GONG Celebration Mount Ousley, New South Wales, Australia
By Odee McPodie on 17-Jul-06. Waypoint GCX3VY

No response from the owner within the last 28 Days and as per the original note this cache has been archived. If you wish to replace it please submit a new cache via [this link](https://www.geocaching.com/play/hide).

I noticed that this cache has been temporarily disabled for a period of time well in excess of the period of "a few weeks" as contemplated by the cache guidelines published on Geocaching.com. While I feel that Geocaching.com should hold the location for you and block other caches from entering the area around this cache for a reasonable amount of time, we can't do so forever. Please either repair/replace this cache, or archive it (using the *archive listing* link in the upper right) so that someone else can place a cache in the area, and geocachers can once again enjoy visiting this location.

If you plan on repairing this cache, **please log a note to the cache** (not email) within the next 28 days so I don't archive the listing for non-communication. For ongoing issues please ensure you visit the listing and post a new note every 28 days to keep everyone up to date, if you do not then you cache may be archived without further note from a reviewer. Caches archived due to lack of maintenance are no longer unarchived and you will need to submit a replacement as a new cache.

Performing long overdue maintenance

It had be the last place/one I tried right? TFTC!!!

Great hide! TFTC

Driven past this so many times, great to actually see it up close today! The geokid took approx 30 seconds to find! TFTC!

We have travelled down from Sydney’s Northern Beaches to the Wollongong area for the April school holidays, camping in our Jayco Swan Outback camper trailer at the Corrimal Beach Tourist Park. Today (ANZAC Day) we were off to do some more of the Illawarra Upper Escarpment Cache Trail, which we had started on our day of arrival in the area, and then to do a variety of cache types in & around Stuart Park in North Wollongong. This was our 13th find of the day, and 105th find of the holiday.

Stopped off at this one on our way back down the hill from doing the Illawarra Upper Escarpment Cache Trail and, after failing to find "gateway to wollongong", we moved onto this one. Looked at a few things before uncovering the hide and having CIH. Very sneaky placement. TNLNSL, and then replaced as found. TFTC Odee McPodie.

Find #2515

I spent longer looking for this sneaky cache than I'd like to admit. Great one!

Nice camo on this one. Didn't expect it to be quite where it was.

TFTC

Found on the ides of October on our way to Nowra with friends. A very cunning hide. Well done.

Thanks Odee McPodie for another smilie on our trip to OZ.

Found it at last. I spent ages here in the rain last time and found nothing. This time with more research and an nice sunny day had the cache in hand in no time. TFTC SL

Awesome

14585. Found during Day 2 of a great weekend caching down in the Helensburgh / Wollongong region with specimenX and AngelG27.

A long planned weekend was finally here. Yesterday we finished off the Scouts and Helensburgh puzzle series plus a bunch of other caches. Today we generally moved south during the day grabbing some quality caches along the way. This was the next find for the day. Quick-ish find at GZ by specimenX. Nicely set up !! Signed the log, replaced the cache, and we were on our way to the next one. Fav Point !

Thanks to all the CO's for their caches - very much appreciated !!

TNLN - TFTC !!

Off we go for another geomission! fitzy_1965, AngelG27 and I were off in the geomover to descend on the Illawarra region to knock off the Helensburgh puzzle series and whatever others we could nab along the way. Sunny spring weather and lots of laughs made for a fun weekend of caching!

Arrived at GZ and searched a few spots before I changed tack with my approach. Only a process of elimination before the sneaky hide was revealed-blends in very well!

Thanks for the hide, Odee McPodie Fave point for this one!

Cache 2910 on 3/9/17

Fitzy_1965, SpecimenX and I headed out on a long planned geomission to Helensburgh and Wollongong to grab a stack of solved puzzles and as-yet-uncollected traditionals. We headed up the highway from the ACT to Appin, then down the hill to Helensburgh and then made our way south. We have around 160 caches on the list, but managed to grab 90 odd yesterday. Looking to grab stacks of trads today on our second day of the mission. Unless otherwise indicated, caches were found quickly and in good order. Thanks to my geo partners in crime for a fun weekend

Very sneaky! Fav point.

Thanks Odee McPodie for the cache!

