Train Spotting (Otago) Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand
By Cumbyrocks on 29-Jan-10. Waypoint GC23F5V

Couldn't find the cache so it's bye bye to Thomas and his friends.

I knew I was in the right spot but couldn't find the log book.

The corner are looks like it's been cleared of tree/shrubs recently and I wonder if the cache got cleared as well.

husband on the ball on his way home from work this morning . . quick sign of log then home 2 bed

We had solved this one ages ago, but we did need outside help as the junior dakotacat preferred Postman Pat over Thomas when she was younger. I had to drop off the junior dakotacat at a nearby school for their open day so we made a quick stop early in the morning to find this well hidden cache. It was also nice to have day 7 out of the 31 day challenge ticked off so early in the day. Thanks for the puzzle and the cache Cumbyrocks.

As I pounded the pavement on the way to this well-conceived and hidden cache, I had 'Lust for Life' stuck in my head. Funny, that...TFTC.

Our 3 year old niece wasn't much help on this one since she thinks all trains are just named Thomas, but we got there in the end. Quick find at the final, TFTC

Found on Leftover Day- a caching run dedicated to having another stab at the DNFs, doing those mysteriosly left out, doing the new caches added during the Mega.

One that got left out. I like my finals to have some relationship to the puzzle, so I was a little surprised when the coords led me to a small clump of trees in the middle of a golf course. Ok, whatever. Had a look around. Nothing. Hint makes no sense. Pull up the puzzle, check my figures - Ah ha! I had forgotten to subtract one!. And the new location does relate to trains! Excellent!

Was in Dunedin to attended the first ever Mega in New Zealand. Managed to work it out so that I was able to team up with -gonefishing-, fozzmiester and agcnz on an 8 day caching trip around the South Island, this was day 4 of the road trip.

After finding GC2JPH4 - Finn's Folly (Otago), this was the next puzzle cache that I had on our list that we needed to find today. This was another very clever little puzzle that I managed to solve it very quickly without any issues. Once I had the numbers that I was happy with, I checked it on google earth to check that I was in the correct area and then confirmed with the Geochecker...

Since we were in the area it was a quick walk to GZ once we found a safe parking spot it was a quick and easy walk to the final GZ as we arrived at GZ we managed to find the cache quite quickly, retrieved, signed and replaced it back as found, very quiet at GZ. Thanks Cumbyrocks for placing this cache here and for bringing us to this spot. TFTC TNLNSL (5099). I love solving these types of puzzles, especially these as they are so cool and so much fun to solve.

Day 5 on our 6 day caching trip to Dunedin for the NZ MEGA 2012 event with Gunnie69, Kaisho53, Ozibags, ghostgums and MrMeccano. Once again we hit the road reasonably early with a plan. The day started off spent around Saint Clair, St Kilda, South Dunedin, Kensington, Mosgiel, and Caversham.

Sorry about the bulk log but I am never going to catch up at this rate.

TFTC and puzzle, Cumbyrocks!

As Sheldon would say, I like trains! We also like finding caches too!

Day 5 on our caching trip to Dunedin for the NZ MEGA 2012 event with Gunnie69, Kaisho53, Ozibags, fourbees and MrMeccano. The day started off spent around Saint Clair, St Kilda, South Dunedin, Kensington, Mosgiel, and Caversham..

TFTC Cumbyrocks

Last day for me of Cache Hunting at NZ Mega 21012 with Gunnie69, Ghostgums, Mr Meccano, Ozibags and TheFourBees

Found a park & moved onto GZ

Ghostgums soon had container out with log removed

Group sticker added

We're gone


TNLNSL

Thanks Cumbyrocks

We were grateful for the parking nearby as it could have been awkward otherwise. With the van stationary, we jumped out and made our way to GZ. A nice little area as we walked through I must say... [^]

Once in location the hunt ensued and Ghostgums came up with the goods in no time at all... Hmm, ok, I'll bring a sticker over for the log then shall I...

Business done and dusted and the cache back in location, we moved on. Thanks for the puzzle and the cache. It was found in the company of fellow Queensland hunters Kaisho53, OziBags, TheFourBees, Ghostgums and Mr Meccano.

Cheers Cumbyrocks.

A fun puzzle - we still have quite a bit of the related paraphernalia stored in various toyboxes. TFTC

Found as part of an 8 day NZ Mega Event trip. Day 4 - Dunedin and surrounds. Thanks to the owners of the 500 + caches which I had the pleasure to find along the way and which contributed to a very fun trip.

Found this on our return from caching on the otago peninsula for the day and the final GZ was on our way home. No trains in the area today so we found the cache and signed the log. TFTP and cache

Caching with Ghostgums, Mr Meccano, Gunnie69, kaisho53 and fourbees while attending the NZ Mega. Found near the train thingi. TFTC Cumbyrocks.

