Hide and Seek #21 - Mr Stik-a-Crane (Auckland) Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
By keylev on 09-Jan-16. Waypoint GC69DWZ

I am regretfully archiving this cache since there's been no response from nor action by the cache owner within the time frame requested in the last reviewer note.

Hi nziceman

This geocache was brought to my attention as being in need of an owner maintenance visit and after my previous reviewer note, there has been no owner response. The cache owner needs to check on this cache ASAP and either replace it or archive it, after picking up any geo-litter. See the [maintenance section of the Geocache Listing Requirements/Guidelines](http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx#listingmaintenance).

I've added this cache to my watchlist, and I will check back in four weeks to be sure that the maintenance has been done. In the meantime, I have temporarily disabled this listing. When the maintenance is completed, the owner can enable the listing by clicking on the link below the cache name to return it to active status.

Whatever your intentions, please **post a note** here on the cache page (not email) to let us know that you are still active and maintaining the cache. If a month passes without seeing a response, then I'll assume that this listing should be archived.

Please note, that if a cache is archived due to lack of owner maintenance, the cache is unable to be unarchived.

Regards
TheCoddiwompler

Humans really are lazy and grotty people dumping rubbish everywhere

The local authorities are trying to keep the area clean but locals keep dumping rubbish making it very unpleasant to be looking for caches.

This is somehow a creepy, scary place with all the trash around. Gave my best, but couldnt find.

No luck for me today, just lots if rubbish and mud. So many trees....I am not good at these ones

Lots of rubbish dumped here so didn't feel inclined to make too much of a search.

hunt and ye shall find

@0830
In Auckland for a few days for my daughters wedding this afternoon. Before she announced her wedding date, I had planned to get at least 96 caches of various types sizes and D/T ratings etc. to get my find numbers up to 101 and as my other leap day achievemnets as possible. However once she anoounced leap day as her wedding day I had to pare back my goals for the day to just finding 21 caches as quick as I could first thing in the morning. I chose this area for the concentration of caches. Unfortunately, being under time pressure, if I couldn't find a cache within a couple of minutes, I had to move on. This cache was too elusive for a cacher in a hurry. I did find possible evidence of where it might have been.

Decided to take advantage of the reasonably good weather and head out to complete Puketutu Island. Invited my youngest nephew to join me for some one-on-one caching. I gave him my GPS and let him be our navigator, which he thoroughly enjoyed. All up we located 20 caches, had 3 DNFs and walked 10km.

There was lots of dumped rubbish around here which made manoeuvring around the trees very difficult, but we gave it a good look before admitting defeat.

Took a lot of work, but we got it! Tftc!

Found with duderino64 and gaoliya! Find #11 of the day. Took a solid 20 mins...toughest so far. Right as I was about to give up, she found it! Congrats to her on her 100th find. Left a TB.

After almost an hour of looking with moyifei and Duderino64, I finally found it! It was definitely not hanging in a tree though. It was very muddy when we were looking for it so that might have slowed us down a bit. This was also the 100th cache I've found! Tftc!

Had some fun caching adventures around here before, one involving the NZTravellers duo, but not the Stik-a-Cranes or CO. Our first DNF of the day. This hide type is my nemesis and with so many options in this area it was a needle and haystack situation. We couldn’t spot anything out of place so eventually moved on to the next hide without the gem that this contained. Still a few around here I’ve not got so I might be back another day.

Had no luck today so muddy

We had no idea which tree or height here. We gave it a good go but obviously not good enough.

Nice hide. Tftc

For my personal challenge of working towards getting my calendar on GC.COM to be at least the same shade of green or darker I need to sign off at least 11 caches today. Today's adventure was to go out to the old Mangere Ooo Ponds to find the required number.

Nice to turn the frown upside down.

Cheers for the cache.

Had a DNF on this one years ago. Back today to try again. Wandered along to GZ & very happy to make a nice quick find! Pity the area is still plagued by dumped rubbish. TFTC

A nice and early start in the company of HKCB to locate a few caches around the airport area so that we could get HKCB closer towards his 10,000th cache. Headed from home at 5am and got here just as dawn was about to break, and the good thing being that we pretty much had the place to ourselves the entire day as we headed out collecting a few caches. Today was also to be a good day for testing out the new MTB.

