The 2 Dogs

So....has anyone got some "Isabel" shots.???

I'll keep trying to keep this thread alive.... There would be nothing more terrifying to an Australian Geocacher than to be caching in a remote area of the bush and smelling an approaching bushfire. I have been in this positon. These photos give an idea of the fury. If you have any photos or stories please post.

Hi Dru We placed your nuts in our 100th cache so it is just waiting for a finder. A few of our city cachers are not into TB's so we have to be patient. If it doesn't go soon I will put it somewhere else. You have to remember that here in Australia we only have a small number of cachers compared to the USA. SNIFTER

The only animals I worry about are some lowbrow muggles. These idiots/morons are forever lurking and can find nothing better to do than garbage like this.....

Great Photos Tangles. I have some fabulous night/dusk photos of the firestorms that I will post here shortly.

I haven't had much luck with projections on the Magellan 330. Seems to be way off every time I use it. Maybe I am doing something wrong. Don't forget the Magnetic vs True issues.

I took these photos from a balcony in Coogee NSW. The storm caused millions of dollars in damage to the city.

More Storms coming our way. Taken on our front lawn.

quote:Dozens of rainbows standing out against a pitch black sky made for a truly awe-inspiring site I will never forget! I have some great photos of rainbows lying around the house somewhere, just have to dig them out. One of my favorites is a photo I took of a rainbow with the street sign for "Rainbow Street" in the foreground. Watch this space.

If you don't have photos of scary weather then your stories/adventures of close or scary encounters with wild/unusual weather will do. In Australia we do not get tornadoes, but we do get Firestorms. These are far more fierce and frightening than bushfires and burn a whole lot faster. These photos show an appoaching firestorm last summer that burnt out massive areas of bush and destroyed hundreds of homes. The pics show our own home under threat. The fires also destroyed many geocaches. Help us keep this thread alive. [This message was edited by The 2 Dogs on August 21, 2003 at 05:26 PM.]

This picture was taken on the Edge of a large storm that was about to hit Darwin Australia. The City was once completely destroyed by a cyclone, so every storm is monitored very closely and the the people are well prepared. Check out this cache....http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?id=84475

From time to time while caching, the weather can turn nasty very quickly and all of a sudden you're out in the open and exposed to the elements. Doesn't stop me snapping some great shots of the approaching storms and lightening though. I have included a couple of pics of a storm that came in while were caching on the coast of Sydney Australia. Would love to see other's pics of bad weather while caching as well. Seeya

quote:Originally posted by Searching_ut:Bummer. Did you have to walk very far to get help? I did the same basic thing to my old 4X4 in a very remote area of southern Utah a few years back. Had to hike over 60 miles, then hitch a ride to get help. People wonder why I always have a big water jug in my vehicle when I venture out into the desert. I was wondering where abouts in Utah you actually got stranded. I didn't think there were any parts of the United States left where you could be stuck with a motor vehicle and have to walk 60 miles for help. Please enlighten me.

Fooled me there. I took one look at him and assumed he was a Tassie Devil but now I see that Tassie's don't come in that colour for a start. Show's you how much I know about the little critters. Looking up my bible here I can find your fella listed a "Dasyuroid Marsupial" He is closely related to the Tasmanian Devil but there are various species. Your specimen seems to be a "Spotted Tailed Quoll" which occur to varying degrees up and down the East Coast of Australia and of course more commonly in the Rain Forests of Tasmania. They are usually 2 to 3 feet long and sleep mostly by day in a hollow log or rock crevice. Sometimes they feed by day but mostly at night. Their diet includes small mammals, birds reptiles and insects. Listed as 'Common' in numbers. The Tassie Devil is listed as Common as well. Thanks for prompt to gain some further education, and if I spot one I'll certainly let you know. FOOTNOTE: The (presumed extinct) Tasmanian Tiger is probably the most famous of the Quoll's relatives. See Pic below. There is also an interesting article on bringing the animal back to life Here. [This message was edited by The 2 Dogs on August 16, 2003 at 10:45 PM.]

I would guess. Scandinavia. Or the high country of France Germany and Austria. France is one of the top Geocaching countries of the world and has many Geocaches hidden in high altitudes. So does Germany so check it out. Hope this helps.

People keep coming up with stories about this mystical GPSr that is capable of pinpoint accuracy down to centimetres, even millimetres. They call them commercial units or military units and so on. So.....where are these miracle devices. The truth is they don't exist. There is no such thing as a unit that can pinpoint so finely. Before all the whingers get on and tell me I don't know what I'm talking about you better find some good info/facts about it because I do know my stuff. Also my brother is a mapping/surveyor and they don't use GPSrs for this sort of work because the signals are not accurate or reliable enough. Also, another revealed fact that gets all the show offs backs up is that there is little or no difference between GPSr accuracy at all these days. So if you bought an ultra ultra expensive Magellan and an expected to get better accuracy than the base model Etrex, you wasted your money (A WAAS activated Unit is slightly more accurate but that's not what I'm talking about). You can buy lots of features built in but at the end of the day a 12 channel unit is a 12 channel unit and the accuracy is the same. In the sky accuracy is vastly improved overall, and ANY unit will display far superior reliability than one on the ground where there are far to too many obstacles and variables too measure with more than 5 or 10 metres of true accuracy.

