Global Positioning Sleuths

Rotorua has always been famous for its geothermal activity, now another ‘geo-‘ is making its mark around the city, less the sulphur. It’s the sport of geocaching, a kind of outdoor treasure-hunt practised worldwide. Edmonton’s Metro travel reporter Julia Dimon writes that geocaching “is a hobby similar to orienteering and is done by entering a set of coordinates into a Global Positioning System (GPS), then following directions to the carefully hidden cache. A cache is usually a canteen (left by fellow geocachers) filled with plastic trinkets and a log book.” New Zealand has some 4000 active geocaches. With Kevin Carroll, “an avid cacher and member of the Kiwicaching association”, Dimon comes to grips with the sport. Armed with a geocacher name, by registering at www.geocache.com, she sets off to test her “sleuthing skills … like a child’s game of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’.”