Australia’s 2nd Mega Event

It’s hard to imagine that it’s been 2 years since Australia’s first mega event, but as Easter 2012 rolled around, geocachers from all over Oz and many other parts of the world gathered to celebrate Australia’s 2nd mega event. This time Albury, in southern NSW played host to the huge event. A 5-day mega camp-out at the local equestrian event comfortably accommodated everyone.

For the Rats, we chose to head south early on the Thursday morning. We had the van packed, kids in the car and were on the road by 4am. The trip down the Hume Hwy was nice and easy, we stopped at Jugiong for breakfast where we met up with many other geocachers who were all heading south.

Soon after 10am we were setting up camp amongst friends. The place was a hive of activity with everyone catching up with old acquaintances or heading out in search of the many geocaches that littered the area. For us, we were keen to sit back and have a relaxing 4 days. The kids enjoyed playing amongst the many equestrian jumps or riding their bikes along the numerous tracks. The organisers had ensured there was plenty to do, so over the course of the following days we did a night cache with the kids and a specific kiddie’s cache.

Being Easter, there was the usual Easter egg hunt where 5000 eggs were scattered for all the kids. Once again the adults took part in the foam ball drop, where we were lucky enough to get a winning ball. One of the activities over the weekend was the “mega flashmob” held at the nearby pub. I don’t think the poor locals knew what hit them.

Throughout the remaining days we had a few trips out visiting various attractions like Hume Weir, a trip up Red Light Hill and a day down to Beechworth where we enjoyed the festivities of the Golden Horseshoe fair. Back at the mega event each night was filled with various entertainment on the big stage, in particular we enjoyed the BABBA concert where as a family we sang and danced the night away.

A geocaching weekend away wouldn’t be complete without a handful of caches and while I’d already found most of them, it was good to find some of the ones that had eluded us on our previous trip.

Soon enough, Monday had come and it was time to pack up and head for home. Our 5 days had gone so quickly. We’d made some new friends and caught up with many of our old ones. Thanks to the committee for such a good event.