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Louise_Gerhard

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  1. Hi Just started getting my energy level back. The one vehicle followed the other one the whole time - 24 hours. We never slip up. We did every cache together, so we could chat at each cache. We never changed drivers during this trip. It took me about two days to recover fully. This is not easy at all. You are on the move for the full 24 hours. Gerhard
  2. I am glad that someone is responding after this boulder was dropped in the little bush. I also believe that one specific cacher that resorted to “copy and paste” techniques is reading this forum so I am sure we converted one “copy and paste” cacher. This made me angry. Just recently I visited his caches and I logged different logs on them. But yet two weeks later he visited my caches with more than 15 “copy and paste” logs. For this cacher - Please remove your logs and log a TFTC if you have nothing good to say or rather say “This is a stupid cache” or anything you want to say. It is part of our German culture to be open. We as a team do like straightforward people that say want they mean to say. I have more than 80 caches and I will not enjoy copy and paste on my caches no more. We as a team will not accept it any longer; it is our fault if we do accept it or we do tolerate it. Only we can change this. So I make it your problem. It can become the order of the day if we do not call “STOP” right now. If you do not change it quickly then I will punish you with extremely long logs with the difference that they are all the same. A WORD OF CAUTION. Cachers are extremely intelligent human beings and they will quickly realised who is the guilty team/s if they find my “copy and paste” logs on your cache hides. Be careful – this copy and paste logs could back fire on your own hides. They could use my extremely long “copy and paste” log for logging their own cache finds. We are planning to get to Bloemfontein with a group of cachers of more than 80 caches per person. There are about 7 people in this group. I am sure Oom Louwtjie will not enjoy reading the same log 560 times. My challenge is to write 80 to a 100 logs without resorting to TFTC. I am looking forward to the caches but the logging is going to take some times but out of respect for the cache owner/s I will try my best to do a good log on all of them. Now we are going to bring the house down, forget about the boulder in the bush this time. Wazat, please run for the hills. This time there will be many multi caches waiting. I am still waiting for a response from the cacher at the Durban event that had a lot to say about my ways and the way I do things. We are discussing rules and etiquette so this is the place where the gloves do come off to get to a workable solution. Please come out of the closet. Geocaching is a small world and many cachers do know me - certain things do come around. This is not a geocaching rule but a normal acceptable practise - if you have a problem with a cacher or anybody else then you need to face him/her or you need to deal with e-mails on a one to one basis. To postpone such an issue is not good. It will grow and you need to kill it while it is still small. If you have a problem with your wife you resolved it quietly and behind close doors with respect to each other and you get to workable solution based on mutual agreement - screaming at your wife in public is not a workable solution. The same with geocaching - to discuss a person behind his back at an event while complaining about etiquette is conflicting in itself. In this instance my name was mentioned in the public at an event where I was not present. So it is now in public domain and you now need to come to this forum and explain yourself. Private e-mails are no longer an option and the issue cannot be resolved privately. We have many cachers at this forum and they will act as referees and judges and I am sure they will find a middle ground. If you know me well you will understand that I am a straight forward and a very simplistic person that are not scared to face any issues or anyone or any situation. I only fear God himself and it is the only One I do not face or challenge as He alone have all the answers. My next move will be to face you directly if you do not resolve it here. But I will not do it aggressively neither will I challenge you in public as you have done. I will ask to have a word with you in private as grown ups will do at an event. Sooner or later we will meet and because I do not leave issues we will deal with it. If you convince me that I am wrong then I will shake your hand and I will apologize but if you are wrong I expect the same from you. If we are both wrong then we will have a beer and a laugh and do some more caching together. All part of the fun to be alive and to enjoy life to the fullest. I am not angry but I do love issues even if it is tough. G.
