12 of 12, Family Life, Geocaching, Holidays

January 12 of 12 – Sydney

January 12, 2010 Scott 1 Comment

This month found me and Bradley in Sydney.

Our day started waking up in North Sydney with a view of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. It was then a walk down to McMahons Point to grab the ferry. We did the loop around Darling Harbour, Milsons Point and into Circular Quay.

First stop was a ride on the Shark Attack Jet Boat. We were told that we would get wet with or without the coats so we chose the coats any way. The ride went for about 35 minutes getting up to Watsons Bay across to Chowder Bay and back doing 360’s and bow wake jumps. Did we get wet – YES!! Bradley had a ball.

Bradley wanted to go back for a shower but that was not going to happen.

We then checked out the Opera House, Botanic Gardens then back to Circular Quay to watch the street performers. The main one was a juggler with flames, chainsaw and knifes on top of a bike on a pole.

It was then a walk around to the Harbour Bridge to look at it up close – it is an impressive bridge. We then continued to the Rocks for lunch and to check out some of the history.

It was then back to the Quay to catch the train back to North Sydney.

Still had some time for some caching with:

GCJFY5 – Writers of Renoun

GCXDDN – Campbells Cove

GC21VP4 – Sydney Harbour Bridge EarthCache

$Sydney\'s Fire Boat$

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Family Life, Geocaching, Holidays, Scouts

AJ2010 – a day off …

January 10, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

Sunday the 10th was a “rostered” day off for most of the leaders of Troop 0404. The plan today was to pick up Jenny, take her to lunch then show the sights of Wollongong.

I picked up Jenny around 10:30 – it gave her a chance to do some washing. I had left Bradley in bed so that he could catch up on his sleep (there was no “Do Not Disturb” sign so I thought housekeeping may wake him up).

After picking up Jenny, we headed down to Cataract Dam as it was only a couple of kms down the road from Cataract Park and of course there was a cache. The dam was reasonably full and they had one of the pipes open to release some water into the Sydney Water system.

From there we headed back to Wollongong via the Bulli Lookout then back to the room just as housekeeping was about to do our room. Bradley was still asleep. Jenny woke him up then had a “real” shower.

Lunch was at the Mt Keira Cafe with a friend – retired NSW Station Officer Paul Baker and his son Jack. Paul had organised Table 21 (the one with the best view) as he had done some plumbing work for the owner.

The meal, view and company were great. We were not to know but Jenny was going to go back the next night for the Contingent Dinner.

Paul suggested a couple of spots worth checking out – Sea Cliff Bridge and Bald Hill.

The Sea Cliff Bridge is a bridge that was built out away from the cliffs due to road and cliff slippages. It is used a lot for car commercials. And there is a cache under it as well. I walked the bridge while Jenny and Bradley drove it.

From here we went up to Bald Hill where the local hang gliders and para gliders take off. There was a good crowd to watch and a lot of craft taking off as well. It is one spot that you wouldn’t want to fall off.

We took Jenny back to the Jamboree around 5:30pm and we headed back to the hotel. Not a bad day off.

Caches for the day include:

GC130KN – Cataract Comedy

GCM3EX – That’s Tops

GC1B9KB – Grand Pacific Cache

GCT02F – Eyrie

GC1REGR – Gateway to Heaven

GCF28E – Number Game in Wollongong

GC14608 – Nun of This

GC1YEF4 – Picnic in the Gong

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Family Life, Scouts

AJ2010 – Visitors Day

January 9, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

Today Bradley and I made the trek up Bulli Pass to Cataract Park not sure if we would make it as the car was working on fumes as I had forgotten to fill it up. We made it OK but would we make it home?

Our trip today was to the AJ2010 Visitors Day to catch up with Jenny and Rachael after their first week.

It was a warm day (35C with about 70% humidity) which made for close conditions with plenty of sweat and keeping up fluids.

We managed a car park very close to the entrance (our arrival time was 11:00 am) and they had finished sending all the cars down to the dam and were filling up spaces that were left. Through the entrance was quick and we were on site within 5 minutes. Seemingly those that had entrance times at 8:00am only got on site about an hour before we got there.

The thing with Cataract Park is the walking and distances. Of course Troop 0404 was not the furthest from the entrance, it wasn’t far off. (1.3 km from the entrance).

Jenny and Rachael were happy to see us and we had a quick look at the cap then headed to Sub Camp 4 Market Area then back for lunch with all the other family members that had made the trek across from SA. Meat and Salad Rolls for lunch today.

After lunch, the kids disappeared, and I headed off to the Geocaching Event that was scheduled for today on site. They introduced Geocaching as an activity for this Jamboree and it was being taken up by many with a number of temporary caches set up on site. I caught up with many cachers from Australia and NZ. We exchanged tips, pathtags and travel bugs and headed on our way.

After walking around some more, taking in the Contingient Tents, we went to Sub Camp 2 to catch up with Liam and Lochie McHenry who were attending their first Jamboree. An exchange has been set up for Tuesday night where Rachael’s patrol will dine at 0224 and Lochie’s patrol will dine at 0404.

After another meal with Troop 0404, Bradley and I made the trek back up to the car and into Appin to get fuel (we made it).

While in Appin and on the way back to Wollongong, picked up some caches of course.

