Auckland Zoo

With Charlotte having a Halloween party up in Auckland it only made sense to spend the day in Auckland caching... well made sense to me anyway.  Now being a caring husband I didn't want Chelsea to spend the day sitting in the car. Chelsea absolutely loves zoo's and what better zoo to visit but the Auckland.  I thought that there may be a couple of caches in the area but wasn't expecting there to be one in the zoo.

Left Hamilton a little later than expected but arrived at the zoo at 10:30.  When were finally arrived at the zoo we were both amazed at the amount of people that were already there. Hamilton zoo is so empty in comparison.

Auckland Zoo

Part of the requirements to find the cache at the zoo required us to visit just about every single inch picking up different bits of information.  Normally when I go to the zoo I just walk around looking at the animals and move on. This time having to collect information made me slow down and appreciate the amount of work gone into different enclosures and learnt lots of different facts about the animals.

Feeding time.

We eventually made our way to the elephant  area and stayed and watch for a while as the keeper gave the elephant some food. Had to laugh a little because the keeper make the elephant hang its own netting of food up before it was allowed to start eating it.  The whole African area is probably the bit we liked the most and visited it a couple of times throughout the day.

What you looking at?

Chelsea's crate

The layout of the zoo was a little bit confusing at first but as we begun walking around it all seemed to flow together nicely. Each enclosure just looked like it was part of nature and the way the streams wound through them was beautiful.

Killer Seagulls

Only had to worry about the killer seagulls as they were the only animal that attacked all day.

A great day at the Auckland Zoo

We ended up spending close to 5 hours and collected nearly all the answers to the multi-cache. the final was found quickly and it was a great day.  Chelsea and I are going to make plans to visit the Hamilton Zoo more often as its something we both enjoy.

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After leaving the zoo we continued to explore the Auckland area collecting a few more caches. Ended up getting 15 in total before heading off to the party. We were not planning on staying long so didn't have a costume planned. That didn't stop Chelsea from getting her face all cut up to help her get into the swing of things though.

Chelsea all cut up about something.

Farmyard Swim

Just when I begin to think that Geocaching is not important and that im not addicted and new cache is published close to home that I HAVE to get.

A cache was published on sunday and it wasn't long before I had solved the puzzle.  It was a lot of cutting out and fiddling with small pieces of paper, but well worth it.  I plugged the coordinates into google.maps ready to race off and collect the cache only to find that it was on a small island at Lake Cameron.  A quick check revealed that Zorgon had published it.

I was out at Richards house the other day when he was commenting on placing a cache what required a kayak. Realising that I was either going to have to swim to GZ or wait to get a kayak I decided to leave this FTF hunt.

A couple of hours later I received an email from McClutchenClan also commenting about the need for a kayak.  We got talking and decided to go to GZ together and just swim out to the island.  Plans were laid and with Monday quickly approaching it was decided to start the week with a swim.

I still believe that im not addicted to Geocaching.com 

Axolotl Update

Have been away from school over the past 2 weeks and only came in a couple of times to check on the babies.  In hind sight I really should have come in more.  The tank become very, very dirty with a brown slim growing up the side of the tank and on the leaves.

Gave the tank a clean today and decided to check on the number of Axolotls that are left alive.... Only counted 2.  Kind of disappointed but what else could I expect when I didn't really take good care of them.

Will try and get the adults to breed again.

3.5k Run

Friday
After a busy day at school it was hard work getting up the energy to go for a run.  Eventually headed around the lake and felt really good.

Thursday
It was a nice quick run around the lake. Felt good to be running even though my fitness is really lacking.

First run for the season

I have been meaning to get back into my running but have been using the excuse of it getting dark to early.  Well with daylight saving here there is really nothing stopping me but myself.

The start of daylight saving signaled the start of the Eastside Tavern Run.  Missed the first one... because I was to lazy so made sure I was there for the second.  There was quite a few people there and I was looking forward to getting back into it.

Started the run nice and slow following a couple of old guys.  Using them to set my pace as I just wanted to finish, wasn't to worried about my time.  As it turns out the old guys were fitter than me and they slowly pulled away.

Got to about 3km and started to feel exhausted.  Knew that I had to just push through.  Got the then end in about 27min which I think was ok for my first run.

Caving

By now its pretty clear that every weekend there is some type of  adventure that I have planned and this weekend was no exception.  Now tramping is kinda the normal and road trips are becoming the same... Time to ramp it up a little and go caving.

This is what it looked like:

It was a stormy morning as one cacher slowly eyed the time. 5.30. After a text to another cacher it was confirmed, a trip to squander the Welsh Whaler's loot was set in motion.

Arriving at the location where the Whaler was shot they were soon heading off.  Despite it being many years, the Whaler's poem still rung true.  The two cachers carefully negotiated the bush their reciting the poem.

