Today we just have a quick post to alert you to some information sessions that are happening over the coming weeks and an update on the merchandise and camping.
Information Sessions
Cairns Info Session – GC9GCPE Saturday 24th October – 10:00 am to 11:00 am
Tasmania Info Session (Hobart) – GC9HD9D Saturday 30th October – 4:30 pm to 5:00 pm
Southside Info Session (Brisbane) – GC9HEBR Sunday 31st October – 11:30am to 12:00am
Gympie Info Session – GC9HH1A Sunday 7th November – 9:30am to 10:00am
Brisbane Info Session – GC9HH1G Sunday 14th November – 9:30am to 10:00am
Toowoomba Info Session – GC9HH1X Sunday 21st November – 9:30am to 10:00am
Northside Info Session (Brisbane) – GC9HH1Y Sunday 28th November – 4:00pm to 4:30pm
Gold Coast Info Session – GC9HH26 Sunday 5th December – 9:30am to 10:00am
We are hoping to get to more locations as the states open up, but this can be a tricky thing to navigate at the moment. If you can and would like to host an information event in your region, please send us an email at admin@cacheqld.com and we can organise something with you.
Townsville Event
Geocaching Townsville are hosting a special event, ‘Come and Try Geocaching’ on Saturday 18th December, at Sheriff Park from 10:00am to 10:30am looking to encourage new players to the game. This event will be featured in the Townsville ‘What’s On’ holiday guide and would be a great place to learn more about geocaching.
Merchandise
We expect the shop to be open for purchasing merchandise only from around mid-November. We will have available a set of four pathtags, two geo-coins (blueprints below), a polo shirt, t-shirts, car flag and a variety of other made to order products.
Camping
There will be camping available at the Mega location, we are finalising some details due to some unforeseen changes to our original plan. As we did with the Dayboro Mega we will have a special post on the website with all the information regarding camping with a predetermined date and time when camping will be available for purchase. This allows people to chat with their buddies and make plans. We anticipate that date will be in December with the shop closed on that day until the nominated time, when everything will become available.
If have any questions and are not able to attend an event please send us an email at admin@cacheqld.com.
Have you ever wondered what geocaching would be like without trees? Better GPS reception perhaps. No more pulling yourself up a tree trying not to think about how you are going to get back down. No more reaching into dark holes hoping nothing moves. No more digging around in leaf litter trying to find that rusty tin! … But seriously, close your eyes, and try to imagine … What we imagine is dirty air, lifeless soil, chronic drought, no tree-based products (no log books!).
We have two options: Find another inhabitable planet and move; or do our bit to help. This is where National Tree Day comes in. National Tree Day began in 1996 and it has since been celebrated annually on the last Sunday of July. Even with current restrictions in place you can still help by planting a tree. Gather with your friends or family and select a piece of property on which you can plant a new tree. Planting them closer to buildings can drastically reduce air conditioning costs. Another way to help is to pick up a recycling box and clean up while you are walking to that next cache.
So whether you are tree fishing, searching for a micro in bark, or just hanging on for dear life clinging to a matchstick size branch, next time you are caching remember these amazing facts, and when you are safely back on solid ground, plant a tree! • A mature tree removes almost 70 times more pollution than a newly planted tree. • One tree can absorb as much carbon in a year as a car produces while driving 40,000km. • Trees are the longest living organisms on the planet and one of the earth’s greatest natural resources.
Tree Climbing
With National Tree Day coming up, Kieran from Orange Crew shared some of his experiences with geocaching in trees:
Big beautiful trees have become a more common hiding spot for geocaches in the past few years, for a few good reasons. From a CO perspective, they’re generally a great place to get a geocache up off the ground and away from things that cause maintenance issues like muggles, floods, fires, and animal interference. Tree caches are also a fun way to get kids involved, are more challenging than simple park and grabs, and generally have higher difficulty and terrain ratings.
We started free climbing a few trees for fun and then placed a few tree climbs for others to find. Soon after there were several technical tree climbs appearing around Brisbane and a local cacher invited me along to come have a go at climbing up to find theirs. While I don’t have a fear of heights, there was some initial fear of the unknown, but that soon melted away when the CO gave me the confidence that the process of technical tree climbing was achievable even by a novice with just some brief training and practice. Once off the ground, it was just a matter of putting the effort in and up I went. Before long I was bugging anyone, who had gear and experience, to let me come along for a tree climb. There have been many cachers who have been very generous with their time and equipment, and in my experience have endless patience and a vast understanding of all the safety mechanisms that prevent a novice from getting into trouble. For that I am truly thankful.
There are many other tree climbs that can be done without technical equipment if you feel confident. Each species and individual tree has its own challenges to conquer, and not all are created equal. Some are challenging to get just a few metres off the ground without knees trembling, while others are located 20m up in a swaying Norfolk pine with big, sturdy, evenly spaced horizontal branches that feels almost as easy to climb as a ladder. Tree climbing is exhilarating, and at the time that you’re perched high above the ground, your senses are heightened. In the end though, the ability to climb trees comes back to confidence. While it’s a great sense of achievement to push past your boundaries, it’s up to the individual to judge their abilities and the risk to make a good judgement call on whether it’s safe for them to attempt a tree climb.
A novel way of placing caches in trees that involves much less risk has taken off, known as tree fishing. Rather than the cacher climbing up to the cache, you instead use a long pole to hook the cache and retrieve it back to ground level for signing. There are also challenges for those who love tree climbing with or without ropes, such as the Tall Timber Challenge (GC7H6GE) and the Roped Into It Challenge (GC7H9A7).
So, what are you waiting for? Go climb a tree! Oh, and give it a good hug while you’re there.
Tree Fishing
You’ve heard of fishing, but have you heard of ‘tree fishing’? A new idea made its way to Brisbane halfway through 2019 following a trip to Germany by GeoRode and the idea has grown to include a number of tree fishing hides from different CO’s between Brisbane, Toowoomba and the Sunshine Coast. I hear the idea is gaining attention nationally and there are now hides like these in NSW and the ACT.
