Got Your Measure 1 The Basin Soldiers Point, New South Wales, Australia
By Shifter Brains on 19-Apr-06. Waypoint GCVH2Y

Time to go - container missing and difficult to maintain.

Oh my gosh this DNF hurt. I had driven an hour and a half to get to this area and the first cache I was unable to access because of construction work, The second cache I went looking for, I am pretty sure is missing. So, I was pretty keen to actually make a find. It was pretty hot walking down to the cache and the whole way down I was thinking, oh no I have to come back up this. It is pretty steep. So, I get to GZ and start searching, I know I am in the right spot it matches the hint perfectly and my co ords are spot on, Thanks to a friend double checking. no cache, so I go for a walk and find the vending machine then sit for a break. I go back and search again, climbing on the structure to check up high, no luck, I go for another walk and then come back for a final search with no luck before making the sad climb back up that steep hill.

To be checked

Is it a sand bag?

Now that we are coming out of lockdown this cache is now available to find.
Thank you for your patience and to all of you who have been vaccinated.

To help stop the spread of COVID-19, the NSW Government has ordered everybody to STAY AT HOME unless you are: shopping for essentials, receiving medical care, exercising or travelling to work or education.
While some people would regard geocaching as a form of exercise, we feel that this activity is NON-ESSENTIAL, perhaps involving unnecessary travel and therefore should not be undertaken during this time of crisis.
Who knows how long this current lockdown will last! Right now, every one of us has an important part to play in helping to keep our families, friends and the wider community safe in the fight against the spread of COVID-19, by STAYING HOME. Unfortunately, the situation is not improving and there have been an increase in the number of finds on our caches.
As a result of the health authority’s directive, we have decided to disable this cache and respectfully request that you do not seek out and claim a find whilst this cache is disabled. If you do log a find it WILL be DELETED.
Thank you for your cooperation. We look forward to bringing our caches back into play after the restrictions are lifter.
Regards
Shifter Brains

Found, however the plaque about the Lucinda has been removed during works on the site. The lovely ranger showed us the plaque and let us measure it without his assistant ace this would have been a DNF

What a great place and it was quite busy on the campgrounds this Easter weekend.
Sally was found quite easily, but the Endevour plaque was more troublesome. After circling the campgrounds we asked a ranger who pointed us to the right location.
Measurements were done.

The geochecker is quite useless with no mobile internet connection in this location. However measurements can be off a bit anyway as it only affects the last digit of the coordinate.
The location matching the hint and our coordinates was found and we inspected the object for a loooooong time. But there was no cache to be found.

As the last succesful find was two years ago, the cache might have gone missing.

We were sure of the plaque measurements but with our ageing eyes struggled with the millimeters on the Sally memorial. However, although we thought we had close enough to the correct coordinates, the checker had other ideas despite multiple attempts.

We searched around our calculated GZ but sadly found no cache and then we had to endure the struggle back up to the car. Phew!

Still, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to this beautiful place. We'd never been to The Basin before, thanks Shifter Brains for bringing us here.

Beautiful place for a picnic with the family. Found the monument easily but took a while hunting around to find the plaque. In the end it was actually in a pretty obvious spot. Cache was a quick find. TFTC!

Found with The_Jugheads and geokids on geokid3’s first overnight hike. We looked all over the place for AGES to find the Lucinda commemoration plaque, then found a very easy clue and after some quick calculations had GZ coordinates and CIH. We didn’t have a traditional measuring device, but thanks to previous logs pointing out that there is an app for everything, measurements weren’t too difficult, just creative.

TFTC

Shit

TFTC! Nice day out that starts with a nice coffee by the riverside with good friends. Then, after a cache by the river, we drive our car north to this spectacular area.
This is our second cache here after the virtual and it was a tough one, basically because of the walk to get here. Parked on the road and did the 2.8 km downhill, definitely was way more than a 1.5 in terrain for us. Once on site, solving the cache and signing the log was an easy task while we waited for the ferry!
Thanks for hiding and maintaining Shifter Brains!

Woke up considerably earlier than the rest if my tent mates and just happened to open up the caching app and Bam theres one right here, so u got up and got to work. Didn't have a traditional measuring implement but there's an app for everything these days so I was bailed out by the humble smart phone. Got my measurements and fiddled around with the coords till they looked somewhat realistic, peeked the hint and had the cache in hand with in afew minutes. Fun cache and much dedication to bother setting it up out here. would recommend, TFTC

Took us a little while to find the plaque, before eventually realising it was right where we had been sitting for several hours, yesterday. With both clues, GZ was clear. Long arms required, though. TFTC.

