Which came first?

[+BornAdventures]

Hi Everyone.

 

I originally bought my GPS unit for working out my ride routes and to track my training, but It seems that Im using it more now for geocaching than its intended purpose. Im even considering buying a new GPS that would be used entirely for Geocaching.

 

I was just wondering if the reason you started caching was because you had a GPS or if you bought a GPS because you already found out about caching.

 

Cheers

TeamTGF

 

PS Does anyone want to do 'The Amazing Cache #1' tomorrow? Im going to be there at about 11am.

[+Fish Eagle]

The Egg or the Chicken? Our GPS came first, then we spotted a snippet about geocaching in the Getaway, and despite sukkelling with geocaching.com initially, our GPS now gets used much more than it ever was in it's original role - which brings us to the second question - if the GPS came first, what did you use it for?

 

We're keen fishermen (but with geocaching, we hardly ever seem to go fishing anymore ) and we use our GPS to plot underwater structure in our local dams when water levels are low. Great advantage when the dams fill up again.

[cache-fan]

the GPSr came first

 

Intended and used for traveling in Mozambique and Botswana using T4A maps it was rather under utilized and something else was needed. Once introduced by a colleague to Geocaching we were hooked, don’t know anymore what we did on a Sunday afternoon before?

[+Brick]

Well Fish Eagle, if you are refering to the 'Winning Letter' in Getaway, then I am glad that my letter inspired you....

 

My GPSr was bought because I went hiking in Magoebaskloof and got hopelessly lost, trying to take 'shortcut' back to the camp because one of the kids with me had a sprained ankle. I decided to get a GPSr for that purpose (and because I like gadgets) and then stumbled on Geocaching. My GPSr also wet on my bike for my traveling.

[+anlufu]

It was the GPSr first. Then a friend from the US told me about Geocaching! I heard about it here (I watch TV occasionally) but couldn't find anyone local who could tell me any more.....

[+QFC]

YAY... We are the first to have Geocaching first and the GPSr second.

 

C (Part 3) was introduced to Geocaching by a friend and they found their first cache by using the co-ordinates found in the top corners of the Gauteng map book. They banded together to buy a GPSr which they used to geocache.

 

When I moved up from Cape Town, Charles bought a GPSr from a friend at work and I organised one from a friend. After that QFC was born, and the we were hunting the chicken with the egg (so to say).

 

F (Part 2)

[+ZAlandyman & Susieq]

I still remember the moment well, I was on the elevated freeway heading into the city about 3 years ago. I was listening to my favorite talk radio station. There was a competition on and a GPS was up for grabs. Man! I wanted to win that GPS so bad, I didn't think that I had a chance though, I'd never won a competition before, but hey, I might as well give it a bash. I dialed the number on my cell phone, and the number was ringing, that was good, then all of a sudden somebody answered the phone, “what is your name?” they asked quickly. My heart was pounding and the adrenalin rushing, all I could think was that I had got through. ”What is your name?” the voice asked again. I fumbled but answered. “MARCEL” I said loudly. “Where are you calling from?” I had to think about that one. I'm driving. Do I answer where I come from or where I am going to be shortly or where I am right now, and does it count if you get it wrong? “I'm from Durbanville”, I answered. “And whats the answer?”. I remember the question. What country is 30 degrees north and 30 degrees east. I was going through the options, Sudan, Ethiopia. I was not sure, but the presenter threw in a couple of clues. This country was the first to use make-up. Mmmmm, that was a bit of a curve ball, I just wasn't sure. Then he said that this country used to worship cats! That was it! I remembered from my old history lessons. “Egypt, of course”, I answered confidently! “Well done Marcel from Durbanville” the presenter said. I had won, it was such an incredible feeling.

Of course, I didn't really use the thing until I started geocaching last december, I found a link on a 4x4 forum to geocaching.com, and within 7 months I had already upgraded... I (and "I" do mean "we", ie SusieQ) am now a proud owner of a 76CSx (what a beauty)

[+GlobalRat]

Heh heh… Geocaching. Sitting in mud island a few years back I had dreamt up a little game to play with friends (something similar to traditional letterboxing.. didn’t know it then), the rain there does strange things to people. Anyway, I knew about GPSr’s in the days of Selective Availability and although fascinated was never in a position to use it practically and the units were bricks (nothing to do with a fellow cacher) and therefore those treks across the berg were not going to be encumbered by a heavy unit and a zillion batteries or solar panels.

