was a 'chick' back in Dennington.[^] Good on you Kiwideb.

TNLNSL.

Where, indeed, are the rides. Perhaps they were all seconded to the Melbourne Showgrounds? Chookies, barcoder, muzza, Alan-san, and the Emu Mob assailed the meagre facilities, and Alan-san snaffled the cache at 1145. Then the Chookies chicks availed themselves of the rides. I'm not sure, but I think some of the not-so-young members of the brigade might also have been seen trying them out. Four kiwideb caches down, three to go. TNLNSL.

Sorry Deb but the rides are for the kiddies. The little chookies liked the slides and rockers, but so did a few of the 'older' kids. A nice quick find to locate one of Kiwidebs new containers and log - have I already mentioned that I like the thought behind he log book?

Thanks Kiwideb for another great little playground cache.

We parked very close to GZ as did all our company for the day, (Muzza, Daks emu-mob, emu-M, Barcoder, & Alan-san). We got the chicks out, looked at the park in front of us, then watched Chick 1 & 2 race for a play, while the rest of the crew played to race. After the bounty was retrieved (someone found it in about 20 seconds), we all sat in the comfortable shade/shelter provided, where Mother hen & the Rooster played with their new GPS, and learnt about some of the techno hunting gear used by other cachers. All this while the 2 Chicks had fun on the rides & tried to wear out Emu-M, -“Push please†, “Pushâ€Â, -Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Thanks again Kiwideb.

Upon arrival with Alan-san, Barcoder, Chookies, DAK, Emu-M (the alphabet kids - ABCD&E) we again all decided where it should be. Then it was just a case of seeing who would be first to grab it.

Once the log was filled out, it was time to try the slide. Then a bit of R & R before heading off to the next one. Thanks again, Kiwideb.

Another First To Find for Team_Diesel.

A bit wet under foot and high muggle potential but at 8am in the morning this park was very quiet.

Great micro cache Kiwideb and I do like the log book.

TNLNSL



[This entry was edited by Team_Diesel on Saturday, September 25, 2004 at 3:10:16 AM.]

Sorry about the wrong co-ordinates. I have sent a message to Embi who should rectify it soon.