Geocaching

Over the past 18 months or so I have taken to a new hobby Geocaching. Thanks to a couple of my running mates, they suggested getting in on the action. So let me explain for anyone that knows nothing about Geocaching. It’s an outdoor activity where you use GPS co-ordinates to hunt for containers that contain logs, for you to log your finds. Its really simple to get started, download the app Geocaching from the app store, register and search using a google maps like interface.

I consider myself a casual Geocacher and when I get a chance, I will head off for a bush walk in search for a cache. In my local area there are a couple spectacular cache spots around that can be quite the hike. I couple of my local areas include: Kentlyn, St Helens Park (Wedderburn) and Dharawal National Park.

Today I completed the last of my local Geocache hunts out the back of St Helen’s Park just down the road from my house. After dropping the kids off at school, I parked near the first way-point and started the hike. The first kilometre of the hike is easy going, knowing the trails quite well from doing a lot of running in the area. I was soon guided into the bush at way-point 2 and was faced with a steep decent down towards the Georges river.

The silence was broken by a the river running at full strength after the droughts we had last year. Luckily there was a point at which I could make the crossing and work my way up the hill on the other side.

The climb up to the cache on the other side of the river was just as steep as the way down. After about 85 meters I reached the area of the co-ordinates and figured that the cache would be at the top of the sandstone rock. I climbed to the top and admired the view, it was just something special. I hunted at the top and looked under every hollowed out rock, but no luck. I then decided to read the hint, which read the the cache is protected by two guardians. I soon realised that I was on the wrong level, and the cache was situated between the sandstone that I had climbed on-top of.

I proceeded to make my way down and found the entrance, which is a narrowing between the sandstone. Climbing up and over a couple rocks, I spotted the cache at the top of a section at the back.

The cache is an ammunition’s container, and had a couple items inside. One special item was a trackable which originated in Antwerp, Belgium. It has travelled the world:

• Belgium
• Sweden
• Norway
• Germany
• Indonesia
• New Zealand
• Australia