GoSA Grapevine August 2024

Events, Films, Adventures and Aliens

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NOTICE OF AGM

The Geocachers of South Africa AGM will be held virtually on 12 October 2024. To obtain the link, documents and other information, please send us an email.

From the Desk of the Chairman

Hello from Ventersburg, sitting on the stoep outside The Fat Butcher enjoying a lamb and rosemary pie. It's my institutional stop any time I'm on this leg of the N1 and has become a national institution.

No, I'm not advertising. The background story to the place is quite heartwarming but it remains a place in a dorpie few would consider otherwise stopping in. Yet for some reason, this place has developed a national renown.

Before that though, it was in a different premises, inconveniently off of the highway but...there was a cache there (now archived GC5KKP1) , and that's how I discovered the Fat Butcher before it became cool.

It got me reflecting on how many amazing places I've discovered through geocaching. It's not just physical places off the beaten track. My poor car is more grateful for the caches on tar roads that share interesting history. Those are great too.

As I'm preparing to welcome many of you to Bloemfontein for my braai, I've been placing caches around town. One of my favourite suburbs to place in is called Langenhoven Park and every street is named after a prominent South African in the arts; writers, actors, poets etc. What a cool opportunity to bring more detail to the name of a street and what better way to do it than write it up in a cache listing.

I know I'm merely blabbing reflective thoughts but I'm genuinely feeling appreciative of how much geocaching has offered in varying ways. There's so much we don't know about our surroundings that geocaching can our eyes to. I've taken to restarting my weekly I nstagram writeups about where geocaching has taken me. I'd encourage anybody who would consider it to also share stories of geocaching adventures. If you don't want to be on social media, we always have the newsletter.

One thing I've been surprised to to learn is the sheer number of geocaching related movies; they tend to be on the thriller side which is a difficult genre to master so many of them are awful...which makes them interesting to watch. So you'll notice a new feature to the newsletter on that front on for the next while.

Additionally, at the time of writing, I can't believe there are some 23 events published for this month; 4 of them CITOs so it's going to be an ermmm eventful month. It's also Women's Month so wishing all our women geocachers a wonderful month.

My Friend, PieterM
By Agteros

I am a farmer in the Northern Cape and part-time geocacher. I love reading the newsletter every month and I think this would be a great story. A very good friend of mine Pieter de Beer (PieterM) recently visited and round a fire we started talking about geocaching and stats. He knows the NC like the back of his hand and regularly take a small group on trips. It turns out PieterM has got amazing stats and I would like to draw your attention to them.

He has found the 2nd most caches in SA (12365)
He has hidden the most caches in SA (589)
He has found caches in 105 different countries.
He has found the most number of Virtual caches (524) and Webcam caches (21) finds in SA.
He has the most number of souvenirs in SA (377).
He is 1st in Top Finds Calender loopers (15.9)
He has found caches in all 50/51 states of the USA.
He has found the two caches with the most finds (GC189E5, GC14WV8) in the world.
He has found the cache with most number of FP's in the world (GC13Y2Y)

I think it is quite an achievement.

These are indeed impressive stats! Well done PieterM and thanks for your great contributions to the game.

Event Series:
We Need More Events
By udjopa

Why did I start a series of events? Well, because we need more events. It's always good to catch up with old friends, meet new friends, get tips about the latest caches, exchange adventure stories, evaluate the different cache owners in the area, enjoy some food and drinks, and get a smiley on the map on top of all that.

Did You See the Aliens?

The aliens seem to have made their way to Cape Town last month. Specifically at GC6JCHV: V&A Waterfront: Bay Vista. Globally we've been pushing really hard for these guys to keep their adventures going and the fuel we've been collecting is on the cusp of being enough. Some numbers enthusiasts in the USA have been keeping a very detailed spreadsheet on what's required.

Thanks to SawaSawa & krazikatz for providing a rest stop for our friends.

Check Your Adventure Credits

Last month, HQ released "self-service builder credits" for building adventure labs. This means that if you fulfil certain requirements, you may get adventure lab credits and can place some more labs.

