Alexandra Mega Weekend

As Victoria geared up for its second mega event we decided a weekend roadtrip would be the best way to make the most of this event. A planned was hatched which would see us grabbing some big numbers to make the most of the weekend.

On Thursday 16^th Nov, we headed south after work, driving most of the night had us arriving in rural Victoria about 3am where we grabbed a few hours’ sleep beside the road. Just after first light and with our energy levels returning to some sort of normality we set off on what would be our biggest day of the trip. The 300 plus caches around Mt Disappointment proving a magnet to the many geocachers who were flocking to the area. The forestry roads and hills were a labyrinth of trails and the caches that dotted them. At times throughout the day the weather wasn’t too kind and on more than one occasion we had to sit out severe thunderstorms, however as the day progressed so did our find count and by days end we’d put a huge dint in the Mt Disappoint plethora of caches.

Saturday dawned under clear skies and we set about completing the remainder of the Mt Disappointment caches before heading across the Alexandra Mega Event. Here we met up with hundreds of likeminded geocachers, many of who were friends from far and wide. After the obligatory announcements, we spent the rest of the day finding unique cache types in the area. It was at one of these unique finds where a crazy plan of finding 10 cache types in a day was floated. Well don’t ever tell a cacher “it can’t be done” because we’ll do our best to prove it can be done and thus we started doing some big kilometres to find a webcam cache and then to the other end of the state to find a virtual cache, oh and quick stop back at the mega event where I was inducted in the Geocaching hall of Fame.

Our webcam cache had us driving to windy heights of Mt Buller where we posed with the skier statue before driving back to the heart of Melbourne City where we found a virtual cache just near Flinders Rail Station. These 2 rare finds coupled with our traditional, multi, mystery, earthcache, mega, wherigo, letterbox and a lab cache ensuring we finished the day with 10 find types….. Impressive!

Our last in rural Victoria started a little slower than the previous days. Waking up on the banks of the Murray River was quite peaceful. Once packed up we were quickly back in our stride of finding more caches in the Wangaratta area. By lunchtime it was time to hit the black top and head for home. Our 3 day caching haul had amounted to 500+ finds.

300 in a weekend – geocaching

Our busy lives had reflected in our lack of geocaching over the past few months so it was with much pleasure that a few of boys had come together for a weekend away with an ultimate destination of Bathurst. The central plains had seen a plethora of caching in recent times so big numbers were on the cards.

Heading off Friday after work we headed south with a plan to grab a few caches around Goulburn before heading up the back way to Bathurst. Our first nights caching went well with us camping on the Abercrombie River. We woke to cool crisp clear skies and were soon back into the caching routine. “The Road Less Travelled” power-trail winds its way through this area which provided us with a seemingly never ending supply of caches. By late morning we found ourselves in Oberon where we grabbed a few supplies before heading back out into the picturesque countryside. The cache count was quickly piling up and as moved from town to town the joy of being in the countryside absorbs you.

By late afternoon and with hungry hearts we found our last cache in the TRLT series. Heading into Bathurst we took delight in a decent meal and well-earned break, but with no rest for the wicked we were soon back out attempting to find more Tupperware. However it appeared our luck had run out with more DNF’s than there was finds so we returned to Bathurst where showers and bed were a high priority.

Sunday dawned with the same priorities but the roar of race engines coming from Mt Panorama dampened my enthusiasm. An unknown race meet meant that our planned caching spree around the mountain wasn’t going to happen. Instead we headed back towards Oberon where a number of small clusters quickly added to our find count. We even managed to get a few of last night’s DNF’s using fresh eyes. By days end we’d put a good dint in our planned trip and with our find count pushing towards 300 we chose to cache for a few more hours before opting to drive home where the comfort of our own beds seemed to be a winning choice.

After a very long day and equally long few days we were home again with a massive 300 plus finds and another area clear of caches.