Some low level flying to Marree …

July 8, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

Unusual for us, we were all packed the night before so it was just a case of getting out of bed, shower, breakfast and in the car ready to go. Given all this we managed to get away from home 8 minutes later than I wanted at 9:38 am which is unheard of for our family.

With all the roadwork’s going on north of Adelaide, it took a while to finally get through to around Roseworthy. After that it was just a matter of stopping occasionally for fuel and food and keep going til we got to Marree.

We only stopped a couple of times for Geocaches as the plan was to grab them on the way home.

We managed to get to Marree around 5:00 pm with 3 options to stay. We looked at the Marree Hotel for a cabin but none available until September, same story at the Marree Drovers Rest Tourist Park and Oasis Town Centre Motel & Caravan Park. So we ended up choosing the Oasis to pitch the tents.

A walk down to the Hotel for tea and then back to the Caravan Park to the Fire Pit to meet fellow travellers and chat until late. Once in bed, the locals in the streets made sure that we wouldnt get to sleep too early but eventually they relented as well.

Caches for the day:

GC2AEXV – Pioneers 2

GC1ZPEW – Chocolate & Jam

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Geocaching, Scott at Work, Work Life

Home through Brachina Gorge …

June 20, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

This morning was spent with more workshop sessions and after lunch it was time to head home. I decided to take an alternative route through the Brachina Gorge.

The Brachina Gorge is a step back through geological time with a number of different features that are Earthcaches.

An Earthcache site is a place that people can visit to learn about a unique geoscience feature or aspect of our Earth. Visitors to EarthCache sites can see how our planet has been shaped by geological processes, how we manage the resources and how scientists gather evidence to learn about the Earth.

I decided it was time to take the plunge and place an Earthcache myself at the Slippery Dip or Brachina Formation. The process for an earthcache is more involved than hiding a normal cache and the process takes more than a month. My listing is GC2B2R0 – Slippery Dip anyone ….

Another big day of caches on the way home with 26 finds but no FTF’s this time.

And now for the kangaroo story. Just after leaving Carrieton, I spotted a kangaroo on the side of the road in the distance. Unsure of which way it was going to jump, I started slowing down and of course as I came up on it it jumped my way. Quickly on the brakes but the roo went under the front of the car. Once I stopped, it picked itself up and jumped off. The only damage I could see was a dented number plate.

I later found that I had a oil leak as well which was easily fixed at the next car service 🙂

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Scott at Work, Work Life

Bonding on Sky Trek ….

June 19, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

The first activity for Saturday Morning was to drive part of the famous 4WD route called “Sky Trek“.

The Sky Trek took us through the Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby Preservation Association Bunkers Conservation Reserve, culminating in reaching the summit of Mt Caernarvon ( 921 metres above sea level ), the highest point of vehicle access in the Flinders Ranges with spectacular views towards Wilpena Pound.

It wasn’t all about enjoying the views, but there were also a number of activities undertaken along the way to bond the crews in each vehicle as well as stops along the way for group strategic activities.

After the mornings activities, it was back to Willow Springs for more Strategic workshops until late in the night ……

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Geocaching, Scott at Work, Work Life

Caching my way to the Flinders …

June 18, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

I had the opportunity to attend the CFS “Operation Compass” Strategic weekend as the MFS Representative. This was held at Willow Springs Station (NE of Wilpena Pound). It is a trip of 477km from home and it allowed the finding a few Geocaches along the way.

A couple of days ago there were a number of caches hidden around Hawker that hadn’t been found yet so there was a chance of some “First to Finds” (FTF’s).

It was a productive trip with 27 finds and 4 FTF’s.

I arrived at dusk with a number of kangaroos on the side of the road making driving interesting but didn’t hit any (yet …)

First to Finds:

GC2A9JN – Alone or Lonely (Gordon)

GC2A9J3 – Alone or Lonely (Kanyaka Hotel)

GC2A9HZ – Alone or Lonely (Yappla Waters Station / McDill )

GC2A9JE – Garden Gate

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Family Life, Geocaching

Game On Jamestown …

June 13, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

After another cold night, it was up early for the usual Event Breakfast of bacon and eggs – well for me at least as the girls were too late getting out of bed and were still in their PJ’s for the Group Photo.

After the group photo, the keen teams were off. We were a little later away as I had to wait for the girls to get ready. Once on the road it was a great day with great team work of me navigating and driving and the girls jumping out and grabbing the caches. For the caches further away, it was perfect walking weather and the countryside was just right for walking.