Criteria to qualify for a credit:

Active Premium membership
No available builder credits
No unpublished Adventures
Published Adventures rated in top 90%
Passed eligibility date (eligibility date refreshes every 90 days)

You can check your credits in the app.

Keep the adventure going!

This Month's Caching Series
Night Caches

Would you believe we have over 50 night caches around the country? They're lots of fun but always be safe.

GC Code	Cache Name	Placed By	Cache type	Placed	Province
GC2DP5Q	Londt Park Night Cache	NaviMate	Unknown	2010.08.19	Eastern Cape
GC2QEE2	Great Big Balls of Steel (Night Cache)	jakl-B-hide, adopted by simplr	Unknown	2011.03.18	Eastern Cape
GC37DV7	Locomotive Breath	TechnoNut	Traditional	2011.11.07	Kwazulu Natal
GC38GVP	Postbox - Hillcrest	TechnoNut	Traditional	2011.11.29	Kwazulu Natal
GC30HEJ	Postbox - Muggle Heaven	TechnoNut	Traditional	2011.12.02	Kwazulu Natal
GC3J1M2	Nocturne	TechnoNut	Unknown	2012.05.01	Kwazulu Natal
GC3VEH0	Power to the Suburb (Night Cache)	Mixs	Unknown	2012.08.26	Eastern Cape
GC3X6CV	MEGA SA 2012 - Monument Glow	pannie&medusae	Unknown	2012.09.20	Gauteng
GC43KYH	DHSOB. Curves	Fabs4 & Gearyfam	Traditional	2013.01.01	Kwazulu Natal
GC48G9H	Crystal Towers Bridge	Bush Barker	Traditional	2013.03.27	Western Cape
GC48V94	Driving Miss Daisy at night again	family Behrens	Multicache	2013.04.01	Western Cape
GC4FV1N	Tokai Witch Project	Bush Barker	Traditional	2013.07.08	Western Cape
GC4HY7M	H2O Towers #3 - Bryanston	macaddikt	Traditional	2013.08.04	Gauteng
GC4JEV6	A stroll in the dark	PumTim	Unknown	2013.08.10	Eastern Cape
GC4NA10	Betowerende grondpaaie: Raaskrans	Hesamati	Traditional	2013.09.14	Eastern Cape
GC4X32C	H2O Towers #4 - Linden	macaddikt	Traditional	2014.01.16	Gauteng
GC52Y66	Trixy Trixy	KrumKrew	Traditional	2014.04.19	Gauteng
GC5KDM1	ABC #43 - Steel Road	TechnoNut adopted by M²C²D	Unknown	2015.01.22	Kwazulu Natal
GC5KVX1	Night Drive	sunncacher	Multicache	2015.01.26	Gauteng
GC5WH65	THE CAMO TREE ??	calvin01	Traditional	2015.05.29	Gauteng
GC5XW6J	Noah's ark founded!	Rudi Oberholzer	Traditional	2015.06.20	Western Cape
GC64FJA	The Optical Series 1.- Galileo	plainoldgraham	Multicache	2015.10.03	Eastern Cape
GC68K3E	Fonetics Rules OK	Die Coetzees	Letterbox Hybrid	2015.12.25	Gauteng
GC6Y3HP	The Optical Series 2.-Light Needles	plainoldgraham	Multicache	2016.02.05	Eastern Cape
GC6BH48	Stroll in Citrus Orchards (Night cache)	PumTim	Unknown	2016.02.17	Eastern Cape
GC6C2H6	Where 2 oceans meet	anelkruger87	Unknown	2016.04.03	Western Cape
GC6HZW2	Early Learning	krokosa	Traditional	2016.05.17	Gauteng
GC6KPNY	'Piet-my-vrou'	TeamJapass	Traditional	2016.06.14	Limpopo
GC6T41Q	JEEPERS CREEPERS (NIGHT CACHE)	TheCacheCrusader	Multicache	2016.09.16	Eastern Cape
