5000 Finds

After 9 years of caching and accumulating thousands of finds, we finally racked up our 5000th find on the 27th Feb 2011.

As with all our milestone finds we have gone outside the box to undertake a unique cache that we would remember and this milestone was no exception. The “In Extremis” GC2HYPF series of caches placed by Hoojar was to be our goal. This series of caches has 11 caches placed in a 160km radius from Wollongong on various main roads that head out from Sydney. Each cache has a number contained within which once all numbers are collected can be used to find the coordinates to the final cache.

Over a period of approximately 3 months I slowly found all the caches in the series. Sometimes going to extreme lengths to obtain the find. On one occasion Steeba and I did a 500km round trip effectively for 2 finds. Some might say I’m crazy, but well worth it for the ultimate prize.

With all the preliminary caches found and GZ worked out, Steeba and myself set off to complete my 5000th find. The cache page had warned us of the dangers but had also highlighted the views that would be seen at GZ. As we approached GZ neither aspect was under estimated. The Illawarra’s 80m escarpment cliffs and spectacular views of the coastline awaited us.

After rigging the necessary ropes etc I abseiled down to the awaiting cache where I claimed my 5000th find. Jubilation and triumph run through my body as with all my milestone finds. Steeba had joined me at GZ where we both shared in this memorable cache. I left my usual milestone coin in the cache for all that venture after me to find.

It was then time to return to the top where once again we re-lived the joy of my 5000th find.

Thanks to Steeba for joining me on this adventure and thanks to Hoojar for providing a memorable 5000th find cache.