Spotlight On Geocaching In Australia – How To Make...

I first discovered geocaching as the secret sauce to making road trips more exciting on a long road trip across Australia with the kids. Rather than tell them we were about to embark on a 4,000 km long journey from the east coast to the west coast of Australia, I told them we would be playing the world’s largest treasure-hunting game.

It worked a treat!

But what exactly is geocaching, and can you do it in Australia?

Well, geocaching really is the world’s largest treasure-hunting game. A geocache is a small container that is hidden for you to find in the real world. Just to be clear, this is nothing like PokemonGo and the container is real and not virtual. 

Some geocaches contain a ‘treasure’, usually a small trinket that you take out and replace with one of your own. It’s usually something of token value, such as a key ring, small memento or novelty toy. There are millions of players worldwide, with over three million geocaches hidden in over 191 countries. There are even some in Antarctica!

The best part? If you already own a mobile phone, geocaching in Australia does not cost a cent to play.

Some geocaches are easy to spot and some require some hunting around © Jessica Palmer So … how do I play?

Download and open the free Geocaching App to find geocaches or GeoTours near you (more about GeoTours a little further down). The geocaching app works both in Australia and the rest of the world. Open the map within the app, locate a geocache and begin navigating closer to it. 

When you get close to the location, you will need to begin hunting around for it.  Clues and messages are left by previous treasure hunters and the original hider in the app. When you find it, swap out the treasure if there is some, write your name in the log, and return it exactly where it was found. Make sure to also press the ‘log geocache’ button on the mobile phone app when you have found it.

Play with either a mobile phone or a hand-held GPS device if you have one. However, I personally find using a mobile phone easier as the coordinates of the cache need to be manually loaded onto the GPS device. 

The Geocaching App – It’s free to download and use © Groundspeak Inc – dba Geocaching The world’s longest GeoTour

Tourism boards all over the world have jumped on the fun, creating curated ‘GeoTours’ that help visitors highlight the best of a destination. Butler County in the USA even has a doughnut trail with 14 sweet stops across the county. Yum!

Geocaching in Australia is, of course, epic.  We boast a lot of big things and having the world’s longest GeoTour is one of them.  The Outback Way Finder GeoTour has been established along ‘Australia’s longest shortcut’, traversing from Winton in Outback Queensland through to Laverton in Western Australia. Seeking these caches provides plenty of opportunities to experience the best of the Australian Outback.

I should know. I’ve convinced my family to do it twice with me now. However, we are yet to finish this GeoTour and actually make it to Laverton.  The first time back, we were thwarted by rain, which meant the outback roads were closed to those even with a high clearance 4WD. The second time, WA snapped its borders shut due to Covid-19 as soon as we hit the NT. 

Pssst. The Outback Way is in the process of slowly being sealed. So if you want to do it while it’s rough, fun, red and dusty, make plans sooner rather than later.

We had to scramble up a ‘mini mountain’ to find this geocache in the outback © Jessica Palmer Why should I try geocaching on road trips in Australia?

Well, geocaching breaks up the long roads that Australia is famous for. Although our landscape is amazing, there are sometimes hundreds and hundreds of kilometres between towns with not much to look at.  

Also, it gets everyone outdoors and the geocaches are often hidden in spots that you wouldn’t consider looking. Like on this ‘jump up’ on the lonely road between Winton and Boulia (see the photograph below). I have found them in the forks of trees, wedged behind road sign stops, stuck by a magnet to the bottom of a car wreck, and even inside an abandoned termite mound. The clue for the latter being, ‘white ant hotel’.

Geocaching along the Outback Way in Australia © Jessica Palmer

So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and download the app and see what’s around. 

Find more information below on the official Geocaching website:

Geocaching – www.geocaching.com/play/search

GeoTours – www.geocaching.com/play/geotours

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