Ageless...

Okay, time to come clean... Most of my family just don't get geocaching, in fact they find it all a bit strange!
Well, today I took Mum to a funeral in Owaka, and on the way back I introduced her to geocaching and SHE GETS IT!  In fact she LOVED it!  We had three finds, two at Pounawea, where I dropped off a dolphin travel bug and one at Port Molyneux where we picked up a rubber ducky triplet from Brazil!

At the landing at Pounawea we had to wait for a shepherd moving his flock, to avoid getting muggled!!  Very country!

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=ec3340f3-a91b-4176-91dc-adfbbc60361b
When I logged this trackable, we were amazed that the theme song for the ducky was the last song at the funeral - very poignant!
We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when ... but I know we'll meet again some sunny day ! 
So I am taking the little ducky up to lake Dunstan, then putting it in a cache to try and get it to Queenstown and out on it's journey back to Brazil for it's reunion!
I am so impressed at Mum's excitement and enthusiasm for this past-time and am looking forward to another caching session with her!  She even took time to weed the garden at the rest area in Port Molyneux!

Changing views...

I have travelled through Roxburgh for most of my life for holidays in Central Otago but have never explored the township or deviated off the main road!  Today I had an excuse!  I didn't know you could cross the Clutha river at the back of Roxburgh or head up the walkway for a completely different view of the town!

Then I travelled onto Lawrence where I met Tania for a coffee and took her for her first ever geocaching walk!  We had a very pleasant walk around the back of the Lawrence town until the skies opened and we got saturated!  Oh well - all great fun!  Found two caches - dropped off two travel bugs, including Daisy May the cow from the Shetland Islands in a cache near this paddock of her cousins!

Now Claire and I are returning to Lawrence for a day caching with Tania in a couple of weeks - YAY

Caching in Cromwell

It is soooo hot up here and the only place to cool down is the lake! Annie had an awesome time swimming and I had a great time caching! Probably the most sophisticated hide I have found was this one with gym leaves intricately stitched onto the sock holding the cache in a pulley well up in the tree! Very clever indeed!
I also managed to find 2 more caches and now have 3 tbs to move on...

Eeny Meeny...

About to head off for my first milestone... Wanting my 5oth find to be one of some significance I checked out the map. It is somewhat overwhelming how many there actually are out there...

We Are Not Alone

Anne and I commented last week that there is definitely some magic in caching with someone else. The challenges and conversations that come out during this time are often fun and quite random! I don't see caching as an individual sport. So, because of this I did not go out caching today but a hike. Determined to get fit this summer, I walked along the harbour and up to Moana Pool for a few laps.

Feeling quite virtuous and enjoying the sunshine, I stopped for some lunch in a square in town. Enjoying the scenery I thought to myself that this would be a fantastic place for a cache.

Short version of the story was that I was actually sitting right next to my one find for the day. Got me thinking... just how many caches I have been so close to previously when I did not even know they even existed.  I guess that's the magic of caching!

Defining Caching...

Anne and I have found a fun way to target fitness with a spot of caching being the motivator... Tonight while we were on skype planning a short brisk circuit around 6 caches another friend skyped in asking what I was up to tomorrow... When I told her we were down on a beach tomorrow morning she warned me about the seals that are currently hanging around and asked me why on earth I was down there at that time...

The explanation I offered was -
 
forgot about the seals... the whole thing is really quite bizarre... An adult somewhere takes the correct caching protocol to log a cache virtually online. In real space this might be a lunch box, a plumbing pipe or an eclipse container in a real location. 

Inside is a notebook for people to sign and some cachers exchange "treasures" like badges, or souvenirs... Some even hide a tag and mascot that is traveling the world and relies on people to pick it up and move it to another cache... It really is an adult treasure hunt...

Geocaching 'Xtreme'..

On December 10 we had an awesome day out caching!  We explored a large part of the Portobello Peninsula.  We had an amazing day and found 11 caches.  It really was a day of fun!  It was exceptionally windy and we decided to return to attack a couple of extreme caches on a calm sunny day...

Please note - Claire avoids cameras at all cost and only gave permission for this photo to be shared as a means to demonstrate the extreme weather conditions and contributing factors to failure of completing this cache.

Much online Twitter hype later, the day arrived.  Up at 6 to make bacon and egg butties for our breakfast on Pudding Island, I was very disappointed to see the sea fog rolling in over the plains. But off I headed to the glorious sunshine, picked up Claire and off we headed down the bay...

I have to confess - I had my reservations about this "Xtreme" caching morning. It was the thought of getting out there, exploring and upping my activity that got me going. I was nervous about the height component and to be honest had far too long to dwell on this cache.  I had worked myself up before I got there. But the "Louise" in me wanted to do it. I even took out my laptop to gather time lapse photos as my wee trophy... 

To be honest though - at the end of the day - it was the online "Twitter Hype" that made me do it.... 

So off we headed to meet face on, the challenge of 'Yellow Head", which had featured on the front page of the STAR as a 'dangerous' cache!

The article did not help me in the lead up to this cache - as a teacher, the last thing I wanted was to make a call to the Harbour Master for a ride back to the mainland or alternatively, have a member of the public drive past and photograph us in action.

The cache itself is a great one but I think it needs to make mention about how quickly the tide comes in and maybe give a hint as to the rope's location. I think this outing for the pair of us was more one of information gathering and we will go back to complete this cache better equipped with knowledge of the area, tides and some useful equipment as in a pick axe to assist the climb... :) 

A true highlight of the day was the rapid rising tide!  I love that we are no match for nature!  The next highlight was truly serendipitous!  As we were leaving the area we saw two elderly ladies precariously perched on a ladder cutting back overgrown hedges!  T & L to the rescue!!!  Maybe we should try and add an element of RAK (random acts of kindness) to our caching experiences!

As the day progressed, I became more in awe of the people who lay these caches. Each of them will be inspired by life experiences, location or trickery. 

Off all the caches, what could be more appropriate for superwomen than to find a travel bug superman at the top of Harbour Cone.  He is travelling the world with this goal - 

"fly around doing good, keeping guard over caches as long as he stays in them".   He has been travelling the world since 7 February 2002!

I think of all the caches I giggled most at today was the least extreme cache - Anne and I were left sitting on a park bench enjoying the views of the Harbour and the clue was "sit and wait". After the climb up Harbour Cone and just before the adventure at the top of Genfalloch gardens - this was literally the eye of the storm. I loved it!

TLGC - up and running

Well here it is!  The inaugural post on this our collaborative geocaching blog!  This blog is a way for us to share our adventures and photos!

Throughout 2011 we have cached with friends in and around Dunedin, Invercargill, Rotorua, Nelson, Hamilton, and Wellington.

Caching is amazing - it is licence to play, explore, walk, get out in the great big outdoors and really explore this beautiful country we live in!

We sure have found it is so much fun to cache with friends!  The comraderie, laughter, challenges and collaboration make it a very entertaining pastime!

We are really looking forward to taking on the world, getting fit and having fun - just one cache at a time!