Geogaine 2010

February 27, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

We took part in a world first event? The South Australian Rogaining Association put together the idea of a Rogaine with the use of a GPS, with the result of a new event type, the GEOGAINE! In the pleasant surrounds of Victor Harbor the task was be to find as many temporary geocaches in 3 hours on foot.

Our story started in the afternoon when we picked up our Japanese homestay student from the High School around 2:30 pm. Out of the 20 students thee was one that had been sick from the airport to the school and yes it was ours.

We got him home and settled briefly, then it was time to load everyone in the car to go to Victor. It wasnt long and our Japanese friend was ill again. Turn around and drop him and Jenny at home and we were on our way again. The team had now dropped from 5 to 3 and it was now 4:30 pm. We were going to be late.

The drive was going well until about 5km out of Victor when someone decided it was fun to drive at 60kph in a 100 km zone all the way to Victor with the biggest train of cars behind him and no opportunities to pass.

We arrived at the scout hall just in time to hear 5-4-3-2-1 and this crowd of Geogainers heading out the gate. Headed in and grabbed the maps and stuff and headed out still not knowing the rules of engagement.

We decided to grab the very easy ones close then the kids wanted to go to Granite Island so it was then off to do the hard ones. On the southern side of the island, the wind was so strong it was difficult to keep your feet. After picking up all the hard ones we headed south along the coast to make a start on the next series.

Of course in all this the 13 year old daughter was properly kitted up with thongs even though she was told to wear sneakers. But you cant tell a teenager.

It was getting close to 8:00 pm so it was time to grab what we could and head back to the scout hall. It was getting dark and the GPS was telling us that it would take 18 minutes to get back and we had 15 minutes left so time to pick up the pace.

With a little gallop at the end, we made it with 10 seconds to spare to the 8:30 deadline.

With all the dramas of the day we still managed a 5th overall so we are happy. The event details are GC23AWE – Geogaine 2010

$Don\'t get blown away ...$

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Family Life

“No Name” has a name …

February 17, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

It has taken a few days but Dale and Trish have finally named my new nephew.

He will be known from now on as “Angus Connor Simpkin Thompson”

Family Life

New Thompson in the Clan …

February 14, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

My brother Dale and his wife Trish added another Thompson to the clan yesterday and we went to visit today.

Dale’s daughter Tayla now has a new brother called “watch this space”. They haven’t come up with a name as yet but everyone in the family has been putting their 2 cents worth in on name suggestions. I guess we will find out latr in the week the name of the new Thompson.

Bubs and mum are doing well at the Ashford Hospital and will be transferred to the Hilton Hotel shortly to recuperate.

It didn’t take long for the kids to lose interest and watch the TV. They must be growing up as we left both kids said they were hungry and we only had tea 2 hours previous. So a quick stop at Cafe de Villes for some desert. 🙂

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12 of 12, Geocaching, Scott at Work, Work Life

February 12 of 12 – Everywhere a Sign …

February 12, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

I almost forgot about todays 12 of 12 but as I was heading down Anzac Highway for some shopping for work, todays date popped up in my mind and I was already half way through the day. What was I going today. It hit me when I got to my first location – Sign Sign everywhere a sign, blocking out the scenery breaking my mind, Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign …..

So I decided that the theme for this months 12 of 12 would be signs.

First stop was Officeworks which didn’t have what I needed, so off to Ikea and more signs only bigger. They had what I needed.

It was now lunch time and the GPS was telling me there were 3 caches nearby – a sign.

First Stop was GC233JB – Prince of Thieves which was near a tennis club with signs on the fence. Next stop was GC1VMB8 – The Hex Hill Cache where there were signs on every bin telling you what to do. Third cache was GC1TX84 – Magnetcacheon where the cache itself had a little sign on it.

Enough of caching, it was time to get a feed on the way back to work – C Coffee for a Cappuccino followed by a pastie from Cafe De Villi’s.

Back at work and there was plenty of signs to keep those not wanted out. From my Office window there is signs of change with the car park across the road rising from what used to be a petrol station in a former life.

The end of the day and the end of another week, and with half the family off to a chick concert and the son having already made himself some pasta for tea, I decided to head up to Blackwood for some take away but which one did I choose?

It was then time to drop the son at Venturers for a DVC. Since I was up at Belair I put the car through the car wash so it would look its best for the Seaford Fire Station opening tomorrow. In order to dry the car off, I headed down the hill to grab a cache in Brownhill Creek – GC1XCD2 – Mitcham Quarries #1 Brownhill Creek.

For a 12 of 12 that I nearly forgot, it turned out not too bad, and remember:

Sign Sign everywhere a sign
Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind
Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign 🙂

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Geocaching, Scott at Work

Oz Mega Pathtag

February 8, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

In anticipation of attending the Oz Mega Event at Wagga Wagga at Easter, we put together a pathtag for trade while at the event.

Well after some back and forth with the blueprint, the tag finally arrived. Am I happy – well not completely. The design has ended up OK but the colourings require a bit of imagination to even look like how it was supposed to be.

Who ever heard of an albino crow??

You compare what it was supposed to be like!!

As it happens, I will not be attending the Oz Mega Event but travelling to Reno for a Wildland Urban Interface Conference and maybe some skiing at Tahoe. 🙂

The tags in whatever guise will be at the Mega Event by proxy with PostieGirl and Burtons.

Family Life, Geocaching, Holidays

Coorong Camping

January 24, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

It is Australia Day Long Weekend so that can only mean one thing – camping at the Coorong. During the summer, this is one spot that is bearable for camping although this year it is almost winter with night temperatures getting down to near 10C.

