Twins North

What better way to spend Australia Day than to go out for a spot of geocaching on the scenic Central Coast. Our first stop today was northbound on the F3 freeway where we visited Twins North (GC131DA) – a medium sized cache by the bower birds.

Twins North is so-called because it is near one of the two (twin) service centres on the F3 near Wyong – this being the one servicing the northbound traffic. It is a popular place for truck drivers to stop and have a rest – with there being ample parking for trucks.

A little homework was required for us to inconspicuously leave the car vehicle area and plan our way across the vast expanse of the truck parking area to the track that was to lead us down to the cache.

Power Wolf

Before too long we closed in on GZ and walked in circles a few times, sniffing out for the cache until one of us eventually spotted it in fairly plain and easy sight. We must have looked right at it a few times – always seems to be the way!

Diesel Dog

On our way back to the car, Wolfie wanted to get his photo taken sitting on one of the truck trailers parked nearby – so we got this great shot of the little fella.

Time to continue our caching expedition.

12 Mile Creek South Bound Rest Area

On our way back from up north today we couldn’t resist the temptation of another easy geocache find at a convenient highway rest area.

Appropriately named, 12 Mile Creek South Bound Rest Area (GC128H7) by outdoorbloke is of course, at the rest area of that name – southbound on the Pacific Highway between Karuah and Raymond Terrace.

As luck would have it, as soon as we pulled up – so did a heap of muggles, so we found ourselves waiting in the car while they lined up and waited to make use of the temporary toilet facilities that had been installed here. It took about 15 minutes for the crowds to pass and we were out of our car and walking down a small discrete track as the GPSr guided us closer to the medium-sized cache at Ground Zero.

We found the container fairly quickly, signed the log – leaving behind a red gem and taking a yellow smiley face.

Wolfie swapping for a smiley face

Thanks outdoorbloke for another sensible cache in a handy location. We’re looking forward to getting further up the highway soon to find some more of your caches.

Fountains Falls – our first FTF

To some people geocaching is about the numbers, to some it’s a casual hobby, a sport, a game, or even a lifestyle. Geocaching can be anything you make it, but it cannot be disputed there are certain milestones and achievements that can make the geocacher feel good about the activity – “First to Finds” (FTF) are one such milestone.

The probability of you getting an FTF depends on a number of factors – such as the geocache density in your area, number of active geocachers, whether you’re regularly checking email alerts from geocaching.com, time of day, or just plain luck. I listen to a few geocaching podcasts where they talk about “First to Find Hounds” (people who put a lot of their geocaching energy into being the first to find a newly listed cache), and “First to Find Parties” (where one may go to seek out a FTF and come across other cachers in there area with the same intention).

So when I noticed an email from geocaching.com about a newly-listed cache only 4km from my home co-ordinates, I did get a little bit excited. The new cache was a medium-sized hide by local cacher Shifter Brains, called Fountains Falls (GC1KPMX). The alert came in very early in the morning as I was getting ready for work.  I figured we’d be out of luck… surely somebody else would beat us to the cache. It was frustrating knowing there was a brand new cache so close to home, yet I couldn’t get a chance to seek it out for another 12 hours. The odds of getting a FTF on this one now seemed slim.

At work I thought about the cache some more. Using my iPhone I checked out the route to the cache on google maps, even looked at the street view so I could be familiar with parking, and location of the track. The day passed slowly, and finally at about 4pm TeamWolfie made their way up to the location for a possible FTF. The online log was still empty, so we were hopeful.

There were two ways to access this cache. We chose the “short” option – about a 600m walk down a fairly well formed fire trail. GZ was close to a beautiful stream running through the bushland. Our iPhones guided us up another track running parallel to the stream as we closed in on GZ. 

Wolfie Enjoying the Creek Nearby

Hoping to get a better fix I punched in the numbers on our Mio DigiWalker – which is designed really as an in-car navigator but we find it quite accurate on the track. The Mio and the iPhones seemed to be matching up and indicating a location just off the track. Time to put the GPSRs away now and rely on the TeamWolfie geosenses… tried one minor trail or animal-track first with no luck, then tried another one and quickly noticed something that didn’t look quite right. Yes – it was the cache. Woo Hoo !

Now the anguish and excitement builds to see if we are indeed the FTF. We carefully remove the cache, and open it. So clean, so new, so very well stocked with nice things. Wow. I’d never seen a cache so new and full of nice new things before. Time to open the log book. YES – It’s Empty!  We are FTF!!

Travel Bug going into new home

We do our caching deeds: signed the log book (and gloated about our first FTF), we took a Bottle Opener and left a Travel Bug, then carefully resealed the cache and placed it back in it’s hiding spot – leaving it exactly how we’d found it.

Wolfie under the Waterfall

After this we did a spot of exploring on the opposite side of the track and found a really nice little waterfall where the stream was running through. Being a hot day, TeamWolfie took the opportunity to cool down and enjoy our moment of satisfaction, knowing we now have a FTF under our belt.

Proud to be the FTF Fountains Falls

Thanks to Shifter Brains for another awesome cache in a great location. You’ve really been giving TeamWolfie a lot of caching to do and we appreciate it.