Caching in Caloundra

Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014

Before we go to Caloundra I mention one cache Kevin and I went in search of because it keeps bugging us.  We had a moment spare to look again for 

A Sandy Bridge - Finale

We had a thorough search, but still couldn't find the d... thing.  We suspected a certain spot, but it was on the corner of the huge bush turkey nest and we didn't want to disturb it unnecessarily.  After logging it again as a DNF the next thing I knew I received an email from the CO to tell us that he had checked the cache and it was still there.  He even sent us a picture, and when I compared it with mine I knew we had been in the right spot.  Back again some day!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

At one of the events I talked with a fellow cacher called Heather and she told me she wouldn't mind going out caching together from time to time.  She often goes with other cachers and likes 'playing' together with others.  So, I finally took the plunge and asked if she would be available this week.  She was and her preferred area was Caloundra. We met at 10:30 at McDonald's on the highway and searched for our first cache in the parking lot:

Mac Attack

Guess what? No picture!  Isn't that unusual??? ;-)  

With all the talking I took a while longer before I realised that I was supposed to take pictures of my finds, so I mention the first few by name only.

I've rectified this and taken a picture when I next passed the area.  Won't do that in a hurry with the Caloundra caches, but this one is sort of down the road...

Mac Attack under cover of a big tree

On the buses

A cache on a roundabout near a bus depot.  Easy find under the bushes, but alas they were of the prickly kind again. :-(  The picture I pinched from the internet:

Industrial Roundabout

No picture of this one.  We came across two of this type and I will have a picture of a similar cache later. It was the top of a fence.

Industrial Wetlands

A big container hidden in an opening in the rocks of a retaining wall.  Easy find again.

Horses 4 Courses

No idea how the name covers the cache, but it may have had something to do with for corners and on one of the corners we discovered a metal sign with... a magnetic cache.

Which one Steve

On our way to the next lot we took a wrong turn-off and had to get back via an arterial road on which we noticed a big sign of Steve Irwin and a crocodile. We were on Steve Irwin Way, close to Australia Zoo. A magnetic cache was hidden at the back of the sign and the picture was again pinched from the internet.

Maggies Retreat

This cache is the beginning of a few walks in the parks surrounding a new housing estate.  The word 'maggies' refers to the magpies that breed in the trees in the park.

The cache in its covered state

The cache uncovered
(it contains a bison tube with logbook inside)

Maggies Hideway

Whoever prepared this series went to a lot of trouble creating caches with a difference.

Spot the container

Hidden in the tree trunk

Maggies en Masse

Forgotten to take a picture of this one.  It was a clever container.  It consisted of a thick piece of a branch cut into two halves with a bison tube hidden inside.  Only some bright paint at the seam was a dead giveaway...

Horsin' Around

This was a multi cache with two WPs (waypoints) and each of them was easily found.

Sarting point with new WP details
("standing tall" was the hint!)

The final - It's there...

See the little blue 'dot'?

Bellvista Trail

I was so glad to have an agile buddy with me.  It was a real crawl and stretch to retrieve the cache from its dark hiding place.

Yep, the cache was right at the back in a dark corner

Heather is happily playing with both GPS devices

Under the bridge in a corner

O'Reilly's Rest

A short walk into the bush and the cache was in hand.

Where could this cache be hidden...???

The sun is slowly going down...

Peek-A-Boo

A fence post cache
I mentioned this one earlier

The second one was the right one

Again a beautiful spot and isn't the weather just perfect?

Meridan Multi

Well, it's in the name!  Not too hard and a nice long walk, although for the last one we took the car and drove around the houses to the other side of the park to shorten all the walking just a little bit.  The photographs are not all in the right order, but I couldn't be bothered any more after this long list. :-)

Heather signs the log at the final

It's under....

Heather retrieves the co-ordinates for the first WP

Isn't that a beautiful corner?

Retrieving the WP for the Final
The hint was "Knife & Fork"
We just couldn't work out why...

Jill's Puzzle

The puzzle I would never have solved without Heather's help.  I have always been staring at numbers and could never make sense of anything, but... there seems to be an internet site and an app for the tablet/phone that you use to solve the most intricate puzzles.  And now I can!

The pictures show you that we needed a password for this one:

A container within a container to protect
 the workings of the lock from the elements

Heather is good at this!

Yeah, at the base of a tree again!

It was an easy find in itself, the cache being so big, but the walk was up and down a steep slope and partially along a very rocky path.  A bit tiring near the end of an afternoon of caching...

At this stage there are seven more caches to cover, but it's late and I am having a busy day ahead of me, so the next lot will follow soon.