Quick find on a lovely winters day picking up a few caches. TFTC

I could only look for this one for around 10 minutes as I had to be somewhere so I might come back to this one later in the future

Today I made the area of northern Wollongong unsafe with my geocaching activities. 23 finds, six GCA ones, two puzzles. A good time was had by all! Errr me.

Tricky one, it caused my earlier gained confidence to drop back to zero again. Beautiful piece of art, except for the moss growing in the rear light. TFTC.

This took a while but when I read a previous log I soon guessed its location. Good camo. TFTC

With the long weekend upon us, plans were in place with FurfacesLL to head towards Helensburgh to do the newly released puzzle series and what ever comes up. Yesterday we did Helensburgh, around the Shire, drove to Sydney Harbour Bridge and then back to accommodation. Today we attacked a few more in the shire, then to Wollongong to reclaim the SES unfound we had last time, then towards Bowral, and even Goulburn [:p] Apologies for the generic logs.

Didnt take too long to locate fortunately could see this could be very difficult for newer players.

Thanks heaps to FurfacesLL for another awesome weekend away, thanks Odee McPodie for the cache placement [^]

We headed out on a geocaching weekend with Rapidlywild to collect the new puzzle trail in Helensburg and others along the way. The weather was not kind on Saturday on our trek up, in fact it was downright revolting at times, but we persevered through the rain, flooded roads and detours to collect the smileys.

After a full day and night of caching and grabbing a few hours sleep, we woke to a lovely sunny morning, so we collected a few more around Cronulla before starting our return leg to Canberra. On our way home we decided to return to an area which the last time we visitted had been flooded, so we called past and collected the ones that we previously DNF'd.

TFTC Odee McPodie

Great cache, took some time, but got it

TFTC! Love this type!! fav points from us!

Found while SMS periscoped my hunt as hundreds of muggles passed by. I had better luck than last time he did one with me. Great camo. Very very sneaky!

TFTC

TFTC. Took us a long time to find the very well hidden pathway from dumfries avenue. Found with miltsy92

Took the geogirls and roped in the geocousins for a big walk down from the top of Mt Ousley. Had a bit of a stumble around before geogirl junior turned up a very nicely camouflaged cache. First cache of our upcoming trip to Tassie! TFTC + favourite point. Now for that walk back up the hill...

A day-trip on a beautiful earlier summer day to go caching in The Gong (and a few en route). Tally for the day 14.
- - -
This is the 6th find of the day. Nice camo.
TFTC Odee McPodie

A great way to mark my 120th find!! Had a mini break while geodad and geotoddler took a nap. Decided to tick this one off my list! What a fantastic hide!!! Im vertically challenged so i was very relieved to discover despite this sculpture being very tall and high, long arms were not needed! Tftc!!

First cavhe travelling from Sydney to Melbourne. TFTC

Quick find. Probably looks good with the light during nighttime. But the light looks a bit overdue for a service. Thanx

After a day of caching and bushelling with Nacki22 and happyuke, we decided to try for just one more. This was cache 18 for the day, a personal record. Happyuke had found this one before so lead us to the vague area then left us to our own geo-senses. Didn't take too long before nacki22 and I had this in hand, having seen something similar before. A great hide, cleverly done and blends in beautifully. Tftc!

A bonus cache after a day wandering the Upper Escarpment Trail with HappyUke and Halcyon123.
HappyUke had found this previously, so after a little false start with parking too early, she pointed us in vaguely the right direction. Great geoinstincts were displayed by Halcyon123, and we soon had CIH. A clever and well hidden cache. TFTC!

Found while on the way to work this morning. Quite an adventure trying to find a 'shortcut' into here, but as luck would have it I stumbled across a track and secret passage

Tftc

Our first for today. Out and about with Happy Uke today. We had business to do in Wollongong so we decided to grab a couple of caches while there.

Thanks!

Finalf29 and I came down to Wollongong to help move furniture into my brother's house...YEY! we got the couch to fit up the stairs. Anyway grabbed four caches on the way home...which cheered me up no end

This was the last. So glad I had Finalf29 with me on this one. The light was failing fast and my GPS was bouncing around a bit. We used Finalf29's and it was a bit steadier. Then his keen eyes noticed something not quite right...yep cache found. Very sneaky. Thanks.

TFTC

Did step on this one and nearly fell over Tftc Very Easy

Another quick find on the way home today with Pumb2015. Way too easy to overlook this one. Nice job!

