Commander K and the Dinosaur Disaster! (Canterbury Darfield, South Island, New Zealand
By One-Fang on 26-Jul-09. Waypoint GC1WCPW

#3878 Today is day 10 of my geocaching holiday in New Zealand. I'm driving around the outskirts of Christchurch and finding some geocaches in the area.Yesterday, I mistakenly signed the log of [Questionable COs: A-Z Roll of Honour Challenge](https://coord.info/GC44FDK) without being qualified. I was missing O, X, and Y, but I could only use two wild cards. The closest "O" in Christchurch was disabled and the CO needed more time before they could replace it. This one became my best bet. I tried to solve the puzzle last night, but it led me nowhere. I contacted several past finders, and the guardian of the cache gave me some pointers. Apparently, I got three of the six waypoints correct. Honestly, I still had no clue how the last three digits fit, but there were only so many combinations before I got the green light. After, my trip to the north. I drove an hour to this one just to make it back to Questionable COs: A-Z Roll of Honour Challenge](https://coord.info/GC44FDK) before dark.At GZ, even with no muggle, it still took me some time to find the cache. It was more of a knee height than just above GL, in my opinion. Also, the area definitely could use some CITO. One-Fang, thank you for the cache!-crystaloops from Taipei, Taiwan on October 10, 2024 @ 18:08:34[GC1WCPW] Commander K and the Dinosaur Disaster! (Canterbury was a D1.5/T1.5 Regular Mystery Cache at the time of finding.

Attempt 2: With a little bit of help, I managed to find it.Thanks

No luck trying to check my answer with the geochecker. I don't know how I can't find the right answer because the puzzle is meant for kids...

Very Happy to find this replaced cache and sign the log. Thanks for this puzzle and the cache One Fang and Jude_E.

Found the replaced container and log. Thanks for the cache, it's been a bit lonely!

As I look after this for One-Fang the cache is being replaced. Size has changed. Now a black paint test pot.

Our fifth and last stop on our Darfield walking tour. Passed a cop car waiting to catch anyone speeding as they arrived in Darfield. Had solved this online - although noting that pterosaurs and marine reptiles are not actually dinosaurs! We ducked under and searched... very likely spot that fits hint...but found nothing but rubbish. Been well used by locals in here? One bit of rubbish was a notepad cover - which does look like it might have come from a logbook - so wondering whether the cache has gone.

Had a good search at GZ but didn't find anything. Thinking it may have gone?

How did I not find that in 2017?! Pretty sure there where more hunts than the one DNF logged too. What a muppet.

Today I ducked for cover and instantly saw the cache. DNF avenged!

TFTC One-Fang
Find number 4894

(Logs signed Rincewind3 or R3 if saving space. Occasionally signed BRN if caching as a team with *B*o&bronnie, *R*incewind3 and *N*otManlyJack)

After spending the winter woofing on the west coast and the last 3 months in greymouth it's time to head off and start travelling again but not before a couple of search and rescue events in my old stomping ground...
After a weather bomb put pay to my goat pass trip and plan b and c , made the call to stay in oxford for a couple of nights giving me time to grab a few bonus caches...
Had time to kill before the weekends event kicks off so tidying up the darfield caches...
Decided to give this a crack despite the dnf , had a wander around the domain with things falling into place quiet well even without one of the Waypoints I came up with a likely hiding spot and bingo there it was all safe and sound and ready for the next finder.. tftc ..pretty successful couple of hours spent around town...

On our way to West Coast and picking up caches (including puzzle solves) along the way.

This one has us stumped! Went to the waypoints and found nothing. We must be missing something.

I was attending a caravan rally in the Domain and I thought it would be rude to not do it.

I gathered all the required info and then signed the log. It looks like a couple of muggles found it and signed the log as well. I covered it up a bit better than how I found it.

Cheers for the cache.

We finally found it. Four years ago we looked for this one. No luck. Mission fail. Thought we had it but no no no. Today was the day. It has been within walking distance of our house. It needed to be found. So little miss three and I hopped on the bike and went Dino hunting (playground hunting in her book). Then it started raining half way through... little miss three said it doesn’t bother me so we carried on. We found the last two dinos and then found a dry spot to calculate the final. Lots of trash at go. Thankful for the hint with the toddler in tow. It didn’t take long until the cache was in hand. Finally. Thanks for the cache!

