Author Archives: RoamingHowie

Geocaching Victoria AGM Recap

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Geocaching Victoria recently marked 11 years of adventure at its Annual General Meeting (AGM), celebrating a year full of community, events, and growth. We thanked some retiring committee members, while welcoming a fresh face to help steer us into 2026.

This year’s success is thanks to our hardworking committee volunteers. A special shoutout to ahomburg, BernieH, chooknchunk, Crack’n’LeeLee, Grub62, LetThemEatCache, Mister Doctor and RoamingHowie. Thanks also for the fantastic support from our Block Party subcommittee, community volunteers, and Tassie Mega subcommittee. From celebrating our 10-year anniversary in Yarraville to hosting the biggest Block Party in the southern hemisphere in Sunbury with over 500 teams, it’s been an epic 12 months of community and fun.

We kicked off The Tassie Event with a live stream and events in multiple states, annoucned the nominees of this year’s Victorian Cache of the Year Awards at its original home in Darebin Parklands and planted thousands of trees for National Tree Day with Manningham Council. It was a gala celebration with special guest Elvis in Hampton to announce the winners of the Victorian Cache of the Year Awards, a cinema style GIFF celebration in Clayton, and wrapping up with a 10 year Mega anniverary bash at Casey Fields. All making for unforgettable memories, alongside numerous community education sessions across regional Victoria and plenty more.

Retiring Committee Members

BernieH

After 11 remarkable years of service, including 10 as Geocaching Victoria’s first treasurer, BernieH is stepping down to focus more on geocaching adventures and travel. Bernie played a crucial role in setting up the organisation’s early financial and governance foundations. His wise counsel and sharp wit have been a pleasure to have on the committee. We wish Bernie and his wife Annie all the best into the future. Fortunately, Bernie will stay involved behind the scenes, continuing to manage our geocaching lists.

Grub62

Belinda has been a major contributor, from her early days on the Whittlesea Mega Committee, to her vital fundraising and community engagement roles with Geocaching Victoria. She has championed our relationship with Bunnings, and is always early and stays late to ensure our events run smoothly. Her contribution and commitment have been an absolute privilege to have on our team. We wish Belinda, and her husband Don, all the best as they take some well-earned time out. Belinda will continue helping with the coordination of the GPS Adventure Maze for The Tassie Event.

New Committee Member

We are thrilled to welcome Ross from team Suscoe to the committee as we move into 2026. Based in the Geelong region with his wife Sue, and with over 34,000 finds since 2009, Ross brings a wealth of geocaching and life experience. We’ll introduce him in more detail soon, however for now, please join us in giving Ross a warm welcome. We are excited about his contributions in the year ahead.

Your 2026 Committee

Your 2026 Geocaching Committee is as follows:

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

A big thank you to all of our committee members who generously volunteer their time to help grow and connect our wonderful community. We look forward to another year of fun and adventure. Feel free to reach out if you want to get involved or share your ideas.

Happy caching!

Celebrating Victoria’s Best: 2024 Victorian Cache of the Year Awards

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On Saturday night, the geocaching community came together at the Hampton RSL to celebrate the Victorian Cache of the Year Awards for 2024. It was standing room only as a packed house gathered to recognise the incredible caches and dedicated cache owners who make geocaching in Victoria so special.

Between dinner and a lively round of trivia, the winners of this year’s awards were revealed. Each category celebrated the creativity, effort and passion that goes into hiding and maintaining some of the best caches across the state. From epic constructions, to stunning locations and challenging adventures, the 2024 nominees showcased the diversity and imagination that makes our community shine.

