i didn't actually plan to go out today, but i went and got some breakfast at a cafe overlooking our local dam, and on a whim i decided to check the app before leaving. there was a good chunk of caches around, so i figured i'd snag them while i'm out and about! it was pretty busy for a random overcast wednesday morning, but luckily ambling slowly along the dam is what everyone else was doing, so i kinda fit right in. there was nothing crazy impressive - all micros, all magnetic and hidden under railings and such. i did a quick adventure lab while i was there too, and found the bonus mystery cache at the end! quite pleased with how it went, actually - it cleared up a good chunk of my map. it was nice to wander around for a little while until i saw the storm slowly approaching and had to run back home to bring my laundry in lmao

i wanted something nice and easy for today since I did do some pretty solid damage to my leg on my poorly informed expedition last week. there's a seaway not too far from me that is a beautiful walk along the coast, especially so in the mornings. there's around 15 caches there that i decided i would target today.

annoyingly, a chunk of them were on a jetty that's currently closed for maintenance, so i only ended up finding 8/15, but that's not too bad! it was a lovely, easy walk; i love the ocean and especially that nice seabreeze smell in the early morning. perfect weather today for it, windy and cold and a weekday, so nobody was there to interrupt me. the caches were all well-hidden micros as this is a pretty heavy area for foot traffic, i just got lucky with my timing. i actually really like caches in areas with a lot of people in them, it forces you to sit and wait and be patient, and it was very nice watching the boats come in and out until i had a chance to grab the caches!!

this next log comes from a different day buuuutt it's not worth it's own post imo so i'm gonna talk about it here; today (THU 31/07) i woke up stupid early and couldn't get back to sleep. figured i'd just give in and head down to the beach to watch the sunrise and, as fate would have it, i pulled up to a parking spot by a lifeguard tower with a big 25 on it. for anyone who doesn't know, occasionally geocache HQ will put out a locationless cache for special events - the requirement is for you to find something that meets the criteria and share a photo of you and the object to claim the cache. it's geocaching's 25th anniversary this year, so there's a locationless cache up for grabs up until december 31st this year! all you need to do is take a photo of yourself with a 25 somewhere in the world. so! managed to grab that one, plus a few more along that beach that are usually pretty difficult to grab through the day due to tourists and dog walkers. worked out well!

beautiful sunny, cool day today and i'd already made up my mind to go geocaching today if the weather was nice, so! got started bright and early. i set a goal for 10 caches today, mostly local, with a few of them requiring some hiking to reach. my first few were quick, easy finds - my personal favourite being a tiny bison hidden in the hollow of a massive fig tree by the river. it was a beautiful walk down and dead quiet; too early for dog walkers to be hanging around. once i'd mopped up the easy finds in my area, i headed a little further inland for the hiking ones.

my big one today was a mad dash through the bush for a letterbox hybrid + it's bonus prize cache. it started off fairly easily - i parked in the recommended spot, saw a very clear trail heading up the mountain in the general direction of the cache, and i started the nice, easy climb. it was a slowly ascending incline and a very pleasant walk, but when i reached the top, where i assumed the cache would be, i checked the app and saw i was still 300m away from it's coordinates, and figuired i'd taken a wrong turn somewhere. i turned back, headed back towards my car, and went to rethink - all in all, maybe took me an hour to follow the trail up, 40min to come back down. got to my car, re-checked the app and read through some other people's logs. realised that it is up the trail, you just then need to go another few hundred meters off trail into the bush! not keen on giving up, but also not keen on spending another hour going back up the trail again, i thought: fuck it. bush bash as the crow flies. i went directly up and over that mountain in a straight line towards the cache. did i find it? sure. was it enjoyable doing it that way? fuck no. it was much steeper than anticipated and i had to slide back down it at the end, which was horrifying and i was 90% sure i was gonna miss the tree i tried to catch myself on and slide all the way to the bottom. i managed, though! few scrapes and splinters, but what's new. the cache itself was pretty cool: an actual physical letterbox in the middle of nowhere. snagged a tracker, found the bonus prize easily, and made my way home.

images below: a little wallaby friend, the cache itself, and the view from the top!