Have you heard of Geocaching?

When we first started this hobby as a family it wasn’t very well known, it felt like some underground, possibly illegal activity and most people looked at us strangely when we mention that we do it! Nowadays there is many families and people of all ages participating in this outdoor activity, lately we have bumped into other Geocacher’s, trying to find the same hide at the same time as us.

So, what is It?

It is a world wide phenomenon, that is kinda like modern day orienteering but instead of using maps and a compass it relies on GPS navigation and an app for your phone or handheld device. I discovered the activity a few years ago and we have found caches (containers of varying sizes from micro to large) in many different places all over Australia. We are always looking out for them when we travel, some either along the way or near where we are staying, in fact many rest stops have one to find, great to help you to “stop revive, survive”.Geocaching has taken us to many places we didn’t know existed and lots of time has given us a bit of a history or a geography lesson on the area as well. The kids love it because sometimes there is “swaps”, small items that are placed into the containers, and they love the challenge of finding the Geocaches because they are always well hidden, sometimes camouflaged and often very small. It’s amazing where you find them, we can be enjoying a picnic somewhere and there will be one hidden in the park, once one was only 5 metres away from where we were having lunch! We love the creative hides, even if they are the most frustrating (the one in the train track nail took at least 1 hour to find!) and I admit, I’m pretty sure we look like idiots while wandering around aimlessly, looking at our phone, sometimes arguing about the direction we are heading, or bush bashing through scrub without a track, obviously heading in the wrong direction, but we love it.

How do these “Caches” get there?”

Other Geocaching teams “plant” or “hide” the caches (containers) then log the co ordinates for other teams to find. (when you sign up you pick a team name for yourself/ family, ours is JJALKI). They sometimes give a bit of a background on the area /cache and often add a hint to the page if you need help, something we use all the time! The geocaches are graded in the areas of size of cache and difficulty (terrain and find) and the app also allows you and others to “log” your find, so you can also look through others feedback, that also can help, especially if you are finding it difficult to locate!

What does it cost?

This is the best part about it…… It is very cheap. For about $10 you can purchase and download the the app for your phone ( make sure it is the groundspeak version) and that will get you started, you will be able to find caches straight away. Later on if you find you enjoy it,then I would recommend getting the premium version ( $29.99 per year), it offers more caches to find and other features, and if you are super keen, maybe get a hand held GPS for when you are out of phone range. A very cheap way to keep you and the kids entertained!

What you need to know!:

•  Its addictive!
• The general public who don’t now what Geocaching is are called Muggles
• Don’t forget to write your team name on the log in the geocache and on the app. The database keeps an ongoing record of your finds so make sure you do it via the app or you will end up like us, not an accurate record of your hard work finding them!
• Geocaches can be found in urban as well as rural areas.
• You can find geocaches any where in the world!
• There is meet ups and Geocaching days / events.

So that’s Geocaching!

What do you think? Would it be something your family would enjoy?

or

Do you already participate in Geocaching? What do you enjoy about it?

Tells me about it in the comments below!

Happy Geocaching!

Kerrie.