  3. Wazat, one can never please the world. On the one side a cacher will thank me for writing a long log and the next cacher will write me an e-mail me with “Please keep your log short, it is hard to read your 9 logs”. I do not care too much about cachers replacing my caches. If I do maintenance and I found that he was wrong then I will remove the replacement cache but I am not going to jump up and down and/or deleting the logs. I also will not inform him and I will try not to stick my finger in his eye. I actually encourage cachers to replace my caches if they are sure that they are gone and two or more DNF’s were found. I appreciate the replacement and the effort the cacher made more than a blue DNF. What is more irritating is that some cachers are now trying to get their logs longer than mine for the sake of the badge. I have only one word on average to get to the top level. But some guys also wants to get there so they take a short cut - they write a complete story and copy and paste it into more than one of the caches I owe. That was a massive blunder from their side. They do not know me that well, I will respond and I will react. This is where I loose interest and I delete the notification e-mails without even reading them. Bottom line is that this copy and paste is actually the same as a TFTC – it adds no value. For heaven’s sake rather do a TFTC log. It is easier on the eyes and my patience can tolerate this and I will accept it like it is. All my logs are different and I am proud to say that – copy and paste is not my style. But soon I will pay these chaps a visit and then it is PAYBACK TIME. I will do the longest log ever and this cache visitor will receive a copy and a paste on all of his hides in the future. The only difference is that it is not where it will stop. With my second visit and third visit and fourth visit the logs will be the same than the first visit. I hope he reads this comment and I hope that he will write me e-mails quickly before I get to his caches, which is on my plan for the end of the month. To say the truth the log is already written – I must just get to his caches. That is how I do things, you do it to me and I return the favour. Hopefully he will not like it and hopefully he will think about his logs. Maybe he will be learning something. To write e-mails to the ”copy and paste” cachers and to complain about it on the forum is like water on the back of a duck. Feeling and experiencing “copy and paste” logs on your own cache, as a returned favour is much more of an impact than empty words and reading. I do things different but I do get results quickly. In the beginning of caching I was like a loaded gun and I was ready to jump on top of a cache owner. During the years I chilled a bit. I do things unconventional and yes I am sometimes very nasty but I will not waste time with e-mails. However, the most difficult part of caching today is to arrive at a signboard on a corner and it does not show you anything and you stand there after finding the cache in 2 seconds wondering what you are going to say in your log. This is hell for anyone that wants to write something positive about this cache. My true feeling is “TFTC”. But I am also guilty – some of my caches are not that great and if a guy logged a “TFTC” than I accept it like it is. Now we get to the one that are bothering some cachers and they are too afraid to speak their mind. I always love to open Pandora’s box to see what comes out of it. I have different rules of etiquette and my mind does work different. But this is the pleasure of life – we are not the same. Our culture and beliefs, teachers, parents, experiences, background and religion, the way that you grown up made you unique and you should be proud of it. The hard part is to accept others, which is different from you and to tolerate their beliefs. I noticed that most cachers believe that a cache must be published before a first to find. I am thinking much wider and broader than this little window. To me this is not a hard and fast rule but it depend on the owner and I will dance the way he beats the drum. My rules are simple. If the cache is in an urban area where there is a chance that other cachers can find it then I will not allow any cacher to be with me when it is stashed. If it is in an isolated spot with no cachers around then I feel it is stupid not to allow a FTF on the cache. If a cacher/s is with me then he will not log a HTH but he will be given the chance to search for it. If he claims it as a FTF then so be it and if he wants to log a HTH or leave it for a next cacher then so be it. I am not going to force him to do it my way; I leave that decision to him based on what he feels is right or wrong at that moment. The bottom line is that I am the cache owner and I make the rules. I am the only one