Friday-Saturday Aug. 30/31.....THE TORNADO TASMANIAN TOUR!!! We got up bright and early Friday morning to get our flight to Tasmania.  Since the flights were so crazy-cheap, we decided that we could not pass up the opportunity to spend a very short time in Tasmania….just for a few choice geocaches.  The flight was short and smooth, and as we broke through the clouds on approach to the airport, we were greeted with the view of Seven Mile Beach.  It looked like we were arriving at some place tropical…very beautiful  with white sand and vivid blue water as far as you could see. We picked up our (very) little rental car, oriented ourselves, got Marsha organized, and headed off.  Our goal was to get the “furthest south” geocaches and a few Earthcaches.  Tasmania was different from what we’ve seen in the rest of Australia:  steep hills, very green, and really “relaxed.”  The weather co-operated for the first part of the day, and the drive South was full of stunning ocean vistas from sandy beaches to rocky cliffs.  The water changed to every colour of blue.  Nearly every corner we came around, we wanted to take photos, but somehow just could not capture the grandeur of it all.  The first cache we were searching for took us on a short walk on a trail through the eucalyptus/gumtree/wattle forest, right along the ocean.  At the end of the trail, we were overlooking the surf crashing in, with (what we think were) seals frolicking in the current.  Just breathtaking. Path to a....cache! At this point we had a decision to make…..be satisfied, or continue 30 km further south to “the end of the road.”   We knew the road was not paved, but when would we EVER shy away from a challenge??  Turned out to be a forestry road:  full of potholes (that were too big for our little vehicle!), very winding and hilly, and pretty muddy.  Several times we were tempted to turn around, but we did not!!  It was quite slow, so 30 km took quite a while.  However, of course it was worth it.  At the end, in Cockle Creek, there was a display of old  logging equipment with a newspaper reproduction telling about a family of three sisters (one was only 16) who fully ran the logging operation for the family in the late 1800s.  One final km down the road, and we were met with a beautiful Southern Right whale (a statue).   We did search for a cache here, and found it….afterwards we wondered about the warning in the cache description that indicated there were dangerous animals in the area.  I guess we didn’t really want to know what that might mean, but now that we’re done, we might try and find out!   End of the Road at Cockle Creek We started back towards Hobart, hoping to get there before dark.  Just at this time, the rain started!  The road got a little slippery, but Pam got us through the ride safely once again.  That car was a mess, though.  Again, we enjoyed the scenery:  beaches, seaside villages, the vegetation.  We went through an area lush with ferns.  We saw some ferns that were about 20 feet high, and about as wide, that looked like pine branches.  Also saw a fair bit of wildlife, with a bandicoot   jumping right in front of us.  Lots of roadkill of various possum- like animals, and Tasmanian Devils Marsha got us to Hobart, but screwed up and took us to the wrong hotel.  A few turns through the downtown streets, and we finally got there.  The place was a bit different, but seemed to be quite a gathering place.  There was a pool hall, a casino area with slots, a lounge, and a bar!  This was Friday night, so there was some loud music that we recognized from high- school days.  No  problem, though, they did tone it down by midnight.  We walked around the town for a bit, grabbed supper, and walked some more.  The buildings were beautiful and so well preserved.  Law offices from 1870s, Royal indoor tennis courts from 1860s,  a  “club” from the same time…..all still functioning. Saturday, we got another early start.  Breakfast was included with the hotel room, so we were able to head straight out.  A sunny day!!  We headed a bit east this time, then went as far south as we could on the Tasman Peninsula and through Tasman National Park.  Today was all about geology, and we decided to head straight down to the tip past Port Arthur, and then take our time coming back.  It was a bit less densely forested and hilly along this route.  Still, the green hills dotted with sheep and cattle were beautiful.  We made a stop at Port Arthur….one of the World Heritage sites.  We did not go through it, but looked at the information displays.  It was a huge penitentiary area of the 1800s, with a separate prison, an asylum, a church, and officers’ quarters.  We continued on to the Remarkable Cave as our southern stop.  Here, the sea has carved channels through the rock layers, forming an inland cave.  The water still rushes in from the ocean.  We walked down a lot of stairs that took us into the cave.    Next we drove up to the Tasman Blowhole, Tasman Arch and Devil’s Kitchen.  We walked around the arch and out to the Kitchen….a “Grand Canyon”-like erosion with walls hundreds of feet high.  http://www.discovertasmania.com/activities__and__attractions/wilderness_areas/national_parks_and_reserves/tasman_national_park Tasman Arch Devil's Kitchen...hundreds of feet down All of these attractions were close to a small seaside village called Doo Town.  Most homes had a carved sign displayed on their property with “Doo” in the name.  Some favourites were:  Doo Come Inn, Just Doo It, Much A-Doo, Yabba Dabba Doo, Didgeri-Doo, and Doo F*@& All.  Very  entertaining.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doo_Town,_Tasmania Our last stop in the park was at the Tessellated Pavement.  Here, the ocean has worn the rock away in a grid formation, making it look like stamped concrete.  We walked along the shore here, and just took in the beautiful rugged coastline. Natural Tressalated pavement ....along with kangaroos, wombats and tasmanian devils Then we headed back towards the airport, caching along the way, arriving a couple of hours  early.  Good thing, as security was tight here in some ways, and so lax in others.  My full water bottle and epi-pen were not a problem, and shoes did not have to be removed.  However, we both got pulled aside for having batteries in our backpacks….they had to be taped together with the + ends covered.  Next, Pam had to take her bag apart because “something” was at the bottom of the bag….turned out to be tweezers that she had kept in there all through Europe and this trip with no problem…..now they’re gone!!! We waited in the departure lounge and Pam needed a glass of wine after all that driving.  A glass of Tasmanian white, and a bag of chips…….$17.00!!!! Although the trip was short and full, we both decided that this is definitely a place to come back to….for at least a month!  Marsha, Marsha, Marsha! what have you done! Cheers!

