Top of the South Cachefest 2026

Nelson, New Zealand
October 23 to 26, 2026


SESSIONS & PANELS

INTRODUCTION TO GEOCACHING

New to the game of geocaching or just curious to find out more? Come along to this session and learn what geocaching is all about. Learn about what geocaching is, what you need to go geocaching, how to find them and much more. And at the end of the session we guarantee you will find a geocache!

Time: Saturday 11am
Duration: 1 hour
Presenters: Ron (Agazo)

PUZZLE SOLVING

Split into two sessions aimed at different levels of puzzle geocache skills and interests, these sessions will introduce and develop concepts and strategies around how to go about solving puzzle geocaches, and by extension provide some insight into how to create good puzzles. Each session will include a theory portion followed by a group solve of a brand new puzzle cache published on the day. These new caches will be available for a big joint [FTF] for everyone who finds them on the day.

Time: Sunday 10am (Beginners Session) & 11am (Advanced Session)
Duration: 55 minutes (each session)
Presenters: TBC

PATHTAG TRADING

This is a free-form session designed to give pathtag enthusiasts an opportunity at a specific time to gather and trade pathtags with other pathtag owners and collectors who are also attending the Top fo the South 2026 mega. Bring along your pathtags to trade, or better yet, have some made for the mega with the Top of the South 2026 or New Zealand pathtag backs!

Time: Sunday 12pm
Duration: 25 minutes
Host: Richard (ricardinho.nz)

PROJECT-GC

Maybe you've never heard of Project-GC, maybe you get sent there for challenge cache checkers, or maybe you're a stats fiend thirsty for all those lovely numbers - this is the session to find out all about what Project-gc can do for you to enhance your geocaching adventures!

Time: Sunday 12:30pm
Duration: 25 minutes
Presenter: Tom (the Seagnoid)

REVIEWER DISCUSSION PANEL

This is your chance to hit up your hard working and extremely knowledgeable NZ geocaching reviewers with every question you can think of around geocaching and how your geocache submissions are reviewed. We expect to have all three of the New Zealand based reviewers, and maybe a guest or two, who will be able to add further perspective. A great opportunity also to thank the reviewers for their tireless work for the NZ geocaching community!

Time: Sunday 1pm
Duration: 55 minutes
Presenters: Nick (TheCur8or), Andrew (TheCoddiwompler), Thomas (NZRedPanda)

BUSH SAFETY

We love getting outdoors and going caching in our amazing New Zealand nature and scenery. But do we all know how to keep safe and what to do when something goes wrong? Come along to this session to learn about safety in our great outdoors.

Time: Sunday 2pm
Duration: 25 minutes
Presenters: TBC

CACHE CAMOUFLAGE

We've all come across caches that are particularly memorable for their amazing or unique camouflage. Join this session to learn some of the tips and tricks about creating your own amazing caches sure to collect favourite points!

Time: Sunday 2:30pm
Duration: 25 minutes
Presenters: TBC

GADGET CACHES

We all love a good gadget cache, and there are a few hiders around New Zealand who create fun and interesting gadget cache experiences, so come along and learn a bit about the creativity and engineering that goes into gadget caches. You don't necessarily need to be an electronic whiz, or a civil engineer, to build a good gadget cache, and this is your opportunity to learn some of the secrets and get some inspiration to give it a go yourself.

Time: Sunday 3pm
Duration: 55 minutes
Presenter: Allan (GadgetCacheNZ)

CACHETUR.NO

There's nothing like the fun of a caching trip with friends and Cachetur.no is a great tool for planning them! It is integrated with geocaching.com and allows you to see which caches your travel partners own or have found. You can even see your planned route directly on geocaching.com and project-gc. If you want to learn all about how to do it, plan your mega route to include this session!

Time: Sunday 4pm
Duration: 45 minutes
Presenter: Julie (Joolay)

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