The days have been good with mid 20’s and plenty of sunshine. The advance party of Bookers, Goss’s and Hattons arrived on Friday securing our campsite but one other managed to sneak in but they were warned. We came back from Renmark Friday so we didnt get down here until Saturday afternoon. Also the pallecon from the Jamboree had to be unpacked prior to us leaving.

Sunday most of the crew headed down to Robe for some beach, icecream and caching (well I cached).

Lunch was on the Robe foreshore then we ventured to Long Beach for the kids to have a swim and sand play while the adults relaxed on the beach.

After setting everyone up, I headed off to do some caching in the Little Dip Conservation Park. It was fun 4WDing through the Park. Came across others, which was comforting should I have got into trouble. Checked out some spectactular coastline at the various cache locations.

Also travelled to Drain L for a cache. It is amazing that this engineering feat was carried out back in 1911. The 1 hour caching trip lasted 2 hours then it was pick up everyone then into Robe for icecream and back to the campsite for Curry Night.

It took a little while to coordinate everyone but about 1/2 hour before dusk, the camp sat down for the communal Curry Night. A great meal was had by all but look out tomorrow morning.

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Geocaching, Holidays

Knee Boarding & Overland Corner Caching

January 20, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

I thought that my back was up for some knee boarding this morning and after wallowing in the water for a while acclimatising, it was time to get going. It was a deep water start and as we got going I was kneeling on the strap from my life jacket – this was fun. Managed to get all sorted out and we headed down to the lock and some choppy water. Rachael decided to do a 360 on the edge of the wake and came off. As we headed back to pick here up, I ended up on the outside of the wake and was starting to overtake the boat – time to bail out……

We picked up Rachael and we both had a couple more stacks then back to the beach with a few more muscles found that I am sure were not there before.

Enough of the wet stuff. This afternoon I headed down to Overland Corner for some caching. If it wasn’t for caching it is one of those places you would never stop at, yet there is a lot of history there with one of the oldest structures in the Riverland, ancient oyster beds, copper mines and the Bookmark Biosphere.

I grabbed 10 caches in the area:

GC1ETN0 – Lock Three

GC1ETN1 – Hey, nice box …

GC1QAJ4 – Overland Corner Regulator

GC1QAJ2 – Floodplain Cache

GC1QAHR – Heron’s Bend Oyster Beds

GC1H9EZ – Old OC Quarry

GC1FFJK – Overland Corner Quarry

GCJF90 – Overland

GC1H9F9 – Heritage Walk Mineral Mine

GC1ETN5 – The Ghost @ Devlins Pound …

$Heron\'s Bend Oyster Beds$

$The Ghost @ Devlin\'s Pound....$

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Geocaching

Barmera and Berri Caching

January 19, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

After a good morning of skiing, it was time for some driving and walking to find some caches. Today I tackled the Barmera and Berri areas. In total I found 14.5 caches. The half a cache was I could see where it was – there was 5m of river between me and it but I didn’t have a towel to dry off after a swim.

My travels today took me through Monash, Barmera, Cobdogla, Kingston, Loveday, Glossop and Berri.

Caches today were:

GC1KE9J – Go’n’do Malleefowl

GC14P7J – Come Make a Road with Me

GC14P7Q – Come Across the Lake with Me

GC1F98X – 1st Overlanders

GC1A80Q – Go’n’do Cobdogla FC

GC21MW7 – Williams Wife

GC1AP4D – Go’n’do Who was Francesco Fantin

GC1AP4T – Go’n’do Loveday GHQ

GC19VEZ – Vice-Admiral Who?

GC1AEKB – Go’n’do Berri Lookout

GC1EK15 – Welcome to downtown

GC19M1Z – Go’n’do Tortoise Crossing

GC1FNAN – over U go

GCHD3J – Hole-In-One

$GC1KE9J – Go’n\'do Malleefowl$

$GC1A80Q – Go’n\'do Cobdogla FC$

$Go\'n\'do - Chambers Creek$

$GC1AP4D – Go’n\'do Who was Francesco Fantin$

$GC1AP4T – Go’n\'do Loveday GHQ$

$GC1AEKB – Go’n\'do Berri Lookout$

$GC19M1Z – Go’n\'do Tortoise Crossing$

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Holidays

Morning Skiing at Renmark

January 19, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

After a couple of ordinary days with water you could surf on, the wind let up and it was skiing time. The barefoot guys were up on it at 6:30am but we were a more realistic 10:00am.

Rachael did a double ski then Bradley and Jenny went up on a dual knee board followed by Rachael and Jenny on a dual knee board. My back was playing up so I sat in the boat to observe.

There were a few good spills but missed them on camera.

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Geocaching, Holidays

Loxton Caching …

January 18, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

After the wind of yesterday, there wasn’t a lot of enthusiasm to go skiing today as the water was still a little choppy. So after a relaxing morning it was time to go down to Loxton, Moorook, Taplan and Nangari for some caching.

I was a good day for caching with mid 20’s and some wind with clear skies. Most of the ones I attempted were multi caches, puzzles and those that required some walking that I had been leaving for such a day.

Travelled about 250km for a total of 13 cache finds for the day.

Caches found today were:

TP4113 – Wonuarra Area

GC1AYW1 – Big old Gum

GC131G6 – Red and Blue Landing

GC1FNAR – Barking Mad!

GC102FF – Kabbarli

GC1BT4G – New Home

GC1EG3D – Lagoon with a view

GC11B25 – Pumped Up for a Smiley 🙂

GC1A80V – Go’n’do Morook – Kingston FC (RIFL)

GC1QDY8 – Hanging out for a coffee