International Geocaching Day 2020 & Celebrating 7 years of being in New Zealand
Original plan was to hold this event in May. Decided international geocaching day was a good alternative to celebrate.
In December 2012 I accepted a job on the otherside of the world and it took a bit of time to get the visa etc all sorted. I touched down in Dunedin in May 2013. My only knowledge of the city was from memories from a 24hr visit in 2011 and a quick google search. On 17 May 2013, I put on my warmest clothes and decided to go and explore my new city by looking for some geocaches. I had a city map with pencil dots of the rough locations and my ETRAX10 in hand (which my fellow London rat race train commuters brought me, so ‘I wouldn’t get lost in the wilderness’).
GC3Y57Y Hinemoana's Mega Menagerie (Otago) was my first find in New Zealand, and overall find number 94. Looking over my stats I’ve also realised my first ever event was Hinemoana’s too.
Anyhow, with the first one under the belt I knew Geocaching was the way to explore not only the city, but the country and I think it helped me through the ‘homesickness’ as I was too busy discovering places and meeting new people.
As my Merchant Navy Great Uncle warned me “Natalie, if you ever go to New Zealand be warned you’ll fall in love with the place and the people that you’ll never want to leave.” – I have fallen for the place and made it home. On 5th February 2020 I got my New Zealand Citizenship.
with international travel for pleasure is now off the table for the foreseeable future, it gives more time to plan future dream trips and go back through photo albums of past travels.
I would love for you to come along and share your stories.
Date: Saturday 15 August 2020
Time: noon to 2pm. If you cannot stay for food, just pop in to say hello.
Where: Filadelfios (3 North Road, North East Valley)
They couldn't confirm we'll have the back space, so will have geocache items visible for newbies.
The cafe is licensed and has a range of food and snacks available (check out the menu at http://www.filadelfios.co.nz/menu/).
All geocachers and friends are welcome. It would be great to see new or visiting geocachers too.
Please let me know rough numbers in case I need to reserve more seats.
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.