There have been a number of discussions on the forums recently about new cachers, archiving caches and the growth of the sport. In this editorial I suggest one option that can be used to ensure there are enough spots left to place caches for everyone.

I've had a couple of discussions with other geocachers recently about the increasing numbers of geocaches being placed in New Zealand, and what this means for current and new geocachers when it comes to placing new geocaches.

When I started caching there were probably only 20 geocaches in the South Island. I had an almost free reign to choose where I wanted to place new caches. As of today, there are 508 listed on geocaching.com and my home-town of Christchurch is swimming in caches!

Around about this time last year, I paddled from Cornwallis wharf to Karaka Point and back with a GPS unit logging my path. Back at home, I uploaded the track log from the GPS to a program which shows the route on a map or chart. I was really impressed to see how the currents affected my paddling, especially across the Hikihiki Bank and the across the bank just off Cornwallis.

I left Karaka Point due West heading straight into the 15-20kn wind with the idea of getting shelter from South Head and assistance from the Waiuku Channel current (they were forecasting 25 gusting 35 by evening - I didn't really want to be in a wind against tide situation in the main channel). Progress was very slow across Hikihiki Bank and tiring. I struck a relatively calm patch and guessed that I was in a channel so thought 'stuff this!' and headed up to the main channel. The track shows I turned at the right point. I was pleased to see my speed increase even though the wind was slightly beam-on, because I was getting pretty tired.

Requirements:

Data:

NZ State Highways from http://www.sdms.co.nz
NZ Coastline (rough version), lakes, rivers, basic place names from MAF Forestry Public Domain Export Files
NZ Coastline (better version) http://www.gisuser.co.nz/pages/download/download.asp
NZ Place names (used for POI generation) LINZ from http://www.gisuser.co.nz/pages/download/download.asp
LINZ data (topographic, roads, streets, rivers etc) from http://www.nztopoonline.linz.govt.nz/website/nzgd2000topo/terms_cond.htm

O.K. so you've chosen your cache spot, chosen the container, assembled the notebook, pen, pencil, sharpener, plastic bags, and assorted trade goods.

Now you realise that once placed, the container is probably going to stick out like a sore thumb
and be prey to any muggle* within 10 metres who strolls past. So, what to do? Why, paint it of course!

Next decision: colour. This will depend on the location of the cache and how it will be placed.
A wonderful dark-green/light-green jungle camouflage paint job will not help much when placing a cache among golden tussocks or light gray rocks. Having said that, a general green/tan/black paint job will normally disguise a container in most positions. The effect of the camouflage is two-fold: firstly to blend in
with the general colouration of the area, and secondly for the colours to break up the outline of the container itself so that it doesn't immediately catch the eye as a man-made object, at least at first glance.

This document was recently created in a collaborative process on the forums to provide a handy reference document for people placing and finding geocaches in New Zealand. This is the first release of what is likely to be an often updated document.

Introduction

This document was developed collaboratively on the NZ GPS forums to provide a reference that provides advice on placing and finding geocaches.

Note that this document is not meant to be seen as a formal set of guidelines or rules. Each geocache listing service will have their own set of rules and guidelines that apply to caches listed on their service.

If you've ever tried to explain geocaching to someone, you know how easy it is for them to misunderstand or get confused about the details. If you've found yourself talking to a land manager you know how easy it is for them to hear only part of what you say. The fact is, simply communicating verbally gives you one shot to get all the information you need to your audience and your effectiveness is completely limited to their ability to pay attention.

This brochure was designed by CyBret from Geocacher University, and has been kindly modified by him for New Zealand use.

After some discussion in the forums recently, members of the society decided it would be useful to develop a guide to beautifying your caches pages using the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

This article provides step by step instructions on how this can be done.

Why?

First and foremost, decide the purposes for which you are going to use the GPS.

It may sound obvious, but if you're hiking or hunting and want a unit that displays your position on a digital map then the lower-end units can be ignored. Similarly, if all you want to do is get into geocaching as cheaply as possible then a model like the yellow Garmin Etrex or Gecko may be exactly what you need.

This article focuses on GPS units for land-based handheld usage. For advice on marine and aviation units refer to the manufacturer websites such as Garmin and Magellan.