WWFM IX - Big Ted's House Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
By Rhinogeo & Facitman on 10-Jun-12. Waypoint GC3GP07

See you at the next WWFM - May the 4th be with you [:p]

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... And we rated a mention on Podcacher!

Once again, thanks, guys, for a fantastic event.

This was stupid. Loved it! So easy to get "rock star" parking at this time of day.
Good to see that the Protective Services officers were cool - and why not, this is our building after all !
TFTE!

It was great to be caching with crazy nut cachers helping each other stay awake to the 3am WWFM.
I've never been in the city at this time before, but parking was great!
I was surprised how many crazy muggles were out and about too.
Thanks Rhinogeo for this crazy event cache... and I swore I wouldn't be crazy enough to do another 3am event.. but who knows now! Haha.
(Sorry its taken me some time to log, "life" got in the way.)

Dipping Personal Event Tracker

Another great flash mob event. That now makes three in 17 hours. Thanks rhinogeo and facitman for the event.

This entry was edited by micaparamedic on Sunday, 10 June 2012 at 09:31:25 UTC.

My first flashmob! Great fun, thank you for setting this up

10.06.2012 03:00 AM
Find # 1760

After a big day yesterday that finished just after 11 and a completed Night Cache "Der Urmelschatz", I headed to bed for a couple of Hours before it was time to get up again for this event. I ended up arriving at the car park I decided at 2:40 AM, so I waited until 2:55 before walking the short distance to GZ, It took me slightly longer then anticipated and upon approach, There were already a couple of dozen people gathering, What an amazing sight it was.

Thanks go to Rhinogeo and Facitman for the event, Now it is time to go back to bed for a few more hours sleep before being picked up by sedgwickDave for a Cache run.

This one was my third WWFM and third event in 24 hours. I drove in from home and got parking almost right out the front. I waited a little in the car before heading towards the group that was gathering nearby for the event. A few muggles passed by and asked what we where gathering for. I guess we where not blending in very well at 3AM in the morning in front of one of the most patrolled buildings in Melbourne.

Before we knew it the event was underway and log books where signed and even more chatting began. This event seemed to be a bit shorter than the others. People seemed very keen to head there ways. Must of been the time of the morning. A bit too cold and a bit too late.

10/06/2012 03:23 I didn't go to sleep nor did I do much caching this evening, rather I just sat at home with the family keeping warm and watching movies. At about 5 to 2am I said goodbye (yes, they were still up!) and made my way to the city. I parked behind Ted's big house and waited in the car till about quarter too the hour. I wandered past the front keeping an eye out for suspicious types and saw no-one but then skullracing and 2drews turned up and I waited with them. Soon joined by Princess Diala and lochb. Almost 3am and suddenly a huge crowd descended on the steps where it was lucky that the three police were made aware of the proceedings so it all went without a hitch. Chats were had, logs signed and lochb kindly offered to take Zoe on another long trip (Zoe loves going on holidays and seeing distant places!). TFTC Rhinogeo TNLN SL

03:03
Into central Melbourne for the third time in 12 hours, with the meet-up for WWFM IX as the highlight. Boy, this city is busy at night!

At last... the big event. Bumped into a fellow cacher (SirJ-Oz) in Flinders Lane, so we chatted while dawdling to a point between Treasury and our objective. Right on 3, several others emerged from the darkness and started climbing the steps with us, warily eyeing the three Protective Services guards nearby. Suddenly, the main throng streamed from the north, and we formed a good-sized group near the top.

Some newbie's log slip was drawn from the pile... mine!

Thanks to Rhinogeo and Facitman for their flawlessly organised event (and for wording-up security beforehand). Thanks also to geostuff.com.au for the FTF voucher, and all of the wonderful welcoming cachers I've met at these two events.

***FTF***

#330

This entry was edited by nirgal_au on Monday, June 11, 2012 at 11:18:52 AM UTC.

Still going to get my 3 WWFM events in 24hrs and now off to cache in the city

Log to follow

#2692 On a whim we decided to head down to Melbourne for a WWFM at 3am. After leaving a bonfire in Tarcutta NSW at 9pm it was a quick stop over in Albury to change over vehicles then we were on our way again. Although we came prepared with the winter gear we didn't need it as the CBD was much milder than the frosty night we'd experienced earlier in the evening at the bonfire. We arrived with an hour to spare & after a couple of caches we regrouped at the NinjaGolf which appears is not so Ninja any longer as TwoDrews knew who we were although we'd not met previously - nice to meet you. We met quite a few familiar faces which always great to catch up albeit briefly. We were pleasantly surprised with the turnout & the nice fellows patrolling the area! A huge thanks to Rhinogeo & Facitman for a well orchestrated event and to those who braved the early day to attend [^]. We never did end up getting to bed....

