Launching Australia's First Ever Mega Event-Wagga Wagga 2010

[caughtatwork]

500 people turning up to a micro in the CDB might not be a nice thing to happen.
500 people turning up to a sensitive environment might not be a nice thing to happen.
500 people saying "log book full" might not be a nice thing to happen

[Echo]

500 people turning up to a micro in the CDB might not be a nice thing to happen.

500 people pretending to tie their laces looking for that micro might be worth seeing.

[Jardry]

May I ask a dumb question by asking why would caches be/need to be taken offline during the event?

With in excess of 500 attendees, all of whom will be wanting to log more than just an attendance at the MEGA Event, there will be owner maintenance issues with logsheets/logbooks needing replacement, possible caches drifting as caches are not returned exactly from where they were found, geotrails damaging sensitive environments (OK for 1 or 2 visits a week but not for 200 0r 300 visits), etc.

[The Coffee's]

500 people turning up to a micro in the CDB might not be a nice thing to happen.

500 people pretending to tie their laces looking for that micro might be worth seeing.

<p>
A human chain of 500 passing a cache along the line to sign could be a sight to see. I believe they have something worked out to solve the problems of this happening but it would make a terrain 5 a bit easier for the last in the line lol.

[Black Bunny]

How about turning the problem into an advantage?

What about trying for a record of the most people signing one cache in a day?
Most caches found in an area in a day or in a weekend?

Any other ideas?

Wendy

[oldfella]

I can see the problem this many people trying to find the existing caches in the area over a very short period of time. If you are talking of records then is it possible for one or some of the Wagga Wagga locals to create one two or more new caches for the weekend and let these be available for any record attempts. . Just a thought re trying to protect the environment and raising a lot of suspicion from local residents.

[Bundyrumandcoke]

Let me make a prediction here, the public will be aware of our existance in Wagga that weekend. I am sure it will make some sort of media. I doubt if something this special, even though its an "obscure activity done by a bunch of nerds" will not get at least one mention in the media.

Cheers
Bundy

[GhostGums]

I would take it the police will be well informed on the possible goings on around town for the weekend.

If a decision can be made on the puzzles and if any are going to be disabled, as I am starting to work on a few. Usually puzzle caches have a much lower hit count than say traditionals and may not be a problem, unless of course they are in a sensitive location.

It would be interesting to see logs like "I signed the log even though I didn't get within 100m of GZ because of the queue" or " this cache took longer to find as I got in the queue for the soup kitchen rather than the cache".

As a last thought what has been the experience at other Mega events overseas. Has this been a problem?

[Riverina Geocaching]

A few updates to some of the questions being asked here about local caches.
Firstly we are very fortunate that the Victorian School Holidays are the week prior to the event and some other states actually start Good Friday. What this means is that some of the Wagga searches will get well attended by plenty for the 7 days prior.
Whilst others have stated they will stay the 4 day mega weekend and then stay on for holidays afterwards, so plenty of local caches will get done from April 6th to 12th., and we will encourage that too., thus spreading out the time over actually 10 -14 days rather than 4.
The next point is that about 20% of teams attending have done most of these locals caches already, so you can delete them out of the equation.Also there will be a good percentage here who will be in the "camp socialise" mood for 4 days and basically stay around Camp Kurrajong or maybe a bit of siteseeing and tourism activities. We are fully aware plenty are only here for the 4 days only., but with all of the activities and secrets we havent released yet, I dont think there will be a problem with a line-up at GZ spots, with what will be found in the "Registration Pack " and that will only be revealed at the Registration Hall and sign-in time.

The next point is this; I dont know any team who would hang around a GZ spot too long to be possibly noticed by another team. So, the secret is to find, log the book, replace exactly and move out quickly. Most teams I know would hate to give away a GZ spot they just found. This shouldnt be any different. We agree people will 'run into' other teams here and there, but that will add to the point of excitement meeting other teams as you wont bump into all teams during the event at CAMP.

There will be a place at the Committee desk within the Registration building for all full logs to be dropped into and we will supply envelopes to write the cache name and owner on; eg: 20 local teams with names on envelopes. Next, we will explain the details of full logs within caches in upcoming weeks. That point was calculated about 18 months ago..

