bear&fox

Hoo boy, I can think of at least two caches that must surely have been toasted in the current fire. Hopefully I will be proved wrong. I also read that it is thought 40% of the (world's) Silver Trees have been destroyed. Sad. Fox and I have been planning a cache that takes one through these magnificent trees... hopefully we can still find a reasonable stand of these! B

I also noted Die Hel (Groot Winterhoek) and Maltese Cross (Cederberg) appeared recently... neither of which are marked as new. I should image the reviewer, perhaps, took issue with the placement or contents and wanted something to change before approval was granted. Die Hel is a spectacular setting for a cache, and I can strongly advise cachers to make the trip out there.

He, he, he... good one! Welcome to all the new geocachers.

GS, the trick, we hope, is to build something of a positive image of geocaching in SA. Just yesterday CNN carried a(nother) story of a geocache bucket that resembled a bomb. Any activity will always draw some negative exposure, but we can do a little to show folks that it's beneficial to non-cachers as well. If one can get the nature conservation authorities to tolerate geocaching some years down the line then we'd be looking good. So we have to start somewhere. Of course we don't need to tell them about the caches peppering the Table Mountain chain just yet! But I think a little article in a regional newspaper showcasing beach-cleaning geocachers would do the sport a whole lot of good. Of course I could be wrong and we could all end up spending the weekend in jail and have our beloved GPSrs confiscated! B

Fox runs up mountains, crawls through caves and navigates by GPS. Bear

Ooops: link

XV, of course you are welcome. This is an extension to all geocachers that happen to be near 34°S, 018°E at the time. Goofster, good ideas all-round - and not just the meeting/coffee but also the venue. B&F will gladly volunteer to be involved in Vespa's excellent idea. Anyone with press contacts? What do we need aside from cachers, black bags and trailer for the spoils? B

Just noticed that 22 April is, apparently, CITO day. Might be a good day to set up that promised CITO event that has been discussed here. What say you? B

Looks like ZALandyman and Susieq have collected the TB... Shout if you are keen for local company, as a trip up the mountain is always a pleasure. B&F

That's a good point Erik makes, as the reviewer's details are now posted at the bottom of the log. The question is where do you draw the line? What will Nature Conservation think of geocaches placed on their property? Raise the issue with them and you WILL get a (negative) knee-jerk reaction. So we quietly go about our business and try to keep a low profile. Personally I think caches placed in cemetaries is just downright poor taste. There was a recent discussion about the Drakensberg authorities being a little upset with geocachers. From an outsiders point of view it would be seen as a nuisance. Of course we know better, and believe that geocaching does, after all, encourage one to visit the natural wonders of our country. And appreciate it. How does one make the uniformed see it that way? It seems that the timing is perfect to arrange that CITO event Vespa and Goofster have been making noises about... could even get some local newspapers in on the act to cast some positive exposure on the activity. Plus, as cownchicken pointed out, have a good breakfast beforehand. But then that's a different story entirely. B

Judging by the photographs, it's a pretty decent climbing wall! I'll give it a bash next time we are in the area. Excellent idea to have a CITO event. There must be many areas in CT worth scouring.

Thanks Vespa! Pity we could not join you on your mission later in the day, but the morning bit alone was good fun.

Welcome. Very addictive stuff. Gotta go, have caches to seek.

Hmmm... I came within a travel bug length of stepping on a puffadder when we hiked up to Bipodosaurus and Trappieskop. They are amazingly well camouflaged, and little more than pure luck made me spot the thing before trampling it (midway along the body, leaving the sharp bits more than enough room to find my juicy ankle). Thank God the dogs were left at home for that particular trip. Then I got tick bite fever anyway and spent a week with the most godawful headache you can imagine. So watch out for them ticks too! Contrary to what most doctors will tell you, as they write out elaborate bills for their time and expertise, you CAN get tick bite fever more than once and you DON'T always get a rash. What's more, pathology, also enjoying the financial exercise, CANNOT always detect it in your blood. Bear

Curious to find out how you came about your handle (username)? We're easy, we are literally reffered to as Bear and Fox. But how does a Doug become a Goofster and an Aaron transform into a vespaxvespa?

Good news boys and girls... Garmin GPS60CX - with expandable memory. =http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=73615&hvarT arget=search&cmCat=SearchResults

Yep, well done to Bob and the others!

Sounds good to us. Perhaps fire off with an 'event cache' for some coffee and breakfast? B&F

Look at your unit from the back, then on the (left) side between the plug-in points for the USB and external antenna cable you will see a small attachment point. This is for the lanyard. I'd ignore the broken rubber section, as it provides no structural value whatsoever anyway, and will serve as a healthy reminder to READ THE MANUAL next time! As far as I know it's glued to the top of your receiver, so the service folks may be able to replace it.

Telkom subjected to scientific evaluation By Business Day, 8 November 2005 08-11-2005. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TELKOM’s ridiculously high telecoms charges are no secret. But whenever a comparison is made with other countries, Telkom has a puerile tantrum, saying it’s unfair. So The Insider decided to commission a little comparison. The Insider’s personal propellerhead compared the time and costs to download 100GB of data over Telkom’s fastest ADSL offering (1Mbps) with the time and cost to fly to Hong Kong, visit an internet café, download 100GB of data at the fastest speed (1Gbps), and fly back. Quite a challenge, eh? Here are the results: Telkom line speed > 1Mbps, download size > 100GB, estimated download time > 9,5 days ISP (34 x 3GB accounts @ R269) > R 9146,00, line rental (ADSL) > R680,00, line rental (residential voice) > R92,28. Total > R9918,28. Hong Kong Line speed > 1Gbps, download size > 100GB, estimated download time > 13 min, flight (SAA) > R7942,00, internet café > R17,43 (HK20). Total > R7959,43 Difference: Hong Kong is cheaper by R1958,85. So, it’s cheaper and quicker to fly to Hong Kong to download 100GB of data. The propellerhead doesn’t have the time to work out where they converge, but he agrees, we’re being ripped off. Inet-Bridge

Thanks Keystone.

Speaking of dogs... very keen to strap the GPSr onto the more energetic hound when we're out walking, only to see the track recording! More things only geocachers can possibly do: * Spot good cache hiding places when watching a movie (!) * Understand the meanings of FTF, TFTC, TNLNSL * Read the encrypted messages (without needing to decrypt them) * Finding a birthday present involves a set of coordinates

So if I wanted to add a new cache in a particular area, this new cache must be 528 feet from one of another multi-stage cache's clues/waypoints (despite the fact the multi-stage's cache is well beyond the 528 feet distance)? I hope that makes sense - have been planning a new cache, but a recently placed multi chews up the whole area (assuming that all the stages will be subjected to the distance rule). Would be great if anyone can confirm.

Try Buxley's, or you can search for town names (sometimes a town's name will be part of a cache's name. Once you have something in the right area, scroll down the cache page a little and click Search nearby caches - that should give you plenty to look at for now! Enjoy, B&F

I was keen to import as well, but once you add up the duties and the astronomical shipping rates, and you subtract the warranty (some units have arrived here broken.. ), then it's worth swallowing deeply and handing over the cash at a local store. GPSrs are often bundled with nice goodies in SA. But now if you happen to be going on a trip to the US, then it's a different story altogether (Have seen the GPSMAP 60CS advertised somewhere in the States for around R2600!). Makes your wallet tingle, doesn't it.