Geocaching in... The Netherlands!

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

On a trip to The Netherlands I certainly wanted to earn my Dutch souvenir, and here it is:

Met STIP op de kaart... Liempde

I started off quite enthusiasticly with my new GPS, but unfortunately choose a small multicache with a waypoint.  I had to find an old farmhouse and from the description I had to calculate a new waypoint.

The farmhouse

Details on the description needed for the waypoint

I found the farmhouse alright, had no difficulties calculating the distance and degrees for the waypoint, but after that I was stuck.  I contacted the owner of the cache who very kindly confirmed that my calculations were correct and also helped me to enter the data in my GPS.  Now I will have to go back and find the actual cache, but I want to use my GPS first on a more straightforward cache to see if I am doing all the right things...

Watermeter (Earth cache*)

In the meantime I had to make a trip to 's-Hertogenbosch to visit relatives and I figured that I might as well try and find a cache. The first one on my list was the Watermeter.  Funny enough I didn't need my GPS (which I had very cleverly left at home!), because I knew exactly where the water meter was to be found.  When Frank and I were visiting in 2011 we discovered this meter on a walk, not even knowing that it happened to be part of geocaching (which we weren't even familiar with at the time).  So, I drove straight toward it, noted the depth of the groundwater level (which such a water meter is about) and had my picture taken by a friendly passer-by.  Et voila, I could log my first Dutch cache!

The Watermeter

Hurry up with that picture!  I'm freezing in this cold wind...

* When looking for an earth cache you're not really looking for a container, but something that is stipulated in the description.  Sometimes you have to take a picture as proof that you've found it.  Sometimes you have to answer questions.  Either way, it often is an interesting cache and you always learn something new.

Sneaking in a few more

Sunday, January 19, 2014

The last time Kevin and I went looking for a few caches on a Sunday after our monthly meeting at the Dollshouse and Miniatures Club in Clayfield the heading of my post was: Sneaking in a few, hence today's title: Sneaking in a few more...  And we did.  We had started on the Melrose Meanderings series and had finished the nrs. 1, 2 and 3.  Today we parked the car in the park near the creek and started walking to finish the next three in the series.

Melrose Meanderings 4 Lewis Jackson

Must have taken its name from the two streets in between the cache was to be found: Lewis and Jackson Streets...

Kevin signing the log at
Melrose Meanderings 4 Lewis Jackson

Melrose Meanderings 4 Lewis Jackson

After a while you tend to get repeats.  This one, at the bridge, reminded us very much of the Sandy Bridge series and the cache was thus easily found.

Melrose Meanderings 6 The Pines :(

I think the name again had something to do with the surroundings: the missing pine trees!

Melrose Meanderings 6 The Pines :(

This one was a bit tricky, because the co-ords seemed to be out a bit.  We walked first to the path above, but our search did not result in anything, so down the path we went.  Even then it wasn't an easy search with all the prickly seeds in the weeds that were growing amongst the plants.  I left Kevin to it... and in the end helped him sign the log. ;-)

Melrose Meanderings 5 Across the Line

We didn't quite walk the series in the correct order.  We never seem to do so...  On the way back we passed nr. 5 and had a funny occurrence.

Melrose Meanderings 5 Across the Line

The above picture is taken from the geocaching site as I again forgot to take a photo.  The young man is holding the 'container' for the cache.  It's a branch of a tree and the hint was: debris.  I could have known.  I had the branch in my hands, looked at it and thought: "No, this is not it."  I walked away, Kevin stepped in, picked up the branch and said: "Eureka", or something to that effect.  When I'd picked up the branch my hand covered the hole in which the actual cache container was stuck.  Kevin did actually see the little hole!  Well, at least we had found what we were looking for...  Another log to sign.

Slip Slidin' Away

As we knew there was one more cache in the same park we decided to get that one and head home.  We walked up to GZ, had read the hint and in no time had the cache in hand.  We signed the log and walked back to pick up the car.  It had been a long hot day and we actually had enough.  Not a bad result (for us): 6 caches in one weekend.

Slip Slidin' Away

This was nr. 122 for me.  It's looking good.

