The 1km hike out to GZ from the closest parking place was moderately challenging, and spectacularly rewarding with some of the most fantastic views across Broken Bay and the Hawkesbury River entrance that I have ever seen. A recent bushfire in the area on one side of the track gave an opportunity to see vegetation being regenerated, which in itself was quite fascinating.

Looks like a nice beach down there!

With so many photo opportunities along the hike to ground zero, it would be easy to dedicate half a day or longer to take in all the sites and have a relaxing time.

The Wolfie that ate Lion Island

When you arrive at a place where you can go no further, you’re pretty much at GZ and it’s time to seek out the medium-sized cache, which we did after only a few minutes of searching. We took the travel bug, signed the book, and took some more time to admire the spectacular views and fresh sea breeze.

Wolfie taking in the sea breeze

The walk back was equally pleasant, if not a little more difficult being mostly uphill with a few short steep climbs but nothing the team couldn’t handle.

Thanks GeoMonkeys for bringing us to this fantastic spot which would otherwise remain unknown. It turned out to be a memorable cache find and definitely one of our favourites. We’ve promised to return here again soon to give Wolfie a run and swim at the nearby beach!

The new pedestrian and cycleway bridge at Woy Woy

Despite an abundance of muggles, we were determined to find this but unfortunately we left empty-handed after an awkward 15 minute hunt in all the little holes and not finding the cache. Even despite reading the hint, and looking in so many of the apparent places, it just didn’t want to make itself known to us today.

Wolfie leaves the bridge, disappointed.

TeamWolfie had to walk away from this one today. But we’ll be back for another go soon.

Breathless (GCWN51) is a cache by GIN51E. As a Central Coast resident who commutes to Sydney for work, I’ve zoomed past this location hundreds of times and given it little or no thought. I hadn’t even realised there was a bush track leading up the hill until reading the cache description.

I might be debatable whether it’s legal to park here on the Freeway, and this is one of those little places where police cars like to sit back and have the radar gun operating, but we took the chance today and thankfully we had no dramas.

The steep hill was the perfect exercise needed to walk off our caching-lunch at Pie in the Sky from where we had just come, although about half way up the hill I was really wishing I’d just driven my AWD vehicle up there instead – as it just seemed to go on, and on, higher, and higher.

GZ was at the highest point, and our GPS receiver lead us toward a rocky outcrop with sweeping views overlooking the Hawkesbury River from a vantage point I’d never seen before. Yes, the view was absolutely breathless and I can understand why the cache hider GIN51E, says he spent an hour sitting here admiring the view.

The view was breathless, and so were we!

I put myself in his vantage point and turned back and asked myself where would be the logical place to put a small-sized cache?  Ahhh, right there!  And thankfully, right there it was.

I’ll never forget the experience of climbing up to the top of this hill and the fantastic views up here, and it will certainly give me something to think about every time I drive past here now on the F3 as I remember this special Sunday afternoon.Whenever I see a car parked in that little place alongside the freeway I’ll be asking myself, “might they also be looking for the Breathless geocache”?

It’s called “Not the Prime Minister’s Hill” because it’s located atop President’s Hill, which is immediately to the west of the Gosford CBD. TeamWolfie last visited this location back on 25th October 2008 and gave up after a 45 minute search.

Today I returned alone – armed with Mio and iPhone, both of which were pointing to the same spot we’d come to last time. Not to be deterred, I searched, and searched – high and low, and eventually the cache was to be discovered after 20 minutes of exhaustive searching.

Wolfie Sniffed it out - our 40th find!

As one recent finder said in the logs – it just requires a bit of logical thinking and patience. I guess those are the ingredients for most cache finds, and one mustn’t lose sight of this when going after the trickier ones such as this.

I signed the log and carefully returned the cache it its hidey hole, and erased all evidence of my scrounging around.

Looking North toward Wyoming and Narara

Looking South-East to Point Frederick and beyond

It’s a great feeling to return to a previous DNF an turn it into a successful find – especially one with a difficulty rating like this, combined with it being our 40th. Thanks COD for the challenge and the great views from up here.

