Raymond E

Hi Discombob, Sorry to learn you are leaving these fine regions - we had lots of fun together, yet never met! Good Luck and very best wishes. ciao Raymond E

Aha! So we have an "Adoption" system and an adoption page. Well done. Will go into this. Thanks.

I have been away from my favourite old stamping grounds, the Cape South Peninsula, for a few years and am now faced with the problem of having to service and maintain some of my aging cache sites. I have always been very scrupulous in this regard and have even archived caches rather than let them suffer neglect in any way. The hard fact is that I am now too far away to give these caches proper attention and wonder what I should do. One cache in particular “ET in a Little Garden” has been reported as being soaked by rain and it grieves me that there is nothing I can do about it. The three story lines in the Silvermine Tales have run out and I cannot replace them. I wonder, is there a scheme whereby one may hand over or transfer a cache to a local geo-cacher who will then be prepared to take over the maintenance job? The “Silvermine Tales” is easy. They comprised laminated bookmarks and I can easily furnish them, but emptying and drying the contents of a sodden Tupperware box on top of Klein Tuinkop is a different matter. Any ideas anyone?

I support your action in such a sensitive area. Yet its a good area to encourage visitors. Maybe the answer is to concentrate more on "Virtual Caches" in these areas.

Yawn, stretch... Well, that was winter! What's happening about the posting of caches? Yes, Clari, lots of Silvermine sites for Peter! Why don't we somehow combine this with our competition against the Kiwi's?

I had a beautiful web site which showed all the satellites whizzing around the globe but, despite an intensive search, cannot seem to find it again. Never mind, here are a few more interesting ones: Web Addresses GPS related: http://www.aero.org/publications/GPSPRIMER http://www.lowrance.co.za/news.htm http://www.eaglegps.com/egps/guide.htm http://www.trimble.com/gps/howgps/gpsfram1.htm http://www.magellangps.com/ Environmentally, there are: http://www.antarctic-circle.org http://www.mcsa.org.za/ http://www.outthere.co.za/ http://www.botany.uwc.ac.za/envfacts/fynbos Then, through Peter Scholtz, I also enjoyed the following: http://www.environment.gov.za/sacoast/ http://www.sunpath.co.za http://www.brillig.com/geocaching Lastly, in view of the cache ‘raids’ we’ve been experiencing lately, the following seems to open up most interesting possibilities, especially for high-tech fundi’s like Peter: http://www.camtrakker.com/digital.asp

OOoops! Where did my first attempt at posting this reply go? I posted my original query because of all the references to maps on web pages - especially geocaching.com and the thought occurred to me: “Am I missing something?” From the replies received, it appears not. Firstly there is a whole ocean of strange names without product descriptions: Mapblast? Mapquest? MapTech? Mapopolis? TrackMaker? Softmap 8? Mapsource? EasyGPS? IMHO? Fugawi this and OziExplorer that?? I encounter “jargon” – always a problem for a newcomer. For example, what is a wire frame map? and a Shapefile?? Then, I learn that there are maps that can only download to Garmin while others are only compatible with Magellan. Now an entrepeneur has come up with so-called Third Party maps which apparently can download to both! There are constant references to the high costs and I fear reliance on digital maps will fall into the category of “Rich Boys Toys”. This is OK because, as far as I can gather, these maps concentrate mainly on famous golf courses, museums, popular fishing resorts and the local MacDonalds scattered all over the world. I think of our very excellent hiking maps by authors such as Jose Burman, Shirley Brossy, Mike Lundy, Colin Patterson-Jones, Tim Anderson, Jaynee Levy, even Helmke Hennig, TV Bulpin and the good old AA to name but a few with their accompanying route descriptions. I know, “meanwhile technology races ahead” but for the moment I wonder why anyone would want to even consider swopping the printed page for those tiny little squiggles on a GPS screen. Or, am I still missing something?

I posted my original query because of all the references to maps on web pages - especially geocaching.com and the thought occurred to me: “Am I missing something?” From the replies received, it appears not. Firstly there is a whole ocean of strange names without product descriptions: Mapblast? Mapquest? MapTech? Mapopolis? TrackMaker? Softmap 8? Mapsource? EasyGPS? IMHO? Fugawi this and OziExplorer that?? I encounter “jargon” – always a problem for a newcomer. For example, what is a wire frame map? and a Shapefile?? Then, I learn that there are maps that can only download to Garmin while others are only compatible with Magellan. Now an entrepeneur has come up with so-called Third Party maps which apparently can download to both! There are constant references to the high costs and I fear reliance on digital maps will fall into the category of “Rich Boys Toys”. This is OK because, as far as I can gather, these maps concentrate mainly on famous golf courses, museums, popular fishing resorts and the local MacDonalds scattered all over the world. I think of our very excellent hiking maps by authors such as Jose Burman, Shirley Brossy, Mike Lundy, Colin Patterson-Jones, Tim Anderson, Jaynee Levy, even Helmke Hennig, TV Bulpin and the good old AA to name but a few with their accompanying route descriptions. I know, “meanwhile technology races ahead” but for the moment I wonder why anyone would want to even consider swopping the printed page for those tiny little squiggles on a GPS screen. Or, am I still missing something?

Hi Warthog, We met briefly in Pretoria East last December – or rather, I saw your name on Pedro’s cache. As far as Western Cape is concerned, yes, the Peninsula is rather like a backyard where us locals play our marbles – we have fun! Notwithstanding, there are some good sites for visitors. 18 personal favourites, in alphabetical order, are as follows. My criterion is nothing more or less than when, at the end of the day, you can say: “Man, that was good!” Arboreal Rock Clari Blood Sweat & Sandy Bay Peter Scholtz DIY Newlands Scree Steve Hangklip Peter Scholtz (even though I was unsuccessful in finding the cache!) Knysna Peter Scholtz Little Lion’s Head Peter Scholtz Maclears Beacon Peter Scholtz Mowbray Ridge Borat Rooikrans Clari Sentinel View Cmerry Woodhead Peter Scholtz Amongst my own caches, I would list: Bipodosaurus in a Rampike Garden Crows Nest Porthole Danger Bay Environmental East ET in a Little Garden Paul, Venus & Titan …and while you’re doing Arboreal Rock, you might as well visit Tombstone Gulch for a quick draw!. As you are only arriving in December, I’m sure you will find suitable caches in the Winelands and adjacent vicinity