Day 4
The kids decided to go play at the beach of the lake before we left so while they were busy enjoying themselves we packed up the camp
When we were all ready and waiting we had to drag the kids away from the lake so we could get on the way
Our first destination was a nearby cache which was an unloved oldie from 2003
Not found for about 2 and a half years so it was a high priority cache find
Cattlemans Camp GCCD7E
Our track took us west away from Lake Jasper along a sandy track which had a gate
Luckily today the gate was not locked, I was very nervous about driving into an area which I thought was potentially an excluded access area. I found out later that the track is only locked off during winter as the road can become very boggy and needed to be protected from erosion.
The drive was through some very beautiful bushy hill side forest, we eventually came to a junction which showed on the map two routes towards the cache
We took the right hand track and it became more and more overgrown as we continued and came to another junction
The right hand track looked to head down to the lake and the left hand track pointed in the direction where we needed to go so we took that track
The track quickly became very over grown with thick bush on either side and tall regrowth through the centre, I decided to push through as the bush was mostly thin branches with an occasional older fallen tree across the track which we could easily drive over
We were only a few kilometres from the cache so I pushed on and there was no way I could turn around in the dense bush, going back was not an option either
After a while the bush thinned out and the track became a wider clear sand track
During this time we were in patchy contact with the others in the group but it seemed they could not hear our transmissions over the hand held radios so they did not seem to know where we were
We came to a junction and took the left turn towards the cache, then a short distance we came to another junction with the right hand track being in the direction of the cache
This was a sandy track up a fairly steep hill but we got up quite easily and were soon at a point in the track where it took a bend and started to veer away from the cache
We stopped here and parked up to wait for the others in the group to arrive
The cache was about a 200m bush bash from here through some dense regrowth
Once we had all arrived and got prepared for the trek in we headed off in the direction of the cache
We made good progress using the GPSr, there were a few ups and downs and some heavy bush bashing in places but eventually Mistraluna called out that she had found it and we all made our way to her position
The old shack had seen better days, much better days.
It has completely collapsed and a large tree has fallen on top of it burying it under its dead canopy
Mistraluna got stuck in and getting on her hands and knees she spied what she though was the cache, buried under sheets of tin and dead tree branches
I waded through the debris, snapping off branches and lifting sheets of tin, I grabbed a big branch and wedged it under the sheets of tin and lifted them enough for Charlie to be able to grab the container and prise it out
YAY!! Success!! A good team effort by all :)
We signed out names in the log and got some photos and replaced the cache as found
In the photos below is where the cache is under the sheets of tin
Now with done comes the interesting part...………..getting back to the vehicles
We started out OK, but things quickly got out of hand
I decided that I wanted to get to a higher perspective and climbed up a steep hill to see if I could get a better view, that was my first mistake as it took us off in the wrong direction and didn't help at all as there was nothing to see in every direction other than endless bush
We continued on in a meandering direction while not actually getting any closer to the vehicles and walking in a wide loop
At one stage Charlie was able to get radio reception with the vehicle crew and we got them to sound the horn until we were able to get back to the track having walked a long way off track
It was a very stressful exercise but we were all greatly relieved to finally get back safe
The image below shows the trail of our walk recorded on Mistraluna's GPSr
This was a hot, exhausting mission and it was nice to be able to gulp down a heap of water and some hydrolyte to recharge the body
It was now time to head to our next destination, heading north to the direction of Stewart Rd and onto Goblin Swamp
As we drove along the terrain changed from bushy forest to an area with a large plantation to the east side of the road
At the Pneumonia rd. junction we stopped to pump our tyres back up to road pressures and continued on to
Stewart is Barlees ! GC2KKZX
I had found this cache long ago but we stopped here so the others could make a find, despite my best efforts to sabotage their search they eventually made a find, ha ha, and while we were here we took the time to make a quick lunch
Our next stop was
Goblin Swamp GC1P8FY
On the way here we had a quick zoom around the snotty gobble camp ground to check it out then off down the road to what should have been the parking spot to walk to the cache
I decided that I did not want to walk to the cache and drove around the barrier (naughty me)
The others decided to follow me and we all parked at the walk track to the cache
This place is amazing with the ancient melaleuca trees twisting and twining around each other among the swamp, brilliant !
Charlie and Kaitlin decided to climb all over the trees and had a great time while we found the cache and signed the log
We drove down to the boat ramp to check out where the Donnelly River Cruise would be leaving from as we had planned to take the cruise today but it was not running due to lack of number so we deferred the plan a couple of days
We headed north back to the Vasse Hwy and turned east towards Pemberton
Along the way we came to Beedelup falls turnoff and headed down for a look and to find a couple of caches here
Discover Pemberton - Beedelup Falls GC52D5X
This first one was an easy find and we the wandered down to the falls and did the loop walk around
The kids enjoyed playing in the flow of the creek while we explored
The day was starting to get late and it was time to make a decision about tonight's camp site
I was feeling somewhat exhausted and not entirely very well so suggested that we camp the night in the caravan park in Pemberton
We headed off into town and booked our camp sites and set up camp
For dinner we all went out to the local pub for a meal which was a pleasant evening and a good time to socialize
Tomorrow would be another exhausting adventure
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