Just like Christmas, it was hard to believe the day would ever come, but finally the sun came up on the Devil’s Day Out, Tassie’s first event cache!
After leaving later than planned, we were greeted by orac7000 and the Tweets and met the energizers! Team CraigRat was just pulling in and Malbena, the Waterwells, and Horus, Bastvet, The Caching Kid and Little Bast were soon all gathered for the fun. Team Tweeti made sure to stay on Snuva’s good side by feeding her cheese, and Mrs Waterwells earned some kisses by feeding her mints and other treats! Everyone chatted and chewed and compared GPSrs – ooohhh, a Navman! The Waterwells had a special surprise; coordinates were handed out for A Hazardous View! Off we went (well, Snuva delegated to a slave so she could stay near the food as she hoped it would be unattended!) and it was a lot of fun to watch everyone zeroing in and hunting around. The Waterwells had a lovely special cache prize for Snuva, which was really lovely. And CraigRat had his own surprise for his fellow cachers in the new 50s club – champers and SCHMACKOS!
After a few hours in the park, the Tweetis headed off to finish off a day of 11? cache finds with Three Thumbs Up!! and home and everyone staying in Swansea headed off to make camp. Snuva found that her temporary home had a lovely view of Team CraigRat and Malbena toiling to put up their tents (team energizer61 had arrived a day earlier so could sit back and relax as well!).
As you can expect, soon everyone was gathered around with their beverage of choice in hand. Most of us were happy to sit back and relax, but soon the incredibly hip (or shall we say ‘paw’) Bastvet cachemobile appeared to kidnap CraigRat to make sure Bicheno was still rocking, and the Waterwells soon arrived having had another go at Lafaraelle’s Folly. We got onto the dinner portion of the evening – Malbena with an amazing curry! Snuva made sure she kept camp clean by hoovering food off the grass – and taking the ‘occasional’ titbit out of generous fingers! (Snuva probably had more of Mrs Waterwells’s dinner than she did!) The cold and wind was what send people off one by one to their (hopefully warm) beds.
Sunday morning, and Snuva wants her slaves to wake up and go play! Wake UP!!! She tried standing on the bed, she tried standing on bladders, but those worthless slaves keep sleeping. The female slave gave up first, got dressed, and harnessed up hound for another day of caching fun. And Snuva was very specific about the fun she wanted: Carmel and CharlieRat were on the beach splashing around. Snuva had a great early morning splash around, especially when Tyler and Thomas got into the surf and threw sticks further and further out – happy wet dog!
When the male slave finally decided to face the day, Snuva and her entourage headed off for a walk into town in search of brekkie and some milk to make coffee. Since they found a bakery with an espresso machine, they decided to have their coffee there. Obviously they took a bit longer than they thought, and Team CraigRat dropped by to let them know everyone was off to Bicheno to hit some caches!
Arriving in Bicheno and deciding to try for Bob Marley first, Snuva found evidence that Team Malbena were there, ie Mrs Malbena relaxing in the cachemobile while the boys did the dirty work. We bumped into the Malbena boys on their way back to their car and got an update on the whereabouts of other teams (energizer at the bakery getting energized with caffeine, the Waterwells had been sited nearby, and CraigRat was lurking). We followed the gentle slope and visited the spectacular views on our way to GZ. And who should we meet near GZ. . .the Waterwells! After eyeing GZ and making sure the Waterwells had a chance to find the cache as well, Mrs Waterwells and Snuva’s female slave logged Bob Marley and the … while the male team members and Snuva compared GPSrs and took in the view.
Then both teams were off again to. . .
. . . Bicheno Rocks!!!!. As we parked we saw evidence of the usual suspects – the cachemobiles of Malbena, energizer, the Waterwells just arriving, and CraigRat lurking and heading off. Up the familiar track we went, and at GZ there was quite a bunch of cachers (and 2 muggles – they had no idea what they’d walked into!). enegizer had already found and logged; Malbena was in the middle so Snuva and Waterwells chatted with the energizers and averted our eyes whil Malbena finished up. Snuva was pleased to see that GZ was 20 or 30 meters from the reading they got on her last attempt, so hopefully this was a more accurate reading! And the satellites were with us – this time an easy find! Good byes were said all around as cachers split off for their treks home.
And Snuva’s trek home included a visit to There’s a hole in my bucket. ‘OK, the GPS says we’re only 200 meters, so it’s probably a good idea to park. . .over there by Malbena!’. . . They were just finishing up logging their find when we arrived, so we paused near the cars to let them finish up and re-hide. As they left we saw the famous boot and knew we were close. An easy find. We continued to a nearby lake and had some lunch, then continued the trip home. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to fit in Team Tweeti’s first cache, Holey Holey Holey, but that gives us a cache to do later!
What a fantastic weekend! People kept thanking Snuva for organizing the event, but it was everyone coming and being their excellent selves that made it so much fun.
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‘If you list it, they will come.’Â