2018 CITO Week: 15-23 September 2018
Please note the terrain rating. This is a T5 event on water. Kayaks, SUP's, canoe's, rowboats are all welcome. The event organisors may have extra craft available for those who dont own one, in the registration form there is an option to request a watercraft
Target area: We will be targeting the Barwon River between Fyans Park Boat Ramp and Gundog Lane (Breakwater)
Welcome to _BFMC_'s first event! We recently attended our first CITO in Ballarat as part of starting to educate our kids about keeping the environment clean. Since then organising our own event has been on the cards and when a heads up was posted in a social media group about a cleanup event on the Barwon River that could potentially be tied into a CITO I jumped at the chance. The starting location is where I first launched my Kayak when I purchased it earlier in the year and not too far up the river is where I found my first Kayak cache. The Barwon is home to many quality caches, keeping it clean and healthy means a better caching experience, not to mention the obvious environmental benefits. Having spoken to the event organisers they would be more than delighted to have our support.
Ocean Crusaders organise a number of waterway cleanup events around the country as part of their paddle against plastic program, and that is who we will be helping out here. I have made the start time as 8:30 - this will give us 30 minutes to do the usual GC event activities, meet & greet, sign the log, discover/pass on any TB's etc before the cleanup event starts at 9 (and goes through until midday). Event details as provided by the paddle against plastic team:
Join us on a treasure hunt with a difference as we head out in paddle craft to clean the Barwon River. The Barwon River is a great place to paddle, yet plastic debris frequents the river more than humans do, so let's change that. Bring your own craft, or contact us if you don't have one as we will have some available. You can paddle anything from a Kayak to a Canoe, a row boat to a Stand Up Paddleboard. We will provide the cleaning equipment. This is a child friendly event and we encourage you to bring the family along to help them understand that keeping our waterways clean is essential for the well being of marine life. Meet at the Barwon River Boat Ramp opposite the Corio Bay Rowing Club. It's off Barrabool Road.
So that the paddle against plastic team know how many people to expect, please also register your interest here - this also includes a waiver that must be agreed to in order to participate
Parking - There is a small amount of parking at the Boat Ramp, plenty of overflow parking is available in the surrounding area.
Cleanup materials - These will be supplied. If you have a small fishing net or similar to bring along it may be of use, but isn't required
Event Time - 08:30 - 12:00. If you wish to hang around afterwards the grassy river bank is a pleasant spot for a picnic lunch. Barwon Valley Fun Park is also a short drive/paddle away and is a great spot for lunch and for kids to play. There is a couple of good caches there also! I will have the logbook available at the posted co-ordinates between 8:30 and 9:00 and again for a short time at the end for any latecomers
Are you a newbie cacher attending your first event? If you enjoy geocaching and wish to take your membership further, you will be eligible for 1 month free upgrade to a premium membership. See _BFMC_ (Ben) at the event for the details.