I have had a lot of questions regards How we Geocache with our Boys, and I have thought about it, answering here would be easier and I hope it inspires others to try.
We are no experts in the finding of Geocaches, and we have only been looking for hidden caches for a short while – we have meet other Geocachers who are have found over 10,000 hidden logs!! Which blows me away when I consider how little we have searched and found.
But this is how we look ::
We have the Free Geocaching.com app on my phone, and haven’t paid for the full membership as yet. So some of the caches I can’t access by the app on my phone, so I do a more in depth search on the computer before we head out of the motorhome exploring.
I normally take a picture from our computer on my phone so that I can see all the details of each cache location/hints and tips on where to look.
I also use Google Map with the set Co-Ordinates that Geocache.com provide for each location.
How We Geocache With Our boys, using our Computer is set out below!
So here is my set of steps that I use per find ::
- Go to Geocaching.com – Log into my Free Account.
- Go to the Section where it says “Play” and bring the drop down menu up, selecting “View Geocaching Map”
- Type in Bundaberg Queensland. You can use your postcode but whenever I use “4670” Geocaching brings up a map of an area from France!!
- In your case, type in whatever area you live in, or where you want to search!
- See the “Smiley Faces” on the Map, they are the ones we have found so far, see all the Little Green Boxes, they are the caches waiting for us to discover. There are Heaps in Bundaberg, and even more in Bargara!!
- Hover over one of the “Green Treasure Chests” – it will then take you to a small box that gives you the title of the cache, click on the “Title” which will open up in another window. As per above, I clicked and received the information on “Bundy 2013 Flood” in a new tab.
- The Co-ordinates for the above one is written on the left side and has South, and East co-ordinates which I use to search on Google Maps!
- Depending on who has hidden the Cache, and the location will depend on how much information there is as a clue/story behind where the log is located. The logs can also be very “Tiny” or “large” boxes that can hold toys {our boys love the “Large” boxes as they can swap toys!
- Sometimes the “Details” are not enough and they have a section down below where there are more hints!
- Additional Hints – very helpful section.
- Underneath “Logged Visits section {below the hidden hints and details of Maps} there sometimes are “View The Image Gallery” – this is extremely helpful when the caches are very tiny!
VIEW THE IMAGES TO SEE IF THEY CAN HELP WITH LOCATING THE CACHES
- You can always re-turn to the location, and have another attempt at finding the cache, and you can re-log the cache on!
- If you can’t find the “Cache” then you will be given a “Sad Blue Face”
- When you have found the cache you will be given a “Smiley Yellow Face”
- On The Right Hand Side of your Screen, where you can read all the hints/stories/tips is a section that says “Log Your Cache” – you then can say if you have found it, or not.
- If the cache is water logged, or damage then when you select “Type of Log” you can select “Needs Maintenance” which will let the owner know that they need to replace the cache container, and paper.
- When you found the Cache, you will have a Log Book to sign. It could be in the form of a piece of paper, or a note book.
- Make sure you place the Cache back exactly where you found it!
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ONCE YOU HAVE FOUND YOUR CACHE THEN YOU CAN LOG IT ON
And there is How We Geocache with our Boys! We find the treasures, and do a happy little dance when we do, and then we start researching the next one to go out and find. Its really addictive and almost feels like you see Australia in a different way.
And it makes you wonder how many Caches are out there, we spent so much time in Wollongong New South Wales, and yet we never thought to go out exploring for caches, silly us.
The very first time we did go looking for a cache was on the Sunshine Coast, and we didn’t actually find it first time. So it took a bit for us to warm up to the game, now I am itching to go out every single day looking for those hidden treasures, its every kids dream!
Are You Addicted To Geocaching Like We Are?
Cheers
Lisa
New Life on the Road.
That was very interesting, Lisa, (New Life On The Road), friends of mine do Geocaching and have posted a video, I will see if I can find it and ‘Share’.
I don’t ‘Geocache’, so whether it is helpful or not, I don’t know.
Have fun in your continuation of Geocaching, trust you find many more and do keep us posted…
Cheers.
Would love the see the Video that your friends have made of their Geocaching fun! We sure are addicted to it, and are having heaps of fun with the treasure finds 😉
We have done some geocaching in the past (only a handful of times), I loved it! We have also done abit of orienteering, it has the same treasure hunting like feel. Perhaps it would suit your family too, although it’s not as flexible given it has to be completed at set times…
Love reading about your adventures as always 🙂
Oh I haven’t heard of orienteering before – sounds interesting 🙂
We are so addicted to Geocaching – I think that I could travel the world just looking for caches 🙂
Where about’s have you looked for caches? We have done a little bit on the Sunshine Coast, but heaps more up here in Bundaberg!
I geocache regularly with my family. We even have created our own cache at Eatons Hill in Brisbane. We use the geocache app on our smartphones. It is very easy to use and has a homing function which points you in the right direction with a distance countdown. You guys should check it out as it sounds like you’re doing it the hard way. This app is free as well.