This cache, another in the Ringtales series, is a tribute to another hidden treasure, the Patawalonga Creek. Patawalonga, or Pathawilyangga, means ‘swamp gum place’ in the Kaurna language. Although most of the creek is hidden under concrete, working as little more than urban drainage, the section just the other side of the road from where this cache is secreted includes the largest intact remnant of the Reedbeds that once extended for miles behind huge dune systems of this now-metropolitan coast. So few of these natural wetland filters remain, meaning so much of our urban water rushes out to sea, taking so much of our forgotten waste with it!
Bolboschoenus Caldwellii
Illustration by Ecocreative
The fenced-off area nearby hosts the last stand of Swamp Paperbarks in metropolitan Adelaide and the whole area is cared for by local community members. They are always welcoming of newcomers to join the work in conserving and improving this habitat, so wander over to the large interpretive sign and see if you can locate their contact details.
Once you’ve signed the logbook and replaced this cache for the next hunters, give pause for a moment, close your eyes and imagine what it would have been like camping here little more than 200 years ago as a member of the Kaurna people, just before European settlement started to change what was truly a wild wonderland.
For those with less dainty fingers you may need to bring along a magnet to retreive the cache from its hidey-hole.
Find more geocaches in the Ringtails series:
Ringtales #1: Off the rails… and walking on water
Ringtales #2: Weeding ceremony
Ringtales #3: Dam if you do
Ringtales #4: Finding meaning in the trees
Ringtales #5: Growth industries
Ringtales #6: Between a drain and a creek