Geocaching
First and foremost, geocaching is good for getting you out of the house and helping you live a more active lifestlye. One of the things I really enjoy about geoaching is all the places you visit that you have never been to before. It is great fun to discover new parks and reserves, walking trails and tracks that but for geocaching would have remained unknown to you. It is a great way to discover more about your surrounding suburbs and your city.
Geocaching is well suited to travellers with some time on their hands. Once when I was visiting Sydney, I landed in the morning but didn't need to be anywhere until the evening, so I walked from Sydney airport into town (around 7km or so), geocaching along the way. As geocaches have been hidden extensively throughout the world, it makes for an interesting alternative to the standard tourist fare. Just don't expect to find too many in the middle of third world or developing countries. (That's right, I went to Indonesia and there were no geocaches within 150 kilometres of where I stayed.)
Geocaching is also great for breaking up a long road trip. Stopping every 50 or 100km for a stretch of the legs and a search for a geocache makes for a much more interesting trip, and is less tiring. You will need to travel with people who are not so focussed on the destination but are willing to enjoy the journey - or at the very least, will allow you to enjoy the journey in your own particular way!
The main and 'official' geocaching site is www.geocaching.com, but there are other sites that publish caches as well. In an attempt to raise additional revenue, geocaching.com now has a paid premium membership and allows premium users to publish caches that are only available to other premium users. However, there are plenty of caches available to the standard user so if you wish to take up this hobby, don't feel at all obliged to stump up for premium membership.
What you will need, of course, is a decent GPS unit. All modern smartphones that are any good have GPS built-in and generally speaking the implementation is adequate for geocaching. Some people prefer a dedicated GPS unit as these can be slightly more accurate, but I prefer the convenience of an all-in-one caching platform: smartphones can run geocaching apps that allow you to find caches with both mapping and compass functions, and then log the find. These apps can handle trackables as well. I personally use a Galaxy Note 2 and the free app c:geo, which between them do a great job at helping me find caches wherever and whenever I like.
If you are starting out, what you have to remember is that GPS is only accurate down to a level of certainty based on the number of satellites visible and the strength of the signals available to the GPS unit. So often the measurement will, for example, be +/-5m, or +/-3m. It is amazing though how many times following the GPS will allow you to walk straight up to the hiding place of the cache you are looking for. If you don't find the cache straight away, be prepared to broaden the search area and to use your hands to look in addition to your eyes. Sometimes it helps to walk 10 or 20 metres away, and follow the GPS from a different angle. And most geocache descriptions will include a hint that you are welcome to use if you are struggling to find the cache.
Geocaching has its own set of terms and abbreviations, so here is a glossary of the more common ones.
Bison: a bison tube is a small metal cylinder that can hold a rolled-up log paper.
CO: cache owner, that is, the person who hid the cache and is responsible for maintaining it.
DNF: did not find - because sometimes, no matter how hard you look, you just cannot find the cache.
FTF: first to find - while generally speaking there is no prize for the first person to find a cache, some cache owners do include one. As a minimum, you gain kudos for being first to find. Some geocachers make it their main aim to be first to find new caches as they are published. I have been fortunate enough to score a couple of FTFs in the Greensborough area. 2TF/STF and 3TF/TTF (second and third to find) are not as prestigous but still count as places.
Geocoin: a geocoin is a trackable generally in the shape of a medal (rather than a coin). A tracking code is found on one side. Some geocoins are particularly good looking, and there is a wealth of different designs out there.
GPSr: GPS receiver.
GZ: ground zero, that is, the hiding place of the cache, and presumably derived from the observation that the hiding place is where the distance to the cache = 0. Common hiding places include tree stumps, hollow logs, bushes and the underside of bridges.
Micro: the cache container is small and usually can only hold the logbook or log paper. It is important to take your own pen with you to a micro cache. Common micro caches include Eclipse mint tins or similar, often with magnets attached, key hides, and in the old days, 35mm film canisters, but now, bison tubes.
Muggle: borrowing the term from the Harry Potter series, a muggle is an uninitiated person who does not know about geocaching. As searching for a cache may raise eyebrows in the casual observer, muggles are to be avoided if possible and especially should not see the retrieval of the cache or its return to the hiding place. A cache has been 'muggled' if it has been discovered by an uninitiate and the container and its contents strewn around, or worse, taken.
Multi: a multi is a multi-stage cache. These require the geocacher to visit various locations or to undertake multiple steps, gathering information at each that leads to the next stage or the final location.
Nano: an extremely small cache container that will contain a rolled up log paper.
Puzzle: a specific type of cache that requires the geocacher to solve a puzzle in order to find the actual coordinates of the cache. The published coordinates usually (but not always) lead the geocacher to within a reasonable vicinity of the hiding place.
Swaps: a cache of any size will usually contain swaps. These are items that can be taken, but it is expected that you will contribute something back of equal or better value, hence the term. Generally speaking the sorts of swaps you will find in geocaches will only be of interest to children (and these are a great way to get the kids interested in the hobby). So if you are taking kids geocaching, head down to the $2 shop first and stock up on a variety of items. (I have a dedicated backpack for geocaching which stores swaps, a spare small notebook in case a new logbook is needed at a cache, some pens, and emergency food supplies.)
TFTC: Thanks for the cache - an acknowledgement that you appreciate the effort the cache owner has gone to in order to put the cache together and hide it.
TNLNSL: Took nothing, left nothing, signed log - only relevant to larger caches that can contain swaps. This is a shorthand way of saying that you just signed the log, and didn't take or leave any swaps.
Trackables: there are two types of trackables, travel bugs and geocoins. These are items that are not for swapping, but move from cache to cache. Often there will be a specific mission that you are meant to assist with if you retrieve the trackable from a geocache. It is expected that you will return the trackable to a different cache within a reasonable time-frame (I normally aim for under a month).
Travel Bugs (TBs): trackables that consists of two parts, the tag and the item. The tag is made from metal and has a unique code that is used to log the travel bug (and so track its movements). The tag is attached to an item which really can be anything as long as it is not illegal and can fit in a cache container. I have seen soft toys, toy vehicles, keyrings and more used as the travel bug item. Be wary of taking larger travel bugs as these days it is difficult to find larger cache containers, and you may struggle to find new accommodation for a large TB.
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