Welcome to the Booloomba Creek area of Conondale National Park.
This cache takes you to a couple of features of the area.
You will be taken to the main feature which is the Strangler Cairn.
As a sideline you will visit the Gold Mine nearby.
Strangler Cairn
Distance: 6.5km return
Time: Allow 2hr 30mins
Details: Beginning in the Booloumba Creek day-use area, this walk along the Conondale Range Great Walk track leads to an impressive 3.7m high Strangler Cairn © sculpture by artist Andy Goldsworthy. It is made from many hand-cut granite and metamorphic blocks and includes a rainforest strangler fig sapling that is growing from the top of it. The artist’s intention being that over time the fig’s roots will grow to eventually cover and ‘strangle’ the cairn. Goldsworthy is internationally known for creating ephemeral works in natural environments around the world.
Please do not climb on, damage or remove any part of the sculpture.
Gold Mine walk
Distance: 5.2km return from day-use area
Time: Allow 2hr 30mins
Details: This walk through riparian rainforest has scenic views of Booloumba Creek and leads to an old gold mine from the 1920s.The remaining entrance can still be viewed but the mine is closed for public safety. Eastern horseshoe bats and common bentwing bats live in the mine.
Conondale National Park
In the rugged Conondale Range, this park features luxuriant rainforests, tall eucalypt forests, waterfalls, boulder-strewn creeks and spectacular scenery.
The diverse forests provide homes for a wonderful variety of wildlife including more than 120 species of birds and many mammals. The threatened but seldom-seen yellow-bellied glider lives in the open forest. Some rare and threatened species are found in the Conondale and Blackall ranges, including the cascade treefrog and plumed frogmouth.
All park roads are gravel and at present suitable for high clearance four-wheel-drive vehicles only. Booloumba Creek Road includes several creek crossings.
Camping
The Booloumba Creek Road access to camping areas includes creek crossings that are accessible by high clearance four-wheel-drive vehicles only.
There are three camping areas at Booloumba Creek—camping areas 1 and 3 are suitable for people camping in tents only; camping area 4 is suitable for camping in high clearance four-wheel-drive campervans, caravans and camper trailers.
Nearby Imbil State Forest’s Charlie Moreland camping area, on Sunday Creek Road, is accessible by conventional two-wheel-drive vehicles.
Camping permits for all camp sites must be booked in advance.
To Log a Find on this Virtual Geocache you will have to answer 5 questions at 4 waypoints and upload a photo.
Virtual Point 1(The Strangler Cairn)
Question 1
How many metal hooks that keep the growth mat attached to the egg can you count at the top of the Cairn?
(THE ANSWER IS 6.THERE WERE 6 VISIBLE HOOKS, BUT THESE HAVE BEEN COVERED UP)
Question 2
How many Rocks can you count on the very bottom layer?
HERE YOU NEED TO TAKE A PHOTO WITH YOU AND THE EGG WITH YOUR CACHING NAME IN THE PHOTO.
ALL LOGS WITHOUT PHOTOS WILL BE DELETED.
Virtual Point 2 (The Unique Attribute Post)
Question 3
This post clearly marks the exact distance from here to the Strangler Cairn.
How many metres is it from here to the Strangler Cairn?
Virtual Point 3 (The Gold Mine)
Question 4
There are bars keeping people out of the gold mine.
On the very first set of bars you could touch, how many horizontal lines of bars can you count ?
Virtual Point 4 (The Timber Chair)
Question 5
What does it say on the timber seat?
Please forward your answers to me via GC message service.
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.
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