Murray Madness Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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A small and very isolated cache near the headwaters of Australia's longest river, and the start of the famous 'dotted line'.. a long days walk from the nearest vehicle access....
Forest Hill, which this cache is situated on, is interesting for several reasons - it is where the Murray River has its furthest source, and it is also where the 'dotted line' border between Victoria and NSW starts. The dotted line continues from the Murray's source ( about 400m N-W of the cache) to the sea at Cape Howe, and it is marked by a series of rock cairns first built by the surveyors Black and Allen in the 1860s, when Victoria became a separate colony. The first of these cairns is on the point on the divide very close to the cache, and was recently rebuilt. (PS the dotted line was defined as a 'line from the source of the Murray closest to Cape Howe, in a straight line to Cape Howe", so it may not actually be the furthest source, as mentioned above)
I called this cache "Murray Madness" because I've been back to this area 8 times now, so I must be mad - it's quite a scrubby bush-bash to the cache from the closest campsite at Cowombat Flat. The Flat itself is 4 hours walk from the nearest car-parking on Cowombat Flat Track.
This is a very isolated cache in Alpine country - you will need at least a 2 day bushwalk in and out from the nearest vehicle access. However its a good one for cachers who are doing this part (or all) of the Australian Alps Walking Track. Cowombat Flat is a lovely place - you can straddle the baby Murray River and watch (disapprovingly) the many feral horses grazing on the grass at dusk and dawn.
More information on the area and access in the book 'Australian Alps Walking Track' by Chapman and Siseman.
You can drive to within about 7km of the cache - it is ILLEGAL to drive around any locked gates, so don't give cachers a bad name by doing so.
Cache when placed was a small Systema container with logbook, pencil and 2 trackables - try to move the fish one somewhere further down the Murray towards the sea!
The cache is NOT in the border cairn.
National Park so NO dogs! And watch for snakes in warm weather...
Hope you enjoy this special very remote cache!
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