http://www.hesspoint.com

This in one for all you geocachers out there. I came across a cache that had a banner in the description with some rating and it told me to click on it to rate the cache. So I did and I came to this site: http://gcstat.selfip.org/

There you can enter your caches and also put a banner on your cache page which lets users rate your cache in various ways, starting from how you liked it to how long you needed and how often you had to try. It gives you also pretty sophisticated visitor stats. Try it out, it is free.

Christmas is already near again, so it was time for me to organize another X-Mas Geocaching Event. I feel I am making a habit of this, were ever I am in the world to organize a Pre -Christmas Event. Last time it was in Paderborn, this time Shanghai. As I wrote the entry for geocaching.com I was not even sure anyone would show up at all. But a few days before the event some people actually registered and most of them also came last Friday to the Captains Bar. It was a really nice evening and I finally got to know some Chinese geocachers here.

So I am already looking forward to the next event, were ever in the world I will be then…

One year has passed since I first started to search for little tupperware boxes with my GPS receiver. 1 Year and 159 caches later I took the time to sum up this year in a little statistic:

I am really looking forward to a new interesting and inspiring caching season 2006 with lots of challenges and riddles especially in China.

Wohooooo!!!! Finally Germany is all high resulution in Google Earth. I just opened up GE and could not believe my eyes. Not just the big cities, but also little villages and countryside is finally not a big blob anymore. This might take geocaching to a whole new level in Germany. What a day!

Hi was just browsing through the logs my fellow cachers wrote for today and the my eye was caught by an ad for Geocaching Cruises. WTH? Actually today, while caching, we talked about some wild and crazy business models for geocaching. But this one tops ‘em all: Geocaching Cruises organizes boat cruises through the Caribbean, even Alaska for cachers to visit famous caches on the islands. Sounds like a heck a lot of fun but something tells me that it won’t be cheap They even offer Single Cruises to meet other single geocachers.

Woot! I just found my 100th Geocache today. Ok the Cache itself was not that spectacular but still I tought worth a note in this blog. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so you gotta imagine my smug smile

I just got a note from a fellow geocacher that the ZDF is airing an episode of SOKO Kitzbühel that deals with geocaching. The air time is the 17th Feb. 06 at 18:00h (cet). If you are interested, you can find a recap here.

It is done! I lay out my 5th geocache today. It is called "Drei Hasen Cache". This time I decided to make it a Letterbox-Hybrid, since there is no cache of this type in the entire region, yet. Ok till today there wasn’t.
The second reason for this cache is to honor the cache that actually got me hooked to geocaching. It was the first cache I did, but since quite a while it is disabled, because it was stolen. I tried to carry over some of its spirit into this new cache, that it kinda lives on. Ok a little philosophical, I admit.
Anyway, for those of you, who have not heard from Letterbox-Hybrids yet, here is a quick insight:
Letterbox-Hybrids combine the game of Letterboxing with Geocaching. Letterboxing is similar, but there are no coordinates to find the box but only clues and hints. Secondly the box contains a rubber stamp you use to stamp your personal logbook you bring. Then you use your own personal stamp to stamp the Letterbox’s logbook. So it is kind of a mutual stamping fun.
Unfortunately, Letterbox-Hybrids do not have the best reputation amongst many cachers, because most of those caches are simply traditionals with a stamp. That this doesn’t quite do it is somewhat obvious. My cache is a real mix of those two games. You get only start coordinates and they you have to find your way by clues and photos. On the way you got to solve some puzzles as well. Then you find a hint for the final coordinates.
I hope I could make your mouth water and if you are in the area, enjoy the cache!

Right now, the discouters have some usefull office equipment for sale, that comes in quite handy for geocachers.

1. Tchibo offers a customizable rubber stamp with integrated pad. It comes with a set of rubber characters that you can order on the stamp in 4 lines of text. You can put together a log stamp that you don’t have to write your nichname by hand. Ok I am lazy, I admit Cost: 6.99 €.
2. Also from Tchibo comes a paper trimmer that lets you cut paper with 3 different cutting heads. Ideal for cutting those XXS Micro logs into stripes or making little cards with cache hints, etc. It cost 5.99 €.
3. Aldi has a laminating device for hot and cold lamination. Again good for cachenotes, hints, etc. I think it was about 15 €.

I just placed my 4th cache, "Fischers Fritze" (The name refers to a well known German tongue twister). Well, technically my 5th if you are counting the event cache I am organizing. As the last one, it is a micro, but unlike "Sanatorium" this one is not for you guys in OWL. I felt I had to put one in the town where I spent most of my youth, in the little town of Preetz in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein (Germany). However, you guys from OWL, feel free if you happen to be up north some time