I set a plan of attack – two easy looking ones, and a 2nd attempt at one with a 4-star difficulty rating.

The first was Time and Tide (GCR7VG) – another of the Shifter Brains caches located in a waterside park at Point Clare. As a railway worker I normally travel right by here on the train many times each week, but I didn’t realise what a peaceful and pleasant place this is. Apparently it gets very busy with muggles on weekends, so I figured Monday morning should be relatively quiet.

Looking toward Gosford township

Looking southbound along waterfront

The waterside roadway took us to a carpark within metres of Ground Zero. The trick was to wait for a break in the muggle activity – even on a Monday morning there is an intermittent parade of people – young, old, walking, cycling, etc… I checked out a few places among the trees and eventually spotted it just as an older lady approached. Time to look sweet and innocent… until she passes.

It wasn’t long and I had my hands on the small cache at 0955 hours. The log book and treasures were packed in rather right, yet in good and dry condition.

Sniffed Out Time & Tide

After taking the picture I signed the log and made a swap – took a dice, left a red gem. A nice, discrete, and safe find in a relaxing location.

Today was about tranquility, and the first cache of the day was appropriately named Way to Tranquility (GCT5ZJ) – a Micro cache placed by local cacher Shifter Brains. The cache is located near a freeway overpass, which with a little imagination acts as a gateway to tranquility as it separates the forest on one side, with the houses on the other. Not far from here is a beautiful rainforest reserve called the Forest of Tranquility, and hence the name of the cache.

Tranquility under a Freeway Overpass

GZ lead us Wolfie Guy to a fairly obvious place to hide a cache of this type, so it turned out to be a nice quick and easy find, and a very good start to our 10-cache day.

Continuing a few more kilometres along the scenic road we come to our next hunt which is another of Shifter Brains’s geocache hides. It doesn’t have a nice exotic name like the last one – this one being known as Tinitus II (GCT5ZH).

It was time here to get a little muddy and a little dirty. Although right by the road, parking was a bit tricky along this narrow roadway, and as the cache description rightly says – it’s best to park a  bit before or after Ground Zero. 

We had a couple of freaky, weird, mysterious type experiences on this day – and Tinitus II was to bring us our first strange experience. Again – Wolfie Guy was straight onto finding this medium-sized cache hidden under some leaves in a rotted moss-covered log. The box had leeches inching all over it, so we dug it out with a stick. Upon removing it in the silence of the forest a loud and distinct cat’s “MEOW” startled both of us. Looking around we searched for the mystery cat which sounded so close, but no matter how hard we looked about us no feline could be found. Very strange indeed.

Now this alone was strange enough, however, upon opening the cache Wolfie Ben was stunned to find the log bog had a picture of a cat on its cover. We still cannot find an explanation for the “MEOW”, so we called it a ghost cat.

Looking for the Mysterious Ghost Cat

After signing the log we swapped a “Baby Fireman” for a “Green Disco Ball”, and thus adding to our growing collection of coloured Disco Balls. 

We continued our trek further up Ourimbah Creek Road to the last of the planned caches in this area, another of Shifter Brains’s medium-sized hides, this one known as Ourimbah Track Head (GCT5ZG). Forming part of The Great North Walk, the Ourimbah Track makes its way through some beautiful dense forest environments with an array of wildlife.

White blossoms from the tree branches above us floated gently down around us while . Trudging up the steep and muddy trail scattered with broken crumbling leaf litter as we leave the car and road behind us.

A red fox scurried across the path ahead – running close to the ground, it’s white-tipped tail swaying behind it as it melted into the forest. Wow. We had never seen a fox so close in the wild like this, and our presence didn’t seem to concern it too greatly. It had passed right across an intersection that indicated ground zero – the cache was nearby.

A fox similar to this was at the Cache site

We hastily opened the cache under the threat of another leech attack while also inspecting the minor animal track on which the fox had passed right by the cache, wondering if this was a regular route for the fox. A distant barking dog at a nearby house signaled an alarm – perhaps the dog had sensed the fox, or us. It was no time to delay. We signed the log and made a quick swap – leaving behind a bottle opener for a shower timer.