So tough but got there in the end! Important to note trees have grown since the clues were written. Was certain the cache had been muggled with all the rubbish at GZ but alas it is in perfect nick. Awesome puzzle guys, thanks

We rounded up the dinosaurs on a previous visit almost exactly 9 years ago, and have been keeping them in our garage, until we were able to sort them out correctly, and make a return visit, which we did today. It took us a while to locate the well hidden cache, spotting the micro replacement first, however, only the correct one fitted properly with the hint. We placed the micro inside the main cache. TFTC

I have had this one in the solved but unfound pile for quite a while.
Was in Darfield today so headed round for a look. The replacement cache was soon in hand. TFTC.

There are two caches currently at gz. The correct one is a large plastic tubular one painted dark green with a pink dinosaur and log in it. It has been in place all the time and ought not have been replaced really. I will take the new pill bottle one away next week and return it to Mr Cuddly Brick. Any questions about the cache send to me as I am looking after this for One-Fang. Thanks

Found an empty container, so changed with another from the caching chicken that's just up the road a little.
Out with 2Wombles hitting some caches and fun. Logged as 2CBs
Thank you for bringing me to this area One-Fang and for placing and maintaining Commander K and the Dinosaur Disaster! (Canterbury geocache from Mr Cuddly Brick
Found on this awesome day the 9 December 2019.
Cache number # 2313
View and subscribe:
Mr Cuddly Bricks Geocaching Adventures Channel @
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Track me at TrackMe
http://cuddlybrick.trackme.life/

Had arranged a big caching day out with Mr Cuddly Brick and this was the area we decided we wanted to head to. To clear out the new Smurfs caches, and other random caches that we passed. Logs were either signed 2wombles & MCB, or 2CB, or Mr Cuddly Brick depending on who had the pen at the time.

A perfect day for caching. Not too hot and not too cold!

Unfortunately, this cache was destroyed when we were here. The container remained, but the contents and log were missing. Mr Cuddly Brick replaced the cache so it's findable again.

Afternoon adventuring with daughter and granddaughter for some caches, talks, and coffee! TFTC!!

31/07/2019 5:30:00 PM
9061
If we wanted to fill our calendar in 11 times over, both me & mum needed caches today, so we decided to head out for a drive together after we finished working for the day. Took Miss 2 in the car, and figured the closest place where we both had at least 4 park n grabs closeby -ish to each other was around Darfield - so a drive to Darfield it was!!

We found 10 in total, but each only 8 new ones - plus had a coffee as far as Springfield! A pretty productive afternoon if you ask me! Hahaha!

TFTC!!

Finally!! We do not know how many times we have stopped here just to fail again. But today we managed this great adventure and the cache was soon in our hands. Thanks for the cache and maintaining it.

A nice day out in Darfield in the domain. No weekend sport on so able to stroll about without any muggle interest. Learned the value of reading the cache description well on this one - lots to use for working out what was where. I had googled the names as well and that was also of some help. Will keep an eye on this for the CO as it is right by my work. Thanks, One-Fang! #3185

Got the numbers sorted but no joy with the cache.

My coords check out okay, and I found a suitable hint item. No sign of a cache though. Not sure if I'm going blind or what. Had a good fossick around in there, and donated blood, but no joy today.

Head scratching at a couple of WPs but went with our hunch and yes, green tick! Quick find once at GZ, all good here. Surprising few log entries for a cache that is 5 years old, but I suppose a couple of the WP's are a little bit obscure in there description. TFTC

Hmm, we must have been doing something wrong here. The first waypoint put us in the middle of the pond, and the second on the very edge of it. After this we gave up for the time being...

Went on the mission and found it. All the dinos are there waiting for the next person to find them.

Commander KR to base; all dinosaurs are still captive and penned in the cache. A quick find on a winter tour down the West Coast. The weather is fantastic (though cool), and the scenery fantastic. What a beautiful country we live in. Thanks for the hide.

Thank goodness there were no dinosaurs hiding next to this cache. I enjoyed doing the puzzle .

Heading for home after a caching weekend to Greymouth with TheWanglers. Solved this an age ago (using GoogleMaps/Earth)......never near enough to make a find. Detoured slightly to tick it off. Nice one. Cheers.

