OzGeomuster 2

As per usual I have not been able to keep up with my blog.  It is quite difficult when you are travelling in the camper, so I will just put together a summary of the trip, but this may flow over into a few posts.



Just north of Stanthorpe, at The Summit, we find a cache, most appropriately called:

#1841 - The Summit Surprise

We travel on to Stanthorpe and stop at the Showground where the first Queensland Mega event was staged in 2015.  Before we do anything else we find a few of the Apple geoart caches.  The map didn't download very well, but you get the drift.  We find 4 of them, but I cannot log them yet as 'found', because I haven't solved the puzzles yet.

For the non-geocachers, geoart is created by faking the coordinates, so you can create art work on the map.  By solving a puzzle you will obtain the correct coordinates and do your search as per usual.   The apple in this instance was created because Stanthorpe, being in the colder Granite Belt area, is famous for its fruit and in particular, you get it: apples!

We then move on to Quart Pot Creek where we go for a walk along the creek and find a series of caches. We find most, but not all of them.

#1842 - Quart Pot Creek ~ #1 ~ 

#1843 - Quart Pot Creek ~ #2 ~ 

#1844 - Quart Pot Creek ~ #3 ~ 

We find what is left of this one

#1845 - Quart Pot Creek ~ #4 ~ 

#1846 - Quart Pot Creek ~ #7 ~ 

#1847 - Quart Pot Creek ~ #6 ~ 

#1848 - Quart Pot Creek ~ The beginning ~ 

We travel on to Texas, NSW where we spend the night near the river at the Dumaresq River Picnic Area (#708).

My camper and Patricia's in tandem

In the morning, when we leave the campsite, we find a few caches nearby:

#1849 - Our Lone Star

#1850 - Mingoola Park

After our finds we drive to Coolatai, NSW where we arrive around morning tea time, so we stop at a picnic area.  A local (Ralph is his name if I remember correctly)  joins us in no time and tells us that he regularly collects water at the picnic area from the bore as the water contains more healthy minerals than our tap water does.  He stays for a while (a rather long while) and tells us all kinds of stories: how many degrees he has; how good he was at all his jobs; how many properties he owns (well, eh, rather looks after....); etc.  Entertaining, but a bit long-winded.

When he finally gets the hint that we need to move on he goes home and Patricia tells us that she is going to leave us here, to be home in time for her next plans.  We had a good few days travelling together.

Dianne and I move on and we find a place for the night at the Sale Yards Rest Area (#253) at Warialda.

Dianne goes for a walk after we have settled in, but I rather have a rest, so stay with the camper and read a book.

As it is, Dianne finds another cache, which she tells me about upon her return.  It is a very easy find, because from where I am sitting I look right at it:

#1851 - Saleyards Rest Area

The following morning, in the cool of the day, because it is still very hot inland (up to 35 degrees), we walk another trail, this time the Koorilgur Nature Walk.

We find a number of caches, but again not all of them.

#1852 - Koorilgur Nature Walk 8

#1853 - Koorilgur Nature Walk 7

#1854 - Yowie Discovery Walk 1

#1855 - Koorilgur Nature Walk 6

#1856 - Koorilgur Nature Walk 4

  #1857 - Koorilgur Nature Walk 2

#1858 - Koorilgur Nature Walk 1

After we leave Warialda we stop at a lookout on the Gwydir Highway on our way to Narrabri via Moree, and find a cache as a bonus.

#1859 - Nancy Coulton Lookout

After we fill up with fuel in Moree we keep going until we find a place for the night, which is at Bohena Creek Rest Area (#805).  We share the spot with various big trucks during the night, but they don't bother us much.  Sometimes, if there is an airconditioned truck, you can hear the generator going all night which at times can be a bit of a nuisance.

The following morning we go in search of the Sandstone Caves near Pilliga on the Newell Highway just north of Coonabarabran.  They were on our to-do list as we had been told they are a sight to be seen and.... they are also an earthcache.

#1860 - Sandstone Caves

Aboriginal artifacts protected against vandalism

Rectangular opening for the bats to fly in and out

We counted at least 11 different colours all over from pink to pale green, yellow to charcoal, etc.

Views over the Pilliga area

As Dianne hails from the Pilliga area she wants to also find a cache with the name, so we stop further down along the Newell Highway:

#1861 - Pilliga on Newell

At Coonabarabran we leave the Newell Highway on our way to Bathurst.  We pass Mendooran and Dunedoo and find a spot for the night at Tallawang Rest Area (#404).  The nearby cows must have thought that we were there to bring them dinner.  They all came to have a look, but disappeared after a while when nothing was forthcoming.

Tallawang rest area

That's it for the moment.  More news in the following post.

OzGeoMuster 1

As before I never got around to fill in the last weeks of a long holiday.  If I will ever update it you will see it, if not, I can tell you that my time overseas was fabulous and I arrived home safely.

At the moment, which is the 18th of March 2018, I am already on my way on a new adventure.  Dianne and I are going the the OzGeoMuster, a geocaching Mega event in Morisset, NSW.  We take our time getting there and have left a good fortnight before the actual date.

On Friday I have packed my camper and picked up Dianne at home, after which we drove past Stephen's at Thorneside to pick up some goods and travelled on to Keven's block of land where we stayed the night as there was no suitable free camp close to Toowoomba.

On Saturday morning we visited Patricia at her home in Toowoomba and an old friend and buddy from my university years, Jennifer and her husband Scott and children at Mt. Luke, just north of Toowoomba.  They have just moved there and intend on doing some small scale pig farming.  We had a great time catching up and could camp overnight as well as they have 10 acres of land.

This morning, Sunday, we left and met Patricia on the way after which we had lunch at Jackie Howe Park (picnic grounds) along the highway near Warwick.

After Warwick, on the way to Stanthorpe, we discovered a short trail of geocaches which were manageable with two campers (think of parking) and so we already have four caches under our belts.

#1836 - It's Over Here

#1837 - Plane Spotting

#1838 - Turna Here

1839 - Overhead Power

That's all for today.  We are now camped for the night at Jim Mitchell Park (#676) just north of Stanthorpe. 

The plan is to do some geocaching at Stanthorpe tomorrow.  There are a lot of caches left over from the Mega two years ago, as you can't do them all in a few days.  Our best record so far was a power trail over there and we scored 105 caches in one day!  Let's see how we go tomorrow.  Don't expect a repeat.  Don't even expect anything close.