We're baaaaack. TAS, VIC

[on4bam]

Hi,

We'll be visiting down under again in October/November. Point of entry will be Melbourne but we we'll ferry to TAS after two days for a 17 day tour of the island. Basically, we'll be visiting most of the area except the most northeastern tip (NE of the line Bicheno - Devonport) and the SW part where there are almost no roads.
Devonport - Stanley - Strahan - Hobart - Port Arthur - Bicheno - Launceton is the main itinerary.
Are there any caches we "must" do? We already selected a few earthcaches and virtuals in special places (South Tasmania 1 is a must do )

Second part is in VIC after getting back with the ferry.
Melbourne - Grampians - Portland - Great Ocean Road - Geelong
Again, any "must do's"? And again, earthcaches were selected and if we have enough time we hope to do the Geelong bollards wherigo's

A shorter multi might be a possibility but we're not there to go caching of course. In some areas we have a light schedule and if caches can bring us to interesting locations where we normally wouldn't go that would be a big bonus.

Thanks for any info.

Maurice (on4bam)

[LouiseAnn]

Hi Maurice
I read about your lack of reply. I don't normally read this part, so I missed your post.

For the Victorian part of your trip, can I recommend these bookmark lists:
http://geocaching.melbourne/victorian-c ... ar-awards/

We/I hold an annual awards to recognize great caches placed during that year. It's a good place to start.

I was in warnambool this week and found two fantastic large caches in the grounds of Deakin University just out of town. Pretty much any cache along the great ocean road will be fantastic since they will have great views regardless of the cache. Same for the grampians.

Geelong is a caching heaven, the locals are very keen. Pacman 's caches, particularly his wherigos, are worth keeping an eye out for. I'd target the pacman cache over the bollards, but I haven't visited the bollards (the walk is to long for my injured self)

As per usual hunting by favorite points is a good place to start.

Louise

[on4bam]

Hi Louise,

Thanks for the reply. I already noticed the Pacman caches (we like Whereigo's). Of course we're not coming over to cache but to see see stuff, caching is the sideactivity and so long multi's are out of the question.
Geelong is our last stop before going back home so we might have a little more time there.

The bookmarklists look interesting, I'll have to check the locations of the caches to see if we will be near enough. There's still lots of time before we'll come over.

Time permitting I may see if an event can be organized somewhere along the way. Did it in [url:http://coord.info/GC573AK]Greenland[/url] last year and almost "all" cachers in the area attended

[2y'stassies]

Hello Maurice,

We're in the NW of Tasmania, 15km west of Devonport where the ferry comes in and would be happy to help if we can. There are several caches along the coast worth stopping for - some because they are great caches eg GC1DGJK Bluff Shell, GC3V5YQ Mary MacKillop Devonport and GC4QMWQ Minatours Prison and some because they take you to great places eg GCKK4X Braddon and GCJ7AP Goat Island. I'll put together a list of possibles for you.
Must do caches in the North are North Tassie GC388 - Tasmania's oldest cache, Keep Off the Grass GC4Q9B9 and any of the other twobiggles58 caches and Meter shop GC3BK6B.
We would also be happy to organise an event for you to meet the local cachers if we can fit it into your plans.

Kind regards,
Sue(one half of 2y'stassies)

[on4bam]

Hi Sue,

I already had all these selected except Goat Island. It does seem "challenging" depending the tide.
From the ferry we'll get to Stanly where we already have an afternoon excursion. We were thinking of an event ourselves but we will need to find out where to do it. At least it must be somewhere where we have guaranteed "free time" and is in a populated area.

[on4bam]

Still going through the list of caches to select places we'll visit and where we'll have a chance of spending time to go find a cache I notice a lot of "dangerous animals" attributes and several listings mention "watch out for snakes". I love animals but I hate being bitten so what are the chances of actually encounter something that bites in Tas and along the Melbourne, Grampians, Great Ocean Road triangle?
The only encounter I had in Tas was with Emu (Exmouth).

[CraigRat]

Tasmania has 3 types of endemic snakes, but don't worry, you don't need to bother with understanding which ones are venomous or not...they are all venomous
No crocodiles or anything down here.

You just have to keep your eyes open. There are the usual creatures like spiders so it's probably good advice to suggest you don't shove your hand in to places you cannot see.

You'll be perfectly safe if you go in to it aware.

I'll leave it to others to tell you about the dropbears.

[on4bam]

Tasmania has 3 types of endemic snakes, but don't worry, you don't need to bother with understanding which ones are venomous or not...they are all venomous

Nice. Keeps us from looking them up when we see them

No crocodiles or anything down here.

