A muddy affair

Geocaches: New Life @ The Big Pond

Mr Smith's Backyard

Our wonderful group of geocaching kids!

Smith's Bush is a lovely little reserve near Smales Farm. And the top part is all boardwalk paths, great for rainy and muddy days. But not for us. The geocaches we were after, were located in the bottom part of the reserve, taking us over an old stone bridge, and a very slippery muddy slope. I'm sure we took more mud home on our clothes than we left behind. But the kids loved it and that's what it's all about, isn't it?

After our adventurous mud slide, we came to the pond and to our first geocache. We've been very lucky again with another great idea from someone for this cleverly camouflaged geocache. Can you spot it in the picture?

Someone had the clever idea to paint a magnetic box in the same colours as the fence!

We had a break from geocaching when we discovered one of our little ones had wandered off. I want to thank every one who helped looking and especially the mum who had the safety talk to our kids afterwards. It's understandable that the kids want to run off as soon as they get the coordinates, but safety must always come first!

So from now on, before we go off, we'll have a little reminder about this each time!

This is not the second cache. We discovered an abandoned tent in the bush when we were looking for the geocache.

This is the second geocache. And may the swapping begin!

After our hunt, we slowly walked back up another muddy slope and back to the nice and dry boardwalk path. Before we got back to the car park, I showed them a little hidden secret in the reserve. Two faces and some other carvings in a tree stump. No one knows who carved them and why. But it's a neat little secret to know about, next time you're in Smith's Bush.

PS I never did find out who Mr Smith is.

Geocaching and coffee!

Boy, was the field wet! Hands up if you didn't get wet feet. LOL

We went to Windsor Park today for our geocaching afternoon. The first one took us through a very wet playing field, right to the very corner (which was also the clue). Some of us (including myself) were busy trying to keep our feet dry and it was left to the brave, daring ones who didn't mind a bit of water. Thanks!

There was also a geocoin inside it. A geocoin is a special made coin with a code, which travels from geocache to geocache. When you find a geocoin, you take the coin and log your find with the special code on www.geocaching.com. Sometimes the owners of the coin have a special mission for it, like reaching a certain country or place, but usually it just travels from cache to cache, trying to get to as many places as possible.

This geocoin was released in Germany on May 17th, 2009. To date it's travelled 13894 miles and it's been to Austria, Czech Republic, where it stayed a while,

then to France, Australia and now it's here in New Zealand. Who knows where else it will go to?

After the treasure swapping, the kids took the GPS with the coordinates for the next geocache and apparently this time it took them straight to the right spot in one direct line. The kids were running towards the tree even before they knew for certain if it was the right place. It seems that they're already spotting the likely locations where the cache could be hidden, before they even get there. Well done!

And look at the clever camouflage of this one:

After this little wet outing, we all deserved a treat at the Windsor Cafe. For a moment it looked like we were going to be out of luck due to the Fire Truck arriving, but luckily it was only a false alarm and we all had a wonderful afternoon chatting and drinking coffee while the kids played.

Thanks every one for a wonderful afternoon and we'll see you at the Chelsea Sugar Refinery next week!

Psst, forgot to mention that this was our 20th find! Well done, every one!