GC6T9WP	All Stars (NIGHT CACHE)	TheCacheCrusader	Multicache	2016.09.20	Eastern Cape
GC6ZHV0	Tinkerbell	TinkerbellMagic	Traditional	2017.01.22	Gauteng
GC6ZHVA	Yellowwood at Night	ChrisDen	Unknown	2017.02.23	Eastern Cape
GC737F8	Rules series: Proximities (closest physical cache)	scubie999	Traditional	2017.04.02	Gauteng
GC7F9KV	You light up my life	Carbon Hunter	Traditional	2017.11.25	Kwazulu Natal
GC7JWHY	Nighty Nite ( Night Cache )	Kitchen boss	Multicache	2018.02.27	Eastern Cape
GC810C1	N2 - Exit 665 E	ChrisDen	Traditional	2018.12.03	Eastern Cape
GC810NJ	Trees Whisper at Night	Uncle Chem	Multicache	2018.12.03	Free State
GC817Q2	Bloemfontein Letterbox and TB Hotel	XJuls	Letterbox Hybrid	2018.12.10	Free State
GC83R0C	Dino's Are Dead	StrickFam	Multicache	2019.02.19	Eastern Cape
GC843JM	Afrikaans 101 Reeks : #12	StrickFam	Unknown	2019.02.27	Eastern Cape
GC85D91	Spotted Eagle Owl ( Bubo Africanus)	WorsEd	Multicache	2019.03.28	Gauteng
GC8A248	SANDY	kadewillfindit	Traditional	2019.06.27	Kwazulu Natal
GC8A63N	Smilies Change	StrickFam	Multicache	2019.06.30	Eastern Cape
GC92HFC	Starry Nights	Spook1974	Traditional	2020.11.10	Eastern Cape
GC92MX8	Night Owl Multi	MixieLee	Traditional	2020.11.14	Eastern Cape
GC933ZE	PEG 2020 Orange	pieterix	Multicache	2020.11.24	Eastern Cape
GC93E18	PEG 2020 Follow the yellow brick road	plainoldgraham	Multicache	2020.12.02	Eastern Cape
GC93MX2	NEW CAR!! 4 Tuna :)	Gavaries	Traditional	2020.12.08	Gauteng
GC93TFF	PEG 2020 Pooh Bear	Coco_Rose	Multicache	2020.12.12	Eastern Cape
GC948CN	bemeloit03	bemeloit	Traditional	2020.12.25	Free State
GC9NEH6	4RA Series - Nightguard	Team4RA	Traditional	2022.02.12	Gauteng
GC9NM26	Almost down the drain	Ozzfam3	Traditional	2022.02.17	Gauteng
GC9NRNQ	ISD - Night Caching	chrisingy	Multicache	2022.02.21	Kwazulu Natal
GC9PH4G	ISD - Batty	chrisingy	Multicache	2022.03.07	Kwazulu Natal
GC9PHDB	ISD - Anybody Out There	chrisingy	Traditional	2022.03.07	Kwazulu Natal
GCA0HM7	Nr1 Carnarvon R63	Zandri57	Traditional	2022.10.04	Northern Cape
GCA3NNX	Parkie Cache #1	SimonLourens	Traditional	2023.01.08	Gauteng
GCAAKVR	TT #02-The Overseer	Crocket17	Traditional	2023.06.27	Gauteng
GCAB6X0	Whats that tink? (Peter Pan Park)	JustOverThere	Traditional	2023.07.09	Gauteng
GCADCKQ	Potential Paradise ???	Littleamew	Traditional	2023.08.27	Western Cape
GCADM0B	STARRY WALK-A-RELLA	karligal	Multicache	2023.08.31	Eastern Cape
GCAE7GR	Take a stroll through Kenton	plainoldgraham	Multicache	2023.09.15	Eastern Cape
GCAHHR6	Howards Contribution	Zuretha	Traditional	2023.12.21	Free State
GCAJB41	Things that go Bump in the Night	NocturnalProfessor	Multicache	2024.01.19	Gauteng
GCAM0VW	Goodnight Portobella	NocturnalProfessor	Multicache	2024.03.08	Gauteng