I think we should set the time for the next WWFM - and force the rest of the world to get up at such a strange hour!

I was sure I wasn't going to last the distance, planning to disappear into my warm bed after the night Whereigo get-togher with a whole lot of others. But then, we looked for one more cache, and one more, and one more... and in the end it was 3am and we found ourselves outside Parliament!

Thanks for organising, Rhinogeo and Facitman! I'm still recovering.

Attended @ 03:00. Dropped trackable. Log to follow

Biked in and averted danger. Was shocked the city was still so busy. The ride home after was calmer. Thanks Rhinogeo and Facitman!

This entry was edited by clickcraftsman on Saturday, 09 June 2012 at 18:38:36 UTC.

nice warm night just a bit mad my wife thinks thanks

Attended at 3:00am.
Woke when the alarm went off after all so ended up in the city in the middle of the night. I haven't done that for about 20 years.
Glad this was a flash mob as I wouldn't have wanted to hang around for much longer in the cold.
I took the opportunity to grab a couple of city caches while the muggle factor was low. Seemed others were doing the same.
Thanks Rhinogeo and Facitman for the event. Definitely one of the stranger things I've done in the city at night.

How come when you know you NEED to get some sleep and have to wake up early, your chances of getting some sleep are slim to nil!!! Probably managed to drop off for half an hour or so before I rose earlier than intended to head off with cycling_guy and ilovedrwho for the general nuttiness of this... But by the busy-ness of the city, nuttiness is catching.

Got there early, knocked off a cache or two while waiting, and then gathered with a casual mob opposite before converging on GZ.

All up a nice, simple, tidy flashmob event. Well done to Rhinogeo and Facitman as always

Our band of nut-cases, uh I mean night-cachers was down to Bexta, grant1wish, lochb, nuffrat, Princess Diala, (quiet1_au) & themd after we tackled this cache after the night Whereigo "Der Urmelschatz", carrying on to filling in time before the WWFM-IX event at 3am with more night-caches and assorted others enroute to Spring Street. We arrived a little early, and a little further down the road (tricked by Big Ted's old Money-box) we wandered up to loiter the last few minutes away, then we decended upon the stairs and the mob was underway. Big Ted information cards and logsheets handed out and returned we awaited the lucky FTF draw, posed for the group photos and generally mingled, catching up with fellow cachers from the WWFM-IX event 12 hours earlier. TFTC

Can't believe I managed to stay awake and turn up to this one. Great fun on a Saturday night. Good to once again meet up with some regulars and meet some new folks as well. Feeling a little bit worse for wear on the Sunday morning after that is all part of the fun. Thanks for organising the event, greatly appreciated!

Attended 10/06/12 03:00-03:15 Find #2208

WWFM IX - Big Ted's House was held on the steps of the Victorian State Parliament at a chilly 03:00 am simultaneously with (most) other events around the world

50 nut-cases, or should that be night-cachers, dragged themselves out of bed or stayed up late to attend the event, the 3rd and final WWFM held in Victoria in 17 hours

Prior to the event some potential attendees expressed concern that the Parliament House security detail might not approve of such a gathering of like-minded individuals gathering at our state's seat of power in the middle of the night but after Facitman and I explained to Theo the very friendly copper on duty we had no problems (another two coppers even turned up to watch !!)

This was the 8th WWFM Facitman and I have organised and it went without a hitch. Things went so smoothly that we'd had the FTF draw, taken photos and explained the logging requirements and prize opportunities all with over 5 minutes to spare [:o]

The post-flash dispersal also was much quicker than usual which can probably be attributed to the temperature and the early hour

As we drifted into the night we were looking forward to the next WWFM … whenever that may be [:p]

Hosted and Attended by Facitman at EXACTLY 3:00
Rhinogeo and I continued the tradition and hosted our 8th World Wide Flash Mob in alignment with Sonny and Sandy's San Diego 10:00am event. Unfortunately that means a 3:00am event for us but after a couple of successful 3:00am events in the past we stuck with the World Wide'ness. It was great to see two other WWFM's in Victoria and after attending the event at Luna Park we were looking forward to ours.
Rhinogeo and I arrived early and introduced ourselves to Theo, the Protective Services Officer, who was curious about our event but more concerned with the Eurocup fans in the city than with a bunch of Geocachers.
After collecting coffees from 7Eleven we placed ourselves near GZ and waited for the appointed hour. 3:00 clicked over and soon we were surrounded by cachers! Logs were written, Big Ted calling cards handed out and soon we were taking the photo. Surprisingly we found that we had completed all our activities well within the 15 minutes and spent the second half of the event just chatting. Dispersed the event at 3:15 and we headed off for a close by cache!
Thanks to everyone who joined us, and see you next year!

