Ghostly T(r)ales no1. The phantom farmer of Rock V
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
In a pvc pipe concealed from casual view.
The cache contains only a few items plus logbook and pencil due to its small size. These are all glow in the dark or have a spooky theme If you could try to maintaim the general theme it would be good. I will add some pieces if necessary once some of the bulkier items are taken
The 1920's. Two young sisters are walking the last of several miles from their school at Koppio to their home here in Rock valley. It is a still, hot summer's evening. The air is redolent with the scent of hay and eucalyptus. As the girls trudge up the dirt track, lined with thick Sheoak and Acacia, they see, approaching them a man on a dray, drawn by a single horse. As he comes closer, the older of the girls notices several oddities about the man, who is hunched over , apparently asleep, on the bench seat. He is overdressed, in waterproofs and a long coat, with a scarf wrapped around his face. If this is not strange enough,on a hot summer's day, he also seems to be soaking wet.The dray draws closer, and just as the older girl is about to greet the driver, another oddity strikes home. While she can hear the birds twittering in the trees, and even the cicadas chirping in the nearby fields, from the horse and cart there is no sound at all. Neither the clip-clop of horse's hooves nor the jingle of harness can be heard. The girls and dray pass each other as the two girls, with a single mind, flee as fast as they can for home. Nearing her gate, the older of the two looks back, but there is nothing to be seen, though the road is long and straight, and so encompassed by scrub that even a man on foot could not pass through it, let alone a horse and dray.
The two girls sob out their story to their mother, but she is eventually able to calm them, and half convinces them that most of what they saw was in their imagination,perhaps brought on by the heat and the long walk home.
It is only years later that the elder sister hears, for the first time, the local legend of the drowned farmer.
In the late 1800's a local farmer was in the habit of having more than a few beers at the local hotel. His faithful horse knew the way home and, while the farmer slept, would see them safely there. One night,however, it was wild and wet. A lightning storm struck unexpectedly, and the horse panicked. Before the farmer could wake up and regain control, the horse had raced right into the deep pool of water which is found near the Tod Reservoir today. In the morning the only trace was of tracks, leading to the bank. Despite primitive dredging efforts, no other sign was ever found of horse, dray or driver. Local legend had it that ever-after, the faithful horse attempted to get his master home, and that a very few people had encountered their apparition along the road they would have taken.
It was then that my mother realised, her own mother had known full well what the girls had seen, but had done her best to protect them from this knowledge.
By coincidence or not, the rock for which Rock Valley is named, and where this encounter occurred, was used by the local Nauo people for spiritual ceremonies dating back to their Dreamtime.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Znxr yvxr n xbnyn