Geocaching, anyone help out a newbie?

[QualityTime]

We have just found our first cache today, a micro at our local park, DD's are very excited!
We want to start lookiong for more but I can't afford a GPS and I can't afford the £30 for the geocache navigator thing on my nokia, any suggestions?
I put the co-ordinates into google earth and it is not helping much, or is it the one I am looking for?
Any other hints/advice would be great!

It's possible, but not easy, to find caches without a GPS. using Google Earth plus the hint on the cache page (if there is one) is how I've seen people do it before. There is an Ordnance Survey map overlay for Google Earth too which may help but i don't have it bookmarked on my ipad so can't tell you where it is.

Stick to ones with a difficulty of 2 or under as you are more likely to have success with these. it may be that urban ones are easier to find without a GPS than ones in the middle of woods.

Whereabouts are you?

Am in south wales. There are a few round here, some harder than others by the looks of it. The one we found was very easy!
Will have a look for ordnance survey thing, thanks.

I do have satnav and nokia maps on my phone but that is not very ehlpful as it won't look for gps co-ordinates.
How expensive are gps devices? I don't ewant to spend loads of money on something that I am going to be using not too frequently.

The basic Garmin one is about £60. I'm a Garmin fan - both my Sat nav and GPS are Garmin.

if you go to the forums ongeocaching.com, there's a UK board. there's also a Welsh cachers group but the name/ link escapes me at the moment. Both would be able to offer you some help.

South Wales Geocachers

Oh thanks soupy!

I'm hooked on caching

I have always known about it but was waiting until DD's were a bit older, they are now 4.4 and 2.8 so I gave it a go while we were out with their friends in the park, they were so excited at finding a small tin with some paper in it (see my profile)

why is my profile not working. I know what I am doing

Use a map and a ruler, followed by a map and carefull pacing or even compass work to get you in right location. the grid ref is very very accurate if its been listed correctly.

Look at spoiler pictures, use the extra hint, on the ground look out for something that looks "not quite right" in the area you are expecting a cache in.

if you think they were happy with a piece of paper in a tin, wait till they find a plastic box full of tat treasure.

I did try to find a box last week but the co-ords on google earth were well out + we ended up searching every tree in the park.

Turns out it's in a bush

Probably best i started with a micro cache though, low expectations!

google earth is notoriously un reliable for geo-cacheing.
Glad you and kids are enjoying it. Try letterboxing if your ever in Devon.

Thanks, going to west sussex soon, but devon's a bit too far!
Are there any more reliable online maps?

Openstreetmap can be good,if any one in your area is passionate and has done teh work.

Yes, Google Earth is of most use when there is a good clue to narrow things down. It's always a good few (!) feet off - but then again, under a tree canopy a GPS is off by a good distance too.

i think the ordnance Survey overlay is perhaps accurate as it is always slightly off the features shown on Google Earth.

Geocaching is not an exact science anyway, there is almost always some element of hunting necessary.