Thursday August 29.....the arts

We took the car back to Budget Rentals, then took Lori to the Preston Market right across the street to find a cache.  We walked towards Powell street looking for 2 caches along the way….finding neither we went home.


Lori decided to spend the day getting oriented at the house, getting caught up on sleep and getting ready for our adventure for Friday and Saturday.   I got hold of Curt and arranged to meet at Flinders Station at about 4:00


Natasha and Curt rent a space in a building that has many artist and artisans…..Thurs. and Friday night was Open Night….a night when all of the studios (that wanted to participate) open their doors and the public comes and wanders the building and buys their products….like a big craft fair but high quality items.  The building is an old  8 floor building around the corner from their apartment.  Curtis has a sewing machine and surger, for making clothes and Natasha makes and designs cards (ink, each one a different card).  Natasha was all set up and was making more cards to sell and by 4:30  there was already a crowd of people in the halls and on the stairs.  Curt and I wandered through each floor for the next hour or so…..painters, photographers, a shoemaker, jewellery, a hat maker……By the time we got back downstairs to their studio on the 3rd floor Tasha had sold a bunch of cards.

Studio building

Curt and I went off in search of supper, getting caught in downpour and soaked. We ended up at a busy little Vietnamese restaurant, getting dinner for ourselves and take out for Tasha.  By the time we got back, there were still people coming in and out and she had sold a bunch more, sometimes making cards as people asked for them.

Natasha drawing a requested unicorn!

We left the studio about 9:25 and arrived at the station at about 9:30.…thinking my train left at 9:40.….hmmmm I  misread the schedule the 9:30 train was mine!  and the next train arrived at 10.…home by 10:40.  Lori was asleep by then  but there was an email with yesterday’s blog all written….yeah!  

"turtle doing yoga" by tashi

Wednesday August 28....The Grampians

We got up and went for breakfast in Hamilton, and picked up a few groceries for the drive.  Attempted our first cache, but could not find it.  It was supposed to be an easy one, but not for us! 

We headed east to return to Melbourne today, deciding to take it a little slower and abandon our idea of swinging up to try and get into NSW.  The first part of the drive was much like yesterday, with lots of sheep farms along the way.  We started to get into more treed areas....arbutus and eucalyptus groves.  We stopped in the small town of Dunkeld for a few caches, and continued on our streak of NOT finding them.  Those were rated very easy and, as it turned out, we later found quite a few "difficult" ones.  Maybe we were overthinking things.....

From Dunkeld, we headed North for a beautiful drive through the Grampians National Park.  Mountains!!  We were up much higher, and in lovely Australian forests.  We stopped in a few places to get out and hear the birds and other animals.  We saw one kangaroo hopping at the 
side of the road but, unfortunately, we also saw a few NOT hopping any more.

Mount Sturgeon

The slide

One cache took us to the site of a massive slide from a few years back.  The pictures just can't portray the force that there must have been with the rocks and water pounding down the steep slope.  The boulders were huge.

