Alternative Routes!? Whyalla, South Australia, Australia
By Team Raider (Mike) & Langy! on 02-Oct-04. Waypoint GCKQV3

Headed down to Whyalla New Years Eve for a little party with team Mattycat to bring in the new year before a day in the back blocks to kick off the new years 2024, starting in the conversation park we made our way via back tracks to the part where the track goes up the steeper ascent, it was here where we parked up and decided to hike the few meters, nice was to stretch the legs and get the blood pumping, views were worth it and cache was soon found after a short searchTFTC Team Raider

Off in the countryside caching with Jack and Purrfect Di. Met up with the froghoppin duo for a New Year cache or six... After drinkies last night, hanging off the top of a small mountain seemed like a great idea... glad we had a rockhoppin frog with us! Thank you Team Raider for the cache hide and ongoing care and maintenance ---------------- ----------------------In a dangerous world filled with rusty old mint tins and solid lumps falling from trees - - - a cache a day keeps us agile... sort of --------Caches are logged using the resources of gsak, garmin, and androids, occasionally AI too! (And a little rubber stamp ) Work gets in the way - and some may take longer to log than others due to mixed technology and need for sleep! The skill and talent of some Zenior Zombies helps, and maybe a spot of luck too [:o)]----------Think Covid's over ? Well no, actually... and we don't want your flu, gastro or cold germs either - so practise safe caching please! Ensure Travel Bugs are the Only bugs you share and pass on Clean as you go and cache the countryside Big thanks to those placing quality caches out and about around our country areas, in nice safe places and containers especially! - it keeps our game fun for all Of course we do appreciate if you actually did read all this extra addition to the log word count! There's a challenge somewhere out there, or so we've been told! You win a virtual smiley for the effort and getting to the end of the log Maybe if I worked out where it is I could do it and go back to normal logs again ! If you find the challenge let me know and perhaps we can put an end to these long logs !!! Maybe not though - as someone actually did read to the end and alerted me to just a project GC badge that requires long logs [:o)] Well at least it's not as bad as finding a mint tin! C'est fini... For now... ... until tomorrow! PS:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------GCA1DNA - Great Leap Forward ... or is it backward... it takes an extra day to get to March 29.2.24 The Mega Leap Event of the year. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------And don't forget to put the June Long Weekend in your diary for 2024 too... fun and funky finds

We had to use all the routes including the alternative one. Fun here today. A weekend in Whyalla with Hellyonfire enjoying the weather and the caching. TFTC

Meeting my geosister H423L in Whyalla to do some caching Got the coords then went to navigate to it. My sister did well driving this terrain TFTC

Travelling with richlink from Perth to Darwin up along the west coast and home again through the centre and the Nullarbor. We are on the home stretch now, and after a few days on the Yorke, we are at Whyalla before pick-up a few caches. The boys took on the 4WD tracks of Whyalla while the girls headed off to Lucky. We stopped here to claim our smile with a view. TFTC.

Great spot. You can see forever. Thanks

In Whyalla for a weekend of motorsport on the fire crew grabbing caches while in the area TFTC

Great view but bloody windy today

Full time nomads since 2014. Still tootling around the country trying to avoid Covid hotspots.

Back in SA for harvest work. Heading to Port Pirie but 4 days ahead of schedule so a quick detour to Whyalla was in order. There sure is a lot of puzzles here! Glad we had done the solving before arriving in town. Rain overnight meant there was some slip sliding happening as we tackled numerous off road tracks and climbs today. Good Fun in the Geo Cruiser [:o)]

TFTC Team Raider (Mike) & Langy!

I have been meaning to do this for many years.
Got to within 350 metres when I had to give up and back up 200 metres.
If I had been in Pearl the Cummings would eat this for breakfast.
So legged it up the hill and searched for this old cache.
Found the lid and the cache and made a mark.
Loved the view.
A great start to the day

Found It!
I visited WP1 of this last night then came back first thing this morning to do the drive to the top. I took the easier track and that was still a bit of a challenge but the Hilux made it to the top. Great views from GZ, although very windy here today!
TFTC

This weekend, jesswrigley and I headed to Point Lowly and Whyalla to scuba dive with the cuttlefish, who annually migrate there over the winter months to breed. The cuttlefish were plentiful, with the largest groups that I had seen from several prior visits there. Whyalla was a good little city, but unfortunately due to COVID-19, a number of steelworks and mine tours had been cancelled in the current times.

