Preliminaries:
There is no cache hidden at the posted coordinates, but you will need to start there.
There is no need to enter any commercial premises for any part of this cache!
Please use the roadside footpaths where possible, and take care in crossing any roads.
Makku Mob Caches are popping up all over the place. We place them where we have met up with fellow geocaching friends, and encourage others to do likewise: meet up with a few friends and have some fun caching.
So, a Mob Cache is a Social Cache. In order to find the location of this cache, you will need to bring along some of your friends! The more friends you have, the easier it is to find the cache.
For this cache, you need a minimum of TWO cachers to meet at the posted coordinates with their smartphones.
Location:
Merrimac is located on the floodplains in the central region of the LGA of the Gold Coast. The origin of the name of the suburb is unclear. In 1873 Thomas Blacket Stephens purchased 6,980 acres of land; his wife Ann named the property Merrimac, possibly from the American Indian word for swift running waters, or it could be named after the Merrimack River in the New England region of the United States, or USS Merrimac, a Union navy frigate itself named for the river.
The land was swampy but Stephens and later his son William Stephens progressively drained the land and turned it into productive farming land, and in 1908, the family sold 11,000 acres at £4/15/0 per acre, believed to the highest price per acre of a property of that size at the time, to a syndicate from Victoria, which subdivided it into small farms.
There are a number of heritage sites in Merrimac, including the Merrimac Drains Historic Landscape (The Great Swamp).
The Merrimac schools are the Merrimac State Primary " School, Merrimac State School, Star of the Sea School, All Saints Anglican School and St Michael's College.
A favouried geocache in Merrimac is "Upwardly Mobile" GC506C5.
Technical details:
This style of cache is called a geomob. It is popular at events, where a mob of 6, 10 or even more cachers might be required before a cache is unlocked. As this isn’t part of any event, I’ve reduced the size of the mob to just 2 people to give you a taste of the geomob experience. Each caher present will need an internet-supported smart phone.
[The original mob server was discontinued at the start of 2024; however, the experience has been recreated by talk2azs (with assistance from Mister Doctor) to run on a new server.]
Once at the listed coordinates, each of you should tap on the following link on your separate devices:
CLICK THIS LINK NOW and a new window will open. Continue to refresh this window until you are close enough and connected to the mob. You will see the message and new coordinates.
👓 If you get a Geolocation Permission error, ensure your browser‘s settings allow geolocation.
👓 Refreshing the window should also clear any GPS reading errors.
👓 Be patient - the mob refresh rate is a bit slow, so even though you might be within the mob radius you may have to wait there for a little bit until your presence is detected!
✅ It would be a great idea if someone in your group IMMEDIATELY takes a screen snapshot to minimize the risk of losing the screen. OR, you could just write down the directions or coordinates for the final.
Then you could take a pleasant WALK from the starting coordinates to the cache - it is a short distance away. Or you could elect to drive, but please park sensibly.
Good Luck!