We stopped for a little picnic in Halls Gap just before we exited the park.  It was a sunny day, just the right temperature for us.  The lady in the store told us that the temperature can get to 45* there in summer.  No thanks.  It looked like a place that would be very busy in summer with campers and hikers.  Lots of campgrounds, picnic areas, and hiking trails.  We also saw a class of students enjoying the park we were lunching in....and we smiled and said (again) how much we love retirement!!

Would you believe...an earth cache!!

A couple more hours of driving, and we were in Ballarat.  We stopped in this great "gold rush" town (again for Pam) to stretch our legs and learn a few things about the geological features of the area.  A nice town for walking, and the buildings are well preserved.  Just a good atmosphere here.

By this time, we realized that we were a little behind in our time frame to be back to Melbourne before dark.  We started back, and decided to let Marsha2 (the car GPS twin to Marsha that belongs to Val...) guide us home.  Aye yai yai!!!  She had us out on country roads in a very unnecessary and large loop just to get us back on the highway.  It was dark before we got back to the highway!  The drive was then another 90 minutes, but Pam was excellent in the driver's seat, Lori was a little "jumpy!"  But Marsha did redeem herself when we got to the city and we made it home without any catastrophes.

A long but very enjoyable day in the Australian countryside.  Made dinner, logged caches, and crashed!

Tuesday Aug. 17.….Whales, Blue Lake, Sinkholes and Waterfalls

Today it was sunny and warm all day, everyone has been talking about the flooding and the wind and the rain…..I guess we have been really lucky the last couple of days….a few raindrops yesterday but today just great.

After we had breakfast, found a place where Lori could get her phone activated and found a cache, we headed off to the Whale Nursery.http://www.warrnamboolcam.com/whales.htm        It seems that the Southern Right Whales come to Warrnambool at this time of the year to give birth.  It is so popular that they have made a large viewing area.  It seems impossible to think that they could give birth in such turbulent surf.  We caught a sight of them just laying in the water just off shore.  We understand that sometimes they will put on quite a show…..swimming, playing and breaching, today they were resting.   http://www.warrnambool.vic.gov.au/index.php?q=node/56

Where's the Whale?

 

Whale Watching

We found the second cache a ways up the coast at the grave of the first white woman in Victoria (1860) looking out over surfers at play!  Then we were off…heading to Mt Gambier in South Australia about 200 km.  We left the shoreline and passed through countryside with lots and lots of sheep and cattle, wind farms and tree farms…..so many different environments…..at some point Lori said that if someone showed her a picture of some of the areas she would have said it was Ireland.  Everything is so green right now.  The last time I was here it was summertime and everything was golden.  

We arrived in Mt Gambier to get a little taste of South Australia (yes, yes, yes….alright, it involves caching!)   We first went to the Blue Lake http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Lake_%28South_Australia%29     (an earth cache)…..high above Mt Gambier. …..it is one of four crater lakes in the town but it is the only lake in the whole world that changes from a brilliant blue each summer through to a cold grey colour in the winter.  Today it was not the beautiful blue throughout the lake that I saw two years ago but it is a bright turquoise around the edge.  We had some lunch at one of the other lakes in the park, in an area called “Devil’s Bowl,“ found a couple of caches then headed to another earth cache that is my favourite…..the Umpherston Sinkhole http://www.southaustralia.com/info.aspx?id=9000800  

Blue Lake, Mt Gambier

             .

 

The Umpherston Sinkhole is a garden made from a  sinkhole in 1887.….When I was here in 2011 it was summer and all the flowers were blooming….but even in winter it is still an amazing place to visit

 

From Mt Gambier we headed  east, back in to the state of Victoria stopping off at a Wannon Falls in a nice little park with camping and picnicking facilities.  Another earth cache and two other caches.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wannon_Falls

By this time it was 5:00  so we headed to the nearest town……Hamilton (!) we got a hotel room, found another cache, had dinner.  Lori has been logging her caches (12) and I have been blogging …..still have to log my caches (11).

Monday August 26.….Great Ocean Road Roadtrip

Lori arrived at Southern Cross Station about an hour after her flight landed at the airport in Melbourne…that was not too bad.  We carried on to the Metro part of the station and caught the train back “home” All the while explaining Melbourne’s train system and stations….and my plan for tomorrow.

Parent friendly checkouts at Woolworths

 
We stopped by the car rental place to put Lori on the drivers list and stopped at Woolworths to get some supplies for lunches and then we headed out…..9:30am.  a good start.    An hour later we still hadn’t figured out how to get on to the right road out of town!…..not so good a start…..We finally were on the road we wanted by 11 and on our way to the Great Ocean Road http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Ocean_Road. The weather was just right sunshine and mild temperature....spring time weather.

