Logs for Guanajuato 

We've had a great 4 week holiday in Oz. today has been out last full day. Quite a lot of the time has been spent in the Dandenongs. So we'd bought a book on them as a souvenir the other day at the William Ricketts sanctuary. That mentioned the Alfred Nicholas gardens and had some stunning photos. So that went on our list of places to see. Our hosts have never been either. So today was a first for all of us. And we weren't let down. another week or so and the autumnal colors will be stunning. they were pretty impressive today. We thought the contrast of a very English landscape garden with the Aussie trees as a background added to the beauty. And a cache here was a real bonus. even though it was busy, having children can give good cover. 

Wee stopped at grants picnic area on our 2nd day in Australia, but didn't look for the cache. Today is our last full day before we fly back to the UK and we've come full circle. We fed the birds last time. thus time we went for a wander in the forest. Following the lyrebird track, we headed towards the cache. Surely before the sharp bend in the path i caught a glimpse of movement. at first i though I saw the tail of a possum, but a little more watching we saw the body and a few more feathers. We got a glimpse of a lyrebird, although i suspect that the photos we took won't capture it because it was more from the movement we saw it.
After that, finding the cache was a bit normal. The cache was a little smaller than we expected. 

we were having a whistle stop tour down the peninsular. our first stop was Canadian bay, so this cache was too much of a temptation. Whilst some if the clan stayed near the yacht club, we walked along three beach to the cache. A really lovely spot. A shame we couldn't stay for longer. But a picnic at the end of the road called. Unfortunately, our tour guide seems particularly anti-caching, so just the one today. 

A great park. Something for every one. I was wondering where we were headed as we drove through what appears to be a building site off the main road.
The kids had half an hour playing before we looked for the cache, then another good play whilst we waited for the mums to return from shopping. A nice ready find, once i persuaded the kids to actually try looking somewhere other than right in front of their noses.

This entry was edited by Guanajuato on Thursday, 12 April 2012 at 07:48:48 UTC. 

We've passed the bridge a couple of times in the car and gone over it on the train in the last few weeks whilst we've been on holiday. Today we stopped to get some photos of the puffing billy going over. As we arrived a few minutes early, we headed over the stream to find the cache. After much umming and ahhing whether we should go that far off the worn track, we decided we should.
GPS reception was a bit all-over the place. But we found the right place eventually. We didn't take anything, just signed the logbook and were on our way.
We DID pick up a few hitchikers during our off-path endeavours. Beware, you may get a few leaches attach themselves as you search. 

We called in at the one on the way to the beach for the afternoon. A bit of a detour, but still just a sort wander. The coordinates were spot on and the cache was an easy find.no sign of the TB that's supposed to be in. But the cache was full of water. We drained that out and left the cache in the sun for a couple of minutes. Then we headed to the beach. Less than 100 yards from the cache, we saw some suspicious-looking individuals heading to the cache. We gave them a helpful hint for this one and the other nearby cache. Hope you found them both. 

cache was full of water when we found it. It'll need a new log book and a good dry out. 

We looked for this one t'other day without success. Now we've find it, I'm not too sure how we failed to find it. A great hide in a lovely spot. Picked up a TB too. 

What a stunning location! Such a lovely little walk. The children and the big children loved all the other worldly tree ferns and the great big hollowed fairy trees. And what a bonus to find a cache listed right at the place. Well done for getting permission to place it. A great hiding place that won't contribute to any bushwhacking.
We'd gone down the road to otways lighthouse to see some koalas and weren't disappointed either. All in all, a great morning. 

What a stunning location! Find the first part and tried desperately to get the kids thinking, but listening wasn't on the agenda. After some effort, we did get the final coordinates and headed on that direction. Then we had a good long time wandering round the rock pools and watching the cormorants and herons.
Thanks for a great cache. 

A second roo hunt, in the evening this time. A bit more successful too. We saw both types of Roo, some with long tails and others with funny-shaped balls. I think we caused much amusement for the training roos. 

We spent a lovely afternoon exploring point roadknight and paddling. Then e headed back to our holiday cottage via a quick play here. The kids loved it, and it was a nice peaceful (ish) finish to the day.
I wouldn't recommend looking for this one unless you have children or come late at night.  

A morning roo hunt, just not quite early enough. No roos, but plenty of fresh roo poo. It was a quick wander from where we're staying to the pitches. Can't see a cricket pitch in the UK being used for Aussie rules, as the ground staff get REALLY precious about the squares. Can't imagine what they'd make of roos abusing the pitch. Mind you,i remember chasing cows off the pitch when i were a lad and my dad was playing local cricket. But i also remember having stumps thrown at me by a groundsman after our cricket ball went over the fence keeping the square clear.
A nice easy find. and some really different plants. 