TFTC

6# find for the day
Parked on dumfrie street and hit the bush looking for the path, to realise it started at the road and went straight to the statue :p Found prety quick, cache itself was a bit wet but log was somewhat dry.
Found with Davaura INC out for a day of caching the suburbs.
TFTC

Good rusty one!

Found. That was a fun one

Shmicko

This was alot of fun.i wasnt really expecting that.fav point
TFTC

Took a short walk from 'gateway' and had a hunt around for this one. Stubbed my toe and found the cache

Like this one tftc!

Tftf..

Found it, logged it, NEXT!!!

I'd missed this on a previous visit several years ago but added experience, geosense and hints in newer logs helped with the find this time.
TFTC

Nice camo. Parked along the street behind the wall and found our way easily to GZ. Didn't take us too long to find this clever cache although unfortunately, judging from the smell and stain, the whole corner of the structure has been urinated on.. blehhh. Hopefully some rain will take care of that before the next cacher comes along. TFTC

A clever cache container. Surprised I actually found it. Thank you.

Cache #53 TFTC
Nice camo

This entry was edited by GamingCaving on Saturday, 14 November 2015 at 07:43:07 UTC.

Found it. A great cache. Im going to favorite this one

I'm chuffed! This is the 1st one of its type I've found. Took about 5min as I was expecting something else that was flat and magnetic but great all the same! TFTC!

Hope you don't mind I'm going to take it for an hr and see if I can get it opened.

Hope you don't mind. I had it reopened. I hope it isn't broken as I don't know how it opened to begin with. The log was burnt in the process and I have replaced it. Trying to do the right thing, hope I haven't stuffed it

Wonderful sculpture. Unfortunately we could not open cache. It needs a little maintenance TFTC

What a great palette to work with. The searching took awhile, but we found it. Unfortuneatly could open the cache, maybe rusted up. Loved the cache. however. TFTC

Fantastic hide! Favourite!

Spectacular hide! Unfortunately log is soaked and ruined though... TFTC!

Had a bit of a search all aqround the sculpture and the light boxes as well as the gardens but no luck. I'll keep a watch on this for a future visit.

Love the hide but the log was wet and falling apart.

Truly a time for celebration! This blind cacher kept stumbling around gz, tapping many things, hoping to reveal the cache that many others seem to find right away.
Today, after the thunderstorm moved away I made my way back to the monument and literally tripped over just how unobservant I was before. Spotted right away.
Thanks for the cache.

WOW!


I've been driving down Mount Ousley for a year now.
Not once have I seen this sculpture.

What's cooler is the walkway from Dumfries Ave, It's like walking into a whole new world.

What's cooler than that is the cache - I've been wanting to make something similar.
Log is wet, and yes - It seems to be a lubricant of some sort.

tftc

Tftc. Found with jaybeem!

Tftc!

A cleverly camo'ed cache. I think we got lucky finding this quite quickly. Cache opened easily, but log is soaked with oil/WD40? Still usable. TFTF!

Found it rust wont open cache I put oil on it .. and log paper is wet [Time to Find: 6 min]

Couldn't open this one but was very happy to try. Love the container. TFTC.

Logging this as a find even though I wasn't able to sign log. Tried to open log but to no avail. If owner needs proof I took photo of cache. Happy to email pic. Great cache. Thankyou for the quick easy find.

Note to the CO:
The cache appears to be rusted up so it is virtually impossible to access the log...even with tools.
Cheers, Aries44

Heading down the Illawarra today and stopped in the car park to check this one out. Found it after around 5 minutes searching. A great hide, these are the type I like to make...something different.
Like past finders I couldn't open it so took to my vehicle where I have a tool box. Tried some heavy duty stuff but couldn't open it. I returned it to EXACTLY the place I found it. Penetrene needed I think.
I am logging this as a find even though I couldn't access the log. I didn't take a photo because it would be a spoiler. TFTC Odee McPodie.

Found it pretty quick, but spent 20min trying to open it... Grrrrrr
Great work on it, except can't open?? Photo taken..