The local teams also expect there will be some cache maintainence here and there after the crowds have moved on. But, thats our worry and shouldnt be a big deal.

The point on the police is well covered too. This was implemented as an idea well over a year ago too. Committee releases will be going to the Police and Hospitals in the weeks prior to the start.

Our fully committed Riverina Committee has been on top of all possible outcomes from Day 1 .
Thank you for your enquiries.

Greg.
President
Oz Mega Wagga Wagga.

[Hoojar]

Does anybody know how much notice we will be given as to which caches will be unavailable during the event. I am starting to think about routes and how best to utilise our time down there; it would be nice to know in advance which caches will not be available!

Cheers

It would also be nice to know so that we don't start solving puzzles that will be offline

Thanks in advance!

Greg,

Thanks for your posting, but back to my original question, will we know anytime in advance if caches will be made unavailable?

Cheers

[saulman1010]

Saulman1010 here, long time listener, long time lurker, fist time poster.
My 2cents on the cache drift:
Cache drift is a very real thing - I ran a Geocaching activity at the last Scouts Jamboree (First time in Southern Hemisphere) in Sydney last month and introduced over 2500 Scouts into the hobby.
With so many patrols (or groups of kids), around about 380 over 10 days, we overcame the cache drift by leaving a note / photo in the cache of the original hide location.
This has worked well at other Scoutie events as well.
P.S.
Crusty not allowed to play out that W/E
And I don't think you could cope with all my feral geokiddies

[Dicksontwo]

500 teams caching over a weekend - not a probem! We had the fantastic experience of being at the UK's First Mega in 2008. Over 900 individuals and it was an afternoon Event. Yes, folks turned up early and covered cache hunting in the morning but, so far as we observed, none of the problems anticipated on this thread eventuated. In fact, it was great fun meeting other cachers, eg casually sitting on a bench with a magnetic micro underneath - "Yeah, I know what you're up to!" Also, the organisers had a series round a large park which, we think, were there just for the Event and disabled afterwards as they probably attracted some muggle attention. But haven't we all done group hunting at Events?

[waterlogged]

but with all of the activities and secrets we havent released yet, I dont think there will be a problem with a line-up at GZ spots, with what will be found in the "Registration Pack " and that will only be revealed at the Registration Hall and sign-in time.

Sounds great, can't wait to find out what you have installed for us all.

For those of us with family commitment who are staying off site, how will we get some of this information?
Not sure what you have in mind so could be telling you to suck eggs, if so sorry.
Are you going to make up posters, or something, with the information on it at a central notice board in the registration building for us and others to check (clarify any finer details of your evil secrets) each day as we come on site?

Re reading the quote above, it sounds like all information will be in the registration pack to cover the whole event.

Anyone with young kids is not going to be around much at dinner to bed time, as this is when the little monsters need more attention than normal in getting them fed and watered, bathed and into bed. Or in the morning before the coffee has kick in and they are hyped up and ready to go.

Cheers

[fred6603]

Does anybody know how much notice we will be given as to which caches will be unavailable during the event. I am starting to think about routes and how best to utilise our time down there; it would be nice to know in advance which caches will not be available!

Cheers

It would also be nice to know so that we don't start solving puzzles that will be offline

Thanks in advance!

Greg,

Thanks for your posting, but back to my original question, will we know anytime in advance if caches will be made unavailable?

Cheers

I am planning on taking the Rubik's Tube series of caches offline during the Mega Event for the following reasons.

The log sheets are quite small and I will be unable to replace them during the event.

A large number of cachers seeking them during the weekend would draw unwelcome attention and could lead to them being muggled. I have already had to make a replacement for Rubik's Tube II and relocate it after unwelcome attention was drawn to it by a local cacher who should have known better.

Each cache has had many hours of time invested in it and as much as I enjoyed making them I am not keen on the idea of having to remake them. Rubik's Tube V has in excess of 20 hours manufacturing time invested in it.

There are no blueprints for their remake as they start out as ideas which change as the cache goes through the production process.

For cachers who will be in Wagga before and after the event the caches will be removed on Thursday April 1 and replaced on Tuesday April 6.

[Hoojar]

I am planning on taking the Rubik's Tube series of caches offline during the Mega Event

Thank you for the information Fred!