An Old River Course #3 - Dry Weather Road Only
Welcome to another Blacklegend cache... My 105th hide.
Welcome to my short series of 8 caches called "An Old River Course". I have selected 8 spots where what I believe is an old Murray River course, crosses or runs along roads for a stretch of around 10 kms. I became curious about the system of winding billabongs and water courses after our last bout of rain, and while driving around, noticed quite a few locations where there appeared to be a continuous system of new wetlands. A bit of research, and satellite image views, and a stretch what looks like "Old River" runs between Tocumwal, heads inland north, then back to the Murray River between Tocumwal and Barooga. So what better to do than go out and drop a stack of caches at the sites where the water course, crosses or runs along roads.
This is a location is also about 1.5 kms from my house, but in a northerly direction, and is along a part of Thorburns Road which is signed as "Dry Weather Road Only". I know why, because this section of the road, actually forms the north eastern edge of the watercourse, and does indeed bog up with a lot of rain. You can see from the view here, it is beautiful with the water in it, with lots of waterbirds, at the time of placing. Stupidly, I did not take an image here to show you on the cache page, but you will see for yourself.
This water course is visible from the side of many roads, stretching for a total of 10's of kilometers, refer to the nearmap screenshot below. You can see what I mean. It looks very much like how the Murray River runs. Except, it is no longer the course the river runs on. So, did the river used to run along this course at some time in the past....? Very possibly yes. At both ends, if you trace the depression back to the Murray River, it does indeed, meet with the river. WHAT DO YOU THINK...? Put your theory in the logs if you like. Or if you have local knowledge, or some geological knowledge, please put that in your logs as well (if you want to, it is not a requirement). Below is a screengrab from Nearmaps. It is labeled with all 8 caches.
Can you see the old water / river course....??? It's pretty apparent to me in the images.
The hide here is easy. GPS was ok. Small rubber seal plastic container. Check out the wiki link below for some Murray River information. It is quite good.
Murray River Wiki Link
Once again, have fun and be careful with the kiddies in the Australian bush. This area, will be a "snake heaven" with the water, bush, etc. Keep and eye on the little dears...... You won't get a lot of muggles here, but parking may be difficult if you don't have a 4WD. Not a bit traffic road though. Good luck and importantly, have fun.