Once upon a time, I guess it was around October-November 2008, I happened to be talking on the phone to p-pprass while at work one afternoon. I can't remember why, but the conversation must have involved caches around the Black Range-Murrindindi area, because I'd loaded the DSE 1:25K maps into Ozi and was idly flicking around them when, suddenly, I happened to notice a geographic feature which struck me as rather interesting and I wondered why I hadn't noticed it before - although it's right at the junction of two maps so it's easy to miss. It was a fairly steep looking mountain (or spur) just west of Mt St. Leonard with a single access road and with a couple of buildings at its summit which seemed to be labelled with the words scenic observatory. Written in a cursive typeface, and mixed in amongst the contour lines, the text was a bit illegible and it turned out that I'd misread one of the words - and I continued to misread that word every time I looked at that map - and I still didn't realise what the site really was, even after I'd visited the location. In fact, it wasn't until I was preparing the cache notes for this cache and I was Googling around looking for a good link to points of interest in and around Toolangi that one of them happened to reveal just what those buildings at the top of the Blue Range really are - follow this link (Toolangi History ) and you'll find the answer too, but I suggest you also use the site to have a quick check of what Toolangi and the surrounding area has to offer, as it's a really lovely spot to visit and has a number of attractions other than caches.
Anyway, at the time it just looked like a good spot to place a cache and I resolved to get up there sometime during the summer - BUT - we all know what started on 7th February 2009. The Black Saturday bushfires were probably the worst (definitely the worst from a loss of life viewpoint) the country has ever seen and it was to be quite a while before any thought of caching in or around the affected areas was to take any sort of priority at all. During the Black Friday fires of 1939, Toolangi was where one of the major fires started on 1st January 1939, but this time it was rather more fortunate and, thanks to heroic efforts by its citizenry and the CFA over a 3-4 week period, damage was minimised and there was no loss of life - although it was to be more than two months before some of the major roads in the area were open again. As I happened to be on leave when the Myers Creek Road was finally declared passable and I was keen (but apprehensive) to see if this lovely area had been badly damaged, I took the opportunity to head up and place a couple of new caches to symbolise the regrowth, both natural and human, that inevitably follows such disastrous fires.
 |
 |
|
Mountain Ash - Toolangi's raison d'être
|
C. J. Dennis - Toolangi's favourite son
|
The cache is a 1 litre Sistema hidden in a typical manner - it should be an easy find. Keep an eye out for the Trig marker nearby too - it's near the fence at S 37° 34.169 E 145° 29.399 and the cache is quite close to it.
Warning: The Google Maps on the cache page show a number of roads in the area that seem to offer access to the cache. Many of these are, however, very steep and rough 4wd tracks and are often gated. The only safe/reliable way to access the cache is from the Myers Creek Road by turning west at the Potato Research Station (S 37° 34.034 E 145° 30.504 - opposite the Monda Track). In particular, avoid trying to approach from the Chum Creek Road (Healesville-Kinglake Road). If coming via Healesville, go north through the town, past the Beechworth Bakery on the right and turn left just before the petrol station - I think there's a sign indicating Donnellys Weir. Vehicle satnavs should not be relied on too much to approach this one.
PS I'm afraid I didn't have any swaps to stock the cache with and didn't have time to get any, so I left some change in the cache and I hope that it can "buy" a few from anyone with some to spare.