Feel like I have completed this area a few times now over the years and so it was back today clearingout yet a few more. Am sure that this won't be the last time either. I know that I DNF'd it last time as was missing but today it was a nice quick find to get me going.

Nice quick find, thanks for the placement and the cache

With a significant milestone coming up, but still needing about 80 or so caches to get close to the mark a numbers mission was on the cards. With a few new trails placed around Auckland Airport this seemed to be the perfect place to start so having teamed up with Cats&Dragons and with the bikes in tow, we were all set.

As Cats&Dragons had already found a quite a few around this area we mainly focused on those caches that he hadn't found and I'd grab anything else we were also passing. The day was a great success, though we fell a few short of the number needed as we got rained out mid-afternoon.

A huge thanks to all the CO's who's caches we found. Some great quality hides too, which I'll mention in those logs.

Der heutige Tag stand im Sternbild des großen Cachers. Also in etwa wie die letzten Tage. Auf dem großen Spaziergang ging es hier entlang. Nach einiger Suche, manchmal etwas länger, manchmal schneller, haben wir das Logbuch dann schließlich in der Hand gehalten. Strange, that the last cacher (007-Kelkheim) hasn't signed most of the logbooks. No sign, but online log? Just if the owner mind. Thanks a lot for the fun today.

Heute ging es für fazzyOne und mich auf Powertrail-Tour. Unser erster Tag in Auckland stand ganz im Zeichen der Powertrails rund um diese Seen. Bei immer noch bestem Wetter konnten wir doch recht viele Dosen nach meist längerer Suche finden.
Leider scheinen nicht alle Cacher diese Cacherunde so zu würdigen, zumindest steht einer in zwei oder drei Dosen von den über 20, die er geloggt hat. Naja muss ja jeder selber wissen... Danke für diesen schönen Ausflug heute.

Bevor ich die Heimreise antrete war noch Zeit für eine ausgiebige Cachetour Auckland. TFTC

Very dirty GZ, almost gave up because of that but then on the way out the bush spotted the little tube dangling. TFTC!

No joy. I may need a new hobby.

I have been here twice before, both times at night, which probably didn't help...
However back today to get this and an annoying, opps I mean clever G2 cache, thats been giving me trouble as well. Knowing this has just been found last week, I was determined to find it during the day this time. It was nice in the shade, and I spent probably 20 minutes looking at every possible hanging place, before I turned around and there it was right in front of me. Oh well, nice to turn that frown upside down, TFTC

Out today for an attempt on this series of caches. As we were a part of that fateful trip, we decided that it was time that we went and got these caches. So a plan was hatched to grab them sometime these school holidays, and that day was today.

Since the caches along this stretch of road were all on this side of the road, we decided to head on out to Puketutu Island and head back towards the mainland, collection the caches on the way, that way we didn't need to worry about crossing the road. Anyway, we got out of the car and gave GZ a pretty good looking over, but unfortunately, coming up empty handed. We know that it is there somewhere, but today it just eluded us.

Love it. Great little spot!

Surprised myself and made a quick find for a cache hide which is usually very difficult for me. T4tc

Spotted by slieschke while I was still wandering in circles... TFTC

Searched for five minutes but failed to locate the bison. So much rubbish here including an old suite in the trees.

Glad this one was Ayden4asmile's turn Huntsman2015 and I supervising.

A little more challenging that the last couple which was nice. Good to have a bit of a mix. Lots of bottles around. Unfortunately not I a position today to do a bit of a clean up. Still a bit of fun watching out for the odd muggle. Thtc

Great series thanks!!

Last one on my way out to island. I parked by the roundabout which is quite a walk away. I'll drive out here another time and collect the rest another time. On my way back to the car it started to rain so I got very wet. Luckily the wind was behind me so my umbrella kept my head and top half dry and didn't flip inside out in the strong wind. My nice woollen jersey kept me warm and I had a change in the car. Decided it was time to head for home once I got dry again. Actually I had to drive past a few caches so couldn't resist some quick park and grabs. I still have plenty more caches in this area for another day. Thanks for a lovely trail of smiles out here

I still need some Caches to reach the 1000 in NZ, so I went out for a little tour around the airport again. I could find a lot of nice and fairly hidden Caches and had fun.
Last one today, needed a while but found it finally!
Thanks for hiding!

