Geo-wha?!

My boyfriend is a nerd and its been rubbing off on me.
I’m like “AAAACK I need to get my coolness baaaaaaaack!”
But who am I kidding, nerdy things are actually pretty interesting! 
Chris introduced me to this really really awesome thing called GEOCACHING.
Okay, lets begin at the beginning…

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.
CACHE is just a nerdy word for “treasure box” 🙂 

So you go onto the website and check the online map for any geocaches in your area by typing in your postal code/city etc. Caches are all hidden by other geocachers such as yourself 🙂 Anyways, so once you find one that you are particularly interested in, you type in the GPS coordinates onto your GPS device (we use Chris’s Samsung tablet) and it’ll take you to location of the hidden cache. Once you’re at the location, you start looking for the cache. Sometimes the person who logged the hide leaves clues on the website for you. Who woulda thought I’d be playing hide n seek in my late 20s!

Finding a cache is pretty interesting … and no, not just for nerds…
The cache can be anything really… a box or a bottle etc.
This one cache we found was a pipe (as in, a piece of plumbing!)

1. A notice basically saying you have just found a geocache (just in case any “muggles” i.e. non geocachers, stumble upon the cache)
2. A log book and pen so that you/your team can log that you guys found the cache.
3. Sometimes a geocoin (which is a trackable device)
4. Whatever else the “hider” put in there. Normally small trickets/items. But the rule is: you have to replace the item with something of the same value. So if I find a marble in the cache, I need to replace it with something that is of equal value. You don’t HAVE to remove the item from the box.. We normally leave a guitar plectrum in each cache we find, just to say “hey, we were here!”

Anyways, so you do all of this, making sure that there are no muggles around (the cache has to be rehidden on the same spot for the next geocacher to find) and then on the website log your find.

There is a whole community of geocaches out there!
And you’re probably thinking, no ways, there are NO geocaches where I live, coz we are like, SO off the map… well that’s what I thought 🙂
And Chris ended up finding 8 caches last week 🙂 and there are MORE!
Its so much fun and brings a bit of adventure to an otherwise dull work week.

Caches are hidden in parks, or areas that are really fun to explore (even with the kids) and are never ever buried. The rule is that it has to be above ground.

Have I rambled enough? 

Its really fun.
I promise!
Okay, let me get out of here… Its Friday and I have some place really cool to be.

p.s. I am NOT a nerd!