accountable for that cache and I am accountable for the maintenance of such. But with full accountability the power is given to me for the decision and no one else can direct or dictate the FTF rules, unless it is on private property or it is misleading and cachers can be hurt without a warning on the listing. But it is going much further than this. If I have 4 cachers with me and they are driving big 4x4’s at a emission rate of 180mg/km and we are 150 km away from home what is the effect if they all have to come back to search for the cache as a FTF? They know that the cache was stashed and they will keep an eye on the listing and the chance is high that they will find it first. This calculates to more than 160 kg of stuff into Mother Nature. Do it ten times and you have 1.6 tons of co2 in the air just because you want to apply the rule of “First publishing before a FTF”. I am not prepared to pay the price of 160 kg of co2. With my way it is a saving in co2. In real terms this is a saving of more than 90 litre of diesel, which is also a scares resource. In rand terms a saving of R820 for the three cachers to find that FTF, excluding the wear and tear. So in my madness there are some techniques and something different than a strict rule. At present as a team we have done more than 100 000 km of caching which amounts to about 18 tons of co2 released and if there is a technique to reduce this amount then I will find it and I will use it. We are going to make use of a two wheeler soon, not only to save money but to save something else which is important to me. I am not going to stop caching but I will look at ways to reduce the impact even if it is slight. Does this answer your question? Let us see what is next in this Pandora’s box. G
  4. ScotScot, As jy so stil begin raak dan begin ek te vrees. Dit lyk asof Bakgat die caches uit sy kop wil leer. Met die laaste event het hy my verbaas met sy kennis van die Bloemfontein caches. Dit lyk asof hy baie ernstig is. My vrou lief het baie lank gedink oor 24 ure en toe blaas sy die aftog. Ek is nie lus vir die alleen cache met 24 ure in die sak nie. So as ek welkom is dan wil ek graag saam met julle groep cache. Ek neem aan dat ons mekaar by die event gaan kry. Hoe gaan dit met die beplanning? Ek neem aan die eerste cache is naby die event. As jy kan stuur my die route wat jy beplan na my e-mail toe. Wazat waar pas jy in by hierdie groep van 24 ure? Cache jy saam met Tinkerbell of cache jy saam met die groep? Sien julle later. Gerhard
  5. Short and sweet – the Africa trip is off for this year. Sorry guys it is postponed and not dead. For those cachers that need more information I have included the book. I started at a new company on 1 March at Vulcania. This is my biggest engineering challenge and threat yet. I was head hunted and tested for about a week to determine if I have the ability to turn around this company from the edge of bankruptcy to a world leader in the next year. Normally this will take 3 to 5 years but they are targeting 1 year. For the next year there will be little sleep and a lot of nail biting and a lot of thinking and many people changes to get the right people in the bus. I have to succeed or I have to join the unemployment queue. It is that simple. If I make it then I am smiling all the way to the bank. If I fail then I am the one walking bare foot to the next cache with hunger pains. Only time will tell what is ahead. Unsure times are ahead and there is not footpath or markers through this jungle. I cannot go on this “Out of Africa” trip during this period – my commitment to culture change will be in doubt if I leave the company for 2 weeks. Also I need to create a financial backup in case I do get fired. So after a lot of thinking and considering the options available to me we as a team decided to shelve it temporarily. One of my best friends is planning to buy a Pajero and he also would like this trip to be postponed. I can trust him and I know that he will go along. I received no commitment from any cacher/s to join us with this trip. My own team is also changing their plans. Next year my daughter and wife will fly to Victoria and they will wait for me that side. Here they will join me and they will go back via vehicle to RSA. The planning is still going ahead. We are planning to visit the neglected 32 BN graves, soon these graves will be gone for ever; we will also show the position and layout of Fort Doppies which was also called Fort Ashes at one stage when a gas cylinder exploded. We are still considering extending the route to Malawi but at present this is just a thought and not a “must do”. For sure this trip will only be done once and never again. Sorry but there is no options left. I am sad to postpone this caching trip but reality is a different concept that knows no boundary. G.
