I also had the opportunity to spend a little more time on photography, and managed to get some great photos along the way!
Ok, to be perfectly honest, for most of the previously found caches that we visited on ToadNet's behalf, I remained close to the cars and masterfully avoided climbing those much loved mountains! My other half, I swear she is part mountain goat or something, bounced up and down all these treacherous mountains like it was nothing.
So all in all, it was a great day. We set out at around 9:30am and headed straight for the Hatta area. As we approached the area we made a bee-line for Memories of Dubai. The cache is a deceptively easy cache to get to, considering all the other caches in the area, but is a great warm-up for geocaching in the area (being the first cache as you approach Hatta). Everyone dropped some form of trackable in this cache, so we all had to sit on the lid of the container and use some magic to close the cache container again! (It was bulging).
Then it was on to one of Phoenixdxb's caches that ToadNet needed to find. Pay it Forward, which is quite close to Memories of Dubai, is easy enough to get to if you make the right turns :)
Everyone took a nice stroll to the cache, and did the deed, while I remained behind taking pictures and worked on some creative photography.
(I managed to find some shade :))
(Toad Jnr and Mrs. Toad heading back from the hunt)As you can see, we had a beautiful day to enjoy geocaching, and it was only around 36 degrees Celsius. After everyone did the necessary at Pay it Forward, we drove down along the base of the mountain to the next cache, or should I say first part of it. Arabian cache is quite a treasure of a cache. If you haven't done it yet, I highly recommend it, but do plan to spend at least 4 hours on this one cache hunt. It is essentially a multi-cache, and you just have to see the first cache container... its fabulous.
Now the reason I mention this is because Toad Snr. somehow managed to put it in his pocket while shifting things around in his hands. Somehow, no one noticed that the container was not put back where it was found... until everyone was back at the cars... after a loud groan from Toad Snr., he had to turn around and head back up the mountain to go a hide it again. While Toad Snr. ventured up the mountain it gave the rest of a chance to play the fool, and shoot the breeze.
Ok, it was just the two boys playing the fool :)
Fifteen minutes later, soaked in a healthy dose of sweat, he returned a slightly pinker shade of tomato! There is no denying the expression of triumph as he returns...
It was now time to replenish our fluids!
After everyone was suitably refreshed, we all piled into the cars, and headed back to the road onto the next cache. Checking the GPS was a bit of a pain, since all the ones I had already found were no longer showing up in the "find geocaches" menu, and I didn't want to miss any along the way that Toad may not yet have found. Having isolated the next candidate, Hatta's GOLF cache, we plotted our course. For a change we drove right past it before realizing we had to make a U-turn to head back in the correct general direction. Letting Toad and family take the lead, cause they hadn't found it yet, was entertaining, as we knew exactly where we should have been going. Funny to watch someone else, and realize that what they are doing is exactly what you were doing the first time you tried to find it. Straight down here... a little to the right... no, wait and little to the left... back a bit... oops, wrong turn... etc.
Now, along the way to the final cache location, we came across a bush that was just plain full of garbage. How on earth so much rubbish can end up littering a location seemingly in the middle of nowhere is beyond me... and even worse, is the apparent lack of concern for the environment prevalent in the region. I say this broad sweeping statement, but I have been to many remote locations in the UAE, and have often encountered piles of rubbish just left behind or thrown out in the middle of nowhere.
Anyway, we finally got the parking spot as close to the cache as possible. Now, there wasn't a snowflakes chance in hell that I was going to do this climb again. I gracefully bowed out and volunteered to keep Mrs. Toad and Toad Jnr. company with Phoenixdxb (aka Mountain Goat) and Toad Snr. went ahead a scaled the mountain.
And so TheToadNet and Phoenixdxb set off up yet another mountain. TheToadNet was lucky to be able to walk back down again, without flight-for-live or air rescue assistance, as we watched him take a tumble up in the mountain. Apparently his head just missed a rock, and it could have been very ugly. Thankfully, no injuries sustained, and the two mountain jockeys did their business and returned about an hour later.
In the meantime, Toad Jnr reckoned he looks cool behind the wheel!
This last one was caught just after he was trying to show me how he had lost his first tooth! Many unflattering posses later, I caught him checking to see if he could see the gap left by the missing tooth.