quote:Originally posted by sept1c_tank:_The 2 Dogs:_ Would those tracks be an emu? Can you identify this Tasmanian critter? Actually I believe the print is that of a very large Kangaroo so it's not that bad really. Roos do grow to be very big and if they whack you with their tale they can break bones. The Tassie devil photo is great. These critters are exclusive to Tasmania so not many mainlanders have actually seen them in the wild. Not as fierce as the cartoons will have you believe. The most recent scarey story I have is... my son in law just had a night time close encounter with a very large Saltwater Crocodile. He was wading at a boat ramp on the Mary River near Darwin when he heard a large splash and could see two eyes, very well spaced apart heading quickly toward him. Judging by the spacing of the eyes we estimate the 'salty' to have been 12 feet long and needless to say he jump into his boat very quicky. The eyes then disappeared under. Whats really scary is that an American tourist was seveverly bitten at the same ramp only days before. So.... What else could we do but hide a cache in the area. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=84742&Nocache=0.7055475 Now there's a challenge.

When I fist started caching here in Australia. (two and half years ago) there were only 5 caches in existence. I had already owned a GPS for 2 years prior to that and it was just sitting on the shelf gathering dust mostly. So was the operator come to think of it. Caching turned our lives upside down and we soon developed an insatiable appetite to not only hunt for, but to hide caches as well. Well this week our state has just celebrated our 500th placement and our team has placed 100 of those. The sport in it's raw form attracts people to participate, even virtuals have there place, but what I believe turns people off caching is complicated puzzle/math/multi caches and having to jump through hoops so to speak, just to work out the co-ords. This I believe is the reason why recently there has been very few newcomers in Australia. When visitors log on to see what the sport is all about, they are greeted with 1 third of all caches being complex multi's and the whole things just seems too hard to them. KEEP THE GAME SIMPLE I SAY. Still today after hundreds of finds, we get our greatest enjoyment out of simple go find the stash hunts. Vituals that require going to a FIXED location or area are ok but lets keep the multi/puzzlers in check. The sports simplicity is the attraction so lets keep it that way.

Somebody tried this idea here in Australia. Personally I found it to be a pain in the A.... to do. I don't think it has proved to be popular with others as well. The hunt is just too frustrating. Who wants to spent half the day or more criss crossing a city and in a lot of cases to find nothing at the other end. It might seem like a good idea on paper but in practice it's not fun for most finders.

I would like to draw you all back onto subject just for the moment. Maybe I am ignorant, but by rest stops I take it you mean a drive in bay by the side of a freeway or (as you yanks call it) interstate. It usually has picnic tables and toilets. So why are these so attractive for undesirables. We have them all over the place in Australia.

The furthest cache I have placed (i.e)walking distance) is about 12Kms return. Of course, it's not the distance that can make the difficulty, it's the terrain. The 12 Kms walk crosses three valleys with a total ascent of around 400 metres. A slightly shorter more challenging hunt involves walking the entire distance on the sandy bed of a river. Needless to say your legs will hurt after that one. One cache I espescially enjoyed involved a 4 km walk entirely underground. GPS reception is non existent in the tunnel so you have to pace it out above first.

In Australia it would be very unusual to go more than few days caching without sighting some interesting wildlife. Here is a list of animals that I have had close encounters with in the 2.5 years I have been caching just on the outskirts of Sydney. Dingoes. (who, by the way, I still believe to be innocent) Rock Wallaby Swamp Wallaby Poteroo Wallaroo Koala Bush Rat Native field Mice Red Kangaroo Grey Kangaroo Pigmy Possum Ring Tail Possum Brush Tail Possum Wild Dog Wild Pigs Deer Echidna Marsupial Mice Bandicoot Flying Fox Feral Cats Of course then there are the countless lizards and snakes and birds and so on. If you love to spot wildlife come down under and cache here for a while, you will be richly rewarded. The picture below shows a paw print of something I am glad I didn't meet. Seeya

This is a Picture of "Magic" our super duper caching dog. She goes with us on many Caching hunts. Here she is guarding our 100th cache placement. Details are at... Our 100th Placement A big cache isn't it? And Saluting the FTF's with their signature cap. [This message was edited by The 2 Dogs on August 15, 2003 at 12:47 AM.] [This message was edited by The 2 Dogs on August 15, 2003 at 12:49 AM.]

Just an observation. Not a criticism.....but you guys need to take a serious look at your power supply infastructure. If 1 bolt of lightening can blackout such a large area of the united states.......

The 2 Dogs would love to help you out. Lets us have a look around the tourist shops to see if we can get one here. I am going into the city later this week and will be near the tourist shops so I will see what I can do