Author Archives: RoamingHowie

Geocaching Victoria AGM – 2026

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It’s that time of year again. Earlier this week, Geocaching Victoria held its Annual General Meeting, marking another year of adventure, community and plenty of work behind the scenes to keep geocaching thriving.

Wooden blocks displaying the letters A, G, and M.

It’s been a big year for our community, and none of it would be possible without all the amazing volunteers who give their time, energy and enthusiasm to Geocaching Victoria.

Much of this years success has been made possible by our hardworking committee members: ahomburg, chooknchunk, Crack’n’LeeLee, LetThemEatCache, Mister Doctor, RoamingHowie and Suscoe. A massive thank you to each of you for everything you’ve contributed throughout the year!

We had another big year of activity in 2026, highlighted by hosting the first ever Mega in Tasmania, alongside an incredible team of local Tasmanian volunteers. Attendance and support from the geocaching community exceeded our expectations, and we were thrilled to see the collective effort paid off.

There have been plenty of other highlights through the year, including the launch of our Victorian Cache of the Year Awards, a fantastic Magic Makers Expo showcasing the creativity and skills of our cache owners, multiple CITO events around National Tree Day, and, of course, the hugely acclaimed Sidetracked Day in Harcourt.

It’s been a year full of memorable events, community connections and new adventures. Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen!

Your 2027 Committee

At the AGM, all committee positions were declared vacant before the election, and we’re pleased to announce the committee elected to lead Geocaching Victoria in 2027:

  • President: RoamingHowie
  • Vice President: ahomburg
  • Treasurer: LetThemEatCache
  • Secretary: Crack’n’LeeLee
  • General Committee: chooknchunk, Mister Doctor, Suscoe

Congratulations to everyone elected, and thank you for volunteering your time to support geocaching across Victoria. We look forward to another great year working together!

A group of people smiling while seated on a miniature train at a railway station.

What’s Next?

There’s still plenty happening as we head towards the end of 2026! Be sure to join in the Victorian Cache of the Year Awards celebrations next month, and don’t miss your chance to take part in our current competitions and voting.

  • Which Cache Am I? Competition   ENTER HERE [Closes 31 October]
  • Nominees Cache Find Competition   ENTER HERE [Closes 8 November]
  • Voting in the Victorian Cache of the Year Awards   VOTE HERE [Closes 8 November]
  • Attend the Awards Event   LOG WILL ATTEND HERE [Saturday 14 November]

There is always room for people to get involved. Whether you have an idea for an event, a skill you’d like to share, or simply a little time to help out, we’d love to hear from you.

A big thank you to our committee, event and community volunteers, sponsors and every geocacher who has supported us over the past year. You all help make Victoria such a fantastic place to go geocaching.

Here’s to another year of adventure, community and geocaching!

Happy caching!

Don’t Miss Out!

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There’s plenty happening across Victoria over the coming months, with opportunities to celebrate our community, give back to the environment, and enjoy some fantastic geocaching adventures.

While you can find the full calendar of Victorian events on our Upcoming Events page, we’ve highlighted a few below that you won’t want to miss.

GCBT975 – Thank You Bunjil – Geelong (18 July)

Join the community as we thank Peter and Helen (Bunjil) on their retirement after more than 12 years as a Community Volunteer Reviewer. If you haven’t already logged your will attend, now’s the time! Help the community celebrate their incredible contribution to geocaching and thank them for a job well done.

GCBRF90 – Community Planting Day – Bald Hill (19 July)

CITO events are a fantastic way to meet other geocachers while giving something back to the environment. This Sunday, we’re teaming up with Grow West to plant 3,500 indigenous seedlings in one of their largest revegetation projects of the year. If your planning to join us, this is your last chance to log your will attend.

While you are planning your calendar, don’t forget National Tree Day at the end of July, with events in Phillip Island, Wantirna and Wangaratta.

GCBNJ05 – SideTracked Day – Harcourt (8 August)

This year, Geocaching Victoria will be hosting a special SideTracked event at the Victorian Miniature Railway in Harcourt. Harcourt was heavily impacted by this summer’s bushfires, making this a wonderful opportunity to support the local community while enjoying a unique, family-friendly day of geocaching. Be sure to log your will attend now so we can plan.

SAVE THE DATE – Victorian Cache of the Year Awards – Yarraville (14 November)

Mark your calendars! The annual Victorian Cache of the Year Awards will be held on the evening of 14 November in Yarraville. It’s a little too early to publish the event, but now is the perfect time to be finding those outstanding geocaches and adventure labs. Voting will open later in the year, but you can find all of the nominees here.

