Melrose Monks Tuggeranong, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
By Tankengine on 13-Feb-05. Waypoint GCMV2Q

Great to find this old cache today and beaut to be out and about wandering in Canberra's nature parks. I had some trouble with the calculations but got some help from a mate. Cache container and log book is nice and dry. Thanks for hiding this cache Tankengine

Find#4878
Nice hiding place
Found with DSD
Thanks for the cache

Found and signed dsd

After a busy morning caching to the west of Canberra, I popped over for an afternoon walk along this section of railway line, which again is absolutely screaming out to be made into a rail trail - in fact the southern bit of this line, north from Bombala, has been surveyed for exactly that purpose this week!

Unlike the portion near Hume, which is quite overgrown, this section to the southeast of Tuggeranong Siding is relatively clear and quite easy to walk along, although the ballast reflects the heat into your face even on a mild day. A very pleasant 8.73km return walk in just a shade under two hours.

I had no problems gathering the data here and picked up on the return. Thanks, Tankengine!

A random pic from today's adventures attached.

Out with dty73 and Tankengine for a walk out along the tracks. Beautiful day to be out and loved the paraphernalia spotted as we walked along. The flat terrain along the tracks was a relief from the hills we walked to get up to them... clearly my Christmas break was less than active!

Lovely scenery along the way helped distract that the walking became more challenging the further we walked along the tracks. Although not the hottest of days it warmed up, and the stones underfoot slowed things up a little.

The last two culvert caches added to the fun, challenging to scramble down to with the moving sliding rocks on the slope, add in a few barbs, nettles and thorns and the DT was well earnt!

Relief to turn off the tracks and head across the reserves under the shade of the trees, so many butterflies and dragonflies everywhere. Fantastic day out and a great place to walk, although I was so pleased to have crawled under that last fence and be back to the car! Thanks for the cache and the day.

Nice old cache, love an oldie! Approach to GZ was so cool and shady and a nice sized container.

I took a trip to Canberra to complete 'The Science of Discovery' souvenir campaign. Lots of Adventure Labs experiences and a handful of older caches made this a very successful day outdoors. Thanks to all Cache Owners for their contribution to this recreational activity.

A locked gate turned this one into a nice excuse to stretch the legs. TFTC

While wandering along the tracks last week (still not sure which is the right side and which is the wrong side), I collected the info required for this multi. I had a crack at solving it on the spot, but without a note pad and with my dubious math ability, I manged to calculate GZ as being in someone's living room in Pearce. Not wanting to knock on the door to check, I re-did the math over the weekend and came up with a much more plausible GZ. Even so, when I made the find today I was still surprised that I got the math correct!
TFTC, Tankengine

Found this cache in two stages. Retrieved the required numbers and made the calculations on one day and made the find the next.

A clear and sunny Australia Day, mostly along the disused railway line between Tralee and Royalla. The cool fresh air was great, so much better that hot and smokey conditions over recent weeks. Started at the paint ball car park I wandering through the pine forest above before hitting the slowly rusting tracks. Following them for several kms I eventually turned upwards for an elevated hide. Retraced my steps virtually the whole way back. Round trip took approximately 4.5 hours, I think.

Had the correct required numbers but couldn't work it out. A quick tip from a previous finder and the coordinates appeared straight away. GZ was a little too far off my return journey and time was running short. Came back the following day for the quick and easy find. TNLNSL TFTC

**THIS CACHE**
OK - another multi - how hard is this one going to be? First things first. We have secateurs so we are going to clear back the blackberries and make sure that we have every opportunity to get the numbers right. We ignored the fainter numbers and had 7 darker ones . We sat on the grass nearby and set about doing the calculations. At this point I was really glad people were not around to ask us what we were doing on this beautiful day talking big numbers. With the calculation complete WP2 looked good BUT so did the last multi. A few hours later we found GZ much to our relief. Cache is in good order. TFTC Tankengine.

**OUR DAY**
With the flu and colds going around just two of us are left standing in our group. So off we went, while nursing the recovery of our own colds, on a less strenuous walk than those undertaken in previous months. That said, the cache challenges made up for the stress with 3 caches providing varying levels of issues. We recovered at each point with help from the CO on a couple to finish mid afternoon.

