October | 2021 | Cache QLD – Townsville GC9BVWD

Today we just have a quick post to alert you to some information sessions that are happening over the coming weeks and an update on the merchandise and camping.

Information Sessions

Cairns Info Session – GC9GCPE
Saturday 24th October – 10:00 am to 11:00 am

Tasmania Info Session (Hobart) – GC9HD9D
Saturday 30th October – 4:30 pm to 5:00 pm

Southside Info Session (Brisbane) – GC9HEBR
Sunday 31st October – 11:30am to 12:00am

Gympie Info Session – GC9HH1A
Sunday 7th November – 9:30am to 10:00am

Brisbane Info Session – GC9HH1G
Sunday 14th November – 9:30am to 10:00am

Toowoomba Info Session – GC9HH1X
Sunday 21st November – 9:30am to 10:00am

Northside Info Session (Brisbane) – GC9HH1Y
Sunday 28th November – 4:00pm to 4:30pm

Gold Coast Info Session – GC9HH26
Sunday 5th December – 9:30am to 10:00am

We are hoping to get to more locations as the states open up, but this can be a tricky thing to navigate at the moment. If you can and would like to host an information event in your region, please send us an email at admin@cacheqld.com and we can organise something with you.

Townsville Event

Geocaching Townsville are hosting a special event, ‘Come and Try Geocaching’ on Saturday 18th December, at Sheriff Park from 10:00am to 10:30am looking to encourage new players to the game. This event will be featured in the Townsville ‘What’s On’ holiday guide and would be a great place to learn more about geocaching.

Merchandise

We expect the shop to be open for purchasing merchandise only from around mid-November. We will have available a set of four pathtags, two geo-coins (blueprints below), a polo shirt, t-shirts, car flag and a variety of other made to order products.

Camping

There will be camping available at the Mega location, we are finalising some details due to some unforeseen changes to our original plan. As we did with the Dayboro Mega we will have a special post on the website with all the information regarding camping with a predetermined date and time when camping will be available for purchase. This allows people to chat with their buddies and make plans. We anticipate that date will be in December with the shop closed on that day until the nominated time, when everything will become available.

If have any questions and are not able to attend an event please send us an email at admin@cacheqld.com.

This month we welcome OzGeoker to the blog as they share with us their insights and local knowledge to geocaching in Mackay. We share some photos from two small events to promote the Mega, pay our thanks to the Townsville Geocaching Community for their hard work at the recent Bunnings BBQ Fundraiser. Provide a sneak peak of the Mega Pathtag set that will be available to purchase at a later date.

Caching in Mackay by OzGeoker

Mackay is situated roughly halfway between Rockhampton and Townsville. There are over 450 caches within 50km of the city, with this figure growing monthly.

A fun adventure which may help visitors to get their bearings is ‘Mackay’s “Reverse Cache” Wherigo’ (GC6Q54Q). 60% of visitors have dropped a favourite point to attest to this.

Mackay city doesn’t have a lot in the way of high D/T hides but those that are can be a real challenge. Three puzzles that should be attempted are ‘The Imitation Game’ (GC6KGQA) ‘Do you really have the time?’ (GC6T60J) and ‘X – marks the spot’ (GC5X1YT).

Heading out of the city is where the real adventures begin. You can see Platypus at Broken River, near Eungella (1hr 20mins), and a drive to Cape Hillsborough to see the wallabies and kangaroos on the beach at dawn are well worth a stopover.

Some caches of note on the way to Eungella are ‘Ye Old Pinnacle Town’ (GC4KRZ4) (53FP’s), ‘Finch Hatton Gorge’ (GC59N4X) (Earthcache) and ‘FREDDO’S GLASS and A HALF’ (GC3MRFW).

On the way to Cape Hillsborough, there are two caches that are worth a mention. ‘The Leap’ (GC6GFD3) which involves a climb to the top of a rocky outcrop and ends with stunning views and the Earthcache ‘Mount Jukes and the Neilson Leucogabbro’ (GC59QZP) which takes you in to the belly of a volcano.

The Cape Hillsborough area has a couple of caches worth the effort for those that enjoy a walk. ‘Finlayson’s Littoral Challenge’ (GCWWXE) and ‘Can you see the Turtles???’ (GC15YG0).

For those that like to get the numbers up quickly there are four power trails south and west of the city.

The first is on the old Bruce Highway (Marlborough-Sarina Rd) honouring all of Australia’s Victoria Cross winners (102 caches) (GC8W2ZW). The remaining three are for the RAN (45) (GC91AQ6), RAAF (107) (GC9EA7D) and Australian Army (201) (GC9G2GY) (still under construction).

No matter what your preference, there is sure to be something for everyone around Mackay.

Bunnings Fundraiser & Planning Event

As mentioned in September’s update CacheQLD was able to secure a fundraising spot for a Bunnings Sausage Sizzle. Our huge thanks to the Townsville Geocaching community helping to put on a great BBQ and raise funds to bring you an excellent Mega event.

Information Events – Mackay & Darwin

During the school holidays the CacheQLD Team were able to host two small Information Events as part of their holiday travels. Both events were attended by the local geocachers were plenty of information was shared, plans were discussed and made. We look forward to welcoming our new Darwin and Mackay friends to Townsville in April! Hopefully as we move forward to borders reopening, we can visit more locations and share information.

Burgo78 visited Mackay and met up with alphag_25, Rainforest Cookie, caitlyn1105, TMAC61, dandent, OzGeoker & BlackPearl26

JACS Team visited Darwin and met up with corunnaroad, Doodle Bug Oz, CAD 1, Monchichi1 and low1.

Merchandise

The team have also been quietly working away on merchandise and today we received our order for the event pathtags! Check out this little four set beauty! Can you get any cuter?

If you were observant, you may have noticed the new official event shirts for Townsville as modelled in our two event photos – we’ve gone Orange!

Upcoming Info Event – Cairns

Friend of CacheQLD and local Townsville geocacher, greencordial, will be hosting an information event in Cairns on Saturday 24th October from 10:00 to 11:00am at the Esplanade. If you are in the area and want to learn about the Mega event in April or get more information on caching in the Townsville region drop your will attend on GC9GCPE.