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Monday, July 3, 2017

The Weekend That Was: Our First Geocaching Adventure!

What is Geocaching How to Geocache with an iPhone - Best Geocaches in Sydney Australia

I'm not someone who can just laze about on the weekends. I need to be out and about doing something after working inside all week - so I'm always on the lookout for new things to do. 

This weekend, Jesse and I discovered a new hobby; Geocaching

We'd heard about it before but never tried it for ourselves but on Saturday morning, we rugged up and headed out in the cold for our first geocaching adventure and now we're definitely hooked!

So let me tell you all about it! >> 


Free Date Ideas in Sydney - Geocaching and the best Geocaches in Sydney Australia

We're lucky that the park right by our house is full of geocaches so we headed there, armed with my iPhone to use as our GPS (if you buy Premium Geocaching Membership you can access all of the geocaches, including the premium exclusive geocaches, on your iPhone which also acts as a compass/GPS system and allows you to log your finds). 

Geocaching in Oatley Park, Sydney Australia

It was colddddd but we were excited and on a mission to discover at least one geocache. 

Little did we know, our first was a litttttttleeeeee more treacherous than expected.

Free Date Ideas in Sydney - Geocaching and the best Geocaches in Sydney NSW Australia

We logged the coordinates and it took us to a huge overhanging rock.... only the GPS was telling us we needed to go a few metres further than the edge of the rock. 

We quickly realised that we needed to get under the rock.... but how? 

Free Date Ideas in Sydney - How to Start Geocaching and the best Geocaches in Sydney Australia

We saw a few trampled paths heading towards the water's edge and it was low tide so we scrambled down there to see if we could see anything.

Oyster Shells in the Georges River

But we got to the water's edge and found.... oyster shells.

A wholeeee lot of oyster shells. Surely they weren't expecting us to climb over those. Jesse thought we should at least give it a try - but whilst walking over the shells was easy, the mud next to it was WAY too slippery so we decided to look for an alternate route.

How to Geocache in Oatley Park

On the way up, Jesse spotted an overhanging rock, kind of close to some other rocks and decided he would jump from the overhanging rock to the next one. 

If you've been here a while, you'd know that I am TERRIFIED of heights - so that was a big fat NOPE for me. So I decided to head back up to the top and see if I could find a "safer" path. 

Geocaching tips and tricks

Whilst I was doing that, Jesse was in full on spiderman mode and I realised we looked a little bit ridiculous as we were both wearing all-black and beanies and looked like ninjas or spies on a mission 😝

How to start geocaching - Geocaching tips and tricks

Luckily I found a less treacherous path and heard Jesse call out FOUND IT! 

The geocache was tucked up under a rock ledge and with that we had found our very first geocache! We signed the log, added some SWAG items (little toys and trinkets you can swap with other geocaches) and popped it back where it was for the next person to find. 

Cheap or Free Date Ideas in Sydney - Geocaching and the best Geocaches in Sydney Australia

After climbing back up to the top, we were off to our next geocache! 

Free Date Ideas in Sydney - Geocaching and the best Geocaches in Sydney Australia

The next find was much easier - and quicker too! 

Cheap and Free Date Ideas in Sydney - Geocaching and the best Geocaches in Sydney Australia

We fished it out, signed the log and logged it on the app and took in the gorgeous view whilst deciding on the next cache to conquer.

Tree Bridge Geocache in Oatley Park World War Two Ammunition Case Geocache in Oatley Park

Our next caches included a tree bridge and an old ammunition case which was almost a fail. 

We took a turn that looked right on the GPS but wasn't quite right and we only realised when we were at the bottom of the huge cliff/hill and the GPS was telling us we needed to go 70 metres east. We both looked at the hill, looked at each other and decided we would have a go at climbing up it. 

I decided if I ran up it, I'd get up it faster, avoid falling down and I'd have a better chance at avoiding bugs and creatures so I ran like the wind which Jesse thought was hilarious because I was running through and under and around trees and bushes at lightning speed. 

World War Two Ammunition Case Geocache in Oatley Park

After our little amazing race style adventure, we did a little digging around and found the cache - which was full of swag and we signed the log, noticing that the last person had been there just the day before. 

Dracula's Cave Sandstone Rock Formation in Oatley Park

We also discovered a kind of creepy rock cave that was eerily cold and quiet and looked like something out of a movie with it's alien-like weathering. 

Tips for solving a Geocache Puzzle Tips for solving a Geocache Puzzle

We even completed our first puzzle cache which was easier to solve than it was to actually open the cache. 

To find the coordinates, you had to answer a series of riddles and we thought that was the puzzle - but when we found the cache, we realised that that too was a puzzle. A wooden box puzzle that had us perplexed for quite some time. Luckily, we figured it out and signed the log before putting it back with a little more camouflage.

Tree Ferns in Oatley Park NSW

And that was that.  A day of adventure in one of my favourite places in the world, with my favourite person in the world - and a new hobby discovered! 

Wildflowers in Oatley Park NSW

If you're interested in trying Geocaching for yourself, have a look at geocaching.com and do a search on the map to suss out geocaches in your area!

But tell me, have you ever tried geocaching? 
What's your favourite thing to do on the weekend? 
And what did you get up to this weekend? 
Weekends for me are best when they involve loved ones, adventure and a whole lot of reading time!

    
   


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