Great event even though I was pretty tired. Arrived with the night caching gang and marched up the stairs. Thanks to the cops, security and owners for letting a bunch of seemingly crazy people have their bit of fun.
Good turn out. Well done all.

i think i was a wise one. i took myself to bed at 8. and set my alarm for 2.
so i was refreshed for my night caching with happy chappies and cycling guy.
we made a quick stop at a cache at the station. then headed to the steps.
my first flash mob. i totally enjoyed it. ( and so did big ted)
thanks guys [:x]

Thanks for organising this Rhinogeo & Facitman. Getting up after a snooze isn't the easiest for sisso's geocaching partner in crime, but worth the effort once in the car. Enjoyed brief conversation before needing to slink off, but foolishly got no ones 'handle' to follow up. Previous day rocked, our 100th find at Luna Park, coastal geocaching, a win to the All Blacks AND the Wallabies! Great to have an early logged find, so now a well earned day of rest after 19 consecutive days with finds logged. May have to look at some of those wretched puzzles! HELP [:(!]

Ended up attending on my own after other cache-friends pulled the pin. Was a bit chilly but was great to see the mob appear, chat and then leave. Thanks to the organisers and well done everyone who made it.

10 June 2012 03:06:00

This was a great way to finish up this morning.

Virtually parked on the steps and made my way to a decoy point.

Before long I was in the middle of a large mob half way up the stairs.

Security was more concerned about keeping warm as the general chat rolled on.

Thanks again to Rhinoqeo and Facitman for another great event.

TFTC

choices are, sleep or prove to friends i am crazy, i'll be there

Whose going to explain all this to the Security Guards?

The policeman looks like he is cold and unhappy

3 Flash mobs in less than 24hrs

It's 3:06 and damn cold. Glad I could make it in!!!! Tftc tnln sl

Cold night, great crowd

We were mad enough to set the alarm although geoson, after the first 20 seconds of being up, wanted to got back to sleep. And we thought it was the longest flashmob we have ever attended due to the early morning time slot but enjoyed it much the same.

Will be there

Great to see some familiar faces and meet new ones! Interestingly I stepped through my door a little wiser than when I left to attend this event. TFTC Rhinogeo and facitman, I look forward to the next one already!

How crazy are we to travel for and hour each way simply to be present on the steps of Parliament House Melbourne while people elsewhere in the world are gathering at more sensible hours! Fun stuff.

I would rather rather have stayed in my nice warm bed, but....went along for the ride with GrahamT, and even was asked what was happening by a passerby - they wondered if we were going to sing or dance as a flash mob!

Found on a day where we decided to do caches, challenges and attend two WWFMIX events. starting at 11am finishing at 4.30am ahhhhhhhhhh.

Debated if we should attend but the Geo kids wanted the challege of staying up and being in the city at 3am. So sheepishly I agreed. PLEASE REMIND ME WHY WE DO SUCH SILLY THINGS. We planned to do some caches in the city all night before attending this WWFM IX.

We just finished our last city cache at 2.45am we made our way quicky to GZ. found an instant car park and headed to the meeting point. 3am hit and the small crowd of 50 or so slowly climbed the steps from every angle. Even Big Ted was there. A quick sign of the log and small chit chat with fellow cachers before we knew it everyone had departed. I couldnt be any happier to be heading home.

Well so I thought. Two more caches on the way home before we could put our feet up in the comfort of our home.

Thanks Rhinogeo and Facitman for the event.

Did the 'go to bed, get up and go caching, go back to bed' thing for this one. Caught up with some of the same faces from Smiley! Watched the Melourne nightlife passing by for a while. Glad the rain held off for this one too!

My first flash mob event. Spent the night caching with a group and then finishing it off with this event great night all round. And the rain that was around all day held off for the night!

Well managed to drag myself out of bed for my 3rd flashmob for the weekend.

It is hard to look Inconspicuous at just before 3am, we really needed to be acting drunk and standing outside the pub across the road to blend in.

It was good to catch up with some fellow cachers.

Thanks to Rhinogeo & Facitman for organising the event once again.

This was our Rhino and Facitmans 8th Flash mob event, and our 3rd flash mob event in 17 hours.
It was a flash chase from Melbourne to Ballarrat, back to Melbourne, back to home and back to Melbourne at 3am, yes Geocaching does make us do things we would normally not do.
After parking our we made our way to Teds house and waited for 3am before crossing the road and the subsequent climb of the steps. I assume the security was more concerned with the local pub than our peaceful get together and in the right spirit we all assembled at 3am.
After all the normal flash mob flashings we headed off for home and much needed sleep.
Our sincere thanks to Rhinogeo and Facitman for keeping the tradition going and book me in for the next.
Regards
The Coffee's

Had a great time at my first flash mob event. Was nice to meet the skullracing team across the road pre-event who introduced me to bulletproof4 and landau351. Met others too but sorry I'm bad with names!

