Logs for Joe_Bloggs 

Looked everywhere around GZ, not a cache to be found. Lovely spot though!
 

Found! Team Joe_Bloggs. TNLN TFTC 

A nice easy find. A very peaceful area. Unfortunately, not enough water for frogs. Fell in the prickles right next to cache, will be more careful next time. Took Chinese drum, left Pirate tattoo. TFTC 

Easy find, perfect on Sunday morning as no one around. Would be very difficult during a week day!

Took golf ball and Geocoin, left Magic Growing Sea Creatures and travel bug.

TFTC 

A very easy find, and just down the road too. Took pan-pipe whistle, left mini painting set. Took travel book TJVWRH. TFTC! 

A nice easy find, and just outside of work. TNLN. TFTC 

Our first Ballarat cache. A nice easy find. Took Ballbearing Puzzle, left mini painting kit. TFTC! 

Found the cache in a very easy spot. Took the Geocoin and gluestick, left a collapsible frizbee. An excellent place for a walk and picnic. TFTC.
 

An easy find. It was later in the day around 5pm, so there wasn't a soul to be seen. Contents were a little soggy, so make sure you use the zip lock bag to stuff your treasure and the log. Took mini plastic paperclip, left girl's bracelet and pink highlighter. Take your own pen!
TFTC!

 

This is a really busy place. Combine with a recent tree fall and what looks like substantial re-edging of the garden beds we Blogses worry that it may have been muggled. The actual journey towards the cache was quite interesting though. 

Found today after GPS took us up hill and down dale - probably something to do with the dust storm/clouds that were closing in upon us. The Blogsses stepgrandfather is a truckie and looking at the ages of those that had died was quite sobering.
TNLN TFTC 

Great view, and a very obvious find. Lots of fit muggles, you have to be patient. T mini soccer ball. L collapsable flying disk & Strawberry Shortcake. Also left long over due Tokyo Bound Travel Bug. TFTC 

We found what we thought should have been the location according to the hint but the hint location was empty, with nothing surrounding it. GeoDad was bitten by something at which point we abandoned ship.

About two hours later, getting out of the car, we noticed that geotoddler's foot was bleeding profusely. Or so we thought - he had inadvertently squished a leech that had had a good feed on his big toe. Toddler 1, Leech 0.

Mind you we picked up some cheap bananas and avacados on the way down, so all was not lost. 

GPS was sending us about 5 metres out but we did find it. Not much happening around here at 9.30am on a Monday morning, lots of playgrounds though.

T nothing
L growing sea monsters

TFTC 

An easy find but watch the rusty wire if geokids accompany you on this one.

T (well geotoddler boy chose) the pretty buttons
L beaded bracelet

TFTC

 

Took GeoDad quite a bit of bush bashing to find this one. Terrain difficulty should have been a 3 or 4 methinks, worse after rain. However this was a fantastic spot with a lovely geostory to go along with this, would never ever have visited this spot otherwise.
T Green Yoyo ball
L two bracelets and a grow fish
TFTC 

If you are there at the beginning of autumn check the wild apple tree - we took the last two apples and they were DELICIOUS!
T calculator keyring
L Aldi shopping trolley token
TFTC 

Definitely the middle of nowhere but a good spot to break a drive. Watch out for logging trucks and make sure you don't park in the logging road area - $2000 fine. Lots of wild blackberries too, yumbos.
T Matchbox jigsaw puzzle
L Sewing kit

Also abandoned a geocoin that we have been sitting on for too long. oopsie.

 

What a fantastic park - another reason why we love geocaching, as the treasures you discover aren't always in the cache. Thanks Solomonfamily, you've done it again.

T: Cave Man
L: Sea Monsters (to keep to the theme) 

Fairly quick find on a cloudy summer day; our Garmin was also a little whacked out today but we soon discovered it.

T: Plastic car with transparent case
L: Magnetic Clip

Dropped of TB Steppin Up 

Like other cachers before us we too had difficulty with the coordinates, with the solution to "C" causing us the most difficulties. After going off to a very unlikely set of coords, we recalculated (i.e. took a punt) and eventually arrived at the cache. It seems to have survived the recent floods in the area unscathed.