Today we predominately walked on the train tracks enjoying the superb views back over the Brindabella Mountains in brilliant sunshine although the air was at times crisp when a breeze came over us. We walked, and searched, over 5.5 hours for a distance of 13.90km on and around the train tracks for a total ascent/descent of 297m. What a great day in the outdoors. )

After completing the Lab Caches at the Mega ZQX suggested that we head down to Tuggeranong as there were a couple of multis that he wanted to do.

The walk with ZQX had been very enjoyable with a range of topics making up the conversation. One of the topics was an Australian show called 'Letters & Numbers' and it's UK equivalent 'Countdown'. All I can say is that between us we would not have passed the audition for the show.

In the end we got a very workable set of coordinates and finally an unloved cache. TNLN. TFTC.

Found w frilk. FLTF.
Well, well, well, what do we have here? Some unlove, it appears. 8 months of it. Happy with that. It was a long walk but time well spent. Highlights were seeing a wedge-tailed eagle (I need to stop calling them wedgies - it causes too much confusion), chatting with frilk as we walked, and avenging a DNF from a week ago.
Finding the necessary numbers was a little problematic. I saw too many numbers. (Were the eight numbers? Or nine? Aren't there supposed to be seven digits?!) It was a palimpsest predicament if ever there was one. frilk was able to parse the numbers and we had our starting set to calculate the location of GZ. Then I failed with the maths (forgot to divide in one case). As I was correcting my mistake, frilk failed in his maths. It was a comedy of errors, but in the end we found the cache - all's well that ends well.
47 caches to go before I can claim the TE 300 finds PT!

I wasn't terribly confident of my numbers here as the numbers weren't very distinct and there was an old set of numbers showing through as well. Tried the other side, but harder to read. Tried the useless calculator on the phone with no luck, so then got the GPS version to work. Stored the results for later and was amazed to find the cache at my calculated spot; so my numbers were right after all. Some surprisingly steep little gullies around here.

Container is missing one of the handles, but everything is OK inside.

Thanks,

Third attempt to-day, on my second attempt I had one number wrong (numbers partly faded and covered by vegetation) that resulted in my maths man getting the calculation wrong. Once this was sorted out an easy find to-day. TFTC.

A few hours wandering in from the Monaro Highway and around Melrose and the train line. Nice view from here. TFTC.

Finding the number was easy but my maths sucks. I will subcontract the maths problem and hopefully they can get an answer that looks more likely than I get.

#4071 6th for today

I walked down the rail trail from Hume about a month or so ago and quite enjoyed the experience. So today I headed back to do a bit more. I parked at the paintball/MTB place headed out with a modest number of caches in mind. Today was more about the experience than numbers.

I grappled with the numbers but managed to caclulate a likely result. It was a bit of a way off, but I was going that way, so all good. Once at gz it took about 10 mins to locate, but very pleased to find a genuine old cache with its original log book ! Still in good condition due to its careful placement.

Thanks to the COs: Tankengine

50 finds in 13 years! Not too many if you think about it!
After getting a FTF on a nearby traditional cache to WP1 I walked over and got the numbers for this multi. The numbers were completely covered by thorns however, so I got a bit scratched up trying to move them so I could read it properly.

I then headed south to get the other caches I needed in this area before heading back to the car like several other people have done, and driving a bit closer to GZ!

A pleasant walk through the pines along the trails and I soon had reached the cache!
Original logbook and container, ahhhh got to LOVE that!

The container is missing one of its clips, but because the hide is so good and SO sheltered, I don't think it actually even matters that it isn't completely sealed....

Thanks for the multi Tankengine!

Out for a lovely walk with The Woofer today. Nobody else about, just the gale force wind! Some really cool locations today.

We had started this one last weekend, but were too tired to make it to GZ, so made that our mission today. At GZ we looked in all the likely spots, but after several minutes without luck we started questioning whether we had our numbers right. Then Chris had a "re-look" and there it was! A nice big container, so we left some swap items. Thanks for a fun cache!

#8676 @1550
A day focused on multi caches, with some others thrown in as I passed. This was the ninth of 10 multis found. I went to the posted co-ords via the two tunnel caches, and returned the same way once I'd calculated GZ. A very hot walk. I then approached from the other direction to find the cache. Nicely hidden. TFTC.