The idea is a cache is hidden high in a tree, ideally a tall skinny one not designed for climbing. The challenge – stretch out your ‘reaching device’ or fishing pole as we call them and hook your container. Expect to look 8-9 metres off the ground. Gently lower it down and sign the log. Often lifting these tricky little hides back onto their perch is more of a battle than finding or signing them! Be prepared to crane your neck and wobble your arms.
To reward your efforts, these hides are often classed a D4 to D5 on the basis a ‘fishing pole’ TOTT is required and the terrain should be rated much lower based on your feet remaining firmly on the ground.
The TOTT commonly used is a simple extendable fishing rod which you can buy online or you can craft your own extendable pole using nothing but garden stakes and duct tape! Be sure to keep an ear out during the event as there are a number of Brisbane locals who have the necessary equipment and are quite happy to take you with them.
Based on some of the logs coming out of these hides, a fun day is sure to be had, so why not check out this Booklist of Tree Fishing caches.
“ …You wouldn’t believe how much fun 4 pensioners can have in the middle of the bush!! As said on previous logs – the hardest part is returning the cache to its home. Another favourite point for all the fun on our adventure. TFTC Simber15”
“I was looking forward to my evening with Anne (the cache). I got there and my pole was up in seconds, but there was an incident right as it reached its target and it rapidly deflated. That’s OK, I hear that can happen on the first time something like this is attempted. I used my hands to get my pole nice and extended again and was ready for round two. A lot of poking about with my pole in the vicinity of the ring, but I struggled to get the end in there. Took one hand to support and another to guide it in, and then a bunch of wiggling to get it off. Once that was done and the log signed, I struggled to get it back up again. But eventually I was done and in need of a break. TFTC!”
“That was epic! A good 30 mins spent on this one. First challenge was an appropriate tool. Quick trip to Bunnings first and bought some supplies. Feeling confident in my idea I headed down for a crack. After realising I wasn’t looking up the right tree initially the container was soon spotted. Started to assemble my contraption and took a few attempts to get it down. As expected, it hit me on the head on the way down. Took a seat and signed the blank log. Then the realisation struck I had to return it to the same spot! I gave it a shot and it fell off my hook down the slope! Doh! Retracted my reaching sticks and dragged it back up the hill to where I was standing. Re-hooked it and slowly started to elevate the poles again. After a few swings trying to get it back onto its designated perch I settled on one close enough for the CO to agree with my replacement. All done! Felt like a warrior – Looked like I’d just run a marathon! Will give this one a favourite for the empowering experience!”
Welcome to Charli, the Cha of ChaMad, to Kids Caching Corner this month.
What do you like about geocaching? It takes me to different places and sometimes long drives that I wouldn’t get to go on normally. It keeps my dad happy and I get to see some really cool cache designs with some cool stuff inside.
What do you dislike about geocaching? My dad telling me “just one more” or” it’s just around the corner” when it’s really not, or when I’ve had enough for the day and we keep going. Sometimes I don’t want to go and I’m made to go…. but then I end up enjoying the day and seeing the fun things my dad has set up for me.
When did you start caching? We went on a bike ride around Northey St. bike trails with friends; they stopped to look for something just off the path. It was explained to us “it is geocaching” and this was our first cache, I was 6 then. We then started to cache on our own from there and have found some really cool caches like the fairy gardens at Bunya Park.
What sorts of caches do you like doing and what is your favourite? I like doing tree climbs, bike rides, short trail walks and just recently dad took me out kayaking. I’m not really into the big bush bashing caches or where there is lots of mozzies and am not a fan of cemeteries. My favourite caches are the tree climbs.
Do any caches stand out as great and which ones? Yes, the tree climbs lol. There have been a few good ones, traditional’s in Ashgrove, letterboxes in Bunya but the most memorable at the moment would be Can O’ Pea (GC55AZ1) down the coast way, that was a huge tree and one I enjoyed climbing all over.
How long ago did you do that? That was about 2 months ago and I went with a group with other cachers and kids as well so it was a great day out.
Have you done anything special that is geocaching related? I did a surprise multi cache in our back yard for my dad’s birthday in April. With the help of my mum I set 6 caches around the yard with clues to the next WP and to the final. The final was inside his birthday cake; a small container with a trackable inside was placed and hidden in the center of the cake. It was fun to see him try and cut the cake.
Do you have your own caches? Yes we have our own adventure lab series (Bunya Nuts) which highlights areas around Bunya and a bonus cache (GC8RP25) at the end.
So I’m guessing your bonus cache for your adventure lab is a tree climb. Yes that’s pretty obvious, but it is a very easy climb and should be easy for everyone, I didn’t make it too hard. Yes, I placed it and set it up while my dad watched.
Thanks Charli for sharing your love of tree caches with us!
Contest
This month we have a Tree Anagram puzzle from the National Tree Day website. For the code word, simply put all the first letters of the unscrambled trees into a string of letters. Remember to keep hold of this code until the Big Event.
What’s Next
Check back in on July 15th to discover how the committee is progressing with organising this big event. With the recent increase in gathering numbers and the borders opening to most of the country in the next few weeks, hopefully we can start to have some events.
Welcome to CacheQLD’s June Highlight! This month we welcome winter and celebrate the 20th anniversary of Environment Day on the 5th of June.
World Environment Day reminds us to take action to conserve and protect our natural environment. We have been working with our sponsors to eliminate waste and reduce our environmental impact by ‘going green’ at the Dayboro event!
Due to current restrictions, QLD’s 3-day World Environment Day Festival will be live-streamed. The discussion panel includes expert biologists, botanists and ecologists discussing on biodiversity and climate change, information on local environmental action groups, sustainable living tutorials and live music (Live-streamed June 5-7th at http://www.wed.org.au)!
Hello Trinity, we are talking about world environment day and biodiversity this month.
Can you tell me what animals you have found during your geocaching travels? I see a lot of kangaroos, wallabies, monitor lizards and pheasants. At Ewen Maddock Dam I saw a water rat playing in the water and I saw lots of tiny tree frogs. When I did a night-time cache called ‘Nocturnal’ at Petrie I saw a carpet snake on a tree and a bandicoot.
