Does anyone have any questions about gear?

Yep sure thing.

Ryan, do you have a cache?

If you are going to bury something, make sure the items are sealed in Mylar bags. This makes them air and water tight! You can buy plastic barrels that have had pickles, or olives in them, they are 200lt and if you silicon the cover lid and put the top ring on it becomes water tight! About $40.00 each (cleaned)

I've definitely seen people glue a solid cap to one end, and had a screw adapter glued to the other end. If you do protect everything, then shouldn't be too much of a problem. Saves you having to carry a saw with you, and you can re-seal it after if need be.

Otherwise, like you said, can find the food-grade buckets. I know on eBay you can get them for as cheap as $20!

Best advice I have heard about burying caches is don't put in anything that you cant afford to lose.

If you are putting it on crown land, or another persons property there is a real chance that it will be found and/or damaged. Even on your own property unless you triple seal (ziploc bags, shrink wrap, water proof cases, PVC pipes sealed with silicon etc) your cache it could end up full of water with the contents basically useless. I've done a lot of geocaching with the kids and we have come across many caches that have been damaged by shredders/graders/ploughs or full of condensation and water and the contents are ruined.

As for what goes into a cache that is dependant on what you want it for? Is it going to be a resupply cache half way between your home and your BOL? If so then food, ammo and potentially fuel is something you want to cache. If you are concerned about things being stolen of confiscated then perhaps some money, precious metals or firearms are what you need to put into your cache.

When deciding where to hide your cache you need to ensure that you will always have access to it - in an abandoned building or the middle of a suburban park is not a good idea, but a national park or on some friends land is probably a good idea. You want to keep it away from areas that are prone to flooding or a higher water table - as I said water is the enemy to any survival caches. For the actual location you are going to want at least three ways to find it - GPS is good now, but in a major event will you have a working sat nav? Smaller trees can be burnt in bushfires and floods can change a landscape dramatically so dont rely on only one landmark.

Dont put any identifiable information in your cache either, you probably don't want the authorities returning your cache with a brick of ammo and a years supply of fishmox due to the questions they would no doubt have. Like I said at the start if you cant afford to lose it don't cache it.

If your serious about it not being found you need to make sure no one sees you bury your cache and no one finds it by accident. If you can bury the cache so the top is at least 1 meter down and once you have replaced the soil if there are large rocks around put one on top.

Like all preps consider that 2 is 1 and 1 is none - it would be worth putting extra caches down where possible (not next to each other) in case one gets damaged/found if you can afford to.

I've done a number of geocaches in the past that while they are meant to be found, they are not meant to be damaged so Im going to be using that experience over the next couple of weeks and doing a couple of survival caches. Ill take some photos and share the progress with you all here.

Is bumping allowed? I hope so....if not, forum gids, i beg your forgiveness!

Well, because its a potential business venture im keeping that private, XP as far as i know its not intended for rock climbing, but can be used for it if needed or for abseiling, thats why i thought id try something that could take a persons weight safely, but the price to add to something that would use $15 worth of paracord, just makes me wonder if its not worthwhile for ppl to buy inc the added cost, you know? Becaise the cheapest ones i have found atm that are climbing approved are $7 each, ( many of my plans will need 2) but gal steel ones from the hardware shop (8mm thickness, 8cm long) are half that price tops... just wondering if you and others have any better ideas for clips or if you would be happy to pay extra for the better quality product?

Paracord can be effectively and safely used as a Prusik regarding climbing and abseiling but unless my life was at stake I would not use it for anything else in that situation at all. Equipment loop links etc, nothing load bearing.

how much are you looking at spending cos for a good one you are probably looking at around the 250 mark.

Ouch! No way could I convince hubby we *needed* to spend that much. I'm looking at less than $50 (preferably around $30) and it'll be for my EDC so preferably it'd fit in my pocket/handbag/glovebox.