  6. Hi ScotScot, Glad you accepted my comment well. Luckily we know each other. Now for another one. The question of U turns. This was a problem the last time. Please do not mention U turns in front of Trix and his team – they do get nervous when they hear that word. In the middle of their record attempt they were nearly wiped out by a U turn done by a certain Terrano. I have no idea who he is. Sorry for the bad U turn, misjudged myself with the speed so early in the morning. I had a good plan until I started to hunt the caches. Suddenly I realised that there are too many U turns and I had to adapt the search and in this process I got confused and skipped a couple of caches. There is a good macro called “CacheRoute.gsk”. Look for it on the macro page on the GSAK website. Only trick is that you can select a maximum of 24 caches. With this macro you have two options. Select a round trip or a one-way trip. I normally select a one-way trip. My mind works in a straight direction so it suits me the best. Luckily our caches are more or less in a line for the ones that this team need to get to. With my previous trip I followed the straight-line approach. Straight into a direction and straight into another direction. But this is where you need to work on your route and the choices you made will predict your measurement of success. You can also go fancy. Run the macro called “Density”. This macro will give you the area with the highest concentration of caches. While you are fresh and ready to rock just maybe you need to get them fast and quickly. Do the less dense ones when you are tired but then you have the maximum amount of caches in the bag. When you have the areas with the highest density you could set your user flag for your selection and do the route. Export it to Map Source and set it for simulation and drive the route on the Pc first to check if the route is correctly selected. Just remember to up the speed of the different routes to get a quick simulation. There is a third technique. A little bit nasty with a twitch. First you download all Bloem caches into Map Source. Now for the nasty trick - go to the previous record breaker cache finds as they have done it. Download their cache finds - they did mark as they found it and they have numbered it. They done a lot of planning and all you need to do are to fine-tune their effort to suit. More or less like the Chinese is doing. They copy the vehicles and they change it to something better or that is what they think they are doing. You now go back to Map Source and you plot their route exactly as they have done it. Look at the route and run a simulation on their route and fine tune their route to make sure that U turns are gone. The next step is to add all caches not done by them such as new caches on your route in the proper way. You will beat the record this way. In short – you use the previous record breakers attempt as a baseline and you fine tune. I wonder how many times I am going to cross paths with your group. Gerhard
  7. I have a different view, which could be wrong to some but I need to share this with you, as you have to think and plan around this one. Some guys will try to fry me but we do it different and that will stay like it is. I am doing it my way. Your idea is noble but there is a practical side to it. I was doing the caches alone in Bloemfontein and I have a tiny weenie experience of the caches that side. I had to select off-road on the GPS then back to on road, then back to the route and go for the next cache, just to repeat the whole story again. It was getting irritating at one stage. Make sure you have two GPS’s with you, one with the complete route and one with only off-road that you will use to find the cache. A better way is to break the route in 4 parts. It is easy to manage. Set the target at 120 caches. That will give you 30 caches per route. It will then help you to keep focus. You have 6 hours to complete one route. You start at 00h00 and at 06h00 you must have one route of 30 caches under you belt. If you want you can break it down to 3-hour routes of about 15 caches. Keep a tally chart with you to mark the progress. You could loose a starter on your motor if you do your way. Some of the caches are so quick that there is not even time to kill the engine. On the other hand you would not like to keep your motor running with the keys in the ignition while you are 20 meters away from the vehicle. If you do 112 caches you will have to start the engine 112 times. In short words this will indicate that you will have to start the motor every 12.8 minutes. If you are disciplined and you have the go you could go down to 10.8 minutes per cache but you have to move and allow no time for playing around. Would you enjoy starting your motor every 10 minutes? If you analyse this further you could be heading for 120 to 130 caches for the 24 hours that you are planning for. I am not gunning you – I am only trying to explain the reality you face with this situation and to prepare you mentally for this record. To find the caches is not the one you have to conquer but the mental block you will face. My team name is gerhardoosMPsa but we are three members in the team. Does this mean that I must be present with the whole team to log a find anywhere? Nope it will not do and I refuse to apply this rule. I found probably about 