We were out having Mothers Day lunch at Darfield and while Mum sat in the lovely autumn sun Dad took the girls for a long walk. Quickly on to idea and had the coords and then the final in hand. Thanks for a very clever cache that has given me some ideas....

Boy it was good to come by and grab this one. I visited a few months back to check out the WPs and did a bit of research and tried to capture the dinosaurs. I just couldn't nail them and I contacted CO and it was confirmed I had the correct information. So I was confident of two/three of the locations and dinosaurs and it was a bit of trial and error before I got the green tick. We grabbed some lollies at the research centre before we headed to GZ and we went in... we got them. They were all in the cache. My wee one happily swapped a dino. We safely returned the cache for later retrieval. Good fun.

Number 2 of 8 for our wee adventure today.
Thanks for the cache.
#1076

Accepted the challenge and set out to track these dinosaurs down. Successfully managed to clear the area of all dinosaurs other than the ones requiring specialist equipment,but today they were otherwise contained. Just as well as soon after containment and return to Darfield Tech a group of KidsFest participants arrived for their geocaching experience.
Thanks for the cache and the clean new logbook.

Came here this evening at dusk, a short diversion while staying overnight in Darfield. There seem to have been a few changes to a couple of the waypoints since the cache was published, but a bit of semi-intelligent guesswork succeeded well and I was able to get the geochecker tick on the first try. No problems finding the cache - unlike a few others in Darfield! - spotted it from a few metres away as I approached. The cache was in good condition and the logsheet left by the previous finder was fine. Enjoyed the puzzle, thanks for the cache and for bringing me here.

Really enjoyable multi, and solved with a little help. Found the cache container with only the cover of the notebook inside, and all the pages were scattered in the undergrowth and bleached by the rain. Managed to read "Haldane" on one page. However the pencil and one swap was still there. Put in a temporary page for signing. Thank you.

we found it but some muggle had emtied it out and the owner will need to go and set it up again

took us a while to solve
lots of fun

Woohoo! So happy to find this on the first attempt given so many others haven't. I'm not gonna lie, reading the cache page before I came out this morning I was a little scared (probably not the right word), but I followed the CO's instructions and did some prep work and found out about some dinosaurs - what I was supposed to do quickly became obvious. At GZ it was a quick walk around and a quick find. Too bad it's not a higher difficulty rating - oh well. Nice puzzle/multi - unique. TFTC (439)

Did a bit of research for this one once we figured out what was required. In fact, since we live in Auckland, we went a bit further and used the internet and logic to get the final co-ordinates. The final location looked good so we stopped by on our travels today to find the cache. Very happy to see a cache in exactly the spot we had worked out. Thanks for a fun logic puzzle.

# 3872

I started this a couple of days ago, but needed to do some research to match up the numbers correctly with the waypoints. Returned today and soon had the cache in hand. TFTC.

That's why it's a puzzle cache. You really need to solve the logic puzzle. You can't just turn up and expect to get this. The cache description does say you need to use your "dino knowledge", so a very quick Google of each type of dino listed should be extremely useful in working out which ones were found at which waypoint.

We really didn't have a clue what we were doing. Walked to all co-ordinates but nothing jumping out at us so eventually gave it up.

Some nervous moments until it all fell into place. Made harder by Mr KE inclduing a waypoint from another multi... Yeah... awesome cache-thanks!

Cdr KE reporting in Sir!! All dinos accounted for Sir!! Yes we did have fun Sir!! (I mean Ma'am of course but used Sir for effect - sorry). Great cache, thanks.

This ended up being a rather hard cache - disclaimer, we did do it at night. Probably took around 60-90 minutes to do, and we were very lucky to have smartphone to be able to research in the field. Difficulty rating definitely belies itself with a 1.5 - I'd rate it closer to 3 or 3.5 Tried 2 -3 solutions before coming up with something that looked good, and Moneydork them managed to find the cache! Woot woot! Good to clear these caches out. Cheers Gav [7996]

Now this one was very tricky.
Narrowed it down to two options and then... go it! TFTC

Bit more involved than I'd expected. However the final turned out to be in a place that made sense. Thanks.

On our way back from the coast for the day, with time to spare so more cache to find.

