OTD 9.10 October 9th Traditional Cache

Geocaches are hidden along the Willunga to McLaren Vale section of the Coast To Vines Rail Trail. Walk or ride, the trail is also suitable for wheelchairs & strollers although cache retrieval is not possible from a wheelchair. Occasional rest areas along the way provide water for you, your dog or horse. We recommend taking plenty of drinking water, share the trail, keep left unless passing other trail users and take care at road crossings.

OTD - 9:10 

Perhaps you want a smiley for every day of the year or maybe a birthday smiley. For whatever reason these 12 mini monthly power trails are here to be found. Most are easily located, with an occasional sneaky one in the mix, sat lock can be difficult in some areas.

Here are some facts for this day. You are welcome to log your interesting, quirky or fun fact/s with your log.

On This Day - October 9th 1957

The final major British atomic bomb test is conducted at the remote South Australian site of Maralinga. 

Australia's remoteness made it a choice for Britain to conduct testing of its atomic weapons in the 1950s. In October of 1952, the Montebello islands, off north-west Western Australia, became the site for testing of the first British atomic bomb. This was followed a year later by Britain's first atomic test on the Australian mainland, at Emu Field, in the Great Victoria Desert of South Australia. Further tests of nuclear weapons at the site were not undertaken, as it was considered too remote an area.

Maralinga is a remote area of South Australia, and was the home of the Maralinga Tjarutja, a southern Pitjantjatjara Aboriginal group. "Operation Buffalo" involved four open-air nuclear test explosions at Maralinga, and commenced on 27 September 1956, continuing through to October 22. The next series of tests at Maralinga was codenamed "Operation Antler" and involved three tests the following year. The final major test at Maralinga was conducted on 9 October 1957. However, many more minor tests were carried out in complete secrecy at Maralinga, up until 1963.

The tests at Maralinga left a legacy of radioactive contamination. Cleanup operations were insufficient to combat radiation poisoning among Australian servicemen and Aborigines who were at Maralinga during the tests. The site was formally handed back to the Maralinga people under the Maralinga Tjarutja Land Rights Act in 1985. In 1994, the Australian Government made a compensation settlement of $13.5 million with Maralinga Tjarutja, in relation to the nuclear testing.