We were keen to continue our walk and spotted this one a bit further along. But recent logs didn't look all that encouraging! However, the age of the cache won out (we do love the oldies), plus the unloved days. So we trundled off to WP1 to see what we could see. No problems getting there and we soon located the number (although we had to think about it for a second). Then we had to read the correct number... we came up with four options, none of which worked out in the formula the way we read it. A bit of research on a few things (bless the age of mobile data!) and Pagan made a break though. Reworked the formula and.... 15km away. We think not. What if the formula was interpreted like this? Some more playing with the numbers and finally we got something that seemed likely. It wasn't in a great direction for us so we returned westwards to the car and drove to a more appropriate starting location to get to GZ. A short-ish but unexpectedly steep wander in to the cache but an easy find once there and big smiles all around. This was quite a bonus for us today. Thanks Tankengine

cheers. My Maths is not working out.

This was a cache that I have wanted to find for a very long time. I guess since it was placed 10 years ago.
For some reason I was always put off by the log notes. A very long hike, impossible calculations, incorrect gz locations and every other story I read in the logs.
With a recent find by the Stormcatchers I was pushed into action to find it too
But in the end It was not to bad. It was a bit hard on the back walking on the railway line but most of the way you could walk along beside. The calculations could easily be done with my phone and a piece of paper. The additional hint confirmed all was good. The walk was not even that far.

Not sure what was stopping me.

It was a great day for a walk. Beautiful spring weather with lots of blooms out and not to warm to keep it comfortable.
Thanks for a great cache.

Well after a long 13km walk we finally ended up at GZ just after sunset to put our name of this 10 year old cache complete with original logbook! We do love reading all the old logs, who wouldn't want to physically sign a logbook these days...so cool leaving a mark that could be around for some time to come !
We collected the information earlier as we "tracked" to visit two tunnels along a nice stretch of track. We did almost get run over by a speedy wombat though, wow they can motor. The numbers were covered by vines so had to clear them away before we could start the maths. They were some big numbers and all worked together so nicely.
Great little multi Tankengine, was good to finally get out here and explore a bit more.

The first find for the day and the first time this one has been found in almost 3 years! I had actually collected the info for this one two days before it was last found, with Nemo, but we got the calculations wrong so didn't end up finding it. I re did the calculations later and got a better looking GZ. I hadn't had a chance to find it since then so today I decided to come up here and find it. My dad joined me for the walk and we made our way up to GZ in about 15 minutes or so. Some nice views in a very scenic spot! I really like this spot, I can see why my mountain biking friends visit here often! It was really interesting to see some of the swaps from 2005, that had been there for 10 years. A really interesting cache, TFTC Tankengine!

I have been putting this one off for eons. Didn't get much exercise yesterday so it sounded eminently suitable today. Parked at the paintball, decided to gaiter up, listened to the sounds of war and set off. I remember in the mid 90's you could drive to the siding. No longer I guess but a convoy of cars passed me going in the other direction. Got to the siding and walked off wondering whether to get camera out of the bag. Too late, as the red belly black slithered by making Sssssss sounds. Lovely stroll along the line, cute black faced sheep watched me intensely. Got to WP 1, it is a TankEngine cache so did the honourable thing and got punctured by thorns. Now that number, took me ages - I think it is now an 8 digit number rather than 7 so which one do I leave out????? Apparently, the one I did leave out, as after the most complex calculations which were worthy of a space shuttle launch, the proposed GZ sort of looked like making sense (Thomas, maybe a checksum for the 7 digit number ????). When I got to GZ, I felt really vunerable groping for the cache. If I was a wriggly stick, I think this would make a really wonderful home. Oh well, no slithery ones and I signed the log and rushed home for a late well \deserved lunch!

We collected WP1 in the opposite direction on our way to just "one more cache" (which actually turned out to be two more...including a mountain...via the hardest possible approach...having a big part of the total of 20km for the day...on ultra uncomfortable terrain!). So after a bit of hopeful deciphering for WP1 and another 2 TE caches that were quite a journey - by encouragement of a random encounter with Mr Roo we were determined to tackle this last cache of the day as it was getting dark and cold, despite our aching everything's (hills, bah!). We tried our best to share torch light with Mr Roo but he couldn't see very well by this time and told us to "go on without me!" so the_proton and I forged ahead quickly to make this last find so we could all make our way back to the car. Finally the call of the caches had been satisfied for the day and starting to breathe condensation smoke was a telling sign that we needed to get to the heck out of this place! Finally after following train tracks for what seemed forever and a day our aching feet rejoiced at the feel of solid(er) ground when they met with the dirt. It was definitely time to go home and eat as it was dinner time and we had kind of missed eating food since breakfast, I was SO hungry as I may have made my travelling companions aware since 12 when we had turned to go and get some food and come face to face with a Roo until 6pm when the walking was over...SKETTI FEAST!

