- Number of caches found - 11
- Number of travel bugs/geocoins moved - 6
- Number of dorks who got sunburnt - 2
- Number of spider webs avoided - 72
- Number of spider webs not avoided - 3
- Number of green slimy patches safely negotiated - 2
- Number of sausage sandwiches consumed - 2
- Number of times Ms S told Mr S to"Be Careful!!!" - 27
- Number of things we'd rather have done today - 0
Monday, January 28, 2008
Our cache-a-thon!
Today we did our first "cache-a-thon". We prepared a list of 14 caches that we wanted to find, and set out before 7am to start the hunt. A quick summary of how things went (who said geocaching isn't about the numbers?):
Saturday, January 12, 2008
geocaching 2.0
Geotales - believe it or not
I love this - what a fab idea for a puzzle cache!!
See the youtube video
See the cache page (premium members only)
Gabrielle the Gadget Queen REALLY speaks to me
... so does Marta Skewer and Sharulia
I love this - what a fab idea for a puzzle cache!!
See the youtube video
See the cache page (premium members only)
Gabrielle the Gadget Queen REALLY speaks to me
... so does Marta Skewer and Sharulia
Handheld GPS devices - CHOICE article
When we went shopping for a GPSr last year, I went to CHOICE looking for info to inform a confident shopping trip ... but at that stage could only find tests on car GPS units. However, the current issue of CHOICE (Dec 07/Jan 08 ) has just published an article roadtesting 1o units between AUD299-729 - "Where the hell am I? A handheld GPS uses satellites to guide you through the bush - but don't rely on them alone!" (pp.52-55, Dec 07/Jan 08). Geocaching was not mentioned at all.
The one we bought (Garmin 60) was not in the test - it does not have the map facility ... just vague knowledge of suburbs, but not street level detail. All the models tested came with a basic world map, and included LOWRANCE, GARMIN , and MAGELLAN units. The overall score was made up of "ease of use" (50%), "battery life" (15%), "accuracy" (15%), "acquisition" (10%), and "waterproofing: (10%). Funny that accuracy only attracted 15% ... I guess it's the geocachers more so than the hikers that are more interested in that!!
Garmin eTrex Vista Cx score best overall (83%, $599), closely followed by Garmin eTrex Legend Cx (81%, $499) and Magellan eXplorist 500LE (78%, $650).
The test article is here (subscribers only get the full article, but you can pay per view). Otherwise, trot down to your local library and read the full article for free.
The one we bought (Garmin 60) was not in the test - it does not have the map facility ... just vague knowledge of suburbs, but not street level detail. All the models tested came with a basic world map, and included LOWRANCE, GARMIN , and MAGELLAN units. The overall score was made up of "ease of use" (50%), "battery life" (15%), "accuracy" (15%), "acquisition" (10%), and "waterproofing: (10%). Funny that accuracy only attracted 15% ... I guess it's the geocachers more so than the hikers that are more interested in that!!
Garmin eTrex Vista Cx score best overall (83%, $599), closely followed by Garmin eTrex Legend Cx (81%, $499) and Magellan eXplorist 500LE (78%, $650).
The test article is here (subscribers only get the full article, but you can pay per view). Otherwise, trot down to your local library and read the full article for free.
Friday, January 11, 2008
A 50/50 day
Well, our most recent geocaching trip last weekend wasn't as successful as we hoped it would be. As the title of this post suggests, we found half of the caches that we were looking for. It was a trip to some of our local caches which we hadn't yet visited. We managed to cross Bella Vista (GC101TP) off our to-do list (Serenity Now (GC170DZ) has also been taken care of, having been found the day before), as well as find Run Rabbit Run (GCHK41) (which wasn't actually on our list). Our unsuccessful attempts were on the multi-caches Daniel's Decoy Duck (GC16ZKE) and Stumped...(GC130KD), both hidden by sspack.
The day started off well with a quick find at Run Rabbit Run, thanks to Ms S spotting a likely hiding place which turned out to be spot on. 11am on a sunny Sydney summer day was not prime rabbit-spotting time.
Our next stop was Daniel's Decoy Duck. We had read the clue for this one, so we found a likely spot where the first waypoint would be and started searching. Now, Mr S isn't too fond of urban caches which require loitering and poking around in places that make you look a bit suspicious. He hasn't yet mastered the sneaky search. The location we were looking in didn't have many muggles around, but it was an area that was overlooked by offices and restaurants. Needless to say, Mr S was not comfortable. Our ploy of buying coffees so we at least had an excuse to be hanging around failed when the cafe we went to didn't do take-away coffee. We weren't really in the right frame of mind to be tackling this one, so we moved on.