I driven this road when I was here two years ago….it is one of the most scenic, amazing ocean drives in the world…….The ocean is so powerful,  the waves, the beaches , the cliffs and the views are incredible. Of course it  includes some geocaching…earth caches.   Earthcaches are caches that take you a place with geological signifigance, there is not something  to be physically found but something to be learned about the area you are in.  These caches have taken me to places that I would never have seen if it wasn’t for geocaching.

The Apostles

The Arch

London Bridge-a piece to the left has collapsed

The Grotto

Something new (or at least I didn’t remember them ) was the added to the area….. flight seeing tours, with helicopters flying up and down the coast line to see the 12 Apostles, the Arch, London bridge (features of the ocean shoreline)….they no sooner came in for a landing and dropped people off than there was another flight taking off!

The road was a lot windier than I had remembered and so it took a long  to get anywhere. I am now more relaxed about driving on the left hand side of the road.  And Lori hasn’t been clutching the side of her seat in fear…..she just mildly reminds me before we start “stay on the left”!

We ended the caching day with Lori getting 7 caches (5 of them earth caches) and I got 4 ( 2 of them earth caches, I had some from the last time) It gets dark early here about 6:00pm, remember it is still winter going into spring.....or we would have kept right on caching!!!

We stopped at a town called Warrnambool at a Comfort Inn and had dinner at a pub in the downtown area.  The lady at the motel has told us about a few things that are happening in town at the moment and we will check one of them out in the morning.  

Hmmmmmmm!

Saturday and Sunday August 24th and 25th

Saturday was another slow start to day….booked a hotel for Hobart for next  Friday night and booked an automatic car for pick up on Sunday in the afternoon.  I have decided that I’m not ready to drive manual without a lot of practice in familiar areas (so anyone out there in Canada let me know if you have a manual transmission car I can practice on when I get back)  so I  have  booked a car from Sunday to Thursday for our little road trip.

I was to go out for dinner tonight but it was cancelled so walked down to  Preston to see if I really did book the car or if the booking was in cyberspace.  It had gone through and they promised to have a car for me there on Sunday (it is through Budget rentals but the office in Preston is very small.)

I then caught the train (by this time about 3, in Melb, stopping off at Southern Cross station to check out where I’m going to meet Lori on Sunday evening.  She is flying in from New Zealand at 9:00.  Then walked down to the free City Tram that goes around the city.  I got off on at the nearest station to the Singing Bridge……yes, a singing bridge, that I visited last time I was here but there was no caches there and I loved bridge…..now there are 2 caches! As you walk across the bridge speakers go off and play all sorts of Australian music….aboriginal, folk, rock, kids…..it goes over the railway tracks to the place where all the sporting facilities are for Australian rules football (footies), soccer, tennis, cricket.

View from the Singing Bridge

I found the two caches and then carried on along the river park to Federation Square.  I browsed in some of the stores and then headed home.  Their Saturday night TV is much like I watch at home….the Midsummer Mysteries and Father Brown Mysteries (we used to get this one but now we don‘t)…..they are now advertising a second season of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries starting Sept. 6 here…..it will probably be another year before we get it!

 
Sunday morning I spent reading and relaxing.  About 1:00  I walked over to find a cache that is near here….didn’t find it! Then continued down to pick up the rental car and then pick up a few groceries (Curt is coming for dinner tonight)  I need to go back there to take a picture…..they have a couple of checkouts that are “Kid friendly”….actually more like parent friendly…..they are free of confectionary at the checkout….no candy that the kids will whine about…..I will add it tomorrow.!


 I drove the new car around the neighbourhood for awhile….Only worring about keeping left, keeping left and not worrying about stalling or rolling backwards on hills…..this is so much better!   I got back to the house about 4:00.  Spent a while washing down Joan’s car which I stupidly put under the tree (full of birds) in front of the house……I moved it tonight around the corner where there is no trees!  Curt arrived a little after 4 and we chatted and ate dinner (not as fancy as he cooked for me).  I’m going to go back into town with him about 8:30 and get off at Southern Cross station where I will meet up with Lori.

Wednesday Aug. 21.….I did it!

Ok after procrastinating for the last week and then more procrastination this morning I decided I was going to try to drive the manual car!   So off I went around and around and around and around the block……making only left hand turns……remember I’m driving on the left side of the road, so the left  turns are the easiest. 