On our way to our expedition to Tankengine's Tunnel and Enchanted Hill we grabbed WP1 for this cache and we naturally had to grab it on our way out and back to the car. After a little bit of a search for a way to get to the right location (and a quick climb out of a railway cutting) we soon made our way to the cache. We were surprised at how few people had found this one since mr_roo (who was still with us) found it back in 2010, he was still on the same logbook pages we were signing. TFTC Tankengine!

176. Well where do I start. Had a lovely walk /bike ride to the listed coords. So lovely in fact that I overshot the area by some 200+ metres. What exactly are those numbers and is that a decimal point? I even went to the other side via the most direct route to see if I could clarify this but no real satisfaction was gained. So on with the calculation. I was taught to show your workings, so with no paper, I proceeded to cover my leg with numbers, another combination of A and a recheck. I would love to attach a photo, but I'm sure this would be considered a spoiler. So back to the hike and bike and to the calculated GZ and "there it is". Would have hated expending all that energy for a DNF. Can't believe this one hasn't been logged for quite sometime or maybe I can. Loved the journey. TFTC.

What a day of decisions:
a) Should I go caching? Really....such a stupid question...answer: Yes
b) Where? Obviously the decision was "To Melrose Monks"
c) Should I ride or walk it? ...It looked like a reasonable distance and dog-friendly with what appeared to be reasonable trails. Decision was to ride.
d) Now, considering Elvis is coming along...which bike to take? LUCKILY I chose the right one...something with decent suspension.
e) Which route to follow? I originally pulled up at what I thought to be a reasonable spot thinking it might even be shorter that parking at the Paintball center. But then I changed my mind because I know that whenever I think something will be easier it is inevitably harder. So off I toddled to the paintball center. My original planned route from the google maps looked like it was going to take me directly into the line of fire so I opted for a quick diversion for a closeby trig point instead and off we went.
f) Once at the train tracks should I stay on the track or not? Had I been walking the tracks would have been easy. On a bike, whilst handling a dog on a lead, they are not as easy... but the choice of bike at (d) was definitely the right one. Not to fear, after a short distance I discovered an alternate path which followed the line and was just that bit easier for the bike/dog combination.
g) Once at the posted coords should I go up or down. Well...down leads me into blackberries and this IS a Tankengine cache.....so I probably need to go there. (Yes....you do)
h) Am I glad I packed a calculator or WHAT!....oh yes you're right ...The decision at (b)(i) was "Should I pack a calculator?" Answer: Yes!
i) Having calculated and found GZ should I attempt this single track I now find myself at back towards the car, considering I made the right decision at (d), BUT whilst trying to handle a dog????? Answer: Noooooo...... but I did anyway and most of it was fun except for the falling off bit. [B)] However....it is a Tankengine cache after all.

3rd of the day. Which I can say I walked 18kms. This one had me walking down a old road from my last cache. Got tothe railway line and started walking on it until I got to the waypoint. Geeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzz the maths in this one is a killer. My phone didnt let me put all the numbers in so phone a friend who did the maths for me. A fair walk back to gz where I made a easy find, before heading to Calwell for one last cache to end the day TFTC

Well, I can definitely tell you that the cache isn't on the outskirts of Richardson! Seems the maths gods were against us on this one (as so many others have experienced on this cache), and we ended up walking back to the car, and driving to the edge of Richardson. There was a nice big old tree at fake-GZ, so it was worth a search. After that it was back to the car, work the maths again, and back to find the real cache. Probably added an extra 1.3kms to our walking today, but better than not finding it at all. Thanks for a great stroll along the railway line!!

My legs are still hurting from this cache. As wasptor explained we had a little trouble with the co ords but all was good in the end....TFTC!

I had fun going to this cache. I was being a train all the way up to WP1. we went a bit mad because wasptor and fraggle_rock could not get the co ords right! they made me walk more and more. I did not mind so much as I swapped a car for some new shoe laces, Wasptor put them in my shoes straight away for me while mum signed the log. Fraggle_rock also told me that the cache is the same age as me, I thought that was pretty cool. TFTC!

