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3, 2, 1 Go! Groundspeak has released a new souvenir challenge for the final countdown to 2020. All you need to do is find a geocache, or find an Adventure Lab cache, or attend an Event Cache, on each of 6 different days between 11 December 2019 and 1 January 2020. Find out all the details here. |
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2020 Festivities Geocaching is what you’ve made it. Entering into the 20th year of geocaching, Groundspeak wants to celebrate what’s most important: this community-driven game, and during 2020 will allow eligible geocachers to apply to host Community Celebration Events in 2020. These events will enable cachers around the world to commemorate the 20th anniversary of geocaching with a new icon and souvenir. This cache type was originally known as the Lost and Found Event Cache. It was created for events that were hosted by geocachers from April 30, 2010 to May 3, 2010 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of geocaching. Just 362 Lost and Found Events were held, so a very limited number of cachers earned the icon. To find out more and apply to host one of these events, visit the Geocaching Blog here. |
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Feasting on the TrailWhile there’s little you can do about fuel and if you’re camping, it doesn’t really get much cheaper, there are some cheap hacks you can pull off to feed a family of four for under R100. 1: Hacked Sandwich  Perfect for when you’re actually on the road and don’t want to stop for lunch, the trick here is to find well priced French bread, which you can usually pick up for 10 bucks a loaf. Depending on the cost of the bread, you can spend the rest of your budget on things to put in the bread Bread: R9.99 Ham: R24.99 Spread: 12.99 Cheese: R29.99 Total Cost: R77.96 (Special cheat: substituting the ham for cucumber is not only cheaper but, in my opinion, more delicious) 2. Pasta Salad  I always feel like I’m cheating with this one because pasta is so versatile and cheap but hey, we’re on a budget here, cheating isn’t a factor. You can easily get 500g of pasta for 15 bucks if you’re willing to skip the fancy names and bowties and then you’ve got a lot of options in terms of what you put in it. Personally, I like to go with 500g no name macaroni: R10.99 200g olives: R18.99 Green pepper (it’s cheapest): R9.99 Chopped onion: R6.99 Block of feta: R15.99 Cucumber: R9.99 Total Cost: R72.94 (Special cheat: If you have a little extra or you just have the following laying around, smash them together for a delicious dressing: olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper) 3. Breakfast buns  Truth be told, you can do almost anything with bread and if you get yourself a pack of buns, you can work wonders (even better when they’re still stuck together because then you can cut the whole unit open, stuff it and place it in the oven like some sort of makeshift pie). 12 buns: R19.99 Small spread: R12.99 Large eggs: R39.99 Deli ham: R19.99 Total Cost: R92.96 (Special cheat: anything with cheese can be improved exponentially with oregano. Also if you don’t have cholesterol problems…or maybe you have some turmeric…you can splurge on some cheese) 4. Uncle Vanya’s Soup There is a story Boris tells about Uncle Vanya: "He not know how to cook very good. Actually he not know how to cook at all.All his life, mama be cook for him but this one day, mama not feeling good. Mama is sick in bed and she say to her only son, “Vanya, you need cook food for me” but you see Vanya not know how to cook anything. So he go to kitchen, find some beans, throw into pot with some water on top and set to boil.Once water start boiling, Vanya go back and say to mama, “I have made soup” but mama say, “Only beans? No no! That is no real soup” But Vanya want to help. He go back and he remember, carrot is ready in garden, so he put it inside as well. Go back to mama but mama say, “No no this is no soup.” Mama been cooking so many years for Vanya, she know exactly what is best but too weak to help. So he go back, find some potato in house, cut it up and throw it inside…not exactly knowing what he is doing but this time when he return to mama, she is asleep. Instead of waking her up, he go back. He start adding new components, things he find in garden like onion, fresh peas, bay leaf and salt for taste. Later mama wake up and realise house is not burned down after all. But instead, nice smell of soup is filling the air. And of course, a big pot of soup as well." So the moral of the story is that you can put anything in soup, mix it up and it will taste good. I usually go with 1kg frozen veggies: R29.99 Stripped chicken breast: R34.99 2xchicken/veggie stock: R7.99 Chopped onion: R5.99 Crushed garlic clove: R5.99 Diced green pepper: R9.99 Total Cost: R94.94 (Special cheat: Watch this video where Boris explains Uncle Vanya’s soup and also gives other cheap meal tips)  For those of you looking for something sweet, this makes a satisfying 6 pancakes so if there are two hungry ones in your tribe, they can have extra. 1 cup flour: R4.99 1 cup milk: R7.99 2 tablespoons sugar: incidental but a 250g bag will set you back R6.99 1 teaspoon baking powder: incidental but a 50g bag will set you back R7.99 Pinch of salt: incidental but a 250g bag will set you back R5.99 1 banana: R6.99 ½ a cup of blueberries: R29.99 1 egg: incidental but a box of 6 will set you back R13.99 6 teaspoons of baking margarine: You can get a 1kg brick for 29.99 You will need to combine the flower, baking powder, sugar and salt then carefully whisk in the egg and milk. Pour some of the batter onto a heated pan and drop in some blueberries and chopped banana. Total cost: R114.91 (although this is based on buying more ingredients than you need given larger packaging sizes so you can make it multiple times which will bring the average price down) (Special cheat: As with all pancakes…add some syrup, also replacing the margarine with ghee makes a world of difference) Well there you have 5 meals you can make for the tribe on geocaching adventures under R100 bucks. I am sure you have your own recipes so share them with us on our Facebook page. Looking forward to reading the Geocachers’ Cookbook! Article submitted by Uncle Chem |
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The Bay Cache BashFinally, remember that the Eastern Cape community is hosting the next big event in September 2020, and GC8G0ZR - The Bay Cache Bash has already been published and achieved 136 Will Attends at the time of this newsletter going to press. If you want to join a fun filled weekend (if not longer) with fellow geocachers from across the country, start planning your trip now, you have plenty of notice.
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Cache of the MonthDecember's Cache of the Month called for general nominations again. We are proud to announce Up the rabbit hole as the COTM this month. A unique location, with every premium cacher who has logged it awarding a Favourite Point, earns this multi-cache the December award.
 Next month we will be looking to award the Cache of the Month to the best geocache placed during 2019, so it must be a cache that was hidden and published in 2019. Please send your nominations to .
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