eragonSaphira

Repairing a cache (as well as adding a log sheet) and replacing a container is no biggie, but replacing a cache should ONLY be done with the owners explicit permission. I only log a find if the log sheet has been signed, even if I have to do it in blood, or hike 5km back to the car to get a pen. I have to say, I have, in the past, replaced a certain cache without the owners permission, but I won't do it again unless I have spoken to the owner and have explicit permission.

I rather enjoy group caching... I think in SA this will happen more and more... Not so worried about the car though... its insured, more worried about life... although it is insured, you can't really replace it

After consulting with 2checkout.com we found that we are not REQUIRED to use registered mail for orders handled through them, thus, we will also be adding 2 additional shipping methods for clients paying through 2checkout.com. Not having the parcel registered will result in a cost saving of $2.60 per order; however, please be aware that unregistered mail cannot be tracked or traced and thus we cannot take any responsibility for parcels once they leave our possession. International Unregistered Airmail Shipping fees are as follows: 01-03 coins = $ 04.26 04-07 coins = $ 07.12 08-11 coins = $ 09.98 12-14 coins = $ 12.84 International Unregistered Surface Mail Shipping fees are as follows: 01-03 coins = $ 02.83 04-07 coins = $ 04.26 08-11 coins = $ 05.69 12-14 coins = $ 07.12

We have had various requests to provide a different payment gateway other than Setcom. We have signed up with 2checkout.com and thus can accept Paypal payments via the 2checkout.com gateway now. We are still in the process of implementing the new payment gateway into our website and will anounce it here when it is done. Should you be interested in acquiring eragonSaphira & GRC Mint geocoins (priced @ $8.50 per coin) using your Paypal account to make payment (for the time being until 2checkout.com is implemented on our site), you can send a mail to renier@geocoins.co.za with the number of coins you would like as well as the shipping option you prefer. We'll send you an invoice for the number of coins along with the shipping fees. Upon acceptance of the invoice, we'll send you a payment request via 2checkout.com which you may then pay with either your 2checkout.com account or your Paypal account. International Registered Airmail Shipping fees are as follows: 01-03 coins = $ 06.86 04-07 coins = $ 09.72 08-11 coins = $ 12.58 12-14 coins = $ 15.44 International Registered Surface Mail Shipping fees are as follows: 01-03 coins = $ 05.43 04-07 coins = $ 06.86 08-11 coins = $ 08.29 12-14 coins = $ 09.72 We also still have very very limited stock of the eragonSaphira & GRC Mint Limited Edition Fine Silver geocoins. Should you be interested, you can contact us for these as well.

Hmmm, I thought of it. Discussed it with the mint, and they advised against it. By the time we will have permission to use Nelson Mandela's face on a geocoin, I'll probably be 132 years old... B.t.w. I'm noob coin collector and manufacturer... LOL... Our next coin that we are planning around is "The First South African Goldrush"... Pilgrims Rest 1873 Prototype image The "Pilgrim" looks very good. What will be on the reverse? Still working on it... Not sure yet... Thought about something with the flag colours.

I did a cache the otherday... Considered changing our handle to The Porcupines. []

Agreed

Hmmm, I thought of it. Discussed it with the mint, and they advised against it. By the time we will have permission to use Nelson Mandela's face on a geocoin, I'll probably be 132 years old... B.t.w. I'm noob coin collector and manufacturer... LOL... Our next coin that we are planning around is "The First South African Goldrush"... Pilgrims Rest 1873 Prototype image

We're proud to finally reveal the Fine Silver eragonSaphira & GRC Mint geocoins. Pictures have been uploaded to GeoCoins South Africa. Higher resolution images can be found at Trackable Coins

Once again the problem seems not to be initiative, but rather getting info from Groundspeak... Maybe we should petition to start a "branch" of Groundspeak in SA (not a new geocaching site), with local servers that ties in to Groundspeak International... Afterall, Google now has local presence.