Do you have any advice for kids to find animals when they are caching? Take a spider stick, if you go to Tincha Tamba make sure you have loads of mozzie spray and climb trees to get a good look around. There are bird hides at Boondall and Lake Manchester. Remember to take a camera with you when you go geocaching to take pictures of the animals you spot.
Why is it important to look after the environment? We rely on the earth for food and shelter. We need lots of different plants and animals to keep the earth balanced.
How can geocaching help? You should recycle containers when making caches and swag. If you do earthcaches you will see that rocks rock even though they can’t move. When you make your geocaches, teach people about places and animals. When you go geocaching you can pick up rubbish around the cache.
What are your favourite Nature Parks? I liked walking down to the ‘ghost train’ cache where I saw micro-bats in the train tunnels. When we first started, I climbed Mount Micketeegumblegree with my cousins and got lost on the way down but we had lots of fun. When I went around Australia with my sister and mum we used the geocaching app to take us to all the national parks.Thanks Trinity it’s great to hear that you are looking out for the environment when you go geocaching.
Adult Bit:There are some good environmental centres to visit with kids around the Moreton Shire and greater South-East Queensland including Downfall Creek (Kedron), C.R.E.E.C (Burpengary), Osprey House (Dohles Rocks), Kumbartcho Sanctuary (Eatons Hill) and Walk-about Creek (The Gap). Each of these have related geocaches to explore.
This month we have a question from our South Australian ambassador, RideTheGeoWalrus
‘Geocachers are asking how close is Dayboro to Brisbane? They would like to see it on a map with maybe some of the attractions and lodgings’
Dayboro is wonderfully located in the South East of Queensland within hour you can be at the Sunshine Coast, set up in the City having coffee at a café and almost at the Gold Coast. No matter what kind of caching you are into within an hour you are going to be set up ready go – plenty of mountains to climb, lakes to paddle, beaches to visit, heaps of cultural / tourist things and I guess if you like shopping there’s plenty of that too.
We have included some links in our past newsletter regarding searching for accommodation in the region – you can find this in April 2020 – Newsletter 04. We also have a map of the caches we mention on the website in the side bar. We try to have this up to date as possible (bar all those geo-arts at this stage). This map also includes where the event is being held and you can search around to see what else is nearby that may interest you.
Dayboro is in the Moreton Bay Region and they themselves have a great website that really highlights all the Moreton Bay has to offer and help identify what is in the area. We strongly suggest you check out their website https://www.visitmoretonbayregion.com.au/ If you are planning on bringing your furry friend to the event you will also find information on pet friendly beaches, parks cafe & other areas that might be of interest.
Of course please remember that you can camp with your pets at the Dayboro Showground!
Geocaching with Dogs
Bodhi has been geocaching since he was 8 weeks old, when we picked him up from the breeder! Being a cocker spaniel, he is the perfect geodog, as he is built for family adventures and retrieving. Bodhi loves nothing more than sniffing out the cache and sitting down once he has found it.
Bodhi loves attending geo-events where he even met Miss Direction’s cocker spaniels at the Sweeney Reserve Australia Day Event at Petrie and he was trying to catch bubbles at the WWFM XV Brisbane’s Bubbly Bridge Event, where Barbbowman took some great photos of him. Bodhi has even sniffed out dog friendly accommodation for the upcoming Dayboro event, so he can attend all the dog friendly activities, which we are all very excited about.
Bodhi has been on many geocaching adventures with us from bush walks, to beaches, to urban hides and his personal favourite, at dog parks.
Recently, Bodhi has been hiding his own geocaches in his favourite spots to walk and play, including Bodhi’s Lost Squeaker (GC8280A) and A REALly Great Park (GC82DB8). Bodhi just loves doing maintenance runs (any excuse to go for a walk and play!) Bodhi also has his own TB which he wears to events, he just loves people and other dogs, so he is more than happy to share the code with you.
We just love geocaching for finding and exploring new places! We recently had a fun family day at Fingal Head completing the earth cache and other caches nearby, visiting the lighthouse and had a lunch in a dog friendly venue where Bodhi met a new furry friend to play with.
We love everything about geocaching with Bodhi and the places and adventures it takes us as a family.
~ Chasingadventures, Muggle Hubby and Bodhi xox
Seeing as we featuring Caching with Dogs this month, Tim shares a little of his experience with his dog Zelda.
So Zelda is a trainee assistance dog with mindDog Australia, basically to help me cope with my depression and anxiety and PTSD, she found her very first geocache on the way home from adopting her from Karmas Place Rescue at the steam roller at Maidenwell (GC17AGD). She has been caching with me ever since, she joins me for my photos shoots and when hiding geocaches, and she is one kayak loving water doggo who can’t help getting her paws muddy when I’m out hiding evil water based caches. Being an assistance dog in training she is lucky in the fact that she can go places most dogs can’t like National Parks, so she is definitely a T5 pooch.
Find the hidden codeword and retain it for the event. You never know why!
What’s Next
Next month we finally fully reveal the Cache QLD team, not that we’ve been hiding or anything. We also talk about how we are going green for the event.
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.
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:
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.
Our event was scheduled to be published in three days, being one year out from meeting in Dayboro. However, it has been caught up in the moratorium on cache publications in Australia. While we certainly hope that an event a year away will go ahead, we understand the reviewer’s decision not to make exceptions at this stage.
This current COVID-19 situation also means our lead-up events (GC8KVE1 in Western Australia and GC8HVHZ in South Australia) are cancelled. We will reschedule our trip to visit these regions when travel becomes safe again.
We also wish our friends in Millicent and Kempsey all the best with the rescheduling of their Mega Events. We know how much work goes in behind the scenes to get these events up and running (and we are still a year out!), so it must have been devastating to have to have a major delay.
CITO Season 1
Onto some happier news for the planet! We are well into the first CITO season for 2020, which runs through all of March, April and May (Season 2 will be from September through November)! This is a formal opportunity to help your local environment, whether it is collecting rubbish in a local wetlands, or planting trees in a koala reservation. The range of activities that fit the bill are endless.
If you manage to attend a CITO this Season, you will be awarded a souvenir. But given many of us are shut-ins for the next few weeks at least, maybe think about what you can do around the house? Can you build a garden bed to grow some of your own vegetables? Put up an insect house, and prepare the garden to plant some flowers or bushes to attract native bees and birds?