We didn’t do too bad with getting all but 2 caches in the time limit, a bonus medal, bonus magnetic TB and retrieving our temporary cache as well. There were only 3 permanent caches left to find in the area today and got a find on them as well.

Tonight was the Funny Hat and Red Faces Presentation Night. There was a lot of effort by many to be part of it and some very good acts for Red Faces. Rachael and Emma got up and did an act but the standout was Kath & Kim followed by the Kettles. Overall we came equal 7th with Shonky Post – not bad for a late start.

Permanent caches for the day:

GC9A2 – Bundaleer Fun

GC29HXA – Bundaleer Gardens

GCH1VV – Watch That Rock

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12 of 12, Family Life, Geocaching

Jolly Jamestown Jaunt June Long Weekend 12 of 12 …..

June 12, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

For the past 8 years, cachers of South Australia have travelled to a country town for a 3 day Geocaching fun event. This year it was time for the Jolly Jamestown Jaunt on June LWE 2010. This is our second June event having had fun in the mud last year for the Heart of Yorke Maitland event.

Saturday of the event was also the 12th of the month so time for the “12 of 12”. Today was spent going around the town precinct finding 26 locations for the quiz as well as going further afield to hide an event cache.

Each team hides one temporary cache for the weekend with Sunday spent finding all the temporary caches. The further the walk from a roadway, the greater the points for the find.

We also spent the day doing the local permanent caches grabbing 2 FTF’s on some newly published caches. Our temporary cache will become a permanent following the event – GC2A864 – Official GPS Mail Only II. Our cache overlooks the Hallett Wind Farm.

On returning back to the Showgrounds base, we were provided with a spectacular double rainbow to the east. Time for a shower and get ready for the event Dinner – GC29403 – Jolly Jamestown Junket Geocaching Dinner – even though no junket was consumed during the dinner. Another great event within the event with 120 sitting down at the local Commercial Hotel for the meal. The placemat was made up of avatars from the many cachers present including ours.

Back to the showgrounds for some more merriment before some sleep in preparation for the Sunday Find Day.

Cache find for the day:

GC2A2RA – Could it be a Maze? – FTF

GC2A1FK – Jolly aMAZEing Jamestown – FTF

GC29J5B – Wheres the Station?

GC21538 – Reginald’s Story

GC29J4H – Stop, Wait, Go

GC21533 – Reginald’s School

GC298RJ – The New Forest

GC1ZHC8 – Bundaleer: Sounds of the Forest

$Where\'s the Station Cache$

$Reginald\'s Story Cache$

$Reginald\'s School Cache$

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Family Life, Geocaching

Let’s go to Jamestown ….

June 11, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

Today was travel day to the Jolly Jamestown Jaunt on June LWE 2010. I was taking Rachael and her friend Emma up for the weekend. Bradley and Jenny were off to the block at Sedan with the Bleden Venturers for a motorbike weekend.

We left a couple of hours later than expected but what can you expect when waiting for a couple of 13 year old girls.

Eventually we headed north doing some caches on the way. At Auburn, we met up with some friends from Dimboola who were also heading to the Geocaching Event. We cached our way up to Jamestown with rain for the last 50km.

Setting up in the rain and of course once we had finished, the rain stopped.

Tonight was spent catching up with all the early teams that had set up at the Jamestown Showgrounds with us. There were a lot of old familiar faces and quite a lot of new faces and families.

Caches found on the way:

GC1GEB4 – Auburn River Walk

GC62D2 – Riesling

GC1DZYJ – The Clare Valley Travel Bug Transit Lounge

GC28VXG – A Day at the Races

GC26MR6 – ROYGreenBIV

GC28Y38 – Euromina School

GC28Y3B – Old & New

GC28Y32 – Little Toot Toot

GC113J8 – All A-Ford

GC28WCV – Let’s Foot It ….

$GC28WCV - Let\'s Foot It ....$

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Geocaching, Holidays

Red Bluff and Little Desert ….

May 30, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

After a good nights sleep in the roof top tent, I awoke and went for a walk up Red Bluff to find a cache of course. Back to camp for breakfast and there were some others that wanted to find the cache, so I headed back up again.

We broke camp and headed back into South Australia and continued following the Border Track south. The terrain was a little different now with flat land and clay mud mixed in with the sand and with the rain over the last couple of days made the going fun and changed most of the vehicles into different colours.

Again all the vehicles got through the various challenges with some trying extreme holes and others doing the not so extreme ones. After leaving the Border Track, the group split into three. One group went back in Ngarkat Conservation Park. Most went through to Keith and home but I continued south to Bordertown to meet up with a mate and head back into Victoria to the Little Desert National Park for some more caching. On the way we stopped at Serviceton Station on the disputed SA/Vic Border.

