With only 36 days left until the Mega, we are keen to hear how many of you will be celebrating a Geocaching Milestone in November 2022. Please let us know!
The definition of a Milestone is number of finds ending in:
0 for 2 digit numbers – i.e. 10, 20, 30 etc 00 for 3 digit numbers – i.e. 100, 200, 300 etc 000 for 4 digit numbers – i.e. 1000, 2000, 3000 etc Of course we also have 10,000, 11,000 etc
To register your interest, please completed the below form and let us know if you will celebrate your milestone at the Maze Event (GC9N1CX) or the Mega Event (GC9YKBG)
Happy October and welcome to day light savings – finally. Bring on the sunshine and warmer weather ahead – all of which are great for geocaching!
Don’t Forget to Register!
It is hard to believe that our Whittlesea Mega is only 47 days away, I can feel the excitement building. Now I don’t want to give any secrets away, but there will be some really special and unique activities planned at this Mega, so ensure that you register your attendance, if you haven’t already (GC8EW40).
Are you up for the MEGA challenge?
Okay – I will let you in on ONE secret…..that is, if you are up for a new challenge? Can you help Professor Cachington? He has been developing an antidote for a new disease known as Geopoxitis – a debilitating disease that causes the human body to create its own magnetic field, interfering with any navigational instrument that comes near them. The professor was only 5 ingredients short of finishing the antidote. However while stopping to get a cache on his way to the lab, Professor Cachington contracted the terrible disease. It is now up to you to finish his work, by identifying the 5 crucial ingredients and completing the antidote. The effects of Geopoxitis become permanent after 20 minutes, so time is of the essence. Hurry, the caching world is counting on you! All you have to do, is come to the Mega and more will be revealed….
The WEGT (Whittlesea Event Gadget Trail)
The WEGT (Whittlesea Event Gadget Trail) series, is a series of family friendly Gadget caches, placed for the Whittlesea Event 2022. The trail may expand over time, so keep your eye out for new additions. The series starts with (GC9ZWZV)
Victorian Cache of the Year Awards
Due to a few requests, we have agreed to extend the voting period by two weeks. But you will need to get your votes in soon. The Awards night will be held at the Mega on the Saturday night and it will surely be a night to remember. Be sure to make your vote count and submit your entry before Friday 14th October. All those who vote, will be eligible for the random unobtanium draw, which will also be drawn on the night. Here is the link to the finalists and the voting.
Car Rally – Lead up Event
This month we have our latest Mega Lead up Event planned and we hope to see as many of you there as possible. The car rally is a team adventure where you travel around in a vehicle, exploring the area. You are given a series of clues and information to help you navigate to key locations, whilst gathering answers, completing tasks, as well as challenges along the way. The aim is to make it to the rendezvous point with as many answers and tasks completed as possible. We do ask that you log an attendance if you plan on joining us to assist us with logistics.
GC9WKNH – Car Rally Staging Point and Morning Tea – 15th October 2022
GC9YAQB – Car Rally Rendezvous Point and Dinner – 15th October 2022
New Puzzle Series
As many of you know, the Whittlesea Compass geo-art has been active for a few years, as the original Mega in Whittlesea was delayed due to Covid. But fast forward a year or two, we felt that it was time to publish an additional series in preparation for the Mega. This new series has been designed to encourage and support those geocachers that are new to puzzle solving. By working through this series, we hope that new skills and techniques can be learned. The puzzles include additional information to help step through the solving process. The link to the new puzzle series can be saved to your geocaching profile for ease of locating. https://www.geocaching.com/plan/lists/BMBJ774
A few other reminders..
A last minute shout our for clothing orders – the cut off day to pre-order clothes (for pick up at the Mega) will be Sunday 9th October, so be sure to get your orders in.
Events, Events and Events – there are lots of Mega sub-events planned, so be sure to check out this list and log your planned attendance
A final BBQ Fundraising event is planned and we hope to see many of you there. Remember Mega Events are only possible because of the dedication of our volunteers and through the fundraising that we do. Please do drop by and buy a sausage and say hello – Mernda 29th October 2022 (GC9YXZT)
Ribbon colour for the event is Purple, so be sure to find a snip of purple ribbon so you can attach it to your car for the Mega weekend.
We are just a little excited to let you know that the Whittlesea Mega is starting to get some momentum. Andrew Howard aka RoamingHowie has graciously accepted the role as Mega Lead and has recently formed a new committee to assist him. On behalf of GVI we send a big thank you to all those who have put their hand up to help and look forward to our next big event. To meet out the new Mega commitee, please follow this link.
If you have not yet registered your interest, please be sure to log it at GC8EW40
We are hoping in coming weeks, we can share information on:
Sadly Gemma Siemensma has decided the time has come for her to step back from the GVI Committee to seek further family/ work life balance. That being said, she will continue to be the Geo-Tour and Maze Lead on behalf of GVI. We thank Gemma for all her hard work over the years, she will definitely be missed.
Don’t for get your Kudos
May is rapidly coming to an end, so dont forget to submit your Kudos to your fellow geocachers.
Remember to enter our monthly competition for the month of May, please tag a fellow geocacher below and share how they have made a difference to your geocaching experiences, provided guidance, helped you when you first started out, or where you have witnessed a generous act within our community that is worth calling out. This month its all about calling our those that make a difference within our community. Let’s celebrate them.
Cache Awards – Voting is now open
Victorian Cache Finalists have now been annouced and its over to you to start voting!
It is with great excitement that GVI announces the finalists for the Victorian Cache of the Year Awards 2020/21. With nearly 300 nominations and some creative, extraordinary submissions, it makes for one exciting list.
We may have been restrained by covid and limited in our travels, but our creativity and passion for the game has shone through.
It was great to see so many events hosted across Victoria last month and that our community was able to take full advantage of the unseasonably warm weather. Thank you to all of you that organised these events, the logs certainly indicate a great time was had by many.
Events
Just a few quick updates from Geocaching Victoria – there are still many events scheduled in our calendar, so make sure you keep an eye on our ‘Upcoming Events Page‘, but also let us know if you would like an event added.
Mega
We know that we have been quiet in sharing further Whittlesea Mega details with you particularly around the accomadation and program, but we are hoping to do this in coming weeks. We just want to lock in some final details before we publish them. Fundraising continues in preparation for the Mega with the next two BBQ’s at Mernda Bunnings scheduled for Saturday 2nd July and Saturday 29th October. Please add these to your diary. A special thanks must go to Belinda and Don Parker, who work hard in the background to coordinate these for us. Further details will come out close to the dates.
April Competition – Share a Virtual Log Find
It was great to see so many within our community enjoy the new virtual caches that have recently been released. Thank you to all that submitted your log in the April GVI Competition, we thoroughly enjoyed reading all the logs. A big shout out must go to the winner this month – veevers12. Congratulations on your win. We will be in contact shortly to organise to get you your prize.
ABC – South West Interview – RoamingHowie
This month also saw another GVI Committee member promote this passionate game of ours. Congratulations to Andrew Howard (RoamingHowie) for a great interview on ABC – South West Victoria. You can listen to the interview below.
Victoria Cache of the Year Awards
Thanks to everyone in the community that has submitted nominations. We have been impressed by the high volume of submissions. In the next few weeks we will collate them and then share the list for voting. So watch this space!
We are planning to announce the winners of each category (2020-2021 awards) at the Whittlesea Mega, details are still being finalised. So keep an eye open for details in coming months. Also it should be noted that the 2019 Awards process was actually paused due to the Covid lockdowns. Voting did close, but the results were never shared. The announcement of the winners will also be at the Whittlesea Mega in November 2022.