We did a quick survey around the CacheQLD team to see what the weirdest piece of litter we have found was. From computer monitors in the middle of a river, a large number of car tyres, shopping trolleys, an oven and even an old style Singer sewing machine – the foot pedal kind!
What is the most interesting piece of rubbish you have found in a CITO? Send us an email to admin@cacheqld.com with the details. We will randomly award an unactivated trackable to an answer.
Solve Some GEO-Art!
Have you been exiled for the good of the realm? Itching to do some geocaching, but staying socially responsible? Well how about solving some puzzles!
GEO-Art – groups of puzzle caches placed on the map to form a picture – is a great way to boost your puzzle solving mojo. Most have puzzles ranging from nice and easy, through to puzzles that will stretch your brain! There is a range of GEO-Art in Queensland, some with more than 100 caches in them. Check out the map for one near you, or start the art around Dayboro in preparation for your visit.
Here are a couple of Brisbane based GEO-Arts to keep you more than busy over the next couple of months: Audio and Pick and Hammer. The Cotton art is located in Emerald. All three are by the work of Georode and offer very different puzzling experiences.
GEO-Art placed by Georode – the first two in Brisbane and the Cotton is located in Emerald
Solving GEO-Art is always more fun in a group, and maintaining some social interaction while self-isolated is important. So, get a group of friends online to bounce ideas off each other and create an online document to track your progress (Google Sheets is our tool of choice). You will be surprised how different ways of thinking can combine to solve them all. Then plan a day out together to sign some logs. When we are allowed outside to play again, that is!
Pathtag Competition
We have had some good entries to our pathtag design competition, which was due to close this week. However, given the delay to publishing our event and everyone being stuck at home, we have decided to extend the deadline to the end of this month.
Time to research the local area, or think of some good Cal puns, and come up with a great idea. Remember, you do not need to have a final pathtag design to enter. A rough sketch describing an idea is perfect.
So, get Cal-culating how you will win, with your magi-Cal design that will blow our minds. Please don’t use Cal-ligraphy as that is not good to read. I don’t mean to be criti-Cal but it’s just not logi-Cal to use a radi-Cal font. Pop a note in your Cal-ender to get busy, as we are waiting for more design of a high Cal-ibre.
Okay, so my sentence is pretty lame, check out this resource for some Cal words!
CITO’s with Fletcher and Blake
Hi Fletcher and Blake, today we’re talking about CITO. What sort of things do you do when you go to a CITO event? Blake: we pick up rubbish to help the environment. I think people throw rubbish everywhere because they’re too lazy to put it in the bin. Fletcher: another time we planted trees for the koalas to eat and pulled out lots of weeds so they could grow. Blake: we also went out in the boat and picked up rubbish on the riverbank so it doesn’t go in the river.
Do you ever do CITO when you’re not at an event? Fletcher: yes, we take our grabbers when we go caching with Dad and we pick up rubbish along the tracks. Blake: we keep the bottles and cans we find and recycle them for pocket money!
What is the thing you like most about doing CITO? Fletcher: I enjoy picking up rubbish. It’s fun because you don’t know what you’ll find, and we get to meet other kids doing it too. Blake: I like helping the environment, that’s important. We learn about cleaning the environment at school, if rubbish doesn’t get picked up it goes out to the sea and hurts the turtles if they eat it
What sort of things do you mostly find when doing CITO? Fletcher: we find plastic bottles, plastic bags and lots of straws. Blake: we find loads of bottle lids, tennis balls, cups and plastic bags
Have you ever found anything interesting? Fletcher: one time doing a rubbish pick up we found a handbag and it had all the persons things in there like ID cards and headphones. We reported it to the police because that’s important so that person can get their stuff back. Blake: another time mum saw what looked like a ball and went to pick it up with a grabber but it was a toad and she screamed! We laughed lots!
Thanks Blake and Fletcher! We hope that people take on your example and practice the CITO principle regularly.
Adult Bit: CITO’s are a great way to give back to the community and surprisingly most kids find it pretty fun. Please remember that some of the areas selected for clean up may not be the most kid friendly, so we strongly recommend the use of grabbers, gloves and of course an adult. Sun protection is also a must!
Another fantastic photo from Tim Williams of Capture the Dog Photography. This spectacular photo was shot was taken at sunrise overlooking Mooloolaba. You could do certainly do some social distancing there!
With plenty of caches along the waterfront you could take your pick so see a similar view.
If you would like to check out Tim’s other photos you can find him at the following places:
Last month we hid our trackable code in the Highlights post. Several of you managed to find it hidden in the map of Beachport (some of our own team struggled to find it). We ran the entry numbers through a random selector and the result was … 5!
Congratulations to kingfisherau!! They walk away with the awesome prize of a Mini MAG Handheld Rechargeable Light. We will have your name on this at registration desk next April!
Don’t forget to enter into our CITO contest as mentioned above, and we announce that winner in May’s Highlight post.
What’s Next
On April 15th we will be publishing our 4th Event Newsletter so check back then to see what secrets we let out of the bag.
So, in March Brisbane is in the midst of a Cycling Festival with heaps of bike activities going on. What better time of the year to highlight some of the great cycling caches in the South East Queensland than now! We got a bunch of biking trails, kid friendly trails, Adventure Labs, and of course it would be remiss of us not to mention another one of Queensland’s fantastic Geo-Arts on, you guessed it, a bike friendly rail trail. So, go on keep reading for all the details.
The Biking / Walking (B/W) Trail is a geocaching trail located between Beerburrum and Glass House Mountains and is ideal for pushbikes or walking. The Cache locations are designed to be kid-friendly when accompanied by adults with a smooth trail with zero sharp rises or falls. Kids can even spot trains (safely behind a fence) whilst doing the series. Slow Puncture are well known for naming their caches after songs, for your enjoyment we have put together a Spotify Playlist of the cache titles on the trail for you.
