Category Archives: Activities

The St Arnaud Event – 2 weeks to go!

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Welcome to The St Arnaud Event update. Can you believe there is only 2 WEEKS TO GO? The committee are working behind the scenes to bring you the best MEGA event we can – all for FREE! Remember to REGISTER HERE by logging a “Will Attend” as this year we will be crossing off names at the event to ensure everyone who registered early gets their FREE gift.

It’s also important that you log your “will attend” on any other events you plan to attend. At the Saturday Night event we are providing each attendee with a Roast Beef Roll but if you haven’t logged a “will attend” here you might miss out! Rotary will also be selling sausages so bring a chair and some loose change!

Check out the full Schedule so you can plan your weekend.

First of the Lab Caches

labccache

The first of the Lab Caches will be released in just a few days time on Monday November 4th and this Lab will close on Sunday November 24th. That means you can do them pre or post Mega if you are coming for longer than the weekend. The first tour is a Historic Buildings of St Arnaud Lab Adventure where you can discover some amazing history and learn a little about the town we are calling home for the weekend.

If you’ve never done a Lab Cache before or haven’t done since last year you will need to make sure you download the “Adventure Lab” app onto a mobile device. Simply download and login with your geocaching account and you will be good to go! Remember Lab Caches are now logged live on the spot through this app so you must be within range of the location to claim the smiley. They cannot be done through the regular geocaching app.

Merchandise

The Shirts have now all been ordered but we are still taking orders for post-mega delivery. This is the same for our fantastic event geocoin which sold out after everyone got to see how spectacular they look. We are ordering more for post-mega delivery so pop online and place your orders now.

We still have some of the limited edition geocoins in stock. The Limited Edition coins come in three different colours and aims to depict the farming communities that are located within the St Arnaud district. Get in quick as these are limited in number! This coin is 3 inches in size so nice to add to the collection. Limited edition coins are $34 each. Order here.

LE tractor coins

And whilst in the store don’t forget to purchase your St Arnaud Pathtags too!

St Arnaud Raillery Hub Gallery

During the Mega Event the St Arnaud Raillery Hub Gallery will be offering Geocacher’s passing by the St Arnaud Railway Station a Geocaching Collectables Lucky Dip for $2.
Geocachers have the chance to find many rare and collectable coins and stamps with localised historical stories attached among the many prizes in the lucky dip.
Trade it on or keep as memorabilia of your St Arnaud Mega Event experience and support a local community group.

The Gallery will be open from Friday to Monday between 11am and 4pm and is also hosting a Textiles and wood artisan exhibition during the Mega Event. Follow them on Facebook to find out more here.

 

Stand out! Add an ORANGE ribbon to your car!

Travelling to St Arnaud for the MEGA Event? Tie an ORANGE ribbon or two to your car so we can all see each other.

orange_herringbone_twill_ribbon

Accommodation still Available at Camp Seed

Camp Seed, Stuart Mill (Only 15 mins from St Arnaud with plenty of caches in-between) have some accommodation bookings still available. Booking options are offered on either a per bed or per room rate:
$70 per adult for 2 nights in a shared room (4 single beds each room)
$250 for the 2 nights for a room (4 x single beds)…
You will have access to a large commercial style kitchen to store and prepare food as well as a large dining hall and recreation hall. These facilities allow you to continue nurturing your social connections within the Geocaching community.

Camp Seed is only accepting bookings for people participating in the Geocaching event so you will be residing with a like minded community. They don’t have lockable doors to the bedrooms so you need to bear in mind that your valuables need to be cared for under your own responsibility.

Please call Donna on 0403 810 614 to make a booking.

Geocaching in St Arnaud – Original Road Series

The Original Road Series takes you to many of the old ‘original’ roads that lead to St Arnaud from various directions. These day the roads are used for local council, Vic Roads or for bluestone/gravel storage for future road repairs. Curated by local FUF009, the series began back in 2013 with additions in 2016 including one bonus cache from AnyMules – GC6QN3B ”Original Road” 02.5.

With the exception of GC48TXH ”Original Road” 01 which starts you off with a trad, the remainder are puzzles with a 1.5-2 difficulty rating. Get solving before you head to the St Arnaud Event so you can add your name to the existing 1,146* logs on the series of 12 geocaches.

