We have heaps of information to share with you, so be sure to grab a cuppa and read through what we have on offer! Below we have details on the Victorian Cache of the Year Program for 2023, Rutherglen updates as well as an interview from one of our legends.

A Community Legend

It has been a little while since we have shared with you one of the interviews of our community greats, so we thought that we would pull this interview from the archives for your enjoyment. Day (day1976) interviewed Geoff Jamison (gjm3191) and asked him to share some thoughts and experiences of his time geocaching. For those that need, please be sure to turn the CC captions on for subtitles. Click here to enjoy the interview.

Victorian Cache of the Year Awards Program 2023

Geocaching Victoria is proud to host an annual award program for its Victorian Community. We are constantly amazed by the creative, inspirational and sometimes adventurous caches that are created within our community and we would love to both celebrate and promote these great caches.

This is to celebrate caches hidden during 2022. Below is a list of the current award categories and how to facilitate the award program throughout the year. Please note that there has been some changes from last year including a new category:

• Best Traditional
• Best Multi
• Best Mystery/ Puzzle
• Best First Hide
• Best Series
• Best Location
• Best Adventure Lab
• Best Other Cache (includes Wherigo, Letterbox, Virtual or EarthCache)
• Best Regional Cache
• Best Overall Cache
• Best Log – Found It
• Best Log – DNF

Award Eligibility

Eligibility to nominate for each category is listed below. These should be published when an annual award program is launched.

• The cache must be hidden in the State of Victoria
• The cache needs to have been published between 1st January and 31st December 2022
• Geocaching.com will be used to verify both cache type, location and publication date. 
• To be eligible for a Cache Series there must be at least three associated caches and all published within the required date range
• The ‘Found it’ or ‘DNF’ Log needs to have been submitted between 1st January and 31st December 2022
• URL Geocaching.com links to logs and related Adlab nomination must be submitted as part of nominations where required

Nominations

To nominate a cache, please review the citeria to ensure eligibility

• Please ensure that you add both the relevant GC Code, Cache name and Cache Owner, URL Link (for Found It Log, DNF Log or Adventure Lab) and additional details where required
• Caches and logs nominated must meet eligibility criteria
• Each caching team can nominate up to three per category
• Caches can be nominated in more than one category
• You can nominate your own cache or log
• Nominations will be open until Sunday 30th April 2023

Nominations are now open, so please let us know your favourite caches via this form. 

Voting

During May, Geocaching Victoria will review the nominations for each category and announce the shortlist for each category. Nominations will be shortlisted to approximately 5-10 caches in each category, although numbers may vary based on responses received. 

Finalists for each category will then be shared and voting will commence. The voting period will remain open until Thursday 31st August 2023.

During the voting process, the following criteria applies:

• Only caches and logs shortlisted will be open for voting
• For all cache categories, it is recommended that you physically find the cache you are voting for.
• You can vote for your own cache or log 
• One vote per category per caching team is allowed. 
• There will only be one winner per category
• If in the event a category results in a tie, the Geocaching Victoria committee will cast the final vote

Award Results

The results of the Victorian Caching Awards will be announced at an awards event in September 2023 (TBC)

Rutherglen Beginner Challenges

What is a challenge cache?
A challenge cache requires seekers to find an associated physical cache, and to find an additional set of geocaches as defined by the challenge owner. Challenge caches encourage geocachers to set and achieve fun goals. Be sure to check out the Beginner Blog for more information on challenge caches generally.

Introduction to the Series
Challenge caches are supposed to challenge you! While this seems to be obvious, most challenge caches are written for cachers that have been playing for quite a while. A calendar year’s worth of mysteries for a new starter who has barely tried puzzles, is not a challenge, it is impossible.

This small series is to introduce you to the concept of challenges, and get you used to using checkers, and working out what you need to do to complete a challenge. Hopefully this will ease you into the more challenging challenges.

All of these challenges can be completed with the caches placed around Rutherglen.

The challenge cache can be found at the listed co-ordinates and the logbook can be signed, however a found log can not be listed until the challenge is completed and proof offered. This is done by using the checker on the cache page. This is a link to ProjectGC, who will review your statics and show you if you comply with the challenge’s requirements (you don’t need to be a member of ProjectGC to use this service).

So try challenging yourself!

Ladders in Rutherglen.

Just to the east of Rutherglen there is the old racetrack. This now contains a small piece of geoart in the shape of a ladder. Well, I think it looks like a ladder, but with only nine points, it could be almost anything. But we will assume you can see it as a ladder.

All the caches that make up these points are mysteries, so you don’t have to go to the starting location, in fact it is probably best if you don’t as it is now a rifle range! They don’t shoot very often, but why risk it?

When we were putting together caches for the Mega at Rutherglen we considered what type of caches people might want. Doing your Difficulty/Terrain matrix is one of the basic challenges, and the rarest terrain rating is 4.5. Usually terrains go up to 4.0 and if it is harder than that they are usually 5.0. 4.5 seems to get skipped quite often.

Our next challenge is how to make a series of 4.5 caches when the largest area of water is the local farmer’s dams, and the highest mountain is a flatish hill that has a water tower looking like a wine bottle on top of it! Tree climbs seemed to fit the bill.

Now not everyone has tree climbing gear, but we figured most should be able to get their hands on a long ladder. How long is long? Well the caches are terrain 4.5, so your small folding ladder of about 4 meters will leave you more than a bit short. Yes, some of the trees will allow a bit of climbing off the end of your ladder, but some will not.

About this point I should note some rules for ladders:

• Inspect ladders carefully before each use.
• Stay near the middle of the ladder and face the ladder while climbing up/down.
• Carry your pen in your pocket, not in your hand.
• Maintain 3-points of contact when climbing/descending a ladder.
  There are lots of other safety rules, and some common sense ones like don’t put your ladder on top of your car!

As the difficulty rating of the cache goes up, the difficulty of the puzzle goes up, and the size of the container correspondingly goes down. So take your friends with you, and have fun safely going up the trees.

PS: As fences are slowly being rebuilt after the floods around Rutherglen, it turns out that Ladders #6 is a bit close to private property, and so has been moved.

If you have already solved #6, you should check the formula again. The puzzle is the same but a few of the letters have been moved.

Shout out for some Rutherglen Volunteers

As we start to count down to our Rutherglen Mega (GC9MHM), the Mega Committee are working hard to plan and organise what looks to be an amazing weekend of geo-goodness. But events like this are only possible with the help of many volunteers. If you can spare a few hours over the weekend, please do let us know and complete the Volunteer Form. We would really appreciate it.

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