Geocaching Australia

Ive just noticed a few earth caches popping up around the place at the same location of existing long term traditionals. We have one less than 5 meters from a traditional

just opening it up for discussion as theres been a bit of talk around here about it.

Fair point for discussion and thankyou for not publishing names and URLs. Before I get the finger pointed at me though I will happily own up to having published an earthcache on top of an existing cache in Mount Gambier this week. This was not done without considerable discussion with the Earthcache folk, although the one person not involved was the owner of the other cache because I couldn't get a hold of him!<br>
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My justification for doing so was the other cache made no mention of the geology of the area, only the attraction of the gardens themselves. Secondly, while visitors to the site may well stumble upon the geological information that is published there I thought it was not as likely since most cachers visited at night (and hence may miss the signage). I made several attempts to contact the owner of the existing cache (which is actually located some distance from the source of the Earthcache info, despite the coordinates provided), and in the end resorted to asking an aquaintence of theirs if they would mind. I also published my Earthcache with a link and recommendation for visitors to find the other cache nearby as a point of courtesy.<br>
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Finally, the Earthcache folk published this on the condition that if the owner of the other cache contacted me and was not happy I was to report it, which I will of course.<br>
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To broaden the discussion further, Earthcaches are meant to be educational and have no physical container to find, hence the proximity rule does not apply as strictly as there is no chance of someone accidently finding one container instead of the other. They stipulate that contact be made with the owners of existing caches for permission beforehand, however in this case they seem to have accepted that I did all I could.<br>
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The deal with earthcaches is they don't have the distance restrictions like other cache types.

This is because they do not allow any type of container to be left behind. Therefore you could technically use the exact same co-ordinates as an existing traditional cache.

However before you set up an earthcache that is reasonably close to an existing cache (or on top of it) it is asked that you contact the owner of the cache and let them know your intentions.

The main problem with the caches being too close together is that when you look at the map one often hides under the other and you don't know it is there when planning your day. I would be happier if the distance rule did apply.

i would say the teams involved would not be particularly difficult to track down.

If it was on top of a cache i had personally put some work into i would be unhappy.

However its not, so I just raised it for discussion amongst the gca community.

p.s not having a go about the quality of the earth caches, they are first class & thankyou for placing them

It wouldn't be a problem if Earthcaches were a waymarking.com category the way they should be...

Just a pet peeve of mine.

Papa Bear_Left wrote:It wouldn't be a problem if Earthcaches were a waymarking.com category the way they should be...

Just a pet peeve of mine.

But then nobody would find them

just to add to what i said above as i think its come across badly.

Thats a great explanation Team Rubik. You have done well with the write up, expecially referencing the original cache. I think you have all bases covered there.

Just out of interest the gardener responsible was Ken Norton who used to work for woods & forests dept. He retired some years ago and still maintains the gardens as a volunteer. Myself and the Rizzos have also done quite a bit of work out there as we both work for the company who previously owned the land. Myself and Blindhambles nearly snuck out today from work @ lunchtime and found the cache, but alas too busy and rizzo who had gone home from nightshift beat us too it.

Udderchaos wrote:If it was on top of a cache i had personally put some work into i would be unhappy.

<P>I don't understand this? If this brings more people to the area and they can learn something while they are at the site them I see no harm?<P>EDIT - after a bit more thought I would probably not place a cache on top of another persons cache but if I thought the area was worthwhile I would suggest it to the cache owner. - EDIT

Im not pointing out particular caches (ie the rubik one) his is significatly away from the existing one and does reference it.

i would say the same people would be there for the earth cache would be there for the traditional cache.

We did have one appear, placed by a Euro cacher on holiday which was literally on top of an existing traditional, defiantly no more than 3-5m, which is right next to the interpretive signs. you could very nearly read the fine print on the sign whilst logging the cache. this earth cache is now disabled.

Udderchaos wrote:If it was on top of a cache i had personally put some work into i would be unhappy

Just out of interest ... would you feel the same way if you had an Earthcache and someone hid a conventional cache at or adjacent to it?

Since Earthcaches are in the same category on GC as a Question to answer would one be approved on top of an Earthcache?

Perhaps thUMP could enlighten us on the policy

NB. I am not aware of this happening anywhere ... but it does seem possible

possibly, i dont know, this wasnt intended to be about how "I" feel about it.
just something to talk about and i dont expect everyone to agree.

very good question to the reviewer

rhinogeo wrote:

Udderchaos wrote:If it was on top of a cache i had personally put some work into i would be unhappy

Just out of interest ... would you feel the same way if you had an Earthcache and someone hid a conventional cache at or adjacent to it?

Since Earthcaches are in the same category on GC as a Question to answer would one be approved on top of an Earthcache?

Perhaps thUMP could enlighten us on the policy

NB. I am not aware of this happening anywhere ... but it does seem possible

I'll look for a response to this with interest.

I have a traditional cache at the Organ Pipes National Park. http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/1park_dis ... m?park=167

It's such a great area that it would be very worthy of an Earth Cache, so I was going to do one down there, but I always had in the back of my mind this very question.

There's likely to be more than 161m from each other, so it's probably not a problem, but I'm interested in the answer.

I could probably hide another traditional down there, but the fun I've had with Earth Caches means I would like to try and get one published.

rhinogeo wrote:

Udderchaos wrote:Since Earthcaches are in the same category on GC as a Question to answer would one be approved on top of an Earthcache?

Perhaps thUMP could enlighten us on the policy

I'd treat it the same way as a gc.com cache that had been placed very close to a GCA cache (that I happened to know about):
I'd point out the nearby cache and, if the owner still wanted to go ahead, publish it.
Probably wearing the peg!