Monthly Archives: May 2020

May 2020 – Newsletter 05

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Event News

It’s been a busy month for the Cache QLD team with plenty of decisions being made and options explored.  So let’s delve into what the team has been up to in the past month and learn about the remainder of our State Ambassadors.

Pathtag Competition – Winner Announced

With several submissions into our pathtag competition the committee had a hard time working through all the great options to narrow it down to the winning design.  After much discussion, we are pleased to announce that it was the “D’Aguilar” entry by Glenn Downes that rose to the top and will feature as one of the event set of tags.

Inspiration for the Dayboro 2021 tag entry, “D’Aguilar” features Cal looking at the hot air balloon high in the sky above the valley, the content from a compilation of tourist sites promoting hot air balloon rides of the scenic D’Aguilar Ranges and across the valleys and foothills where Dayboro lay. This entry spans more than just the Dayboro region as there are several sights for scenic hot air balloon rides throughout Queensland putting the best of what scenery Queensland has on grand display.

Merchandise

Several decisions were made regarding the merchandise for the event – which as I am sure you can agree is super exciting and make it all seem so much more real.  One of our main goals for the event is trying to keep things local and we are pleased to announce our partnership with a local business owner (& geocacher) Kelly from Black Cat Creations to handle the majority of our merchandise. We’ve made decisions on the shirts, (green, grey and metal) these will range in sizes from a mens small up to a 5XL and the ladies from size 8 to 24. We are also looking at caps and of course if you love a great souvenir you can also purchase a customised named car flag to proudly have on display!

There will also be trackables, the pathtag set and two geo-coins to purchase. We are currently investigating setting up the shop and expect this to be open to purchase items (including camping) in a few months.

Ambassadors – Part 2

Last month we brought you the first half of our Ambassadors and today we would like to introduce you the second half of the extended team.

MaccaMob (VIC) David is a retired RAAF Electronics engineer, and Mary a retired RN. We began our caching adventure on 14 April 2002, when we found gmj3191’s “The You Yangs Library Stash”, GC4CD3, with our daughter GeoJo. She in turn had been introduced by our other daughter and her husband, Slider & Smurf. Keeping it all in the family, our son and his family cache as Maccaholics. There have been so many highlights over the years: the very first Victorian Event, and many more Events since, hugs, meeting new friends, and lots of travel in Australia and around the world. One that does stand out was our completion of cache finds in all 50 US States in 2014. Like you, we are confining ourselves at home in maccamob HQ in what will no doubt be the longest ever caching slump, but looking forward to being let loose to meet at some future Event.

AlphaDeltaIndigo (VIC) Hi my name is Adi and I started caching in Sydney in 2013 and got absolutely hooked after attending a GCNSW Association event. I made my first geobuddy at that event. I attended my first Mega Event in SA in 2014 and after many years of attending Mega events & multiple annual June Long Weekend Events in SA, I have a broad circle of caching friends.  My favourite thing about caching is that I get to socialize with people & make friends inter-state and internationally. I can’t wait to see everyone at CacheQLD Dayboro in 2021! It’s going to be epic!

Liz and Bruce (QLD) got their first GPS in 2001.   When Bruce brought it home I asked what is it and what are we going to do with it.  Bruce did not have an answer initially but within a few months he learnt about the new game being played in America called Geocaching.  Little did we know how absorbed we would become in this game over the next two decades.

In 2004 we started a ten year road trip seeing as much of Australia as we could while towing our caravan around.  Geocaching was great in complementing our travels offering adventure, affording us the opportunity to get some exercise and taking us to wonderful places only known by the local cache owner as we passed through their town.

Our caching has taken us to overseas locations as well and it is fun.  We often seek out the virtual caches as the location will have some historical significance or offering something unique thus providing us insight to the area we are visiting.  Of course the power trails in the USA also get our attention especially when they are in the amazing deserts around Nevada or Arizona.

Talking of unique we reckon geocachers are a pretty special group of people. We have met so many like-minded people through this game and our lives would not have been as rich without the friendships we have formed over the many years. We love caching with just the two of us but what fun we have had out caching with friends and then enjoying a chat and a drink come the end of the day.   We view events as a social opportunity with geocaching taking second place.

Freddo is one of South Australia’s early geocachers, having signed up in January 2002. It’s almost impossible to go geocaching in SA and not find a Freddo cache, with over 900 hides. He spent four years from early 2013 onward as the ANZ Earthcache reviewer. His cache ‘Sitting Down on the Job’ in front of Government House, near the North Terrace cultural precinct is the states most visited with just shy of 2000 finds. Spots 2 through 4 in that list are also occupied by Freddo caches. Freddo is currently working on the Millicent Mega due to be held in October 2020 and was previously involved with Oz Mega in 2014.

RideTheGeoWalrus (an obscure Futurama reference) is also a very busy person at this time currently working on bringing us the Millicent Mega in South Australia.  Having been a cacher since 2012, his highlights have included doing the most favoured web cam cache in the world outside Abbey Road Studios, as well as caching in and around the World Heritage Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia.

What’s Next

Next month bring us World Environment Day on the Friday 5th June.  We continue celebrate the great environment we play in and this month we look at enjoying the great outdoors with some geocachers best friends, their geo-pups. (In case you were wondering our campground ALL pets are allowed). We also talk further about Cache QLD going green for the environment.

Cache QLD Highlight – 05

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Waterways

This month we are celebrating our Waterways!

Us Queenslander’s definitely have a love of paddling down our rivers and creeks collecting caches.  If you search through the Terrain filter on your preferred geocaching app you see plenty of caches pop up in the T4.5-5 range along various creeks and rivers in the South East corner.