2024 Victorian Cache of the Year Award Winners

CategoryGC CodeWinner
Best Traditional CacheGCAV9WBGame On: Strong Man by BossConner
Best Multi CacheGCATPKATDOC24 – The Christmas Links by Sol de lune
Best Mystery CacheGCANE5HHistoric Pubs of South Melbourne A/L Bonus by LetThemEatCache
Best Other CacheGCARD2XTDOC24: LITTLE Drummer Boy by surefoot24
Best First HideGCAXMDKYarraville-Footscray Bowls Club by Nel&Andy
Best Cache SeriesGame OnGame On by BossConner
Best Cache Location
(joint winners)		GCAKYAR


GCAJFKP		Discover The Dome by Donutholes

Vaughan Springs Reserve – Virtual Reward 4.0 by micaparamedic
Best Regional CacheGCAKYARDiscover The Dome by Donutholes
Best Adventure LabHistoric Pubs of South MelbourneHistoric Pubs of South Melbourne by LetThemEatCache
Best Cache LogGL1DBH619horror.fan.jm on Twinkle, Twinkle (Night Cache)
Best Overall CacheGCAY06BLost in Space Again by Captain Mister Doctor

Congratulations to all of this years winners and to everyone who was nominated by their peers. A special thanks to Elvis (JonnyGoldCoast) our trivia host and to team Worst Cache Scenario who won tonights Trivia!

Sponsors

We’d like to acknowledge the amazing sponsors of this year’s awards – several of whom have supported the awards for multiple years. Their generosity helps make this celebration possible and keeps the awards thriving.

  • BernieH
  • Bunnings
  • OzHockeyChick
  • posums
  • Super Kind Cacher (Anonymous)
  • Generous Cacher (Anonymous)

Profile Badge and Cache Page Banner

If you were a nominee or winner in the 2024 Victorian Cache of the Year Awards, you can proudly share your acheivement with the community!

  • Add a badge to your personal profile to showcase your nomination or win.
  • Add a banner to your cache page so finders know your cache was part of the 2024 awards.

Visit this link to download the badge and banner resources.

10th Anniversary Unobtainium Geocoin

We also drew the winner of the 10th Anniversary Unobtanium Geocoin, awarded to one lucky winner who had found 10 or more of this year’s nominated caches.

Congratulations to Omegaman1971 – Well done!

Only 2 10th Anniverary Unobtanium Geocoins remain:

  • One will go to the lucky attendee of a 2025 Victorian CCE (random), and
  • The final one will be awarded to a cache owner who has published a particularly rare hide.

Stay tuned to find out who the final two recipients will be!

The Top 10 finders of the 2024 nominated caches (by points) were as follows:

CacherPoints
RoamingHowie60
Kristysadventures56
OzHockeyChick47
Rebel Acts45
spiffy-45
SteMicMitSar45
n0w0rries43
Snips and Co41
Omegaman197140
Riddell40

Looking ahead to the 2025 awards

That’s a wrap on the 2024 Victorian Cache of the Year Awards! A huge thank you to everyone who nominated, found, voted and celebrated the incredible talent within our community. Thanks goes to our dedicated committee including the lead for this event LetThemEatCache for hosting this fantastic event.

Now it’s time to turn our attention to 2025 – continue exploring and start identifying the next round of standout hides that could be among next years’s nominees!

You can keep track of the new caches published in 2025 through the following lists on our webstie:

We can’t wait to see what the community comes up with next.

See you next year when we share the next batch of nominees!

From Seedlings to Celebrations

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As the 7,000 seedlings planted in Mullum Mullum Reserve form new roots after a huge planting day, we look ahead to a number of exciting events coming up on the geocaching calendar and more. Keep ahead of the news in our latest blog.

National Tree Day – 27 July 2025

This year, Geocaching Victoria partnered with Manningham Council to celebrate National Tree Day at Mullum Mullum Reserve. A wonderful group of geocachers and local community members came together to plant 7,000 indigenous plants across the reserve. The event was exceptionally well organized by Manningham Council, and we were proud to collaborate with them alongside the many volunteers who lent a helping hand. Special thanks go to Leah (Crack’n’LeeLee) for her efforts in coordinating this meaningful event.

Mark your calendars!

Spring is upon us, and the geocaching calendar is jam packed! We have three major Community Celebration Events coming up on the calendar filled with celebration, fun, and recognition: Be sure to log your will attends!