Wolfie and the Ourimbah Trackhead Cache

Suddenly an angry black dog leapt out of the bush, barking viciously at us. Perhaps it was following the scent of the fox, perhaps it’s target was us. TeamWolfie growled back at the angry dog and told it to go back home, at the same time it’s owner was heard in the distance calling it back too.  It turned and left us in peace to replace the cache.

It was time to back-track and head a few kilometres north now, up into the Ourimbah State Forest, but not without another freeway underpass micro. Our next find’s name very accurately describes the cache – Tiny Shiny (GC19KH1), a micro by GeoMonkeys.

For the casual observer, a freeway underpass is a noisy, baron, lifeless place. But for the geocacher it can be a treasure trove of hiding opportunities where a micro can be stashed – in this case so many possible places, all the same. It took less than five minutes – we found the container, and unraveled the scroll hidden in the tiny shiny bejeweled tin stashed in the concrete crack. Broken glass all around the roadside – an environment in which only a geocaching enthusiast could find a moment of bliss.

Getting the scroll back into it’s small housing proved an achievement in itself. Already breaking up in three parts it was becoming delicate, and it must be wound tight to make it fit. We returned the cache to it’s spot, so discrete to the casual observer, yet now so blatantly obvious to those who know it’s there with the sun reflecting off it like a shiny beacon. Sadly we were so caught up in the moment that we forgot to take a photo.

Now it was time to press in and up into the bushland of the Ourimbah State Forest. Our all-wheel-drive vehicle proved indispensable as we climbed up the steep muddy inclines to the next location – a micro called Jump (GC16QAQ) by gkseal. 

GZ lead us to a rocky outcrop with stunning views and cliff drops. There is evidence of the area being used by 4WD enthusiasts, rock climbers, and campers with some impressive nearby caves.

Wolfie Jumping Around

The thought of looking for a micro in the bush seemed a little daunting at first – but don’t let this aspect put you off this cache. This is a very clever cache, in a very clever location that is ideally suited for a micro of this type. After the important business of signing the log it seemed a shame not to do some exploring of the nearby natural features in this scenic location.

Standing on the rocky mountain top on the edge of a cliff, we stared down into the forest of pale trunked ghostly trees. Ferns on the forest floor swayed gently in the wind, waving back at us. Below the cliff to the right was a huge fallen tree cut down by loggers. Following a safe path further down to my right we found a secret cave half way up the cliff, unreachable without some abseiling gear. There are a couple of accessible nice caves in this location, spoilt only by the trash left behind by other visitors.

We continued our journey north-west through the forest along the bumpy dirty track to another of the Shifter Brains caches, 12 or 12 (GC1GQJA). Appropriately named, on the corner of the road to to Red Hill there is a junction signposted 12km to Wyong this way, and 12km to Wyong that way. The main sign here is guarded by large hairy tarantulas mostly known as Wolf Spiders – beware!

Spiders of the Wolfie Variety guard the signs

The clue for this cache came in very handy – it really says it all and lead us right to it. Just keep your eyes open – no bush walking needed. The log book is just that. Enough said. Wolfie Ben found the cache quickly, signed the book, and exchanged a red gem for a metallic star. “12 of 12″ was our “6th of 6″ finds for the day so far. Time to try now for number seven.

It’s amazing to see the landscape and vegetation change so dramatically over such relatively short distances. From thick bushland we were guided to a drier and more dusty place. Forest Fruits (GC1G5DM) is yet another of the Shifter Brains cache hides – so called because of the orchards in the area, one being directly adjacent to ground zero.

Our first thought – what a shame they are lemons! But on reading the log we discovered that others had referred to them as oranges, so perhaps we’re just here at the wrong time.

This location had both the TeamWolfie members stumped for quite a while. It was to be the most difficult cache of the day – and the only one we came close to almost giving up on. The wind blew fiercely as we squinted against the flying dust. Flies buzzed circles around my head adding to the frustration of not being able to find it. The clue and location seemed obvious, but the hide was just so well disguised and easily overlooked. Maybe we were getting tired, but our persistence paid off in the end with the cache being discovered after a 20 minute search when we noticed some oddly placed logs.

