Category Archives: Megas

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Posted on by

Now we have come a far cry from the days when we would see newspaper boys standing on the corner, promoting the release of breaking news. But it is timely that we do have some updates to share with you about the up coming Mega. So jump straight in and read all about it!

Firstly did you that we have organised a pre-Mega catch up? This is planned for Saturday 25th March 2023 – GCA5NZT – Pre Rutherglen Catch Up. We hope to see you there!

Information Sessions

We have just finalised the details of the Information Session and are excited to share the topics and schedule of the information sessions planned over the Mega weekend. All Information Sessions will be held at The Old Council Chambers, above the Rutherglen Library – 153 High Street, Rutherglen

  • Cachly Information Session by beckNmonts
  • How to create an Earthcache by GeoAwareANZ2
  • Placing Night Caches by ILookedThere
  • Solving Puzzle Caches by GJMMelb
  • Cachetur.no – more than a road trip app by Kittykatch
  • Pocket Queries and Lists by GeoLibrarian54
  • Adventurous Caching for Beginners by Jamin Appleford
  • Do’s and Don’t s For Placing Geocaches’ by Bunjil
  • NEWBS & scary events! by skuzzybear

Meet the Reviewers Sessions

There will also be an opportunity to meet the reviewers and ask some questions and get ideas for your next hide. This session will be held at Soldiers Hall – 150 High Street Road, Rutherglen

For more information please refer to our webpage.

The GPS Maze is coming to Rutherglen

We are proud to present the 4th version of the maze for all geocachers to enjoy. Be sure to check the schedule for dates and times. (GC9V3RY)

Whether this will be your first Maze visit or you’ve visited  every GPS Maze, you should proudly proclaim your achievement by purchasing an “I survived the GPS Maze T-Shirt”. Worn by the most discerning and fashionable geocachers, make your geo-friends jealous that they too, should attempt to survive the GPS Maze and have not yet done so. Stocks are limited but are available in all sizes from Small to 3XL. Buy one for each member of your team and join an exclusive club. Only $22

We also have a limited edition Rutherglen Maze Geocoin availabe, so be sure to order one of those at the Geocaching Victoria Online Shop.

Win an Unobtanium Coin with a Nametag

For those of you attending the Mega weekend, we would love you to wear your nametag! The name tag must be on the most visible layer of clothing (ie an embroidered shirt would count, but not if you have a jumper over the top).

It’s a great way to recognise those caching names you may be familiar with, particularly if you do not recognise faces. It’s also a lovely way to connect and meet other fellow cachers that you may not have met before.

Over the course of the weekend, the MEGA committee will hand out raffle tickets to those of you spotted wearing a name tag. Each recepient will go in the draw to win an Unobtanium coin. The winner will be drawn at the closing ceremony (you must be present)

To participate, you can:

  • Get creative and make a nametag
  • Bring a nametag you already own
  • Purchase a geocaching nametag
  • Pack enough geocaching items with your name embroidered to wear each day

Volunteering at the Rutherglen Event

As you know, our MEGA events are run entirely by volunteers. We need a few more volunteers to fill all roles. Have we mentioned that volunteers do get a small thank you gift for their time?

Some examples of things that we need assistance with is as follows:

  • Work the gate on Thursday afternoon. When else will you get a chance to tell so many people where to go?
  • Have you got pavilion set up experience? We need a few people from 2pm Friday to help the council set up some tables and pavilions for us.
  • Help set up the maze Thursday morning.
  • Work the gate on Friday, another perfect opportunity to tell people where to go.
  • Help on Saturday, both morning and afternoon.

Please complete our volunteer registration form

Subscribe to our Blogs

We aim to share regular stories, event details and updates with our community and have a variety of channels where we share. But to ensure you don’t miss out on our updates, why not subscribe to our regular blog and get it delivered to your inbox. Subscribe now by entering your email address.

Jam Packed Mega Fun

Posted on by

Easter is always a great time for families to come together, enjoy some downtime, camp or of course geocache! This year we are excited to host The Rutherglen Event (GC9MHM) for our community for some Easter fun.

In case you didn’t know, each Mega has a colour theme and we celebrate this in many different ways – through the flags, merchandise and of course car ribbons! For those of you that may not be familiar with these ribbons, we encourage anyone travelling to the Mega to attached the designated colour ribbon to your car, so as you descend upon the town of Rutherglen and travel around the surrounding towns over the weekend, you can spot your fellow geocachers! This year our colour is Maroon. Be sure to attach this ribbon to your car over the weekend of the Mega!

New Merchansise Available

Just in case you haven’t heard, we now have polo t-shirts available in the Geocaching Victoria online shop, in addition to the Rutherglen shirts, jackets, pathtags and geocoins. Be sure to place an order as these are priced to sell fast!

The Mega Easter Egg Hunt

After the big night you will have on Saturday, you will probably feel like sleeping in on the Sunday. After all Sunday is the day of rest. But I would suggest you might not want to sleep too long, otherwise you will miss the Easter Egg Hunt!