“With a few hours free, it made sense to grab the bike and come follow this newly published trail while getting some sunshine and exercise. This trail is a gem for kids of all ages, with a well graded track, good size containers that are well stocked with goodies, and plenty of great views of Tibro.” Orange Crew 2 May 2019
Adventure Labs are a new way for geocachers to find and log Lab Caches. Lab aches are an experimental cache type and they are not required to have a container and can be located inside. Lab Caches count towards your total find count and are played on the free Adventure Lab app.
The Brisbane City area has been lucky enough to receive several Adventure labs and a number of these can be combined for one big Adventurous day out. Most could be done using a bike to get around the city or a Lime Scooter.
Some of the available City Adventure Labs are:
* Dark Brisbane by Fangsoki – 10 Locations * Snaps of Brisbane by JACS Team – 5 Locations * The River City Ferry Adventure by Captain Terror – 10 Locations * Brisbane, Is Statue? by 1MinnieMoo – 10 Locations * Brisbane City Churches by IolantheK – 5 Locations * A brief history of wartime in Brisbane by Zacgyver – 10 Locations
“In August last year, CaptainVimes and I enjoyed a fun ride around the river on our bikes completing these labs (Snaps of Brisbane) before loading the bikes in the car to head off to the final. Thanks for the labs” Beardman75
City Cycle Hire
If you are thinking about doing some biking in Brisbane City, the council has a bike hire system. The CityCycle bike hire scheme is a key part of the Brisbane City Council’s plan to encourage more people to ride bikes. The scheme helps to reduce traffic congestions and is a great way to get around the inner city and nearby suburbs. With up to 2000 bikes and 150 stations between the University of Queensland, St Lucia and Newstead it is a quick affordable and fun alternative to short car trips, public transport or walking! Check out the CityCycle website for further details and information. Website: http://www.citycycle.com.au/
Geo-Art – Coat of Arms
The Coat of Arms geo-art was established in January of 2016 by Brother Colin. The puzzles are designed to help cachers learn a little about different types of puzzles with a number of them being able to be solved working alongside the geocaching toolbox. The finds are set along the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail, which is a trail solely for walking, cycling and horse riding and offers plenty of opportunities for people to experience the history and landscape of the Brisbane Valley. Brother Colin has suggested that the trail will take approximately 4 hours if completing by mountain bike and a full day of walking. Please remember to pack some sun protection along with plenty of water as there is no water available on the trail outside of the township of Esk. So check out this list and get solving – Coat of Arms. Brother Colin has another geo-art on the same trail – Map of Australia, you may just want to check that out to before hitting the trail!
“We have had a great time riddling and puzzling with this series and are now tackling the rail trail in stages. Hopefully making the most of the series and checking out the local area at the same time. Today the weather was perfect and not a magpie in sight. Loved the variety of structures we saw along the way. Thanks, Brother Colin we have really enjoyed this series and often talk about how much work must have gone into its creation and maintenance for us to enjoy TFTC.” Miss_Direction 9 September
Welcome Neil & Izzy to Kid’s Caching Corner this month. Do you have your own geocaching names? Neil: I do, I’m Squidy, but usually just mum logs on her account for all of us Izzy: I just use mum’s account.
This month we are focusing on bike caches. I have heard you have done a few bike trails? Neil: Yes we have done heaps. Maybe all of them. There was a good one on the Gold Coast where we saw heaps of kangaroos. But I like the ones where we do a bunch and then stop for a picnic, and the gaps between them aren’t like fifty kilometres uphill. Izzy: I have done them all too. The best part is getting an ice cream at the end!
Wow! All the bike trails? You have been busy. Have you done “Monster Lane”? Neil: Yeah. We did them over a few visits. Some we could get really quick, and others took time. Izzy: I remember those. I liked the fast ones on the track. We raced to each cache. The girls team beat the boys team. As usual. Neil: Doubt it.
How long ago did you do that? Neil: A while ago. I have no idea exactly. But we have been back a fair bit to do the ride even though we have all the caches. Izzy: It’s annoying because Neil and Mum always say “cache there” when we drive past them.
Who did you do the trail with? Neil: All of us did it together
What is your favourite part of the trail? Neil: I like the pier out there. No one else could find that cache. They were going to leave but I knew where it was the whole time. Izzy: I like the fast bits. The first time we went I had my old bike and it was slow. Now when we go I’m the fastest on the bits [of the trail] were there are no walkers.
Do any caches stand out in your mind as great? Neil: Yeah, the golden budda one I liked. That’s a bit off the trail though but along the way. There was one is a sign post that was clever – am I allowed to say that?
I think that is fine to say. What was the bike path like? Neil: It changed. Some was bike tracks, some was along the water, and some was bushy.
The theme of Monster Lane is monsters from Dr Who. Did you know all the monsters you were searching for? Neil: No. I don’t know who Dr Who is. Izzy: Me either
Would you recommend that families come and do this trail? Neil: Yeah I would but not all at one time. I have to tell mum and dad 10 caches only or they wouldn’t go home. Mum says “just one more” but then it’s another, and then seven on the way back to the car. So be careful. Make a plan.
That is good advice! Thank you for talking with me about the trail. Are there any final thoughts you want to add? Neil: Take swag I guess. Cause it’s the worst if you find something cool and then can’t take it because you don’t have swaps. Izzy: No thanks
Thanks for sharing Neil and Izzy! Neil: Thanks Izzy: Bye
“This was one of many geocaches we found along the oceanfront today. Thank you for placing and maintaining this one! These were all great, easy and straight forward finds.” nature0nut 11 November 2017
Adult Bit: Monster Lane is a series of caches published by bike riding cacher barbbowman. First published in April of 2012 it was one of the first trails established in Brisbane. This excellent trail is situated along a very established bike path that will see you ride along the foreshores Sandgate and Brighton before hitting the more bush / urban sections. Due to time and roadworks, sadly some of the original series has been lost but there are still 40 of the Dr Who monsters/villains/aliens left to be discovered. Each cache page will enlighten you to one of the many Dr Who characters. A public bookmark is available here: Monster Lane.
This month’s photo by Tim Williams of Capture the Dog Photography is a truly spectacular shot from Maleny overlooking the Glasshouse Mountains. Maleny is a true destination location and well worth a visit whilst in the area to explore all that is on offer such as the local milk producers Maleny Dairies – who run tours of their facility and especially great for kids, they can feed a calf or two and sample some of the locally produced products.
