Yet another spooky night cache to test your nerve in the fabulous Bidigal Reserve. I was inspired to setup another night cache after maintining the others nearby and thought I would add a twist.
The co-ordinates above will place you at the head of the trail. Best parking is on Ferguson Avenue as the gates close around 8pm.
Bidjigal Reserve (formerly part of Excelsior Park and Darling Mills State Forest) is a place of rugged natural beauty and full of hidden treasures; a time capsule of ancient ecosystems, aboriginal shelters and colonial history.
Bidjigal Reserve has much to offer us, from those who walk its tracks every day, to those who enjoy a view of its green expanse when they drive by. With sheer sandstone cliffs, towering eucalypt forest, sparkling creeks and sheltered rainforest gullies, it is an oasis of natural habitat in the middle of urban Sydney. Big enough to support a wide range of wildlife, the reserve is alive with noise, colour and movement from birds, mammals, reptiles and insects.
The reserve contains over 370 native plant species including an amazing 29 different native orchids, endangered ecological communities and rare and threatened species. The Reserve and surrounding bushland forms a patch of habitat large and healthy enough to support a diverse array of wildlife including mammals such as Echidnas and Sugar Gliders that have become rare, as well as insectivorous species of birds like Wrens and Thornbills.
Many of the more common species such as Kookaburras, Crimson Rosellas, Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and Rainbow Lorikeets have increased in number in the Reserve in recent years. Australia's largest owl, the endangered Powerful Owl, breeds in the reserve.
Now for the cache:
From the listed coordinates head directly down the track and follow the reflectors. At each platypus marker, stop and look around as the way may be different from what you think.
(Remember to look ahead both up and down for the next reflector and remember they may not be immediately visible so keep going along the track.)
You know you are close to your goal when you spy 2 reflectors on a twin trunked tree. Suggest you look around for the next "reflector"??? There is a surprise inside which will assist you with GZ.
Please note that the return trip is not marked so it might be worthwhile knowing how to use "track back". You can't go too far wrong though as all of the tracks head back to the start eventually.