Geocaching Australia

No_Tomorrow wrote:In case anyone else likes the idea of scaring the crap out of geocachers , BCF's owls (the still headed ones) just dropped in price to $15 to clear them.

I remember finding one of those at GZ, sitting on a fence which backed onto a park from a nearby property. Gleefully I grabbed it thinking 'awesome container!' - before I realised I'd just stolen someone's owl... Oops.

Hook it up to a motion sensor and a recording loop of an owl's screech and you've got the makings of a legendary night cache

Happy Chappies wrote: Hook it up to a motion sensor and a recording loop of an owl's screech and you've got the makings of a legendary night cache

I've only found frog sound motion sensors in my town. But I've got a series of night caches I'm prepping of "dangerous" animals (They that lurk along rivers running) and the frog sound works for one of them.

There was a cache at the SA June LWE that was submerged in a bucket of green slime. There was then a motion activated camera attached to the branch of a nearby tree. That resulted in a lot of footage of cachers looking at the slime wondering how to extract the cache without getting covered in slime... Battery life wasn't too much of an issue since it was only a temporary cache for the game day.

My reverse cache uses sleep mode to get about 6 months out of 4 AAs. This works ok since the cache does end up coming back to me regularly. (I think geo_jas' idea of a latching switch is probably a better one though)

In regards to having a real time clock, I think the best option is a module like this: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12708 You get 9+ years of battery life from the inbuilt coin cell battery. Not quite as accurate as GPS time though, but if you don't need sub-second accuracy it's probably good enough.

No_Tomorrow wrote:In case anyone else likes the idea of scaring the crap out of geocachers , BCF's owls (the still headed ones) just dropped in price to $15 to clear them.

Hold your wallets - 25th-27th they'll be $5.99! They are being cleared out. If your local store doesn't have any ask if they can get one from another store at the same price.

They're probably being cleared out because they don't work !!!

Not sure if this is a new thing, or just something I've only just located, but I could see it having cache construction potential:

Sugru self setting rubber: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EU7DBNM/?tag=047-20

Saw this today in the news. There's a fun cache concept in this I'm sure



OK - powering it might be a bugger, but still!

Someone mentioned hand-cranked power.

Darling Harbour has these ... bike pedal things that you can use to charge your phone. You need to bring your own USB cable for your phone, but basically you plug it into the USB slot on the bike thing, and exercise until your phone has charge again.
Not sure if any other councils have something like that, but it's probably getting more frequent.

Free wifi is also a thing that's getting pretty common. Hotels often have it set up that you have to have a login, which is just a technical gateway setup sort of thing. If you're placing something like that near your house, rather than setting it up to point to a login page, it could be a waypoint or something for a cache.

Go ahead and implement those ideas, I'm not going to. I'd love to find them.

Kunama wrote:Free wifi is also a thing that's getting pretty common. Hotels often have it set up that you have to have a login, which is just a technical gateway setup sort of thing. If you're placing something like that near your house, rather than setting it up to point to a login page, it could be a waypoint or something for a cache.

While looking through Melbourne's puzzles for the upcoming mega, I noticed there are a few puzzles that appear to use this idea:
http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC1M ... think-safe
http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC11 ... imary-wifi

Laighside Legends wrote:

Kunama wrote:Free wifi is also a thing that's getting pretty common. Hotels often have it set up that you have to have a login, which is just a technical gateway setup sort of thing. If you're placing something like that near your house, rather than setting it up to point to a login page, it could be a waypoint or something for a cache.

While looking through Melbourne's puzzles for the upcoming mega, I noticed there are a few puzzles that appear to use this idea:
http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC1M ... think-safe
http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC11 ... imary-wifi

There used to be one near Bridgewater, S.A. as well: http://coord.info/GCZ2H5

Does anyone know of a product that is reflective, but won't show up in the daytime?? I'm wanting to create some markings that would be invisible during the day, but show up under torchlight at night.... I know that may be asking for something that breaks the laws of physics however....

I'm not sure what they used at the old 'Burwood after Dark' cache... but something like that maybe?

Ta.

Look up night caching and check the geocaching shops. Fire Tacs is a product line I think you should check out. Many different styles. Main problem in Australia is accessing the full range. Hope that helps.

Its not reflective but UV paint won't show up in the day time. It degrades in the weather though so its no good if the spot isn't protected from the elements.

Happy Chappies wrote:Does anyone know of a product that is reflective, but won't show up in the daytime?? I'm wanting to create some markings that would be invisible during the day, but show up under torchlight at night.... I know that may be asking for something that breaks the laws of physics however....

I'm not sure what they used at the old 'Burwood after Dark' cache... but something like that maybe?

Ta.

Apparently CSS Reflect-all aerosol paint. I honestly don't know if it is clear or not yet. I've been away from home so haven't had a chance to check the one I ordered yet. Otherwise, reflective glass beads that can be embedded in paint and are used for street markings and some signs. I also have some of these waiting at home for me - had to go through a local sign/mining person for that one. My Dad asked the local council for some many many years ago and got some for free. I remember being fascinated by them. I've been warned they work best on a light colored background because they use the colour behind when reflecting.

Both Firetacks and UV paint can be seen in daylight. They're not easy to see, but they can be visible. A check of the FTF logs on many a night cache will reveal that the cachers started and in many cases, finished their hunt successfully, before sunset, mores the pity.
I don't think there is a product that will thwart the most determined hunters.