If you would like to discover this location Tim has identified a nearby traditional cache GC6Y0Y7 ‘McCarthys Lookout the 2nd’. In case you are wondering – yes there are caches at the top of some of those mountain peaks – Gorilla anyone! If you would like to check out Tim’s other photos you can find him at the following places:
On the 15th March we will be publishing our 3rd Event Newsletter, and letting you know where we are with planning for the Dayboro Easter 2021 event and a couple of already published info events!! Watch out South and West Australia we are coming your way. Don’t forget we are still running a pathtag design contest so check out the Contest tab above to find out more and get your submission in!
This month our highlight post features the caches that we love, the caches that need some love, and a couple of challenges to work on where these caches will be helpful.
We introduce you to a rose shaped geo-art – because we all know where there’s love, there’s roses! We show you a very photogenic traditional cache location for Valentine’s Day.
We are also introducing our first Kids Caching Corner that highlights a cache that matches our monthly theme, is kid friendly and has been found and reviewed by kids!
Tim Williams of Capture the Dog Photography shows us one of the hidden location gems that we find by geocaching.
So, lets kick off the month by talking about some of the digital souvenirs up for offer this February.
Souvenir: Fun in all Directions
Recently it was announced that there will be a new souvenir called “Fun in all directions” to be earned on Sunday 2nd February. This special date is an international palindrome, 02.02.2020! By simply finding any geocache, Adventure Lab or attending an event on the day you will be able add this pretty cool looking digital souvenir to your collection.
Souvenir: Leap Day
Who doesn’t love an extra day to geocache, well this month on February 29th we can earn the special Leap Day souvenir by finding a geocache, Adventure Lab or attending an event. Currently there are six Leap Day events planned around Queensland:
GC8HNV1 – Look Again Before You Leap Hosted by Orange Crew 29th February 2020 from 9:00am – 9:45am @ Whiteside Four years on from the first Orange Crew event it’s time to get back together. There will some nibbles on offer for morning tea so bring your own beverages and any trackables or pathtags you wish to trade and come join the fun.
GC8J56D – A Small Step 4 Me, But a Giant LEAP 4 My Calendar Hosted by SunCoastGeocaching 29th February 2020 from 9:00am – 10:00am @ Mapleton This will be the second event planned for the Sunshine Coast Geocaching Community as they visit various locations in their region. Bring a plate of food to share and maybe a chair or blanket to sit on while you chat and make future plans.
GC8JMZJ – Leap Day 2020 Hosted by OzGeoker 29th February 2020 from 12:00pm – 12:30pm @ Mackay A nice quick catch up in the middle of the day to earn your special souvenir. So stop in at Goose Ponds in north Mackay to celebrate this special day with other geocachers.
GC8FV5D – Caching Goals Hosted by burgo78 29th February 2020 from 4:00pm – 5:00pm @ Bushland Beach After a fantastic trip away with some amazing personal geocaching goal achieved, burg78 is keen to share his insights for the locals who are planning to head to Seattle for the 20th Celebrations this year. So come and have a chat and share some of your own goals for 2020.
GC8GZJA – Leap Year Event Hosted by Sweet-Sour 29th February 2020 from 4:00pm – 7:00pm @ Gympie A sequel to the last successful Leap Year event it’s time to have another one. The location is well suited to hosting an event so BYO everything. Bring a pen as it’s hinted that some new caches might be available.
GC8HQA9 – Leap Day Dinner Hosted by Tenkae 29th February from 6:00pm – 8:00pm @ Ormeau Join the host to celebrate the special date with a social dinner at the Shearers Arm Hotel. A family friendly place with a kids room for the little geo-kids. No need to purchase a meal you can just drop in and socialise.
So grab your calendars and make a note on the 29th to get out and get both a smile and souvenir.
The Loved Cache
With February 14 being Valentine’s Day let’s talk about those highly loved caches. When the CacheQLD team were planning for the upcoming Mega in Millicent (GC82DAN) this April we discovered this awesome challenge: SFE Challenge – The Best of the Best (GC8CQDD).
In order to qualify you need to ”find 10 of the best 15 caches in any one of the Australian States or Territory.” Now, not only is this challenge inclusive to all geocachers as you can find them in your home state, but it also highlights the great caches in other states too. Sure, in order to get the actual smile you have to sign the challenge in South Australia, but what a great resource the checker is if you’re traveling interstate. We would like to point out that you need to have found at least one cache in that state to see their top 15 list. Just in case you are planning on visiting Queensland for the first time, and don’t currently have a smile in our great state yet, here is a list of the current top 15 favourited caches at time of writing.
Queensland (#1♥171) GC22EBF Crazy Caterpillar Zipline Queensland (#2♥150) GC3JH1P T.A.R.D.I.S. Queensland (#3♥140) GC3DP9H Noah’s Ark Queensland (#4♥136) GC8E Queens land Queensland (#5♥128) GC1JHWA On A Dark Night Queensland (#6♥126) GC5JZ6P Postie Dog Queensland (#7♥125) GC131 Bravo Hotel Queensland (#8♥122) GC2WXQ9 The Box, the Bicycle and the Bus Queensland (#9♥121) GC18WXV Map Monkey’s Lament Queensland (#10♥120) GC58EJJ Measuring Gum Queensland (#11♥118) GC5JZ6W Gnome’s Country Home Queensland (#12♥116) GC3TK2J Kings View Queensland (#13♥114) GC71AG0 The Hunters Building project Queensland (#14♥109) GC3VWCD Wheel of Fortune Queensland (#15♥105) GC5HM4H Turn back time
How many of these loved up caches can you tick off? Perhaps you need to organise a little heart gathering road trip to see some of these caches that others have thought so highly of.
