A cache you can take as much or as little time to do as you
like. The terrain rating is for the short walk to GZ from either
the Ingrams Rock or One tree hill carparks. For those opting to do
the full cicuit, or just making a smaller circuit via the
Precipice, a terrain rating of 3 to 3.5 will be more suitable as
there are some steeper sections.
The cache is placed at a disused quarry in the surrounding hills
of Beechworth. The gorge walking track also passes through the
site, so depending on where you would like to park, this cache
could take you 20min / 40min / 1.5hrs. and up to 3-4 hours. I
recommend doing the full circuit if you have the time (2 hours).
Another of our caches is placed by the Gorge drive road (A Gorgess
Delight) which can be picked up as well, but there are also the
Cascades falls to see, admire the views overlooking the Woolshed
goldfields from the Precipice lookout, and also you could extend
the walk to Woolshed Falls by taking the turnoff which is an extra
3.2km each way.
As you stroll around Beechworth you will notice many of the
historic buildings are made of granite. The granite was quarried
and supplied by Donald Fiddes and Co., from the hills along the
hills lining the historic Woolshed goldfields. Mostly cut by hand
using drills and hammering in wedges to split the rock and taken to
town by horse or bullock wagons. Far tougher conditions than todays
methods.
The more popular buildings of Beechworth started from the Fiddes
quarries, The Gaol, Newtons bridge (at the end of the Gorge drive),
The Courthouse, the disused and dismantled Ovens hospital (the
facade still stands at the end of Church St), and the Powder
Magazine.
The quarry ran right up till 1935, after trucks replaced horses
for the transport of the heavy granite.
The cache is located just off track, and to those with a keen
eye for hiding spots it will be obvious where the cache is hidden.
It is a length of PVC stormwater pipe, painted camoflauge with a
screw top end.