*Statistics current as of 27 October 2019

First to Find (FTF) Raffle

We know people love chasing FTFs – how would you like a MEGA Event FTF? This raffle supports the amazing work done by The St Arnaud Agricultural Society (whose premises we are using and who do an amazing job of coordinating the St Arnaud Show). So if you are a FTF hound, or you just want to support a really great charity, then you can go in the draw to earn the right to call yourself the FTFer of The St Arnaud Event, 2019. Tickets are only $2 and you may win FTF and an unobtainium geocoin… You can purchase your tickets in this wonderful raffle by following this link!

St A Ag society

Fun & Games

Like most other Victorian MEGA Events that have gone before us we are continuing on with the tradition of having a “few games” run throughout the weekend. Some forms will be handout out at registration so to be in with a chance of winning – you need to grab the forms and get hunting! The following games are on offer:

  1. Social Bingo – fill the WHOLE sheet.
  2. Far & Wide Game – fill in a LINE with the specific stamps allocated in the cache. The more lines you fill the more chances you get to win.
  3. Letterbox Game – find all FIVE new Letterbox caches (yet to be released) and stamp with the special GVI stamps.
  4. Receipts Game – collect any receipts from when you shop in St Arnaud in the week prior and post the Mega and pop your caching name and a mobile number on the back.

Sponsorship

It’s thanks to amazing supporters that make a MEGA event possible. This includes GeoStuff who will be on site during the Mega. We’ve also had donations from our mates in South Australia who are organising a MEGA event there – GeoVenture2020, Caching Supplies, Sssafe and Sistema so a big thanks to them too. It’s also important to note that this event isn’t possible without the support of the Northern Grampians Shire Council so thank you NGS – your support in invaluable! And we can’t forget the amazing support from PathTags and Geocaching HQ   who help to make this dream a reality! Thanks guys!

The St Arnaud Event – 3 weeks to go

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Welcome to The St Arnaud Event update. Can you believe there is only 3 WEEKS TO GO? The committee are working behind the scenes to bring you the best MEGA event we can – all for FREE! Remember to REGISTER HERE by logging a “Will Attend” as this year we will be crossing off names at the event to ensure everyone who registered early gets their FREE gift.

It’s also important that you log your “will attend” on any other events you plan to attend. At the Saturday Night event we are providing each attendee with a Roast Beef Roll but if you haven’t logged a “will attend” here you will miss out! Rotary will also be selling sausages so bring a chair and some loose change!

Check out the full Schedule so you can plan your weekend.

Official Shirts – LAST CHANCE TO ORDER

Official St Arnaud Event shirts now available to order. Check out the Geocaching Victoria Store to pre-order yours now. Available in Men’s, Women’s and Kids sizes. Orders close October 27th so get in quick!

shirt

Games over the weekend

There will lots of different ways to win prizes over MEGA weekend and taking part in some of the games we have on offer is a great way to be a part of all the fun. When you register you will be given some handouts of activities to complete so be sure to take part because as the old adage states – YOU GOTTA BE IN IT TO WIN IT!

We will also have a box called “Receipt’s Game”. We are asking people to collect any receipts from when they shop in St Arnaud in the week prior and post the Mega and to pop your caching name and a mobile number on the back and add them to our box. We will then draw a winner who will receive a very special prize. We can also use this data to gather an idea on how much impact a geocaching event can have economically within a community.

Stand out! Add an ORANGE ribbon to your car!

Travelling to St Arnaud for the MEGA Event? Tie an ORANGE ribbon or two to your car so we can all see each other.

orange_herringbone_twill_ribbon

Accommodation still Available at Camp Seed

Camp Seed, Stuart Mill (Only 15 mins from St Arnaud with plenty of caches in-between) have some accommodation bookings still available. Booking options are offered on either a per bed or per room rate:
$70 per adult for 2 nights in a shared room (4 single beds each room)
$250 for the 2 nights for a room (4 x single beds)…
You will have access to a large commercial style kitchen to store and prepare food as well as a large dining hall and recreation hall. These facilities allow you to continue nurturing your social connections within the Geocaching community.

Camp Seed is only accepting bookings for people participating in the Geocaching event so you will be residing with a like minded community. They don’t have lockable doors to the bedrooms so you need to bear in mind that your valuables need to be cared for under your own responsibility.

Please call Donna on 0403 810 614 to make a booking.

Geocaching in St Arnaud – Bush Wander Series

The Bush Wander series was created in 2017 by FUF009 & Tyred n Cranky, the 4th annual series from the trio and yet another trail of impressive creations. The BW series is a total of 22 caches comprising a letterbox and a multi to join the trads and the 2 puzzles that require the numbers to be collected along the way.