Only disappointment was that I took my personal TB with a chirp attached and no-one discovered me. Oh well, I'll try again next year! If you met me there, get in touch and I'll email the tracking code.

Many thanks Rhinogeo and Facitman for organising a well run event.

This entry was edited by Two_Drews on Sunday, 10 June 2012 at 05:05:36 UTC.

Will try to come... If still up by then.

I'll try. Assuming I wake when my alarm goes off, I'll be there. I'd say it's about 50/50.

Should be there, energy drink in hand!!!

Will be coming with GeoBel.

Regretfully, I have to pull out of this one now. Hope everyone has a blast, and remember your Winter Woollies.

Well Rhino after our short discussion the last weekend, I'm there. Three for three.

aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

According to GeoWife, the four of us will be there. this is insane.

Mmmmm, bonfire in Holbrook Saturday night & FlashMob in Melbourne in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Why not....we're up for the fun . We were going down anyway, it's just a tad earlier than first anticipated. Our thanks to the organisers.

Coordinates changed from:
S 37° 48.663 E 144° 58.397

Coordinates changed to:
S 37° 48.675 E 144° 58.404

Distance from original: 80.9 feet or 24.6 meters.

Fine tuned coordinates

huzzah i will be extremely present!

Ah what the heck. I'm in.

Im in!

Yay can't wait!

Originally I would have missed this - was planned to return to the UK last week. But my business trip in Melbourne has been extended, so I should be able to attend this!

Well, looks like I'm coming now... Have promised ilovedrwho a night of, um, night caches - so we'll be there. A bit worried about the coppers being worried about us, but I'll just point to one of my fellow weirdos as the primary agitator...

Looks like I'll be snoozing through the sermon that morning

Yeah I'm in, waste too much time sleeping. I'll join Happy Chappies and IloveDrWho for a night of caching.

Must've lost my marbles, it's Winter, and 3am in the big smoke. Ok, coming down from Ballarat after the 10am here, to do the 3pm and then attempt to hang on for this one.

This is crazy, but so am I. Cya there...

I probably shouldn't attend as it is right in the middle of uni exam period, but i cant pass this up!

In town for the weekend to watch footy and now a caching event too!

Nothing better to do then....

Totally random, sounds like fun. Will try to attend

Heading OS that day, but will try to be there.

Saw this one come up - but sadly we will be away in Tassie and unable to attend and we have liked to attend these over the past few years. Thought about attending one in Hobart but nothing happening there so then came up with a plan - now holding our own WWFM event (GC3HHP$) on the steps of City Hall after attending the Saturday Night Dance of the National Square Dance Convention - our reason for heading south.

Could just possibly make this - especially if the #1 son is out clubbing and needs to be picked up!!!

Sounds like I have a plan!!! Hope to see you all there - rugged up in the winter woolies

This entry was edited by Gaga66 on Wednesday, 25 April 2012 at 03:14:52 UTC.

I plan to be there too!!

I'm hoping to get along to this one with Burge.

love to attend. i have to convince happy chappies to take me. [:x]

Sounds cool and I've always wanted to be part of a flash mob!

At that time it could be a bit chilly

Definitely acquainted with being up at that hour but coffee fix definitely seconded Coffee Clan and co! Chaplain Mike would agree.

GrahamT & TrudyJane will be present! 3am - muggle friends will have more eveidence for the fact that geocachers are crazy!

Have you spoken to the security people there about this? I can't imagine they will be very impressed........

The Empire will attend. I have a wedding that day but I can't let themd get another FTF, count me in.
- M

There's a good possibility of Chaplain Mike attending with Smart Sassy Siren, Princess Amy and Stick Kid, but it all depends on rosters at the time

Haven't spoken to the other half but I want to do this . Hope to see you all there. B

Was fun last year. Hope to attend again this year.

Damn Yankees, don't they know it's the Queen's Birthday weekend . Oh well, I had to miss one sooner or later .

Just to clarify 100% - this is 3 *AM*?... (ugh! I'm so not a morning person...)

Gold, lock it in.

Hope for a back to back FTF

This is really stupid. Love it. I'm there.

Published

Another night time flashmob.. Will have to think if I'm crazy enough to attend...

Was fun last year. Hope to attend again this year.

Even at that time of the morning I'll be there with my son, madmana. Look forward to catching up with all the other silly cachers that come out in the night.

How could I resist the 3am time slot, all we need is a coffee van

Wellllllllll..... with MMelb at the State Youth Games camp, we will be ABLE to attend, it will just be whether we can CONVINCE ourselves to head out in the cold lolol!!!!