Our final day in Whyalla, and so we decided to do some local sightseeing/geocaching around Whyalla's old centre of town. This also involved a drive up a local hill. We then visited a few multi-caches around the area, including Whyalla's airport, and on its outskirts where there were some obvious 4WD and MTB tracks around the place. Our final adventure was a 4WD trip up Mount Laura, of which we had some nice views of the quarry below/nearby. We then detoured to back home via Iron Knob, where again the town was rather quiet, and we couldn't see many views of the nearby mine. It was then time to head home to Adelaide, driving back through Port Augusta.

It didn't take long to find the coordinates at the posted coordinates, and then a discussion was had with jesswrigley to which route we should take up to GZ. I did actually want to try the shorter route, but in the end, we thought it would be safer to take a more gradual slope up. It was still quite rough, and there was still a steep section near the top, so we certainly still worked for this terrain rating (perhaps not as much as those who chose to walk up here!).

Around GZ, we were probably looking for a good 5-10 min at the various hidey holes around the place. In the end, I found the old cache container lid nearby, before finding the correct hide/container (obviously with the container being a recent replacement). The cache container and logbook were in good shape. Thanks Team Raider (Mike) & Langy! for the cache placement and ongoing maintenance. Awesome views from GZ, and loved the geology/rock terrain!

I am heading over from Adelaide to Port Lincoln to catch up with the geoson for the weekend, taking my time over a couple of days to explore, and to pick up a few (mostly) targeted caches along the way.

It was good to have the time to complete this multi. And it was a nice drive to the top to take in the views on what was a glorious day!

Thanks Team Raider (Mike) & Langy! for the cache.

Another Multi to my growing bag of finds for the day, sweet as!

I wish i'd read this Multi before going for the elevated Trads up there aaaaaargh!
Oh well, more calories smashed, i'm cool with that. Went to the listed co-ords and got the co-ords needed for the final, yep, you guessed it, up there,... again!

Got to GZ and spent about 5 minutes trying to find the booty. It was found eventually and i was SL at 12:43 on TGIF 26 April 2019.

TFTC Team Raider (Mike) & Langy!

This being a 'pre-caching cache placement' for me, it was is on the must-do list whilst in Whyalla.
1st wp found easily, however I chose to not take the direct route by car nor foot, but instead found a sensibke alternative route that was still challenging.
A great spot for a cache... And a lot of unlove on this one too, not being found for well over a year!...

Spending a few days in Whyalla and found a few cache, or 300!
Had managed to solve all the puzzles before coming over too.
Of the nearly 300 found on the trip over and back from Adelaide, 95% were found within 50km of Whyalla Central, with approx a dozen dnfs also. Amongst all the finds was my 17000th find.
Also managed a lot of 'unloved' finds too.
What is it with Whyalla and mint tins? lol
TNLNSL
Thanks

Hi there Team Raider.

We found your cache **"Alternative Routes!?"** at 11:13:00 AM today. (This makes our find count 15869).

We cached around the Whyalla area today. On our trek we found a wide variety of container types. & ended up finding 5 caches with 0 DNF's.

Thanks for placing this cache here, without geocaching as our guide we would never have found so many interesting places on our travels.

**Coordinate Accuracy:** We found the cache around 2m from where the GPS said we should be looking.
**Cache Condition:** Cache needed some maintenance, so we made the repair and restored the cache.
**Took:** Nothing.
**Left:** A Smiley Badge.

Thanks for the hunt today,

Regards

Ian & Penny.

In Whyalla for the day for a Wedding, so thought we would kill some time.
Lots of fun getting to the top for the lovely views.
Cheers and thanks for the cache

grabed this quickly with ferret52 while up finding what a veiw. TFTC!

Great cache found it thanks.

Found at 10:50 AM GAFF1 in the company of maccamob. We signed the log book as "M & P".
Well this time we did do the alternative route. Last time we were here we had the Patrol with good tyres and tore up that track. Today we have our new Discovery with road tyres and we timidly ran along safe tracks
Great views from up here.
Thanks Team Raider.

