Mega event

Mega events are special event caches that attract more than 500 attendees. They are described as the ultimate gatherings for geocachers (although a new Giga Event classification has been announced for rare events that regularly surpass 5000 attendees) and are often multi-day events with a number of organised geocaching-related activities.

Past Mega Events

There have been five Mega Events held in Australasia, the first of which was held in Wagga Wagga in 2010. The event held in Wagga Wagga was also the first Mega Event in the Southern Hemisphere.

Australia

So far there have been three mega events held in Australia:

• OZ MEGA WAGGA WAGGA ([1]) in Wagga Wagga, NSW from 2nd to 5th April 2010
• OZ MEGA ALBURY WODONGA ([2]) in Albury, NSW from 5th to 9th April 2012
• Oz Mega 2014 Murray Bridge ([3]) in Murray Bridge, SA from 17th to 21st April 2014

Wagga Wagga 2010

Summary of OZ MEGA WAGGA WAGGA to be added here.

Albury Wodonga 2012

Summary of OZ MEGA ALBURY WODONGA to be added here.

Murray Bridge 2014

Summary of Oz Mega 2014 Murray Bridge to be added here.

New Zealand

So far there have been two mega events held in New Zealand:

• NZ MEGA 2012 ([4]) in Dunedin, Otago from 19th to 22nd October 2012
• NZ MEGA Auckland 2013 ([5]) in Auckland from 25th to 28th October 2013

Dunedin 2012

Summary of NZ MEGA 2012 to be added here.

Auckland 2013

The Auckland 2013 mega event ([6]) was held from the 25th to the 28th of October 2013, during which a total of 544 attendees enjoyed a wide range of activities in and around the venue at the North Harbour Stadium conference centre, on Auckland's North Shore. The venue was set in park like grounds allowing for a variety of indoor and outdoor geo-related activities.

Some of the highlights included a surprise live video link up with Groundspeak HQ for a tour of HQ and an audience with Jeremy Irish and Bryan Roth, guided walks through some of Auckland's beautiful (and rugged) regional parks, an incredible evening of chasing aliens and unraveling alien technology while night caching, and a wide range of fun games that brought geocachers together. There was even a secret appearance by the All Blacks!

The programme included a "Fish and chips" welcome event on the first evening, followed by two days of constant activities and a meticulously planned alien themed night caching adventure in the forest on the wild west coast just North of Auckland. The final day included a flash mob where attendees danced with Pokey, the pukeko mascot of the event, a CITO event, a pathtags event, and finally a sunset BBQ event to round out the weekend's entertainment.

The core organising team was made up of Chris and Vera of funkymunkyzone ([7]), Ross and Marion of rosmar ([8]), Brett and Barb of YuGeo4 ([9]) and Jill of Indiana Jill ([10]). Considerable contributions also came from Andrew of 10centcoin ([11]) in the early days, and Sophie of yorkshirekiwi83 ([12]), Travis of vistra ([13]) and Steve of Cats&Dragons ([14]) in the lead up to and during the event. A number of dedicated volunteers also helped out over the weekend.

Future Mega Events

Following is a list of upcoming mega events planned for New Zealand and Australia, in chronological order:

• Queensland ---- Event 2015 Stanthorpe ([15]) in Stanthorpe, QLD from 2nd to 6th April 2015
• Christchurch, NZ from 24th to 26th October 2015
• Queanbeyan, ACT 2016
• Alice Springs, NT 2017