85% of the caches on my own. The rest of my team was not even close to the location but they share the find. Most cachers do it this way not only here but everywhere. In Bloemfontein we will do it thus different and my team will do it my way. I have about 88 caches to be found in Bloemfontein. There is no record for me; just finds to push me pass the 1900 finds mark. As a team we will do the cache hunts on our own and not part of your group but with different rules. My wife will drive and my daughter will write the log and keep notes, I will find the cache and the engine will be kept running. My wife the driver will not hunt the caches unless I struggle then my team will join me for the find but then the motor is off and the key is with us. Hopefully this will not be needed too many times. If we get to this mark then we stop and we go for a sleep. I hope you all the best and I hope this helped you to understand that to find the caches is the easiest part of the hunt. But there is more to this then the obvious and you have to think about this. Again, you will break the record but you have to plan for this carefully. Please remember that Trix who is a long distance marathon athlete set the record with his team and he is fit and endurance is his middle name. You will have to counter this with something else. Gerhard
  8. I am confused. This does also mean that the hike in the Gorge is something of the past? I really hope you resolve the problem that you have. G
  9. Please keep an eye on the events outside of RSA as a topic started by me. This is not included in this RSA events topic. It includes more than one country and I would like to keep these foreign countries ones away from the RSA events. I have a simple mind and I like to have it in one place for my references for future use. For these Africa trips one need information and it is not nice to page through a complete RSA event organizing forum to find the relevant info for a specific country among the RSA events. One thing that we learned from events is that you can not please every single cacher. There is always someone with a different idea and with a different venue and different time. To arrange these Africa trips is not easy. Many things can go wrong. So we will publish a date and a venue to get the ball rolling – if there is someone that wants to change it then we will adapt the listing if the majority agrees. We are still heading for Africa during this year but first we will do Lesotho somewhere late in April but more to the south and this time around it is going to be a difficult 4x4 route and you will camp next to the road. For the Africa trip we will publish about two months before the time. I hope you got the yellow fever injection during last year. The vehicles and the drivers will be tested to the limit in Lesotho to make sure that everybody is ready for an Africa trip. You will go down “God Help Me Pass” and you will see the hidden gems such as the dinosaur footprints and the waterfall but to get there is tough. This is going to be rough and recovery equipment will be needed. You will also discover that at a certain place we will end at a rock cliff where we will turn left into and down the river. From here it is long drive down this river to get to the other road. The water is not deep but there are rocks and there are a risk of flash floods. Here you can decide if you want to do the Africa trip or not. The Africa trip will be easier but if things do go wrong then I want to make sure that all cachers know how to deal with the situation. At the Lesotho camp site we will make sure that there are not white flowers the next morning all around us. So we have to make use of a make shift toilet. We will also have to arrange for a temporary shower area. Next to the road there are no shops, fuel, no garages and water taps. For those that never done this or that have never lived this way it will be a steep learning curve but it could be an awarding trip that you will not forget. If you can enjoy this trip you will be confident that you are Africa material and that you will enjoy to go higher up. I will make sure that you go in and that you come back in one piece. To go into Africa sounds romantic but sometimes it is not easy and you have to prepare for the unexpected. During this recent easy Swaziland trip people battled to join us so the Lesotho trip will shuffle the pack a bit. I am also going to fish around in my club for more experienced people to join us. Next Africa topic will be at the correct forum. Gerhard
  10. Praat met my GpsStorm. Moenie van jou hart 'n moordkuil maak nie. Gee ander mense sress en moet dit nie self vat nie. Gee my 'n e-mail miskien kan ons dit uit sorteer. Ek weet dat jy van jou caches hou en dat hulle spesiaal is en dat dinge baie verkeerd moes gegaan het om hierdie roep te doen. Wat brand hier? Ek sal van jou caches oorvat as jy voet by stuk wil hou. Maar daar is 'n 4.5 cache wat ek sal verkies om nie te kry nie. Gerhard
