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In July a geocacher from San Diego, ReHikeMike, moved to Glen Huon. I send a welcoming email to all new southern Tas cachers, so contacted him to welcome him to the state. Ever since then I’ve not really been able to go on a caching trip with him, however I was able to take Monday off work and change all that! I woke up at the usual time for work and actually was out of bed earlier than I usually manage when all I have to look forward to is a day at the office! I made coffee & eggs for Scott’s breakfast, then he went off to work. I gave Lottie a bath (so she was soft and non-stinky!), did a few things around the house, then we headed off. First I stopped at my cache, Soldiers Walk, as a cacher couldn’t find the first waypoint (it was there), then we continued down to the Huon, Lottie getting a nice blow-dry by ‘car surfing’.
We had a little time to kill as ReHikeMike had an 11 am appointment in Huonville, so I checked out 2 of his caches in a new series, 4 Corners-3 and 4 Corners-2. We arrived at the car park where we were meeting ReHikeMike, and I gave Lottie a bit of a walk around. Mike came out after a while to let me know they were running late (I assumed so; this was a federal government office!). We eventually were on the moved and headed towards Cygnet.
The first cache we came to was Tricky Treats. It was a lovely spot and a nice easy find, so we also stopped at ‘lunch rock’ to have the lunch ReHikeMike had purchased for us before we left Huonville. Lottie put on her ‘starving puppy’ face, and Mike was sucked in! The day had been one of those now it’s clear / now it’s pelting down rain spring days, so it was good that we actually had a bit of sun for a moment while we were there.
Next was Eggs AND Bacon?, which was another fantastic spot! I’d pulled over at a little parking area, but after reading the description continued up the road to find another track (totally missing some steps that would have lead us up onto the cliff from the beach). No worries. We parked and found there were lots of tracks around the area – most leading you to the edge of the cliff to yet another beguiling view. We found the cache easily, which was hidden not far off the track but in an awkward enough place the muggles wouldn’t be bothered looking. We took a different track back towards the car, found the steps that led down to where we’d originally pause, and went down them then up the road to the car. The views were great and the area well worth stopping to explore.
We continued down the peninsula to another new cache from dancesports, Two Ladies Meet. There were two suggested parking spots for the cache, and March Brown had recommended #1 so we parked there. It was just near a bouldery beach, so we found a track down and started making our way. Lottie, who when I’d first gotten her wasn’t too sure about bushwalking, did fairly well – although would occasionally hesitate about where to go next. Along the way ReHikeMike got to see an anemone all curled up on itself as it was above the water line (see photo above) and the leftovers of a cuttlefish. We eventually were closer to GZ and made our way up the hill – where we found a nice easy track. Oop. No matter! The cache was quickly found and logged, then took the track back to the car.
I’d done the next cache, but ReHikeMike was able to score Gordon’s Channel. I was keen to ensure it was in good nick for energizer61, and being a Sistema it was in great shape!
As we approached the parking spot for Flower Power we had our misgivings. Despite this being a public reserve, near the water some had erected a large tent, built a drystone wall, and was flying a flag. Hmm. To avoid walking through the area we when up a switch-back on the road and found the track right off! We took photos of the geological feature that gives the area its name (see above – last photo on the right), found the cache, and logged our find. No one had emerged from the tent so no problems there either!
Now ReHikeMike already had a nemesis cache in Tassie: Peppermint Bay. You know what it’s like; one of those caches everyone else seems to walk straight to, but for some reason you just can’t find it. I must admit, when he’d told me he hadn’t found it I was surprised as it had been pretty easy when I’d done it, however these things defy logic; I’ve had caches like that too. Well, this time he found it!
Around Kettering there were 3 more caches I’d already found we scored for ReHikeMike: Ana’s View, “There She Goes!”, and Creek Meets Bay. I was completely paranoid when we were on our way to GZ of “There She Goes!” as there were ants everywhere, and they were looking Jack Jumper-esque to me. I’ve been getting more and more sensitive to Jack Jumper bites each time I’ve been stung, so I made the decision to toss aside all fashion sense (what do you mean I didn’t have any to start with?!) and tuck my trousers into my socks. On the way back to the car I kept hurrying Lottie along. Of course she wanted to sniff EVERYTHING, but I wasn’t going to let her pause! When we arrive at Creek Meets Bay, unfortunately I saw that since I last visited (in January) it looks like the name should be changed to ‘Creek Meets Reclaimed Land’. Instead of GZ overlooking the yachts at Oyster Cove, it now overlooks sand/soil that’s being built up. Sigh.
Next up were another pair of caches I’d already found, Littoral 1 and Once Was A Bridge. Last time I was at Littoral 1 there were fishermuggles, however we had it to ourselves. Beautiful views from here! I like Once Was A Bridge as it’s one of those hidden spots you’d never know about without a geocache to point it out!
Snug as a Bug didn’t take long to find (and as a bonus for me ReHikeMike didn’t fall over the cliff while taking a photograph of a tree; that was a phone call to his wife I didn’t want to make!). And as a bonus, on the way there ReHikeMike had spotted a track that would lead to What a Lot of Rubbish, which I hadn’t seen when SG-3 and I had been out caching this way. I’m still not certain it’s not on private property though. As we had spouses phoning us at decreasing intervals, this wound up being the last (full) find of the day.
Mrs ReHikeMike offered to meet us part way so I wouldn’t have to drive Mike home then backtrack on my way home (thank you very much!), so we arrived at the appointed meeting place. No Mrs ReHikeMike. So off we went so he could get the clues for the No Sandflies on Us! multi. That accomplished, we returned to the meeting point just as Mrs ReHikeMike was pulling in – perfect!
I had a great day! I think ReHikeMike did too. He didn’t realise it at the time, but he later noticed he logged his 100th find at Two Ladies Meet as well as almost doubling his number of Tasmanian finds. I think he was just plain happy to be able to talk geocaching with another lunatic, and I was happy to oblige. And most importantly, he like dogs so Lottie did well during the day with pats and walks.