Found by Mary & David, in company with pprass (signed as m & p), at 1049. Didn't take long to find out where we had to go. Looked at the direct route and thought better of it, so took the alternative route a little further east. Great views from GZ! Our thanks to Team Raider.

First one for the day. Thought I tackle the highest point first. All down hill from here. Great view. TFTC

Every caching day provides an excuse for some exercise [^]
Something that most 4WD'ers are very, very sadly lacking in

And here was that cache
Even before finding the waypoint, I knew where this cache chase was going to take me
The container was soon found and ... well wadda yer know ?? ... I'm headed there !!
Duh !!

The track was a very easy climb, all the way to the top
It took 10 minutes, and I was hardly out of breath.
The geoomobile took it all in its stride too, and waited patiently for me to return
The views from the top are pretty speccy [^]
Well worth the run up the direct track ... bother the alternative routes .... I have already strolled around those a few weeks ago

At GZ and I discovered the sad reality of what happens when 4WD'ers have easy access to areas like this
Rubbish, smashed glass, fast food containers stuffed into the cracks in the rocks [:o]
The cache had obviously been found by the local dimwits and tossed off the rocks like all the junk food and alcohol containers they brought with them

I scrounged around and found a whole load of pencils, the lid, the remains of a logbook, and even the bottom of the cache
Pieced back together ... it was a cache again

Last challenge ?
Where to rehide the cache ?

I found a nice little cave in the rocks close to GZ that should keep the cache safe, and dry

TFTC and a bit of exercise today [^]

Found the coords and set about reaching WP2. Enjoyed the walk and view. TFTC

Grabbed the co-ords for this ages ago and finally made the run up. TFTC

A nice easy find by the lad at both waypoints. It was agreat day to test out the new 4WD. then we took some happy snaps at GZ as it was great up there. TFTC.

Found it with a great view

A great Sunday afternoon, hunting with team Affy. Had no trouble with either WP1 or WP2. Found WP1 earlier in the day in preperation for later. Took the 'alternate route' considering SUV in group. A great view from GZ, just happy to sit back and look over the town. TFTC

Drove a 2WD right to teh final waypoint (using one of the alternative routes). A great locaton, visited just on sunset. TFTC

This one has been on my 'To Do' list for a long time. Finally got up here to find the cache wet. The lid seems to be leaking so a new box is in order.

On the way to the posted coords Zytheran point to where he thought the cache would be located, I agreed. You can guess where we went next.

Thanks for the cache Team Raider.

Knowing Langy I knew this one wouldn't be half way up but within a few metres or where you could aprk a 4WD. Had already been up there 15 minutes before but we returned for a 2nd time on foot.

Dropped by to see this old friend.. Cache was half full of water, poured it out but everythings wet and needs drying out

found with cslyoda

Loved this cache and made sure to take the hardest longest way to find it! Our Jeep excels in terrain like this and I am so glad that Ian was navigating so I had the fun driving.

thanks

We went the 4 route this time, man what a climb. We thought that GZ was gonna be halfway up. But we ended up climbing all the way. And didnt do the alternative route. Awesomes views from here today almost a clear sight all the way down coast line.

Langy! from Team Langy! gave us permission to fix this cache up - so we have!!!
At the above co-ordinates you will find a small tin containing the co-ordinates to the actual cache.

Please don't put anything else in this container, leave your swaps to the next stage.

Mike, if you are reading this - please contact me about changing ownership of this cache as I am willing to add it to my list.

Happy Caching everyone.

Tried to get this ages ago, but couldn't find WP1. Thanks to some help from YeahRight80 we found the cache at WP2. Finally can tick this one off the list.

The cache at WP2 is still there and still in good condition. Found again thanks to several well meaning cachers who provided clues and instructions of where it used to be...thanks guys.
Anyone wishing to visit the cache are welcome to email me for the co-ords.

Can the owner please do a check on WP1 The first appoint has not been found for nearly two years after a few have tried. If WP1 can not be replaced please change it to a regular cache and publish the final coords.

Looks like the container at wp1 has been muggled and trashed.