The Unloved Cache
We can’t forget about those lonely caches that need and deserve some love. You know those who are desperately waiting for someone to come and spend some time with them. To have their logbook held in a tender embrace as you write your geocaching name, then leaving their proud owner a nice detailed story about the adventure of the find. Letting them know how much you appreciated the opportunity of discovery – because let’s face it, really unloved caches aren’t hidden in a guardrail down the road. Nope, usually they are up a mountain or massive tree, down a tricky river, somewhere really remote or perhaps they have a doozy of a puzzle attached to them. These are the lonely unloved caches.😢
On Project GC, under the Statistic tab, you can search ‘Days since last found’ for the most unloved caches in a region. The top 30 caches in Queensland all have over 1200 days since their last log. You could use the list as a guide for adventure! Gather some geo-buddies, leave some detailed travel plans, and head off on mission to gather up some unloved days.
However, if you’re attempting Comet Kingfisher (GCH3DN) – can you give the CacheQLD team a holler, we may just join you as that cache also happens to be one of Queensland’s oldest geocaches and perhaps now the most challenging to get too!
So what’s the point in gathering these unloved caches? Well, in Brisbane there is the “15 Years of No Love” Challenge (GC5D7PK), which asks you to find caches that have not been found for at least 183 days (6 months) for a total of at least 5475 days (15 years). If you enjoy finding these lonely caches and showing them some love you might want to work towards the NSW cache ‘Challenge: Fifty Forgotten Years’ (GC57Z2N), where you must gather up a whopping 18260 days of unloved!!
Lonely caches are out there and they are singing the words of The Beatles 🎶 “Love Me Do” 🎶 enticing you to visit.
Love, Love Me Do You know I’ll love you I’ll always be true So please, love me do Whoa, love me do
Someone to love Somebody new Someone to love Someone like you!
Geo-Art: 65 Roses
One symbol always attached to Valentine’s Day and love is the rose. What could be better than one rose? Try 65 (well cache smiles, but you get the drift)! A rose shaped geoart is what you will discover waiting for you at Kilcoy, which is only a 50 minute drive from Brisbane. Placed by JACS Team in April of 2018, this art is made of up three different cache types, and has Difficulty ratings from 1-5 and Terrain ratings from 1-3.5. The design uses 13 traditional caches that make the stem of the Rose with 34 mystery caches and 8 letterboxes that make up the flower.
Whilst you’re collecting your 65 Roses make sure to spend some time in Kilcoy. It is a lovely rural town, with a great bakery, plus it’s home to the Yowie! Yep, you read that right, the infamous Yowie! The town has had so many Yowie sightings it now has its own Yowie park, complete with a wooden statue so you know exactly what to keep your eyes peeled for. With 130 teams finding at least one of the roses, there has yet to be a reported sighting by a geocacher, so come for a visit and you might just be the first! Click here to go to a bookmark of these caches: 65 Roses.
“Boxing Day and the 28th of Dec were our days to complete and finalise this beautiful series. A day of inspiring music and drinks at Woodford in between sweetened this geoart. Thanks for all the effort and great variety of puzzles and cache locations / types. We are very familiar with all the roads around the township now as drove most of them twice and the farmers started greeting us when they saw our little blue car. This cache deserved a big Fav Point for its location as we enjoyed Pies and coffee (from the nearby bakery) at this place on both days.” Georode 28 December, 2018
Published in August 2012, this D2 T2 traditional cache is at a truly loved up address, Lovers Lane in Ironbark. Ironbark is located just to the west of Ipswich on the way to Somerset Dam. This location claims to be the only official ‘Lovers Lane’ in Queensland. Once there you can read about the history and take your photo between the giant heart and arrow. Some 234 geocachers have dropped into Lovers Lane and there are some pretty cute pics of loved up caching couples in the gallery. Aww!
“On our way home to Brisbane after a great weekend in Toowoomba we decided to pick up some caches on the way home. I have driven past this cache before and wanted to wait to find it with my husband. Fantastic sport for a cache. Loved it. Thanks for placing this cache here for us to enjoy and for taking us here.” Que Sera 5 May, 2019
Hello, thanks for helping with Kid’s Caching Corner this month Hi, that’s okay.
This month we are talking about favourite caches. What is one of your favourite caches? Chasing Tinkerbell. (Chase after Tinkerbell – GC3BTQD)
How long ago did you do that? Well, it was about 2 years ago.
Who did you do the cache with? I did it with my mum and my nana.
It’s a night cache, did you go out and do it at night? Yes, we did it about 7:30 after we had dinner. We brought our torches and had lots of fun. I found the most.
The most? What did you have to find? You had to find Tinker dust.
Tinker dust, and how did you find the fairy dust? We shined a torch in the tree lining and there was fairy dust on the trees.
So, you didn’t know where you were going, you just followed the dust around? We just followed the tinker dust.
What was the path like? Some of it was gravel and some of it was path.
Was there any walking through the bush? There wasn’t much walking through the bush, mostly just gravel path and a little bit through the bush at the end.
Without going into too much detail, as we want to leave a surprise, what was the final cache like? Was it in theme? It was amazing and definitely in theme.
Would you recommend that families come and do this one? I definitely recommend for all families to do it.
Sounds like a really good one, and you just needed to bring torches. Yep
Well, that’s cool. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us on one of your favourite caches. You’re welcome.
“That was a LOT of fun. I dragged two geokids with me and they were pretty anxious at first. However, they soon got the hang of it, and made it a little competition to see who would see the fairy dust first. We found GZ fairly easily and the geokids were delighted to see a huge cache fully stocked and well themed. Dipped in a TB. Prime you’ve created a masterpiece thanks for all your efforts to make a kid friendly night time geocaching experience. FP worthy, and definitely one of the more memorable caches.” oz_bean_counter 23 November 2019
Adult Bit: Chase after Tinkerbell is a night multi-cache located in the Brisbane Northside suburb of Fitzgibbon. It has a difficulty rating of 2 and a terrain rating of 2. It was published in September 2012 by ‘TinkerPrime’. Tinkerbell has been chased after around 200 times and has close to 100 favourite points left in admiration of the challenge. You can take dogs through this bushland if kept on a leash, and it has a stroller accessible attribute. Please be aware that as it’s bushland, you might come across toads and orb spiders on the trail, and of course, take some protection for mosquitos.