The bag containing the log book was damaged – but thankfully TeamWolfie also shop at Aldi and had some spare bags exactly the same, so we replaced the log bag and disposed of the broken one. It’s just some of the good work we do when we go out caching!

Forest Fruit for a Hungry Wolfie

After signing the log and doing our caching business it was time for a well-earned break. Some Forest Fruit seemed appropriate at this location, so we pressed on after a brief food break where we munched down a banana or two.

Time to play Monopoly? Our here in the bush?  Of course!  Geocaching Monopoly – our next hunt was another of the Monopoly series of caches by cphoenix – this one based on the yellow square Coventry Street (GCYWN1) – as it is known in the traditional English version of the game. Probably the most difficult thing about getting to this cache (and another nearby) was deciding where to park and from which direction to get to them. We decided to come in around from the west, hence stumbling across this cache first.

Coventry Street was about a 10 minute walk down a relatively flat track from where we had left the car – this track also being part of The Great North Walk. The path here forms the official boundary between the state forest, and some farming properties. It’s a pleasant and relatively flat walk to this cache, with a couple of small creek crossings (there are foot bridges), and an unusual huge hole burrowed into the ground at one location which we presumed was a wombat den. With the aid of the clue and our two GPS units we found the cache only after a brief search in a couple of obvious places.

Wolfie must pay $22 rent for landing here!

This is the 2nd of the Monopoly series we have come across – the other being The Angel, Islington.

We paid the rent and continued to make our way east toward the 2nd cache in this immediate area.

Another cache awaits us just 500m further east along the track. The track now becomes windy and steep as we head down into a valley toward Dead Horse Creek (GCRC56) by Detourism.  Along the forest trail we walked deep into the lush rainforest – with the bush changing again within a few minutes walk from a dry, windy, semi-rural landscape to something from another world. Bush rock was used as stairs which made the walk a lot easier than it otherwise would be. The variety of plant life was tremendous, it was like visiting another land.

The track wove its way through the mystical forest and at one point orange and black butterflies floated majestically before us. A running stream – presumably Dead Horse Creek, was calling us down into the valley. What a great oasis this would be on a hot summer’s day. On this occasion we didn’t need to cross the creek, as the cache was on the western side, and so were we.

While taking in the tranquil surrounds beside the creek for a split second Wolfie Guy thought he saw a black figure quickly speed past without making a sound. He questioned his own eyes when he looked for what it was and found nothing.

Ground Zero for this cache was a little tricky. The dense forest canopy and the steep walled valley playing havoc with our GPS units, but on reading the clues there was only one very obvious place where this cache could be, so we detoured from the track and made our way to what we were certain was the cache location.

We climbed around it, over it, under it, and looked in the middle of it. Oh dear – we were having a perfect day so far, was this one to get the better of us?  Surely not.  We had come so far.  Keep looking.  And by stroke of inspiration, Wolfie Guy lifts something up – it’s the cache!  It was amazing to find such a large and obviously popular cache – so many treasures, so well hidden in such a natural environment – a place where it simply couldn’t possibly be found by even the most curious of muggles.

Dead Horse Creek cache is tricky, but worth it.

There were many treasures inside the well-packed cache. We left a precious stone and took a beautiful “Suncatcher” geocoin to help it on it’s travels, signed the log, and placed this awesome cache carefully back exactly how we had found it.

Although the cache was tricky, I don’t think we would have been disappointed if we hadn’t found it. This is a beautiful oasis and it’s worth visiting just for the scenery. The cache find is a bonus.

What goes down, must come up – as we make our way up out of the Dead Horse Creek valley and head westward back to our car, passing Coventry Street and the big wombat hole along the way.

Nine attempted caches, nine successful finds. What a day – but why stop at nine, when a tenth is just up the road a little bit? Bumble Along (GC1G5DJ) is yet another of the Shifter Brains caches – conveniently located next to a small roadside parking bay that offers majestic views across the surrounding countryside.

