Jump to content

Goofster

+Premium Members
  • Posts

    195
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Goofster

  1. I have a Garmin GPSMap 76C looking for a home. It was bought in 2005, so it doesn't have the high sensitivity chipset. I also have a dashboard mount and a handlebar mount for it. Anyone in the Cape Town metropol area interested?

  2. sounds like a good place for a geocaching quiz evening - in the style of Dbob's - any quiz masters out there - Maybe Goofster as he was the winner last time?

     

    Quizmaster? Me? Are you fearful that I might sweep the prize board clean again, Tom?

     

    :(

  3. Hi Laurence,

     

    Apologies for the delay in replying but I’ve not been keeping an eye on my email much this week.

     

    A CITO can be held on any day of the year, but Larks and I have always tried to coincide ours with International CITO Weekend, which I think is usually the 3rd weekend in April. You can check the events calendar on the geocaching website, or on the CITO website, to confirm the dates (probably 18 & 19 April). I won’t be arranging one this year again, so feel free to grab the gap and arrange something.

     

    The first CITO we held was at Silvermine, and Larks did all the negotiation with SANParks. However, I suspect that not many organisations would object to a group of civic-minded folk picking up trash, as long as the area is not ecologically sensitive, e.g. endangered plants and the like. If there is a large amount of trash to be collected, it is helpful to contact the managing body to try to arrange collection with them.

     

    Cachers are a notoriously hungry bunch and won’t gather in large numbers unless there’s the reward of a plate of grub (preferably breakfast, although brunch is also a popular option), so what I did the last two years was find a suitable eatery close to the CITO location that could accommodate a group of 20 -30 people, and negotiated from that standpoint.

     

    The CITO’s that I arranged were also out of my area, especially the last one in Pringle Bay, so I had to make a trip or two to finalise the breakfast details. It’s a good idea to set a cut-off date for reservations, but there will always be people who will pitch up on the day and decide at the last minute to eat. Having said that, though, arranging a meal is not obligatory. Folk can always drift off in groups and do their own eating elsewhere.

     

    We’ve also tried in the past to get companies such as CUM and the like (and individuals) to sponsor lucky draw prizes for attendees, which has worked quite well. I’ve always thought it would be a good idea if we could set up an overseeing body, such as a Western Cape Chapter of Geocaching South Africa, to liaise with the press, retailers, SANParks and the like, to promote and sponsor prizes for events. Perhaps now that the number of geocachers is increasing it may be time to think about something like that. Just a thought.

     

    Hope this helps you somewhat.

  4. This log appeared on a archived cache:

     

    “the mere fact that we made the effort to get there we would like the owner to accept a find based on our photos to prove that we were there.

    TFTC”

     

    Mmmm TFTC (Thanks For The Cache) what cache??? And log a find!!!!

     

    Oooh, yes, how cheeky! I would certainly delete a log of that nature if it appeared on one of my caches. Does that mean we no longer have to look for the caches, we just have to get to the coordinates and we can log a find?? Sorry, that's just not on!

  5. Cool, another nice site we can use to keep track of our progress. Now, how about pruning the geocachingranking website of all those 'lapsed' cachers who haven't found anything in over 1000 days - that's about three years since they were last active, so I think we can safely say that, for them, the bug didn't bite! :D

  6. And then, of course, we have those cachers who will place a new, regular sized cache out in the middle of nowhere, but without a pen or pencil to log your finds! I normally have at least two pens with me, but what do you do when you're halfway up a mountain at 05h30 in the morning, and you realise you left your pens in the cache-mobile?

  7. Prices seem high. Who gets the money? If it is sponsored, than why pay at all. Or should you not find a company like Engen, Shell or Sasol to "sponsor" some petrol for the entrants? :ph34r:

     

    Unfortunately, the South African fuel industry is still heavily regulated by Government, and it is illegal to discount the price of petrol - witness Raymond Ackerman's failed attempts to sell petrol at a reduced price at Pick 'n Pay outlets. Sponsoring even a tankful of petrol would amount to discounting the price - as an employee of a major oil company, even I am not entitled to a free allowance. Perhaps I should rather siwtch to working for a financial institution, where I would at least get preferential home loan rates!! :laughing:

  8. I'm not at all sure that I approve of these "geocaching" competitions. I think the term has been misappropriated, because racing to win a prize is not what geocaching is about, in my book. Cape Storm did something similar at one time, not sure if they still do but I found it a little distasteful at the time. And it would be nice if they got the datum format correct. Call me grumpy!

  9. Thanks, Tom. It was a pleasure - as always - to see you last night! I must admit I've been more like The Tortoise than The Hare in reaching 400, but we all know how that story ends, don't we? :)

     

    Well done to +27 21 on reaching their 50 - it was great to meet you guys and I look forward to seeing you at future events!

     

    P.S. Well done to all of those other cachers who have reached a milestone lately, espcecially The Trickies - 1500 ways to go!!

  10. We all have our reasons for being geocachers; mine is that I love the nature walks. Given that, I much prefer to do caches that take me to places of natural and scenic beauty or interest. I’m not a fan of plodding around the concrete jungle searching for clues that will lead to me a micro placed outside a pub or something similar, although I’ll do those from time to time if I’m with a group of geocachers or simply at a loss for something better to do. Those roadside caches on the long stretches of country drive are a welcome break; I’ve placed one myself, and I think it’s a nice location even though there isn’t anything particularly significant (apart from the beauty of nature) about it. But it has allowed people to travel a route they might not have considered before, and to see a part of the country they might otherwise not have seen.

×
×
  • Create New...