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.

A few days ago I took a walk down the track on the north-side to survey the terrain to see whether this shorter route is a viable access route, but although a pleasant walk, I discounted this track as an option when it became obvious we’d need to do some serious “bush bashing” to get there. By reading the logs of this cache it was apparent that some avid caches do get to the cache from this direction, but we like to take the easier route wherever possible.

So TeamWolfie returned today to head up the longer-but-easier track that takes us almost to ground zero. Google Maps is almost useful, but don’t be mislead! The “Road” you need to walk down is by no means a road, and is quite well camouflaged – so from the sealed road you really do need to park your car (on the nearby sharp corner is a good option) then look for a track.

Except for the dumped cars and eroding car parts, it was a pleasant and quiet walk. A pretty easy walk too, with just a couple of puddles and minor creeks to negotiate along the way. Our main obstruction seemed to be thin invisible spider webs that had been strung across the the track at face-height every few metres.

As ground zero approached, we examined the hint and established we’d need to head 10m or so off the track, up a fairly steep and slippery embankment. It wasn’t too bad, however, and we were soon rewarded with the discovery of another bucket-sized cache full of some nice treasures.

Wolfie inside the cache, with CD Travel Bug

Given our lack of quality items to trade we made no swaps here, but we took the travel bug attached to what I thought was a DVD, which I hoped contained an interesting message from the owner… Turns out I should have actually read the note inside – it was part of a “race” that ended over six months ago, and it was not a DVD with an exciting message, but a boring old CD which people were supposed to load pictures onto, but nobody had bothered to. So really – little more than a boring useless round piece of plastic!  Oh well…

The cache was a great find, the travel bug not so great. I even went to their website www.harrogatehunters.org out of interest to see who won the race, but the site isn’t even there anymore.

Thanks for the cache Grank. We’ve found a few of yours now, and its obvious you put a lot of thought and effort into your quality hides.

Our trusty Mio Digiwalker guided us directly to GZ, which turned out to be on a minor subsidiary dirt track, running off a main dirt track through the forest. It was drivable in our AWD vehicle almost all but the last 50m or so which was an easy walk.

The name of this cache is a big clue as to what to look for!  It was, the largest geocache TeamWolfie has discovered so far, and it was pretty easy to find if you have an idea what you are looking for.

Big enough for a Wolfie

It’s a nice change to see a large cache like this, with quality contents. If Wolfie were a travel bug, this is the type of cache he’ would have to sleep in – and as most of us know, there just aren’t enough caches of this size around to accommodate our Wolfie as an official travel bug, so for now he’s stuck traveling around with the rest of the team, going from cache to cache and having his picture taken.

We had no swaps  on us that were worthy of this cache, so we signed the log and moved on after placing the geocache back in it’s resting place.  Thanks for the cache – this being a milestone as our first find for 2009.

You see, the F3 Freeway literally goes over the top of Mooney Valley Micro, and underneath Mooney Views. Neither is accessible directly from the freeway, but rather you need to take the Old Pacific Highway to get to these two locations. Furthermore, the Old Highway is presently not a through road due to a landslip near the Gosford end, so some backtracking is required. 

We went to the northernmost point first – being Mooney Views. 

Rather than being so freaked out by the view we took a more systematic, dare I say, dogmatic approach – and took our time to carefully read the clues and hints. This approach paid off and TeamWolfie was soon rummaging around the contents of this small-but-fun cache. We were quite amazed at the variety and quality of swappable items in this cache.

We liked it so much, this is where we left the Travel Bug, previously retrieved from Creek Shrub.

Bye Bye Travel Bug

This Travel Bug has come a long way from Germany, so we’re really hoping someone will collect it from Mooney Views soon and send it further along to another exotic location.

It was great to finally get this cache knocked over.

Thankfully, one of our pieces of equipment is a 3G iPhone – so that makes satellite viewing while on the road a breeze (providing you have reception).  I don’t want to make things too easy for you – just don’t do anything stupid and dangerous – like stop on the Freeway, or stop on the Off-Ramp for that matter. Look at the Satellite view and you’ll find an easy and obvious path.

It was a nice walk down to this little oasis in the middle of what is essentially a freeway interchange. On our way we noticed some recent footprints. Another geocacher, perhaps?

There’s a bit of a dam, and a few rocks to easily step over to the other side of the creek.

Finding the cache wasn’t too hard once we got a good GZ indication. We’re only new to caching, and this was our biggest cache find to date. A nice ammo box. And it had some amazing quality goodies inside.

Wolfie's new Friend at Gosford TB Exchange

If you’re into geocaching, and a regular traveler up and down the F3 – be sure to check this cache out. It’s got quality stuff – just waiting to hitch a ride with you. Best of all, it’s an easy exit from EITHER direction, and easy to continue your journey in EITHER direction on the F3 – so it makes it an ideal exchange location that’s about half way between Sydney and Newcastle and servicing the hub of the Central Coast.