The next cache we went to was Bella Vista, and it felt good to finally cross this one of our to-do list. The location of this micro had been changed, and we had looked in the original location twice (once after it had moved and we hadn't read the updated logs) with no success. It took us longer to find that it probably should have. Despite the clue changing to reflect its new location, we were perhaps subconsciously influenced by the original location, and assumed that it would be hidden in a similar way. But just as we were about to give up, Mr S did what the clue said and found it. The GPSr was also a bit all over the place, despite the tree cover at GZ being minimal and also being on the top of a hill.
Our final stop for the day was the multi-cache Stumped..., and we certainly were. Mr S was a bit put off by the council worker who was spraying weeds nearby, so waited for him to go before joining the search. Despite having a clue, which we weren't sure was for the first waypoint or the cache itself, and finding an area which matched the clue we weren't able to come up with the goods. Our search was also shortened by the fact that Mr S was getting hungry and wasn't too keen to do any more searching once a muggle family set up their picnic right near where we were looking. Another one to keep on our to-do list.
We're hoping to go for a walk tomorrow morning and cross High Adventure and Lip Lapper off the to-do list.
The day started off well with a quick find at Run Rabbit Run, thanks to Ms S spotting a likely hiding place which turned out to be spot on. 11am on a sunny Sydney summer day was not prime rabbit-spotting time.
Our next stop was Daniel's Decoy Duck. We had read the clue for this one, so we found a likely spot where the first waypoint would be and started searching. Now, Mr S isn't too fond of urban caches which require loitering and poking around in places that make you look a bit suspicious. He hasn't yet mastered the sneaky search. The location we were looking in didn't have many muggles around, but it was an area that was overlooked by offices and restaurants. Needless to say, Mr S was not comfortable. Our ploy of buying coffees so we at least had an excuse to be hanging around failed when the cafe we went to didn't do take-away coffee. We weren't really in the right frame of mind to be tackling this one, so we moved on.
The next cache we went to was Bella Vista, and it felt good to finally cross this one of our to-do list. The location of this micro had been changed, and we had looked in the original location twice (once after it had moved and we hadn't read the updated logs) with no success. It took us longer to find that it probably should have. Despite the clue changing to reflect its new location, we were perhaps subconsciously influenced by the original location, and assumed that it would be hidden in a similar way. But just as we were about to give up, Mr S did what the clue said and found it. The GPSr was also a bit all over the place, despite the tree cover at GZ being minimal and also being on the top of a hill.
Our final stop for the day was the multi-cache Stumped..., and we certainly were. Mr S was a bit put off by the council worker who was spraying weeds nearby, so waited for him to go before joining the search. Despite having a clue, which we weren't sure was for the first waypoint or the cache itself, and finding an area which matched the clue we weren't able to come up with the goods. Our search was also shortened by the fact that Mr S was getting hungry and wasn't too keen to do any more searching once a muggle family set up their picnic right near where we were looking. Another one to keep on our to-do list.
We're hoping to go for a walk tomorrow morning and cross High Adventure and Lip Lapper off the to-do list.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
A good start to 2008
After hosting a successfu New Year's Eve barbeque, we didn't waste any time in starting geocaching in 2008. This afternoon we set off to find Excelsior (GC186C4), a newly published mystery cache located close to home. It hadn't been found, despite being published a couple of days ago. We set off with much excitement at the prospect of our first find in 2008 being a First To Find (FTF).
The start of the walking track leading to the cache was quickly found, and we set off for a very pleasant walk through Bidjigal Reserve. At GZ, we had an option of two places to look. We started with the easier of the two, but didn't have any luck. After having a look at the second possible location for the cache, Ms S declared that it wasn't safe, and that Mr S should "step away from the edge". Despite this, Mr S stood his ground (literally), and after he pointed out a safe route to the likely hiding spot, Ms S relented and the search proceeded. It was a short search, and the ammo can was quickly found. This isn't the first time that a cache has been found after Ms S changed her mind about the danger that Mr S was in and allowed him to keep searching. It's nice to know that she cares.