The BW series begins on Centre Road taking you on yet another enjoyable journey through the St Arnaud bush. A total of 1,592* unique finds have been logged on this series with over 680* favourite points awarded to the series overall.

Begin your adventure at BW01 – St Arnaud Regional Park (GC7A7ME).

*Statistics current as of 23 October 2019

First to Find (FTF) Raffle

We know people love chasing FTFs – how would you like a MEGA Event FTF? This raffle supports the amazing work done by The St Arnaud Agricultural Society (whose premises we are using and who do an amazing job of coordinating the St Arnaud Show). So if you are a FTF hound, or you just want to support a really great charity, then you can go in the draw to earn the right to call yourself the FTFer of The St Arnaud Event, 2019. Tickets are only $2 and you may win FTF and an unobtainium geocoin… You can purchase your tickets in this wonderful raffle by following this link!

St A Ag society

Geocaching Downunder Podcast

Did you tune into the Geocaching Downunder Podcast held earlier in the month? Geocaching Victoria Inc. Treasurer “BernieH” caught up with Seemyshell & AngelG27 to talk about all thing St Arnaud!

Have a listen here and you might find out some information we’ve yet to release about The St Arnaud MEGA Event… If you listen to the end too there is a chance to enter a very simple competition for all those who are attending the MEGA Event.

St Arnaud Geo Coins & Pathtags

The St Arnaud Event 2019 MEGA standard and limited edition geocoins are also selling like hotcakes in the Geocaching Victoria store. Get in quick before they sell out!

The Standard coin has been specifically designed for the event and features Fern the leadbeater possum as well as some stunning Australian flora including Victoria’s floral emblem – the Pink Heath. What sets this coin apart is that it is a 3D textured coin. They have arrived so we can now show you the final image. Coins are $16 each. Order here.

coin

The Limited Edition coins come in three different colours and aims to depict the farming communities that are located within the St Arnaud district. Get in quick as these are limited in number! This coin is 3 inches in size so nice to add to the collection. Limited edition coins are $34 each. Order here.

LE tractor coins

And whilst in the store don’t forget to purchase your St Arnaud Pathtags too!

Milestones

Who doesn’t love celebrating a milestone at a MEGA event? We know lots of people do so as in previous years we will be handing out some special certificates. If you plan to celebrate a Milestone in St Arnaud make sure you fill in this form.

Sponsorship

It’s thanks to amazing supporters that make a MEGA event possible. This includes GeoStuff who will be on site during the Mega. We’ve also had donations from our mates in South Australia who are organising a MEGA event there – GeoVenture2020, Caching Supplies, Sssafe and Sistema so a big thanks to them too. It’s also important to note that this event isn’t possible without the support of the Northern Grampians Shire Council so thank you NGS – your support in invaluable! And we can’t forget the amazing support from PathTags and Geocaching HQ   who help to make this dream a reality! Thanks guys!

The St Arnaud Event – February Update

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Welcome to The St Arnaud Event February update. The committee are working behind the scenes to bring you the best MEGA event we can – all for FREE! Remember to REGISTER HERE as this year we will be crossing off names at the event to ensure everyone who registered early gets their gift.

And if the January lead-up event is anything to go by this event is going to be MEGA! Almost 50 teams attended the St Arnaud lead up event on Australia Day and enjoyed a taste of the amazing caches St Arnaud has on offer.

starnaudleadup

Accommodation – New Campsites Available

The Northern Grampians Shire have approved powered and unpowedered sites at the Mega Site at Lord Nelson Park.  The Caravan Park is taking bookings for these.  Please call 03 5495 1447 (we are led to believe only unpowered sites are left).

Pathtags

The official St Arnaud Event Pathtags are now available to pre-order. Don’t they look amazing? Visit the Geocaching Victoria store to purchase the below St Arnaud pathtags which can be collected at the MEGA event. Many thanks to Ozglory Designs for designing these tags for us. People have inquired about using the border on their own pathtags and we suggest you contact Ozglory Designs.

Don’t forget if you are designing your own Pathtag remember to add the Geocaching Victoria tag back (which helps fund events like this Mega).

St A 5 set

Pathtag Design Competition – Extended Deadline

Ok – so we know there are lots of budding Pathtag designers out there so we are asking for your help. At each Victorian Mega thus far participants have received a FREE event pathtag (different to those above). This year we are throwing it open to attendees to design this FREE event pathtag. The winner will receive a full set of the above 5 official St Arnaud Event 2019 pathtags.

The competition is now open and will close at midnight on Sunday February 24th (EXTENDED DEADLINE). That means you have a couple of weeks left to get designing. Send your “winning” design to gemmasiemensma@gmail.com with St Arnaud Event Pathtag Competition as the subject line.