We Hope to See You Soon!

With celebrations of community, environmental projects, family-friendly events and our annual awards night all on the horizon, there’s something for everyone in the months ahead.

We look forward to seeing you at an event soon.

Thank You Bunjil

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For over a decade, Peter and Helen, known as Bunjil in the reviewer community, have been the steady hand guiding cache submissions across our state. Geocachers all over Victoria (and beyond) have benefited from their time, knowledge, patience and dedication. Whether helping a first time cache owner understand the guidelines or working through complex and creative hides, Bunjil has always approached the role with fairness, enthusiasm and a genuine desire to help our community grow.

Left image: A stylized black silhouette of a bird with a colorful circular background featuring red, yellow, and black segments.

Reviewing is often a largely unseen task. It involves countless hours reading listings, checking locations, answering questions, resolving issues and ensuring that every published cache contributes to the game we all enjoy. It is a volunteer role that requires both commitment and care, and Peter and Helen have provided both in abundance.

The first cache ever published by Bunjil was in December 2013. Since then, they have published in the vicinity of 25,000 geocaches, and written somewhere in the order of 50,000 reviewer notes.

Over those twelve years, Victoria’s geocaching landscape has grown and evolved. New players have joined our community, new cache types have emerged, and memorable events have brought our community together. Through all of this, Bunjil has been a constant presence, helping to maintain the quality and integrity of geocaching in Victoria.

Peter and Helen have always been enthusiastic supporters of Geocaching Victoria, and have worked collaboratively with us on countless inititatives. From all of our Mega events and the GPS Adventures Maze, to GeoTours, CITO activities, community celebrations and many other projects. Their guidance, encouragement and willingness to help have helped us deliver many successful initiatives for the community.

On behalf of the Victorian geocaching community, we extend our sincere thanks for more than 12 years of dedicated service. Thank you for the evenings, weekends and spare moments you generously gave. Thank you for your patience, your wisdom, and your unwavering support of the game we love.

While stepping away from the reviewer role on 1 July marks the end of an extraordinary chapter, we hope it marks the beginning of many more adventures from the other side of the publish button.

Thank you, Peter and Helen, Bunjil, for your service and commitment to our community.

A community celebration for Bunjil has been scheduled for 18 July in Waurn Ponds. For further information, and to log your will attend, visit GCBT975.

And The 2025 Nominees Are…

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The community has been searching across the state to identify the best geocaches, Adventure Labs, and logs from 2025. The nominations have now been been carefully tallied, double-checked, and shortlisted and we’re excited to officially reveal this year’s outstanding nominees in the 2025 Victorian Cache of the Year Awards!

The list showcases an incredible mix of creativity and passion, including caches requiring a mix of TOTTs, mind bending puzzles, some great first time hides and Shakespearian tales of geocache adventures. A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate, and particularly those who helped grow the game by hiding a cache, Adventure Lab or writing a tale in 2025.

Despite the patchy weather, plenty of geocachers gathered at Jells Park on Saturday for a catch up, sharing stories of recent finds and favourite hides. The BBQ sizzled thanks to ahomburg and JonnyGoldcoast as this years nominees where announced with many of the lucky nominees in the crowd.

For those ready to start planning their next caching adventure, the full list of nominees is now available on the 2025 Victorian Cache of the Year Awards page on our website.

This year’s shortlist includes (click the titles for a full geocache list):

The 2026 eligible hide lists are also live and continue to be updated throughout the year. Keep an eye out for new cache owners, fresh series, and exciting new hides as they’re published. Everything can be found in the Great Geocaching Lists section of our website — and all will be eligible for next year’s awards.

To give everyone plenty of time to explore the nominees, voting will open later in the year, with winners set to be revealed at a special event in October/November (TBA). Stay tuned also for details on how you can win a prize, just for finding the nominated caches!

Don’t leave it until the last minute, grab your GPS, your TOTTs, and start exploring everything this year’s nominees have to offer. And when you find a quiet moment, dive into the nominated logs and enjoy the stories and adventures shared by fellow cachers.

If you are one of the nominees, you can proudly display your achievement using the nominee banner for your cache page, and add a badge to your caching profile using the 2025 COTYA resources here.

If you are interested in being a community sponsor of one of this years awards, reach out to one of the committee or president@geocachingvictoria.com.au for more details.

