Surf Coast Event 2016 – August Update

Posted on August 14, 2016 by Geocaching Victoria

Well, here we are again for another update for the second annual Victorian based MEGA!!!
It has been a while since our last update but everyone has been hard at work behind the scenes to make sure things are on track…

Don’t forget to log your “Will Attend” at GC65688

Accommodation
Coins and Pathtags
Official The Surf Coast 2016 Event merchandise
Sponsors

Accommodation

YMCA – Anglesea Recreation Camp (the MEGA site)

Remember you can book on site too. Bookings are made directly with the Surf Coast Event venue, YMCA Anglesea Recreation Camp.
They can be contacted directly on: 03 5263-1512

There are 150 beds available for $35 per person per night and this includes a continental breakfast. There are various configurations from:

rooms for 2, 4 or 6 people, with ensuite,
rooms for 2, 4 or 6 people with shared facilities,
Single rooms can also be booked.

There are lots of places left so please support this great venue.

Anglesea Beachfront Family Caravan Park

We have been able to secure a special deal with the Anglesea Beachfront Family Caravan Park!
They are offering all geocachers who use the code word “Geocache” when making their booking the following.

10% discount,
Free Late checkout until 11am in Cabins (can stay in the park) or 6pm checkout for sites,
Free spa token,
2 free coffees or 2 slushies.

This is for all bookings between the 1^st June and the 17^th November 2016 but does exclude the Melbourne Cup weekend and the Victorian School holidays.
This is great news!! Not only is this a great deal, but it means that you can head down to Anglesea before the Surf Coast Event, find all the caches, and leave the weekend of the event free for socialising!!
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Coins and PathTags

Yep, again we have collectables available.

Coin
Geocoins pre-orders are available with 2 types of Geocoin, the Standard one at just $15 or the special Limited edition including Glitter for only $30.

Pathtag pre-orders are also available. 2 Options here, a Trading set of 5 identical tags. You will be able to gather at the event and trade with others for a full set. Alternatively, you can purchase a Complete set for $25.

Pre-order your geocoins and pathtags now at the Geocaching Melbourne page to be sure you get yours, they will be in very limited supply at the event.
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Official The Surf Coast 2016 Event merchandise

A range of official Surf Coast Event 2016 merchandise is available from our sponsor Geostuff.com.au.
The official Polo Shirts, with lovely Fern embroidery on the chest will be available in a good range Men’s, Women’s and Kid’s sizes. Also expect to see a range of official merchandise similar to that available last year such as embroidered Caps, Beanies, Mugs, etc! The Polo Shirts and other items will be available soon online at Geostuff.com.au for you to reserve and pick up at the event, pickup at the Geostuff retail store, or have delivered directly to you beforehand if you choose. They will also be available from the Geostuff stall at the event.
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The Surf Coast Event – July….

Posted on July 17, 2016 by Geocaching Victoria

Hi All, It has been a while,

We have been busy working behind the scenes at Geocaching Melbourne Events to make the Surf Coast Event in November as good as we can while maintaining it as a free event….

VOLUNTEERS: There will soon be a call for volunteers, keep an eye out for a special announcement here.

SESSIONS SCHEDULE: Session schedule is up, there may be some minor changes between now and the event, just keep an eye on the website for details. Unlike last year, there will be no need to book for the educational sessions, it will be limited, first in, first served.

STATISTICS: Just like last years event, if you as interested in stats, head to this link for some fun and interesting information.

GEOCOINS AND PATHTAGS: Yep, again we have collectables available. 2 types of Geocoin available for pre-order, the Standard one at just $15 or the special Limited edition including Glitter for only $30. Pathtag pre-orders are also available. 2 Options here, a Trading set of 5 identical tags. You will be able to gather at the event and trade with others for a full set. Alternatively, you can purchase a Complete set for $25. Check out this link

MINI EVENTS: The Geocaching Melbourne Team are again doing some road-trips! We have had great turn outs to the 8, 7, 6, 5 and 4 Months to MEGA events in Geelong, Traralgon, Beechworth, Bendigo and Mildura. We are looking forward to the 3 Months event in
St. Arnud next month and the 2 Months to MEGA in Ballarat in September. Since the turn out for these events has been so fantastic, we wanted to give you a heads up: There will be some special prizes at the last event (in Warrnambool) for people who have been to multiple events. Remember, you have to be in it to win it, or in this case, attend as many of our mini events as you can!

4 MONTHS TO MEGA – MILDURA

SPONSORS: We would like to welcome Geostuff as the latest sponsor of the Surf Coast Event. Keep an eye out for some great event products to go on sale very soon at geostuff.com.au We would also like to acknowledge the support from our existing sponsors, Geocaching.com, Pathtags.com, Anglesea Beachfront Caravan Park, The Red Centre Experience and of course The Surf Coast Council.

Logo_Geocaching_NightCacheGrey TRY SCT_black&white_horizontal_ID GEOSTUFF NT Event pathtags logoheader

VICTORIAN GEOCACHING TOURNAMENT: Most of you have already heard about this, it is time to get your registrations in. Places are limited and spots are filling up fast. Head here to get more information or register today.

STALL HOLDERS: We would like to welcome our latest stall holders…
Geostuff: http://www.geostuff.com.au
Caching Supplies: http://www.cachingsupplies.com.au

Of course there is still spots available for more stall holders and your business does not necessarily have to sell caching related equipment, it could be almost anything. head here for stall costs.

