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23 YEARS
and 1 day
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 May 13th, 2023, we will be celebrating 23 years of geocaching with a gathering and general clean-up near the location where "First New Zealand" (GC45) was hidden. This is an opportunity to get together, celebrate, and give a little back to the community, while considering New Zealand's place in geocaching history.
Bring along some gloves and a rubbish bag (we will also try to provide some) and join with us to give this geo-historically significant spot a bit of a tidy! The event will be officially running from 12pm to 2pm - timed to make it as convenient as possible for folks to come from near or far - so why not spend the day, and make the pilgrimage to where it all began!
CITO Season 1 - 2023
This CITO falls within CITO season 1 for 2023, which means that by attending this event you will receive a souvenir, if you haven't already received it by attending another CITO. So come along, help clean up the area and get a souvenir as well!
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