  • Victorian Cache of the Year Awards 2024 (GCB0YDT): Come and celebrate from 5:30pm on October 25, as we congratulate all of the nominees and announce the winners of the 2024 Victorian Cache of the Year Awards. Voting will open on 15 September, allowing you your chance to pick your favourite nominated caches, Adventure Labs, and logs.
  • GIFF – Thanks For The Community (GCATN5R): Mark your calendar for 11am on November 16, 2025. Enjoy geocaching short films from around the globe and other activities in comfortable theatre seating while connecting with fellow caching enthusiasts.
  • 10th Anniversary of The Melbourne Event (GCATKT5): It’s time for a milestone! Join us for a Free BBQ dinner at Casey Fields from 5pm on November 16, 2025. It’s a chance to celebrate 10 years since the first ever Mega event in Victoria, and the many more that have followed in its footsteps.

Don’t forget you can view a list of every geocaching event being hosted in Victoria on our website by visiting our Upcoming Events page.

Don’t Miss Out: Jackets and Zip Hoodies—Limited Release

After all the love for our new jackets and zip hoodies at recent events, we’re doing a LIMITED 2ND RUN. The gear is back online and ready to order… but only until 7 September. Don’t miss your chance to level up your geocaching gear and add these pieces to your collection.

Order HERE by 7 September to secure yours.

Join the Team

Geocaching Victoria is a volunteer-driven community and welcomes new committee members! Are you keen to help organize events, manage communications, work with the community or share some fresh ideas? Now is the perfect time to get involved. Bring your passion and help shape the future of Victoria’s caching adventures.

If you are interested in joining the team, send an email to president@geocachingvictoria.com.au with your name (real and geocaching!) and a short spiel about why you’d like to join the committee, and what skills you think you can bring.

And The 2024 Nominees Are…

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Nominations have been flowing in recently in the search for the best geocaches, adventure labs and logs from 2024. All of the nominees for the Victorian Cache of the Year Awards have been carefully tallied, cross checked and shortlsted, and are now ready to be revealed. They include creative multis, impressive caches from a great selection of first time hiders, and some tall tales of geocaching adventures past just to name a few. Thank you to everyone who nominated and shared their voice.

With daylight savings affording attendees an extra hours sleep overnight, geocachers gathered, bright eyed at Darebin Parklands, ready to hear word of the amazing caches nominated by the community. The aroma of the sizzling BBQ wafted through the park (with thanks to bunadoorian, posums and ) and helped fuel the strong crowd that had gathered to celebrate.

For those eager to dive in, the full list of nominees is available on the 2024 Victorian Cache of the Year Awards page on our website. It is complete with links to each cache, Adventure Lab and log. There are an incredible 42 individual caches (some nominated in multiple categories), 106 caches that form the shortlisted cache series nominees, 6 Adventure Labs and 8 entertaining Found IT/DNF logs to enjoy. Congratulations to everyone that was shortlisted.

Don’t forget the 2 geocaching.com cache lists to help you find all of the nominees:

In addition, the 2025 eligible hide lists have already been created and are periodically updated. Keep your eye out for new hiders, new cache series, or any other new caches published this year. All of them are available at the Great Geocaching Lists section of our website and will be eligible for nominating in next years awards.

To give you time to find as many of the nominees as possible, voting won’t commence until later in the year, with the final winners slated to be revealed at an event in October/November (TBA). Don’t leave it until the last minute though, grab your GPS, lace up your caching boots and go out and find as many of these amazing nominated caches and adventure labs as you can. And when you have a quiet moment, read through the great logs also.

If you are one of the worthy nominees, you can also add a nominee banner to your cache page, and add a badge to your profile using the 2024 COTYA resources here.

To everyone who has earned a spot on the coveted nominations list for 2024, congratulations on your nomination and thank you for bringing so much enjoyment to the community – Good Luck and keep up the amazing hides, labs and stories.