Solved this one some time ago and finally back out here to claim the cache. Saw some crazies on mountain bikes on the nearby tracks. Had to wait for them to go before we could make the find.

with all the logs about maths , you would have thought we would have got it right, but we did have no problems with calculate on the Dakota which could easily handle the long numbers, it turned out some keying issues and then some transposing of digits left us in the wrong area and after a phone call by Tealby and some recalculation we saw our error, doh, doh, but fortunately we where at least in the general area so we didn't have to back track, that would have added to the embarrassment . Once we entered corrected the coords, we felt confident of success meet some mountain bikers taking a breather before there descent, probably puzzled while people where mad enough to walk around here, any way all good in the end .
now on to complete BigOn series.
thanks

I have been wanting to find this cache for ages, but could not determine the access way on a much earlier visit to Melrose High & had almost given up. However, BigON kindly placed his SSSStationary cache to point the way & we just followed the path from there! I really enjoyed the walk & mtrax was great company. We met a couple of horse riders (& horses) and mountain bike riders (& mountain bikes) along the way too.

Got to WP1 & I did the scramble to gather the numbers. Then we had a combined effort at calculating GZ. Our first effort came up with coords that were 13km away, so we decided to have another go. I tried using my phone & (as per the experience of others) it couldn't cope with such a big multiplication - but once I divided first it was all fine. A much more likely GZ was calculated & we were off....

Stopped for lunch after WP1 & found a lovely shady grove of trees to eat in. Then it was time to venture on to find the cache... I was most surprised when our GZ ended up very close to another cache... huh?! Even so, we persisted for some time & tried several lifelines until we finally contacted BigON who confirmed we were close-ish, but definitely not in the right area. A re-check of our calculations confirmed that dyslexia was the problem, so once the two numbers were transposed we were on our way & quickly found the cache. Swapped pathtags. TFTC - it's great to cross off another cache that pre-dates my caching "career".

#568 - Enjoyed the hike along the tracks. We found a swallow's nest in the pipe at WP1 and then a pardalote's nest in the bank above the number. I have attached a couple of photos.
At GZ I was wondering if I should have double checked the calculations when , lo and behold, there it was .
T: McPhan and Rex Trex pathtags; L: thong keyring TFTC

10 of 14 caches today encompassing the ONLINE series and a few others. Tankengine, you are a cruel, cruel man. I was tempted to leave this one out of my caching activities today because of the extra distance out andc back. Got to GZ and found the number only to realise that one of the calculations was beyond the abilities of the calculator on my phone. Phoned the geowife and got her to do the calcs for me. Now it puts me 1.7 km away! Well I decided to give it away and head back. On the way I decided that I'd punch the coords into my phone and pull up a map. Looks familiar.... in fact it looks like I'll be walking past it on the way back. Oh well, thanks for the exercise!

Logged from my phone using the Geocache Navigator by Trimble

After an error in reading, not in the maths last time, I found myself less than 50m from the line I had been searching last time. oh well, I'll have to be more persistent in future. I must say it is much easier with the correct answer. I walked in the forest this time seeking some shade as it was HOT HOT HOT in the sun. Thanks.

2937.7 TNLN
Visited: World Traveling Gold GC A#6 & Pyramid A#23

Albida

Found in the company of McPhan and Winglen as we spent a day out caching - most of it along the railway line chasing the BigON series. It was great strolling along the line towards Tankengine's cache checking out the wildflowers in what was a very nice green valley at this time of year. Apart from being dropped in it by McPhan (Have you put any sunscreen on RexTrex?), being told off by Winglen, then hearing him say that he had carefully applied sunblock before leaving home - well, what can one do? The only appropriate response seemed to be to poke out my tongue at him, so did that!

All was forgiven (once he had rung home and found out where would be a good place to hike to) then having gained some exciting information at that point, to ring the poor, hard-working McPhan nipper to enter the details into the cunningly prepared spreadsheet which resolved the required answer without undue brain stress. After half a day's diversion cleaning up the other caches it was on to GZ and a successful find in the wilderness. Thanks Tankengine for the opportunity to explore out here, and to my caching companions Winglen and McPhan for a fun day and a great team effort. And of course thanks to McP Jr. for doing all the hard work, without which we would have been - err, just walking, not caching.

2563. [font=Arial][green]This was the sixth oldest unfound (by me) caches in the ACT. I guess for too long I've been put off by people logging that the maths was an issue.

Being a very well prepared cacher I put a formula into excel and gave instructions to the kids about what to do when I phoned.