From one dirty hole to another,
Begin with a thought for your mother.
Look tall and proud -
She stands out from the crowd
And her light guides the way, don’t you love ‘er!

No matter how many times they recited the poem there was only one thing that stood out.  It wasn't long before the cachers found themselves at the opening to 'one dirty hole'.  Equipping themselves with rubber suits they entered the cave.  With mud up to their calves they sloshed deeper in the darkness.  It wasn't long before they found themselves at a small pond.

Time out was taken to inflate the blowup chair.  Drifting across the pond... was quick. The cachers found themselves faced with a muddy climb up to a higher level and what looked like a small lake.  The cachers should have known by now to stop assuming.  A quick drift and again a dead end.  There was enough room however to squeeze a head through and it was so worth it.  The cave opened up and became a tranquil stream.  The cave was extremely full of water and the cachers found themselves swimming deeper and deeper into mother earth.

Just when all hope of finding the stach was up there was a strange structure up ahead.  Could it be.  With joy and elation with cachers raided the stash.  They found a muddy sheet of paper lying in amongst the gold and decided to add their names.




Mud, water, and cold the adventures had a brillant day and wished there was more caches like these around.


This really was the only cache that I was after today and all the rest were just a bonus.

After collecting the Welsh whaler cache we headed off to Limestonehenge-Revisited where I claimed a FTF.  Double bonus

With Waitomo cleared out we headed off to Kekepuku to claim a couple of puzzle caches.  The first was the Locked and Lost cache.  We had quickly grabbed the key to this one with Steve and headed off to unlock the lost cache.


Oh, that is where the fun began.

After reading a couple of the logs we knew ruffly where to start the search.  Checking all the obvious places came up empty so we kept on widening the search.  I was lucky enough to spot a foot print and soon found the cache - no longer lost.

Now id like to say that I only left a small geotrail but well lets just say that C&D left a geohighway as he slid down the bank... apparently he was surveying the soil stability. Im no expert but im guessing it will receive a F. Oh and all this happened no where close to the cache... which made it even funnier

The last cache that was to be collected was the Kekepuku leg burner. It required a rather large hike up lots of steps and then doing some maths.  Well lets just say we did the math over and over again until we got an answer that gave us a GZ that looked close enough. Decided to count again as we walked back down. Redid the math ... again and sure enough the coords looked good enough. Claimed another find.

We carried on collecting the last of the caches up the mountain and returned home at 5:00 - a 12hr day.

AWESOME

World Ostomy Day will be celebrated on 6 October 2012 and the theme is "Let's be heard!"

The aim of World Ostomy Day is to improve the rehabilitation of ostomates worldwide by bringing to the attention of the general public and the global community to the needs of ostomates and their families.

The life situation of ostomates

The contributions of Ostomy Associations and Ostomy Professionals

The value of the multidisciplinary approach in ostomy care

Activities to promote awareness around the world will include: educational programmes, seminars, support meetings and demonstrations, displays, electronic information networks, newspaper and magazine announcements, advertisements and articles, publication of informative handout materials and brochures, audio and video announcements and films, personal visits and lobbying activities, official government proclamations and joint activities with complementary agencies and professional health associations.

At this moment a lot of Regional and National Associations and Support Groups are preparing their activities. You’ll find their contribution on the regional websites:

EOA            www.ostomyeurope.org
ASPOA       www.ostomyasiasouthpacific.org 
OAA           www.ostomyamericas.org 

As on previous occasions, Coloplast, ConvaTec and Hollister also have organised activities to support World Ostomy Day 2012 globally 

After all this talk about World Ostomy Day some of you may be wondering exactly it is.

An ostomy pouching system (also colloquially called a bag) is a medical device prosthetic that provides a means for the collection of waste from a surgically diverted biological system (colon, ileum, urinary) and the creation of a stoma. Pouching systems are most commonly associated with colostomies, ileostomies, and urostomies.^[1]

Pouching systems usually consist of a collection pouch bag,^[2] known as a one-piece system or, in some instances involves a mounting plate, commonly called a wafer or a baseplate, and a collection pouch that is attached mechanically or with an adhesive in an airtight seal, known as a two-piece system. The selection of systems varies greatly between individuals and is often based on personal preference and lifestyle. Ostomy pouching systems collect waste that is output from a stoma. The pouching system allows the stoma to drain into a sealed collection pouch, while protecting the surrounding skin from contamination.^[3]

Ostomy pouching systems are air- and water-tight and allow the wearer to lead an active normal lifestyle that can include all forms of sports and recreation.

Ostomy pouching systems are also sometimes referred to as an appliance, where the term appliance refers to a prosthesis, as a mechanical replacement for a biological function.