Goldenwattle

That's what has happened to some in my TB hotel. They get picked up for events. One I had a watch on recently turned up at a MEGA, but it had been missing for months, never logged.

Bring lots of mosquito repellant. LOTS!!! Shower in it! I visited Colonia, a ferry ride from Buenos Aires. When I commented to someone at my hotel back at Buenos Aires, they said that Colonia was build on a swamp. Colonia is definitely worth a visit though, after you have showered in insect repellant. I had not seen so many mosquitoes since visiting the Arctic decades ago in peak mosquito season. It was a haze of mosquitos and they would travel with me. I thought the insect repellant was therefore not working, but it must have been, as I only got maybe two bites at most and they weren't bad. Therefore I think I must have brushed those mosquitoes away before they did too much. (I'm sure not all of Uruguay is this 'hazy'.)

Last new country for this trip; Chile.

The opposite of those crowded AL maps is here in Buenos Aires where I am visiting at present. It was sort of special, as today I found every AL in the city...all two of them. Felt much more special than a couple in a crowded field. The more 'special' of the two had a bonus cache as well.

If ALs were rare they would be more attractive.

That made me check how many for me. It says 32 countries. I have visited some other countries as well, but that was pre geocaching.

I took a day trip by ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia in Uruguay. Very photogenic little town. I found my First Uruguay caches. I had not seen so many mosquitos since a visit to the Arctic decades ago. I was covered in swarms of them. I was wearing insect repellant, but that didn't keep the hazy swarms away. They had me on the run at times. However, so far I have only found one bite. Added; make that maybe two bites. Only tiny reactions, so it's likely I swatted the mosquitoes before they had time for a proper suck.

Today added Falkland Islands with nine finds. The winds were horrendous (gusts at one stage up to 60 knots the ship's captain informed us), but I plunged on, walking about 9kms to find the caches. I was not impressed by those winds, but although awful, most of it was not up to 60 knots, but it was strong. I grabbed something at one spot to steady myself and I had to chase a log which blew out of my hands. The ship was apparently lucky to be able to get into the harbour. A 50/50 thing the captain said. It was too rough to land at our next spot, but the captain found a sheltered place to park the ship for the night.

Not yet fortunately.

Today added Antarctica. Bonus was a shared FTF.

Have added Argentina to my list. Nine cache finds so far. Unfortunately ten DNFs. Some DNFs it might just be me, but as many have a string of DNFs I don't think they are all me. I have managed to change one DNF to a find. No mobile internet for my phone, and my GPS doesn't show spoiler photographs, so that's why the one I later (after seeing the spoiler photograph back at the hotel via wi-fi) was able to find. The hint, something like, in front of the building, mislead me. The spoiler photograph revealed a hide across the road and several buildings along, so NOT in front of the building. Difficult to get data for Argentina that also includes other countries, and seemingly impossible to get a phone number. It was easier for other South American countries.

It's an argument FOR using a sign, as part of the answering process. As long as it can't be seen from Google maps and a search does not reveal it as available, it is a strong indication the person has visited there. That along with a photograph. Far better than some ambiguous questions.

That's an argument to make the find VERY easy. A very detailed hint for example. A spoiler photograph with arrow maybe. The visit being the important thing here, not the challenge of the find. Caches that are hard to find, can cause more damage, so a good point you made. As an aside from that, caches in muggle busy places can cause attraction to them, if people spend too long looking for them. Unless hiders want attention drawn to their cache in such places, and then more likely have the attention to attract muggles to it, don't make the cache need a long time searching for it. I have one such cache. Initially it was okay for people to spend time searching, but 'my' grungy back lane became gentrified with cafes opening. Therefore I added a detailed hint with a spoiler photograph, as I didn't want finders to spend ages searching for the cache, and attract muggle attention.

That's happened after one of my logs too. Later I went and picked the plastic waste up myself after and mentioned it in a log. On a later outing I found another cache in bad condition by the same CO, so took the waste with me, and mentioned as this will likely be archived and just left here to rot, I have removed the waste to avoid this. It was archived, and the CO couldn't be bothered with the waste.

That is a problem. 9000 piles of rotting plastic (I'm guessing) litter left behind. It would be better if the next finder could be asked to please pick up all the litter, then make a NA and explain the cache remains have been removed, rather than archive and leave litter behind (unless it's known that each and every one to be archived is no longer there. Burnt away in a bushfire, etc). The last finder and litter remover can log, even if nothing to sign. That would make geocaching a more responsible game.

Be interesting to know if you need a boarding pass, because I didn't need a boarding pass to enter the Canberra airport and go though security. It's rated as an international airport, although for an international airport it's small.

Next time I go to Singapore I must remember that. We have a virtual cache inside the airport past security here in Canberra, but anyone can go in. I found the cache and I wasn't travelling. You just need to go through security; have you bag x-rayed, go through the metal detector, run the risk of an explosive check, etc. So don't bring your tweezers. Maybe it's the same in Singapore. I had a few hours wait once between planes in Copenhagen, Denmark, so I left the airport building and found three caches, and then went back in through security, and still had an hour's wait for my plane. Ticked off Denmark.

Don't just contact the owner, but mention the problem in a log as well. Some COs are inactive and the cache is being maintained by volunteers, who won't see any message to the CO. They will though see logs. Likewise, the volunteers can't do maintenance logs and remove any NMs. Hence I don't make NMs on old caches, or possibly on rare, remote caches either.

👍

My furthest east in the USA is GC2EDBP - End of the Tour (now archived) However, on the Continent of North America my furthest east appears to be: GC55BXV, in Canada. However, my furthest proper east cache, and with an east longitude, is: GC22PA5 - Ka Awatea Hou (Te Tairawhiti) (North Island, New Zealand) S 37° 41.344 E 178° 32.898 There are further east caches though. I think Fiji might be further east.

Thank you. First time I have heard it called that. Added: I realised the title of this thread. So, this is an example of Geocaching Culture in Different Areas of the World. The wording used.

What is a fizzy?

Check the signatures and what date they found this, and then which caches they found that day. Do the same for others. Eliminate caches that they all didn't find. Cross referencing should give you the cache name. I photograph the log and do this checking at home.

Hate that when I go travelling, especially when there's nothing else and I don't speak the language to even attempt to solve them. Struck that on a trip to Europe last year.

I wish people wouldn't put icons above others already there. A bug bear of mine.