Cheers,
Richard
Sunday 8 December 2013
Saturday 7 December 2013
Wednesday 4 December 2013
Hi All,
I hope you enjoyed the Christmas party as much as I did.
It was great to see how everybody participated in the activities especially the Limbo. It really shows that with age and wisdom flexiibility seems to deteriorate as shown by the way the "younguns" did it so easily.
Maryanne certainly added something special to the evening with her very professional contribution and we will arrange a letter of thanks to her.
Being a Scot of few words and Sandy, the Wordsmith, being away I will let the Photos tell the story.
If anybody who took some pics at the party could they put them on a USB stik and let me have them then we will publish more photos.
Merry Christmas,
Richard
I hope you enjoyed the Christmas party as much as I did.
It was great to see how everybody participated in the activities especially the Limbo. It really shows that with age and wisdom flexiibility seems to deteriorate as shown by the way the "younguns" did it so easily.
Maryanne certainly added something special to the evening with her very professional contribution and we will arrange a letter of thanks to her.
Being a Scot of few words and Sandy, the Wordsmith, being away I will let the Photos tell the story.
If anybody who took some pics at the party could they put them on a USB stik and let me have them then we will publish more photos.
Merry Christmas,
Richard
Sunday 22 September 2013
Geocaching on the menu again
Sunday, September 22, 2013
After two successful geocaching rides Joyce organised another ride to combine with this great outdoor activity for which you can find more information on: www.geocaching.com
The days are warm and pleasant at the moment, so we opted for a ride starting at 7am, and believe it or not, I didn't get home until 12.15pm!
As I am not game to cross the bridge on my bike I opted to walk, while the others (newcomers Chris and Nancy) would go and try the Here (4) cache, which is close to the starting point (Kiosk on Benabrow Avenue).
Bob and I went ahead and waited for the others to join us at the mainland side of the bridge. As the GPS had played up they arrived rather quickly, having skipped the search for the first cache.
We had a pleasant ride on the bike path towards Ningi and stopped along the main road to search for our second cache of the day: Kal-ma-kuta. The cache is hidden near a memorial dedicated to Kal-ma-kuta, an aboriginal woman of the Joondoburri Tribe who lived near Pumicestone Passage and passed away in 1897.
The cache is hidden not too close to the memorial, so the place doesn't need to be trampled. The GPS must have been working this time, because Chris discovered GZ and the cache in no time.
Big bugs at Turner's Camp
The next cache wasn't too far off, so on we went. Beautiful view across the water. As our little group took a view at the GPS and then towards where GZ should be, they were heading for a walk through the muddy mangroves. Luckily I had searched for (and found) this cache before, so I was able to point them in a different direction where the geopath lead almost straight to GZ without having to trudge through the mangroves. That's one trick you learn after a while: don't go as the crow flies, but use some common sense when searching for a cache! :-)
The name of the cache and the camouflage are related, so this was a terrific little hide.
A further pleasant ride along Ningi Esplanade and across the main road to find the multi-cache The Ningi Thingy. The maths to calculate the coordinates for GZ were quickly done. GZ was easily discovered, but not so the well-hidden cache. Luckily no muggles around so some members of our group opted for some interesting gymnastic exercises and finally had the cache in their hands.
We missed the dirt track that would've lead us to the next cache, so we skipped that and went on for a ride along the main road, past the roundabout at Bestmann Road and right towards a new housing estate next to Ningi Creek. There were two caches hidden here. The first one was an easy find amongst the trees in a park, and was called: A Geocaching Romance. No pictures here, as I forgot to take them.
Muddy Tides
A short ride further down towards the creek lead us to the mudflats. As we haven't had much rain of late, we didn't need to get our feet dirty. The only muggles around were some kangaroos lying lazily in the sun. They weren't even interested in us! Although Joyce had read out the hint clearly for us we did not find this cache. After reading the logs at home I suspect that we were looking at the wrong tree, as this one must have recently fallen down near GZ. I had been poking around at a tree nearby, but since I was told that I was 20m away from GZ I stopped. Should've kept looking, because a spoiler photo showed that I may have been in the right spot after all. Well, 1 DNF is not the worst thing and we can always go back for this one. I still want my smiley!
For those that don't know much about geocaching, the cache icon turns into a smiley on your map when you have found it!