On a 24hr mission to Auckland with Philip.Perry and three of my kids started caching at about 3pm getting back to accommodation at 330am then up and back on the road for a xouple of hours before heading home. We decided we had three caches we had to find this mission then the rest was all about getting our numbers up so concentrated on a high cache area. Meet Sethraven just on dusk who helped us on a cache we couldnt find before she headed home so that was great. Really enjoy caching in Auckland at night no traffic and no muggles to get in our way. We only had a few DNF caches for the day which isnt to bad. Thanks to all th CO for the caches.

Had a cheeky Auckland Mission on the cards this weekend - just had to drop the family off in Pukekohe first and then meet up with Davidsonclan. We had a few caches on the list today but mainly this was just a numbers mission. A late start meant we'd be late to finish but 3am isn't too bad. There were some great finds and some grotty finds but cheers to the CO's and those that help maintain their caches. This cache was found quickly and in good condition thanks to accurate coords a straight forward placement. Cheers nziceman TFTC.

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Completing maintenance in the area. This one took a few minutes to find as someone has moved it! However coordinates are still good, hint is correct so except for all the rubbish that has now been dumped here happy finding

Maintenance run with NZIceman. Was there are placement.

thanks for the cache

Thanks for the cake (Oh sorry my bad I meant cache).

Being in the area tonight it would have been rude not to look for this cache given the name. ..... people had advised me it was a little dodgy at GZ so knew I was in the right spot seeing the dumped lounge suite and rubbish etc.

TFTC.

[;P]

Nice to see that these are well maintained by the owners. Another quick and easy one, tftc

There were some interesting items in the bushes near this cache, but we managed to find our way around them to quickly find the cache. Thanks!

Having started the series at #1 and managing to get to #9 I then was side tracked by some other caches and ended up walking the P series before then walking to this cache to see if I could finish the Hide and Seek series. Quickish find despite having doubts when I read the hint that that would be the case. Thanks for the hide and series keylev. (signed as 7/7/18 rather than 5th by mistake.)

After multiple attempts glad to get at last. 3 of 3 that i got today that i had tried multiple times in the past and had failed.

Thanks for this series. An easy find!

I sussed out Air New Zealand Grab-a-seats from Palmy to Auckland and return last December, $19.00 each way, & paid with airpoints. Again two weeks later, another good deal for the following day. I headed out this way to find as many as possible in six-and-half hours (and walked past five or six caches on the way). Walked about 18 km's - found 20 caches (and had five DNF's). Weather forecasts for several days had been conflicting - but was very pleasant on the day, great for a long walk. My eyesight at present is not 100% (awaiting cataract procedure), and some caches took longer to locate than they should have. Thanks nziceman for the cache.

9.05am - Boy this area could do with a CITO. Quickly found and left. SLTFTC

With Gap (of Fap and Gap)... We head into the final weekend of Planetary Pursuit with about 20 points. It's going to be the 'Charge of the Late Brigade' to get the required numbers to gain all of the souvenirs...

Has someone cleared out their DVD collection at ground zone? The area was littered with cases... A quick find and the last one of this trail. TFTC.

Nice easy find TFTC

Last time we were here the water was right up to roadside and we had no success. Today we were in the area to grab some other caches and were determined to find this and stay as long as it took. We pulled up alongside the cache area and were quite disgusted by the amount of rubbish dumped here. We waited for the phone to settle, and went to where it indicated. We were prepared to be here a while, but then Mrs HeMaLuDy turned around and there was the cache. Pleased to turn the blue face into a yellow one. Found with darthcacher1 and purply

Should i log another failure, does this make me look stupid or dedicated? Its a total tip there know household waist, vegetables, DVD's -- people are disgusting.

I actually visited the site twice today, first time a taxi was sitting there; a taxi ffs? then i cam back a few hours latter.

Dumping area.

Well a wet day in Auckland and down to my last couple of hours in the city and with a hire car I thought I would come up here, walk for a couple and do some park and grabs.

Thank you for this cache, had fun exploring the area and loving the series.

