Geocaching on my own...

Friday, October 11, 2013

This time last year Frank and I were on our way back to Hamburg, NY from our trip to New York city.  Best to try and remember only the good times we had...

Today I am visiting a close friend and her husband in Redland Bay, and while she is seeing a specialist I have some time on my hands and decide to do some geocaching on my own.  A new experience, but if I want to keep doing this activity I'd better get used to it.

For the first cache I take the car as I don't have walking shoes with me.  Next time I'll make sure I have some old shoes in the boot and probably my geocaching tools.

aaaargh! ye' twin beaut'ies

It's not far and GZ is easily found.  These two trees I must have passed hundreds of times, but never realised how beautiful they are, and how old!  The roots have grown in between and over vulcanic rock.  A closer picture wasn't possible, because they are on the corner of a very busy road.

aaaargh! ye' twin beaut'ies (at the corner on the left)

RBBW - Hanging Out At Paths End

First of all, RBBW stands for Redland Bay Bike Way.  If in the future this bike track is going to be extended it will make for a very pleasant bike ride along the fore shore in the Redlands.  The cache is in a fantastic spot.  Easily found and after you've found it you just want to stay and enjoy the peace and quiet. The bike path leads to, and around a beautiful lagoon.  GZ is right at the end where the waves are lapping at your feet...

I had made a short video of the site, but didn't seem to be able to transfer it from my tablet to the laptop. Photo's will have to suffice, but will still give a good idea of the beautiful surrounds.  The only difference is that you don't hear the relaxing sound of the little waves and the birdsong in the background.

RBBW - Hanging Out At Paths End

RBBW - Hanging Out At Paths End

RBBW - Hanging Out At Paths End

 

RBBW - Hanging Out At Paths End

RBBW - Hanging Out At Paths End

RBBW - Hanging Out At Paths End - GZ

RBBW - Hanging Out At Paths End - the actual (small) 

Only two this time, but who knows, I may try and do this more often if I have a bit of time on my hands...

See you next time.

A quick one

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

As my mobile phone is no longer working properly I wanted to try out my recently bought tablet with the SIM-card to see if it would work well as a replacement GPS.  Kevin was here to pick up the guinea pigs which had come to my place for a holiday and had just enough time to try a geocache close to my place (in walking distance even!)

Buckley's Outlook

Although I had done this one before I didn't have pictures, so I thought I'ld show them now.  The pictures were taken with my tablet as well.  A bit big for a camera, and in particular for a GPS, but it works well if you haven't anything else at hand. :-)

Buckley's Outlook

Buckley's Outlook

Buckley's Outlook

Buckley's Outlook

Geocaching with the BUGs yet again

Sunday, September 22, 2013

After two successful geocaching rides Joyce organised another ride to combine with this great outdoor activity.

The days are warm and pleasant at the moment, so we opted for a ride starting at 7am, and believe it or not, I didn't get home until 12.15pm!

As I am not game to cross the bridge on my bike I opted to walk, while the others (newcomers Chris and Nancy) would go and try the Here (4) cache, which is close to our starting point of the bike rides (Kiosk on Benabrow Avenue).

Bob and I went ahead and waited for the others to join us at the mainland side of the bridge.  As their GPS had played up the little group arrived rather quickly, having skipped the search for the first cache.

As a few of the caches are repeats for me I just mention them quickly, but may add a few photos just for fun.

We had a pleasant ride on the bike path towards Ningi and stopped along the main road to search for our second cache of the day:

Kal-ma-kuta

Kal-ma-kuta

Kal-ma-kuta

Kal-ma-kuta

Big bugs at Turner's Camp

Big Bugs at Turner's Camp

Big Bugs at Turner's Camp

The Ningi Thingy

The Ningi Thingy

The Ningi Thingy

The Ningi Thingy

A Geocaching Romance

We missed the dirt track that would've lead us to the next cache, so we skipped that and went on for a ride along the main road, past the roundabout at Bestmann Road and right towards a new housing estate next to Ningi Creek.  There were two caches hidden here.  The first one was an easy find amongst the trees in a park, and was called: A Geocaching Romance.  No pictures here, as I forgot to take them, and as this was a new cache for me I don't have any existing pictures.

Muddy Tides

Muddy Tides also was a new one for me.  By the way, I had to rely on the other people's GPS, as I still am without one.

A short ride further down towards the creek lead us to the mudflats.  As we haven't had much rain of late, we didn't need to get our feet dirty.  The only muggles around were some kangaroos lying lazily in the sun. They weren't even interested in us!  Although Joyce had read out the hint clearly for us we did not find this cache.  After reading the logs at home I suspect that we were looking at the wrong tree, as this one must have recently fallen down near GZ.  I had been poking around at a tree nearby, but since I was told that I was 20m away from GZ I stopped.  Should've kept looking, because a spoiler photo showed that I may have been in the right spot after all.  Well, 1 DNF is not the worst thing and we can always go back for this one.  I still want my smiley!

Muddy Tides

Muddy Tides

The Ningi Ghost House

The Ningi Ghost House

The Ningi Ghost House
(please, excuse my hand in front of the camera)

We reckoned we had done our quota for the day and headed home.  However, closer to the bridge we all felt like a break and some refreshments, so stopped off at a little (until then unknown to me) coffee shop: Bribie Passage Kiosk & Boat Hire where we enjoyed anything from coffee to ice cream and I my favourite Chai Latte.

This concluded a lovely ride and successful geocaching morning.