Visiting Russell Island

Saturday, January 18, 2014

We still have some time on our hands now and then and make good use of it.  On Saturday I planned to visit Russell Island to check on our house that has been empty since the middle of last year.  It's for sale, and neighbours are keeping an eye on it, but from time to time I want to catch up with the real estate agent as well.

All was well and Kevin and I managed to go for the one cache within walking distance (for lack of available transport on the island) and found it in no time after a short walk in the hot afternoon sun.

I have also bought a new GPS and wanted to try it out, but no luck yet.  My downloaded caches would not appear.  One always has to learn a lot when buying new gadgets...

Slow Progress

A nice and easy find, but unfortunately I am a slow learner (or can I say 'we'!), because even with a camera in my backpack I forgot to take a picture.  This cache is hidden in a small, but beautifully landscaped park near the jetty, so we could fit it in on the way back before catching the ferry to the main land.  A few years ago this area was only a park in name, but now it has walking tracks, BBQs and gazebos.  It's a nice spot to take children out for a run and some fun...

S V Wheeler - Soldier of Supreme Sacrifice

On the way to our car in the parking area on the main land I remembered another cache in the area.  It wasn't where I first thought it would be, because of the name.  There is an ANZAC memorial close to the parking lot, but the actual cache was close to where the barge leaves to Stradbroke Island.

S V Wheeler - Soldier of Supreme Sacrifice

A beautiful blue beetle on the tree trunk

Close-up of the beetle

Anyway, we found GZ along the road side, and the cache.  We are still puzzled about the name and the hint which leads us to believe that something must have changed since this cache was first published.

A game of golf on a hot Sunday

Sunday, 5 January, 2014

St. Andrews - Warrigal

Colin teaching me how to hold the golf club

And now for a big swing

Noticed something unusual? No?  Well, I don't play golf much, or rather, not at all, but I know that this doesn't quite look like an ordinary golf course, and... it wasn't.

It's a multi cache presented as a golf course in an area where long ago an 11-hole golf course was planned on the southside of Brisbane.

Now being a member of two facebook geocache groups I yesterday noticed an invitation by a geocacher to come along and do this multi cache together in a group.  As I very much like to go geocaching in company and didn't know much yet about waypoints, I thought it a good idea to join in.

This morning I made an early trip to Runcorn and met with a group of people just before nine am.  They were Colin (who I already knew), Peter, Ralph, Kylie, Julie and Rachel.  Barb (who I met at the last event) arrived a little later.

Colin arrived in style with his golf clubs and had pictures taken all the way down the track. I just have to borrow them from the geocaching site, as non-members will not be able to see them otherwise.  I don't think he'll mind:

Hole 1 Tee off

Hole 3 fairway.  Grass is just a bit long

Just hoping not to get zapped here

Hole 4 fairway, more like an obstacle course

Balance problems for hole 5 tee off

Hole 5 fairway

Hole 6 tee off

So close to the green

Hole 7 tee off

Hole 8 putt putt course

Hole 8 tee off

Elevated tee off at hole 10

After this entertaining photo series you would really think Colin had been playing golf, but the poor guy, besides helping us finding the tags for the waypoints he had to lug his golf caddy around the 'course' going under roads and over waterways, and as you saw at hole 4, across numerous fallen trees.

We had a great time though, although it was hot and sticky under an overcast sky. I have a few more pictures of my own.  Not half as entertaining, but I'd rather show them anyway:

Rachel, Ralph and Kylie

Colin preparing for his photoshoot

Got there...

Barb, Colin, Peter, Julie and Rachel

Most of the tags were rather easy finds on trees and/or fence posts.  A few had to be looked for very hard and one of them couldn't be found.  Peter rang the CO who gave us the necessary details to carry on.  This was legitimate, because the tree on which the tag had been attached had been cut down and without the tag we would not have been able to finish the course.

The cache, when we finally found it, had been very well hidden, but was discovered in the end and we all got to sign the log.  

On the way we walked past a traditional cache:

Looking for Wally

which I was lucky enough to find, so was happy to be able to sign another log for the day.  One cache to show for three hours work would have been very little result for the time spent...

The picture of this cache can be seen above at: Hole 8 tee off.

When I left early in the morning I had plans to do some more geocaching on the way back home, but finally seated in my airconditioned car, tired, flustered and drenched with perspiration, I had no urge other than to go home, have a shower and lie down for an hour or so, and afterwards watch the tennis. Regrets?  None!  It was a perfect day despite the heat.