Thought I had found it, but couldn't get the log, so unable to sign.
Photo taken.

unbelievably well camoed cache. Was at a loss about to give up and retire hurt, but one last look and blow me down. So much work put into this. Thankyou for this beautiful hide.
Acko

Ok so I was out with oyston4 and because this one had been a topic of discussion recently, it was one we both wanted to find. GPS was pretty spot on, but we were both being stubborn and looking for something completely different. Walking around in the wrong shoes and wrong clothing we couldn't find anything like what we thought we should be looking for and it was very frustrating. I said to myself one more lap and bingo!! It had to be it, but it wouldn't open, no its not it, but it has to be, why else would it be there. Aha!!! yes it opened. What a fantastic amount of effort has been put into this one. Loved it, a favorite point for me. TFTC Odee McPodie.

Another great find while touring around from cache to cache.

Took quite a while to spot the awesome hide.
SL TFTC

Returned today armed with tools and opened cache, new log also placed as old one was no good

Helped open this one up, great cache thanks

Found tonight, as mentioned before it can't be open. Will return with vice grips an wd40

Found on the 8th of October, find but couldn't open the container, nice camo!

Found it awesome camo but couldbt sign as we couldn't open it we followed a track that lead us to the safety ramp while looking for the cache a car drove up the safety ramp after they realised it wasn't an exit ramp the reversed and carried on there merry way so care should be taken

I had had a frustrating day, 2 DNFs. DNFs when you are on the other side of the world from your home are particularly annoying! This one is very near the home of my Aussie relatives. I said "Is there a sculpture around here", "no I don't think so" they replied. "Ill go and have a look then " says I. I walked 5 minutes and I saw it straightaway, the sculpture that is not the cache. I spent quite a while scratching my head and examining the thing, then I remembered a type of hide I have seen very occasionally in England. I still doubted it but I was delighted when that came up trumps. Like the previous finder I also could not get it open but I took a photo, I won't post it in the log for obvious reasons. When I got home I showed my relatives a picture I had taken and they said "oh you mean that sculpture"!!! Thanks for a great cache.

Parked on the back street and went the long way via a different path - on the way back I realised the little laneway near where I parked was much more direct. Great work on the camo, had to find it via process of elimination. However I couldn't open the container! Either my soft geeky hands are letting me down or it needs a bit of maintenance. I took a photo - happy to send it to the CO if confirmation is required. TFTC!

Nice.

Started looking with the camo in mind, then convinced I was on the wrong track, little blue and I widened the search. Eventually went with a structural perspective and came up with the goods.

First find using solely a smart phone - time for the comms engineer to stop being a Luddite

Well thought out hide, and perfect camo for the location. A favourite from me!

SL TNLN TFTC blue_mars

PS Log is well and truely waterlogged - and cache could use a spray to keep the hint valid

Not a fan of bhp or record sheets that are too wet to write on. So put cache back and was on my way. Thanks

Heard this one was a bit special so saved it for a special occasion - our 200th cache. Fanfare. We know, that number is small potatoes. Looked here quickly once before in the pouring rain with no success but we're much more observent and suspicious now. Approached that time from the highway but it is much easier and safer from the back street. A very well crafted hide. Opened easily but log is a bit soggy. Thanks for the moment of smug self-satisfaction Odee McPodie, a favourite tick is coming your way.

Excellent cache! It's very easy to access from the gap in the sound barrier in the back street.

Nice easy find tonight under the cover of darkness. The log could use a plastic baggie to keep it dry as it was a little moist. Love the camo tho.

TFTC!

Camo that good for sure! Love it, well done. We were able to open and sign the newer but damp log.

Found with Chiller250, who was disappointed we didn't have to climb something.

I've driven past many times and don't recall ever noticing the sculpture before.

Thanks for bringing us here!

TFTC. Good find lots of fun. I was disappointed that I didn't get to climb the wall but it was all good. It ain't rusted no more.

Camo that good eh.

Great cache, had no difficulty opening it at all. TFTC!

great cahe, but ther was no log, so we put one nit for you. tftc

Have been meaning to do this one for a while. Nice idea, as stated before it is rusted shut. Found with snorris.

Found with paulyman on the way home from work today. Very cleverly hidden cache, TFTC.

Wow, great idea and camouflage! We found the cache container together with M&M007, but were not able to open it. Insteat of.signing the log we took a picture of the container. TFTC

TFTC! Found with SLKH love the container!

Wonderful idea! As said before container is rusted shut. Had a go at it with some pliers and some wd40 (not sure if the wd40 would do anything but seemed like a good idea. I have a picture of cache in hand if co requires it. TFTC!