Searched all over the place at WP1 but only found a smashed container with some remnants of camo paint. Think this might have been muggled.

Now! That was a challenge [xx(]
Left the Little cache Ranger for a rest
TFTC

Cheers and Happy Hunting Shane4

We finally got back to complete this one after we did the initial groundwork on this cache in April last year. Did it the hard way by walking, but figured the exercise was better for us. This is our first find for 2009 and what a view. Absolutely spectacular.
T - Vintage Ken's Brown Shorts TB
L - NTSTROM'S Roaming GC

TFTH
TFTC
Read all about our discoveries at: http://thismechanican.wordpress.com/

We did the initial work on this multi last November when we were in Whyalla for a day. Back in town for a few days on our way home to WA and we looked forward to completing this one. We were not disappointed, challenging drive to GZ, though the Patrol handled it well. Rewarded with magnificant views and a find to boot! Our favourite find in Whyalla.
Left: Vintage Ken's Brown Shorts TB

Attempted to do this one but at WP1 I found the container opened and no contents in sight. The owner will need to fix and insert the final WP before it can be attempted again.

Eventually took the top route and came back down - hard work after a good 90 mins of riding the trails - stoked that this one is back online - thanks mf!

TFTC - TNLNSL - CMB rockin' the arid lands

Well, after pulling apart the laptop in the motel, to find that a loose screw has shorted out the power supply section on the motherboard, I decided some serious night time caching was the order of the night?
All I had was a set of coords in the GPSr with no info. Oh, well. Whats the worst that can happen? Go to the top of some mountain 15 miles away could have happened! But it didn't.
Thankfully the cachemobile is 4WD not AWD and it cruised up without a worry.
Found the cache after a long search, took the TB (going to Tassie - can't get more beautiful than that!), left nothing.
Thanks for a ripper cache and the view at night was excellent!
Swampy

This was WICKED!!! The Rocky Glen Groms do NOT have a 4 wheel drive - they have an All Wheel drive - a geomobile Subarooooo in fact. Well, the Groms thought it would be worth a try to drive up the steepest side - we only got about 1/3rd of the way before the Groms were evicted for safety and the Grom parents slowly "slid" to a safer spot - Mum Grom was a little anxious! The Groms thought it was a whole heap of fun. With car parked on the track in an almost vertical position, we took off on foot - reaching the "summit" a while later. We were rewarded with a find - COOL! We took a lanyard and took a brain (we didn't really use ours when we encountered the drive!) Left behind a Travel Bug which wants to look at beautiful islands and the sea - this was a good view. Rated as one of Rocky Glen's most memorable feats we'd like to thank Team Raider for this one. Later in the afternoon we found the other alternative routes on the other side!

Another cache that has taken us a while to finish found first stage on 4th November 2007 and now we have completed it another great view of Whyalla sat here for a while to take in the view. TFTC
T - Torch
L - yellow car

Wow i was a little puffed after this one, Nice cache.
TNLN TFTC

A lovely walk on a Sunday afternoon, who says you need a 4wd, when you've 2 perfectly good legs!! TFTC and the great view!!
TSLSSL

Finally got back to this one. First time was a DNF on 26th May. Took hike to the top once again with Tweety2 this time, found it then back down again.
Took nothing Left Brain.
TFTC

Well, I got my exercise in for the morning! After finding waypoint 1, I had a pretty good idea of what I was in for and where I was heading.
I used to fly remote control gliders off here in my younger days.(The updraught would support a brick with wings!)Thanks for bringing me back, and for the excellent view too!
TNLNSL
TFTH - Kewl!!!!

A big thanks for replacing the cache.

Lately I've had no time to even comtemplate replacing the thing.... I'd make a plan and it wouldnt happen..

A HUGE thanks to you!

Alternative Routes Lives.
While this cache has been gone for a few months, I decided the view was always worth a cache and have replaced the old one with a new one, and you can't claim the find when there is no cache! So it's back! It is a one litre camo box, well hidden at the existing GZ. It has a new log book and some new swaps also.
Enjoy again!
Maux Faux.

1st part spot on. 2nd part not to be found after extensive look. After that climb I needed some incentive.

