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Holiday Fun Ideas: Try Geocaching

Fellow blogger, Bron of Taylor Made, shares her family’s experiences geocaching. They love it and you might too!

For us as a family the idea of camping was just not going to fit with out busy life….but then some friends mentioned something called Geocaching!

Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache anywhere in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache’s existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS device can then try to locate the geocache.

I thought this might be a fun way of exploring the  outdoors without having to all the trouble of camping so we purchased a hand held GPS, signed up for the free membership on the Geocaching website and we were off.


Who would have know there were so many parks and bushland areas withing kilometres of our home to explore.

This is such a fun and exciting pastime for all ages. Our children were 4 and 10 when we began and they just loved the whole idea of hunting for treasure. At each final location you’ll find a small box containing a variety of trinkets that are there for swaps. We keep a treasure bag in our car at all times so there is always a supply of treasure for swaps.


As they have gotten older they have enjoyed the use of the GPS device (which now is our smart phone).

It is a always fun to invite friends to join you on an adventure.


We have geocached all over Australia and hope to find our first overseas one very soon.


Even if you just want to explore your surrounding community there is so much to discover…new parks to play in, ducks to feed , bush trails to follow or maybe a new coastline to explore.


So on the next fine sunny day why not pack a picnic, grab some friends and try geocaching….don’t forget to sign up and gather some little treasures to swap. You won’t believe the fun that can be had.

Have you tried geocaching? For those who have, where in the world have you found treasure?

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Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.

Read the comments or scroll down to add your own:

  2. sarah says

    I heard about geocaching recently - it looks like a good excuse for an adventure. I know what you mean about camping - our kids would love to go but it seems like so much work!

  4. Rachelle says

    Thanks for the great post. We LOVE geocaching! Before my kids were born, my family planted a handful of caches including the first cache in Bali (called Indonesia One). I haven't been on a geocache hunt since having children, but now that my oldest is almost three maybe it's time!

  5. Deb says

    I've been wanting to try for a while but was put off because we live in the middle of nowhere. But according to that site there seems to be a team in our town, we'll have to check it out.

  6. Aussie Mum says

    My nephews love geocaching and I'm hoping when my boys are a little older they will love it too. They certainly love treasure hunts at the moment so perhaps they are geocachers in training! A great way to encourage them to get outdoors and have a little fun.

  7. Amanda says

    This sounds great. I think it would be something my boys would love, when they get a little older. I think my husband and I would enjoy it too.

  8. Diana says

    Awesome to see this sport out there. The people in the photos are friends of mine and geocaching is SO much fun. There are so many caches in so many parts of the world, but you normally only find them when you are looking. This is the best website: http://www.geocaching.com/default.aspx Thanks for your posts. Keep them coming. Diana

  9. Luxembourg says

    Informative post. It was really very informative. The measure to turn everything green is a welcome measure in the era of global warming where every waste product are releasing toxic gases that pollutes the atmosphere. This Sustainable dining will receive a warm feedback from the people and hence will definitely stay for long.

  10. The Orchard says

    We have been doing geocaching for several years and my kids love it! Another activity which is similar is letterboxing. The difference is that you don't need a GPS unit for letterboxing. Have fun!

  11. Karen says

    We have 3 very active boys, and I'm sure they would adore geocaching. We recently took them bushwalking in Cradle Mountain, and everyone - even the baby in daddy's backpack carrier - LOVED it. The thing I find about the outdoors is while it seems so much work to get out there, once you do, you never regret it. I'm off to check out geocaching - perhaps something we will try over the Easter long weekend. :)

  12. Mickey Coutts says

    Looks like so much fun. I'd love to have an adventure like this with my older 2! I'm dropping by from the Alexa Hop with my sparkly little toolbar! I'd appreciate it if you would swing by A Helicopter Mom and comment! Thanks! Mickey

  14. Maureen Sklaroff says

    We love geocaching! I learned so much about our area and it can be great exercise. I love that tree, what a place to hide a cache!

  15. MultipleMum says

    This is on my 52in52 list. Just moved up the list! I got excited reading about this - my kids will LOVE it :)

  17. Tawnya says

    We just found our first Geocache, but we were with a friend. Any suggestions on an affordable GPS device that would work with this? My assumption is I buy the app for my iPad 1, get the coordinates from it, then plug it int my GPS? Tried it with my cars TomTom, did not work close enough. Any other suggestions?

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