Weekend 24th & 25th January 2015

For the Souvenir Challenge in August 2014, I attended an event at Dunethin Rock last August. Austrees was in Sydney on a mercy mission and went to an AGM event there. We were determined to go together to Gunalda Cacheup for the Newbies. We've never been a camping/tent couple, but we organised a trailer tent from good friends (unfortunately no photos). We had intended to arrive Friday. Seven inches (175mm) of rain in the 24hrs to Friday lunchtime persuaded us to delay till Saturday. (Thanks, Brother Colin for arriving on Friday for us, even tho' we didn't make it.)

Good trip up, only about 1¼hrs including a stop in Gympie for shopping and fuel. Got there about 0945 for a 1030 start. Tent went up quickly, about 15mins. Others started to trickle in.

In events like these, the organisers hide caches for release on the day(s) the event. The organiser Sweet-Sour and Brother made 20+ caches for the three days. As this was an event for newbies, many of the FTF were for them, and they were simple hides and mostly drive-by's. However, while there were 20 or so cachers for the drawing of the FTF, there were very few newbies (< 100 smileys). We were fortunate to given a FTF each. One Tree Island & Split Tree There was supposed to be an isolated tree for One Tree Island, but I didn't see it. They happened to be in the same direction, so all was well.

This was where we realised the limits of a smart phone to get an idea of roads and their relationship to cache locations. We will take hard copy maps or PrePaid Internet for the Laptop in the future.

The Mary River separates Gunalda from caches on the western side of the river. There are three crossings, - the Mary Valley Highway, the Dickabram Bridge (We had seen it before), and a river ford. With the 175mm of rain upstream, there was no way the ford was being crossed.  

To return to base, we continued north on the road and towards Dickabram Bridge, picking up a couple of drive-by's on the way. No Offence & A Lonely Tree 

Many had returned to the showgrounds for lunch. There were two hidden near the Showgrounds. Gunalda Show & Gunalda Showgrounds. This was where inexperience with the GPS showed. Most of the weekend, it was spot on. Here it was about 10m out. There were 2 good cache sites where the Garmin was taking me. That threw me as well.

On the road again for Glenwood School & Kanyan. Photo 24/5 Back to the Showgrounda via Theebine. Theebine was the junction for the railway to Kingaroy (Blog), and had a very attractive pub.

Still a lot of time left for Gunalda Pass Rd. The Garmin played up here. We got to the approximate location very easily. It got hard from there. We had no idea the size or the difficulty. There were no obvious hides as there were with the others. We eventually found the entry point, and lo and behold there were some pipes heading toward the Garmin GZ. 4WD here. Lovely hides in the tunnel. Bit precipitous on the outfall, but easy enough. Searched with a torch. No go. The GPS had GZ under the road. A DNF.

To console ourselves, we moved to Gunalda Hights. It is the location for telecommunication towers. In the distance is the weather radar for BOM on Mt Kanigan.

Back at the grounds, there was another FTF left - Scotchy Pocket. Finding this one was most amusing. This cache was located near the Mary River at Scotchy Pocket. This area is a well known swimming hole for the locals, and there were a few muggles. When we arrived, they were in various states on undress and inebriation. They had been there for some time. One of their cars was parked across the track. They considerately allowed us through to inspect the river. The Mary was dirty and flowing a banker. Coming back, the GPS showed they had parked right on GZ. We didn't even try.

On the way out, we met another more experienced group. We explained what happened, but they continued on. It was some consolation to us that they returned to base a short while later, empty handed. IolantheK, Brother Colin and us, we got it early next morning, without a problem.

Possibly the best part of the weekend was Saturday night. Last August, I did not feel comfortable at Dunethin Rock; probably because I was a newbie. Gunalda had fewer people and was a more intimate event. This was great. We were able to talk to others in a much friendlier way and get the benefits of the social interaction. Dinner was at the pub with another caching couple. A small BBQ was underway at the showgrounds on our return. Unfortunately however, only 4 of us stayed at the showgrounds overnight. For a couple of hours, we swapped “warries”. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with Brother Colin and IolantheK.

Next morning was hot and muggy. A quick breakfast and then on the road. Brother Colin had 4 more published caches overnight. By now we knew our way around the area. So we picked up Open Spaces, Sexton Rd North, Secret Mouse House and Power Up in quick succession.

Brooyar Post Office on the other hand was a different proposition. This had been released on the previous day. We approached this from the West. Brooyar Forest would have the Brooyar Post Office cache in it?? So we took the Forest Road. It was only a kilometre away. Let's go the direct way. Two false starts, 50point turn, 4WD and we were back on the Forest Rd. Keeping on that, there was another road towards the cache. Everything was fine until Austrees baulked at going down the mountain - only 1k from the cache. Back to the main road. Off to the Eagle Lookout. Great views, precipitous cliffs with abseilers. Keep going, and eventually took a left turn and passed under power lines. Hey, we were up there a moment ago. Finally a simple pick up!!! Time for coffee.

After coffee, Austrees got a second wind so that StockYard Creek loomed. This was to be our final find of the weekend. We had lunch, a good chat and then packed up and made tracks. By then, it was an extremely hot and muggy day.

Overall, it was a fun weekend. The caching was simple, but we still learnt lots, because it was small and the attendees friendly. The tenting was fine – easy to put up and take down, plenty of room. No rain fortunately. We may have found a house sitter when we go to Thailand.

I hope Sweet-Sour wasn't too disappointed with the roll-up on Sunday morning. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and will be back to events like this. Many, many thanks to Sweet-Sour and Brother Colin for all their work, and to all the others for their conviviality and advice.