HOLY SHIP! We are now officially in the 2025/26 Hobart cruiseship season! HONK HONK!
As a 'land lubber' that does not fair well on the open seas (or even the closed ones) I'm pier-fectly content to never step foot on a single one of them.
However, during the last cruise season I had boatload of fun meeting wonderful geocachers at this very spot through events that they had organised while in town. So this season I like big boats (I cannot lie) and I am sea-riously excited to meet travellers from far and wide; share stories, tips and TBs from reel-ly far away, and help spread the word about the upcoming MEGA in March: GCAZTAZ!
I've anchored the event to when one of the bigger ships is in town (hello Disney Wonder!) which is roughly halfway through the season as the last arrival is currently scheduled for ANZAC Day, 2026. I'll likely host an end of season event the day of the second last scheduled visit - the Crown Princess on April 20, 2026 (TBC).
If locals or visitors are in town and can join, that'd shore be swell! But I'm also hoping that the presence of this event on geocache map over the coming months welcomes and encourages visiting cruise ship geocachers to host their own events here - to meet locals or fellow travellers on your ship.
The location is Franklin Square, which was an important gathering place for the traditional and ongoing custodians of the lands of nipaluna/Hobart, the muwanina people, and still remains so today as an important civic space surrounded by state and local government offices. It's a scenic and accessible park, with toilets, benches, and a few geocaches including a virtual and ad lab locations. It's approximately a 1km walk from the MAC02 cruise ship dock and a good location for meet ups during business hours as it's a bit easier for locals working in the CBD or accessing via bus/bike than the busy waterfront. If you want to learn more about Franklin Square see GC9P5WW.
💚 💚 💚 Locals - feel free to share your 'top 3 must sea' local geocache experiences in your 'will attend' log or a note below for our visitors. I'll also collate and share them in the subsequent event listing, which will be published before the March MEGA visitors are in town 💚💚 💚