Anyway we do the fourth or fifth BigON cache and it's time to head to....What the. Where's the cache in the Oregon?????? So the first call was to get the actual coordinates so that we could get to use the formula prepared earlier by that well prepared cacher

It was a great walk in the great company of RexTrex and Mrs Winglen (training value) to WP1. The phone call home delivered some likely coordinates and then we were off. Not to GZ mind you. We cleaned up the rest of the BigON caches and went to get this one on the trek back to the car. And there it was - hurrah and huzzah.

Thanks again to RexTrex and Mrs WInglen for the company stories and knowledge shared.

TFTC and the domes.[/green][font=Verdana]

Rated: for Overall Experience

I had fantastic walk along the old line via the first two new caches and then the long trek around to WP1 for this one. It is a pity there are no trains anymore. Oh well. I grabbed the number, I did have a few doubts over a few digits, but GZ seemed in the right direction. As it turned out either it is too blended in for me or I had something wrong. I will try again I am sure. Thanks. Albida.

No luck with this one today. Wasn't sure what was needed with the math. Tried a couple of variants but the only NW combo was in the middle of a sheep paddock. Home to try my luck with a pencil this time.

A late-ish decision to try this one this afternoon. Parked well down the hill and started the walk. Once up and over the top we looked at, and started for, the direct route, but decided after about 100 metres that the area looked to be private, so headed back the way we first thought. The going was very easy and we arrived at WP1 40 minutes later.

Another 10 minutes spend doing the maths (thanks goodness for the GPS.....and not mobile phones!!!!!) and we were then heading towards GZ. After a little shortcut close to our goal, the cache was soon in hand. 5 months since it has been found and all is still good.

Signed the log, replaced the cache in it's well hidden area and then back down the hill to the cars.

All up, almost 2 hours from car to car....in another area that I would not of discovered without caching.

Took the TB to move it on, left a pathtag and thanks Tankengine for another fun walk and find.

963 - Have been wanting to do this one for a while but not real sure how to get there.

Bit the bullet today and walked in along the train line. Was a good idea (especially after seeing the size of the Bull in one of the Paddocks...!!).

Found the number then did the looooong calcs .... Eventually came up with good numbers - walked to GZ and there she was...

Been a while since this one was visited - all in good order.

Thanks again Tankengine...

TNLN - TFTC !!

Cheers....

(Happy Birthday Dad)

what a walk, we decided to go cross country to the first waypoint and in all honesty, I think it is still quicker to take what appears to be the longer route and follow the railway line. We did see heaps of wildlife though, it was a beautiful spring morning. Was impressed with the ingenuity of the 7 digit number out at the first waypoint and then on to the new co-ordinates. This was a fantastically hidden cache too. Left a trackable item that was picked up friday at a Red Hill cache.

trying to log travel bug as dropped in this cache - appologies for multiple logs (still learning)

Find 3 of a 3 find trip.
Went for a walk with TheMurrayPirates - solved the puzzle with some maths (got my maths right this time)
Found the cache - brilliant hide!
Left a coin, took a CD

Woohoo, a milestone - my 100th multicache find!

Trundling on from Melrose High, got a little confused about which way to go, but eventually decided private property couldnt be right. Once Id made that decision, the more appropriate (not sure if it was actually "right") way became apparent.

It was a pleasant morning walk during which I saw fluffy bunnies, not-so-fluffy cows, bouncy kangaroos and woolly sheep. I also saw a critter that Ive seen the like of at other caches but have never been able to snap a pic before. This one was a little less shy and sat long enough for me to get the camera out.

One I located the number, I didnt have any trouble finding the cache, much to my relief as I was hoping this would be a milestone for me. It also proved a good spot to stop for morning tea. Very pleasant all round.

Thanks Tankengine.

Rated: for Overall Experience

Took two tries, the first time I read the 7 digit number wrong and ended up at the wrong place. I went home, used my maths skills to figure out what the number SHOULD have been and went direct to GZ.

This one wore the geodog out. A few double-backs required when I realised we weren't on the right track to avoid crossing private land, but we figured it out.

Required multiplication caused overflow error in my phone's calculator so I had to change the order of operations to keep the numbers small enough.

Found the cache no problems at 14:57. I've actually done this one once before years ago with Cthuh1u and some other friends. Perfect weather. Nice Multi.

T: Glow Stars
L: Wood top, Gretchin Miniature and a purple bear

A thoroughly enjoyable walk. Reminded me of the country smell of my childhood on the farm, a mixture of sheep and pasture racing the summer to seed. Quite a dogleg as I got no closer to the WP for the first km.