After this cache, we decided it was time to head out for some lunch... it was already after 1pm and it was the first day of Eid Al Fitr. We figured the only place to really find lunch within a reasonable distance was the Hatta Fort Hotel. The food there is good, and really cheap. Apparently, everyone else in the area also thought so :) My goodness, there were a lot of cars, had to pay a gate fee, and the parking lot was very busy. Thankfully though, we only had to wait about 10 minutes to get a table in the restaurant. And as usual the meal was very nice, and everyone manage to restore themselves to a normal color, and adequately rehydrate themselves.
Near 3pm, I suggested I would lead the way, because I had, via Google Earth, found a spot I wanted to hide a cache. After getting lost for about half an hour, and ending up right where we started, I decided to give this one a skip, and instead focus on getting the other caches, that were just over the border in Oman.
We first made a stop at one of the new caches in the area, This & That. Yay, another find... but my goodness, this place was dangerous and disgusting. The sheer volume of flies around the cache area says it all! This is one of those spots frequented and popular by the locals, which was apparent by all the cars with blacked out windows (one parked right under the cache site). It was really busy here today, and we lucked out because there was a tree that was obscuring the cache site from one of the parked cars. Thankfully, I was also wearing my hiking boots, so as to avoid cuts from the shards of glass spread all over the place. Broken Heinekin bottles on the mountain side, shards sticking out of the sand... it really is a disgrace!
Anyway... it was a relatively quick find, and the cache had some nice goodies in it! I liked the skeleton travel bugs and was no time in snapping up Fatso!
We dashed back to the cars to escape the flies that were just everywhere, and then headed down the road to the mini border post crossing into Oman. It was manned for once, but they were only checking for Oman car insurance. We then carried on down the road to Grand Stand, which was just wonderful.
Wow, the view/location was fantastic. Finding the cache was a little challenging as the coordinates on the GPSs (we had 3) were a little off seemingly, and after a thorough search of the surroundings, TheToadNet found the cache! It was nice a big! Full of goodies all sports related. Sadly, it was missing a mini outfit of the soon to be Rugby World Cup champions... (hint: not England!)... because that would have been mine!
After everyone had signed the log and made their trades, we drove down another 2 km to Hatta's LOVE cache which Toad Jnr found all by himself (with a little help from dad :)). We had already found this one, so it was just a quick, and very nice find for the Toad family (that really does sound wrong... I wonder what on earth inspired Toad Snr. to use Toad as a nick?).
After this, it was time to head home, as the sun had started setting. We originally wanted to got for Pink Rock, which is in the desert, so Toad Snr. could try his hand at desert driving, but the day got away from us, and dune bashing in the dark is no fun!
It was a great day, fun was had all round... and it was now time to head home and rest up for my other favorite past-time the following day... visiting the Hard Rock Cafe when Shine (the band) is in town.
Watch this space next week, because Friday coming is the UAE Cachers event, so it should be interesting!
Now the reason I mention this is because Toad Snr. somehow managed to put it in his pocket while shifting things around in his hands. Somehow, no one noticed that the container was not put back where it was found... until everyone was back at the cars... after a loud groan from Toad Snr., he had to turn around and head back up the mountain to go a hide it again. While Toad Snr. ventured up the mountain it gave the rest of a chance to play the fool, and shoot the breeze.
Ok, it was just the two boys playing the fool :)Fifteen minutes later, soaked in a healthy dose of sweat, he returned a slightly pinker shade of tomato! There is no denying the expression of triumph as he returns...
It was now time to replenish our fluids!
After everyone was suitably refreshed, we all piled into the cars, and headed back to the road onto the next cache. Checking the GPS was a bit of a pain, since all the ones I had already found were no longer showing up in the "find geocaches" menu, and I didn't want to miss any along the way that Toad may not yet have found. Having isolated the next candidate, Hatta's GOLF cache, we plotted our course. For a change we drove right past it before realizing we had to make a U-turn to head back in the correct general direction. Letting Toad and family take the lead, cause they hadn't found it yet, was entertaining, as we knew exactly where we should have been going. Funny to watch someone else, and realize that what they are doing is exactly what you were doing the first time you tried to find it. Straight down here... a little to the right... no, wait and little to the left... back a bit... oops, wrong turn... etc.