Wrapping Up The Sunbury Event: A Celebration of Geocaching

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The Sunbury Event, Victoria’s first-ever Block Party, has come to a close, leaving behind a trail of excitement and memories for geocachers from all over Australia and around the world. Celebrating 25 years of geocaching, the weekend was filled with adventure, camaraderie, and loads of geocaching fun.

Highlights of The Sunbury Event

  • Nature at Night: What a wonderful experience exploring our nocturnal wildlife and learning about the stars thanks to our partners Hume City Council, not to mention some night caching adventures.
  • Gadget Caches: 25 gadget caches from some of the greatest cache building minds from all over the state perplexed even the smartest minds.
  • Special Guests: A fantastic visit from Em_adventuring who overseas the global Mega/Block Party program at Geocaching HQ. This was a unique chance to learn from and exchange ideas that will help us as we develop future events.Congratulations to the winners.
  • GPS Adventures Maze: This rare icon was on offer with refreshed content and a redesigned night cache room.
  • Holden Flora Reserve CITO: Another chance to parther with Hume City Council to make a big impact on the local environment including mulching, tree guard removal and rubbish collection.
  • Loads more with information sessions, stalls, prizes and too much to mention.

Acknowledging the Volunteers and Sponsors

The success of The Sunbury Event would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of all of our volunteers. With more than 100 people contributing to the planning, preparation and execution of the Block Party, we just couldn’t have done it without you. THANK YOU!

We also couldn’t do this without the generous support of our major sponsors Hume City Council and Geocaching.com who have been huge supporters of the event. In addition a big thanks must go to Pathtags, geostuff.com.au, Scurvy Dog Designs, Bunnings Warehouse Mernda, Bridgestone Melton, Canopus Print and Nicole Grau.  A heartfelt thank you to all those organizations and individuals for their contributions and support.

Thank You to the Organising Committee

The Sunbury Event Committee deserves special recognition for their dedication and hard work. Their efforts ensured that every aspect of the event, from planning to execution, was expertly managed to provide an unforgettable experience for all attendees. You have earned a well deserved rest. Thank you to Connie and the entire team,

Post Block Party Feedback

Gathering feedback on your Sunbury experience is very important as it helps us to shape future events. Follow the link below to share your experiences and let us know what you thought of The Sunbury Event.

Provide your feedback by Wednesday 2 April to be in the running to win a Sunbury Event Unobtanium Geocoin.

Complete the survey here

Prizes

Congratulations to the winners of the raffle, Limited Edition Sunbury Unobtanium geocoins and other prizes! A special thank you to maccamob for once again generously donating the hamper for our community raffle which combined with the FTF raffle raised a record $1,839 for Sunbury Neighbourhood House, who were at the closing ceremony for the cheque presentation. Thank you to everyone who bought tickets. There are still a handful of prizes to give away so ensure you have completed the actions below by Wednesday 26 March to be in the running.

Win a Limited Edition Sunbury Unobtanium geocoin (1 each) by:

  • Logging your attendance at the Block Party (GCAP417)
  • Submitting your discovered logs on the Block Party trackable that was on display
  • Posting your Muggle the Puggle and milestone photos in the comments on the Geocaching Victoria Facebook/Instagram post (Enter Here).

Also win the March 10th Anniversary Geocaching Victoria Unobtanium geocoin or 1yr geocaching.com premium memberships by:

  • Logging your attendance at the Block Party (GCAP417)

Looking Ahead to The Tassie Event

As we wrap up The Sunbury Event, our sights are set on the next exciting adventure: The Tassie Event. Scheduled for March 7-8, 2026, this event promises to be Tasmania’s first major geocaching extravaganza, offering a unique opportunity to explore the island’s stunning landscapes and geocaching treasures. The event has now been published (GCAZTAZ) so you can go ahead and log your will attend. Our Mega application is in the final stages of approval with HQ, and will be completed as part of The Sunbury Event review in the coming weeks – stay tuned!

Farewell For Now

The Sunbury Event Block Party has been a resounding success, celebrating geocaching and the community alike. We have loved hosting you and look forward to seeing you all at The Tassie Event next year where we get to do it all again! But now for some sleep.