Easter Caching Ramble – Day 3

We join our intrepid cachers at their camp near Trevallyn dam, ready for another day of geocaching. . .

SNUVA:  GPSr?

SLAVE:  Check.

SNUVA:  PDA?

SLAVE:  Check.

SNUVA:  Let’s get on with it then. . .Onwards to North Tassie – #2. . .

We arrived at North Tassie – #2 bright and early.  It was a real pleasure to be hunting for this cache, which was set my dear Mrs Waterwells after her amazing hospitality in holding the 5th Birthday Bash celebration (in honour of the 5th birthday of Tasmania’s first geocache, North Tassie).  And what a lovely location she brought us to!  We are not strangers to the area as we camp nearby whenever we’re staying in Launceston, however we’d never seen the Gorge from this angle!  In searching for Power Stepping the HandsomeMan had been close to here, but to see this view from this location in the fresh morning. . .ah, lovely!  The slaves bumbled around the mountainside, for some reason thinking that Mrs Waterwells was going to be much more evil then she usually is, and finally found the cache.  A few mini pens were added to the cache, and we were off to the CBD for breakfast.

We broke our fast at an outdoor café in central Launceston, noting the holiday by purchasing chocolate Easter buns for later in the day.  It was a warm and sunny autumn day which I hoped would prove perfect for a journey home to Hobart via the lakes highway.

But first, on to a cache which we’ve been looking forward to but have saved for a time when we could give it the attention it is due:  The Longford Grand Prix (#3).  We made our way to Longford (being mindful to drive well under the speed limit because of the permanent speed cameras 😉 )  The first waypoint proved easy, and we were off to the second (being mindful not to drive into any pubs 😉 ).  The second took a bit more time because it was a great hide as well as being in a fantastic area full of some of the friendliest muggles around.  The third waypoint. . .

My slaves, my slaves, my slaves.  Well, I tool them up with some fine technology, and they seem to have become slaves to it as well as to me.  The cache description stated we’d be heading out of town a bit and around, and the female slave saw where she assumed we’d need to go and we were off.  It was a beautiful drive out of town and around, and continued into a lovely paddock. . .hmm.  Maybe we shouldn’t drive through random paddocks just because Tracks4Australia thinks it is a road.  On attempting to leave, having less clearance than a tractor meant we got hung up.  The female slave had to get out and push us off while the gallant HandsomeMan. . .well, steered.  So we continued out and around, the female slave being her usually patient self and becoming totally frustrated. . .until she realised where we needed to go.  So they carefully made their way to GZ whilst I barked my instructions.  Upon arrival at GZ, they bumbled around a great deal, mucking about in completely inappropriate places, until the female slave got her head into the history of the place and realised where it must be.  And there it was, a bit damp, but some time in the sun helped with that.  Thanks Sam!

Onwards to the lakes highway!  I’ve never taken this route, so it was a real pleasure to finally hit it.  We zagged our ziggy way up the hillside, then made our first stop at Waterslide, which was found quickly and left plenty of opportunity to take in the fantastic views.

Once we were past Waterslide and the ascent up to the highlands, it was amazing how flat and driveable the Lake Highway was.  So it was a fairly easy going drive until we headed off on an unsealed road towards Electric Fishie.  Much had been said of the crappiness of the road to Electirc Fishie, so I was surprised how good the road leading from the highway was.  When we were within half a kilometre of GZ, that road veered off, however another road was evident.  THAT road was the famous crappy road, however as we’d been driving for a while I ordered my slaves to release the hound and we were OFF!  There were muggles camped not far from the shore, however they didn’t impede our journey – just had a sniff and moved on – so we had a pleasant walk.  On arrival at GZ, we found a freshly felled tree cut up all over the place.  Ugh.  We hunted and hunted, and the HandsomeMan came up with the goods in the end.  Cache is in great shape, especially considering how long it has been out in an area that gets such harsh weather.

Another find found, we enjoyed the views and made our way back to the cacheMobile.  In land Ocean was our next destination – a small detour, but why not?!  It sure is a huge lake!  We grabbed the required info, then headed off to GZ.  It didn’t take long for my dear HandsomeMan to find the cache, so we signed the log and headed to a nearby monument to have a read.  How lovely.  It was a cool autumn day, clear skies, soft sun – ahhh.

Onwards!  To You’ve Got to Be Joking – yippee!  I’ve been waiting a long time to score this one, but haven’t been able to get out here until now.  We stopped for lunch (I’d just like to mention that there was a lot of beautiful rabbit or wallaby dropping to roll in – really a top notch, unexpected pleasure!).  Then the museum was visited and the information found.  Hmm.  I don’t know if we missed something, but with the lovely ‘Private Property – Trespassers Prosecuted’ messages from Hydro above and below, we had to give up at this point. Sigh. I don’t know if it’s my stupidity or if things have changed since Horus was last in the area – private property hides definitely aren’t his style! Oh well, the scenery on the drive was STUNNING!!!!

And so on towards home.  We stopped at Bothwell on the way, and left a littler encourager to bring more cachers through this fantastic route!