This one's been on my radar for a long time and, with unseasonably warm mid-winter weather forecast, a ferry trip from Patonga to Palm Beach and then another across to The Basin seemed in order.

What a beautiful spot! After a bit of walking around I'd taken the measure of a couple of things and had a set of coordinates, although by then I'd already guessed from the hint where it was going to be. With few people about, I was able to quickly spot the cache and sign the log. The container's pretty rusty now but the log's still dry.

With an hour or so before the next ferry back, I wandered down to the beautiful clear water in the basin itself where I couldn't resist going for a swim, then bought a snack from the vending machine and sat watching the grazing wallabies. I'm curious that they were all grazing in the shadows - do they think that makes them invisible or is it just too hot for them in the sun?

Many thanks for this enjoyable hide.

#2095
This is one of those caches that is less than 20km from home as the crow flies but more than twice that far by road. I've been to this superb national park by car, motorbike, bicycle and on foot (I even got married at West Head) - but this is my very first visit to the Basin. Got to the start of the trail at 10am and figured it would take 30min to walk down, 30 min to collect info and find the cache and another 30 min to walk back out. As I got closer to my destination, I imagined that the walk out might take a bit longer than that.

There were very few campers at the grounds and the only wildlife I spotted were ducks. I did enjoy wandering around, taking photos and collecting clues. Then sat down in a shady spot to do my calcs. Thankfully I re-read the instructions carefully as I've previously had plenty of occasions where skim reading didn't pay off. The plotted coords looked good so I headed over and followed the iPhone to the tracks going up. Looked in a few likely spots but came up empty. Hmmm - perhaps I'd better take a closer look at the hint. Got it on my second loop.

OK so I was still on schedule at this point, as I made my way back UP the track. Plenty of perspiration on the way and took a couple of short detours for photos and to view the carvings. Back at the car only 15 minutes later than anticipated, just after the fitbit celebrated my 10K steps for the day. Not bad for a hot morning walk. Definitely need to bring the family back to this magical spot and take a bit more time to relax and enjoy the area.

TFTC Shifter Brains

Went on quite a journey to get to this one. Started from Great Mackarel and took a very handy ferry to Palm Beach, before getting ice cream and returning on the same ferry to The Basin. Ideal! Looks like there is an interesting ferry operator turf war going on at the moment.

Returned to The Basin and found the first spot quite quickly. Improvised to get measurements before going for a swim as the sun set.

Next, went for a wander around the grounds, discovering many different friendly wallabies, birds and other ducks before finding the second spot. More measurements prior to a likely GZ, which yielded results after a few minutes of searching and a bumped head.

The hike back was a very tough one, but the weather was great, the sunset was nice, and the aboriginal etchings were an interesting side distraction.

Thanks for the cache!

A great Christmas find with the geokids. After a few days of gorgeous weather, it turned cold and rainy on Christmas morning, so we we looking for something to do with the kids. After initially climbing that hill we had another closer look around the hint and found the cache - just. TFTC!

Beautiful day here. Not many campers or other visitors. Last time I was here I couldn't find the cache but this time I searched a little longer in the suspected spot and finally came up with the goods So perseverance paid off. Great camo. Tftc.

Did not come properly prepared for this but downloaded a measuring app and was on my way. Plaques were quickly found. I totally messed up the calcs though but looking at the logs saw it was possible to solve this just from the hint. And sure enough had the cache in hand soon after. This place is wonderful. Thanks so much for making me return.

Many thanks found it on weekend away, joined strandlopers w&e on hunt. Geokids enjoyed it.

TFTC

We enjoyed our visit to The Basin for a camping weekend. Thank you for the cool cache.

First visit to Australia, visiting our oldest daughter who lives in St Ives, Sydney. What a wonderful country! We are having the most beautiful weather. Reminds us of South Africa, our homeland.

Such a beautiful area!

Best regards ...
Greetings from South Africa.

Nice one

Today we headed out to West Head for some bush walking and caching. Parked the geomobile at the start of The Basin walking track, on West Head Road, and then set off down The Basin track. After a brief visit to the Aboriginal carvings site, then a walk down the Mackeral Track to find "Mackeral Lookout" cache, we backtracked up the Mackeral Track and then continued down The Basin Track toward this mystery cache.

