Wazza9’s 2025 Community Celebration Event
25th May 2025 8am – 10am at the Don Lucas Reserve Wanda.
BYO Breakfast to celebrate wazza9’s 15 years of Geocaching on the 28th May 2025.
Where better to celebrate these 2 milestones than within throwing distance of the first cache placed in the Sutherland Shire.
The Tangles cache GCBAC “Burke & Wills” was the first cache hidden in the Sutherland Shire on the 8th June 2001 and according to the cache page was located at S 34 01.902 E 151 10.472.
Ideology were the first to find it and recorded the following: “We donned our moleskins, mounted our camels and trekked to Burke & Wills. Fast running out of provisions, we slaughtered our mounts and crawled starving into the cache camp. Being careful not to destroy the local flora, we found Tangles' cache of supplies, containing refreshing and nourishing Monkey Drink! After feasting on the contents, we left some animal baits, covered our tracks and returned to civilisation.”
Many others searched for the cache but only Raptor were able to locate it before it was archived and their record of events states: “Great location, the kids had a great time looking for the treasure, but who put the treasure in an old paint tin, you have made everything smell and taste like paint...”
It was in place for a bit over a year before being archived. It was followed by "GCD67 - A Saucerful of Secrets" by Team Chaos on the 23rd June 2001 and "GC12F5 - Kookaburra" by Geomonkeys on the 27th July 2001. Currently, GC2009 Grounds for Pleasure Multi-Cache is the oldest active cache placed 02/10/2001 by “The Odlids”.
Why are we celebrating
It all began On May 3, 2000, just after midnight, the U.S government discontinued its use of Selective Availability in order to make GPS more responsive to civil and commercial users worldwide. Twenty-four satellites around the globe processed their new orders, and instantly the accuracy of GPS technology improved tenfold. Tens of thousands of GPS receivers around the world had an instant upgrade. Prior to this date, only the military had the ability to receive accurate GPS readings. Now, the world and all its wonderful people could pinpoint their precise location. For reasons unknown, this is often referred to as the flipping of the “Big Blue Switch”.
The very next day, a computer consultant named Dave Ulmer hid a black bucket in the woods near Portland, Oregon at N 45° 17.460 W 122° 24.800. Along with a logbook and pencil, he left various prize items including videos, books, software, and a slingshot, then posted the coordinates online. Three days later, the container was located by Mike Teague.
In Australia, the first geocache was placed by Paul Edwards in Lane Cove National Park after reading about it on a Blog.
Lane Cove (GC3E) by Paul Edwards on 18 May 2000 was created. The geocache was removed by Rangers a year later however you can still visit the location and log a find as it was changed to a virtual.
In New South Wales this was followed by:
R&R (GC52) by Richard Ames (archived), placed in Garigal National Park, near St Ives on 2 September 2000
Australia's Highest (GCF7) by Roland Turner, Anand Kumria, James Davidson in Kosciuszko National Park 25 November 2000
Frying Pan (GCF1) by Dave Walmsley in Chichester State Forest near Dungog on 17 December 2000
East of Ulan (GC154) by Alex near Murragamba, Central Tablelands (archived) on 29 December 2000
2001 saw the appearance of Geocaches in the Sutherland Shire.
Two of the earliest caches that were placed are still active:
Grounds for Pleasure (GC2009) placed by odlids on 02 October 2001
ILLA WRONG (GC2C57) placed by Blackbeards Pirates on 12 December 2001
Geocachers of Renown at that time include:
Tangles - Member since: 24 April 2001
P3sKy_Geomonkey - Member Since: 13 May 2001
RAPTOR - Member Since: 22 June 2001
Team Chaos - Member Since: 01 July 2001
odlids - Member Since: Friday, 27 July 2001
Blackbeards Pirates - Member Since: Saturday, 25 August 2001
Pipes_down_under - Member Since: Sunday, 24 February 2002
My first find was GCPPBQ - Alte Lasten (Old Loads) Located 16,000Km’s from home. The structure is not inconspicuous or small and no one can overlook it. A wonderful old gem. It is located on the right bank of the Danube near the Reichsbrücke and is illuminated from the inside at night.
I have done so many amazing things since I started including finishing a Jasmer Challenge "Bowral 'Jasmer' CHALLENGE - GC7CPQE" without going to the USA. I got all but 4 in Australia and for those I couldn't get here, I went to Europe and had a great time getting them in 8 days before going to Japan in 2018 and this year lifted my count for every day on the statistics sheet to 15 without using an Adventure Lab find.
It is time to log your “Will Attend” and get ready for a great morning. I hope you will all be able to come along and join us. It doesn’t matter if you are new to the game, returning after a long spell or an active current cacher. All are equally welcome and everyone will be looking forward to meeting you.
Community Celebration Events - 2025
This Event is part of a limited release of Community Celebration Events to celebrate 25 years of geocaching. Geocachers hosted events between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025. Learn more about Community Celebration Events on the Geocaching Blog.