Today I went out and found our first caches for the year. My siste came too, as she is a cacher too. Because I didn't have the boys with me, we could tackle some of the harder terrain caches in the area. It was a successful day, with three out of three caches found.
Our first cache was One in a Hundred-EcoTeam #6, which is considered a must-do cache in the Sydney area. It was placed in 2002, and illustrates what I think caching was all about in the early days. It was in a local area of bushland, and was a multi-cache, so there were a couple of waypoints that had to be found before we could find the final container. My sister had found this cache previously, and was willing to give me some hints when I asked for them. If she hadn't been there I think I'd still be looking for the first waypoint! There's a picture in the gallery for the cache which led me on a wild-goose chase, and it was only after consulting my resident expert on the cache that I was looking in the right spot. The second waypoint was easier to find than the first. From reading the logs of previous finders, there's an easy way and a hard way to the final location. My sister knew the hard way, but I wanted to see if we could find the easy way. After retracing our steps to the walking track we'd come down, we took a turn to the left and followed a track to the general area where the cache was hidden. After a bit of a search I found the container, and it was to find a nice large bucket, which was well-stocked with books.
After a stop for lunch, we headed off for a cache which neither of us had found. It's been rated with 5 stars for terrain (the highest rating possible, which usually means that you need special equipment to find the cache e.g. abseiling gear, boat). However this cache should really be rated at about 3.5 stars for terrain. It does involve a bit of a scramble down some rocks, but it can be done without any equipment. This was the first 5 star terrain cache for both of us - it's nice to have it listed in our statistics but I suppose it's not a real 5 star hide. On our way to the cache we heard movement in the bush down below us, which turned out to be wallabies or kangaroos - we didn't see them in any great detail but my sister did spot a tail to confirm that they weren't muggles (or fellow geocachers).
On our way back to the car we walked past another cache which we were able to find. This one was a bit more straighforward and was a fairly easy find (my sister found it).
Today seemed to be our day for encountering "interesting" people during our searches. At the first cache, a gentlemen came down the track and chatted to us about the graffiti that is on the very large structure that the first waypoint is located in. He was harmless enough, but we felt better when he moved on. Our second encounter was on our way back from the 5 star cache. While we were searching for it we could hear a noise nearby, but couldn't think of what it was. Turns out it was a group of three teenagers letting off their potato cannon. They left not long after we passed them.
So my first day of caching for 2013 was a success. Hopefully there'll be many more to come, and this will be the year that we crack 300 finds (only 33 to go!)
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