Then after about 15 time around the block I headed off for the grocery store and market.  They have Woolworths here….apparently they bought out Safeway.  I got there safely and parked.   Yea!!!  Shopped, backed out and headed back to the house……..I only stalled once and did some right hand turns without stalling…….I will try it again tomorrow!

I headed into Melbourne after 3.….I tried for one cache and didn’t find it and then headed over to the GPO to have a hot chocolate at Cocao.  Curt didn’t get off until 6:30 so I went west towards Southern Cross station and found a couple of caches there.  Then went back do a little browsing at Target (yes they have a Target downtown!) and then met Curt.

Royal Arcade

We went back to their apartment and chatted with Natasha and went out to find someplace to have dinner.  We ended  up at The Blue Railway which is on the south bank of the Yarra river….very nice dinner, Curtis and Natasha both had pastas and I had a pulled pork sandwich.  They walked me to the station and I caught he 10:00pm train home. 

Federation Square at night

Southbank at night

Veiw from the restaurant

Thursday August 22.….Lazy day

Today it called for rain all day (at least on my computer) but it didn’t rain until late afternoon.   I stayed in most of the day….I finished the JK  Rowling book Coukoo’s Calling and tidied up around here. 

I needed a cache for the August challenge, so I had picked an area a little further afield than I had driven yesterday.   First I drove around the block about 15 times…a little more jerky than I did before but when I was smoother I headed south on Spring St to Darebin Art Centre….a possibility of 4 caches…..I plotted my route…I stalled once at the lights.   Then when I got to where I wanted to turn in to the centre,  somebody was parked in front of the drive-way so I had to drive another block down, so much for my planned route.  By that time I was stressed about the traffic and my driving that I only found one cache!!!  And then drove home with a few detours so I could turn at the right street !!!  Whew!!!!!

Curt arrived about 4:30.…we headed back to Woolworth in the car, he’s not as impressed with my driving as I am….( but then he’s is not impressed with my driving at the best of times!)  to get a few thing for the dinner he cooked for me.  He  made perogies from scratch!!!!!!   Filled with sweet potato, leek and a smoked cheese….so yummy.   We had it with lamb sausages and a kale (from Joan’s garden) salad!  After dinner Curt finished making the rest of his perogies so that he could freeze them and take them home, I downloaded some more books on my Kobo and  we chatted….a pleasant evening.

Yummy!

Friday August 23.…Visiting

I got up about 8 and Curt slept in until about 1030.  We headed into Melbourne about 1pm…..we dropped off  Curt’s overnight stuff and the extra frozen perogies at the apartment.  Natasha was at school.  We picked up  some lunch for us and a fruit salad to take to Diane, Natasha’s Mom who we were off to visit.  We caught the Craigieburn line to Ascot Vale where Diane lives (she has MS and lives in a nursing home), it is a suburb I haven’t been yet.  We visited for about and hour and then walked around for a while.   It is another interesting little area (Melbourne has many many suburbs all little towns in themselves)  with lots of little shops, restaurants and of course a cache.  Also a huge op shop (thrift store) where Curt found a couple of work shirts. 

We took the train back to Flinders Street about 5, Curt went home (they are going out dancing later tonight) and I headed over to Federation Square and the information centre.  Lori is arriving on Sunday night and I have a little road trip planned that starts Monday morning, so I wanted to get some maps and pamphlets for the Great Ocean Road!  

Saturday Aug. 17...Victoria Market

Saturday another slow start but a gorgeous day…..headed in to Melbourne about 1pm and got off at Parliament and gathered information for an earth cache about Impossible Fossils.  As I wandered down to Federation Square and went to phone Curt, I realized I hadn’t turned on my phone and he had already texted me. (I am getting better at texting, by the way….sometimes I even surprise myself that I can get it out a little faster than my slow snail pace!)  We met up at the square which is a very busy place on a Saturday and then headed over to their apartment  drop of the things he was carrying. I talked to Natasha from the doorway not wanting to go in because she was sick (don’t want to catch anything now!)…..she sounded awful!

Curt and I walked up to Victoria Market   http://www.qvm.com.au/ and each bought some fruits and vegetables just as most of the produce stalls were closing.  We stopped for a snack/lunch at a middle eastern stall…..(I forget the name but will edit it in later)….ground lamb that is wrapped in a flat bread…it might have even been baked around the meat filling.  We ate it while enjoying a couple of street musicians playing 50’s and 60’s rock and roll.   We got some soup to take back to Natasha too. 

