With the intention of exploring the area around Tower Hill, we stopped at the Bundaleer to explore a new multi-cache called “Goonies Lair” that had recently been placed there.
Now Tom & I have been to the Bundaleer before (Boxing Day 2014), but we never really explored beyond the “Chinese Wall”.
The Bundaleer is a popular place for rock climbers, however, you don’t have to be a rock climber to be able to enjoy what the Bundaleer has to offer.
We were surprised that we were the first to arrive for the day. We were sure that there would be some rock climbers, setting up for the day.
It’s only a short 500m hike from the parking area to the Bundaleer itself.
The range isn’t visible from the road, nor is the road visible from the range. Which makes it quite a private place.
Our main purpose for the day was to tackle Goonies Lair. While checking GPS co-ordinates, we discovered that there was another cache close by.
With a slight detour, we visited Grampians Best Secret #1 – The Hall of Harmony.
One aspect of Geocaching that can be challenging is that your GPS doesn’t tell you elevation. So it might tell you that you are on top of it when really you need to climb a rock face.
That however is part of the fun of the game.
Once we arrived at what we believed was the Hall of Harmony, we started to explore. We came up with nothing.
We did however find a ripper of a location for a cache. So if this one ever gets archived, we know of a better hiding spot.
Coming back down, we decided to explore a little further on, and well we found the cache location. It wasn’t exactly where I would have expected it, but we found it all the same.
After signing our name to the log book we continue on to tackle the Goonie’s Lair multi-cache.
Hiking past the Chinese Wall, we found the Boulder Staircase in question.
Tom was halfway up the staircase while I was fumbling around with my backpack. It was because of this that I found the ‘hidden’ entrance to the cave.
Ditching the packs, and putting our headlamps on we ventured in.
What a cave! This was one serious highlight of our day.
With the coordinates found for the next stage of the cache, we made our way up the top of the boulder staircase.
The view from the top was just incredible.
Now I must admit finding the next part was harder than it should have been. It didn’t help that our GPS had malfunctioned and we were exploring the wrong area for a good hour.
We didn’t mind, we had lunch and just enjoyed the magical views.
After turning the GPS off and on again we realised we were in the wrong location.
So we battled forward, through spikey wattle and tea tree bushes.
Funnily enough, I had been standing on the GeoLocation without even realising it!
I happened to be exploring / climbing/rock hopping the area, so after we restarted the GPS, I knew exactly where to go.
We signed the log and left a puzzle for the next geocacher.
Rather than take the boulder staircase back down to the Chinese wall, we decided to follow the ridge line North.
Doing so we came across a rock climbing/abseiling track, which back loops around to Grampians Secrets #1.
So while we didn’t get to explore Tower Hill, we had a wonderful day out in the park.