22 January 2024
Replaced the bison with a nano.
10 January 2024
The attached photo is of a Vampire at the former museum which was on the corner of Vincent and Dawson Streets. The museum was replaced by our Community Resource Centre which contains some interesting information of early life and flight in Beverley. The Vampire in this photo is now out at the entrance to the airport which is accessible across the bridge to Lukin Street.
This cache is located at the Vampire on Hunt Road (Great Southern Hwy coming into and going out of town). It is quite obvious as it is under a shelter. While there, spend some time reading about early aviation in Beverley.
I have placed a bison there as a temporary cache and it is an easy find. I will replace it with something a little more suitable when supplies I have ordered arrive.
While you are in town visit the airfield out on Lukin Road. It's entrance is marked by another Vampire. Beverley is an active gliding centre and there are over 90 gliders at the airstrip. You never know, there may be more caches in that area in the near future.
IMPORTANT! The log scroll is full, and I can't get there to replace it before September.
If you plan to look for it in the near future, send me a message with your address. If you advise me by 16 June, and live within a reasonable distance of Gosnells, I can drop a log to you by 17 June, or post you one if you live further afield or you advise me after that date.
The alternative is for me to Disable the cache, or sadly Archive it if the Volunteer Reviewer won't accept maintenance by me in September.
I discovered a Vampire Fighter Aircraft in front of the Beverley Aeronautical Museum and immediately thought of claiming a find of GA1381 RSL War Artefacts/Memorabilia by MADSTARS.
MADSTARS offers extra points for his cache if the finder also places a cache on the War Artefact, but I was concerned at how public that aircraft was, being on the main street only a couple of metres from the footpath. I expected that if I placed a cache in one of the likely spots it would probably be muggled within weeks. Fortuitously there is another Vampire just 210 metres away on Hunt Road/Great Southern Highway. This one is much better placed to reduce the chance of muggling, and also has a couple of extra possible hiding spots
, so I chose it for the cache.
After a quick saturation check (nothing within 18.26 kilometres by my calculation) I hid a magnetic container containing only a logbook somewhere in the aircraft. You will need to bring your own writing implement, and tweezers or a safety pin may also be useful.
The de Havilland DH.100 Vampire was a British jet-engined fighter which entered service with the Royal Air Force in April 1946 and with the Royal Australian Air Force later that year. Australian production of 80 Vampires fitted with Nene engines was from 1949 to 1953.
The Vampire outside the Beverley Aeronautical Museum was purchased by the Beverley Shire for fifty pounds ($100). The Hunt Road Vampire was offered to the Shire at no cost provided the Shire provided the transport from somewhere between Perth and Geraldton.
Please treat this area with respect and take a moment or two to reflect on the service of those airmen these aircraft commemorate, and those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Lest We Forget
I agree with MADSTARS on the importance of introducing our children to the RSL's and telling them what the men and women of the armed services did for us and our country, and the freedom we enjoy today. I look to those geocachers who hunt in company with their children and/or grandchildren to further this aim, so that they too Will Remember Them.
After finding this cache you might like to visit the Aeronautical Museum just around the corner, but allow yourself plenty of time. I particularly like the pedal powered aircraft - check it out.
This cache is part of a series leading towards my GC1QYV5 WanAus 89 - Roaming Western Australia cache. There is an RWA number in the back of the log. You will need to record this number in the format 81? (from WanAus 81 and ? for the RWA number) for future reference.
This is just a suggestion, but it may help you to keep track of the RWA numbers.
Every cache page has "*Personal Cache Note" *Click to enter a note, just above Geocache Description:
You could either add the code to each individual cache,
or add all numbers to GC1QYV5 WanAus 89 - Roaming Western Australia.
If you are heading out to hunt down some of my more remote GC1QYV5 WanAus 89 - Roaming Western Australia or GC29MXD WanAus 179 - Discover Western Australia caches, where the cache density is very low, why not consider taking a few prepared containers with you, stocked with log book and swaps etc, and when you spot one of those places that make you think "that would be a good place for a cache", place one of your own. Just check that there isn't a cache within 160 metres, and please don't place a micro in the bush where you could easily conceal an ammo box or Milo tin.