Now, along the way to the final cache location, we came across a bush that was just plain full of garbage. How on earth so much rubbish can end up littering a location seemingly in the middle of nowhere is beyond me... and even worse, is the apparent lack of concern for the environment prevalent in the region. I say this broad sweeping statement, but I have been to many remote locations in the UAE, and have often encountered piles of rubbish just left behind or thrown out in the middle of nowhere.
Anyway, we finally got the parking spot as close to the cache as possible. Now, there wasn't a snowflakes chance in hell that I was going to do this climb again. I gracefully bowed out and volunteered to keep Mrs. Toad and Toad Jnr. company with Phoenixdxb (aka Mountain Goat) and Toad Snr. went ahead a scaled the mountain.
And so TheToadNet and Phoenixdxb set off up yet another mountain. TheToadNet was lucky to be able to walk back down again, without flight-for-live or air rescue assistance, as we watched him take a tumble up in the mountain. Apparently his head just missed a rock, and it could have been very ugly. Thankfully, no injuries sustained, and the two mountain jockeys did their business and returned about an hour later.In the meantime, Toad Jnr reckoned he looks cool behind the wheel!
This last one was caught just after he was trying to show me how he had lost his first tooth! Many unflattering posses later, I caught him checking to see if he could see the gap left by the missing tooth.After this cache, we decided it was time to head out for some lunch... it was already after 1pm and it was the first day of Eid Al Fitr. We figured the only place to really find lunch within a reasonable distance was the Hatta Fort Hotel. The food there is good, and really cheap. Apparently, everyone else in the area also thought so :) My goodness, there were a lot of cars, had to pay a gate fee, and the parking lot was very busy. Thankfully though, we only had to wait about 10 minutes to get a table in the restaurant. And as usual the meal was very nice, and everyone manage to restore themselves to a normal color, and adequately rehydrate themselves.
Near 3pm, I suggested I would lead the way, because I had, via Google Earth, found a spot I wanted to hide a cache. After getting lost for about half an hour, and ending up right where we started, I decided to give this one a skip, and instead focus on getting the other caches, that were just over the border in Oman.
We first made a stop at one of the new caches in the area, This & That. Yay, another find... but my goodness, this place was dangerous and disgusting. The sheer volume of flies around the cache area says it all! This is one of those spots frequented and popular by the locals, which was apparent by all the cars with blacked out windows (one parked right under the cache site). It was really busy here today, and we lucked out because there was a tree that was obscuring the cache site from one of the parked cars. Thankfully, I was also wearing my hiking boots, so as to avoid cuts from the shards of glass spread all over the place. Broken Heinekin bottles on the mountain side, shards sticking out of the sand... it really is a disgrace!
Anyway... it was a relatively quick find, and the cache had some nice goodies in it! I liked the skeleton travel bugs and was no time in snapping up Fatso!
We dashed back to the cars to escape the flies that were just everywhere, and then headed down the road to the mini border post crossing into Oman. It was manned for once, but they were only checking for Oman car insurance. We then carried on down the road to Grand Stand, which was just wonderful.
Wow, the view/location was fantastic. Finding the cache was a little challenging as the coordinates on the GPSs (we had 3) were a little off seemingly, and after a thorough search of the surroundings, TheToadNet found the cache! It was nice a big! Full of goodies all sports related. Sadly, it was missing a mini outfit of the soon to be Rugby World Cup champions... (hint: not England!)... because that would have been mine!After everyone had signed the log and made their trades, we drove down another 2 km to Hatta's LOVE cache which Toad Jnr found all by himself (with a little help from dad :)). We had already found this one, so it was just a quick, and very nice find for the Toad family (that really does sound wrong... I wonder what on earth inspired Toad Snr. to use Toad as a nick?).
After this, it was time to head home, as the sun had started setting. We originally wanted to got for Pink Rock, which is in the desert, so Toad Snr. could try his hand at desert driving, but the day got away from us, and dune bashing in the dark is no fun!
It was a great day, fun was had all round... and it was now time to head home and rest up for my other favorite past-time the following day... visiting the Hard Rock Cafe when Shine (the band) is in town.
Watch this space next week, because Friday coming is the UAE Cachers event, so it should be interesting!
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