Wolfie just Bumbling Along

It was a short, steep climb down to the cache which we found after a short look in a couple of obvious spots. It was to be our tenth find for the day. Signed the log, left a precious stone, and took a travelbug to move it on.

At the start of this ambitious day we had no idea what to expect or how many finds we would achieve – but achieving a hit rate of 10 out of 10 was beyond our wildest expectations – together with being treated to the experience of finding some great new locations in our local region. We saw a friendly red fox up close, we heard a ghost cat “MEOW”, and caught glimpse of a mysterious dark shadowy creature in the Dead Horse Creek gully.

It’s been a great fun day out and TeamWolfie is looking at coming back here soon to finish off the remaining geocaches in this area that we are yet to attempt.

One of the main bushland reserves is Rumbalara – a sprawling hilly region on the fringe of the Gosford urban belt, adjacent to home base, and home of several caches, so on my day off from work I decided to do some more exploring in Rumbalara, given it’s basically my own backyard.

First point of call was Shifter’s Anniversary Cache (GCXHJ6), a cache placed by local cacher Shifter Brains to celebrate their 1 year geocaching anniversary. The cache is placed near a lookout offering spectactular views across the region. It was a little tricky to find – the hint mentioning a “small cave at knee height”, but if you go there you’ll soon see there are many many places that fit this description. I was caving alone today, and to be honest I was almost at the point of giving up on this. So I gave it a rest for 10 minutes, admiring the view – then it dawned on me, “what about down there..?”

Sure enough, I found the cache. Sometimes it helps to just ignore the GPS and go with your instincts.

It was a small cache with a few small treasures for swapping. Left one of our Red Gems and took a purple Disco Ball – signed the log too of course!

Wolfie wishes Shifter a Happy Anniversary

Great place for a cache, Shifter Brains so thanks very much.

The next two caches to hunt down in my plan of attack were going to involve a 500m walk up a bush track, an a little bush bashing by the sounds of the description.

The track was new to me, and quite a pleasant walk. It was a surprise to find this sculpture of the Australian explorer Edward John Eyre.  Rumbalara seems to be home to a few sculptures of Australian explorers and pioneers – most having no actual affiliation with the region, but interesting anyway. This sculpture is out here, all by himself and far removed from the other sculptures at the main lookout area which supply the required clues to locate a nearby multi-cache called Go Ask Charles (GCG4VK) which we already did a few days earlier.

Wolfie resting with Edward John Eyre in Rumbalara

Continuing down the track we close in on GZ for the next find placed, originally placed by Wyoming Wombats and later adopted by Shifter Brains known as Rumbalara Rocks (GCFDA9). As the description already warns us, there us going to be a little “off tracking” involved here – it said something about there being a hard way, and an easy way. I think I got there the hard way.

It was a relatively easy yet well hidden and rewarding find. On approach to GZ you soon realise the logical place where it has been hidden. The cache was a great Ammo Box type cache, home to a lot of swappable treasure. I always appreciate finding a substantial size cache in locations like this. After swapping a scuba-diving mole (where do they think of these things??) for a bottle opener and signing the log it was time to move on.

Woof Woof! Found it!

Surveying the terrain I still couldn’t see any obvious “easy way” back to the track, I came back a different way, which I think was another “hard way”… losing my footing on my way down a steep part and sliding down on my backside – but I made it out alive.

Next cache just 200m further down the track – part of a series of caches based on the English version of the Monopoly board game in which cacher cphoenix made a hide for every square on the board game – this one based on the light blue property, The Angel, Islington (GCY3KH).

I had a bit of trouble here – GZ kept moving, dancing around in circles and eluding me. The hint gave me two suspected locations. I had been looking for a while at one of them – just not hard enough. Then I’d go back to the other, and back again, and back again.

Eventually it was spotted and – as often happens – I wondered how on earth I had missed it earlier. It was time to open it up, exchange a red gem for an Aussie flag, sign the log, and grab a picture of Wolfie with the Monopoly card.

Got some Monopoly Money for rent ?

