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20 YEARS
and 25 days
AGO TODAY...
The very first geocache was hidden in New Zealand:
GC45
It also happened to be the first geocache hidden outside of the US!
If that's not something worth celebrating, what is?
The History
On May 2nd, 2000, the US Government, under an order from then US President Bill Clinton, switched off GPS "selective availability" for non-military GPS. This immediately improved GPS accuracy to within a few metres.
The next day, on May 3rd, an American man named Dave Ulmer hid a bucket near a road in the forest outside of Portland, Oregon, and posted the GPS coordinates on the internet - the sport of geocaching was born. This geocache became known as "The Original Stash" with the GC code "GCF".
Nine days later, the 9th geocache in the world was hidden. On May 12th, 2000, New Zealander Peter McKellar hid a red bucket near a roadside rest area on State Highway 5 south of Rotorua, New Zealand - the first geocache hidden in New Zealand and furthermore the very first to be hidden outside of the United States. This became "First New Zealand" with the GC code "GC45".
Celebrate With Us!
On June 6th, 2020, we will be celebrating 20 years of geocaching with a gathering near the location where "First New Zealand" (GC45) was hidden. This is an opportunity to get together, celebrate, and consider New Zealand's place in geocaching history.
There are some big surprises planned for this Community Celebration Event, so if you can make it along, trust us that it will be worth it! The event will be officially running from 11am to 1pm - we've timed it to make it as convenient as possible, so why not spend the day and make the pilgrimage to where it all began!
This Community Celebration Event has a special geocache icon specific to this type of event being run during an nth decade anniversary of geocaching. It is being run by the NZ Mega Team, who are also organising the NZ Mega 2020 event to be held over Labour Weekend, next year (October 22nd to 25th, 2021), when the 20 year celebration will continue.
Community Celebration Events - 2020
This Event is part of a limited release of Community Celebration Events to celebrate 20 years of geocaching. Geocachers hosted events between May 2, 2020 and December 31, 2020. Learn more about Community Celebration Events on the Geocaching Blog.
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