Saw enough of them in QLD 2003, none in the wild though.

You just have to keep your eyes open. There are the usual creatures like spiders so it's probably good advice to suggest you don't shove your hand in to places you cannot see.

Something I don't do here also. Worst case scenario is a rabbithole or a fox. So less of a problem here.

I'll leave it to others to tell you about the dropbears.

Love to see them, heard they are quiet nice. You're talking about Thylarctos plummetus are you?

[stainless-steel-rat]

Devonport
http://coord.info/GC1DGJK

http://coord.info/GC1CH39

Stanley
Do them all while you look at the Nut.

If you head south on the A10 grab the caches at Hellyer Gorge, if you use the B18 stop at Ridgley and do http://coord.info/GCRCX1 a few people including me spotted Platypuses while doing the cache.

On the way to Strahan there are a few easy caches worth stopping for at Zeehan I enjoyed the Spray Tunnel and theres a cache there too.

Queenstown http://coord.info/GC2KY5V has a good view of the town also call at the three caches around Gormanston since each offers a different view.

http://coord.info/GC42YNK great views I'm told it was always raining/snowing when I went passed, again there are a few drive bys on the way to Hobart.

Hobart and the surrounding areas have loads of good caches you'll be best just looking at the fav points depends what you like and how much time you have.

CraigRats comments about the local wildlife are good advice, being a pom myself I can attest to the caching being different from Europe having seen snakes and spiders while out caching but as long as you have some common sense you will be fine. I have found that google maps dont have everything on them down in Tassie IMPO Opencyclemap is the best since it shows more paths and trails and also has contour lines, one last tip dont follow the arrow thru the bush get as close as you can on a path and go from there, what you think will be a short cut will take you longer.

[on4bam]

If you head south on the A10 grab the caches at Hellyer Gorge, if you use the B18 stop at Ridgley and do http://coord.info/GCRCX1 a few people including me spotted Platypuses while doing the cache.

OK, selected but we'll be on the A10. Time depending we might make this detour as wildlife is one of the reasons for coming over. We have been lucky enough to see a platypus in QLD but we wouldn't mind seeing them again

CraigRats comments about the local wildlife are good advice, being a pom myself I can attest to the caching being different from Europe having seen snakes and spiders while out caching but as long as you have some common sense you will be fine. I have found that google maps dont have everything on them down in Tassie IMPO Opencyclemap is the best since it shows more paths and trails and also has contour lines, one last tip dont follow the arrow thru the bush get as close as you can on a path and go from there, what you think will be a short cut will take you longer.

I have OSM maps in Mapsource and they seem to have many trails on them. I'll take a look at the Opencycle map (still time).

[n0w0rries]

on4bam,
There are some multis and puzzles you might like to consider in your travels.
GCGPC6 - State of Frustration (Signal Strength)
GC5M68Y - State of Frustration : Reciprocation
GC5DXW1 - Spirit Of Tasmania I
GC5DXW2 - Spirit Of Tasmania II

[2y'stassies]

One of the best places for seeing platypus is Bells Parade in Latrobe(just south of East Devonport). Early morning and evening is best. There are several caches on nearby Pig Island.

[CraigRat]

One of the best places for seeing platypus is Bells Parade in Latrobe(just south of East Devonport). Early morning and evening is best. There are several caches on nearby Pig Island.

Almost guaranteed a platypus sighting there. It's a pity caches keep going missing from there...... I blame those rascally monotremes!

[on4bam]

Quick question.. I went over the GA caches and made a selection of "might do" caches. Looks like the GA's are not very popular but GA3070 A Devil of a Cache caught my eye as it's on the Spirit of Tasmania (1). We have two chances of being on that ship but the last two logs are DNFs from 2013. Any chance that cache is still there?

I mailed the CO via his GC profile too... so hoping...

[Taz]

Quick question.. I went over the GA caches and made a selection of "might do" caches. Looks like the GA's are not very popular but GA3070 A Devil of a Cache caught my eye as it's on the Spirit of Tasmania (1). We have two chances of being on that ship but the last two logs are DNFs from 2013. Any chance that cache is still there?

I mailed the CO via his GC profile too... so hoping...

I had a look for that one on the way across last January and couldn't find it despite a previous find (just wanted to check in with the lil guy). Might be worth at least having a bit of a look, not a difficult find if it's there.
Given the ships have recently had a major revamp I would suggest that one is possibly gone, perhaps a chance to put another in it's place?