It was a star-studded affair on Saturday night as geocachers from all over the state gathered to celebrate the 2022 Victorian Cache of the Year Awards and Trivia Night. Out went the usual caching attire and in came bow ties, pom poms, and even an orchestral ensemble (of sorts)!
The stage had been set, with approximately 1,500 non event caches hidden across Victoria in 2022. The community had found, explored and pondered which of those were worthy of being nominated as a treasure master for 2022. The nominations were tallied and cross checked in order to produce a shortlist across twelve cache, adventure lab and log categories (list available here). A list that spread far and wide, including the newest of cachers and experienced royalty. Congratulations to everyone who hid a cache, lab or wrote a log in 2022, and especially those that were identified as extra special by the community.
It was then time to go out and explore and marvel in the calibre of geocaches on offer. Which hide amazed you with a great location? Which log had you in stitches over the antics one goes to in order to gain a smiley? Was it a devilish hide and GPS sorcery that took your fancy, or a cache construction to rival Victoria’s Big Build?
With the votes in, and the crowd gathered, it was time to announce and honour the winners. Drum roll please…
…and the winners for the 2022 Victorian Cache of the Year Awards are:
| Category | GC Code | winner |
|---|---|---|
| Best Traditional Cache | GCA0TAG | Mmm…Donuts by RyderSpider |
| Best Multi Cache | GC9WBJF | Whittlesea ANGRY MOB… by Mister Doctor & Posums |
| Best Mystery Cache | GC9QE1M | The Hunt for Red October by OSHFAM |
| Best First Hide | GCA09YW | Cujo Challenge by horror.fan.jm |
| Best Cache Series | GC9ZWZV | Whittlesea Event Gadget Trail by plowfive |
| Best Cache Location | GC9P66N | State Library – La Trobe Reading Room by Mister Doctor |
| Best Adventure Lab | N/A | Whittlesea Puzzle Room by Geocaching Victoria |
| Best Other Cache | GC9P51G | Rutherglen Wine Bottle by feathertop |
| Best Regional Cache | GC9P51G | Rutherglen Wine Bottle by feathertop |
| Best Overall Cache | GC9QE1M GC9ZX09 | The Hunt for Red October by OSHFAM WEGT #7 – Vending Machine Cache… by plowfive |
| Best DNF Log | GL18TARGN | horror.fan.jm on wherigo wander #8 |
| Best Found It Log | GL17Z5YGW | LetThemEatCache on The Hunt for Red October |
Sponsors
We wish to acknowledge all of the amazing sponsors for this years awards who very generously donated prizes:
- BernieH
- bunadoorian
- Grub62
- ILookedThere
- OzHockeyChick
- posums
- Anonymous
- Generous Cacher
- Mystery Cacher
- Your friendly neighbourhood cacher
Profile Badge and Cache Page Banner
You can share your nomination/win in the 2022 Victorian Cache of the Year Awards with fellow cachers by doing the following:
- Add a badge to your profile, proudly sharing with the community that you were a nominee/winner
- Add a banner to your cache page to let finders know your cache was part of the 2022 awards.
Visit this link to find the badge and banner for you.
Trivia
Since both Robbie Williams and Christina Aguilera double booked being the entertainment for our event on Saturday night (rude!), we opted for a spot of trivia! It was time to test who pays attention at some of the finer geocaching details, and who knows their Eggs and Bacon Bay from their $10 notes.
With 13 teams vying for the first prize, generously donated by Grub62, Our friendly neighbourhood cacher, and Bunnings Mernda, we made our way through the minefields of caching avatars, Australian & general knowledge, geocaching facts and finally pop culture trivia.
Congratulations to our runners up “I don’t know” (well you obviously did!) and our winners “SPOFLs” who brought their own cheer squad (themselves).
Thats a Wrap!
Special thanks to CeeJayDenno and Hampton RSL for providing the venue and great food on the night, and to Hooded Hooligans who provided the sound system.
Congratulations to everyone that was nominated for an award. A huge thank you to everyone who nominated, voted and sponsored awards.
If you are looking to get started on the amazing caches for 2023, why not check out our Great Caching Lists page which is constantly evolving. There are lists to help you identify all of the first time hiders in 2023 (go out and give their caches some love), all of the traditional and non traditional hides of the year so far, as well as others like pole caches, SideTracked and many more. Don’t forget to add your favourite caches to your own list, so that you are ready to nominate for next years awards.