 

Anyway, a mate told me that his cousin in the US was buying him a GPS. I said, “great, what the hell you going to do with it?” He is a city dweller with a daily commute on South West Trains… no need for a GPSr! He said his cousin did some treasure hunting thingy with his and he was going to give that a go. My ears pricked and I asked a few more questions… WOW this sounded quite similar to the game I had dreamt up… just with some technology thrown at it. Anyway, bugged him a few days later to find out from his cousin about the website. There I was browsing GC.com and downloading manuals from Garmin. Decided on a unit and ordered it, went and grabbed my first cache the next day when the unit arrived by Royal Mail (an upside of mud Island).

 

Now I use the GPSr equally for Geocaching and Navigation.

[+Noddy]

A few years ago East Coast Radio was running a competition, the winner would receive a GPS, sponsored by Lowrance. Every day I listened to the competition hoping to win. The question, give the co-ordinates for East Coast Radio House. Each daily winner was miles out. Eventually I borrowed a friends GPS and went and got the co-ords. The second miracle was that I actually got through to the station.

 

The DJ said, What did you come here and get the co-ords?" Yep I said, so he ask why I needed the GPS if I already had one. I explained that I had borrowed it and didn't have my own. Needless to say that I had won and it was delivered a few days later. Used it for about six months seeing where I had been and of course dragged it to the top of Kili. The batteries used to last two hours.

 

A few months later my boet heard about this crazy game and off we went to find our first cache. Did we stumble around.

 

Upgraded since then and ADDICTED!!!

 

[+Fish Eagle]

That's not fair - everybody seems to be winning GPSr's left , right and centre, and the only thing we've ever won in a competition is a holiday in a larney place, sans meals, sans activities, sans everything except a bed, which ends up costing much more than the same holiday in the flats next door when paying for everything

 

So, we must be the real honest cachers - paid for both of ours - a GPS72 (which is brilliant piece of equipment, but getting a bit old and tatty), and a bright yellow E-Trex - so mother could cache in Chile without dad going cold-turkey back in SA.

 

And yes, addiction is the right word - never been addicted to anything before geocaching, but if this is addiction, it's not that bad after all

[+vespax]

Well, my story goes like this....

 

I was working as a GIS Specialist creating the base maps for a company in Princeton, New Jersey, USA. It was started by a nutty professor at the university and everyday at work I would listen to him yell and scream about Microsoft, Europe, smartphones, programmers, etc. etc. (His office was two doors down the hall from mine and the walls were thin, with fake drop ceilings, so I heard lots of colorful language from his office! )

 

Anyways, back on topic, half my day was spent playing on google earth and browsing the internet, so I discovered lots of funny and interesting things while on the clock. One day while cruising the internet for data, I came across the geocaching website. I read through and thought it looked interesting. So I thought about it, and thought and thought. I was really more fascinated that there were caches in Iraq and Haiti rather than my own boring backyard. I tried to get some co-workers to join me on a first cache (we had about a million GPS's sitting around the office that we could use) but no one was interested. So I thought about it some more. Than I noticed that there was a cache about 500 yards (not meters, yards) from my front door. What a perfect and simple way to start right? Wrong. I went on a rainy day, with an old GPS that I "borrowed" from the office. I didn't bother to read the details on the cache, so I had no idea what I was looking for really. I searched, feeling stupid, while people walked past me. I walked home and checked the website. Walked back, searched some more. Up in the tree, over the lake, all around. Walked home, looked at the hint. Walked back and found the cache right where I had been looking, just didn't move the leaves enough. From then on, I thought it was all rather cool.

 

300 finds, 7 countries, 4 continents later I am still logging did not finds!

 

Oh, and I lost that first GPS, so the non-geocacher bought me my Garmin 60cs. It was real contra-band in the office everytime I pulled it out to download waypoints on my computer. One of the VP's even caught me with it and made a sarcastic remark about Mr. ALK seeing it. Oh well, I quit soon afterwards.

