What is geocaching?
Paul Edwards (kerravon) hid Australia's first geocache on 18 May 2000. To mark the 10 year anniversary, Paul tells how he become Australia's first geocacher.
At the recent 10 Years! event, I kept getting asked "how did you find out about geocaching?"
For me this is a strange question. It's a bit like asking someone "how did you know you were in a car crash?"
It's not that I "found out", it's more that it was "just there". I happened to be part of a community in which someone announced what use he had personally made of the switching off of Selective Availability (SA).
The first geocache in Australia was placed by Paul Edwards in Lane Cove National Park on 18 May 2000. Although the geocache was removed a year later, you can still visit the location and log a find as it is now a virtual.
- Lane Cove (GC3E) by Paul Edwards
The next geocache in New South Wales was placed in Garigal National Park, near St Ives on 2 September 2000.
- R&R (GC52) by Richard Ames (archived)
Three more geocaches were hidden in New South Wales in 2000:
- Frying Pan (GCF1) by Dave Walmsley in Chichester State Forest near Dungog
- Australia's Highest (GCF7) by Roland Turner, Anand Kumria, James Davidson in Koscuiszko National Park
- East of Ulan (GC154) by Alex near Murragamba, Central Tablelands (archived)
Geocaching is increasing being featured in the news. Here are a list of stories.
- Forest's hidden treasures, Southern Highland News, 16 February 2009
- How to play adult hide and seek, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 January 2009
Geocaches are listed on several websites.
The largest listing is hosted by the US-based company Groundspeak (www.geocaching.com).
Other lists include:
- Geocaching Australia (www.geocaching.com.au)
- Opencaching (www.opencaching.de)
- Navicaching (www.navicaching.com) and
- Terracaching (www.terracaching.com).
Geocaching is a 21st century version of hide and seek.