Obviously there would be a lot of details to be worked out... Will it be voted anually, bi-anually or more frequent? I mention only the two, as currently I think for the amount of caches being planted in SA, that would probably the best frequency. Other than that, what else will we have on the website? Cacher ranking is already done in GCR.com, but maybe we can add an achievement section there as well, just to give a bow to the GC gurus in SA. Some of them refuse (which is not a bad thing) to list themselves on GCR.com (and I say that with respect, as I know most of their reasons and they are very good reasons). I should probably speak with GCR.com first (before doing anything), as I'm not trying a hostile takeover... LOL

I want to throw an idea out there (rather in here): After talking to some of the US cachers, it became evident that they most of them have a websites dealing with geocaching in their area. One of the novel ideas that they discussed was a "peer review" for caches and I quite liked it. What it boils down to is that there are different categories for caches, like scenic, best urban, best micro, sneakiest, best idea, etc. Cachers will then nominate caches in their area (in SA it makes sense to use provinces) for the "award". Thereafter cachers can vote for their favourite in each of these categories (obviously only if you have done said cache). I'm pretty sure that we would be able to add other novel ideas, besides the "best" cache idea. Please note that I use the term "best cache" very loosely.

Congrats to: Cabey & dakardrix - 200 Neville Bailey & jors - 300 Well done on your achievements!

I agree with the point of arbitrary caches, but I think event organisers, I know we did (and I believe that CrystalFairy subscribes to this practice as well), try hard to plant worthwile, lasting caches for events and only publish those afterwards. There is but one cache for the NOLY event that pops to mind, which I think can be considered as arbitrary, and still to our surprise, people seem to really enjoy finding this cache... Wazat, we are currently throwing ideas around for our next event (in 2009). The event will take place in a (3km x 3km) - (5km x 5km) area, so no driving will be needed. I think it will however be closer to the "Event" type cache than the workshop but who knows what the future holds. Anyone reading this perhaps have a farm in Gauteng??

Woop Woop!! I'm glad all could be worked out. Thanks to everyone, especially CrystalFairy and Fish Eagle, who have campaigned the issue with Groundspeak. See you all at the event.

Mmmm, the Knifes and Jewelry part makes me think that they might have got their info from the "night caching" site, if you know what I mean..... LOL

I understand that people sometimes decide to skip a cache for various reasons... But in this case, I personally think it was a worthwile cache and it has not been found in six months. Now statistically it is possible that this one particular cache falls thourgh the caching crack for all cachers visiting the area, but I'm just not convinced that this is the case. All I guess I'm trying to say is that there is more to geocaching than just logging a "Found It". Personally I think that the "Write Note" is also a worthwile log, and not just for dropping travel items. My motto is that if I attempted a cache and for some reason could not complete it, at least do something. If I could access the site and search for the cache, I'll log a DNF. If I couldn't get access to the site/area where the cache was placed, I'll write a note letting the owner know that I did attempt his cache, but for reason X,Y or Z I could not get close to the cache (like the shop is closed on public holidays). But I have to agree with Wazat, not all my caching is planned. If Saphira is with me in the car and a cache pops up, Eragon pulls over

I'm not referring to drive-by, quickly checking if you can find it under a minute (except if cache is D1T1, but you have touched on this already) type of caches when you're already late for a meeting. I mean people setting out to do a caching day and searching hard for the cache and upon not finding it also not logging a DNF. I mean all the caches around said caches have been found many times in the last three months, but said caches have got zero logs. No Finds, No DNFs, No Notes, Nothing and it is practically next to (walking distance) one of the frequented caches.

When we are out caching and do not find a cache, I usually make a point to: 1. Log the DNF. 2. Put a watch on the cache for a while to see if others have found it after me. I'm not sure if I am right in saying this, but I do think that there are a couple of cachers in SA that do not go through the trouble of logging a DNF. It might be because they think the next cacher will do it, or it might be that they think it doesn't matter or it might be that they are afraid that the might look like a ninny for not finding a cache... I don't know. How this came to my attention is the caching spree myself and GreenJaM did on Good Friday. We decided to concentrate on a specific area and see how many caches we could get on the day. Now all the caches we found had been found recently by other cachers, except the one's we DNF'd on. The last time most of the caches we DNF'd on were found was towards the end of 2007 and had no DNF logs after that date. This in itself is not suspicious until you look at the map. What we found is that there would be, for instance 4 caches in a 1.5km radius, three of these caches had been regularly found recently. All three would have been found by the same cacher on the same day, yet cache number 4 reports that it was successfully found up to end of 2007 and then nothing after that (no logs, especially not DNFs). What is more interesting is that cache number 4 would be closer to cache number 3 than say 1 and 2 would be... Most cachers I know will go after a close cache if they reach the first cache they went after and see that there is another cache close by. My question is thus as follows: Is it just coincedence that more or less 4 completely different cachers would cache in the above, not mentioned, area and all of them would just ignore cache number 4 if all of its logs are found logs?? In my opinion, logging a DNF does not reflect badly on a cacher logging it as it helps other cachers, planning to visit the area, to plan their caching for the day. Secondly it assists the owner in maintaining his cache as cachers now have the oppertunity to confirm whether a specific cache is indeed is in need of replacement or repair. I don't know... Any thoughts on this?