T: Freddo Frog stickers and pencil. The resulting artwork from the stickers and pencil is now on a piece of paper on the fridge, created by a very happy geotoddler.

L: artist crayons to go with the artist canvas

Picked up Tokyo Bug Dog Tag 

Found at 11am this morning after dragging a very recalcitrant geotoddler away from one of his favourite parks. After three hideously hot days it appeared that all of Melbourne's morning under-fives were here, making the most of a cooler day. Cache found with no muggles in range, although a police car cruised by as we were searching. Grabbed the TB while we were there.

T bouncy ball
L Aldi shopping trolley token 

Found on a quiet Wednesday afternoon at 3.30pm. Quite a challenging find. Adjacent to a nice little playground and skate board area. The basketball hoop is definitely still there too.
T: Dinosaur
L: bead bracelet

SL TFTC 

Found at 11.30am on a lovely spring day. Another well hidden park, but very popular all the same. A 12th birthday party was well in progress in the extensive playground, but were too distracted by their piñata to worry about us.

There is a sign posted nearby asking park users to stick to the paths due to revegetation works. The line between what is path and what is garden is ill-defined, so cachers may need to be a little cautious. Anyway, the cache is a nice find although the pen dropped on the leaf litter almost directly in front of the cache gave the location away. We removed it though!

T Toy Car, L Girl's bracelet. SLTFTC

 

A nice quick find on our way to Ballarat to look at houses - not horses - on Melbourne Cup Day. Was quite exposed, tried to cover it up best as we could. The lack of biscuits in the cache was made up for later in the day during a coffee break.
T green racing car
L bracelet and oceanic magic expanding animal

SL TFTC 

Noisy lil blighters, even at 11.30am on a Monday. Mrs Joe_Bloggs is learning to row along this part of a Yarra, so it was good to learn more about the Flying Foxes. The nature walk is well laid out and had lots of good information boards. Revegetation works obviously in progress but did not impact on the accessibility of the cache...but may do in future.
T Balloon L Oceanic expanding animals
SL TFTC! 

Found it, after some counselling by King Solomon. Of course we were right on top of it yesterday, nevermind!
Took Nothing, Left Little Britain pencil eraser.
TFTC and the words of wisdom 

Found at 4pm today during a trip to Mr Joe_Bloggs' hometown of Eaglehawk. Actually his mum still lives there so we took Geograndma and Geograndad with us on the insistence of Geotoddler. Geograndma was very excited by the prospect of the treasure hunt and was rewarded with a quick find. A great first cache.

Mr Joe_Bloggs says that the cache is quite near to what used to be the California Gully Baths. We would have stayed longer at the excellent playground but it was blowing an icy gale.

T: Blinking Nemo
L: Hair Bobbles for girls

In: BelKen's Aussie Wanderer GeoCoin

SLTFTC 

Found today at 3pm on a grey, humid Melbourne day. Drive by this place all the time but never been inside the walls. Fascinating. The memorial itself is completely over the top but reading the article that The Swaggies linked to in their log entry we understood a little more about "Springy". Geotoddler kept on escaping into the structure so he thought it was a great spot too

Took a fair bit of thinking to figure out the location of the cache. Mrs Joe_Bloggs eventually sat down and stared at the location, thinking to herself "If I was a hider, where would I put it?". And Lo, the Cache appeared directly after. What a great hide, well done maccamob.

T: Marble
L: Oceanic animal

TFTC 

Hmm, this one has us stumped. Of course the sword-wielding tai chi group nearby meant that we couldn't really do too much searching around the final location. Even with the hint decrypted and reading logs we couldn't figure it out.
We'll be back! 

