Leapin' GeoFrogs - A Leap Day Celebration Event Cache

Happy Leap Day - 2024

Have you found a cache or attended an event on every day of the year, with the exception of one???

Is there an annoying blank spot in your caching calendar???

Did you mean to fill that spot last time but forgot all about it until it was too late???

Were you annoyed that you had to wait a whole four years for Leap Day to come around again???

If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions then this is the event for you!!!

I invite visiting geocachers to our fair city as well as the local caching community to come together around lunch time to celebrate this special date and talk all things geocaching.

Details as follows:

Date: Thursday, 29th February, 2024

Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm

Location: Macquarie Place, Bridge St Sydney

Where to find us: We will meet in front of the large HMS Sirius anchor.

What to Bring: Great geocaching stories, trackables, any food and/or drink you desire.

By attending this event, you'll receive the 2024 Leap Day Souvenir. Hope to see you there.

HMS Sirius Anchor, Macquarie Place

Why do we have a Leap Day?

Our planet takes approximately 365.25 days to orbit the sun once. It’s that .25 that creates the need for a leap year every four years.

During non-leap years, aka common years – like this year, 2023 – the calendar doesn’t take into account the extra quarter of a day required by Earth to complete a single orbit. In essence, the calendar year, which is a human artifact, is faster than the solar year, the 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds that our planet requires to orbit the sun once.

Over time and without correction, the calendar year would drift away from the solar year. And the drift would add up quickly. For example, without correction the calendar year would be off by about one day after four years. It’d be off by about 25 days after 100 years. You can see that, if even more time were to pass without the leap year as a calendar correction, eventually December would be a winter month in the Southern Hemisphere.

Leap Day Facts:

1. Julius Caesar introduced the first calendar leap year in 46 B.C. The Earth takes exactly 365 days, five hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds to circle the sun. The occasional Feb. 29 ensures we don’t lose six hours every year.

2. Leap year babies are called “leapers” or “leaplings.” You’d get a special name, too, if you had to wait four years to celebrate your birthday.

3. 29th February has traditionally been a day on which women were allowed to propose to men. Sounds hopelessly outdated for the 21st century, but this is the way it has worked in many cultures for centuries!

4. Some cultures consider the 29th February an unlucky day. In Italy, people say, “Anno bisesto, anno funesto,” which translates as, “leap year, doom year.” In some countries, like Greece, people warn against planning weddings during leap years.

5. The 29th February is not really a legal day. Many companies don’t recognize Leap Day as a “valid day.” They make leapers choose Feb. 28 or March 1 as their birthday instead.

6. Lots of people work for free on the 29th February. Most employees who are paid fixed monthly incomes will work for free on this day because their wages are likely not calculated to include the extra day.

7. There are two “Leap Year Capitals of the World.” If you want to celebrate this special day in a big way, head to Anthony, Texas or Anthony, New Mexico. Both claim the title of “Leap Year Capital”. They hold lavish, multi-day birthday celebrations each leap year for those unlucky (or lucky) enough to be born on the 29th February.