Yes, Easter Sunday come one, come all and bring your sleuthing abilities along. There will be many colourful eggs to be found around the showgrounds and camping area. These will be made of coloured paper and ribbon – very fancy.

“Paper & Ribbon!” you say? What kind of Easter Bunny is there for the Mega? An origami one? Fear not, depending on the egg you find, it can be exchanged for something more suitable. More information will be announced closer to the day.

Age is no limit – this is open to all. So keep Sunday morning free, and join in the fun. Any questions please reach out to Elizabeth Baulch (BettyBoo3747)

Make Rutherglen a Milestone

With only 34 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 or the Mega Event

Registration Form

Cut off will be approximately 8pm on Friday 31st March 2023

Ballarat GeoTour Event

If you have nothing planned this weekend, don’t forget we have our latest Ballarat GeoTour Event (GCA4DRJ) on this Sunday. We hope to see you there!

Be sure to purchase some GeoTour Merchandise whilst stocks last.

Other Important Snippets

  • There are still unpowered campsites available if you are looking for accomadation. Be sure to check our webpage for further details
  • We are aware that Thursday GCA4DQ8 and Monday Dinners GCA4DQK have been sold out at the Mega, however we are looking at extending seating – we will come back to you soon.
  • Plenty of room at Saturday Dinner GCA4DQE  is available, so be sure to register your interest.
  • For complete schedule of events and activities, check out our website
  • Remember if you are bring your geo-dog to the Mega to read our geo-dog etiquette

Subscribe to our Blogs

We aim to share regular stories, event details and updates with our community and have a variety of channels where we share. But to ensure you don’t miss out on our updates, why not subscribe to our regular blog and get it delivered to your inbox. Subscribe now by entering your email address.

The Countdown Begins

Posted on by

The excitement is certainly building as we start the count down to the Rutherglen Mega Event – only 40 more days before what will be an incredible weekend, jammed packed, full of lots of exciting geocaching experiences and social opportunities.

We wanted to share some quick udates with you to ensure that you optimise your planning for this Mega Event. But first an awesome new fact – The Indigo Shire (home for the Rutherglen Mega) is the number one LGA in Victoria for cache hides! So make sure you check out all the cache series that have been hidden in the area.

Mega Events

We have just had additional events published, so be sure to log your attendence to assist with our planning.

  • Thursday 6th April 2023 – GCA4ZWX – Thursday Lunch Social Event
  • Thursday 6th April 2023 – GCA4DQ8 – Thursday Night Dinner Event – Italian ‘Mangia’
  • Friday 7th April 2023 – GCA4DQA – Friday Dinner Event – Indian Night Market
  • Friday 7th April 2023 – GCA4ZWY – Friday Lunch Social Event
  • Saturday 8th April 2023 – GC9MH9M – The Rutherglen Event
  • Saturday 8th April 2023 – GCA4DQE – Saturday Night Dinner
  • Monday 10th April 2023 – GCA4ZWK – Monday Lunch Social Event
  • Monday 10th April 2023 – GCA4DQK – Monday Night Dinner Event – Grip It and Rip It

For visibility of the entire weekend schedule, please be sure to check out our webpage.

Brolga Bill’s Puzzles

Brolga Bill decided that, instead of making all the puzzles for the Mega difficult and different, he would construct some that were grouped into similar types, that started easy and worked through to moderately tricky. Each type has five puzzles in its series. (except for the words series, which has more.) By this technique he hopes that some cachers, who normally would not look at puzzles, will have a go at these.

So even if you don’t consider yourself a puzzler, have a go at the first in each series. If you get them, go onto the others in the series. If you get really stuck Bill reckons you can always ask for a hint, either from him (online at Wiser than Owls), or from another cacher at an Event.

Different cachers are usually good at different types of puzzles. Some are good with words, some numbers, some images. That does not mean you should not try the other types, sometimes it is just a matter of getting some techniques down. Even if you can’t successfully add two and two to get four, there are always online resources to help.

Bill reckons you nearly have enough to complete one puzzle a night, and still finish them before the Mega starts. Don’t wait, start now! Good Luck.

Be sure to save the Brolga Bill’s puzzle list to your geocaching profile.

101 Geocaching Class in Rutherglen

In the lead up to the Rutherglen Mega, day1976 and Mister Doctor ran a Geocaching 101 workshop for interested locals to explain our beautiful game to them. They covered app navigation, D/T ratings and cache types, as well as taking them out in the field to make their first finds. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and business owners even commented that they had already noticed increased traffic due to the upcoming Mega.

There was, however, some feedback from local landowners about suspicious characters gathering on back roads near their properties. When asked what they were doing, they wouldn’t say. This is really the wrong way to respond if you’re “caught in the act”.

Honesty is still the best policy Geocachers are a daring breed! We are part secret agents, part explorers, part good old-fashioned adventurers.

These days geocaching has a much higher profile than it did 10 or even 5 years ago. Yes, we try to mask our activities from muggles as part of the thrill of the game, but if we are causing concern and directly confronted it is far better to be open and up-front. Many people will have already heard of geocaching, and if they haven’t it’s an excellent opportunity to educate them.

