Booroomba Rocks from geocache GC1QQZ1 Booroomba’s Beautiful Butt

Thursday 4 August: (A walk with Lindsay) Some head butting at Booroomba – L/R,ptX. From Booroomba Rocks car park, 2km west on the AAWT then strike off to Gorilla Rock. Geocache GC1TV31 King Kong is in the gorilla’s butt. Then north-east to geocache GC1QQZ1 Booroomba’s Beautiful Butt. Up to SH1396 and SH1372. Maybe have a look at the way down to the bottom of the south buttress and so to GC131CQ Jamming the Line. Back up to the cliff edge lookout at the end of the track. Maybe have a look at the descent gully down the middle rocks and so to geocache GC131CC Vertical Bushwalking. Return to the car park for geocache GC642ZX Booroomba Begins and up the overgrown track to Deadmans Hill and geocache GC11Q3B COLLIMATE (A.C.T. Investigate). Other options include AAWT to geocache GC64309 Six Stars. Around 15km and 600m climb if we do the lot. A bit snowy on 26 July, so plan B would be less of the Booroomba cliff and more around Honeysuckle Creek, including a return to nab GC6D6RA Weird Weir XXV – Honeysuckle – TE’s Forgotten Weir. Maps: Corin Dam and Williamsdale. Leader: John Evans, john@johnevans.id.au 0417436877. Limit: 8.

3 of us met at my old folks home and drove first to Honeysuckle Creek, then to Booroomba Rocks car park.

Summary

Distance: 9.7km | Climb: 500m | Time: 8.45am-9.20am + 9.35am-2.00pm (5hrs), including 30mins of breaks and some geocaching time | Grading: M/R,ptX; M(11)

Photographs

Photographs are available, where you can start a large sized slideshow.

Video

Waypoint and Track Files

(doctored so as to not reveal the final location of geocache GC6D6RA Weird Weir XXV – Honeysuckle – TE’s Forgotten Weir)
Download the .gpx file. (Right click, Save Link As…, Save – if you want to use it.)
To use in Google Earth, do File, Open… and select Gps or All files as the File Type.

Track Notes

From Honeysuckle Creek, we popped through the tracking station site down to the weir. The cache owner had been kind enough to point out my error on the information gathering trip on 26 Jul 16. We walked to the final GZ and searched till I was ready to give up. Thank goodness the persistent Marmaduke Rothschild was with me. A find and log of GC6D6RA Weird Weir XXV – Honeysuckle – TE’s Forgotten Weir.

A nice wander along the AAWT from Booroomba Rocks car park towards Honeysuckle Creek. Some new track work. At the 6th bridge (from Honeysuckle Creek – I must have counted them at some other time) we turned NW into the bush. Easy going at first, then a little tighter on the final approach up the south facing side of the knoll. The three of us climbed up inside the gorilla’s butt and found geocache GC1TV31 King Kong in a side passage off his back passage. Around to the north side to find some sun for morning tea.

The easterly leg from morning tea also began through more open going. We generally followed the line marked on the map (watershed? old fence line?). We turned NE and climbed through tighter going up to where a spur began to descend towards the next cache.

I was initially disappointed as the going was broken rock and scrub. Google Earth showed some slabs. We finally saw some to the left of our track and went over for a gander, then more slabs developed as we approached and found GC1QQZ1 Booroomba’s Beautiful Butt. I haven’t been down here before and the view to the Booroomba Rocks buttresses gives you a new perspective. Great views across Blue Gum Creek to Blue Gum Hill too.

We climbed back up the nearly 100 vertical metres, then headed towards SH1396. A tight band of grevillea and pea guarded the edge of the major slabs in this area, but we finally made it. Roger grabbed a cache I’d previously logged.

It’s a lovely leg from SH1396 via an arc of slabs down through SH1372. A number of cairns mark the way. I lost it a bit towards the end, but went across to visit a cairn which probably marks the way down to the bottom of the Southern Buttress. Through a bit of scrub, with more cairns, past the rescue equipment and so out onto the Booroomba Rocks Walking Track. We had lunch up on the cliff edge.

We wandered back down the track to the car park. Lindsay found geocache GC642ZX Booroomba Begins for us, thus beginning his conversion to the dark side of geocaching.

We called it a day, leaving plenty to do on another occasion.

Thanks boys!

Track Map

Track

Profile

Google Earth snip

Party

3 walkers – Roger E, Lindsay J, me.