And having descended the very steep final section of the track we found ourselves standing on the lawns of The Basin. Wandered around the grounds searching for the monument & plaque, meeting some of the friendly resident wallabies as we went. Easily found the monument, and made the required measurement with the tape measure that we had brought with us, and then continued searching for the plaque.

Searched all over The Basin grounds but failed to find the plaque, so we sat down with the information we already had and, taking a guesstimate at how high a typical plaque might be, we came up with some coords that had us at a likely GZ location. So we set to work searching that location and, after a few minutes, geomum spotted the hide and had CIH. TNLNSL, and then replaced as found.

We were very pleased to finally make a successful find, as it had been a long walk in and was going to be an even longer & harder walk out, so it would have been very disappointing to have to leave with a DNF.

Thanks Shifter Brains for the nice bush walk and Basin visit, and for the interesting mystery cache.

Find #1266

Called in for the afternoon and realised there was a cache nearby. Had to down load a suitable app as we lacked the required tool and set off in kayaks. Unfortunately we failed to find any plaques and so got no further. I'm glad I looked though as I wouldn't have seen The Basin in the afternoon light. Beautiful.

Not happy about not finding this cache but I was searching while working with some clients. Will come back another day to search again

It was a perfect day to be out on the water, so we headed over to Palm Beach on the Ettalong ferry and were soon at The Basin. After a wander to see the wallabies and a goanna pulling apart someone's campsite, a picnic down by the water was in order. This is a great family area, kids were having fun in and out of the water but shrieking as the large goannas tried to join in lunch. We were last here over 5 years ago but still had our copy of GZ, so we walked over there and I found the nicely camoed container which held a dry log. A few more photos by MrsFish of the cute wallabies and we were off home. Thanks to Shifter Brains for the hide which is certainly in the most idyllic of locations, a memorable day for us.

As we continued our boating exploration afternoon we headed to the the beautiful bay and went on shore.

We were greeted by a huge goanna, around 30 wallabies, plus a handful of ducks and pelicans.

As I hadn't planned on caching today I didn't have the required tool to hand however was able to download something on my iPhone that worked a treat!

We collected the required info and made a quick find at GZ.

I think I broke my caching karma though........as I hadn't planned on caching I didn't have pen with me but hoped there would be one in the cache.......there was but as I signed half of my name ( I managed "The Be") the lead in the pencil broke ! I am so sorry I had no way to fix this ;-(

This is fabulous spot and we'll definitely be back with a tent!

TFTC

Four of us headed over on the ferry. Found the plaques and did the calcs but the GPS was sending us into the bush. With the hint, searched around what we thought was GZ but to no avail.

Found with Allanitis - TFTC

So this cache taught me where the description button was...being new to geocaching, a mate and I head out yesterday morning and aimed to hit 5 points on our first geocaching day, this being the last as we stay the night at the basin. After going to the grid coord. and looking around the bearing for at least a good hour and a half sunlight we had left we found nothing. We got the hint and after thinking about it went to where we thought the GZ could be. We look around and nothing.

We had no idea, we read some of the past reviews and they kept mentioning Sally. My mate remembered the name from the memorial but had no idea what it could be. As we kept reading about it and hints about what it looked like, we went back at 10:30pm and kept looking. 5 min was all we needed and we could sleep easy that night.

Eventually read the description this morning and realised why it was so cryptic. Thanks for the lesson loving geo caching, 10 points in 2 days hiking through west head. Love it.

Found on a weekend camping trip ITFTC

I was really keen to try this cache. We had lunch near the ferry and before we headed over for a visit. A great ferry ride too.

We located the required information (with some assistance from the ranger!) and headed for GZ. There the ranger passed by again and asked if we would like to see a Python. It had eaten something large like a possum and was quietly sleeping it off.

Back to the search and after eliminating some of the more obvious spots, we found it in one of the most obvious spots!

Thanks Shifter Brains. a great concept for a cache; quite something different. For Crystal Warrior this marked a special day too!

We had a wonderful walk down to the Basin, and boy is that trail steep.

Once down, we were greeted by dozens of Swamp Wallabies, many of them caring for their young in their pouches The area is very picturesque and well worth visiting.

We were able to find the cache just by using the hint, although we had a search around this spot first with no avail, then had lunch, then after some muggles left the area I found it.

After exploring the area, we had a much more tiring but still lovely walk back up, with numerous view stops, and on one occasion the climbing of some of the boulders.

All in all a great Father's Day out - thanks Shifter Brains.