A few more smilies close to home

Monday, December 30, 2013

Today I had a funeral service to go to in the morning, but Kevin had stayed the night so we had a few spare hours.  After a quick breakfast we were on our way to Beachmere and to the cache furthest away.  We were hoping to find a few caches quickly, but that wasn't to be, although we didn't go home empty handed.

Among the Mangroves

The day was overcast, but still very muggy, so it was nice to go for a stroll close to the water.  Normally I don't read the logs, but today I did and one of them made quite clear what we had to do.  Kevin was a GZ and I had a good look and went straight for the cache!  Easy find.

Among the Mangroves

Walkway to the Beach

On the way back to the car we walked past GZ for this cache.  Kevin knew it was magnetic, I didn't but happened to walk to an area which looked suitable to me.  It could be in one of two places.  It not being at the first one, Kevin put his hand out and took hold of it in no time.  We signed the log and were on our merry way again to, hopefully, find a few more.

Walkway to the Beach

Unfortunately these were the only ones for the day.  The next two were DNFs and we also ran out of time.

A few caches close to home again

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Kevin rang and was coming for a visit.  He looked for a few caches on his way, because he is working very hard to reach his milestone of 100 caches.  Since I tried to find a few in the area by myself a few weeks ago, and had not been successful, we used the remaining daylight to try a few close to home.

Muddy Tides

was one of the caches that we had been looking for with the BUGs and could not find.  I thought we had been looking at the wrong tree, and that was correct, but... the one that I had in mind wasn't correct either. So, Kevin was the one who had more luck and produced the cache.

Muddy Tides

The cache was in a built up area, but close to the water and we saw lots of kangaroos:

Abbey Museum

This cache I had been looking for on my own a while ago when the accuracy of my GPS was 1.83 km!  I didn't have coverage either to look up any information, so I had to let it go.  This time, with Kevin present, we had more luck.  I should however have taken my Christmas present, an extendable mirror with a LED light, but had left it very enthusiastically at home!  Kevin found the cache without too many problems, though, so we signed the log and had a look around the museum church with its beautiful lead lights from all over Europe.  We had a brief chat with the minister before he started the church service.  I think he was happy enough to be outside in the breeze which had come up because of the thunderstorm, because, although it was getting late in the afternoon, the air was stifling.

The hint: duck for cover...  Easy! :-)

Runway Three-Zero Caboolture

From the Abbey Museum to Caboolture airport was only a short drive, but it was getting dark quickly.  Kevin had been in the afternoon and also had a torch, so with a bit of guidance and extra light I had no difficulty finding this cache.  Unfortunately I discovered that another cacher had taken a TB without taking a diary that belonged to it as well.  I've taken the diary home and contacted both the cacher and the owner of the TB and will try if I can reunite both for further travels.

Caboolture airport and the runway in the dark

A little bit of light from the car's headlights went a long way...

Sandy Bridges revisited

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

On my way to Albany Creek for the Christmas celebrations I had a few hours spare, so was going to try and find a few caches on my own.  However, my GPS was not working properly, so I had 4 dnf's out of 4! Guessing doesn't always work...

As we had a few hours spare after lunch as well Kevin and I took off to try and figure out where the Sandy Bridge - Finale could be located.  To do that, we had to revisit all five bridges, because somehow we had made a mistake with the colour clues and could not get our GZ coordinates approved.

So, we did the walk again.

Sandy Bridge #5

We could not find #3 this time (here one day, gone the next!), but it didn't interfere too much with our clues. The fact that I wrote a number down in the wrong place did however!  Eventually we had a fair idea where the final cache should be, so we drove to the cemetery and started looking for a brush-turkey mound.  These are huge, so cannot easily be overlooked:

This is not the mound that we were looking for,
but a picture of one to give you the general idea.

We did find it and with the hint we again had a fair idea of where GZ should be, but we still couldn't find the cache.  It didn't help that it was getting quite dark and I was being eaten alive by the mozzies, so we gave up for the day.  On the way back I received confirmation of the coordinates (after I had tried again with the new number in the correct place), so next time we're in the area we may have another look.  Unfortunately another DNF.  Not a very fruitful day. :-)