Albany Creek

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

I seem to be doing an awful lot of caching these days, but seriously, I don’t mind. ;-)

Today I was in Albany Creek and had the day to myself, so after finishing a book that I was reading for the book club I decided to go out and find a few caches in the area.

There was a series of 8 caches that I could walk, one opposite the grounds and one on the way, so that’s where I stopped first.

Community Church 

For the Community Church I wanted to find a parking spot off the road, but could not get to the cache from the parking lot, so parked on the roadside, hoping I would find the cache quickly, which I did.  Signed the log, took a picture and that was that.

The next 8 caches were all in a park and not too far from each other.  I generally took 10 minutes from finding one to the next, and, including the walking time to and from the car I think I managed it in just over an hour-and-a-half.

Scrabble Scramble #1 

 

Scrabble Scramble #2

Part of the bush track

Scrabble Scramble #3

Spring: Purple Pea Bush in flower

Scrabble Scramble #4

Scrabble Scramble #5

Scrabble Scramble #6

Scrabble Scramble #7 

Scrabble Scramble #8 

And this is what I found in every container:

Scrabble letters

There’s also a Scrabble Scramble Finale, but to find the last one I had to find Scrabble letters in each cache plus the question of which the answer could be formed by sorting the letters.  Suffices to say that I took note of all the letters, but didn’t notice the questions!  In the end I didn’t have to go back for them, because after having had a good look at all the letters (and being an avid scrabble player) I did find all the words anyway.  The numbers of the words formed the coordinates, after I’d done some calculations, and at the first check discovered that they were correct.  So, next time when I will be in the area I can go back in search of the final one.

Opposite the spot where my car was parked another cache was hidden.

Not Chinaman’s Creek

This also was a reasonably easy one, for tall people that is, and I could sign the log, take pictures and next I was on my way home.

In the meantime I am filling some spare hours writing this blog update and solving some geocaching puzzles.  Another addiction!

Till next time.

Glass House Safari at Coochin Creek

Saturday, September 6, 2014

This time we had a geocaching weekend with a difference, more like a 4WD rally, and it was good fun. Dianne picked me up with my camping gear at my, by now usual, pick-up spot at McDonald's near the highway and we travelled together to Coochin Creek.  We met with Rachel and Kylie and together we put up the tents after which we had lunch.

The four of us, Team Girl Power, were dressed up in pink to stand out from the crowd!

Glass House Safari

Team Girl Power :-)

After lunch we had a brief about the rally, were given the paperwork and off we went.  Kylie did the driving, as she owns a 4DW, Rachel in the front would use the trip computer on the GPS, the three of us kept an eye on the Tulip Diagrams for navigation and Dianne and I kept also track of the clues that we needed to collect on the way.

All went fine, until we had all the clues (we thought) and were ready to re-entry the camping grounds.  Just before the entrance we noticed another (bonus) clue that we weren't told about.  It was a set of coordinates for yet another container from which we had to collect a token.  So, we turned around and went in search of it.  After four unsuccessful goes at it we decided to ring the organiser and ask him if perhaps the coordinates could be wrong.  And guess what?  They were!  We were told to come back to the camping ground and there we were given the location of the container, so we could collect our token.

By then the other teams, who had missed the last clue, had already gone in search of us, because the thought we were lost. HaHa  In the end we handed in our answers, they got checked, and... we came first!!!

We only had two of the answers wrong, but were also the only ones who had seen the last clue, so that added to the overall outcome.  Clever girls we were! :-)

The night was spent in good company around the camp fire.  We didn't get much sleep as neighbouring campers as well as early-bird kookaburras kept us awake so we got up early and as the others had taken care of lunch, dinner and snacks it was my turn to make breakfast.  We'd opted for pancakes with fresh fruit again, so we laid a nice foundation for the day.

It wouldn't be a geocaching weekend if we wouldn't search for any caches, so that's what we did after breakfast.

Roy’s Beer at Burrum

We managed to find only two, the next one was a DNF, not so much because of us, but it was near Pumicestone Passage and the cache had to be searched for at low tide.  Our timing was a bit out…  Kylie had a go at it, got wet and muddy feet in the process, but to no avail.  We would have to come back for that one some other time.

As there were no more caches nearby we returned to the camp ground and decided to break up camp.  We packed and in the end I was home before lunch time!

Geocaching from Caboolture southwards

Thursday, September 4, 2014

On Wednesday I get a call: Are you free tomorrow to do some geocaching?  Of course, Heather!  Usual pick-up spot?  And so it goes...

We meet at McDonald's and plan to find the two caches north of Beachmere, where we already have found most.  From there we plan to cross the highway to find a few in Caboolture and from there we make our way down south, close to Petrie, where Heather wants to look for a puzzle cache that she's already solved. 

I have downloaded the caches on my GPS and solved the puzzle as well (I like the challenge) and we should be set for the day.

The Old Way In

The second cache Turrbal is a DNF, although we expected it to be, because of the recent logs.  Not to worry, we enjoy the view and drive a bit along the foreshore before we go on to the next one across the highway.

Good Old Days

La Goon Creek

Central Lakes Circle

I was happy to cross this one off my list as I had been here earlier with James and Angus and we couldn't find it.  We've probably missed it, because it was further from the path then expected and my GPS wasn't working properly at the time.

Next on the list was Electric Eels, which I had already done when in search for the above cache, so this one was Heather's.  Unfortunately for her a DNF.

Time for lunch, so we stop off at the nearest Maccas for some sustenance.  After that it's on to the next one.

Football Anyone!! 

None Riding On This

Solar

 

Whip it

 

Moorina High

 

Working 4 U

 

Blow Me Down 

 

Lake Vista

 

This was a funny decoy.  Perhaps unintentionally, but we fell for it! :-)

And this was the real rock covering the cache

The beautiful 'vista'

Pinnacle Cog

 

When we arrived at GZ for the above cache we discovered another vehicle stationary across the road. Would it be another cacher?  Indeed it was.  Judy of Team Benders was on her rounds and had just discovered this cache, so all we had to do was sign the log and hide it again.

McGavin View

 

Samsonvale Dam

Outhouse with an Outlook

 

Orange Twist

 

This cache really caused us headaches.  It was the puzzle cache which I mentioned above.  As we had solved the puzzle we knew the coordinates for GZ, but when we discovered the cache it appeared to be locked.  It was an ammo box with lots of numbers on it.

We were a bit mystified by the hint, so Heather decided to ask the CO.  We were given a bit more information, but not enough.  As we still couldn't open the box we went on to find a few more caches first, and then came back to this one.  Heather thought the hint pointed to the coords and tried a few combinations, to no avail.  I, on the other hand, had thought about the numbers on the box.  They must have been there for a reason, so I related the hint to the numbers and on my third try: voila!  Box open, log signed and we were ready to go home after yet another pleasant day in each other's company.

What bugged us though was the fact that Judy had been in the meantime and was able to open the box and sign the log without apparent problems.  She's good, that lady! :-)