16/03/14. 9:12 AM. Cache #1401. Yelyac & I are camping at The Basin this weekend as part of the Gordon West PS annual Kids & Dads camp. Last year, it rained all weekend, but to break the boredom I went out to find Silent Vista (since archived) and MS-01: Basin Instinct. This year it's been gorgeous sunny weather for most of the time with the exception of a brief (30 minute) storm last night. Great caching weather, but I only have this cache left to find over here as Old Bonnie Dams has also been archived.

Early yesterday morning (Sat 15th), I took my tape measure with me to make my measurements while on the way to the, erm, facilities. I chose to do this early while most of the muggles were not yet up so I wouldn't get any funny looks while taking the measurements. The spoiler photo helped me find Lucinda - don't know how anyone could have trouble finding it with this. I had a quick search and found the cache in no time, but I had left my pen in my tent, so I just did the official find and sign this morning (Sun 16th), with Yelyac. We had another storm around lunchtime, but all up another fabulous weekend in paradise. TFTC }:)

I was at my school's kids and Dads camp this weekend and on the Sunday I went with Dad to find this cache. TFTC.

Searched for 30mins and decided to log as did not find

Just used the hint. Thanks.

After having found the nearby "MS-01: Basin Instinct" we walked down, down, down along The Basin Track until we came to the Basin. Walked around the beach until we found and measured Sally. We then talked to the Ranger and asked him about Lucinda - he didn't know where the plaque was. He took us to Beechwood, where there were some photos of the area showing how it looked in the past.
Then did some calculations, and aha, the cache must be there. Yes, there it was an in we signed as no 3 in the new logbook. After that it was a long, long steep way uphill this sunny warm beautiful winter day.

We came in on The Basin Track from West Head Road which is a mere 2.7km walk and not hard at all seeing as it's all flat or downhill. Came past the set of Aboriginal carvings early in the piece which we've visited before. It's one of the few sets that are publicised with signs. We've found many other sets while caching or trig hunting over the past few years and none of them has been signposted. It's probably a good thing as you can see where people have 'helpfully' been recarving these in recent times.

Pushed on past a trig (Euro) and cache we'd found a couple of years ago and down the big hill to The Basin. A few people about on a beautiful August day - you call this winter? Some wallabies grazed peacefully as we collected the info (glad I had my tape measure) and got to GZ for a quick find in a hiding spot that is perfect for the size. Signed and replaced.

We explored the rocks north of the reserve and found some very interesting geology worthy of an Earth Cache (stay tuned!). Continued rock hopping to Currawong Beach which has "private property" signs along the edge of the beach but in Australia at least the beach is still public property. Currawong Beach is a set of cabins and facilities built by the ALP for working class families to have a cheap holidays in the old days. It shows how far the ALP has fallen that the last state govt should have sold this off to developers (apologies for the political comments).

Walked along the beach until we came to the track which led up the hill to the Mackeral (yes it's spelled wrong) Track which led us up past some great rock formations and behind some houses to some of the best views in Sydney at the top. The track continued on and rejoined the Basin track. It was a much better way than up the concrete road.

Great experience. More people should do this one.
Thanks!
(280 days...)

Walked down from West Head Road. There was a lot of fog this morning but it cleared by the time I got to The Basin. I was lucky enough to see a lyrebird on the trail about 200m from The Basin and he didn't run away as I approached. So I stood and watched him for 5 minutes.

I did my measuring. There were no campers this morning but lots of residents, ie: wallabies - about 20 of them, languidly grazing on the camping grounds.

My calculations were askew (schoolboy error) but I found it with the clue after giving the target a thorough going over.

It's been years since I last came to The Basin and this was the first time I had walked so thanks heaps Shifter Brains for giving me a reason to do it.

SL TFTC

Found at 7:58 AM

Container and log replaced.

4 Adults - 13 Kids - still no cigar. Going to have another crack tomorrow

we enjoyed a lovely couple of hours at The Basin, thanks for the history lesson, very interesting. I took my tape, did the measures and according to my calculations I was in for a bush bash.....then I remembered seeing the clue and a previous log where the geocacher found the cache without referring to the calcs... so I put my thinking cap on and bingo there is was. The cache container is in need of replacement, the lid has rusted away from the main container which is also in poor .condition. I did not have a spare one, sorry. TYFTC

Easy find even without any measuring device, thanks to the hint. Lovely spot for easy camping with facilities, kids had a ball.

A fun cache. Thank you.