Unfortunately cphoenix has discontinued the upkeep on all his Monopoly caches so the opportunity has probably already passed to to seek them all out, but we still look forward to getting around to the remaining ones out there.

There is just one cache left in this Rumbalara cluster, but it’s a tricky Multi cache called Catch the Cuckoo (GCNAMA) by local cacher Grank. The starting coordinates for thia multi are nearby, but it’s a furphy – the clues to it’s whereabouts are hidden within some of the local caches in a radius from this point. I’ve found three of the “clues” to this multi so far. I was expecting another egg in The Angel Islington, but it wasn’t there… so who knows if TeamWolfie will ever catch the elusive cuckoo!

This mountain-top reserve looks like a great spot for picnics, bush walks, there’s a lookout with sweeping views out to the ocean, and of course – plenty of opportunities for geocaching here.

Breathtaking views from St John lookout

The first cache we sought was placed by GeoMonkeys, just a couple of hundred metres from St John lookout – known as Paige’s Picnic #1 (GCJM7Z). This was a great medium size cache that we found quite easily. A bit of a change from this morning’s run of bad luck – the afternoon was looking much better already.

It was packed with a few treasures, although we just signed the log and left a calling card for TeamWolfie’s 18th find.

We were then down the track to sniff out the second cache in this area – Red Gum Rock (GCPQD6), placed by Cache On Demand. Although a small geocache, it was still a nice change from the micros that have plagued us lately with our string of DNFs. It was a little trickier than Paige’s Picnic, but still a nice straightforward find – although the presence of yet more leaches squirming around in the undergrowth really spooked us so we wanted out of there quick.

Red Gum Wolfie looking for Leaches

All up, a nice productive afternoon geocaching, and discovering yet more interesting places that are quite close to home. We’ll be back here to do some more serious bushwalking soon and maybe find a spot for a TeamWolfie cache.

Go Ask Charles is a Multi Cache by GeoMonkeys, located at the lookout of Rumbalara Reserve in the heart of Gosford. It’s a very interesting and clever Multi-Cache, where we had to solve a clue at one location, which lead us to a nearby 2nd location, where we needed to solve another clue to give us the coordinates for the cache.

Wolfie sniffing out the clues

On our first attempt we solved the two parts of the Multi, but we failed on the actual cache find itself. Today was starting to look like a repeat of our first efforts.

Wolfie Guy and Wolfie Ben scavenged through the scrubs trying to piece together the clues, along with hints people had left in their log entries. The clue was a little tricky because it could have referred to a few very similar features in the immediate area.

Armed with our GPSr and iPhone, GZ seemed to dance around. Perhaps it’s the dense tree canopy, or the fact it was a very cloudy day. We had the approximation, but it had us out a little – however, we were determined not to let this one beat us this time – and our determination was to pay off.

After about 20 minutes of searching and foraging, Wolfie Guy gave out an excitable yelp to indicate he had sniffed out something that looked suspiciously like a cache!  Yippee.

This was, to date, the trickiest cache we had gone after (as far as terrain goes). Although it’s rated a 2.5 for terrain, given the cache’s location I would have personally rated it 3 or maybe even 3.5 because the final part of the the search is a little hard… either that or we just went about it the hard way.

Overall this was a fantastic cache – and somewhat of a challenge, which we enjoy. We left the Koala keyring, originally taken from Little Beach, and took the disco ball. Left our mark in the log too of course… so thanks very much for the challenging cache, GeoMonkeys! We’re looking forward to sniffing out a few more of your hides real soon.

One of these is Pioneers Chair GC1460Q by “daznat99″, situated at the end of the scenic Point Frederick, near Gosford overlooking Brisbane Water.

This micro cache had us quite stumped for a while. GZ seemed to be bouncing around all over – and we were up and down the stairs, but in the end a bit of perseverance and lateral thinking saved the day and we soon discovered what turned out to be quite a sneaky hide and signed the dog… err.. we mean log!

Wolfie, proud of his find.

Thanks for the Cache, daznat99. We love these cemetery hides and the challenge of finding a micro.