Cache #7
The Coach Road was part of the route that Cobb & Co. utilised. Their ‘changing stations’ were established by 1877, though the route was probably in use in the 1850s. The route for the run was Wagga Wagga, Cookardinia, Morven, Gerogery and Albury, via Mangoplah six times a week by 2 or 4 horse coaches. Changing stations were set up as places where the horses were changed or rested and passengers could take a break. The railway line was opened in 1880 and thus led to this companies decline.
The Yambla Range is a significant landscape feature running to the east of the Coach Road. It has significant areas of vegetation, parts of which are in Benambra National Park and Tabletop Nature Reserve (though neither is publicly accessible). The more fertile flats were cleared for agriculture, but the roadside verges still contain some significant trees, including Yellow Box (Eucalyptus melliodora).
Bring your own pen for this one.
Greater Hume Back Roads Series
Surrounding the NSW city of Albury is the Greater Hume Shire. The Shire was formed in 2004 incorporating Culcairn Shire, the majority of Holbrook Shire and part of Hume Shire. The population in 2016 was 10351, but it is scattered over lots of small towns – Jindera (2222), Holbrook (1715), Culcairn (1473), Henty (1237) and Walla Walla (836) and a number of smaller villages including Morven, Gerogery, Walbundrie, Burrumbuttock, Bungowannah and Woomargama. I suspect many of the residents commute to Albury/Wodonga for work, but there are also a lot of small farms that would be a key income source for many of the residents.
While there are a number caches within the shire, compared to the adjacent north east Victoria and Albury, they are still few and far between. This series hopefully fills some of this gap - there are so many back roads where a cache could be placed. We have also tried to add a little bit of local history or information to make the caches interesting.
There are a variety of hides in the series, but each should be near a safe spot to park – they are all on sealed roads though some of the connections may be gravel (check in wet weather). You should be able to get your car well off the road (or if keen you could ride a bike!), and there should be no need to cross the road either. Despite most of these roads being relatively quiet, as always please be careful with kids and dogs. Snakes in warmer weather may also be a hazard.
We hope you enjoy this series. Look out for clues in some of the caches for a few Mystery caches that are part of the series.
FTF - Congratulations moroldies