The excitement is certainly building as we start the count down to the Rutherglen Mega Event – only 40 more days before what will be an incredible weekend, jammed packed, full of lots of exciting geocaching experiences and social opportunities.

We wanted to share some quick udates with you to ensure that you optimise your planning for this Mega Event. But first an awesome new fact – The Indigo Shire (home for the Rutherglen Mega) is the number one LGA in Victoria for cache hides! So make sure you check out all the cache series that have been hidden in the area.

Mega Events

We have just had additional events published, so be sure to log your attendence to assist with our planning.

• Thursday 6th April 2023 – GCA4ZWX – Thursday Lunch Social Event
• Thursday 6th April 2023 – GCA4DQ8 – Thursday Night Dinner Event – Italian ‘Mangia’
• Friday 7th April 2023 – GCA4DQA – Friday Dinner Event – Indian Night Market
• Friday 7th April 2023 – GCA4ZWY – Friday Lunch Social Event
• Saturday 8th April 2023 – GC9MH9M – The Rutherglen Event
• Saturday 8th April 2023 – GCA4DQE – Saturday Night Dinner
• Monday 10th April 2023 – GCA4ZWK – Monday Lunch Social Event
• Monday 10th April 2023 – GCA4DQK – Monday Night Dinner Event – Grip It and Rip It

For visibility of the entire weekend schedule, please be sure to check out our webpage.

Brolga Bill’s Puzzles

Brolga Bill decided that, instead of making all the puzzles for the Mega difficult and different, he would construct some that were grouped into similar types, that started easy and worked through to moderately tricky. Each type has five puzzles in its series. (except for the words series, which has more.) By this technique he hopes that some cachers, who normally would not look at puzzles, will have a go at these.

So even if you don’t consider yourself a puzzler, have a go at the first in each series. If you get them, go onto the others in the series. If you get really stuck Bill reckons you can always ask for a hint, either from him (online at Wiser than Owls), or from another cacher at an Event.

Different cachers are usually good at different types of puzzles. Some are good with words, some numbers, some images. That does not mean you should not try the other types, sometimes it is just a matter of getting some techniques down. Even if you can’t successfully add two and two to get four, there are always online resources to help.

Bill reckons you nearly have enough to complete one puzzle a night, and still finish them before the Mega starts. Don’t wait, start now! Good Luck.

Be sure to save the Brolga Bill’s puzzle list to your geocaching profile.

101 Geocaching Class in Rutherglen

In the lead up to the Rutherglen Mega, day1976 and Mister Doctor ran a Geocaching 101 workshop for interested locals to explain our beautiful game to them. They covered app navigation, D/T ratings and cache types, as well as taking them out in the field to make their first finds. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and business owners even commented that they had already noticed increased traffic due to the upcoming Mega.

There was, however, some feedback from local landowners about suspicious characters gathering on back roads near their properties. When asked what they were doing, they wouldn’t say. This is really the wrong way to respond if you’re “caught in the act”.

Honesty is still the best policy Geocachers are a daring breed! We are part secret agents, part explorers, part good old-fashioned adventurers.

These days geocaching has a much higher profile than it did 10 or even 5 years ago. Yes, we try to mask our activities from muggles as part of the thrill of the game, but if we are causing concern and directly confronted it is far better to be open and up-front. Many people will have already heard of geocaching, and if they haven’t it’s an excellent opportunity to educate them.

Try to understand where the locals are coming from. Unexplained and repeated visits to a quiet back road location can look very much like some sort of drug activity. When questioned, simply say “We’re geocaching”. Show them the cache if you’ve already found it, or engage them in the hunt if you are still looking. You might be pleasantly surprised at their response, the next geocachers may even get a friendly helping hand, and you may have introduced a new player to the game. Good luck on your travels fellow adventurers, and remember you can be also educators too. – Mister Doctor

Rutherglen Merchandise

If you have not already – be sure to place your order for the Rutherglen Event Coin and Pathtags are now available for order. In case you missed the teaser blog, check out this small video on our Rutherglen Reflections Facebook page, alternative you will find more details in our shop.

Don’t forget we also have our clothing merchandise available too in the shop.

Shout out for some Rutherglen Volunteers

We are still looking for some volunteers over the Mega weekend – If you can spare a few hours over the weekend, please do let us know and complete the Volunteer Form. We would really appreciate it.

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