  11. We had a great weekend and the caches were excellent. Even the weather was fine. I think all of us enjoyed the “rough it” with the 4x4’s. I will visit again sometime during this year. I always state that one need to take your vehicle papers with you. This time I needed it badly. For interesting sake I include the following for cachers crossing the borders. I had no problem crossing the Swazi side at all. On my return trip I was immediately pulled to the one side at the RSA side. This is what happened. I always make a note of the proceeding and questions and I always prepare for any strange questions for the next crossing. Q: Was this your first time in Swaziland? A: No I done this trip a couple of times. Q: Why? A: Because it is country that is safe to visit and to enjoy. Q: Can I see you driving license? A: Yes, here it is. Q: What do you for a living? A: I am an engineer. Q: Did you ever stay outside of RSA for a long period? A: Yes, I did. Q: Where did you stay? A: In Germany for 3 months. Q: We do not recognize this vehicle, where did you buy it; did you buy it in Germany? A: I bought it in RSA at Rustenburg as legally sold by the first owner. Q: Open the bonnet. A: Ok. Engine number and identification plate and vehicle disk is now checked for anything strange. Nothing was found and all the data is correct. Normally this is where it stops but this guy carried it further. Q: This vehicle is not made in RSA? A: Yes it is made in Spain, but it was legally supplied and imported by Nissan and sold as it is now as stock standard with no modifications. Q: This is a 3 litre, did you change the engine? A: No, it is as build by Nissan and sold by Nissan and as stated on the license disk and on the identification plate. Q: Are you the owner of the vehicle? A: Yes, I am the legal owner. Q: Do you have the papers for the vehicle? A: Yes, I have. Q: Can I see it? A: Yes, here are the copies. Q: Why are you handing me copies of the papers? A: The original ones are my property and you can look at them but you will not remove it from my hands, the copies is legally certified and you can confirm the copy with the original but you will not be handed the original as I am the owner of this legal document and it will not leave my possession. The copies are for your use. Q: Are you the first owner? A: No I bought it second hand from a person in Rustenburg. Q: When was it first registered? A: It is written and stated on the vehicle papers and you will find it there, unfortunately I can not remember as I bought it second hand. I also have the deed of sale of this vehicle and your copy is included. I also have the roadworthy certificate and you will note that it corresponds with the date on the vehicle disk and you will also find a copy of the receipt as proof of payments. Q: Why did you pay so much for the vehicle? A: That is the market price. Ok, you can go. About 11 cars passed me and now it was my turn. Much more irrelevant questions were asked but it is not even worth mentioning. I think if the paper work was not with me then I would have been in trouble. Then he is in control but with the paper work I am in control. When I arrived at the RSA gate he was looking for something to give me grieve. There is a clear record that this vehicle was temporarily exported to Swaziland and that it returned in the same state to RSA so there is no reason why he had to act this way. This guy had me in the eye. Maybe I looked stupid to him. But there was nothing that he could use to delay me. His attitude “Pull to this side” away from the others was clearly evident that he wanted to be in control and he wanted to give the single “whitey” trouble. The other guys crossing back into RSA had a quick engine and disk check and they were back in RSA. In cases like this take a deep breathe and talk slowly and keep you voice in one pitch. It bores them to death if they see you do not get upset. They will let you go as they do not get the feeling “I am in control”. It frustrates the hell out of them if you are prepared. I hope this is of value to someone – always carry your papers with you and keep copies in a separate file and stay calm. Somewhere at a border crossing you will find this type of character. Luckily it an exception to the rule and not the rule. Dit was lekker maar nou is dit klaar. Gerhard
  12. This is the plan (DV). It is not cast in stone and open for discussion and changes. In Swaziland you do not chase numbers as it is more about the location and the enjoyment of the location. However, we are striving to do the following caches. If you want to join please get me at the border at 07h00. I will drive a White Nissan Terrano 3 litre long wheel base with MP number plates. Not many of those around so you should find me easy. Just remember I will be moving fast; catch me if you can. Or else drop an e-mail and I will find you there. Day 1: Saturday 19 Feb 2011. • Arrive at Oshoek Border Post at 07h00. • Go to Cache “3 in a row” • Go to Cache “Mbabane City View 2” • Go to Cache “Mbababane City View 1” • Go to Cache “Malagwane Hill” • Event Breakfast and Coffee, meet cachers if any. • Hike to cache “Sheba’s breast”. (weather permitted and this one will take time, hike from Matenga Water falls, Allow for 2 hours 50 minutes, with thunderstorms this one will be skipped) • Go to cache “Milwane 4x4” • Go to cache “Execution Rock” • Got to cache “Lusushwane Swimming hole revisited” • Stay over at Malolotja Reserve and a barbeque the evening. • This is a total of 9 caches which is quite optimistic. Day 2: Sunday 20 Feb 2011. • Up at day break. • Quick breakfast at camp. • We then set off for cache “The Gap”. • Go to cache “Nyonyane Island” • Go to cache “Njonyane Ranch” • Go to cache “Mbuluzi/Pine Valley View” • Go to cache “Stoneage artefacts” • Back to Oshoek, border closes at 22h00. Should be there well before this. • Back to Gauteng with roads from hell, travel will be slow due to potholes. • This is a total of 5 caches for day 2 which is reasonable. Hourly weather forecast, in graph form, quite useful: Hourly forecast