Special thanks to Kristysadventures for donating the Easter hamper and organising the fundraising raffle. Congratulations to maccamob on their win!

To everyone who has secured a place on the coveted 2025 nominations list, congratulations on this well-deserved recognition. Thank you for the creativity, effort, and enjoyment you brought to the geocaching community.

Wrapping Up Another Great Year of Geocaching in Victoria

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As the year draws to a close, it’s a great time to pause, reflect, and celebrate another memorable year for Geocaching Victoria and our community.

It has been a huge social year, marked by the 25th year of geocaching. Across Victoria, there were 625 events, including 65 Community Celebration Events and clost to 9,500 attendances. Cache hiding also surged, with 41% more hides in 2025 compared to the previous year.

Here are just some of the highlights from 2025:

  • January – We unveiled plans for The Tassie Event, the first-ever Mega to be held in Tasmania in 2026. Working alongside an enthusiastic Tasmanian team, this is shaping up to be a truly huge event.
  • March – Our first-ever Block Party in Sunbury saw over 500 teams join in the fun.
  • April – Excitement buzzed at Darebin Parklands as we announced the nominees for the 2024 Victorian Cache of the Year Awards.
  • July – It was plants aplenty, with geocachers volunteering alongside Manningham Council to plant thousands of trees for National Tree Day.
  • August – International Geocaching Day was celebrated across the state, including events such as The Great Victorian Cache Crawl.
  • October – The winners of the 2024 Victorian Cache of the Year Awards were revealed at another gala evening, complete with a special guest appearance by Elvis.
  • November – Lights, camera, action! The GIFF event at the Clayton Theatre rolled out, followed by a celebration marking the 10th anniversary of Victoria’s first Mega at Casey Fields.
  • December – Preparations for The Tassie Event have stepped up a gear, with exciting announcements including the GPS Adventures Maze, event merchandise, and more details about the weekend festivities. We’d love your help as a volunteer – Register now to get involved.

Many of these events wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible efforts of volunteers, reviewers, committee members, event subcommittees and the wider community – thank you all. And of course, this is just part of the story, with geocaching information sessions, community event weekends, CITOs, cache releases, BBQs, and countless other activities happening right across Victoria.

2025 By The Numbers

For those that like stats, here is a snapshot of caching in Victoria this year (prior year in brackets):

  • Total 2025 hides: 2,296 (1,657)
  • Event type caches (incl above): 625 (490)
  • Favourites accumulated on new hides: 3,795 (2,939)
  • Total finds on 2025 caches (non event): 46,915 (24,818)
  • Event attendances: 9,433 (5,575)
  • Average new hide D/T: 2.01 / 1.81 (2.05 / 1.86)
  • Most common/Least common difficulty: 1.5 / 5.0 (1.5 / 5.0)
  • Most common/Least common terrain: 1.5 / 4.5 (1.5 / 4.0)
  • No. of D/T combos with nil placements in 2025: 17 (17)
  • Most common/Least common size: Micro / Large [Small / Large]
  • Most common/Least common type: Traditional / Wherigo (Traditional / Wherigo)
  • LGAs with most new hides: Ballarat, Yarra Ranges & Latrobe (Golden Plains, Glenelg & Indigo)
  • LGAs with no new hides : Gannawarra & Yarriambiack (Ararat, Brimbank, Gannawarra, Greater Dandenong, Horsham, West Wimmera & Yarriambiack)
  • LGAs with most events: Ballarat, Hepburn, Melbourne (Ballarat, Hepburn, Greater Geelong)
  • No. of unique cachers with 12 or more finds (average 1 per month): 2,158 (2,386)
  • No. of unique cachers with 366 or more finds (average 1 per day): 156 (152)
  • No. of unique hiders (inc events): 350 (347)

*Data as at 27 December 2025

You can find more statistics on all active caches in Victoria on our website at https://geocachingvictoria.com.au/victorian-geocache-statistics/ 

Looking Ahead

With a new year just around the corner, there’s plenty to look forward to. More events, more adventures, more creative caches, and more opportunities to connect with fellow geocachers.

Whether your goals for the coming year include hiding your first cache, attending more events, tackling a long-standing D/T challenge, or simply getting outside a bit more, we look forward to playing a part in your journey.

From all of us at Geocaching Victoria, thank you for a fantastic year. We can’t wait to see where geocaching takes us next – happy caching, and we’ll see you in the new year.