**************************************************************
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Made it to the end of this road and would say it has been quiet a successful day and still have a bit of battery left on my phone.thanks for this shady spot as its very warm today and nice hide.took us longer to get it out but signed eventually.

First find of the day after several dnfs
Needed to hide myself with so many waste trucks going back and forth Nice hide

#4791. I have been up in Auckland for a week on a work trip. I rented a car yesterday and was hoping to find a reasonable number of caches today before dropping off the rental at 3pm and flying back to Wellington. After spending the night in Balmoral at my sisters I headed off to grab a few central Auckland caches and then crossed over to Mangere. Last time I was geocaching at Mangere ponds there was a car with a muggle inside sitting by the GZ so had to drive on by. Today it was deserted. Had a quick poke around to check out the possibilities and was just starting the serious search when I spied the cable tie. Sweet. Cache soon in hand. Signed the logbook and replaced as found. Last signature was from boxhill. The other cachers since then are reliable types so are there two containers on this tree or did they sign the logsheet somewhere I didn't notice. Thanks for the cache nziceman.

Quick find. A lot of rubbish here. Anyway TFTC

2nd DNF for me, gave it a good half hour -oh well

On my annual pilgrimage to Huntly and the Tron with a short visit to the Great Auk to cache while Ms M has a massage.
This was my first find on this trail. Quite tricky too.
TFTC

Cache number 3480 and day 100 of my current streak. After dropping my brother at the airport continued on to clear some of the caches in the area. A lovely spring day and a good day for a little bike ride. After doing some of these last time I was up I knew what to expect. This one took me some time to find. Walked back and forwards until I finally spotted. I know this is number 21 but I have not done them all so will have to come back another time. Thank you for the placement.

A slow methodical search with torch helped find this cache. All good here.

Thanks for another smilie.

Did you know that planning has started for a Mega Event in Wellington in 2018? Check out the details on the [Wellington Event NZ (WENZ) Website](https://sites.google.com/site/wenzgeo2018/home) or visit the event's page on [FaceBook](https://www.facebook.com/groups/590545297801072/)

Hoping to see you at the [Oamaru Geofest](https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC6M2V0_oamaru-geofest-2017) during Labour Weekend 21-22 October 2017. Let's all help this a successful event!

Thanks to the Cache Owner who has gone to the trouble of creating this cache, determining the coordinates and then averaging them to make sure they are accurate, placing the cache and registering it online for our enjoyment. Without Cache Owners doing their bit, there wouldn't be a fun hobby that we all love - so again a big THANK YOU. For our bit, all we need to do is find and log the cache that was carefully placed for our personal enjoyment. As we log it we should consider that the Cache Owner also needs to maintain it - when the log sheet fills up, they must replace it. When the container becomes full of water, they need to empty it. When the container is broken, they need to repair it. When it goes missing they need to find or replace it. Well..... the great news is we can do our bit too - make sure your log doesn't take an entire page - just a name and date. If full of water, empty and dry the cache as best as possible. Be careful when handling the cache and make sure you replace it where you found it. If it has a bag, seal it. Just remember - the Cache Owner showed respect to you by placing the cache - please respect them and fellow cachers that follow you by being careful with the cache. And if you have a spare log sheet and the cache you are at needs one, please leave it behind. Finally, if the cache does need maintenance, please let the Cache Owner know - you can log a Maintenance Log or you can drop a line to the Cache Owner. Above all - have fun and remember the Geocaching Code.

A DNF the last time I was here. Took me a while this time as well, but find it I did. TFTC

Had failed here three weeks ago in the dark but the sun comes up earlier now and it was a bit lighter so finally made the find. Not where I expected it but got the smilie anyway. TFTC

Last one down this road thanks

tftc for the nice wee hide found with abcdf4wonted to kill some cachers up there

Didn't read the logs for this one until I was struggling. But seeing as how TheCoblets had success, I kept looking.....to no avail. Will have to come back after the sun is up someday

We knew this one would be tricky after so many DNFs but reassured by the cache owner's confirmation that it is still in place we were determined not to leave without making the find.
A methodical search eventually led to us spotting something that required further investigation and we were very pleased to discover this elusive little hide.
Although not a "first to find" the log was blank having not been found since it was last replaced giving us that FTF feeling. A very satisfying smiley. TFTC.