Feature App of the month
Apps make our lives better and whether you're using the official app, C:Geo, Cachly or whatever your poison, there are so many other apps to make geocaching better, even if they're not designed for geocaching.

This month, we're looking at GC Wizard

When you're in front of your PC, it's not a problem. Last month we featured an iOS solution but what if you're not on the iPhone train? What if you're doing Windows or Android? Are you neglected? Are you out in the cold? Not with GC Wizard, you're not. You can get stuck in with so many different puzzle solvers. What's particularly great is that you're able to flag your most favoured solvers and they will remain at the top of your page. So if, for example, you love solving antipode puzzles, you can make sure it's right there when you open the app. From duckspeak to intersections of up to 6 circles, this is a resource very few are aware of but has the collective abilities of the GC Toolbox and D:Code. You can thank us later.

Community Contributions
SA Geocaching Stats
By Adventure_T and Danie Viljoen

Because sometimes, for some people, it is about the numbers…

June 2024

Here is a summary of the South African Geocaching activity for June:
966 Cachers found a total of 3,614 caches during June.
30 Cachers placed 49 new caches during June.
113 Owner Maintenance logs were posted in June vs. 84 in May.
The number of Cachers who found at least 1 SA cache in the previous 12 months is 7,362.
The number of Cachers who placed at least 1 SA cache in the previous 12 months is 222.
The total number of active South African caches at the end of June is 15,012.

Top Dogs:

Top 5 Finders for the month (and caches found):

1	SKATTIE@1>	101
2	GLingens	38
2	bergbokkie	38
4	Andredj	36
5	Lemmings2010	35

Top 5 Hiders for the month (and caches hidden):

1	BeztTeamEver	8
2	danieldagray	4
3	BowlsBoy	3
3	Andredj	3
5	Desertal	2
5	jarrydjms	2
5	ge0cath	2
5	TheonPlusA	2
5	BruceTP	2

Top 5 Finders for 2024 (and caches found):

1	The_VanWyks	584
2	Fish Eagle	318
3	Uncle Chem	168
4	SKATTIE@1>	167
4	Voëlhond	161

Top 5 Hiders for 2024 (and caches hidden):

1	WÅLDO	24
2	BeztTeamEver	18
2	Desertal	18
4	QwikChek	16
5	Andredj	12

Top 5 Finders of South African caches for ALL TIME (and caches found):

1	iPajero	21719
2	The Huskies	9392
3	rodnjoan	8653
4	SKATTIE@1>	8377
5	terunkie	8267

Top 5 Hiders of South African caches for ALL TIME (and caches hidden):

1	PieterM	585
2	Adventure_T	540
3	iPajero	455
4	SawaSawa	412
5	Panthera03	411

Top 5 Maintainers for the month (and caches maintained):

			active caches	ratio
1	SimonLourens	38	80	0.48
2	pieterix	26	61	0.43
3	JuliaAnn	9	51	0.18
4	Christelle_Stellie	8	13	0.62
5	BowlsBoy	5	5	1

Note: All the above statistics include all South African caches on the geocaching.com database, which doesn’t include Adventure Labs.

Current and Known Upcoming Souvenirs

Souvenirs are virtual pieces of art that you can earn, discover, and display on your profile page. They are associated with a particular location, task, find or event and may also be bound by time.

The souvenirs that are currently up for grabs are listed below:

Hider 202 4 – Hide any cache between 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024
Cosmic Quest - Find caches or attend events between 22 July 2024 and 1 September 2024
International Geocaching Day 2024 - Log any geocache, Adventure Lab Location, or Event on 17 August 2024
CITO, 2024 Season 2 - Attend or host any CITO Event between 1 September 2024 and 30 November 2024.

Feature Caching Movie
as we continue our hunt for movies that involve geocaching in the hope of stumbling upon a good one. This month it's...

The Cache (2009)

The Cache (Short 2009) - IMDb

IMDB Rating: N/A

Trailer: None

Full short film: https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2987000601/?ref_=tt_vi_t_1

Level of geocaching: Cash

In real life, Johnny Cash fans, Josh and Matt were getting heavily drunk and came up with a superbly awful tagline, when we cache, we cache with Cash. Instead of enacting some form of self-reprimand, they took a different direction and decided that the world needed to hear their genius benign tagline. Unsatisfied with a Facebook status or a Tweet, they opted to impose their tagline on the world by means of a film; a bad one.