Found the number, but was a bit doubtful as the seven digits have faded and are not so obviously distinguishable from the older set they are painted over. The PDA handled the calculations and I was relieved that the resulting coords were NW as predicted. Back around the dogleg I went.

Cache was spot on, but didn't see any trains along the Tankengine track today.

TNLN. Thanks Tankengine.

459 @12:35pm with Captain Tomato

Thanks Tankengine for a very enjoyable meander. Dog walk - more like a dog leg...

Well without preparation, we ended taking a direct route and thinking that we were missing the "approved" route. Never mind, we walked the line on the way back.

Fortunately my GPS does have an inbuilt cray computer so had the gz coords pretty quick.

The valley was green and the views from WP1 and on the way back were really good. Lovely walk from GZ down through
mountain bike trails to the car.

Oh - and I finally understand the origins of the name.

*Overall Experience: 4*
http://wiki.geocaching.com.au/wiki/Rating

Rated: for Overall Experience

Found @12:35pm with Secretsquirrel-BJC. Found a different way to the first WP (probably one we should have kept out of - oops). The clue was found and calculations done, then it was off to the GZ. Nice hide in a very pleasant surround. Thanks TE

We came at this one last week and without the aid of a calculator failed on my calculations (always remember to carry the one). So we came home used the calc on the PC and just to be certain asked for conformation from Tankengine. Thankfully the PC is alot more accurate and we then had the right co-ords.

TNLNSL

TFTC

Finally hit this one up after getting the clue some-time last year, as I didnt have my cray computer with me at the time (and my brain power is somewhat diminished these days)put it somewhere safe, so safe in fact I could not find it again!

So I headed out again for a pleasurable find (had the cray in my camelback this time!), 2nd for the morning, A little Gem to follow!

Thanks to Tankengine for the cache: T: N L: Mageknight Figure.

Dropped off a jeep TB for this lonely cache.

Tried this by myself earlier in the day but totally stuffed up the sums - should have brought a pen with me! Anyway, went home and GeoJim soon had it sorted out and we went back out again to locate the cache.

Finally found it at 1950hrs with some help from Geohound Cougar! Had to climb over a lot of fallen trees - not just branches, looks like they are thinning out the whole plantation. We had to remove a large branch from the top of the 'boulder'. Hopefully the shuttle crew couldn't see us floundering around down here .

T: The Barrel TB
L: An Action bus faresaver ten ticket (so next cacher could take a ride back home!)

Enjoyed the walk(s) and liked the challenge of finding cache in the dark with tree debris all around. TFTC

This ones been lonely for a while, time for a visit. Dropped off the barrel TB and took nothing. The local trees are having their lower branches thinned out so it is more visible from a distance now, it also has some extra cover from the same operations, good luck finding it if you haven't been here before.
The rain was very welcome and it gave me the chance to try out my new japara thats been sitting idle for the last 6 months.
The cache is in very good shape, though one side bracket is broken on one end it still seals fine and has plenty of natural protection from the elements.
TTFN

What a great cache! A fantastic morning for a walk, got to WP1 in good time and pretty much walked straight up to the GZ, finding it almost immediately. On the way we saw a train (thank goodness we were off the track by then!).

Took "Star Trek VI" (Couldn't resist!), left a yo-yo and a Fistful of Power figurine general.

Found it after using the calculator to do the complicated calculation. Rode the push bikes in this time.

Boy, was that a hard calculation. I couldn't do long division on paper. Gave up and went home for the calculator. Try again tomorrow.

[Finally found it on my second visit, quite annoyingly about 2 metres from where I left my bike on the first attempt! [:(!] Wandered around a bit beforehand, losing a bit of geomorale in the process, before finding it] inside/underneath a clump of rocks about 1 metre off the track. [In the process of writing in the logbook, a geomuggle on a mountain bike stumbled past, whilst I busily pretended to be eating lunch from the 'lunchbox'! Finished off the day by riding at 50km/h down Old Tuggers road, before right at the end rather comically falling off my bike travelling about 5km/h . Still can't believe I missed the cache the first time!

TNLN, picked up Brumby Bob TB]

Popped in for a quick visit, and some cache maintenance. Cache is in deep, but all OK. Also dropped of Brumby Bob TB.