I don't think I should mention names, but there are actually quite a couple of other "caching" sites around. I'm even aware of one caching site dedicated to night caching... The way I see it, most of the SA "caching" community are members of Groundspeak (geocaching.com) and thus posting a listing on geocaching.com would have been the most obvious thing to do to involve current "cachers" in SA (well at least for me), as not all of us receives the Wegbreek/Getaway magazine every month. I've read the article everyone is up in arms about and agree, it does not appear to be the Groundspeak rules as we know them. Maybe they are out-dated, as someone suggested, and maybe they did their research on a different "caching" site. Currently we don't know, but the one fact remains and that is; Wegbreek/Getaway never tried to make this out to be a Groundspeak event, it is listed with them, Getaway, under their events as a Getaway event and I think, reading all the lines above, that that is that causes all this ruckus. I can fully understand that as I myself proudly wear the Groundspeak colours and would have loved to see the official geocaching.com logo on the add. The only thing I have to say on that, is, that I for one is glad that it was listed on geocaching.com, otherwise I probably would not have come to know about the event and would have lost out on all the fun of the day. I think it is a pity the event is now archived, as a lot of cachers will only sign up a week or so before the event. This means that a lot of cachers already saw the listing but has not logged a will attend as they have to sort out some logistics before the time to make sure they can attend. Now they will come back a week or so before the event to log a will attend, but there will be no listing and the obvious deduction will be that the event was cancelled. They will now loose out on the fun. See all who is going to the "g-away" event at the event.

I'm probably going to take a lot of flak for my comment, but hey, I'm sure we are all adults here. It boils down to the following; Sponsors enable event organisers to host events. Without sponsors, there will be no events of this type/kind. I am aware of the fact that a lot of cachers do not like the running around at competing events and I do respect that. I, myself, and Saphira; we like a bit of healthy competition amongst like minded people and hence we support competing events, but having organised a competing event ourselves, we know the effort and capital that goes into organising a competing event and I can tell you, without sponsors, there will be no events. And yes; our event might not have been published in a magazine, but I assure you, if you take it down to nuts and bolts, you can call the NOLY event commercial as well. For one, the Sir Thomas Cullinan restaurant got fantastic advertising, and even supplied food which had to be paid for. For everyone who sponsored a prize, that was advertising. They might not have paid (money) for it, but sponsoring a prize boils down to paying for airtime, if not a mention on the site, a definate mention on the event day. So I'll leave you with this thought; Let ye who have organised a competing event cast the first stone.

Hi Whitebear, Would that be the Fine Siver geocoins? We have not fixed the price on this coin yet but think it should be around $52 at this stage (we are hoping for it to be less, but is still waiting for an invoice). If you are interested, send me a mail (renier@geocoins.co.za) and we'll add you to the list. Regards, Renier

Yup, those were my coins and they were sent by registered mail. The post man attempted to deliver them on Wednesday but I was out of town. I went down to the post office and picked them up today! Hi Guys, We send all our parcels SAPO Registered Mail. It just makes finding lost parcels easier and makes it easier to prove to Setcom that we have dispatched parcels (this is needed for the FICA act) Hope this helps.

Hi cincol, I have an unpublished cache to keep collectables. Setting it up is quite straight forward. This is how I've done mine: 1. Create a new cache listing. 2. Untick the box that says "Yes, this listing is active (For new listings, if you want to work on this listing before it is reviewed, uncheck this box. Reviewers will only see the listing in the queue when it is checked.) " 3. Then do the "Report new listing" (but make sure the box in 2 above is unticked). 4. View the listing and then archive the cache immediately. Now you can drop you trackables into the cache because you're the owner. Hope this is right and that I remember correctly.

Well done to Boerseun, Fish Eagle and Team Ginger :