The budget was an estimated $ 1,400 which makes it some 30x cheaper than The Blair Witch Project and you know what? That's believable. The money certainly ran out because the “cachewithcash.com” printed on the characters’ t-shirts points to an expired URL.

The storyline, however is the redeeming feature of the film. It’s redeeming to any person who watches a film with the desire of thinking, “oh” upon witnessing the resolution, or crescendo if you will, of the tale.

Not to be a spoiler but if you’re going to hide a family secret, dumping it in a geocache might not be the best way.

Current and Known Upcoming Events
While there's time, you may want to set your event for International Geocaching Day

*CITO Event

8-Aug-24		Bloem Winter Weekend Start-up	Bloemfontein	FS	GCAV7HP	dolos
8-Aug-24		West Coast meet and great monster night	Tierkloof	WC	GCAVG15	blackpearl101
9-Aug-24		The Night before the Big Day	Bloemfontein	FS	GCAVC08	Voëlhond
10-Aug-24		Bombastic Bloemfontein Braai	Bloemfontein	FS	GCAQ026	Uncle Chem
11-Aug-24		Morning After the Day Before	Bloemfontein	FS	GCAV7JY	chrisingy
13-Aug-24		Space a cosmic quest	Gqeberha	EC	GCAVRT9	white night
14-Aug-24		QC CLXVII - August 2024 - Whisk	Irene	GP	GCAVMFP	dolos
14-Aug-24	*	Lion's Head CITO #11 ^^14 August'24^^	Cape Town	WC	GCAVVDW	Andredj
16-Aug-24		Cosmic Quest Station Alpha	Gqeberha	EC	GCAVRXA	white night
17-Aug-24	*	Meerkat Cleanup	Durban North	KZN	GCATWXB	waydom
17-Aug-24		International Geocaching Day 2024 Brunch	Durban North	KZN	GCAVRDF	waydom
17-Aug-24	*	BSC - "the Wild Mustard eradication" 17 Aug@ 9am	Milnerton	WC	GCAVQC7	Andredj
17-Aug-24		Nano in the Gabions	Gqeberha	EC	GCAVTYJ	white night
18-Aug-24		Lots of prying eyes	Gqeberha	EC	GCAVTFV	white night
19-Aug-24		GOL Tour1- Dinner and a View	Komatipoort	MP	GCARHY9	Gabrielol
19-Aug-24		Give a dog a bone	Gqeberha	EC	GCAVTFZ	white night
22-Aug-24		Enduro in the City	Gqeberha	EC	GCAVTG4	white night
23-Aug-24		LIZARD	Gqeberha	EC	GCAVTG8	white night
27-Aug-24		WOOF WOOF	Gqeberha	EC	GCAVTGF	white night
28-Aug-24		Lots of Space	Gqeberha	EC	GCAVTFN	white night
29-Aug-24		Cosmic Quaff : Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster	Fourways	GP	GCAVRCP	za pienaar family
30-Aug-24	*	Coastal Cleanup #13	Milnerton	WC	GCAVVEY	Andredj
31-Aug-24		See the Planes	Gqeberha	EC	GCAVV2Y	white night

They are your local go-to people, so keep their details for future reference

Eastern Cape	FireflyAfrica (Jonker Fourie)	082 889 2459
Free State	Uncle Chem (Richard Chemaly)	072 431 7131
Gauteng	Leon St (Leon Stoop)	071 330 8435
KwaZulu-Natal	M²C²D (Mark & Ceinwen Oosthuizen)	M 083 324 6176 C 083 324 2167
Limpopo	Boats007 (Willem Botha)	082 463 3700
Mpumalanga	Bouts777 (Gerhard Botha)	082 876 3572
North-West	Team Tip Top (Hansie & Zaneta Van Huyssteen)	H 082 753 8082 Z 083 258 5926
Western & Northern Cape	SKATTIE@1 (Elize Louw)	074 138 6360

Found an awesome cache? Have some tips to share? Been on a cool geocaching adventure lately? (Exciting events happening in your geocaching community? Taken a great photo? We would love to hear all about it!
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If you're reading this part, something is 7BEM9G hidden here. I'm really hopeful that more people send some sweet contributions about event series.

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