Wherever you are right now, you may be surprised to know there are hundreds of treasures hidden all around you — and people out looking for them.
I’m a bit late - international geocaching day was two days ago! - but I wanted to share this article as an excuse to mention the geocaching dog facebook group “GeoPups Sports” which is an online dog titling of geocaching (with dogs!).
They are concealed on street lights, under rocks and up in trees — little containers at the centre of an outdoor, world-wide scavenger hunt called geocaching.
The treasure hunters, known as geocachers, navigate using GPS coordinates to track down and find a cleverly hidden 'geocache' and add it to their tally.
The recreation even has its own day. Today marks International Geocaching Day.
"Geocaches come in all different shapes and sizes — anything from the size of a button all the way up to a large ammunitions can," retired public servant Thomas Schulze said.
As Mr Schulze explains, inside the cache is a logbook, where the finder signs their name.
“It takes you to new places you'd never think of going — hidden little gems that geocaching sort of points out," Ms Kay said.
There are approximately 3 million geocaches across 190 countries, with more popping up every day.
And the respite support worker said the pursuit kept her active.
"If you wanted me to walk up a hill, I probably wouldn't," Ms Kay said.
"But if you put a cache up there, I'll go. If it's a 'first-to-find' I might even jog a little."
Other geocachers, like Kathy Hicks, credit the geocaching for pushing her past her comfort zone.
"Before taking up geocaching, I hadn't climbed a tree since I was a kid," she said.
"I've climbed about 80 trees in the last seven years to find caches.
Each cache is rated in terms of how difficult it is to get to and how hard it is to find once you arrive at its location.
Mr Schulze said geocaching offered something for everyone.
"If the terrain is listed as a [grade] one, people in a wheelchair should be able to get that — we like to try and accommodate everybody," he said.Some of the caches contain an item to swap — like a toy or trinket — which was what enticed 10-year-old Jasmine to join her mother Danielle Sharma out geocaching.
"You're supposed to swap with something of equal or higher value so the next child that comes along can swap and get a toy as well," Ms Sharma said.
"You're giving as well as receiving and it's a good way for children to experience that generosity for others."
There are even gadget caches that are tricky to open and some that require the searcher to solve a cryptic puzzle online before uncovering the GPS coordinates.
