Treegeek #9 - east of west New Lambton, New South Wales, Australia
By lee737 on 24-Jun-23. Waypoint GCAAET1

I arrived in Newcastle after a long drive on a Friday night.It was dark as we set up the tents, not the funniest time.My tent was also not completely waterproof, and given the humidity of Newcastle and the condensational properties of dihydrogen monoxide (ifykyk), I woke up with a leaking tent and wet hair.That wasn't fun. After getting cleaned up, I managed to convince the parents to do a bit of caching around in the car before breakfast, and this was the first one!Since we were in the car, the fishing pole was of easy access.Soon spotted the container lurking high up in the trees and managed to retrieve it and return it first try! That doesn't happen often! Wow!Signed the log within a iconic container before returning the cache to its perch!Thanks for placing this cache Team737!

Back in Newie this morning, this time for eldest novo's safe drivers prac. So I dashed off this time for some pole caching. I had just come from doing team737's WIG in Lambton Park and got muggled out there so it was nice to come to a spot that was pretty much abandoned as compared, although you wouldn't have thought so looking on the map. Oh boy this catch and grab was quite challenging with the novo stick as it really only goes to about 6m these days due to a section of it being trodden on and snapped accidentally by one of us a month or so back while pole fishing in Branxton. You see, our fishing TOTT is home-made and consists of three sections of 20x20 dressed Tasmanian oak, fashioned with some aluminium pieces at each end that can be joined on demand to provide a 3, 6, or 9m pole. Don't laugh - we've found almost 200 tree caches with it! Anyway turns out I still had what was left of that broken bit of the 3rd pole in the car which I duct-taped onto the end of the 6m section as the screws were missing, which gave me about 2m more. With me on my tippy-toes I was able to *just* snag it down! Getting it back up was tricky but ok thanks to no breeze and also thanks to some adjacent branches I was able to work off to hook it back on. This TOTT has not failed to replace a cache yet! (touch wood). TFTC, lee737.#2054

Tftc!Finally decided to get a pole and do these

Cache checked - all in good condition. Thanks to previous finders for getting it back to the right spot. One log has been deleted.

Spotted cache in tree. With guidance of Geoian the fishing pole was used. TFTC

Soon spotted a familiar quiche and had poll on hand great to have a extra long Pole makes it quite stable in these windy conditions case retrieved signed and replaced thanks for your hard effort favourite from me

This cache was found today and brings our overall cache find tally to 13385.On my way home I just managed to reach this with my pole, I was surprised I didnt see anyone looking given the club across the road. Thanks lee737 for the cache.

Reperio 10:38Day 3 of our Newcastle geocaching escapade, and Master Vitruvius and I were up early to tackle some of the inner city caches before the rest of Newy started to arrive. Armed with a newly purchased pole (pretty much just for this trip), the cache was retrieved without too much issue and even replacing it worked well. Looking forward to many more of these.Gratias lee737As a well spent day brings happy sleep, a well spent life brings happy death - LDV

Tftf

Enjoying a day of geocaching with The Odd Couple 2.0 today (Deni F and Shaneo58)Thanks to the fellas for the use of their vast tree fishing experience and the telescopic ladder.This was an interesting cache, a fre nearby muggles were enjoying their lunch nearby and asked what we were up to. We explained we were geocaching, and they seemed quite interested as we tried to convince them to give caching a go. Thanks to Deni F for his amazing efforts in retrieving and returning the cache. TFTC

Unfortunately this was too high for the new pole! Another time

It's there but couldn't get it with pole....and pole kinda broke and needs fixing already.

A trip north with Crash, PPE and Baktrak for a little tour around town of select caches. A change in TOTTS and another find. We completed the signing duties and re hid. TFTC

Our well-equipped band of dodgy characters made quick work of this one. Thanks lee737.

#7471A northerly expedition with a car full of enthusiastic cachers.We had the right TOTT to get the job done quickly!TFTC lee737

Found on a recent expedition to Newcastle with a band of not so merry men before Christmas.SL TFTC

**This Cache:**As GHHH has mentioned, he decided to climb the neighbouring tree! So whilst I fished the cache down, he got as high into the tree next it as he could! I passed him the cache from my pole, and the signing duties were completed, before he put it back onto my hook and it was returned! Fun fact, this cache is also less than 100m from my accommodation for the night! TFTC Team737---**Today:**Visiting Newcastle this weekend to tackle a wide variety of physically challenging and creatively crafted Team737 hides! Huge thanks Team737 for inviting myself and GHHH and showing us the "ropes", quite literally, of Technical Tree Climbing and Abseiling! One of the best caching weekends I have had and will always be a highlight memory! The expertise and gear you guys have is just incredible and I was so honoured to learn these new skills from you! Appreciate your kindness, patience and company during this adventure packed weekend! Until next time..!