8 kids , 2 adults - no cigar
Back again tomorrow for another crack
What the ants !!!

Found on Boxing day during a family visit. The clue helped confirm the final location, and then a bit of a search was needed to pinpoint the cache. The rusting container blends nicely, however the log has been wet at some stage. Signed the log and returned it to the spot. Thanks Shifter Brains.

A lovely day for a walk to the Basin and because of the damp weather there was hardly a sole down there. Well worth visiting and got us thinking about coming and camping here soon. Cache container has gone a bit rusty but is still keeping the weather out at this stage. Thanks SB an interesting history lesson.

Found on a wet day in the Basin. The clue confirmed that I was in the right place but it still took me a little while to find the cache. Nice area.

TFTC

Cache still in place.

We took advantage of a great day to ferry from Ettalong to Palm Beach, then went across to The Basin, having never been there except for MrsFish at age 7. The small wallabies were cute, a lyrebird was scratching around and the plovers were trying to move a large goanna, that almost belted them with a swing of its tail. After finding the memorial items and measuring we went on to GZ, the clue showing we were in the right area. The search was rushed with the ferry approaching and we left cacheless, but will return with two other nearby caches to find as well.

Sort of figured it out.... we must of gotten the measurements wrong, not exactly a good start to showing new comers how geocaching works. Got confused and was walking all over the place with the GPS, so the newcomer read the hint, and figured it out. Funny how the person with the GPS wasn't the person the to find the cache . Met Shifter Brains along the way, and they were laughing their heads off, knowing what we were looking for. Either way, TFTC!

woot, found it first time round, brilliant idea and well hidden

lovely area...even in the rain! well worth it.

Nicely hidden - cache is very rusty but still useable and relatively waterproof
TFTC
corporalbomber

Much easier to find with the help of 30 students who were doing a Duke of Edinburgh mapping / geocaching exercise.

Finally !!! Third time lucky i guess, Could of sworn i looked here last time but anyway great cache. Beautiful walk in as usual . TFTC

Nice spot, and a clever hide took 10 minutes to find the final.
TFTC
Alpini
proud PLG member

O.K Found it this time . All good, no chance of a tree falling on this cache. Well hidden ! Very small !

Found both monuments ok but suspect with recent storms a tree had fallen over near where the cache could be . Will visit area again next week to double check.

Cache check done today, still in place. It can be difficult to see but is clearly visible.

We have had a report that the cache may be missing. Will disable and look into it.

Found the monuments ok, and got some reasonable measurements. GZ matched up with the hint, but no cache gave itself up under the scrutiny of 6 pairs of eyes. That doesn't mean it's not there, but if the cache is within 3m of the hint, then I'd be surprised that we didn't find it if it is there. We also searched nearby to no avail.

Added images to assist in finding the monument and plaque.

You could tell I was the only one who walked into here - I was all geared up and sweating freely, and everyone else were looking very relaxed kicking back and drinking in front of their tents. I got some strange looks.
Found Sally's sundial easily (except it is not in good condition - you couldn't tell the time with it anymore), but like others I couldn't find the plaque commemorating the visit of the ship “Lucindaâ€. Using the information I had, I walked the line and soon found the cache. I was only watched by a bemused kanga-bouncer, as I was out of sight of the campers.
Thanks for the walk (even if the trip back was a bit of a bugger - who put that hill there anyway?).
Thanks, Robmc.

Cache check done. All memorials, plaques and cache in place.

Lucinda proved too hard to find but with my recent experience of geocaching in Turkey without a GPS we found the cache anyway.... just by using your subtle clues

Couldn't find Lucinda but we found it without it. Very hard to find thanks to friend we found it, otherwise would have looked for every.

We came, and spent some time looking for the damn plaque, even asked the ranger, no idea, never seen it and only knew of the memorial. God now I hope it wasnt the one on top of the memorial!

Anyways, we just could not find that plaque and we had to give up as the ferry was just about to arrive and we had to continue our journey ever onwards.

Dunno when we will ever get back, it's not that cheap to catch the ferry over, maybe one day.

We decided to go for a quick boat ride across to the Basin as it only takes us 10 minutes to get there. Anchored the boat on the beach and headed off to look for the Monument (which of course we hadn't noticed before). Got the measurement and then headed off to look for the plaque, which we couldn't find. Managed without these numbers and Mrs Riptide noticed the cache because she is short but I had to grab the cache because I am tall.
Another virgin cache for the Riptide team.

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