Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Colleagues, do you remember a time when pirates would hide their treasure and mark the spot so no-one could find it? Well, geocaching works in a similar way. It is a recreational outdoor sport based on hiding and discovering treasure with the use of a global positioning system or GPS. The great Australian Lake Eildon GeoTour takes place in the heart of my electorate of Indi. In its first three months, the tour logged 223 teams that participated in the event. This equates to 2,367 people who visited the area.

The tour is the brainchild of local Eildon businessman Stephen Handbury. Mark Howard from Eildon Real Estate—and I am delighted to welcome him and his wife, Jill, to parliament today—provided sponsorship and promotion. The international award came from Oris Watches. Thank you very much to Peter Borghouts for that.

The aim is to establish Eildon as the training centre for geocaching in Australia and to conduct workshops for other communities to share the knowledge of how such an event increases tourism. It is open to all ages. It is a family event. Community groups can participate, as can bike riders, four-wheel drivers and tech nerds—anyone with a sense of adventure. I would particularly like to invite colleagues from across the area to come to Indi—to come to Eildon—and go treasure searching and learn this wonderful sport that is gripping the nation. Again, I thank my constituents for taking a lead role in this area.

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