  13. Weather Forecast for Swaziland. Saturday: Hi – 27 degrees Celsius Lo – 15 degrees Celsius Numerous showers, mostly cloudy, but mild, we are in for some serious 4x4 drives that is for sure. I am bringing the winch and recovery equipment. All part of the fun. Wind speed: 6.37 km/hr Wind direction NE Humidity: 86% Comfort level: 28 degree Celsius UV Index: Low Percipation chance: 83% Sunrise: 05:39 AM SAST Sunset: 06:39 PM SAST Length of day: 12 hours 59 minutes of caching Moon Rise: 04:18 PM SAST Moon Set: 02:14 AM SAST Sunday: Hi – 26 degrees Celsius Lo – 16 degrees Celsius Scattered showers, mostly cloudy but mild. Wind speed: ?? Wind direction ??? Humidity: 90% Comfort level: 27 degree Celsius UV Index: Low Percipation chance: 44%
  14. The event for Swaziland is now in full swing. I was ready to publish my travelling plan but this is now subjected to change as a couple of easy caches will be planted by Jo.Jo-van. It will be nice to have a FTF in Swaziland. As soon as the new caches are published then I will publish the travelling and cache hunting plan. Thanks for the extra effort to attract more cachers to cross the border, hopefully the new ones will help them. Hosta said that he will attend and I noticed that he is busy hunting caches in Swaziland so we could find him there. During this period we will attempt “The Gap”. It sounds like a fantastic cache. It also has a rating of 2/4.5 and it will fit nicely into my difficulty/terrain matrix on my stats. I will stay for the weekend. My wife and daughter will not attend due to commitments. If you want to come along please feel free to contact me. I will not charge you any fees. I am leaving Gauteng on Friday at about 18h00 and I am heading for Ermelo for a sleep over, then it is Oshoek at about 07h00 on Saturday. (DV) Gerhard
  15. Ok this is a bonus for GP cachers. I stashed a couple of caches in Marievale Bird Sanctuary. If you are clever, ok here I am preaching to the converted (all cachers are clever), than you will do a hunt on the caches at this reserve during March the 12th. You can do the caches during the day; have a braai the afternoon and gaze at the stars during the night and you will also learn a lot about our world. Or you can do it the other way around, do caches in Gauteng, then do the caches in the reserve during the night; that should boost your numbers. I hope the weather plays along. The following is an extract from our newspaper. The Springs/Nigel branch of Wildlife and Environmental Society of South Africa will host a star gazing event at this sanctuary. Two east rand astronomers will bring large telescopes to the public to have a peek at the wonders of the night sky. A guided walk through parts of this sanctuary will leave the picnic site at 16:30. This will be followed by a social “bring and braai”. Luciano Pazzi and Andrew Helston will after dark provide information about the stars and planets. Everyone is welcome. Bring your own refreshments, torch, chairs, warm clothes, binoculars and insect repellent. For more information phone Stan Madden on 082 471 6050 or Mike Hood 082 391 6304. Maybe we should hold an event for this one. I think it will be nice to have a braai, a walk and to gaze at he stars. Most of our events are during the day and very little during the night. But that will depend on the demand. Our team will be there and feel free to visit us for a chat. Gerhard
  16. I just had a look at some of the stats. Some of them is just mind boggling. Cacher with the highest find in the world is now at 48953. http://www.geocaching.com/profile/Default.aspx?guid=e35cc3ef-6ea4-4ccc-a67f-0e1537af57f1 You can view this list at… http://www.zinnware.com/HighAdv/Geocaching/most_caches_found.php He also have 610 hides on his name. Gerhard
  17. Rules are rules and if it is in the benefit of caching then we have to abide even if we do not like it. That is part of life. I personally do not like any cache on any memorials, grave or a symbol such as a cross next to the road which could be extremely important to other people. It is their holy place to visit their loved ones and one should stay away from such. It does cause damage on relationships and to the community on the long run. But the exception did become the practise. So be it. We also should start with the ones on private property where clear signs are added. Just recently I requested the cache owner to check on his cache as there are clear warning signs that no vehicles must enter the area and that it is private property. The car tracks to the cache are clearly visible and soon we are going to have an angry owner. The area is developed under the Mine Act and trespassing is seen as a severe offence. If you get hurt then you are in the deep brown stuff and you could be prosecuted under the ACT as an employer which will mean a very small fine of about R25 000 and/or 2 years in jail. The cache owner never responded and the cachers are visiting this cache quite regular. It is a matter of time before all hell break loose. G.