Thanks Bitsprayer

Nice quiet spot for GZ. Tricky location to get to. TFTC

After a bit more thinking about what I'd seen at the waypoints and a bit of guesswork came up with a few solutions of which the first one paid off. A quick grab of the cache on the way back from Ashley Gorge New Year's celebrations. Glad to have this one off the list finally. TNLN Thanks

We started wandering around the waypoints, somewhat uncertain as to exactly what were looking for, but after a while, we think we worked out what we were supposed to be doing, and will have a look at what we have gathered, in preparation for a return visit some time.

There is nothing to be "missing" at the WPs. The only physical thing out there is the final cache. Sorry to the DNFs, but I suspect they simply didn't do their dino research first. This is a puzzle, after all, folks. It's quite clearly not as simple as turning up and expecting to get it from the layout of the land.

Had all the info from HQ but still managed to botch up this mission. We seemed to be able to come up with more than one plausible co-ordinate much to our Commanders annoyance. In the end we succeeded in finishing the mission by trial and era rather than skill. There's always more than one way to skin a cat they say and some of the worlds greatest discoveries have been made by chance...Thankfully for us this cache did not turn out to be a Dinosaur Disaster and we can now say, mission accomplished!

In anticipation of a trip out this way, Captain Slackbladder (aka StreetWalker) did some number crunching and aerial reconnaissance (via google maps) as it appeared some of the WPs were MIA. Aided by a previous log, he identified a couple of possible sites for the final.
Found in the first place he looked! Our luck was holding up for this caching expedition.
TFTC.

#1494 (4/11 on a Sunday drive). Recent reports from our scouting parties were that the dinosaurs had become extinct (who would have thought?). Could I, the calculating Captain Slackbladder, devise a plan of attack before General MuclhIt and I sallied forth the next morning? It would have to be a cunning plan. A plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weaselsaurus. The cache lising was carefully scrutinised. Interesting intel was noted from the surprising source of Private BaldEdRick's log entry. Detailed photos were examined (taken from Zeppelins, and captured from enemy Air Marshall von Google). Eventually some plausible-looking coordinates emerged. Today we visited the coordinates, and before Lord Flashheart could say "Woof" we had cache in hand. We were mighty relieved we didn't have to swot up on our dinosaurs and go hunting for the blighters in no mans land. TFTC.

This entry was edited by StreetWalkerNZ on Friday, 01 October 2010 at 13:55:08.

Wandered around a few of the WP's but no luck on any of them. I'll put this on my watch list to keep abreast of developments Cheers.

Mission abandoned.Tried a couple of different co-ordinate combinations, but with no geo-checker for confirmation this mission was going nowhere fast. Heading back to base for a de-brief on where we went wrong. Over and out.

Did a crash course in paeleontology (spent half the course trying to spell the word about what we were studying!) but not much use if we can't spot the dinosaurs in the first place ! After starting the dino hunt, we came up with a general strategy of attack. Dinos were rounded up, but full out battle broke out amongst them & ...... they disappeared again! Well, haven't completed course on Dino Resources Management so will have to wait! This was last of 3 DNFs today ! Mission aborted today, Report by Commander-in-training.

Had a BBQ lunch out this way so poped ion here before hand. Made a false start before realising what we were meant to do. Jacob liked the print out of dinosaurs we took along.

Did all the dino work on this one some months ago but when it came to visit the final there was an occupied motorhome parked right where I wanted to go. Quick finish off in 32 degree heat this morning (10:45) and then a dash back to the cool cachemobile. Phew! Thanks for the cache.

We hummed and haaed about doing this one as it was rather damp, but were glad we did in the end. We had fun trying to guess which dinosaur went with which location, then used our new mobile broadband to check a few of our theories(which were mostly correct). Then when we zoomed off to the final we were surprised to find we were the second to find! TNLN TFTC

Having a few caches not found along Main South road and a couple in Darfield headed out today to polish them and this one off. Had a bit of trouble trying to decide which clue with which letter and after a couple of wrong ideas found it on the 3rd attempt. The cache might not have been so tricky if I had learnt about the dinosaurs before hand. The rush of trying for FTF. Huge area and a nice walk (With no hills like some of the caches I have done recently) FTF to boot My 4th in about 4 days Now it just leaves K and the Zombies. TFTC TNLN

[This entry was edited by Sevren on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 10:02:21 PM.]

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