This was an interesting one as I climbed the adjacent tree and the tree fisher brought the cache on the pole to me then we all climbed the tree then tree fisher loci went down and fished it back up. A great cache Samuel. TFTC FP

TFTC and a nice find. Out geocaching with Deni- yesterday with Shanes fishing pole and luckily I caught all the caches we visited with it. Cache put back securely in the place it was found.

Up there? Not sure my pole is long enough. Nope, bout 2 metres short. What have i got to extend it. Look, my paddle is still in the car from 2 weeks ago. Tried to jerry rig it onto the bottom of my pole, but only had strapping tape out of the first aid kit to use, which did not work very well. And it still came in short. OK. Have to take the 2 stage tott off the roof, climb that, use the pole. TADA! Just as i was trying to hook the blighter, i hear a voice, "Do you need a hand?" Some muggle has walked in with his K9 friend, and is now interested in what i am doing. "No thanks Mate", and he just stands there watching. "Watcha doing?" so as i am lowering my pole, i am explaining Geocaching to him. Good for you was his reply, and turned his attention back to his friend. I had a reply along the lines of environmental monitoring at different heights, but he looked honest enough. Took some effort, but i got it in the end. Funny that this D4.5 is my 5th, all other D4.5's i have 1. Must be popular. TFTC. Fav from me for my efforts.

Find#1472
Found it pretty quickly but navigating getting it down and then back up was tricky especially when there were a few muggles around. TFTC

The team's mobile cache checker has dropped by, and confirmed the cache is in position where it was hidden...

Well, unfortunately I couldn't find the box. According to the coordinates, only three trees come into consideration from my point of view. tftc

I hadn't intended attempting this cache today, as I thought it would be out of reach of my tree-fishing pole, but I bumped into the CO in Lambton and he thought I should be able to reach it. So after completing #6, I headed around to the park. After a good deal of looking skywards, I finally spotted the cache but I thought it'd be touch and go whether my pole would reach it, particularly with the wind that had picked up while I'd been looking. The park was also becoming increasingly muggle central, with a steady stream of passers-by, someone having lunch at one of the benches and a couple of people sitting in their cars and watching me. At that point I decided to call it quits and will try again another time I'm up this way.

I went fishing with Justontime this morning. It wasn't very good weather for fishing but he got a bite,hooked it and landed it. Signed, tagged and released for some one else. TFTC TEAM737.

Hooked this one today with shaneo58.Had an inquisitive bloke from the pub who came over for a chat as well.Another great hide TFTC Team737

A quick spot but took a while to get down. We got it back up pretty easily. TNLN TFTC

A quick spot but took some time to get it down. I had thought it would be quite difficult to put back but surprisingly it was a quick job for us. This is a pretty high one but glad it has a reasonable angle of approach despite how close other trees are. Enjoyed this one. TNLN TFTC

Mr Minion and I set of today to find a few caches that are a little harder for me to do on my own. The weather was not the best, but we had a really great day. We found a car park close by and walked over to GZ, unlike some others today we spotted the cache quickly and had no problems with retrieval but then suddenly a man and lady came running out of the gym asking what we were doing, We explained geocaching to them , the man didn't really understand but after a while the lady said " Oh my nephew does that " and they walked back of to the gym. So, we replaced the cache and went on our way safe in the knowledge they would never be able to reach the cache anyway. Thanks for the cache Team737 tnln replaced as found sl

Just arrived in Newcastle, up visiting family. Made time for a quick spot of fishing first thing. OCW MaxAdventurer. TFTC

OCW EverestHigh. TFTC.

Published

[FTF]
What a lovely surprise for us on a Sunday afternoon.
We had just finished visiting a multi by the same CO, who, coincidentally we met this morning at a community event.
Serendipitous, as we are not often likely to be those around a FTF!
We were not too far away, and decided to make a short drive for this one, and soon had our name added to an empty log sheet.
Many thanks Team737!
Domsky

Find No: 9148. Had an urgent call from shaneo58 so off we went for a FTF, only to find we had been beaten by some ring-ins from Canberra but thanks for the cache Team737!!