We started back down to Flinders Station, finding a cache along the way.  There is something really strange going on in Melbourne right now ….adults… and some children…seemingly sane….wearing costumes.  No it’s not a Comicon Convention, these are adult versions of the cheap one piece costumes you get for kids at Halloween. Dragons, rabbits, tigers, penguins……  Weird!!!

Hmmmmm?

Sunday Aug. 18.….Ballarat  

I wanted to visit Ballarat, which is about 120km northwest of Melbourne.  I thought that a new series that I had been watching on Knowledge called Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, was set in Ballarat.  But I realize only one episode was set here the rest are set in Melbourne.  So I met Curt on Sunday morning at Southern Cross station to catch the  10:30 V-line to Ballarat  

I love to ride the trains…you can sit back and enjoy the scenery while someone else does the driving…..mind you, you can’t stop and cache along the way!  Lots of farmland sheep, cattle and horses…..oh and a beautiful rainbow!

Ballarat, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballarat    is a city that grew up around a gold rush in the 1850’s.  I understand that about 2kms outside the city there is a gold museum and  a town set up much like Barkerville    www.barkerville.ca    in British Columbia.  But  Curtis and I just walked the streets of the main town, checking out the buildings and the stores and the beautiful boulevard.  Of course along the way we found some caches….that took  us to a theatre, a heritage street, a church, the Chinese village site and an earth cache about the stone used in the statues down the boulevard.



 

The weather was predictably unpredictable!  The sun shone, then wind, then rain, then sun, then wind, then rain!!!! 

We stopped for a delicious lunch at a restaurant that looked very popular with the locals, to warm  up and dry out. Curt had a steak (they put an egg on it) and I had a hamburger in a bun like a thick pita bread….yummy  

After a a great day of exploring we got on the 4:00 train, travelling through the countryside in the sunshine,  arriving at Southern Cross at about 5:30.

Little Bo Peep lost her dragon, penguin, tiger and blue ?

  

Monday August 19...Movie Night

Another slow start to the day and another day that I woke up to beautiful sunshine and by the time I left to catch the train it had rained and sunshined at least 3 time!!!. 

My plans were to find a cache (still working on the one a day challenge)and then  go see Curt while having a coffee before heading up to Lygon Street to meet the Monday night movie group

After the coffee/visit  I got on a tram towards Lygon Street and got off to gather information for an Earthcache and do 2 more caches (one I didn’t find) and then met with the ladies.  We decided to see The Red Obsession http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2419284/  a documentary about the wine industry in France and China….very interesting.  Then we went to dinner at Jimmy Watson's http://www.dimmi.com.au/restaurant/jimmy-watsons for another delicious dinner. I had a great time but I haven’t weighed myself lately but with all of these great dinners, I need some more exercising!!!

Tuesday August 20.…..Caching day

I caught the South Morag line the opposite way today….I went north to the end of the line, to meet up with Jacqueline aka Cuddlefish and her son Evan to find Melbourne’s 1st cache, which is about 60 kms north Reservoir, where I am.

South Morang is the end of this train line but you can see that the line is going to continue….there is a tunnel that is draped  when you get off the train.  I found the cache outside the station where I am to meet Jacqueline…..they show up a few minutes later.  We went across the street to stock up with some water and treats and batteries for the day. The shopping centre here is so close to the station that I think I will come back here later to stock up with groceries.

We followed J.’s GPS which takes us on an back road through some beautiful countryside, hills and large trees.  We even saw a kangaroo jump across the road!  The cache, Melbourne’s 1st , is an old one placed in Oct. of 2000 ( geocaching was started May 2000),  and placed in a beautiful location…. a view overlooking a valley with farms and a couple of billabongs.  Then we were off headed back towards town, caching along the way.  Passing through towns called Flowerdale, Pheasant Creek, and having lunch at Whittlesea.  We ended up at Wombat Bend   http://www.manningham.vic.gov.au/play/playgrounds/templestowe_lower_playgrounds/wombat_bend.html?s=0  a park with lots of caches and an amazing playground for Evan after we found some caches and got rained on!  I think I found about 15 caches today….I haven’t logged them yet so I don’t know the final count! 

But we had a great day Jacqueline did a great job of driving (she’s an Aussie who now lives in Vancouver)  remembering  how to drive on the other side of the road and handle Melbourne's traffic and streets.   And Evan found lots of the caches for us and was very patient  on the long drive.