Our plan was to park near the Mangrove Creek weir, and cross it – if possible, make our way up Simpsons Track to this geocache, and then progress another 3km further up the track to the Simpson’s Cave geocache.

It was a hot stinky Saturday morning. The temperature was hitting 35′c, and our first obstacle was we couldn’t drive all the way to the weir because access was restricted. So we parked near the gate and walked down the steep, sizzling paved roadway – not looking forward to the return hike up the hill.

Before long we were at the shores of Mangrove creek.

Muddy Mangrove Creek

Our next obstacle was how to cross the creek. There is a concrete weir, and unattended pumping station – with warning signs and fences to keep us out. Adjacent to the weir was an alternate rocky crossing, but difficult to get to. Instead we decided to find a way under the fence and cross the safer, and easier, concrete weir.

Mangrove Creek Weir

Looking back from where we came

After a minor southward detour, were soon following Simpson’s Track westward along the southern shores of Mangrove Creek. This old convict track was oozing history – being the original road from Sydney to the Central Coast and used up to as late as 1930. With the history came the ghostly eeriness of being out here, all alone, on this lonely yet legendary track.

Simpsons Track heading toward the Inn

The heat was stifling. The silence broken by the song of the ever-present bellbirds in the trees above. Now and then wildlife was heard and seen to be scuffling away from us as we approached. We saw goannas,  a platypus, snake tracks slithering across the ground, and probably other interesting things we dared not look for.

Simpsons track - an eerie and haunted place

Perhaps the spookiest thing of all wasn’t found until after we were at home later that afternoon, examining the day’s photos and in at least three cases we could find “faces” in amongst the trees and bush. One of the most startling, and clearest, being that of a young boy.

We were closing in on Ground Zero. First a rusty car, then an out-house as the cache description had hinted we should look for, and a flat area, devoid of trees that we could only assume was the site of the Inn that now no longer exists. But we could “feel” it, like it was still there in front of us – and it was rather unsettling.

The rusty car

The Out House

Something told Wolfie Guy the cache is “here”, I mean “right here” – and I’m not talking about our GPSr. He just was somehow “told” – and he looked, and it was there. Right there. Exactly. First go. In a non-obvious place that would have otherwise taken quite a while to find. We told you this is a spooky place.

Wolfie, the Cache, the TB, in front of the Out House

The cache was last signed in 2007. I guess not many visitors make it out this way. We took from it a Unite for Diabetes Travel Bug that had been sitting out here waiting to hitch a ride since 2006. We thought about leaving the geocoin we picked up yesterday, but didn’t think the owner of the coin would appreciate it being left in a cache that gets visited only once or twice a year, if that!

Now it was time to continue along Simpsons Track toward Simpson’s Cave (GCXZFP) – we made it about one-third of the way along the 3km hike when we came to a junction with a stone monument.

Plaque on Stone Monument

The plaque reads:

SIMPSON’S TRACK TEN MILE HOLOW TO MULBRING

This track was established as a major branch from the Great North Road and intended by Lt Percy Simpson as the road north, at least to Newcastle and Maitland (Wallis Plains). He was Assistant-Surveyor at Wiseman’s Ferry from 1828 to 1832 and one of Australia’s earliest scientific road engineers. He supervised the construction of some of the Road’s finest structures.

The line of Simpson’s Track was like so many others, probably a path used by aboriginals. First known sighting by a white man was by McDonald, who was the overseer of a property at Ellalong. It goes from Ten Mile Hollow on to Mangrove Creek, then up Dubbo Valley on to Mangrove Mountain, then down Bumble Hill up through Yarramalong, Dooralong and then on to Cooranbong.

Lt Simpson had selected land near Dora Creek in 1828 and no doubt wanted the Road to go past his property.

The Great North Road, the first made north of the Hawkesbury, was constructed by convict gangs between 1826 and 1836. Some parts of the Rod have carried traffic continuously since that time. Other sections have been abandoned or have become little used.

The GNR was made when settlers were pushing up into the Hunter Valley and when sailing ships found it difficult to get into the harbour at Newcastle.

Today you can walk or ride ‘the convict trail’ from kerbed and guttered suburban streets, to the dry, rocky ridges and spectacular forests around Wiseman’s Ferry and St. Albans, to the pretty Wollombi Valley and onto the open plains of the Hunter Valley. Along the way you will find much that will amaze you. Get a map and EXPLORE.

After reading the plaque we looked down to see we were standing on some snake skin that looked quite fresh – to be reminded of the potential dangers of being out here.

From this junction, we detoured off the Simpson’s Track a little and headed over toward a nearby cool, refreshing creek, for a bit of a rest in the shade before looking at continuing up the track. As we approached, we startled a crocodile-sized goanna which took off across the water and up a tree – I’m not sure who got the bigger fright – the goanna, or us!

Refreshing cool creek on a stinking hot day

It was a nice cool oasis here – a place for us to dip our hats in the water and get a bit of coolness onto our hot and flustered heads – after which we returned back to Simpson’s Track and made a decision not to proceed today.

