Earlier this month we shared the news that three new community members had joined the Geocaching Victoria committee. One of those new members is Julie, and I caught up with her to find out a little more about her geocaching journey, and to see just how much cache one should eat.

Julie, tell us about your geocaching name and how it came about?

My geo-name is LetThemEatCache. For the first two minutes of my geocaching journey I was JRichardsFox, but didn’t want to use my real name. Being a Francophile, I thought of Marie Antoinette’s phrase “Let Them Eat Cake” and you can work the rest out yourself!

Great name, although I don’t recommend actually munching on a Sistema container (it was for research purposes only, I swear). So, when did your geocaching journey begin?

I signed up in January 2019, after seeing a desperate plea on Facebook from a parent about what activities were good for their bored kids during school holidays. Thank you, if it was you that suggested geocaching.

Although I think I can guess the answer to this next question, tell us how you like to cache and what is your style?

I generally cache in pairs, or maybe 3-4 people max. I LOVE solving puzzles, but I have more solved pieces on my map than smilies so that’s a fine balance. Numbers aren’t my thing, as I aim for quality over quantity. Currently I’m looking into challenges more, but that takes some self-organisation!

Leading one of the communities puzzle solving groups sort of gave you away on that one. Other than puzzles, what do you love most about geocaching?

So many things; the friendships and camaraderie, the fun facts behind a place or plaque etc, but primarily it’s discovering a hidden gem that otherwise you’d never know existed.

So tell me about one of those hidden gems or unusual places you have found a geocache?

Whilst visiting Singapore, we decided to visit the virtual cache ‘Southernmost Tip of Asia’, not realising you had to cross a suspension bridge that was very unstable and the locals thought it hilarious to bounce the bridge so it was hard to stay upright. Glad I don’t have to do that again!

That sounds like the perfect place for a webcam cache, so we can all watch! Other than crossing unstable suspension bridges, what other geocaching adventures have you had?

Several long road trips, including chasing a Golden Dragon up the east coast of Australia. Most recently the Great Victorian Cache Crawl was a doozy 21hrs of driving hundreds of kilometres. It was worth it though!

I do recall an unnamed designated driver enthusiastically “handing” over the keys to their vehicle towards the end of that crawl, alas we digress. What is currently on your geocaching bucket list?

I’m slowly working on my Fizzy grid, days of the year found, and 6 cache types for each day of the month. Ultimately I’d love to visit Geocaching HQ in Seattle, but who knows when that will be.

So just working on a few small things then 😂! Ok, now that we know you a little better, what made you consider joining Geocaching Victoria and what are you most looking forward to?

I always admired the community-focused achievements of Geocaching Victoria, and having gotten so much enjoyment out of geocaching and the events put on by them (how good are Megas??), I thought it was a great opportunity to give back. Plus, I’m kind of hoping I get a crown and a cape.

We are pretty stoked to have you on board the Geocaching Victoria committee, and really appreciate your time. I’m sorry to disappoint you though as the crown and cape have been retired for now. How about a novelty hat? In the meantime, please join me in welcoming Julie to the team.