Didn't find this one. First clue was spot on but I think this needs attention as we looked for quite awhile at second location and couldn't find a thing.
Bubbles8.

Sorry about the late notification. I can confirm that the cache is no longer there, as I removed what was left of it. (See my log below). Unfortunatly I had nothing to replace it with. The owners should probably move it anyway as my guess is that it was trashed deliberatly.

Four people searched for half an hour including two that have found it previously. Has it been washed away in the recent rains or has it been muggled?

However it was a fantastic walk up the hill. Beautiful sunny day and what a great view.

Whistling Kites.

Absolutely loved this one. A nice simple multi that had an end point that is pretty obvious from the word go . Since we only had a 2WD, the direct route was certainly out. The altertative vehicular route was definatly possible, but its only a few hundred metres and we need the exercise . On arrival at GZ we discovered the remnants of the cache scattered all over the place. Gathered up the few shards that we could locate (See pic) but there was no sign of the logbook. The container was also totalled and we had no way of replacing or repairing it.
Even though we couldn’t sign the book, I would still like to claim the smiley for finding it, seeing that we walked to the position and DID actually find it [^]

We walked this from the first waypoint and what a steep climb. The stops on the way allowed us to take in the view. Definately worth the effort and a great sense of achievement. Took hogwash pig and left CD. TFTC Tuccamore

Gosh! It was great one. I am real enjoyed myself oops! But my friend Joan doubts that I can make it. But she enjoyed herself after we found the cache and it was awesome view which I never know the town is big one. No swap, Thank you for organise the cache and hunt.

My wife wanted to go to Whyalla to do some shopping, so naturally i said yes as i had geocaching in mind!!

After spending the morning shopping i said i was doing one cache before lunch:).

Found the first part easy enough, then told wife that we were going up, took the direct route after a quick assesment of the terrain and a short shift of the stubby lever to the left of the gear shift;)

Got to the top and told wife to open her eyes and enjoy the views whilst i searched for the cache.

After searching for a while through the many available spots found it as i was about to phone a friend to ask of the size of the container.

TNLNSL TFTC

Dropped in Geocoin TLC - Travel OZ on his djcache SA tour. Will continue on his way for now.

DJ

Found it after taking one of the many routes up. Not the straightest of routes but it was hot and I didn't particularly feel like dropping the tyre pressures on our fairly heavily loaded 4wd.

Staying in Port Augusta en route to the salt lake racing (www.landracing.com or www.dlra.org.au) we decided to spend the day in Wyhalla. Went to the maritime museum - definately worth a look and tried for a couple of other caches with limited success.

Actually saw a Wyhalla 4wd club sticker on a Patrol ute up at the DLRA competitors camp too. Wonder who?

DJ

Drove all the way up, even with the camper trailer attached!! The wife thought we had to go straight up, however she was initially relieved to hear the good news. The fingers did rip off the dash however when driving up the main route. No trouble, with no slippage or damage (i must reinforce this for her sake).

Thanks for the great cache, in a great area.

Agsmky

This time was better and got it within 2 minutes, good little spot.
Drove halfway to the top first, then walked.
TFTH
T- Keyring
L- Compass keyring

Found WP1 easily but even before entering the coords I just knew where I was headed. No 4wd vehicle so up I go on foot (kidz stayed in car). Great walk and even greater views. Loved it. TFTH TNLNSL

Maybe not following the nose, but failed to find this cache on top of the hill, got to the place were it could have been, but no luck, next time maybe more luck.
No rock was unturned, but there you go.
Nice views from the top.

Took the chicken run up. It was a wet day and we were in a borrowed 4WD.
Short walk up from the gate and found soon after.

TNLN
Thanks

Didn't know this was a multi until we got the coords for the second stage. Took road up to gate then walked puffed the way up the second bit. found after a bit of a search. Lovely view over the not familiar green countryside and Whyalla township.
Took Compass keyring
Left Red Car and Sarawak keyring

Hmmm, do I detour via the left or walk? Silly question! Drive of course! Great views from up here, the flies are friendly too. Took a keyring and left a 4WD.
Thanks Mike & Langy

Don't remember the swaps here but I do remember taking the more difficult route up. My passenger was not happy about the last little bit of track we had to drive so I had to do a 6 point turn to get back down. Of course we went up this track 2 days later with the Whyalla 4WD club and it was a breeze. Still, the walk and climb along the rocks was nice. Cheers and thanks.