DNF

No luck here either

This one beat me

Have been to GZ and can confirm original cache is still in place. Happy hunting.

Another quick trip for a half days caching to the South Auckland area in the company of kiwis69, 11HPH11 & RWIMF. All logs signed as HOLD (Hamilton OverAcheiving Latte Drinkers - ok, but that wasn't my idea).
left Hamilton after a sleep in at 5.30am as we were each on a promise to be home at a respectable time in mid afternoon, which for once we actually managed to achieve. Lots of laughs and the weather even managed to hold off for the morning which meant that we packed it in at about 1pm to head on home.

Cleared these few around here while the area was all quiet and walked in to GZ. Well remember the old series that was here and having the entire area cleared out some time back.
Had a great morning managing a total of 36 finds and four DNFs
Only bothered with a very cursory look after noting all the DNF's

Nope not spotted. Out for a morning caching with Hamilton Overachieving Latte Drinkers, although we realised about half way through the morning only one of us could claim a Latte as our favourite caffinated beverage... We certainly spoke about hot drinks a lot on this trip as we froze in the cold weather. We left Hamilton at 5:30am this morning, and gave up when we were all sopping wet after several rain showers went over. Which was good - to collect over 40 caches, and still be home by 2pm!

Had a good look but no luck. This series is in need of some maintenance

Awwwwwwww no find the cache. Felt slightly better when I saw that more experienced cachers have not either. We gave it our best shot - hopefully the next one will reveal itself.

Well we did not find it either and we did look as good as we could but this place was not a nice place to visit. Used condoms and packets all over the place. Obviously not a good place place for a cache and I would recommend if it is still there that it location gets a little adjusted.

This got the better of me today, I'll try again another day

Not so much a "Did Not Find", more a "Could Not Look".
We arrived at GZ to find a car parked right where we needed to be with two occupants who appeared to be indulging in activities that required privacy. Not wanting to intrude we headed off on a walk around Puketutu Island, returning two hours later to find them still there!!!!! Wow!!! Guess we will have to come back another time.

I have been and verified that the cache is still where I left it. You experienced cachers need to try harder

This one we searched for a while but alas DNF

Out collecting this series with Reveurs and Anastriel. The three of us could find it. There are a number of trees it could have been in, so not sure if we just missed but we did spend some time looking.

I found this one on my fourth day of caching in New Zealand. TNLNSL. Thanks.

Finding out that this cache had been replaced, I returned today with a group of Westies (merlot58, Gorby, and Aiden29), to find the replacement. Sadly after searching for 20-30 minutes we could not locate the cache, and now have to add another DNF to the list

A group of Westies came to provide a few extra eyes to help rustynz search for this cache seeing as it had been replaced. We spent a good 30 mins here searching in every possible location, but with no luck.

Having the afternoon to fill in before my flight home tonight I went in search of the new road to Puketutu Island to continue this series. There are so many places to look here. I did spend quite a bit of time but had to give up in the end

We see that this one was recently replaced, but we were searching the trees all around for a good 20 minutes without spotting it, so finally had to let this one go. Hopefully the container is actually still there and we just missed it!!

Oh my what a place. Looks like it has just been replaced, but there is so much trash here you could have quite the CITO...with the warm weather arrived I have never seen so many sandflies. With the flies and the smell I had a quick glance and hightailed it out of there. Such a shame that reprobates dumping rubbish have ruined what should be a nice spot.

New container placed.

Hide and Seek #21 - Mr Stik-a-Crane (Auckland) was transferred from keylev to user nziceman

At the end of the H&S trail,
I too couldn't find this one

Looks like this one has gone . Will get to the area as soon as possible and complete a maintenance run...

DNF.
Maybe it's gone.

Sad end to this trail, no cache and an unpleasant area to search full of rubbish.

Spent a long time looking for this one, increased my search area, found plenty of rubbish, but no cache

Suspect its gone?

Our first stop for the day and Panda 0505 slips in the wet and has a very wet behind. Mother hasn't packed any clothes but is relieved there is a towel in the car. A quick find and off to the next. TFTC

This one proved the most troublesome, so much rubbish around here and very slippery underfoot.