Australasian Gannets are common throughout the year over inshore waters in eastern, southern and south-western Australia. They breed in noisy colonies, usually on islands or artificial structures, such as beacons. However, a colony at Point Danger, near Portland in south-western Victoria, is situated on a promontory that protrudes from the mainland. There are just two other mainland colonies, both in New Zealand. Gannets forage by plunging headlong into the water from great heights to catch fish in their bills, before resurfacing to eat their prey.
Description
The male and female Australasian Gannet are similar in plumage. Most of the body is white, with dark tips on the major wing feathers and the inner tail feathers. The head is buff-yellow and the bill pale blue-grey with striking black borders to the bill sheaths. In immature birds, the head and upperparts are mostly brown with scattered amounts of white spotting. Small flocks are sometimes seen soaring above the ocean, and an individual bird will suddenly fold its wings back and dive spectacularly into the water.
Distribution
Australasian Gannets are found throughout southern and south-eastern Australia, to New Zealand.
Feeding
Australasian Gannets are expert fishers. Birds soar 10 m or more above the surface of the water, herding fish into dense shoals, then fold their wings back and dive into the water to catch their prey. The fish are grasped with the aid of small backward-pointing serrations along the edges of the bill. A bird only stays under the water for about ten seconds, but the fish is normally swallowed before the bird reaches the surface.
Breeding
In Australia, the Australasian Gannet breeds in dense colonies on islands off Victoria and Tasmania. Breeding colonies are also found off the coast of New Zealand, mostly off the North Island. The young do not reach breeding maturity until about six or seven years old.
The cache is NOT at the posted coordinates
This Wherigo converts your player into a virtual version of the "Reverse Cache Box" which tells you the bearing to the cache, but not the distance. You may begin your search from any spot in the world using your Smartphone or Whereigo compatible GPS to navigate to the cache.
**As the cartridge produces whole number degrees, the triangulation is not accurate from long distances especially if the 2 readings are taken close together producing an acute angle at intersection, so don't be disheartened by a GZ that seems wrong, go near there and take more readings.**
The cartridge was created by day1976 and is available to download from the wherigo website. day1976's Open Source Reverse Wherigo .
Start up the player, find and load the cartridge. > NewGame > Find a Geocache > Answer > Enter First Code > xxxxx > Answer > Enter Second Code > xxxxx > Answer > The bearing to this Geocache is xxx degrees. This bearing is from where you are standing. It is now up to you how many times you relocate and obtain different bearings so as to triangulate the cache. The ultimate goal would be to find the cache with just one bearing reading, but for most, it would need a minimum of two bearings. Bearings are with respect to True North, so If using an OS map, allowances will have to be made, as Grid North, Magnetic North, and True North are all different!
To begin, you will have to type these two codes into your player when prompted:
jl3o9
izkwj
It is suggested that you take the code with you on your journey. It will be needed if it becomes necessary to restart your player for any reason.
Have Fun!
How to download the Whereigo Cartridge
You may begin your search from any spot in the world using a Whereigo compatible GPS unit or phone app.
Link to day1976's Open Source Reverse Wherigo cartridge.
Log into wherigo.com using your geocaching.com player name and password. The cartridge type used on phone apps is the Pocket PC Device.