Plenty of trails for a longer adventure or a just the quick stand-alone cache.  Many, many occasions of a group floating kayak squad out and about on a grand adventure.  Often there will be call out on Facebook group with an open invitation to join a group attack, this can be a great way to get yourself out meeting people, getting some exercise and of course collecting smiles.

Not only do Queenslanders love caching on the water, but it seems we are also a little fond of cleaning up our waterways with quite a few water based CITO’s organised in the past years.  Of course anytime out on the kayak is a good time to collect any floating rubbish and dispose of it thoughtfully back on land.

Here are a few waterways with trails:
Sunshine Coast: Muru-kutchi Trail, Eenie Creek, Paynter’s Peaceful Paddle, Cooroibah Creek, Cooloothin Creek
Brisbane Region: Four Mile Creek, Jackson Creek, Nudgee Creek, Pine River, Lake Kurwongbah, Lake Samsonvale, Lake Manchester, Lake Wivenhoe
Gold Coast: Coombabah Creek, South Stradbroke Island, Wave Break Island

Of course it should be no surprise that we also have water based Geo-Art! (Yes, we do have an abundance of art).  Both of these current offerings are from 4Andos.  Probably helps that they have a JetSki, but all are accessible by kayak or boat.

Machine generated alternative text: Wesl Haze a 9999999%

Fish and Cache: Is a series of 24 challenging puzzles forming up to create, of course, a fish!  Located in and around the islands to the north of the Gold Coast, you will need to have not only your paddling skills going, but you will find yourself walking some beautiful sandy beaches.  Keep your eyes out some local wildlife as well, with mentions of sighting whales, crabs, stingrays.

Dark Side of the Cache: Is a visually stunning series of 110 caches in the shape of Darth Vader’s helmet based at Lake Somerset.  These are land based caches, however you will need a watercraft to access them all.  The puzzle are sure to delight any Star Wars fans, and of course we all know that May the 4th is Star Wars day, so what better time than now to start to solve these creative puzzles.

How do you pronounce Dayboro?

This question, recently asked by ambassadors Peter & Cat (pprass), quickly had the committee divided … was it:

* Day-bra
* Day-borrow
* Day-bro
* Or something completely different?

We couldn’t agree so we took the question to the locals!
 


With just over 50 replies here is what we learnt … With a respectable 6 votes we have the pronunciation ‘Day-bo-rah’ – sounding like the name Deborah.

With a few votes each we heard: DaybOrO, Day-ber-ahh, Day-bro, Day-burra, Day-bore, Day-borough, and Day-bowrow! Getting only one vote each, are these two gems (and our personal favourites!) Dee-Town, and Da town a yesta-year!

However, the clear winner coming in with a combined 27 votes (over 50% of the total) is ‘day-bra’ or the very similar ‘day-bruh’.

Mystery solved! Thanks for the great question pprass!

Who do you go geocaching with?
My Dad.

What do you like best about geocaching?
I like to go kayaking and climbing trees.  Let’s talk about kayaking (because that happens to match this month’s theme…)!

Do you have your own kayak?
At first, I went in Dads kayak but when I turned 10, I got my own kayak that is green and white.

What was your first kayaking cache like?
It was on a creek and we (Dad and I) found it not long from where we started to kayak. We found it on a tree branch and at first I couldn’t see it and I told Dad “ I want to find it myself” and the next moment I found the cache!

Where else have you kayaked?
Dad and I have been to a lake and on a couple of rivers and creeks.  We have explored hidden pathways off the side of creeks.  After one really long kayak we found hidden door in a tree!

Any other fun kayaking adventures?
One time Dads friends came and kayaked with us but the funny thing was that we had to dress up! It was really cool to see what the other people had dressed up as. When we stopped at the island and we were coming back on our kayaks we had to push it on the water, but the funniest thing is that two people fell in the water. They couldn’t get back in so they pushed the kayak back to the ledge then did it again, they were finally successful!

Adult Bit: Kayaking L Plates was put out by JACS Team as a great location for first time paddlers.  She discovered the spot of course by a nearby cache, but also as a place to test her new kayak and give both her son and his cousin their first kayaking paddle in a safe space. This is designed to be an easy find with no need to exit the craft (see middle pic).

“I was impressed by how unbelievably clear the water is! Many small lillies growing around was extra nice. It’s relatively shallow, protected, serene place – actually ideal for learning to paddle! Being competent in the kayak though, I slowly cruised along, drinking in the surrounds (and picking up a few floating plastics). As I got closer, I spent longer than is normal looking into the water at the rocks and logs below. Did I mention how clear the water is?  Another thoroughly enjoyable paddle geocache – one I’d also recommend for those new to the kayaking game. Thanks for this little waterborne adventure, JACS Team :)”

Captain Terror – 8/19

Each month in the lead up to the main event we are running a little contest for you to collect code words.  These will come in handy – so don’t leave it until the minute to solve. 

Last month we ran a CITO contest where you just had to email the committee letting us know the most unusual thing you’ve found on a CITO.  We received serval entries and using a random generator the winner is … Waz and Vik, who found koala’s during a CITO they attended here in Petrie.  Congratulations they won the 2020 CITO trackable.

Find the first code word once you have solved the crossword.  Save each code word as they will be required at the Dayboro Event!!!

8(5)9(4)2(2)4(3)2(1)2(8)7(4)3(1)9(9)9(4)8(8)6(1)

What’s Next

On the 15th we will be sharing with you the latest information from the Committee as we nudge ever so closer to April 2021! We will also be sharing the rest of our amazing Ambassador team. Talk about what we got up to for Blue Switch Day and a feature on Queensland first geocache.