Our first multi, which we thoroughly enjoyed. We first tried this one early one Sunday morning but didn't proceed as the carpark gates were closed. Came back this very hot windy afternoon to start and finish the cache. How lucky the Reeds were to live in such a glorious location! Even though this is very close to home we had never ventured into Heide, so thanks for a very interesting adventure. The Stein Path was probably the favourite and generated the most discussion. Of course there were a couple of exhibits not marked on the map that we also liked (check the gallery )

T: Spoon, which geotoddler promptly lost between the cache and the car

L: orange/green marble glass bead bracelet

Out: Belkin Geocoin

TFTC 

Found it today at about 4pm. The terrain is definitely a bit more mountain goat esque than we expected. Looks like some kids have spent the school holidays making the Billabong a cubby house/fortress. Fully expected the cache to be muggled but there it was, in pristine condition. A couple of muggles (or were they geocachers??) sprung us sitting down and admiring the cache but I don't think they realised what we were up to. Good luck to them trying to get to the cache anyway, not for the faint hearted.

Geoboy took the rubber snake and geodad took the LED light. Left a toy car and a mini sewing kit on a keyring.

Also left the Mysterious Hawaiian Symbol TB.

TFTC! 

We rummaged around for about 40min, but to no avail. In the reeds, under the bridge, around the trees, but nothing. We'll be back as soon as we get confirmation that it is still there.

Thanks for the hunt!  

No luck finding this one. Took the eldest geokid on the hunt but in hindsight not a great idea - he slipped and split his lip open in the two seconds that dad wasn't holding his hand. Only a superficial wound thank goodness, allowing for time for a bit more searching. Probably not the best cache for young kids/the elderly/pregnant women/the infirm to attempt. 

We too have stopped at this park many times on our way to visiting relatives in Bendigo. Malmsbury is such a scenic spot, but the bluestone viaduct is a real hidden treasure. Our recommendation for nearby eats would be the general store rather than the bakery. On a previous trip we bought two large coffees and bag of 5 biscuits at the bakery for $17 - ouch!

Our GPS was also going a bit crazy in the area, but a second attempt after lunch was successful in locating the cache.

T: watch
L: bubble cone

SL TFTC 

Thanks for directing us to a hidden natural treasure. Was mid afternoon so not many birds around. Word of advice to future visitors: Take aeroguard, the flies drove us nuts.

T: superball
L: rubbish truck

SL TFTC
 

Last cache of the day, and one geokid was already asleep in the car when we arrived here. Will come back to do the walk on one of our future visits to the area.

T: lanyard and fish
L: 2 magnetic clips and highlighter

SL TFTC 

Instead of Reedy Lake it should have been called Windy Lake. A lovely sunny day but what felt like gale force winds meant the area was muggle free. It is apparently a very popular spot during the summer months.

T: strawberry keychain
L: toy ambulance

SL TFTC 

Found it at 8.30am on our way through to Northern Victoria. It started to pour with rain just as we arrived, but we persisted nevertheless. After a minor bit of rummaging we found it, left satisfied and with very VERY wet feet.

T: Plastic plane
L: bubble cone

SL TFTC
 

Found at 12pm after a little bit of searching in the area. Actually our geofriend stumbled across it when he was trying to find a good spot to ...er...water his horse. Don't worry, he found it BEFORE that happened.

****beware of leeches and stinging nettles******
****beware of bad mojo *******

T: Playdoh and bracelet
L: bubble cone and slime spider

TFTC
 

Found at 10.50am after pausing to wave at 400 tourists. We think the geokids are now immortalised in many blurry photos. Also started to rain and lots of diggers and work going on in the area - but otherwise deserted.

T: or rather we liberated, bad mojo
L: 2 magnetic clips

TFTC
 

1pm on a very grey and cloudy day. First DNF for our geofamily, even after decrypting the clue. Nevermind, the area is one of our favourite haunts and no doubt we will be back there again. Don't forget to wander into the town itself and try the Kallista tea rooms scones - best in the country  

Found at 3.30 on a lovely spring afternoon. Quite a small cache but so cleverly concealed. Nearly got sprung by an old muggle warning us about snakes. I think we should have been more concerned about the 4 bajillion rabbits and their burrows.

Took: plastic stegosaurus
Left: Aldi keyring/shopping trolley token

SLTFTC 

A nice easy find. Log book is full and needs replacing. Took watch, left bubble icecream and earphone covers.
TFTCSL 

Had a good rummage, but left without finding. 

First cache for clan Joe_Bloggs! Found what appeared to be an old muggled cache nearby (square old container) but eventually saw the real thing after a bit of scrounge around.
TNLN SL TFTC