After driving up the hill on the 4WD circuit, Fab & me couldn't resist the temptation to do it again with Skippy & Lambchops. Lambchops got the claim the honours on this one. TNLNSL before walking the rest of the way to admire the views. The drive down scraped more than the drive up! Thanks Mike & Langy.

After driving up this hill the first time I found out this was a multi, we came back in the afternoon for another drive and again forgot to get the co-ords to stage 2,
Two Hours later we found Stage 1 which then lead to stage 2. after a short search found the cache.
ook Clip and left Kangaroo & Travel bug

Thanks Mike and langy for showing me this hill with fantastic views.

In town for the long weekend attending the 3rd annual "Weekend in Whyalla" (aka: WW3 ) 4wd'ing event run by the local 4wd club. This is the same event that this cache was originally place here for to celebrate so it was only fitting that Team Stargazer grabbed it the following year.
Been up & down this track a number of times during the weekend while out exploring the area around Mt. Laura.
Like everyone else, the first waypoint was an easy find and then it was a "simple" straight up drive to the final waypoint ... you know, one really should try this track at night time!!!

Found 01/10/05 (1st October) @ 12:45pm by Paul (Team Stargazer).

Took: Water pistol
Left: Compass keyring

Thanks Raider & Langy! [^]

Went the hard way, it took a lot longer, but was well worth it, a great view, even saw a train go by. A sunny day but very windy. Left a book mark took nothing.

Walked from stage 1 to stage 2 after rail buffs (dad) said " I don't want to take the car up there" tried to explain the significance of name but like true parents always are didn't listen, so went went the hard way. He learnt.
Good view, grew up about 2 stones throw down so enjoyed the cache very much.

Took Marigold seeds
Left Caribiner

Thanks for the cache

Hopped this time. Used to go to the top of this hill when I lived in town by a 2wd route.

Found the first location no trouble. Left the kids in the Suba-Froggo-mobile. As we all know, Subaru is Vogon for Not enough power to climb more than a 20 degree slope!!

Second location proved to be a trifle more difficult in the finding department. After fifteen minutes I phoned a friend, who I thought might have been there. The bush kangoroo had just raided a Langy virgin and was feeling in a good mood. But no he hadn’t been there. Bugger.

Spent another ten minutes looking in some more difficult spots, then spotted some plastic in an easier location. Yahoo. Success. We eat today.

Took the alternate route and a walk in my little 2WD. Great views from here. - combo lock + carabiner clip watch. Cheers.

The first part was o'k. Then 'UP' we went, the direct/enjoyable way! Den enjoying the 4wding, Sue with her fingernails firmly into the seat - doing her best not to show her fear to 3yrold H, nearly asleep in the back! Alas, the tyres are too expensive for the risk - 200m away, we reversed out and went back down to use an alternate route! This time we could only go as far as the gate, leaving a 240m walk. As H was asleep, Sue went up first and gave the legs a good burning - to no avail. Den's turn with a win.
Took bottle opener keyring, left combination lock.
Thanks for the great adventure.

So…. Raider!!! Up we went!!!!!!

Lots of alternative routes to here. Views for miles. Well worth the effort.

Cache very aptly named!

Thanks Raider

Clear skies
TeamAstro.

WOW. Some serious 4 trotter drive action on thsi one, straight up the side of the hill !
Got up there no worries, a few slips n slides on the way back in the slightly overweight pig-mobile though !
Thanks Mike !

Found this one with the help of our new caching friend Phil from Team PPPLFCC. Very windy at the top. Great views. Took car and left marigold seeds. Thanks Team Raider and Langy.

Alternative routes indeed! Found part 1 pretty quickly. For part 2, discarded the terrain rating 4 option. Took an easier road and walked part of the way. Had to wait for a jogging(!) muggle to leave. Found at 0745 after speaking sternly to a surprisingly moody GPSr.
Great views and mercifully few flies.
Forgot proper swap (rats) so left $2 coin, took mini soccer ball.
Thanks Team Raider (Mike) & Langy!