[+geocacher_coza]

The GPS came first!

I needed a GPS for my other hobby of boat racing. After buying a GarminV I started playing around on the net and found out about Geocaching. Started slowly with only a find or two and two totally wrong placing! (Two caches in Namibia that I could not maintain!)

Now I own a Garmin Ique 3600. I find the paperless option very handy.

I have now found caches in four countries (SA, USA, Egipt and UAE) The UAE one I found I will have to go and visit again as I forgot a pen and could not sign the log

Next month I will be caching in France!

Edited August 10, 2006 by geocacher_coza

[+batsgonemad and his squirrel]

I had the gps first, always knew about gps things and always wanted one why cause i could. But in the end the real reason was so that i could safely track my way out the townships late at night or early in the mng, as my work finishes before the rest of the people do and i can then just leave and often it's difficult to find your way out and i felt alot safer and at ease knowing i could safely find my way out again to fight another day. i went to Lesotho one year when one of the guys went to hide a TB and i asked what the hell that was and since then i've been hooked, possibly abit all cosuming in my life but its fun. I cant wait to read mail and see whos done what. I think it was Brick or Fish Eagle who said ive never been this into a hobby before this is a life adventure with thins to do and places to see.

 

KEEP ON CACHING PEOPLE LIFE BEGINS WHEN YOU HAVE IN YOUR HANDS A GPS'r

 

oh seen as everybody else is mentioning the things they won, i entered a sms comp in GQ for a acer n35 gps pda combo. A couple of months later they phoned to say i had won it, so i use the acer for navigation and paperless caching notes and the 60cs for the real work.

Edited August 10, 2006 by batsgonemad and his squirrel

[+Larks]

I got a job for National Parks doing some GIS, and I use a GPS to map paths quite regularly.

I actually stumbled across the website by chance! Great!

 

Needless to say, I'm probably the only geocacher in SA who doesn't own his own GPS!!!

 

Nevertheless, GPS came first. Or is it still to come?

[+GS&Dogs]

On an otherwise normal day on my way to work in late June last year, I heard Mark Gillman(5fm) ragging people for running around the countryside in search of useless little figurines and toys. Ruben was actually quite intrigued by the sport and attempted to defend its honour. He tried to explain the concept to a very stubborn Mark and all along I am sitting there getting more and more excited about this. As the first song came up, I called S and told her I have found the most incredible sport ever. As soon as I arrived at work GC.com came under scrutinay reseach began on what GPSr to buy. Three weeks later we baught our first (second hand) GPSr and the next day we found our first cache. Ever since, it has taken up most of our free time and we struggle to remember a life before geocaching. We have also met some incredible people through the sport and that has kind of been our "prize". Now the GPSr has become a vital tool which we use whenever we venture into new terrain - be it geocaching or trying to find the nearest petrol station.

[+bear&fox]

We somehow knew what geocaching was right from the start. Being GPSr-less muggles I had thought of using topographical maps and a compass to find a few, but somehow never really did that either. Then I remembered seeing a picture of a geocache being retrieved near the Wind Farm one day while we took a drive out there. We found the cache, signed the log and I bought my first GPSr the very next day! Fox thought I was mad but she soon got her own GPSr and the rest is, well, good memories!

[+warthog]

Fur us it was GPS, same as most others, as we aquired the GPS for navigation into "uncharted" areas such as Botswana, Mozambiue, etc for overlanding.

 

Well, before we could do that we discovered Geocaching and still need to get into the uncharted areas.

[+Jors]

Towards the second half of 2000, I bought a Garmin III+ to help me find my way to pieces of land in and around Pretoria that needed to be surveyed, especially those not yet on maps, or not having a street address. It was also used it to locate property (farm) beacons, giving the survey a starting point.

 

Selective availability was removed only a few months earlier, increasing the accuracy from about 100m to current standards, which made the handheld devices so much more attractive.

 

A GIS-specialist friend of mine came accross the GC.com website, which immediately caught my interest, even though no caches existed in South Africa, then.

A couple months later, GPSFrodo placed the country's first cache, GCZA01 of which, sadly, only memories remain.

 

So, the GPSr came first, even before Geocaching existed in South Africa, and the same old III+ is still taking me there.