The Ningi Ghost House
Since we were going back along the same road we decided to go for the cache along the dirt track that we had missed before. This made for an interesting ride, because the first part had us riding along the main road where the cars are supposed to slow down from 100km/h to 80km/h. No bike track here! And the dirt road was very sandy, but we got there eventually. A quick find and the last one for the day.
After two successful geocaching rides Joyce organised another ride to combine with this great outdoor activity for which you can find more information on: www.geocaching.com
The days are warm and pleasant at the moment, so we opted for a ride starting at 7am, and believe it or not, I didn't get home until 12.15pm!
As I am not game to cross the bridge on my bike I opted to walk, while the others (newcomers Chris and Nancy) would go and try the Here (4) cache, which is close to the starting point (Kiosk on Benabrow Avenue).
Bob and I went ahead and waited for the others to join us at the mainland side of the bridge. As the GPS had played up they arrived rather quickly, having skipped the search for the first cache.
We had a pleasant ride on the bike path towards Ningi and stopped along the main road to search for our second cache of the day: Kal-ma-kuta. The cache is hidden near a memorial dedicated to Kal-ma-kuta, an aboriginal woman of the Joondoburri Tribe who lived near Pumicestone Passage and passed away in 1897.
The cache is hidden not too close to the memorial, so the place doesn't need to be trampled. The GPS must have been working this time, because Chris discovered GZ and the cache in no time.
 |
| Kal-ma-kuta |
 |
| Kal-ma-kuta |
 |
| Kal-ma-kuta |
The next cache wasn't too far off, so on we went. Beautiful view across the water. As our little group took a view at the GPS and then towards where GZ should be, they were heading for a walk through the muddy mangroves. Luckily I had searched for (and found) this cache before, so I was able to point them in a different direction where the geopath lead almost straight to GZ without having to trudge through the mangroves. That's one trick you learn after a while: don't go as the crow flies, but use some common sense when searching for a cache! :-)
The name of the cache and the camouflage are related, so this was a terrific little hide.
 |
| Big Bugs at Turner's Camp |
 |
| Big Bugs at Turner's Camp |
A further pleasant ride along Ningi Esplanade and across the main road to find the multi-cache The Ningi Thingy. The maths to calculate the coordinates for GZ were quickly done. GZ was easily discovered, but not so the well-hidden cache. Luckily no muggles around so some members of our group opted for some interesting gymnastic exercises and finally had the cache in their hands.
 |
| The Ningi Thingy |
 |
| The Ningi Thingy |
 |
| The Ningi Thingy |
We missed the dirt track that would've lead us to the next cache, so we skipped that and went on for a ride along the main road, past the roundabout at Bestmann Road and right towards a new housing estate next to Ningi Creek. There were two caches hidden here. The first one was an easy find amongst the trees in a park, and was called: A Geocaching Romance. No pictures here, as I forgot to take them.
Muddy Tides
A short ride further down towards the creek lead us to the mudflats. As we haven't had much rain of late, we didn't need to get our feet dirty. The only muggles around were some kangaroos lying lazily in the sun. They weren't even interested in us! Although Joyce had read out the hint clearly for us we did not find this cache. After reading the logs at home I suspect that we were looking at the wrong tree, as this one must have recently fallen down near GZ. I had been poking around at a tree nearby, but since I was told that I was 20m away from GZ I stopped. Should've kept looking, because a spoiler photo showed that I may have been in the right spot after all. Well, 1 DNF is not the worst thing and we can always go back for this one. I still want my smiley!
For those that don't know much about geocaching, the cache icon turns into a smiley on your map when you have found it!
 |
| Muddy Tides |
 |
| Muddy Tides |
The Ningi Ghost House
Since we were going back along the same road we decided to go for the cache along the dirt track that we had missed before. This made for an interesting ride, because the first part had us riding along the main road where the cars are supposed to slow down from 100km/h to 80km/h. No bike track here! And the dirt road was very sandy, but we got there eventually. A quick find and the last one for the day.
 |
| The Ningi Ghost House |
 |
| The Ningi Ghost House (please, excuse my hand in front of the camera) |
We reckoned we had done our quota for the day and headed home. However, closer to the bridge we all felt like a break and some refreshments, so stopped off at a little (to me unknown) coffee shop: Bribie Passage Kiosk & Boat Hire where we enjoyed anything from coffee to ice cream and I my favourite Chai Latte.
This concluded a lovely ride and successful geocaching morning. Thanks Joyce, for again arranging a geocaching ride.
Marion van der Donk
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