Organisers are hoping a geocaching event in Oamaru later this month will attract enough people to become a ''Mega'' event.
Two years of planning have gone into Oamaru Geofest 2017 - a geocaching event planned for October 21 and 22 based at Waitaki Boys' High School.
Event co-organiser Nellie Vink said about 270 people had signed up, but she was hoping 500 people would take part, as that is the number required for it to become a ''Mega'' event - a massive event for geocachers.
''We have people coming from all over the world; one couple are coming from Denmark
''We have about 30 coming from Australia and people are coming from all over New Zealand to join us at Oamaru Geofest.
''We're just working on making it the best geocaching event in New Zealand.''
Oamaru was chosen for a geocaching event for its natural features, and the town was home to a lot of ''hunters'', Ms Vink said.
''I am based in Christchurch, but wanted to organise an event outside of Christchurch as we had a Mega event there two years ago.
The event's social media page says geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices.
Participants navigate GPS co-ordinates and attempt to find hidden geocaches.
Ms Vink said the Oamaru event's logo was a blue penguin in a Steampunk outfit to reflect the town's Steampunk connections.
The penguin is carrying a sextant; an ''older format of GPS'', Ms Vink said.