Try to understand where the locals are coming from. Unexplained and repeated visits to a quiet back road location can look very much like some sort of drug activity. When questioned, simply say “We’re geocaching”. Show them the cache if you’ve already found it, or engage them in the hunt if you are still looking. You might be pleasantly surprised at their response, the next geocachers may even get a friendly helping hand, and you may have introduced a new player to the game. Good luck on your travels fellow adventurers, and remember you can be also educators too. – Mister Doctor

Rutherglen Merchandise

If you have not already – be sure to place your order for the Rutherglen Event Coin and Pathtags are now available for order. In case you missed the teaser blog, check out this small video on our Rutherglen Reflections Facebook page, alternative you will find more details in our shop.

Don’t forget we also have our clothing merchandise available too in the shop.

Shout out for some Rutherglen Volunteers

We are still looking for some volunteers over the Mega weekend – 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.

Subscribe to our Blogs

We aim to share regular stories, event details and updates with our community and have a variety of channels where we share. But to ensure you don’t miss out on our updates, why not subscribe to our regular blog and get it delivered to your inbox. Subscribe now by entering your email address.

Friday Updates

Posted on by

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.

Subscribe to our Blogs

We aim to share regular stories, event details and updates with our community and have a variety of channels where we share. But to ensure you don’t miss out on our updates, why not subscribe to our regular blog and get it delivered to your inbox. Subscribe now by entering your email address.

2023 is off to a flying start!

Posted on by
3

Hello February!! With January come and gone in the blink of an eye, we are now firmly in the new year. Hopefully many of you had the chance to have a holiday or some downtime with your family and friends over the Christmas and New Year period. It has been great to see many of you celebrating new geocaching milestones, so it’s a good sign that many of you had great geocaching adventures! Below are some key events and updates to share. Be sure to check out our events page too as its updated weekly.

GeoTour Ballarat Event #7

Geocaching Victoria is excited to invite you to the lastest GeoTour Event in Ballarat. (GCA4DRH). If you are yet to visit and start the tour – this is a great opportunity to start the year with a new souvenir and attribute. We also still have some limited edition Geocoins available – so be sure to place your order in our shop, as they won’t last long.

The Rutherglen Event Coin & Pathtag Set

We are excited to announce that the Rutherglen Event Coin and Pathtags are now available for order. In case you missed the teaser blog yesterday, check out this small video on our Rutherglen Reflections Facebook page, alternative you will find more details in our shop.

Brolga Bill’s update on the Bike Trail Puzzles

Brolga Bill mentioned to me the other day that not that many cachers are doing his Bike Trail Puzzles by bike. He said “Although I drew the geoart in the shape of a penny-farthing (I use one because of my long legs), you can use a safety bike to collect the caches.”

“I designed them to all fall along the Rutherglen to Wahgunyah Murray to Mountains Rail Trail which starts across the road from the Rutherglen Visitor Information Centre and is an easy 9 kilometres one-way ride. The path is flat, flat, flat, and well sealed.” He said.
“Easy for anyone to ride. What is the point of walking?”

He mentioned that even if you didn’t want to bring your own bike up, or you don’t have one, bikes can be hired locally (see details below). Standard bikes, tandems, and ebike are all available (but probably not penny-farthings!).

“Also bikes are a great way of visiting a lot of the wineries in the area.”

So hop out of your cars and get onto a bike – the best way to cache!

Local Bike Hire

Bike hire is available at the Rutherglen Visitor Information Centre.
They have all-purpose touring bikes of different sizes and two tandem bikes available for hire. For the age group between 4 and 7, there are two tag-a-long bikes (suitable for children 30 kilograms and under) that attach to the back of the adult’s
bike. They also have bikes suitable for 10 years and over age bracket.
Hire includes bike, helmet and maps. Highly recommended to bring your own water.

Price: $25.00 – $65.00
Half day single bike $25, full day single bike $40. Half day tandem $40, full day tandem $65. Child tag-a-long $15 a day
Different rates for 2-5 day hire.
Bookings and information: 02 6033 6306
Rutherglen Visitor Information Centre

Rutherglen Radler E bike hire
The cruisiest way to explore the Rutherglen and Wahgunyah region is on an electric cruiser bike from Rutherglen Radler. These bikes making cycling fun and easy and as they assist you when you’re cycling you can explore more of the region than you normally would on a standard bike.
Ride the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail with ease, ride down the many dirt tracks between the local wineries, your options are endless.
Fun and adventure is guaranteed when you ride one of these beauties.
Please note you must be 18 years and over to hire these bikes.

Price: $45.00 – $85.00
Half Day $45.00 Full Day $85.00
Contact: Caffeine n machine 62 – 64 main st, Rutherglen 0414 613 984

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.

Subscribe to our Blogs

We aim to share regular stories, event details and updates with our community and have a variety of channels where we share. But to ensure you don’t miss out on our updates, why not subscribe to our regular blog and get it delivered to your inox. Subscribe now by entering your email address.