The other side of geocaching...

Saturday, March 15, 2014

The other side of geocaching is the social side, one I enjoy very much.  And here's a nice story with a surprising outcome:

In the week before the 15th  three members of the Brisbane geocaching group asked for someone to put them up for a night as they were planning to go caching on the Sunshine Coast that weekend. As I have enough room and would be home anyway I put up my hand, so on Saturday night Heather, Colin and his sister Dianne arrive after a full day of caching.  After a shower they make themselves comfortable and we all settle down with a glass of something or other.

Heather and Colin I have known for a while now, because I have met them a few times at various events.  Dianne I am introduced to as being Colin's sister and living in Sweden.  She's on a geocaching holiday here and to meet up with her brother and parents.

Heather

Colin - setting me up for a picture rather than for playing golf :-)

Dianne

We talk about a lot, and in the meantime Heather discovers my 12th scale witch's cottage and we all have a look at my other houses and roomboxes.  Colin tells me about his mother and how she used to have dollshouses.  During the evening they tell me a whole lot more, like the fact that Colin and Dianne's parents are also into geocaching, that their parents are divorced, that their mother has bought a little camper and is planning to travel around Australia.  All of these titbits about the family (and I have known their surname too for a while) should by now have told me something, but.... it didn't.  I also get to hear that Heather is joining Colin and Dianne's mother on part of the trip and they say that she's game.  I say that I would be game too, as I like that sort of travelling, not meaning anything in particular, but they tell me that I could possibly join their mother on the last part of the trip from Adelaide to Brisbane if I wanted to...

Anyway, after a pleasant evening, during which I was also taught a few things about the technical aspect of geocaching where the computer and GPS are concerned, we call it a day.

The next morning we have breakfast together and after that they show me their collection of geocoins and path tags.  I am even given a few path tags as a thank-you for their stay with me.  Before we part I get the details to phone their mother to find out about the round-Australia trip and I promise them to contact her.

They pack up and leave for another day of caching and leave me we a good feeling.  I had a great time!

Next we move to the following day and guess my surprise when I read a comment on facebook:  Colin and Dianne's mother knows me from... Russell Island!!!  And then the penny drops...  Of course, I have known this lady for a few years before she and her husband moved away from the island and split up.  I had been going to the Brisbane dollshouse club with her and had joined her little dollshouse group on the island.  I knew about her son, I knew she had a daughter in Sweden... I knew so much, and still, I never made the connection.

Well, in the meantime I have of course contacted her and we are planning to catch up, although this will have to wait till after Dianne's visit to her, her upcoming birthday and probably Easter.  Busy times ahead...