  18. You are going to have a problem after your visit to Swaziland, no matter when you go. My wife refused point blank to visit Swaziland at one stage. I had to negotiate turns around this issue. She then agreed to give it a try but with the agreement that if she does not like it then we turn around and we go home. This is fair and just so off we go. I stayed at Ermelo during that period so home was only about 2 hours away. At one stage we drove pass shacks and I asked her if she is fine. She confirmed and she said that she noticed that the people are greeting us everywhere we go and they are friendly. I showed her the country and she was quite impressed. Every turn we took had something new to offer. The weekend was too short for her and she enjoyed every moment of it. She is even thinking of retiring one day in this country if it is possible. I took my German wife away from her mountains and the black forest but it stayed with her. This country is beautiful, it also have its bad parts and its own crises but so does every country. You will a have problem – you are going to enjoy this country. Just get used to drive at 80 km/hr and do not get involved in the politics and all is fine. Gerhard
  19. Swaziland is about 300 km away from Nigel. I am prepared to attend such an event but not at two weeks interval. To do two trips, one weekend on standby, another long trip for caching and trying to scrape some monies together for an extended trip into Africa will give me a financial knock in one month. But if this in somewhere deep in March then there is a good possibility that I will attend. But again personal circumstances are different and for other cachers it could be possible. My personal reason why I arrange this event is the following – only my 2 cents worth. I drive every day of my life at 129 km/hr on a tar road for 35 km per trip and I sleep in a house. I have stresses like a guitar string. When I go to Swaziland then I want to relax and I want to do it different. I want to go off-road and I want to get muddy and I want to drive sideways through one hell of a mud run. I want to go boulder hopping up the hill. If we get stuck then we get unstuck, it is all part of the trip. I want to do a hike and I want to visit Sheba’s Breast and I just want to sit down and I want to enjoy the scenery. Just charging the mental batteries. I want to find caches but if there is a good trial then I will select the trial and if there is a cache then it is a bonus. Here I do not chase the numbers – that is for another day in Gauteng. My wife and daughter are not coming with on this trip as they know and they understand that this is my time where I run away from the normal things in life and they are mature enough to allow me that space. Unfortunately the organizing of the trip will be determined by the attendees and what they plan to do as a group. If they arrive with sedans - I can not expect from them to follow me up the hill. If they want to do the quick ones then we do them. If they want to stay with me for the weekend then it is their choice. If the majority does not want to hike then we do so – but somewhere I will still have the time to relax and to enjoy the company of the cachers. Maybe we first need to determine if there is any demand for an event in Swaziland. The event that is currently in progress will quickly prove if this is viable. I have at this stage a couple of “maybe” attendees on my private list and hopefully we will be more than 4 teams which are much more than expected. I am only praying that I am not the only one at this event. That will feel like a DNF. At present we are not sure what to plan for our outing when the event is completed. Are we going off road - there should be enough mud, are we going up the mountains, do the hikes, how many caches, are we staying on the tar; should we do the quick hits? I have this feeling that most cachers will tend to hang back and will rather adopt an approach of “Let us see how the first group respond and let us read their experiences first”. So maybe two weeks is too short to publish another event. Some people like to read of the experiences of others and they need time to think about it. G
  20. Ginger, jy is 'n baie stoute smurfie. Post #40 above have the link on this topic. But here it is again. http://coord.info/GC2MNMY I hope your team can attend; long time since I saw this team at an event. I need to say this - the reviewer used the bullet train last night. As soon as the request for way point change was placed the lisitng was correct. Thanks reviewer for the speedy effort and sorry for the additional work but we stumbled a bit with the blond stuff. At least the mess I made was resolve with this listing. Gerhard
  21. This idea is great and I will attend if this is on a weekend. Even greater when an expert is willing to share his time and knowledge with the cachers. Gerhard
  22. Ok, maybe this is not that funny. We had to change the location of the event. I hope this is in order. This is now final. Sorry for the inconvenience. If you need to relieve high blood pressure drop the event organizer an e-mail and vent it. I dropped an e-mail to the reviewer and hopefully we will have this resolve. The correct waypoint is attached as a note. Not nice Mr. event organizer. Gerhard
  23. The train has arrived this morning and the Swaziland event is on the cards. I hope the Swazi cachers stash some quick FTF's close to the event date. I need them. G
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