Dragons downtown

A day for surprises.

The expected rainy weather still remained only a distant threat, with only some strong winds to show for it,  causing all the beaches along the coast to be closed due to very heavy swells. We weren't planning to swim or surf anyway, so that wasn't a problem.

We decided to let caching show us the coast and used the powers of the Internet and geocaching.com to identify the most favored caches in a south easterly direction from home.  This was a dastardly plan which was sure to pay off for us.

May I please warn any cacher who may be travelling to the Gold Coast that the following paragraphs contain spoilers.

Who would guess that water dragons live near here? 

First step was to do the research. Then we put in the latitude and longitude for the first stop in the car GPS. This stop would have been trickier if we hadn't completed a similar water requiring cache only last week.  On arrival we confirmed what we had thought when we read the cache notes. We came prepared with our milk container full of water in order to float the inner container, while blocking all the holes which had been drilled in the tube to avoid the water from escaping. Reminded me of playing the recorder at school.

The main benefit of this cache was the first glimpses of quite a large wetland area, which gave us a bit of a feel for the way the land might have looked before the suburbs took over.

We then made our way towards Jupiter's, walking back toward the Casino from a local street park nearby.  The cache was still another 50m of so away when our path melted away to nothing, and we were confronted with a high wall. Trevor had all his geosenses working already though and picked the tell tale signs of past travel around the edge of the wall and sure enough, we were confronted with a jungle like slope going down to the canal,  but enough space to walk relatively easily.

Geotrail

Now this cache was called "Water Dragon" because of the many waterdragons that frequent the area, and we were not to be disappointed.  As we neared our goal there was a quick rustling, and there in front of me was a water dragon just sitting there like a statue,  hoping that I hadn't noticed him.  What a treat!

Water Dragon.

He seemed quite happy to allow me to get quite close to him to take a photo.

Now how would we have possibly known that there would be waterdragons so close to the casino, all those fancy houses on the canal, and the upmarket shops nearby if it wasn't for geocaching? (Let alone actually seeing them)

We took a brief walk along the canal past the Convention Centre before heading back to the car for our next adventure. 

Next stop was Burleigh North.  After a leisurely stop for lunch at the local surf club, we ambled around the corner to pick up some clues for the next find.  In a local park we spotted  numbers and words to give us hints as to the next coordinates, then off to a local spot with fantastic views up and down the beach.  Sadly, we didn't quite get the clues all correct, so some guessing was needed before locating the final goal, but in the meantime we enjoyed the views towards Surfers (north) and Coolangatta (south).  

Looking north towards Surfers
Note the stiff wind blowing the sea spray. 

Then off to conquer the final two goals for the day.  

Navigating around unfamiliar places is always a challenge,  and this was no different.  We were delighted to find a park on the steep hill near to our next treasure container. We were blown away by the fact that on the one side of us was the thriving Burleigh heads Community with upmarket high rise apartment blocks,  and right next door was remnant rainforest with lovely tracks to walk on! You just never know what geocaching will show you!!

Having located the first treasure we made for the lookout along the track to admire the incredible beach views and then  down to the beach level to start our final quest. 

Tree hugger

The final cache was an earth cache.  For an earth cache you need to demonstrate that you have learnt a geological fact. In this case the Burleigh heads are formed by basalt lava flow from the Mt Warning/Tweed volcano shield which produced lava, which then cooled into massive hexagonal columns (as it apparently does).  These massive columns have eroded and fallen over time, creating massive boulders,  but you can still see the hexagonal tell tale signs indicating their origins. 

We walked from the base of the headland, back up the zig zag path to estimate the diameter of a huge hexagonal column , then further up again to take a photo next to some boulders as proof of being there.  Then we diverted further up just because we could, to see yet more fantastic views of the coast. 

Views to Coolangatta.

We had had a good workout up and down the Burleigh Head and seen enough of the Gold Coast action for now, and headed home via a road as yet unseen to eat the remains of our pitiful pantry and prepare to vacate the premises in the morning.