Find whilst doing a tour of the great ocean Road. After this cache, we ran out of the area that I'd done PQs for, so we didn't get any more caches. But we did have a great time all the same. The earthcache here looked far too complicated to do with impatient children, so we left it at just the one cache. 

We had a great trip along the great ocean road from anglesea, stopping off at a few of the tourist hotspots. We couldn't pass up getting this earthcache. The votes are stunning-no picture quite captures it.
We didn't get any more caches as I'd not downloaded far enough afield.
I'll upload a photo or more when we get back to the UK. 

Hopefully, using the phone I've been able to get a photo. Once I've worked out how, I'll upload it. If I've failed miserably, will a picture of the webcam do?
Of the places we stopped today, i thought this was the most beautiful. But it didn't keep the littlies occupied so we didn't stay too long. 

After a walk over the bridge, some of us headed out to this lovely headland for an extra stretch of legs, and to find another cache. A little trickier than the one on the bridge, but still a relatively easy find. E decided that, if you placed a cache here, going into the undergrowth wasn't a major issue. 

For a change in oz, we found the cache without any problems. A nice spot, if a bit breezy today! Tftc 

We had a few days on Sydney as part of our months holiday in Oz. We booked into lane cove as our seemed decent value compared to Sydney hotels with children. And it was perfect for us. Yes, the traipse from North ride atty the end of long days was a bit much for little legs. But the setting was lovely and the staff helpful. WE even managed a successful possum hunt. We've really been taken with the wildlife. I've found it interesting to see how different animals and plants fill the same niches. Some of the woodland near home is similar rock to here, so there are similarities but it's also SO different. The scribbly gums look amazing.
It's a shame the real cache has had to go, but it's understandable. But thanks for keeping this historic cache alive. 

We're staying a few days at the tourist park, in one of the cabins. Not the bright of luxury, but clean, week appointed and best of all cheap (in comparison to pretty much anywhere else in Sydney).
We've generally be en coming or going on a bit of a rush since we've been here, so it's taken a couple of days to get round to finding the cache. I was taking the eldest for a splash in the pool and we popped out to find this first. A nice easy find - the cache was almost in plain view. Not so clear that it would be spotted by someone not looking though. We re-hid the cache a little better.
Trying a real cache where we're staying is a bonus. 

About time we found a real cache in Sydney. we've failed miserably on a few already. Despite the rain (are we back in the uk already?) We wandered round from circular quay.we missed going to the headland because time was getting on.
Great little sculpture- a real secret gem. It'd be interesting to hear the noises it makes when the tide comes in.
Left drakensburg tb. No others in the cache though, despite the long list. 

Probably the best earthcache we've had the privilege of finding. WE got pdf the train at milson's point and spent a while abutting the structure and the views. As did the local firemen on their tea break. After getting the recant observations,e walked over the bridge to circular quay for the manly ferry.
We've really struggled with physical caches on Oz, so at least we've got ONE Sydney cache. Maybe it's to do with not wanting to put hands where we can't see. [:o].
Pictures to follow once we're back in the UK. 

I don't know what it is with Aussie caches, but we're really struggling! We've dnf'f a fee micros around Melbourne and failed miserably with the micros at circular quay too. Don't often bother with dnfs on micros though.
We had a brill (but long for the girls) walk through the old gasworks and over to this cache. But the path was a good hundred feet from the cache and the road seemed a good 30 feet off the coordinates and no obvious easy in. So we didn't get close enough to look.. But we see caching as a way to get off the tourist trail in places we don't know. So this cache has certainly achieved that.

Accidentally wrote this log on the wrong cache. 

Not quite sure how we failed to find such a great big cache. But fail we did. Looking at the gallery, we we're looking in the right place. But we're a bit unsure about shoving hands where we can't see.
However, despite the dnf, we had a fab walk. We saw loads of water lizards and what w think was a bandicoot. About the size of a small rat with a slender, flesy-looking ringed tail. We heard rustling in the bushes then it darted across the path in front of us, just as we were coming back down the steps to the beach.
It was getting dark as we headed back to the ferry so we had an evening cruise back past the opera house. I'd LOVE that trip as a commute! On the way out tower were people sitting, head in newspapers-HOW? Then again, people come on holiday to what is my commute too, and sodding irritating they are.
So, all in all, an excellent day dnf'ing caches in Manly.
Sorry for the extra log - that was meant for the Bandicoot stash cache - another great walk despitefailing miserably with the cache.

