Is Geocaching Australia worth pursuing?

[spatialriq]

I hope it continues.

I've been GCA-ing for several years now, first got involved when some fellow cachers told me about the frog race a few summers back.

In recent weeks there's been quite a bit of chatter about GCA on the GeocachingWA facebook page and several cachers have joined up as a result. Like others have said, it's always going to be a niche market so word of mouth is a big part of growing the game.

I for one love GCA-ing. I always have the app up to date so grab them when I'm nearby if hunting GC caches ... or munzeeing (which I occasionally dabble in).

Thanks for all the effort that C@W, CraigRat and other faeries put into this site.

Viva La GCA!

[firnsy]

Yes, definitely worth keeping it going. I have recently started to participate more in GCA as a hider and finder and also yesterday attended my second GCA event. I now appreciate the variety of activities/games and cache types available through GCA and the potential to expand on these. If we lose GCA, we become subject to the rules and limitations of GC and their marketing machine. That would be a shame.

For my part, I have nominated as the senator for Western Australia with the aim of helping to keep GCA going and hopefully growing. I have also started posting in the local "Geocaching WA" Facebook group about some of my GCA adventures in the hope that others will notice and take an interest.

[WazzaAndWenches]

I have also started posting in the local "Geocaching WA" Facebook group about some of my GCA adventures in the hope that others will notice and take an interest.

YES. Keep GCA going. It's been a big part of my geocaching since starting a few years ago. I read the forums almost daily. I follow a lot of the discussions. I get a lot of pleasure out of looking for GCA caches because they are often better placed and of better quality than many GC caches and don't seem to suffer from the throwdown mentality of "ooh, ooh. A bush. Let's put a cache under it".

I think Team Ladava has hit the nail on the head with his (and other) comments. GCA is very good in some features but a little lacking without an app for the dreaded iphone.

[nutwood]

I suspect the problem with an Iphone app may be the Apple ethos.
I recently purchased a piece of technical equipment that uses Bluetooth and a newly developed Android app to communicate with Android devices. The Android app is available free of charge and was developed at the behest of the equipment manufacturer.
I'm told the same company also developed an equivalent app for Iphones, which they wished to offer free of charge but Apple would not allow this as they wanted to charge for it. Therefore the manufacturer simply withdrew the app. Their logic was that they were prepared to develop an app to assist their customers, not to make money for Apple.
Last I heard the subject was under discussion, but based on this I don't think it'd be easy to set up a dedicated GCA caching app for Iphones. The best bet would be to put as much information as possible in a "sticky", explaining how to use existing apps (Geosphere?). Word it to help absolute beginners as, with a free GC app already to hand, few are going to put up with much frustration, trying to access an alternative site.

[fluffyfish]

Great idea nutwood. Maybe some youtube videos to show how to load GCA into geosphere on iPhone. At least we can point people to the videos as a help.

[ziggiau]

Inspired, I loaded my first GPX file into Looking4Cache (iPhone) of all NSW caches in an effort to make more GCA finds. I have only handful of GCA caches local to me but now that I have them portable it will make all the difference. So GCA on iphone is completely manageable right now (admittedly I did have to track down an FAQ to get me to that stage) if the will is there.

[boothie103]

Oops, I am new to this and thought this site was associated and in league with the world police one. I am Australian born and bred and have been caching on the other side without knowing this existed. Please explain! More information please. I like vegemite but can't eat it as it plays hell with my gout, is this site going to do the same? Can I do the same things shopping locally? Can someone please help me to convert? Ardent downloader of GPS co-ordinates and log later! Don't like smart phones, in fact hate them!

So help me convert?

[CraigRat]

Oops, I am new to this and thought this site was associated and in league with the world police one. I am Australian born and bred and have been caching on the other side without knowing this existed. Please explain! More information please. I like vegemite but can't eat it as it plays hell with my gout, is this site going to do the same? Can I do the same things shopping locally? Can someone please help me to convert? Ardent downloader of GPS co-ordinates and log later! Don't like smart phones, in fact hate them!

So help me convert?

Lots of info here:
http://wiki.geocaching.com.au/wiki/Main_Page

Differences between the sites:
http://wiki.geocaching.com.au/wiki/GCA_vs_GC

We can't help your Gout, but we can open your horizons with a more rules-free approach (just keep it legal!)

[wombatatcrows]

Is GA worth pursing ?
The short answer is YES.

GCA provides us with 5 star QUALITY and as we all know QUANTITY does not necessarily mean QUALITY. I have been monitoring the topic "Melb Mega and what not to miss in Adelaide" and this yet another reason why GCA must continue.

GCA provides us with the option care and share with each other. To watch and learn from other GCA members.

Thanks very much to C@W, CR, the moderators and all the members who support GCA

[MakkyBrown]

Those graphs wouldn't be looking so good if you did them over the last five years. GCA caches used to have some meaning now they are overwhelmed by an endless stream of locationless caches that imo the bulk of which have nothing to do with geocaching. After the huge number of new stupid caches that just flooded our email I think we are going to unsubscribe to emails.
You should look to those graphs and see what generated the most success and that was the simple basic moving cache races. I would suggest all permanent caches be listed on geocaching.com(where possible) and GCA used as a portal to them with events(short term cache races etc) to promote and cerebrate caching in Australia. Use GCA as a portal to embrace the australian caching community and international visitors not cause division and push away genuine cachers with all these new caches not related to geocaching. No place for a US and THEM mentality.
A bit of feedback and how I see it, and imo a change of direction should be considered before it's too late. Keep it simple.
Even monthly events and competitions using geocaching.com caches etc. Token prizes. Who finds the largest number of caches starting with a letter in a months etc, simple but use the full geocaching world.
We really enjoyed those moving cache races a few years ago. I probably won't reply to any responses as I don't login very often and don't even log GCA caches if I find them anymore.
Regards
Andrew

[CraigRat]

Are you aware you can unsubscribe from Locationless cache notifications in your settings at http://geocaching.com.au/my/alert/ ??

I never see locationless stuff.

[Happy Chappies]

For the last couple of months I've been a bit absent from GCA - Mainly because I started a new job which, for once, has me actually busy for a change, so I'm not filling my workday with recreational shenanigans...

But recently I dropped in, and I must say I think the new website is looking brilliant. A really great piece of work from those involved. In my view it really encapsulates what people want from geocaching. Easy to understand, clean and straightforward, and I love the fact that right there, front and centre, is a map based on my location - Which is how I wish GC.com would run (I bookmark my personal map view on GC as my GC 'landing page' anyway, and I reckon a lot of people do). Lots of nice, easy to use search options right there, and a clean menu interface.

Great job guys. I think this should breathe new life into the site...

[Taz]

I am another to admit to being a bit absent lately (all year?) but that has been across the board, life just got busy.
I'm slowly getting used to the new site and figuring how to navigate it, and I always use the GCA map to check an area out before I go there because all of the caches are there from both sites so I don't miss anything.

It would be a bit sad to see this place vanish, yes there are FB pages but I have no idea who is who over there,at least here I can recognise cacher names.
Besides, who would keep track of our Dragonzones??

[tronador]

All I can say is thank god for GCA. After having numerous problems with a certain reviewer on a different site, I am grateful that I can come here and find that when I place a cache on GCA, I can use common sense and not have my integrity questioned or be forced to "prove" something. I'm sure there are many more that feel this way and really appreciate this FREE and OPEN site, that values the caches that its members place.