SOUVENIR DESIGN COMPETITION: We are having a competition starting today. We are after people with some ideas for the Surf Coast Event souvenir. Do you want to be the one that designed the logo that every cacher receives for logging the surf Coast Event? Here is last years Souvenir:

TME2015 Small

You will need to come up with 2 logo’s. Bigger one is 480×320 and smaller one is 100×100. The Surf Coast Event committee will decide on the best logo which will be a surprise to everyone until they start logging the The Surf Coast Event. You can submit as many souvenir’s as you like.

What is the prize I hear you say? I am glad you asked. For the winner will be the honour of having your name to one of these rare souvenirs as well as a 2016 Surf Coast Unobtanium Geocoin. Email entries to secretary@geocaching.melbourne

We hope you all had a wonderful weekend and look forward to catching up with you all in November…

What is a Pathtag?

Image

For those of you that do not know about the craze that is pathtags, here is a little info on what it is all about:

“Pathtags are personal trading items. Used most often in Geocaching, they are also very handy for Scouting, Military and Promotional use. A pathtag is a single-sided custom metal tag about the size and weight of a U.S. Quarter, a one Euro coin or an Australian ten cent piece.”

Believe it or not, Australia is the biggest consumer of pathtags outside the US and it is getting more and more popular every day.

You may have found a pathtag in a cache somewhere or even seen others swapping them at an event. How do I get started you say? Well, is is quite simple really. If you know a little about design, you can actually design one yourself. If not, do not worry, there are lots of people out in the caching community that for a nominal fee will design one for you.

Go to pathtags.com to check out latest deals and current prices to get your own tags minted.

During the pathtag creation process, you can choose from a selection of “Give Backs” just like the Geocaching Melbourne ones below.

The Surf Coast Event 2016

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Geocaching Victoria

“It’s on.”

You probably heard by now that we had so much fun at the Melbourne Mega, we’re doing it again 🙂 This time we moved to the other side of town to a stunning setting: Sun, surfing, beach, Anglesea, Great Otway National Park, Apollo Bay, 12 Apostles, Lorne, koalas, rainforest and wineries – yes this is the world’s famous Great Ocean Road. Of course

The Surf Coast Event 2016
will be FREE

to attend, sign the logbook and take part in a lot of activities. If you are as excited as we are and you can’t wait until November, here are a couple of things you can do:

Support us – Visit the cache page and log your will attend, if you’re joining the fun.
Browse the website – It’s online and it’s up there in the menu bar above.
Get in touch – If you have any suggestions or ideas, let us know. We really like to thank everyone who already gave us their honest and constructive feedback via the survey or otherwise. That was very valuable information.
Spread the word – This will be the biggest Geocaching event in the southern hemisphere of 2016. Tell your friends, family and the neighbour’s pony about it. The more the merrier.
Find us a sponsor – If you know a business or you own a business which might be interested in supporting this event, tell them to contact us. Our sponsorship agreements are all tailor made so all parties benefit from this partnership.
Follow us – Check out our social media accounts which you can find all over the place.
Sign up for the newsletter – You will be the first to know and to read new posts.
Go caching – Every time you write a fantastic logs, hide an amazing adventures, make great geocaching friends and have fun out there finding boxes, Fern the Forest Fairy joyfully glows.

In general we like to hear from you! This is a FREE event from Geocachers for Geocachers which means we’re celebrating the diversity of this hobby. It doesn’t matter whether you’re caching since yesterday or for 15 years. It’s all about bringing the community together, making new friends and catch up with the old ones. Without you this wouldn’t be possible.

And the Winner is!

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Geocaching Victoria

It was a hard fierce and feisty competition but in the end there can be only one winner. This year’s Fern’s Cache Competition had throughout remarkable entries and it’s easy to say all of them are far beyond the average cache quality. Thanks to everyone who got the tools out, created something great for the geocaching community and finally submitted an entry. Well done guys! Even with the combined experience of 20.000 finds , over 600 placed caches, 8 D/T loops and over 36 years of geocaching, the jury still had a hard time to find a winner. They collected 150 data-points of marks and poured them into a sophisticated rating-tool to come up with the following scores:

Ladies and Gentlemen!
The winners of the 2015 Fern’s Geocaching Competition are

Jo Brock & Glen Kennedy with Fern’s Pyrenees Retreat
Winning a golden unobtainium The Melbourne Event 2015 geocoin
_
Karen Smit and with James Sanderson with Fairy Abode
Winning a limited edition The Melbourne Event 2015 geocoin
_
Elizabeth Shaw with Fern’s letterbox, Bass Valley.
Winning a complete The Melbourne Event 2015 pathtag set in a nice laser-cut holder.
We also like to point out that this is Elizabeth’s first cache placement ever and we’re pretty sure this one is a hot runner for the Victorian Cache of the Year in the category “Best First Cache”._

You will find all of these amazing entries on a Geocaching Melbourne bookmark list – and just to keep things interesting, I’ll give out some random geocoins out of Philipp’s tack room to the first cacher who finds all six geocaches and sends me a selfie of them with the cache-box. Just email me at fern@geocaching.melbourne when you’re done 🙂 Now go out find some caches or enjoy the gallery of the beautiful caches below.

xoxoxoxo
Fern the Forest Fairy