Caches for today were:

GA1702 – Jamboree Scout Geocacher Get Together

GA1691 – Where the wild things used to be

GA1747 – Scouts, Why Knot?

GC10F0X – Cataract Scout Park

GC22ET3 – Ferals

GC22ERZ – Eye Spy

GC13R02 – Appin Gateway

GC21KRZ – Barefoot in the Park

GCYJ6N – Da BOM

GC1A9BY – Copious Caches on the Coast #2

GC101VK – Dharawal Gateway

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Family Life

The second wave heads to AJ2010

January 6, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

It was time for the second wave to head to AJ2010. Bradley and I were heading to the Visitors Day to catch up on the first week of Jenny and Rachaels Jamboree.

Got away from home on time at 9:30 am but later in the day I realised that the water fridge was still sitting on the lounge room floor. 🙁

First stop was Nairne to pick up Bradley as he had a sleepover and was supposed to be ready when I arrived – was he – NO!!

Next stop was at Mannum to drop off Molly at Grandma’s for our time away. Molly is always happy to see Grandma but I think she still wanted to come with us.

Travel today was pretty good stopping at Pinnaroo for lunch. We headed to the bakery to find Alex and Lachlan Brockbank there. They travelled with us to Ouyen then we parted company as they were heading south along the Murray and we were heading north.

Our first night stop was the Balranald Caravan Park where we had a comfortable cabin.

Not much in the cache stakes today but managed to grab a few mainly Trig Points.

Caches today were:

TP2424 – Kay Hill

TP0340 – Kiamal Area

GCMQYR – WeirBal

TP5310 – Balranald Area Trig

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Family Life, Scouts

AJ2010 – Troop 0404 Departure

January 2, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

It was 12:30 pm and all except 1 family were waiting at the Blackwood Primary School (the missing family were at the Belair Primary School wondering where everyone was). We were wondering where the bus was. It didn’t arrive until 1:00 pm.

Once the bus arrived, bags were loaded on and kids found their seats. It was then back off the bus for the departure photos, final farewells and then it was time for Rachael and Jenny to depart for the AJ2010 at Cataract Park for the 22nd Australian Jamboree.

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Geocaching

Time to wear off that Xmas lunch …

December 26, 2009 Scott Leave a comment

Like I am sure many others yesterday, I indulged too much in the food and drink department. So after a sleep in, it was time to head out and walk some of it off.

There were a few caches that I had been leaving for such a day in the local area. One was in Belair National Park and the other two were in the quarries half way down Old Belair Road.

Drove up to the Park Boundary and found the right fire track to get close to GZ. I grew up in this park in my early years – it was more or less my backyard. It seemed so bigger back then. GZ was located in the northern part of the Park (don’t want to give away too much).

We used to be able to ride our bikes all the way to GZ but it is so overgrown that it was a real struggle through blackberries to get anywhere near. Made it through leaving skin and blood along the way.

Once getting to GZ it was a relatively easy find – another “Z” cache bites the dust. Now to get out ……

The other two caches were in a quarry that we have used over the years for Road Crash Rescue training and Rope Rescue training so again I was familiar with the area.

The first was one of series of Mitcham Quarries which I still have a couple to grab and was a quick find at the base of one of the cliffs we use for Rope Rescue. The second cache was another “Z” cache …..

Many of the previous finders had resorted to using abseiling gear to retrieve this one – I was hoping to utilise my climbing skills.

I scouted out the cache location. I could see it from the other side of the quarry. There appeared to be enough hand and foot holds even for my large frame. Made the climb, retrieved the cache, back down, signed the log, back up to rehide the cache and back down without even losing any skin. 🙂

I think I had worked off enough of yesterday – well I was certainly sweating it out, so back hoe for a swim.

Caches for the day:

GC1KV2M – Alternative toMultiply is Divide

GC1XCD8 – Mitcham Quarries #2 – Car Crash Crag

GC18AX7 – Ransom

$GC18AX7 - Another \"Z\" cache is mine ...$

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Family Life, Holidays

Xmas Lights

December 17, 2009 Scott Leave a comment

It is that time of the year again, but we are always way too busy it had taken a bit longer to get the lights up and running.

We are one of the few this year with lights up in the neighbourhood, but the kids still get a kick out of them and so do I.

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12 of 12, Family Life, Firefighting, Geocaching, Scott at Work, Scouts

December 12 of 12

December 12, 2009 Scott 3 Comments

Today was an interesting and varied day for a 12 of 12.

The day started out in the early hours of the morning with a 3rd alarm fire at the old Julia Farr building at Fullarton where I attended as a Safety Officer.

After a pretty broken sleep with the pager continuing to go off every hour or so, it was time to head up to the Blackwood Scout Hall to assist the Scout Leaders to pack the pallecon with the equipment for Troop 0404 attending the AJ2010. After packing the 2 trailers with the last minute bits and pieces we headed down to Gillman to start packing.

When we saw the size of the pallecon and the amount of gear to fit in, we were not sure of whether it was possible. Many of the other troops packing also were of the same mind and kept coming over to see how we were going.

After 2 hours all but 2 water containers (they will go in the bus) made it in and the pallecon started its journey to Cataract Park.

It was then time to do some geocaching in the Gillman area.

Caches found today are:

GC1KKCT – Sister of the South

GC1NXH0 – The Fifth Element

GC1BBEX – BIC

GC1FYQV – Come Chase The Bunny