Upon opening the logbook, our suspicions were confirmed. On our way to the cache, we had passed a couple who were coming the other way. We discussed amongst ourselves whether they were fellow geocachers, or just bushwalkers out enjoying the warm Sydney weather. It turns out that they were The Wandering Wilkos, and they beat us to the FTF by about 20 minutes. We signed the log, and took the Water travel bug (which The Wandering Wilkos had collected from one of the caches that we own - Sshhhh! (GC16VHK)). What a small world!
As we were walking back to the car, we passed a young lady who was carrying a GPSr. We'll keep checking the logs to see who she was. It looks like Excelsior will have a few visits today.
We'd brought the details of another cache with us just in case we couldn't find Excelsior, so we headed off to Quarry Creek #4 (GC12P5Y). After initially looking on the wrong side of the creek, we found it fairly quickly once we crossed over. When we checked the log, it turned out that the last people to find it were - The Wandering Wilkos!
We'd now found three out of the four caches placed along Quarry Creek by sspack. The one that we were missing was No Trolls Here (GC12NE7), which we'd looked for in July but couldn't find it. Back then we didn't have our GPSr and were using a PDA with built-in GPS. We thought that we would have a better chance of finding the cache with a GPSr. A short drive brought us to GZ and we started looking. The GPSr was pointing us to the same spot that we were looking in before, but we didn't have any luck, despite there being fewer muggles than the last time we looked. Now that we've read the logs again (the most recent of which was by The Wandering Wilkos), we think we might have an idea of where it is, so we'll be trying again soon.
The Water TB that we collected from Excelsior needs to be moved on within 48 hours, so we'll be looking for more caches in the next couple of days. We'll probably try and find the other three element TBs, and then find The Fifth Element.
Because of the time difference between Sydney and Seattle, we haven't been able to log any of these finds yet. The list of years on the "Log your visit" page doesn't include 2008 yet!
The start of the walking track leading to the cache was quickly found, and we set off for a very pleasant walk through Bidjigal Reserve. At GZ, we had an option of two places to look. We started with the easier of the two, but didn't have any luck. After having a look at the second possible location for the cache, Ms S declared that it wasn't safe, and that Mr S should "step away from the edge". Despite this, Mr S stood his ground (literally), and after he pointed out a safe route to the likely hiding spot, Ms S relented and the search proceeded. It was a short search, and the ammo can was quickly found. This isn't the first time that a cache has been found after Ms S changed her mind about the danger that Mr S was in and allowed him to keep searching. It's nice to know that she cares.
Upon opening the logbook, our suspicions were confirmed. On our way to the cache, we had passed a couple who were coming the other way. We discussed amongst ourselves whether they were fellow geocachers, or just bushwalkers out enjoying the warm Sydney weather. It turns out that they were The Wandering Wilkos, and they beat us to the FTF by about 20 minutes. We signed the log, and took the Water travel bug (which The Wandering Wilkos had collected from one of the caches that we own - Sshhhh! (GC16VHK)). What a small world!
As we were walking back to the car, we passed a young lady who was carrying a GPSr. We'll keep checking the logs to see who she was. It looks like Excelsior will have a few visits today.
We'd brought the details of another cache with us just in case we couldn't find Excelsior, so we headed off to Quarry Creek #4 (GC12P5Y). After initially looking on the wrong side of the creek, we found it fairly quickly once we crossed over. When we checked the log, it turned out that the last people to find it were - The Wandering Wilkos!
We'd now found three out of the four caches placed along Quarry Creek by sspack. The one that we were missing was No Trolls Here (GC12NE7), which we'd looked for in July but couldn't find it. Back then we didn't have our GPSr and were using a PDA with built-in GPS. We thought that we would have a better chance of finding the cache with a GPSr. A short drive brought us to GZ and we started looking. The GPSr was pointing us to the same spot that we were looking in before, but we didn't have any luck, despite there being fewer muggles than the last time we looked. Now that we've read the logs again (the most recent of which was by The Wandering Wilkos), we think we might have an idea of where it is, so we'll be trying again soon.
The Water TB that we collected from Excelsior needs to be moved on within 48 hours, so we'll be looking for more caches in the next couple of days. We'll probably try and find the other three element TBs, and then find The Fifth Element.
Because of the time difference between Sydney and Seattle, we haven't been able to log any of these finds yet. The list of years on the "Log your visit" page doesn't include 2008 yet!
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