Geocaching Australia

Due to the ongoing nature of the Christchurch earthquakes and the significant risk of further aftershocks, the committee of the New Zealand Recreational GPS Society has decided to move the proposed 2012 NZ MEGA from Christchurch to Dunedin.

GNS Science (the NZ Government's earthquake monitoring agency) currently lists Christchurch as having a 30% probability of having another magnitude 6 or greater earthquake within the coming 12 months. The probability of a 5+ quake is listed as “almost certain”.

Even without this risk, the simple fact is, a lot of the supporting infrastructure is simply no longer available.

We look forward to making more announcements about the 2012 NZ MEGA in Dunedin as we re-organise this event. We are still targeting October 2012. We are also hopeful that we will some day announce the 2016 NZ MEGA in Christchurch, ideally after a North Island MEGA event, some time in between.

Thank you for the advice. We look forward to visiting your lovely country for those Mega Events with great anticipation. Hopefully Christchurch will be restored to its former beauty before too long too.

Thanks for the update, we are certainly looking forward to the event.

Happy to hear that a NZ Mega event is still on the horizon - we look forward to planning a trip there next year

Happy to hear the news. While I camp for Oz events, taking the tent and all the paraphernalia is not really practical for NZ. Though a tent is probably safer than a hotel in an earthquake

Have never found any South Island caches, so this will be on the cards. If you need to push it back to 2013 I am sure everyone will understand.

On a side note, off to the Bay of Islands in late August for a week so that will be a good trip away.

Sounds great. Looking forward to a visit next year.

Great to hear this is still in the works. Dunedin will be an interesting spot for a mega. Just hope the weather holds out!
We've only spent a couple of days in Dunedin and would love an excuse to explore it more. Looking forward to updates!

When you put it on - we will be coming.

Some dates for planning;
The NZ MEGA is planned for 19th to 22 October 2012. This is New Zealand's Labour weekend (Monday 22nd is a public holiday).
The general location - Dunedin is confirmed, however the specific location (where abouts in Dunedin) is still being finalised.

Cheers,
Moneydork.

Team Fuddley are saving their pennies with this event in mind.

Thanks for update. Looking forward to attend Mega at Dunedin.

Have applied for my leave in 2012 around these dates. Our plan is to be in attendance.

Good stuff, we would love a return trip to the Long White Cloud, and this would be the perfect excuse.
That should be very different & we can't wait, as we had to dash through Dunedin last time and didn't spend enough time there.
Only hope that a lot of Aussies can afford to go to 2 Mega's in 1 year, or just choose to save up and go over to NZ for a Kiwi Mega instead. Hope you get lots of support.
Roostaman.

Thanks for the update....

Now to begin the planning to get there (save save save)

The update is much appreciated as I can develop our travel plans for 2012!