Category Archives: Event2022

It’s a wrap!

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What a weekend! Around 500 teams, including close to 70 cachers attending their first ever Mega, descended on Whittlesea for an epic weekend of fun, friendship and caching. Melbourne showed our interstate and overseas visitors why we say we have four seasons in one day, but that didn’t stop us. A puzzle room, petting zoo, fireworks, Signal, gadget alley, lackeys, GPS Adventure Maze, awards, a CITO, caches, and more kept attendees entertained across the whole weekend. Thank you to everyone for making this yet another very memorable Victorian Mega!

Alas, all good things come to an end, and as we look forward to The Rutherglen Event (GC9MH9M) in April 2023, there are a few final things to wrap up.

Post Mega Feedback

Gathering feedback on your Whittlesea 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 Whittlesea Event.

Provide your feedback by Wednesday 30 November to be in the running to win a Whittlesea Event Unobtanium coin, or one of five annual Geocaching.com premium memberships.

Click here to complete the survey

Volunteers & Supporters

We couldn’t have delivered The Whittlesea Event without a massive team of volunteers and supporters. You can view the list of the more than 100 people who contributed to make Whittlesea a success HERE. Thank you to each and every one of them.

We are pleased to announce the winners of our random volunteer prize draw who each win a $50 Bunnings voucher and a 3D Event Coin:

  • Pre Mega Volunteers – Cathlud
  • Friday Mega Volunteers – chooknchunk (Glen)
  • Saturday Mega Volunteers – skuzzybear
  • Sunday Mega Volunteers – Spenna1211

We have also randomly awarded a Whittlesea Unobtanium Coin to one lucky volunteer – Congratulations to Harrowang (Sally) on your win!

Complete your logs and post your photos to win a Whittlesea Unobtanium Coin

There are still a handful of Whittlesea Unobtanium Coins up for grabs. A Whittlesea Unobtanium Coin is available for one lucky attendee at each event across the weekend. All you need to do, is ensure your Found It log is posted by Wednesday 30 November and that you signed the event log book.

If you haven’t already done so – post your photos in the Whittlesea Whispers Facebook group to go into the draw to also win a Whittlesea Unobtanium Coin.

All winners will be announced in the following week close of entries.

Additional Prize Winners & Whittlesea Unobtanium Coins

A full list of all of our Whittlesea Event prize winners can be found HERE. We are pleased to announce the following additional competition winners:

  • Whittlesea Unobtanium for one lucky camper – Lorigus74
  • Whittlesea Unobtanium for one lucky merchandise buyer (preorder) – Smrff78
  • Whittlesea Unobtanium for nominating/voting in the Annual Cache Awards – LetThemEatCache
  • First Time Mega Attendees – 5 x Annual Premium Memberships –
    1. icybeetas
    2. Lani-B
    3. chapples284
    4. BrandenAdams
    5. TomAndSnail

We will be in contact with you in the next 2 weeks to arrange to get your prizes to you.

Final Date to Order Whittlesea Event Clothing

Final orders for The Whittlesea Event clothing range (Polos, Hoodies, Beanies & Caps) end this Sunday 27 November. If you missed out, CLICK HERE to place your order now.

Limited stocks of the pathtag set and event coins from The Whittlesea Event are available to purchase from the Geocaching Victoria shop.

Thank You

On behalf of the Whittlesea Mega Organising Committee, thank you to everyone who supported and participated in The Whittlesea Event 2022. It has been our pleasure to bring this event to you all. Bring on Rutherglen!

– RoamingHowie

Some Final Mega Thoughts…

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It’s hard to believe that this time tomorrow many of us will start to arrive in preparation for the Mega – the Mega that nearly didn’t happen – the Mega we started planning in 2020. Well it’s nearly here and I don’t know about you – but we am super excited!! To support your arrival, here are some final thoughts… #whittlesea2022

Arrival

  • For those that are camping check in will be via Showgrounds Rd
  • The day visitor parking entrance is via McPhee Rd – there is no entry to the showgrounds from the Whittlesea-Yea Rd
  • Parking is available along either side of McPhee Rd  in the concrete and gravel areas, as well as surrounding the Chandler/Football Club.
  • Campers are asked to park at their site while at the showgrounds

Covid Safe

We are mindful that there is still Covid within the community – so just a friendly reminder that if you do have Covid, are infectious or have symptoms to consider staying home.

Updates Over Weekend

Over the course of the weekend – we will be using “Whittlesea Whispers” Facebook page where any new announcements or updates will be shared. However any changes to individual event locations or details will be updated via the respective GC page .

Registration Desk

The registration desk will be open from 9.00am both Saturday and Sunday, where you can receive both your registration pack and for any merchandise purchases, please collect those from the GVI Shop.

Official Welcome and Mega Opening

Don’t forget the the Official Welcome and Mega Opening starts at 8.30am – so see you there! (GC9YKBR) – Welcome to Whittlesea

How to Obtain an Unobtanium

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Unobtaniums are an extremely limited edition geocoin – almost unobtainable in fact. There is no way these can be purchased and as such are highly sought after. Mega Events are traditionally the only way you can secure one of these rare coins and so obtaining the unobtainable has become a highlight for many geocachers since the inaugural Mega in 2015.

Over the weekend of the Whittlesea MEGA, there are fifteen ways to win an unobtanium geocoin. Will you be one of the lucky ones?