This part of the track was becoming very overgrown with knee-height grass, and given the weather and abundance of snakes in the area, we decided to give it a miss this time. The temperature was soaring and we had a fairly long walk back – and besides, it was lunch time and we were getting hungry.

We haven’t forgotten Simpson’s Cave – but next time we’ll approach it from the west, thus giving ourselves opportunity to explore even more of this amazing convict-built historic track. This has definitely been one of our most favourite, and spookiest of places we have been.

Thank you GroovyChook for such an awesome cache hide, and for sharing this piece of history with us.

This was to be our one and only cache attempt for the day after a relaxing morning at the beach. We parked our geo-mobile near the McDonald’s and headed across the vast expanse of the truck parking area, down into the bushland adjacent to the noisy truckstop, where the cache was indicated to be resting.

Being guided by our GPSr, after only a few minutes of prodding around in the scrub we had a fix on the cache, which was placed in a rather obvious spot and covered up in a way that makes it stand out to your average geocacher who has attained a moderate degree of geosense.

Wolfie hanging around the F3 southbound Truckstop

The cache was in great condition, and contained a “Here I Come!!!” coin by the geocoinclub.com – which we took with us and will soon be placing into another cache. We left behind a small coloured “Jack” (some funny-shaped little brightly coloured object that really serves no purpose).

Thanks for another great hide bower birds, I guess that completes both twins for TeamWolfie!

Located in a bush reserve adjacent to a coal conveyer belt that feeds the nearby Lake Munmorah power station, we spent about 30 minutes (possibly longer?) here trudging around in the dense undergrowth seeking out this cache.

Mysteriously, we did find a perfectly rectangular “indentation” in the growth that indicated a place where a geocache could have been resting very recently – but if so, it’s no longer there.

We’re keeping a watch on this cache, and might come back again here soon one day for another go.

It’s near a van park / mobile home village / prefab home village – and being Australia Day, there was an abundance of muggles about enjoying their day off and celebrating. We surveyed the location a little and discovered a small footbridge leading us across to the correct side of a small creek, but only to be put-off by a “NO ACCESS” sign, and fencing – apparently the bushland here is regenerating.

We’ll come back another day soon to have another go at this – it looks like it could be a lovely secret location.

It’s a nice walk along the water’s edge and then across a large open sports field to get to this cache, alternatively there is a shortcut if you park in the obvious place – but I do recommend the longer, more scenic route.

Wolfie owes more Monopoly Rent

With the aid of the hint, we quickly spotted the cache and carried out the TeamWolfie caching rituals.

Thanks for another Monopoly hide – we’re really enjoying these.

Most people probably aren’t even aware there is an aerodrome at Warnervale – and what a perfect location for a cache, that is surprisingly quite out in the open, and yet seems to survive the test of time exceptionally well.

This is well worth a visit. The find it pretty easy, and the nostalgia is great with the old DC-3 laying in a lonely open field nearby.

Wolfie feeling a little out on a wing

Great spot for photo opportunities here. 

Thanks for bringing us to this great spot that we’d probably otherwise never have bothered to check out, and what a cool old airplane!

We’ve managed to pick up quite a few of these now. This one is listed as a “micro” – but I’d personally call it a small cache because, despite the size of the container – there was room for a few small swaps – and of course, the Monopoly card itself.

Wolfie lands on Regent Street. Rent Owed.

This was a nice, handy, and relatively straightforward cache. There’s even a freeway exit for both north and southbound access very close by – so a great “park-and-grab” style geocache for anyone traveling between Sydney and Newcastle.

Thanks for the cache!

Twins North is so-called because it is near one of the two (twin) service centres on the F3 near Wyong – this being the one servicing the northbound traffic. It is a popular place for truck drivers to stop and have a rest – with there being ample parking for trucks.

A little homework was required for us to inconspicuously leave the car vehicle area and plan our way across the vast expanse of the truck parking area to the track that was to lead us down to the cache.

Power Wolf

Before too long we closed in on GZ and walked in circles a few times, sniffing out for the cache until one of us eventually spotted it in fairly plain and easy sight. We must have looked right at it a few times – always seems to be the way!

Diesel Dog

On our way back to the car, Wolfie wanted to get his photo taken sitting on one of the truck trailers parked nearby – so we got this great shot of the little fella.

Time to continue our caching expedition.

Despite it being a quiet Sunday morning, I felt very conspicuous looking for this one, clambering around parked cars, looking up in trees and street sign posts. 

After a good solid 20 minute search I gave up.

The three seekers before me also had no luck finding this, so I do wonder if the cache is still available.

Today I made my way over to Electric Harmony (GCZE72) and found this urban micro by Us Mob reasonably quickly. The key to these I guess is timing – early Sunday morning is a great time to go to those usually busy places to pick up cache and avoid the muggles.

TeamWolfie strikes again in inner Sydney

Thanks for the cache. I quite enjoy the challenge of these urban micros.