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Someone likes our BIG cache.


Zork V

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Location: North Island, New Zealand

 

http://coord.info/GC1TXCK

 

 

Kyle891 found TheWonderStuff's & Zork V's Whopper Geocache (Ack) (Traditional Cache) at 10/20/2010

 

Log Date: 10/20/2010

This is the second time I've been here but this time it has a rather special story which I'd like to share.

 

Being an outdoor instructor I get the great pleasure of teaching and working with children of all ages, shapes and forms. While working at Kokako Lodge this past week with an amazing school group I noticed that one of the girls(Amy) was in a wheelchair. Curious, I asked the lady with Amy who informed me of her having Cerebral Palsy. With it being an outdoor camp with outdoor activities I wondered just how many of them she'd be able to take part in. High ropes and water based activities are the primary ones at the camp so there wasn't much left.

 

On Tuesday I was instructing archery and my first group was Amy's, I was excited because I love trying to challenge myself to include everyone no matter who they are. I ran through the brief then had a chat with Amy asking how much pressure she could put on her wrists and how much movement she had where.

She's a lovely girl full of energy and very keen to try new things, being 12 years of age and limited to a chair is not exactly fun and yet she still manages to smile and laugh every chance she gets.

 

After the other kids had finished their shots I asked Amy to move her chair in the best possible position to do archery from a chair. I put her hands under mine and got her to tell me when to do what, how far to pull, where to aim etc. After a few missed shots she got the hang of it and had an absolute blast for the remainder of the session, even joining in the little competition we had set up.

 

While we were finishing up I noticed a 10 years Geocaching sticker on the back of her wheelchair so I asked about it. Knowing about this cache, I thought about how accessible it would be in a chair and having convinced myself we could do it I spoke to the teacher in charge and organized that I take Amy and a few friends up the track to get the cache during a lunch break with the help of Mel, a fellow instructor, at some point. Not knowing what this Geocaching was all about and interested to find out, two teachers wanted to come with.

 

So on Wednesday at lunch time we swapped Amy into her lighter manual wheelchair and we set off. Once we'd got onto the track I told them all what they were looking for and that I wasn't going to tell them where it was exactly. Everyone was very eager to get into it and we set off. After reaching the junction on the track where it's too far and having not found anything, even I wasn't sure how I had missed it, I mean I'd been there before so I should be the one to know where it was. I asked if anyone had seen anything and all came back with no. We set off back down the track at a slower pace, now keeping my eyes peeled I spotted it rather quickly and showed Mel secretly. The girls continued past it for a while before noticing we'd stopped. they came rushing back along with Amy and had a hard look at the bush.

 

Only after they'd spotted it I dragged it out onto the track to show everyone. The look on Amy's face will stay in my memory for a long time. Everyone put their names in the log book and we traded a few items. Put in Alice TB and took out the T-shirt tag.

 

Geocahing, with the help of good friends and people who care made all the difference in the end.

 

I love my job :yikes:

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Location: North Island, New Zealand

 

http://coord.info/GC1TXCK

 

 

Kyle891 found TheWonderStuff's & Zork V's Whopper Geocache (Ack) (Traditional Cache) at 10/20/2010

 

Log Date: 10/20/2010

This is the second time I've been here but this time it has a rather special story which I'd like to share.

 

Being an outdoor instructor I get the great pleasure of teaching and working with children of all ages, shapes and forms. While working at Kokako Lodge this past week with an amazing school group I noticed that one of the girls(Amy) was in a wheelchair. Curious, I asked the lady with Amy who informed me of her having Cerebral Palsy. With it being an outdoor camp with outdoor activities I wondered just how many of them she'd be able to take part in. High ropes and water based activities are the primary ones at the camp so there wasn't much left.

 

On Tuesday I was instructing archery and my first group was Amy's, I was excited because I love trying to challenge myself to include everyone no matter who they are. I ran through the brief then had a chat with Amy asking how much pressure she could put on her wrists and how much movement she had where.

She's a lovely girl full of energy and very keen to try new things, being 12 years of age and limited to a chair is not exactly fun and yet she still manages to smile and laugh every chance she gets.

 

After the other kids had finished their shots I asked Amy to move her chair in the best possible position to do archery from a chair. I put her hands under mine and got her to tell me when to do what, how far to pull, where to aim etc. After a few missed shots she got the hang of it and had an absolute blast for the remainder of the session, even joining in the little competition we had set up.

 

While we were finishing up I noticed a 10 years Geocaching sticker on the back of her wheelchair so I asked about it. Knowing about this cache, I thought about how accessible it would be in a chair and having convinced myself we could do it I spoke to the teacher in charge and organized that I take Amy and a few friends up the track to get the cache during a lunch break with the help of Mel, a fellow instructor, at some point. Not knowing what this Geocaching was all about and interested to find out, two teachers wanted to come with.

 

So on Wednesday at lunch time we swapped Amy into her lighter manual wheelchair and we set off. Once we'd got onto the track I told them all what they were looking for and that I wasn't going to tell them where it was exactly. Everyone was very eager to get into it and we set off. After reaching the junction on the track where it's too far and having not found anything, even I wasn't sure how I had missed it, I mean I'd been there before so I should be the one to know where it was. I asked if anyone had seen anything and all came back with no. We set off back down the track at a slower pace, now keeping my eyes peeled I spotted it rather quickly and showed Mel secretly. The girls continued past it for a while before noticing we'd stopped. they came rushing back along with Amy and had a hard look at the bush.

 

Only after they'd spotted it I dragged it out onto the track to show everyone. The look on Amy's face will stay in my memory for a long time. Everyone put their names in the log book and we traded a few items. Put in Alice TB and took out the T-shirt tag.

 

Geocahing, with the help of good friends and people who care made all the difference in the end.

 

I love my job :yikes:

 

The log moved me , glad we brought joy to some young girls,

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Ok. I'll be the second to admit it.

 

I started crying half way through the story, and tears are still rolling down my face.

 

I have spent the last 45 minutes reading posts from people complaining about TB's going missing, people complaining about the "junk" that they find in caches. I had every intention of posting a message complaining about my missing TB.

 

Here's a kid, who is stuck in a motorized chair, thinking "great, there is NOTHING for me here." Little does she know that she is going to learn archery and as a bonus - Go Caching.

 

The world needs more people like YOU! Keep It Up.

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