I had the day off today and as the weather was great, I decided to go geocaching with the kids. We packed a picnic lunch and a couple of litres of water and hopped into the car for the short drive to Clifford Park, an activity centre belonging to the Scouts.

We arrived at the park around midday and I set off with my 2 year old and 4 year old to do the two nearby caches – Bend of Isles (GA2111)  and the Bend of Isles II (GC28EG2) cache.

We set off down the firetrail, climbing hills and bashing through some bush. After about 1 hours, we reached Bend of Isles II. I unpacked the picnic and while the kids ate, I hunted out and found the container. I signed the log and the kids picked out a toy. I also took a TB and dropped in three geocoins. We then set off back up the hill towards Bend of Isles II.

The GCA cache was also an easy find. I logged it before strolling down to the river to take a few photos.

The walk back up the hill was the hard part. The kids were getting tired by now and complained most of the way back. Three hours and 5.1km later, we were back at the starting point. The short drive home was enough to put both children to sleep.

Tags: bend of isles, geocaching, gps, map, Photos, wonga park

I picked up an eye infection last weekend in Perth and the doctor gave me 2 days off work. As I wasn’t really sick (off work to prevent contamination), I decided to go geocaching to clear out a nearby area.

I headed up to the Park Orchards area where I knew I’d have to do quite a bit of hiking. My first stop was 100 Acre Bush Reserve where I found 2 caches (Double Century and Mercator Madness)and hid one new one. It was a really nice walk (about 2.5km in total) but it was quite hot and I worked up quite a sweat.

I then drove a short distance and quickly had BullsEye in hand.

Another short drive and a 600m hike through dense bush (I missed the path and headed up the wrong side of the creek) to find Hidden Valley.  I took a TB and a geocoin from this cache that had both been here for more than 6 months.

My last stop was in Ringwood to visit Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, an easy find in a small reserve hidden behind some houses.

The hide is not yet active as it has been hidden to celebrate 10 years of geocaching in Australia and will only be published on 18 May 2010. See here for more details.

Tags: 100 acre reserve, mullum mullum, park orchards, ringwood, traditional

Feb was a busy month for me as caching goes. I managed 25 geocaches in the month – my busiest ever (not that I’m a numbers man!)

I was also lucky enough to do some travel caches – in Perth and Fremantle, Western Australia. I managed to grab 5 caches in the 4 days that we were in town. One whole day was lost to a wedding and another to travel and the heat (42°C!)

In the early part of the month I also took a bike ride from Croydon to Blackburn north and grabbed a few caches along the Mullum Mullum Creek and the Koonung Creek cycle trails.

I attended a lunch event and made some new friends too at the “Another Bung Lunch” event.

My favourite find of the month was “Wetlands Walk” which I did with my 3½ year old son. My favourite hide was “Mont Court Reserve“, a very stealthy hide in a kids’ playground.

Tags: bike, bon scott, fremantle, locationless, perth, Photos

Well, I didn’t hit 300 by the end of the year as I had planned but not being a numbers-chaser, it wasn’t really an issue for me. I still managed to grab seven caches in December though.

While we were away on holiday in Venus Bay, I did 2 nearby multis and a couple of traditionals in the Wonthaggi area. I also managed a locationless while away.

My favourite was definitely the “Surfing Eagle” (GC1PKMN) micro which was quite tough due to the number of muggles about. The best part was the views of the beach and the ocean below!

Tags: cape paterson, venus bay, wonthaggi

I set off to do some caching in Abbotsford on Saturday. I had planned on doing 5 caches in the area. The first on my list was ‘Penny Bridge’ (GCYON) and within 15 minutes of parking nearby and walking to the local park, I had the cache container in hand. Oh, that’s after a close encounter with a possum who lives in the same tree as the cache container.

Guardian of the cache

The next planned cache was ‘The Abbotsford Convent’ (GC1MON6) but I got a panicked phone call and had to rush off to a minor emergency.

Tags: abbotsford, australia, melbourne, possum