This entry was edited by Guanajuato on Thursday, 29 March 2012 at 12:44:59 UTC. 

I don't know what it is with Aussie caches, but we're really struggling! We've dnf'f a fee micros around Melbourne and failed miserably with the micros at circular quay too. Don't often bother with dnfs on micros though.
We had a brill (but long for the girls) walk through the old gasworks and over to this cache. But the path was a good hundred feet from the cache and the road seemed a good 30 feet off the coordinates and no obvious easy in. So we didn't get close enough to look.. But we see caching as a way to get off the tourist trail in places we don't know. So this cache has certainly achieved that.  

Sometime, having children can be a good thing. Preparation for the flower show is in full swing, so we wondered whether we'd actually be able to reach the cache. But as it turned out, it was just outside the fenced off area. But right by the security guy at the entrance. Small people can crawl around much more easily without looking so suspicious. Thankfully, the cage was in hand very quickly. Signed and dropped off a Yorkshire Rose geocoin that wants to head back to the UK. Can it beat us back? Also left an isle of wight geocaching souvenir.

This entry was edited by Guanajuato on Friday, 23 March 2012 at 05:37:52 UTC. 

Once the gps had settled, it was reasonably easy to find this one. And with children, not too difficult to look inconspicuous.

This entry was edited by Guanajuato on Friday, 23 March 2012 at 05:36:37 UTC. 

A nice easy find after all. Youngest thought it hilarious to wear the cache.

This entry was edited by Guanajuato on Friday, 23 March 2012 at 05:40:19 UTC. 

Dead easy find. A really fascinating bridge. The kids thought the theremin at the opposite side was great. And so did I.

This entry was edited by Guanajuato on Friday, 23 March 2012 at 05:41:58 UTC. 

Parked up for our first Aussie sausage sizzle. A quick easy find whilst the rest of the crew sorted themselves out. Box is soaking and log very wet. Left seahorse tb. Left the cache open in the sun whilst we ate in the hope it'd dry out a bit.
Originally logged this as the cage at the bottom of the hill by mistake. 

A great little cache. had the little ones searching for the clues. But had to think a bit with the working out. A lovely little adventure that was fun. thanks. Dropped off a groundspeak lackey coin and a few UK mega event cards. 

What a great hide! I had one similar in the UK, just not so well executed. That got muggled by the local badgers. I guess you don't get the same problem with roos.
We couldn't get to this t'other day as the gates were locked. 

Whilst the rest of the gang ate, i headed to find the cache. Bit of a tricky one. I followed the path until the arrow pointed off and there was a bit of a cachers' track. Ended up on my bum as my shoes aren't the grippiest. Spent ages looking around, with nowt obvious. Then i looked up to go back to the path and there it was in my face. 

After a cold, wet, generally miserable morning (felt like being at home!) Our hosts for the month took us out to the reservoir with the hope of seeing some Roos. We parked up and i got out the gps to see if there were any nearby, but the closest loaded up was at the far end of the reservoir. So out came the phone to see if there were any more. Now the phone gps isn't so good. But, once the details were downloaded, it was such an obvious place, the cage was easily found.
There was a tb (poor it could be another kind of traveler - not checked yet) which we took. None of the little collection that traveled with us would fit. But I've left a UK mega event card.
And we did see some roos, our first real ones,s Josef to in South lakes zoo in Cumbria.  

I think my excuse is, being a pom, I'm a bit reserved about diving my hand into the undergrowth.
we'd pulled on to get a picture of the view over the reservoir. Then i spotted a cache on the phone reported as being shoot 100 ft away. So we followed the arrow through the mud. Using my phone as the proper gps batteries had died. E got got down to 3ft, but there was nothing in view. E might come by again at some point. We've yet to find anything bar micros so far, which is a bit disappointing. 

Our first Aussie cache, many miles from home. Were starting with friends nearby, duo to ward off the jet lag we had a walk via a few play areas to find this cache.
Being Poms, we're a bit unsure quite whether we should be poking fingers into crevices we normally wouldn't think twice about. But the cache was quite easily found. The log book resembles a lump of paper mache though, so we couldn't sign it. 

We're coming all the way to Oz. But unfortunately, the dates clash with the week we're down south of Melbourne. Bad planning! [:o] Never mind. But keep an eye out in caches around Melbourne and Sydney for a Yorkshire Rose & a Groundspeak Lackey coin, along with some cards advertising the UK Mega later on in the year, which is RIGHT on my doorstep. But my inconsiderate brother has decided to get married that day. So I'll miss that too. Grrr