Lead Up Events

The Victorian MEGA lead up events are back! We know people like prizes so we encourage you to attend as many events as possible as each event you attend will give you up to 6 raffle tickets for a special prize that might just have your name on it? This special Lead Up raffle will be drawn on the Saturday night event of the Mega – so make sure you attend as you need to be there to claim your prize. And who knows… the prize might consist of an illusive “unobtainium”…

GZ Code Where When
GC82GYW Devonport, Tas Sunday 10th of February, 2019, 12:00pm
GC81NXZ Emerald, Vic Saturday 16th of February, 2019, 10:00am
GC82D87 Walhalla, Vic Saturday 16th of March, 2019, 11:00am

More lead up events releasing soon!

Enticing Caches! The Fire Break Track Series

There is no doubt that St Arnaud is a high quality caching area. Within 30km of the township, you can find well over 300 active geocaches in a range of cache types.
If searching by top favourite points, you will be quickly directed to the Fire Break Track series.

Released in October 2014, the themed series is compiled by locals FUF009 and Tyred n Cranky. The series of 25 caches take you along the town’s Fire Break Track from Lock Road to Wycheproof Road, crossing in and out of the bush on a couple of occasions. The well-trodden series is broken in to 2 halves, with numbers to collect from the 23 trads which will lead you to two puzzle caches to mark half way and completion.

Each traditional cache in the series has over 150 individual logs while the series as a whole has a whopping 383* favourite points. Number Five in the series (FBT05 – Fire Truck GC5A533) has 87* favourite points alone, g​iving it the honour of the ‘most favourited’ cache within 30km of St Arnaud.  FBT?? – Hydrant GC5A4YV earned the title of 2014 Victorian cache of the Year in the Puzzle category.

To start the series, head to FBT01 = “000” GC5A524. It will be a few hours well spent!

*Statistics current as of 4 Feb 2019

Sponsorship

It’s thanks to amazing supporters that make a MEGA event possible. This includes Caching Supplies AND GeoStuff who will both have their shop on site during the Mega. It’s also important to note that this event isn’t possible without the support of the Northern Grampians Shire Council so a big thanks to them too! And we can’t forget the amazing support from PathTags and Geocaching HQ   who help to make this dream a reality! So thanks guys!

Friends of Parks Vic

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Geocaching Victoria Incorporated is very excited to announce that we are now officially affiliated with Parks Vic.

In coming months, we will undergo some information sessions with their rangers that will enable us to set up and run CITO events without having to obtain prior authorisation. Something that usually needs to be organised months in advance, as it requires one of their rangers to be present. Once everything is finalised, we will have members who will be trained in the safety briefings, and they will act as de facto rangers for us.

Parks Vic requires that we all be registered on their website, linked to GV’s group. They are aware that registered numbers don’t usually equate to numbers on the day, so registering does not obligate you to attend anything we set up.

So, whether you’re a prolific CITO attendee, only go to one a year (around mega time), or haven’t attended one yet, but would like to in the future, please take a few minutes to register.

GVI – PARKS VIC REGISTRATION

Registration is fairly straight forward. You will need to confirm your email address. Once registered, go to Volunteer – Search groups and type Geocaching into the filter. Geocaching Victoria will appear. At the end of the line, use the little drop down arrow to join GV group.

Once this is running at full speed, all of our Parks Vic CITO activities will be listed on their website, as well as an official CITO event page.

The Committee look forward to seeing a long list of registrations and can’t wait to see you at a CITO soon!

New Committee Elections 2019

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After a flurry of nominations, the Geocaching Victoria committee were very happy to receive 6 successful nominations. We have two positions available, so we will hold an election among the Victorian Geocaching community to see who you think would be best to fill the remaining spots. Voting will open as of now and close at 8pm on 18th January 2019.

Good luck to all nominees. The GVI Committee would be privileged to have any of you on board, and we look forward to working with the successful candidates very soon.

Below are the nominees and a small bit of (supplied) info about them and their caching.