  1. Be the lucky draw prize winner at the Social Night Event on Friday*
  2. Be the lucky draw prize winner at the Welcome to Whittlesea Event on Saturday*
  3. Be the lucky draw prize winner at the Tambo CITO Event on Saturday*
  4. Be the lucky draw prize winner at the Awards and Celebration Night Event on Saturday*
  5. Be the lucky draw prize winner at the Farewell Whittlesea Event on Sunday*
  6. Be the lucky draw prize winner from all MEGA attendees who have signed the log book*
  7. Be a lucky random draw prize winner from all camp sites at the MEGA*
  8. Win the Cachers Bingo Draw (all squares)
  9. Find one of the random caches in the Whittlesea LGA over the weekend that has one of these coins in it.
  10. Win the FTF raffle
  11. Win the Maccamob hamper draw
  12. Completing the post Mega Evaluation Survey*
  13. Best public photo posted on designated “Photo Comp” Post in Whittlesea Whispers – available from Friday 18th November and Closes Sunday 27th November. Be sure to use #whittlesea2022 as the tag.*
  14. Be a lucky winner from those that pre-purchased Whittlesea & Maze Merchandise*
  15. Be a lucky winner from those that either nominated or voted in the Victorian Cache of the Year*

Winners will be advised after the Whittlesea mega assuming all log are posted by Sunday 27th November 2022

Puzzle Room Adventure Lab – Bookings Required

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For those that are coming to the Mega – you may be interested in knowing more about the Puzzle Room. It is similar to an Escape Room, where Professor Cachington’s Laboratory contains 5 mystery words to unravel. Bookings are required (at the puzzle room).

So what do you have to do?

You have been asked to assist Professor Cachington in 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!

In teams of six, you will have 20 minutes to discover the five mystery words. You will be teamed up with others where possible. 

Bookings are required (at the puzzle room booking table in the Chandler Pavilion) as follows: 

  • For a Friday adventure (volunteers only): Bookings can be made Friday afternoon. 
  • For a Saturday morning adventure: Bookings can be made Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. 
  • For a Saturday afternoon adventure: Bookings can be made any time Saturday. 
  • For a Sunday morning adventure: Bookings can be made Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning. 
  • For a Sunday afternoon adventure: Bookings can be made any time Sunday. 

Please arrive 10 minutes before your allocated timeslot for a short briefing before you enter the Professor’s Lab. 

One Week To Go til MEGA TIME!

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It’s hard to believe that we have only ONE more week to go until we start arriving at the Whittlesea Mega. I don’t know about you, but the committee is very very excited as this has been in the planning for a long time. As we head into the final count-down, we wanted to give you some updates on a few key items.

Friday Night Social Event Catering

We wish to thank our local catering partners Ferguson Whittlesea and Whittlesea Rotary for their support of this event.  They will be providing the following food options:

FERGUSON WHITTLESEA (PRE-ORDER)
A selection of meal deals including pies, pasties and sausage rolls (inc plant based and gluten free options) are available to pre-order from our website. 

Pre Orders close Monday 14 November. 

Meals will be delivered directly to the event and will be available to collect at 6pm sharp. Book Pre-Order Here

ROTARY BBQ (NO PRE ORDER REQUIRED)
Whittlesea Rotary will also be onsite selling sausages and hamburgers (including vegetarian options).  These can be purchased on the night direct from Rotary (cash and card options available).

A selection of drinks and donuts will also be available to purchase onsite during the event. We look forward to seeing you all on the night.

Auslan Interpreters

With special thanks to our sponsor Whittlesea Council and our hearing impaired community, we can confirm that we will have an Auslan Interpreter available at certain times over the Mega event.

  • Welcome to Whittlesea (GC9YKBR), plus an additional hour after to support navigation around Gadget Ally, Puzzle Room and general questions
  • Whittlesea Celebration and Awards Night GC9NVQQ

Puzzle Room

The Puzzle Room Adventure Lab is similar to an escape room, you have 20 minutes to unravel 5 mystery words within the puzzle room. Bookings are required (at the puzzle room).

So what do you have to do?

You have been asked to assist Professor Cachington in 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!

FTF and Maccamob Raffles

With so many attendees at a Mega, it’s only fair to cool the competitive FTF hounds. For those of you that are new to Mega’s, what we do is host a FTF raffle, which you can enter by purchasing a ticket or two near registration desk so that you can be in the final draw for the FTF.

Make sure you also bring some gold coins so that you can enter the draw for the inaugural Mega Maccamob raffle – their hampers are always amazing and it is a great way to donate to a local charity. This years chosen charity is to support the fundraising of a defibrillator with Rotary and Lions.

Out of interest we recently presented a cheque to North Eastern Health with a cheque for $1050 from the fundraising efforts from the Wangaratta Mega. Thanks to everyone who support this great cause.

Other Snippets of MEGA Interest…

  • Yes the rumour is true… we have planned for fireworks at the end of our Awards Night on Saturday!! A night not to be missed! (GC9NVQQ)
  • Missed the detailed Mega Event Schedule, here is the link
  • Four Lackeys will be visiting from Geocaching HQ – be sure to be on the look out for them!
  • We can confirm that Signal will be in attendance and has arrived ahead of the Mega. For those that have not yet logged the locationless cache for signal (GC8FROG), you will be a great opportunity at the Mega.
  • If you are planning on bring your geo-pup to the Mega, please consider the geo-dog etiquette for everyone’s consideration
  • PURPLE is our chosen colour, so be sure to purchase your ribbon and attach it to your car