Did not find the final cache, but that may have been because this is only my second cache, and I do not have a sixth "geocaching sense" as I presume some of the more experienced guys must get after a while. Looked at the hint, didn't help (there were about 100 of these objects). Of course, this is all presuming I found the right spot (you sub the numbers into the degrees minutes.minutes, right?)

MTB held up OK (fortunately) and there's some great tracks in the pine forest! (Beware paintballers - as you come up old tuggers road, the first dirt track on your left which leads into the forest, about 100m down that is paintball people)

Had a great time looking for it though, good cache.

That is a long walk for a (long) lunchtime cache (plus I did two others on the way).

Walk was hot. Didn't have my hat and my suit was not the best thing to be wearing. Gate was locked so walked from highway around the long way and then the track around the long way. Makes the trip much longer then the expected 2.5km.

Took a short cut on the way back and found a great little bridge and walking path only to be told by the owners of the property that I was on private land. Oops.

Great lot of different and interesting scenery. Thanks for the cache. TNLN.

Finally, There's one within walking distance of my place, borrowed the DVD for a quick viewing. left a bullet hole sticker and a CD found beside highway going there.

Took my geowhippet for a pleasant stroll along the railroad. Found the cache fairly easily. It was a pleasant walk, sans trains, snakes and paintballers. I did catch my pup eyeing off the sheep though. Bad geowhippet!
Took nada, left $2.

After aborting a first attempt due to the distance travelled by a tired (and thirsty) geokid I returned with MTB today. The first part was a lung buster due to a long time between rides but it cetainly the rest of the trip easier. [xx(]
Once the cache was located it was a great single track trip out (downhill was nice).

Exchanged a Donkey (Shrek) Pez dispenser for Timon (Lion King) one...

...The main mission however was to collect Barbara the Warthog travel bug for a trip to Perth.

Found on our second attempt, this time leaving the geo-hound at home. After the snake bite last time we attempted this cache, we think he may only accompany us when winter caching.
Got to see the steam train pass today and put 2 coins on the track to be squashed. Their imprints can be quite clearly seen.
Found waypoint 1, did the maths, disagreed with each other, tried again and agreed on one. Off we went to the cache but on reaching GZ, found the waypoints had been entered incorrectly. Not to worry, righted that and found we were within 100m of true GZ.
Found cache without further incident. Took Robbie Rat TB and left Barbara's wart hog TB and a train squashed coin. Thanks for another good cache ThomasS and another pleasant ACT location discovered.

My legs are still hurting. Took me a while to find the right path to the first waypoint, but once found I steamed ahead. No train spotting today, unfortunately, but did see plenty of the dang fangled flying machines. I hadn't a pen on me and I was resorting to taking photos of my phone to keep a tally of the sums. The cache itself was easier than I though as I saw it as I was putting my bag down. TN, left Robby Rat TB. t

This is the most expensive cache to date. And even then we didn't find it! Half way to the cache our beautiful geohound decided to play with an Eastern Brown. He's now at the vet being treated. [B)]Hopefully all will be well but I think he can stay home next time we attempt this one.

Should have took the bike. thanks for taking me to a part of canberra I had always been meaning to go to took Pen Puzzle left scourer and laces zz7

A pleasant (great) MTB ride.
Got to the initial coordinates, had no calculator, so I just sat down and wept – then did a lot of mental arithmetic and use a piece of paper and worked out all the maths. When the figures came out to whole numbers I knew I was on the right path!. That was harder than the ride itself!
Rode to the cache, TN, left a card, then a fantastic Cooeeee out of there (you’ll see why & what I mean).

What's the best thing about a new ThomasS cache? Well, besides the challenge of a well-planned puzzle, at least you're not racing to find it before he does

After a couple of early wrong turns, met up with 'MarkTheShark' at the start point and combined our search for the cache. Revisited the original math and after some further searching - FTF! Took nothing, left yo-yo. Thanks to Mark for the company and ThomasS for the cache!

Found in conjunction with Alpha 993 who I (and geospoodle) met up with at the start point. Alpha 993 proved to be pleasant companion on an enjoyable walk on a great morning to be out and about. He then made the all important cache find. Another good ThomasS geocache enabling us to appreciate what we Canberrans have around us.

[This entry was edited by MarkTheShark on Friday, February 18, 2005 at 6:53:15 PM.]

[This entry was edited by MarkTheShark on Friday, February 18, 2005 at 6:53:28 PM.]