Albury/Wodonga road-trip

The gangsters were on the road once again, this time we were heading to Albury/Wodonga and this time we had purpose to our trip. The 2nd Oz mega event was getting near and as with the past mega, we decided to find the local caches prior to the event so we can have a relaxing mega with our families.

On the 23rd Feb we headed down the Hume Hwy for 4 days of cachemania. We’d done our homework on the puzzles and mysteries while the maps and route were sorted. As we headed south we grabbed a few highway caches but our first night mission was to make a start on the “Black Ops GC32WN6” night cache. Arriving in Albury just on midnight we headed to WP1 of this respected cache where we were soon deciphering our next task. As the wee hours of the morning rolled on we worked through the next few stages of this multi, sometimes we chased red herrings while all the time collecting various other traditionals along the way.

After a few hours sleep, 2 day dawned and the hunt was on for the plethora of local caches, our route took us around the suburbs and nearby hills. The vista from some of these hills was magnificent. As the day progressed our numbers only climbed slowly and at times this frustrated us but we boxed on. As night fell we returned to our unfinished Black Ops cache, this cache had captivated us as well as frustrated us. Some of the waypoints are extremely clever and the owner should be commended. Our journey around the region solving this puzzle was tiresome but saw us grab many other traditional finds. By the end of our nights caching we still hadn’t completed the Black Ops marathon.

Day 3 and we were once again grabbing plenty of the local traditionals along with a mixture of mysteries and multis. Towards the end of the day we had our sights set on heading towards Wagga. We had pretty much cleaned out the area of local caches, except for Black ops. We’d left the GZ find for one of our last and as we recovered the cache it was pleasing to sign our names in what had been my longest cache ever.

Heading north along the Olympic way towards Wagga we stopped at many of the rural towns grabbing the scattering of caches in these towns. It was at Yerong Creek where we opted to take a slight detour to grab a few “off the beaten track” caches. This single lane, often overgrown goat track proven very challenging at times in the dark, but it provided a great spot for us to camp the night as we neared “The Rock”. Sunday dawned with us scouring from the showers which starting to lash the region and on more than one occasion the dirt roads became rather slippery and boggy.

As we arrived in Wagga, our focus was on the new Rubik’s tube caches, if past performance was anything to go by, these wouldn’t disappoint. The rain however was doing its best to dampen our enthusiasm and a number of times we had to change soaked clothing. The devious mind of Fred6603 had once again enthralled us and the new caches were masterful. By days end we’d worked our way round most of Wagga and upon checking in to a caravan park we settled in for a well-earned drink and nice BBQ dinner. The relaxed atmosphere was perfect and most of us were able to catch up on logs and a good yarn.

Our final day of this road-trip had us grabbing a few final caches around town in the morning before hitting the road just as rains really set in (see note). By the time we reached home I’d amassed 150 finds. Thanks to my fellow caching gangsters for another enjoyable caching trip.

(Note: Fate would have it that I was back in Wagga 7 days after this trip, assisting the local SES with property protection from the Murrumbidgee River flooding).