Observations from a couple of wanderers.

[Bundyrumandcoke]

Well, I know some have been watching our wanderings over the last 5 weeks. So, I offer a bit of feedback, and some stats. We arrived home on Thursday afternoon, 34 days after departing.

Although we didnt expect to eclipse our trip last year on the bike (8200kms) we actually blew it away. The GPS arrived home with 9817km on it. Add to this approx 100km where the batteries had run out, so it turned itself off when we stopped somewhere, and I forgot to turn it back on again when it went back onto external power. This is only the KMs we drove in the Nissan, and walked to caches. This doesnt include the Kms done via various other means of transport during our holidays, boats off Bruny Island, Strauhn x 2, or the Spirit of Tasmania; train between Queenstown and Strauhn, and coach return, and plane between Cambridge airport and Meleleuca. So this probbaly adds about another 1000km to the trip.

We found 437 caches in the 4 weeks and 6 days we were away, and had unknown number of DNFs. We did cheat, and mainly concentrated on traditionals. We cached everyday, except for the first day (Saturday 6 March), a rest day at Pt Arthur (Monday 15 March), the day at Strauhn (Thursday 25 March) and Easter Sunday at Oz Mega (4 April) The least number of caches found on one day was 1- the last day of our trip, the most was 35 on the 31st March.

The Nissan used 1212.63 litres of diesel at an average cost of 129.16 cents per litre, for a total fuel cost of $1561.69. An average of 8.17km/litre. The cheapest diesel we bought was 119.5 cents per litre at Woolworths/Caltex Singleton NSW (without a discount coupon) and the most expensive was 136.0 cents per litre at Queenstown Tasmania. Not bad fuel consumption given the roof top tent and wind deflector on the roof, and the fact we were not really taking it easy, usually pretty well keeping to the speed limit.

Now for some observations on caches we found.

Lots needed maintenance to some degree. This ranged from simple things like replacing log book baggies, to complete cache replacements. A lot of these did not have needs maintenance logs against them, so the owner would not have known something was amiss. On the other hand, we came across a lot that had a needs maintenance red cross beside them, yet the caches themselves were perfectly OK. We were not sure if maintenance had taken place, and an owners maintenance log not been done to remove the red cross, or other cachers had done maintenance and not said so in the their logs, to indicate to the owner to remove the red cross. Any caches we did work to, we indicated in our logs.

A lot of trackables seemed to be missing, or not in caches. This, of course, could be because someone took them the previous day, and had not yet logged the grab. But it could also be it has been gone for a while, and the owner has not logged the item missing- yes I know I am guilty of this one. Usually cachers let the owner of a cache know if a trackable listed in the cache is missing.

There is also the issue, I know I raised it a couple of years ago, about pens and pencils inside log book baggies in caches. Invariably, these puncture the bags, making the bags next to useless.

Thats about it, we really enjoyed the time away together, especially as I work away from home, and dont get much time with Mrs Bundy. Unfortunately, real life has to now intrude into our lives again, and I start work again on Sunday morning, with Mrs Bundy already back at work.

So, cheers to all those cachers in Qld, NSW, Vic, and Tas, who have put caches out, that we have grabbed during our 5 week trip to Tasmania, and the Oz Mega Wagga Wagga event.

Cheers

Mr and Mrs Bundy

[rbirtles]

Sounds like you had a great time and congrats on the finds and thanks for the message.

I hope you did the Gordon River Cruise at Strahan. A cruise you would never forget - Or did you trade it with the train ride instead of the cruise?

Cheers!
Rob.

[Bundyrumandcoke]

Yes, we did West Coast Wilderness Railway, the cruise on the Lady Jane Franklin 2, as well as the Jet Boat ride up the Kings River. Both boat trips on the one day, just for a bit of contrast.

Cheers
Bundy

[MtnLioness]

Sounds like you had a Blast and it's always nice to spend quality time with Family!
Congrats!