The Little Desert was back to sand tracks and sand dunes but not as high as Ngarkat. At one point we had an emu escort that kept a steady pace of 40kph for quite a while before heading back into the scrub. We visited Mt Moffatt and Broughtons Water Hole before heading north to Kaniva. Gary headed east and I headed west towards home.

Grabbed another couple of caches on the way home before spending 1/2 an hour at the Happy Wash with a high pressure cleaner to get all the mud off the car. What a great weekend. 🙂

Caches found:

GCKP46 – The Crimson Hill of Deceit

GC24EWP – Small Boats only

GC2088P – Serviceton Station

GA1699 – You’ve got to move it move it

GC1YQ92 – Mount Moffatt

TP1318 – Lillimur South Area

GC2541G – Broughtons Water Hole

GC2088A – Poocher Swamp

GC24F6P – Welcome to TIGER Country #1

GCJFQM – Cold and Wet

GCYNGA – Flat Roo

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Geocaching, Holidays

Border Track and Birthday ….

May 29, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

I had an opportunity to do the Border Track in Ngarkat Conservation Park a couple of years ago but couldn’t make it but when I was asked this year to give it a go, try and hold me back. What a great spot to celebrate my 47th birthday.

The High Range 4WD Club was having a run down from Pinnaroo to Bordertown and I was contacted through a Geocaching buddie “Barramundi”. This 4WD Club is not your normal 4WD Club but caters for the vehicles with All-wheel drive but also allows us with 4WD’s to be involved as well. 🙂

With Bradley away at a Venturer Camp and Rachael with Netball commitments, the only thing stopping me was I was rostered on at Mallala Motorsport Park as part of the fire crew. A few emails and a lot of phone calls and I found a replacement so all systems go.

The plan was to meet at Tailem Bend at 0700 on Saturday morning but as I am not a morning person, I decided to go up Friday night and get a cabin at Tailem Bend. It was a wet drive up there but it didn’t stop me grabbing a few caches on the way.

I arrived at the Tailem Bend Railway Station at 0700 to be the only one there but they soon started to come in all bleary eyed and “ready to go”. Introductions all round and it was time to hit the road to Pinnaroo. We encountered heavy rain at times and arrived early at 0915. Everyone fuelled up and purchased permits for the Park, but it still took us an hour to get mobile due to the Petrol Station staff having all sorts of issues with the computers.

Time to head down to Pine Hut Soak at the northern entrance. With the heavy rain there was a fair bit of drifting going on. Into the Park and time to let down tyres, don sand flags, grab a cache and we were on our way. One thing the rain did in our favour was firm up the sand which made for easier driving. 🙂

The Track kept fairly much to the Border between South Australia and Victoria with a few deviations. There were some challenging sand dunes which were soft at the crests but all got through OK although one 4WD (Toyota Cruiser) had 8 attempts to get over one dune before we made sure that his tyres were down to the right pressure and then he popped over the top.

Some more caches, sunshine, rain, challenging dunes and we headed into Victoria to Red Bluff to set up camp. It was a great campsite with a long drop and plenty of room for all. There was a mixture of tea being had in each vehicle but it all ended with beverages around the campfire, many renditions of “Happy Birthday” and a caramel mud cake as a birthday cake.

Caches found include:

GC28KDD – Maxed Out

GA2079 – Amy Gillet Bikeway Stage 1

GC27DHQ – Mallee Madness

GC27DJ0 – Tailem History

GC24P9C – The Hensley Fountain

GCA834 – Pine Hut Soak

GCM2NZ – A Foot in Both Camps

TP4643 – Upson Downs Homestead Area

GCKP44 – Tops Mug

$Cox\'s Windmill$

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Family Life

50th Wedding Anniversary

May 16, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

Doesn’t time fly – Mum and Dad have been married for 50 years – that cant be, but it can as I am approaching 47 years old.

Today we celebrated 50 years of marriage with all the family present – Diana, Danny, Emily and Madison timed their 5 week European Trip so that they would arrive back this morning.

Half of the original wedding party was present – the bridesmaids – Rhonda (Mum’s sister) and Margaret. One of the groomsmen has died and the other was away on a holiday.

Lunch was roast pork, beef and lamb with all the trimmings and a little wine. 🙂

It didn’t take long before the European travellers started to drop off – jet lag here we come.

A nice afternoon and a rare chance to have all the family together.