  • Gemma Siemensma (GemmaSistema)
    Hi all, my name is Gemma Siemensma (aka GemmaSistema) and I am keen to be involved with Geocaching Victoria Inc (GVI). I hail from Ballarat and live with a muggle hubby and two geokids. I live in a cache filled and vibrant local geocaching community which over the years has seen me make new friends, gain new skills, learn about my local community and put my hand up to organise geocaching “stuff”. This has included local events, CITO’s with numerous groups/councils and a big Christmas in July cache-filled extravaganza. Most recently I was on the 2018 Parkville Mega Committee and I am also on the 2019 St Arnaud Mega Committee. I feel there is much I can bring to GVI. I’m organised, enthusiastic, committed, and open to new ideas. My skillset includes being able to work with a variety of people across numerous organisations and in my paid employment I’ve organised major events interstate with international speakers, chaired national strategic committees and given my heart and soul to what I do. I think of myself as being inclusive and will happily listen to others opinions and try to find a solution that will suit everyone. I love geocaching and think Victoria is in an amazing place to position itself as a leader both nationally and internationally and I’d like to help contribute to that!
  • Sarah Cameron (sharkiefan)
    My caching name is sharkiefan. I’ve worked on other Geocaching committees before, so this sort of thing is not new to me. I have a good relationship with the other committee members. I’ve placed a lot of caches, found a lot of caches and am familiar with Victoria as a state for rules and guidelines. I’m saving for a house so I have a bit of time on my hands. I’m also on the working group for the St Arnaud event so this would be useful to help with that too. I would like your votes please.
  • Stephen Handbury (Clever Monkey)
    For well over a decade I’ve been playing this diverse game. Based near Alexandra the community got severely affected by the Black Saturday Bushfires and that just encouraged me to lend a helping hand wherever I can. Although some might see me a bit as a shit-stirrer, I do believe this is just a game and we should enjoy it. In past I’ve been involved in the Melbourne, Surf Coast and Alexandra Mega events, brought the Lake Eildon Geotour to life and hosted numerous events.
    These days my caching consists of more or less well planned adventures. “Make your finds count – don’t count your finds” is the motto I go by and I’m convinced this is where I can add value to the Victorian Geocaching Community: Connecting the various type of players and getting the community closer together.
  • Philipp Hammes ( º )
    I’m a middle-aged man with an technical job, a nerd and dad. That’s pretty much the smack-bang average geocacher, isn’t it? Except I’ve been doing this since 2003 and found all kinds of caches all over the planet. As the game evolved over time, so did my caching style change – away from the numbers and more towards quality adventures.
    Now let’s be honest: To say I’m a controversial player is a bit of an understatement. I don’t hold back on voicing my opinion in a very German way: It normally gets served with cold hard facts and not everyone likes that. That doesn’t mean I don’t care for the community and I often do things in the background like negotiating with GC HQ for us to get the mega-status for the 2015 to 2017 events. I also run the big Geocaching facebook group and I’ve been a committee member before but left to focus on other things – mainly coping with becoming a dad. Now somebody thought it’d be time to come back and nominated me. I believe the there’s still work to be done to unify the geocaching community in Victoria while acknowledging the different styles at the same time.
  • Donna Moore (jaktembo)
    I am Donna from team Jaktembo which includes my partner and kids aged 12 &10. We started caching in 2015 but not seriously until 2016. We love that geocaching takes us to places we would never have visited otherwise. At first the kids moaned a bit but now they are pretty in to it. We spend hours together as a family puzzle solving on the bad weather days and finding caches on the good weather days. All our holiday locations are centred around geocaches in an area. We love meeting all the like minded people and love the megas! Our whole team/family (including the kids) are keen to be actively involved in the wider geocaching community. I am heavily involved as a player, coach and committee member of Upper Ferntree Gully Football Netball club. Last year I was honoured to receive the Best Playing Clubperson award. I served behind the bar and also helped to run the canteen on the home games. I play cricket for Launching Place United cricket club in the summer and until recently have been an active committee member in my club on and off for 25years. Unfortunately the club is a fair distance from where I live, hence why I am no longer on the committee. I am the delegate for the club and participate in Cricket Victoria meetings. In 2019 I will be participating in my 3rd Oxfam event, representing Geocaching Victoria. I take these roles very seriously and am 100% committed to doing what I can do to make these clubs successful. I enjoy the administrative and scheduling aspects of being on a committee. I have a strong sense of social justice and enjoy advocating for my peers. I am a “get in there and get it done” kinda person as people may have seen at the recent Parkville Mega. Although I was not involved with the committee of this event, I was keen to play a role. Myself and Erica were active behind the scenes in helping to make sure everyone had a great feed! We also manned the BBQ. I am super keen to get involved and share some ideas for the St Arnaud Mega. That is after we have done Oxfam and attended Canberra and Woolongong megas on the way!
  • Mark Barnes (Team☢aky)

After learning a bit about the candidates, you can cast your votes here: