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Hi Guys,
Over the past couple of months I have seen caches being submitted with the same issues over and over again. I know from personal experience that there is nothing more frustrating than having to either make changes to your listing and wait a few more days for your cache to be published or better yet, go back out and move it.
In the aim of helping you get your cache up and running as quickly as possible can I suggest the following things.
- Read the Guidelines, Read the Guidelines, Read the Guidelines.
They are not just there as a thing to tick and flick. Make sure you know them before you submit that great new idea you have that you have checked that it fit’s within the guideline. I have seen people go to great lengths only for their cache to be put on hold because they couldn’t demostrate GPS use. Seems simple but it happens. I also see people place their cache 150m from another traditional cache. No matter how “special” that bush is, you are not going to get it published…
- If you are planing an isolated or complex puzzle check your GZ
Nothing worse than trekking into the unknown only to find that either someone else beat you to the spot or it is a national park. What you can do is create a listing, and put *Checking* in front of the nickname of the cache, and write a reviewer note asking the reviewer to check the location(s).
If there’s waypoints, or alternative locations, enter them as additional waypoints of the “FINAL” or “Stages of a Multicache” type (don’t use “Reference point” as they’re not checked for proximity to other caches)
This process also means that we’ll see your cache if there’s another cache placed nearby, and give you a chance to decide if your cache is going to go ahead or not.
- Basic details for your page
Make sure you select a cache size for your cache. Don’t leave it blank. Also add some attributes. If your cache is wheelchair accessible, make it a terrain 1 and add the attribute. If your cache is too easy for a hint, don’t write “too easy” or similar in the hint box. A nano cache is a Micro cache not “other”
I hope this will help people a bit with their listings. As I find other things I’ll put them up here.
Cheers,
Matt
I’ve just posted on both Facebook as an event and Geocaching as an event a gathering atop the sand dunes at Stockton Beach.
Event Link: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=42a33e2c-7a62-4fc2-929c-511833dfaf5c
This is a specialised Event Cache in which you will need either a beach buggy or a 4WD to access it. It would be possible to hike in from Lavis Lane if you were a fit type of cacher.
Stockton Sand Dunes - It's a big big place. Bring a GPS and a drink.
The aim is to turn up. Unfold your chair. Share around some food and enjoy a drink or two while watching the sun set with some good company.
Stockton Beach is 30km long and 2.5km wide. The Dunes are transgressive and move about 4-6m a year. It’s an amazing site and even better at dusk. So, a heap of random people with very little in common turn up, introduce themselves and sit around and chat while they enjoy a drink, share treats and watch the sun go down.
Relaxing on the beach with a beer, a mate and a bajabug. Makin memories.
The Beach Buggy Guys (and Gals) will be joining us for a while and they are camping most probably at Stockton Caravan Park over the weekend.
My contact number is 0411 444 334. My email address is mrhsie@gmail.com.
I suggest you organise via either this site or the facebook site to travel out onto the dunes in pairs or threes. Secondly you should reduce your tyre pressures and always carry a snatch strap. You also need a permit which can be purchased from the Metro for about $12 for the weekend or $30 for the year. Plenty of caches are nearby.
I will post the link to the event cache when it is approved.
regards,
Bronze. (aka Steve)
Links:
The largest transgressive (moving) Coastal Dune System in the Southern Hemisphere.
I just came across a newly released range of the faithful old e-trexs.
http://www.ja-gps.com.au/results.aspx?q=00970
We have decided that with the release of the Samsung Galaxy S2 to leap into the smartphone realm. So now to the conundrum… which app is the best and is it worth investing in the groundspeak app. I have read mixed reviews about most apps during my research so would like to know what the experience has been from the HAVOC crew. Cheers Mike and Celeste
A new online geocaching supply store has just launched in Australia – 101geo. They’ve got a professional looking website, and are stocking a great range of products, including all the usual travel bugs, geocoins, geo-achievement sets, etc as well as Groundspeak clothing, sneaky containers, and a variety of night caching products. Everything is held in stock, so no endless waiting for deliveries, which is nice. They’ve just been announced as Gold Sponsors of the Oz Mega Event in 2012, so great to see them supporting the local geocaching community.
When I first started using the geocaching app on my smart phone, I tried a search of nearby caches when I happened to be visiting IKEA in Sydney. A cache called came up.
At the time I thought that I would have to scan the information to solve the puzzle. I thought to myself;”How cool is that!?”
That got me thinking…
Eventually I got to playing with my smart phone ( an iPhone 3GS, and I am writing from the wonderful walled garden of them Apples, but you can do all this on your Android )
I came across a program ( that the kids call ‘app’ ) called ‘RED LASER’ That made my screen look like this…
I found that I could point my phone’s camera at a barcode and it would give me information about that product.
After poking around in that app for a bit I found this screen…
So I came to realize that I, too could build a nifty QR code to share some information.
This could prove to be useful on a business card, a sticker or to hide a Geocache with.
I printed off a couple with co-ordinates and stuck them to some puzzle pieces and put the puzzle together and then tried to scan it. This did not work. I realized later that the RED LASER app, whilst good at producing the QR code, could not read one. Which is an oversight if you ask me. So I downloaded an app called, simply, SCAN.
That did work on my QR code, but I only discovered this after I scrapped my idea of a QR jigsaw puzzle, and moved on to something different.
Since that self inflicted lesson, I have done a bit more research and found out that a QR code is actually short for quick recognition code.
the anatomy of a QR code
And all the black squares serve a purpose.
Actually, the WHITE square around the code also serves a purpose. It is the margin that the camera needs to give the code readability.
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Anyway, it was an interesting learning curve that I thought may interest some of you.
It is also possibly the way of the future. I found this article of how in Korea they have billboards in the subways set out like the aisles of a supermarket, where you can place an online grocery order just by scanning in the qR codes whilst you wait for your train.
The future is here
That makes another Hunter team steeping into the 4 digit zone. Huge effort guys doing it in exactly one year to the day. Awesome effort!!!!
I’m relatively new to geocaching and a virgin when it comes to web posting – so I hope this post works. I thought I would ask if there are any night caches in Newcastle (ie caches that utilise some sort of reflector, not just caches that can be found at night). I’ve read about them on the web and I’ve been trying to find them (a little hard if you only have a standard geocache.com membership). I’m hoping that some members out there with a few more finds then me will be able to suggest a few.
Regards,
Acachewego
I have been pondering the effort that Matt and Shell put in to the awards, and was wondering if through the year that passes before the next awards, we can have a ‘go to’ thread for suggestions or submissions where we can all paste particular potential nominations.
If you are like me, things get busy and we tend to forget things as time spins by.
So if you see a log, or a photo ( or you create one ) that you think has some merit and you would like to share it. post it here. you know at least that I will read it.
