Mega Event 2010 - Perth

800th Anniversary of Perth

 Saturday 31st July 2010

So after months of planning and days of travelling we were finally here...we were at the Mega Event in Perth. Our first Mega event having missed Harrogate and Weston super mud in previous years. I can only describe going to one as very surreal....lots of positives and negatives. We have been to a few conventions over the years (Ideal Home Show, travel shows and yes we will admit even a Sci Fi one...but we didn't dress up in Star Trek uniforms or anything) and so if we are honest

Jeremy Irish somewhere in a badly taken photo

 with our readers found the format very strange. The hall was massive and easily contained the hundreds and hundreds of geocachers that attended. However within about 20 minutes after the opening ceremony the hall was much emptier and the fact that there were only 7 or 8 stalls (including 2 promoting next years mega and the 2012 one) it seemed a little overkill in our humble opinion. There were only a couple of trade stands (one reasonably priced and one that wasn't), and they didn't seem to be that stocked up on what would have actually sold on the day. Hardly any t-shirts and not one stand sold those travel car bugs thingy ma jigs we

Josh attackes Signal the Frog

 have been after a while. Plus one of them didn't accept credit/debit cards. Personally I think there is massive growth area here that isn't being tapped into.....I doubt that it will change any time soon. You will probably feel as if we didn't enjoy the mega event by the fact of what we have just wrote, but you would be wrong. There were many good things that happened, for example as soon as we arrived there was a massive shout "Shiltonpig" someone cried. It was "Cannonedwards" the first ever cachers we bumped into about 3 years ago, we had both started geocaching at the same time. They have over 2000 finds now....we have a Josh...I would say we are about even lol. That was nice. It was also amazing how in just a few days we had seen so many geocachers and bumped into them again the event. This was nice....we will be the first to admit we don't know loads and loads of UK cachers and so you can feel a little overwhelmed...a friendly face always makes you feel better. It is worth noting too that the event opened to the sound of bagpipes and the mayor of

Well organised Mega Event

 Perth opened it up. His speech did go on for quite a long time but it was heartfelt and thats all that mattered. We also had a guest in the form of Jeremy Irish, the founder of Groundspeak, his insights were worth listening to. Apparently he doesn't like his celebrity status....team Shiltonpig do however and will happily sign autographs for our millions of readers! It was very well organised and despite our first couple of paragraphs it is fair to say that we want to say a big big thank you to the organisers of the Mega Scotland as so much work had gone into many of the side events and main events. For me the overall experience has been very positive, we have met many cachers from different walks of life and listened to some stories. A local cacher on the local forum told me that you need to go to as many side events as you can in order to appreciate the whole experience and they were right. Sadly we missed the mega event in the dark...but hey ho. There is no question that as we write we look forward to the mega wales event in exactly 365 days time....and who knows we may see you there yet!http://www.megawales.co.uk/

Mr Shiltonpig thinks he is cool with trendy wristband