Monthly Queensland Photo Highlight by Capture the Dog Photography
Most geocachers would agree that one of the best things about geocaching is the amazing locations you stumble across that you would never find without a cache being there. Tim Williams is a Sunshine Coast local, geocaching as WallabyWanderers, he is also an avid photographer, and the man behind Capture the Dog Photography. This month Tim shares this stunning photo of Stoney Creek which is located between Woodford and Kilcoy and has a natural swimming hole, just waiting to be explored.
Doesn’t this photo make you want to kick your shoes off and dip your feet in the cool stream. If you would like to explore this location for yourself, perhaps on the way to do the 65 Roses, the nearest geocache is Stoney Creek GC10991. If you would like to check out Tim’s other photos you can find him at the following places:
On the 15th February we will be publishing our 2nd Event Newsletter, and letting you know where we are with planning for the Dayboro Easter 2021 event. Don’t forget we are still running a pathtag design contest so check out the Contest tab above to read more and get your submission in!
Wait, what?! No, this is not some kind of weird love story, well not in the traditional sense. What we have here is a love of geocaching, puzzles, Geo-Art and the beautiful Dayboro and surrounds. Yes, all three of these Geo-Arts are in the immediate vicinity of our event location, Dayboro. Have a read about them and then get to solving, you’ve got plenty of time before the Cache QLD event in Easter 2021.
The Pacman Geo-Art was published in September of 2016 by 4ando. It comprises of 26 mystery puzzles based on the golden age of arcade games in the late 1970’s to early 1980’s. With 26 puzzles you will find one for every letter in the alphabet ranging from Asteroids right through to Zaxxon and of course includes the series title Pacman.
The difficulty rating range on this series is from 1.5 – 4 and the terrain ratings are 1.5 – 2.5 so you can leave your kayaks and ladder home (or at your accommodation). At the time of this article there has been almost 2000 find on the series. The most challenging cache with only 53 finds seems to be Terra Cresta – are you able to solve and find this cache?
The finals for these caches will take you, not only around town, but out into the local countryside where you will be able to enjoy the quiet country roads, meet some friendly cows, maybe a local or two and of course let’s not forget the fantastic scenery.
Pacman Series – Photos courtesy of Cache QLD Committee Members
“After setting up camp at the Dayboro Showgrounds for a few days we are having a wonderful time meandering around this beautiful area. A wonderful variety of hides and we love the creative ones. The scenery to the Glasshouse mountains and coast is just stunning. We much appreciate the effort put into arranging the puzzle caches. Thank you 4ando for placement of this cache and adding to our enjoyment of the area” Liz and Bruce 16th November 2018
We ❤️ Geo
Orange Crew showed his love for the game with this Geo-Art published in September 2016 in the shape of a love heart. We can’t say it any better than he did so we are going to steal our description of the art straight from his cache pages 🙂
‘The puzzles have a variety of difficulty ratings so there’s something for everyone to solve and find, and the containers are mostly big enough to hold trackables and swaps for kids. There are a variety of placement types, including tree climbs so check the attributes.’
The difficulty ratings range from 1 – 4 with terrain ratings from 1.5 – 3.5. With close to 2000 find on this series (at time of writing) you can see that there is a lot of love for this Geo-Art as well. Again, the finals for these caches are local to Dayboro and they will certainly help you fall further in love with the area as you travel around the region picking up solved smiles.
We ❤️ Geo – Photos courtesy of Cache QLD Committee Members
“We were intrigued with this cache. It wasn’t what we were expecting but checked it anyway and it made us smile. Thanks for the enjoyment we are getting from this series of caches and the drive is lovely. Cheers and happy caching” Aussie Liahona 30 May 2018
Geosaurus
Orange Crew was back at the Geo-Art game when in February 2017 he introduced us all to Geosaurus. A friendly dinosaur who lurks in the hills behind Dayboro hiding his containers of trinkets and concealing their locations with the clever use of cryptic puzzles. Our reviewer, Ministro, gave us locals something to do by publishing the series when we were all stuck inside after cyclone Debbie, giving us some precious solving time before it was safe to hit the streets.
All in all there are 40 containers with difficulties ratings ranging from 1 – 4.5 and terrain ratings from 1 – 4.5. A check of the attributes and you will discover that there are a few tree climbs here so be prepared. A quick heads up that there is a 4WD only road for one or two of the caches, but if you park your car you are easily able to make the walk down and back or up and down depending on which one you’re doing. This series will take you not only around town but further out from Dayboro as well. There are some stunning locations in which to grab photos, so we strongly suggest you bring a camera.
Geosaurus – Photos courtesy of Cache QLD Committee Members
“I had fun solving this one. Never knew this was a thing! At GZ kcramber, jodsta83 and I were completely baffled. We were NOT going to DNF this last Geosaurus cache, but hope was fading. Jodsta83 donned her high-vis vest and it must have been the lucky charm because she found it after that! How did we miss that?! Last one for the series so we had a little celebration. Thank you so much for the series, Orange Crew. We had a blast!!” Swearah 14 December 2019
WHAT’S NEXT: Our first official Newsletter will be published on the 20th of January. In this edition we will talk a little more about our host location of Dayboro, introduce you to someone very important and invite you to the first competition of the event! Going forward our Cache QLD Highlight will be delivered on the 1st of each month and our Newsletter on the 15th.
Who doesn’t love to be challenged in their caching, and here in Queensland we have quite a few challenge caches to keep you on your toes.
With a huge variety on offer there is truly something for everyone, for those who love to climb with ropes try GC7H9A7, if it’s boats that keep you afloat then this will be up your creek GC7FQJT. We have challenges for those who are a little bit loopy GC6MGTM and those even more loopy GC73Q3J.
We even have the Stats Hound Challenge Series created by Orange Crew just to the north of Brisbane. This series of 24 caches will certainly test even the most hardened cacher to meet all of the challenge requirements! Multi Bingo anyone? As an extra bonus it is presented in the form of Geo-art (my dream combo!)
Do you know how to cache spell? Are you sure? How about you check the month challenges created by Fangoski here’s a link to January to get you started. See if you can get through all twelve months of the year!
So you can see there is plenty of things to spice up your life, (there’s a challenge for that too)! If your interest has been piqued check the public bookmark that Crew153 maintains.
Cache QLD - Townsville GC9BVWD 