The bottom of some rugged coastal cliffs, and the final resting place of a car wreck.
This cache is another one in my series of Albany area caches, designed to take people to places they've likely never been to before. The Albany Wind Farm attracts thousands of tourists every year, and while most do stop to enjoy the amazing views from the coastal lookout, only a few make it down the 484 steps at the Sandpatch to the beach below. The massive waves here are even more impressive when you see them from up close, and this geocache will give you the opportunity to enjoy a stroll below the coastal cliffs.
But of those who do make it down to the water, even fewer have been to the place where this cache is hidden. Sadly, the actual location near the cache has a tragic story attached to it. Right near GZ is the wreck of a car that plunged over the cliff, although not much is left of it after being exposed to the elements for years. It's hard to comprehend the horror of what must have happened all those years ago. From a fellow geocacher I learned that this accident happened on 20 June 1993, when 22 year old Steven Troy Dekker was sadly killed after going over the cliff while 4WDing in the area. I'm not sure if there were any passengers, but I was told that only a dog survived, and that's how searchers found the wreck. At any rate, here below the massive cliffs is the final resting place of the vehicle.
To get here, take Princess Rd from Frenchman Bay Road all the way to the Albany Wind Farm, where you can park near the top of the stairs at the Sandpatch (marked as a waypoint). You'll need to take the stairs all the way down to the waterline, and from there it's a delightful walk of just over a kilometer along the rocks on the beach, right alongside the pounding surf. Note that the only access to this cache is via the stairs at the Sandpatch and along the beach, and not from the Bibbulmun track directly above the cliffs near GZ. Once you've found this cache, you can earn two smileys for the price of one by walking a little further along the beach to find my "Cathedral Cliffs" cache (
link).
Cache is a clear plastic 400mL sistema container. We have deliberately made it fairly easy to find (see the hint for an obvious clue), because this cache is all about the location; you deserve to find it quickly if you've made the effort to get here!
Note: This cache has existed previously under the same name (
link to original), but was archived after it was apparently washed away, and has now been brought back to life under this new listing after being replaced.