Mt Noorat (313m) is a breached scoria cone that has grown large enough to almost bury an earlier maar crater. The access trail, and the cache, is named for Alan Marshall, author of ‘I Can jump Puddles’, who was born at Noorat where his father ran the general store. An account of Alan’s visit to the bottom of the crater is reproduced on a sign at the start of the trail.
This is the third in our Vulcan series of caches along the Volcanoes Discovery Trail, which we learned about while doing Derringer’s “What a Blast” cache. Brochures on the Trail can be obtained at the Colac, Hamilton, Port Fairy, Portland, Warrnambool, Tower Hill or Penshurst Visitor Information Centres in Victoria, and Millicent or Mt Gambier in South Australia.
Other maccamob caches on the Trail are:
Ready To Rock
A Leurid View
Rouse About
Tumultuous
Peking market Place
Vol-Au-Vent
Big Rock Candy Mountain
Mahout
What A Blast (Derringer), Elemental Forces (Derringer), Centenary (Team Piggy) and Towering Inferno (Alex) are also on the Trail.
This is the tenth incarnation of the cache, after the first two were apparently ‘muggled’, the third went missing after its hiding place collapsed. The fourth and fifth, in the remains of that structure, were sabotaged by the local cattle, and by strong winds that combined to move it all down hill. The sixth was damaged and allowed the log to get wet. The next two were washed away by heavy rain, and may well lie at the bottom of the crater. The ninth, and most recent, should have been secure, but it too went missing. Please rehide it as and where you find it, ensure that it is well hidden from casual observation again before you leave, and replace the camo to look as natural as possible.
Note:
Mount Noorat has been in public hands since September 2017, and is run by a Management Committee on behalf of the Corangamite Shire. The 145-hectare site was gifted to the Shire by the the estate of the late Niel Black, who died on the Mountain in tragic circumstances in early November 2012. See here and here.
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