Came here with fozzmiester and Yeetrees on a day's caching around Dunedin while here for the MEGA event. I had solved the puzzle several months ago in anticipation of coming here so it was very satisfying to score it at last. A quick find - signed log, TFTC.

Found on the great post-Mega roadtrip with agcnz, fozzmiester and yeetrees. A great trip from Otago to Wellington, taking in many backroades and some fantastic scenery along to way to over 400 caches. Thanks to all the cache owners for the great caches we found on the way.

Thanks for the cache, Cumbyrocks.

#4226. Troodles made up a tape of the a whole bunch of episodes of the TV shows for the boys. The theme music is burned into my brain. We both worked on this puzzle and soon had it solved. If we had had any further children, we naming would have been easy (Henry, Gordon, James, ...). TFTC.

Solved a wee while back. Great to collect while here for the NZMega. On our last day of caching before heading home.

With sons named Thomas and Edward, both Thomas the tank engine fans in their younger days, this was an easy puzzle to solve.
The weather was atrocious when we got to GZ, so we couldn't believe that a muggle was sitting very close by! Fortunately, we were able to take a circuitous route around her and believe we were unobserved as we quickly unearthed the cache, signed the log and returned it.
TFTC.

My apologies for the lateness of this log. I'm back in Dunedin for a few days and only now realized I'd missed login a few found with Rosmar and FMZ on a cache raid during the NZMega event. Seemed like I was a yoyo in and out of the car.... and I missed out on logging a few. Mighta been the run-in witht eh cops that night! They musta been wondering about all the rental cars and nuts peering in bushes and de-webbing pipes and poles all over town! I think we quit at about 3AM....

'Tanks' for placing this cache and adding to our fun. It's a player driven game after all.

Found with renelm. TFTC

Took a little bit of hunting but go there.

Found while attending the Mega

Found at 9:08:00 AM. In Dunedin for the Mega and seeing some of the sights in the city. Had a little help with the puzzle and it was good to get to GZ and complete this cache.

Thanks Cumbyrocks

#3302 Attending the NZ Mega with DazzPete. One of the few puzzles that was presolved prior to our trip, we were well versed and had a certain level of expertise given our exposure by family. When we arrived at GZ we met a lady who happened to be the wife of one of the caterers for the event, a muggle herself she and her little boy were interested in our hobby. So we gave on overview whilst The GeoPrincess located the cache. We gave the little boy a souvenir Pathtag which he was pretty chuffed with. Our thanks to Cumbyrocks for the fun puzzle & nicely tucked away cache. Cheers from Australia [^]

Us again! Still in the company of skullracing and finding ouzzles thanks to the expertise of the Queen! We were sprung by a muggle who asked if we "were ding that geocaching thing". turns out her husband is catering the Mega Event!

The find went to the geoPrincess with geoD being distracted by the cache guardian [^]

TNLN SL TFTC

We solved a few puzzles at home with some help of our geo friends in the hope of finding some whilst here for the MEGA.

So today was to be a day of finding puzzles and attending the CITO event.

On our approach there was a muggle enjoying some sun nearby on the bench and we were a bit nervous but sure enough GZ was out of his sight.

Like the relevance of GZ

TFTPC Cumbyrocks

This one was solved at home. Troublesome task as not every piece of information was available in one spot

Today we came by the cache during a raid around town. Very fitting GZ for this one. We managed to walk to it from the wrong side, but quickly realized we had come in from the wrong end.. Quick found when we came to the correct side It gets a point.

Found at 16:37 - #3038 - with aedk (until the 18th known as Alexesmann)

TFTC

Found as part of the Gangsters- The Rats, Farmer Frentzen and Big Matt and Shell- as part of our NZ Mega Event Tour 2012.

An enjoyable one to solve- shame the kids are not old enough to help! We were around this area late in the day so stopped off for this mystery that we had solved. TFTC!

Found this cache as part of the Gangster's Aussie assault on the first NZ Mega with Big Matt, FarmerFrenzten and steeba.

We solved this as one of our many caches around town.
Arriving at GZ we soon spotted the hide.
Thanks

After having an unmarked police car pull over to check out what we were doing near the surf club, we headed on down to this cache. A pretty quick find with Indiana Jill and rosmar. TFTC!!!

Out and about on a MEGA cache raid with IndiannaJill and team FMZ. Great puzzle which took a bit of researchand a good little hide TFTC

Found during 'The Gangsters' trip to New Zealand, being Big Matt, The Rats, steeba and myself.

One of several puzzles we worked on for the trip.

Thanks Cumbyrocks for the cache.

Our 6410th overall find.

Found on the "Gangsters" NZ Mega 2012 trip with steeba, The Rats and Farmer Frentzen. One of the many puzzles we solved before leaving home. A quick find.

Thanks Cumbyrocks for the cache. Stats for our trip can be found here http://www.campersdownunder.com.au/geocaching/NZTrip/stats2.html

A clever wee puzzle and the GZ was a great wee twist to the GZ. Locate just fine. TFTP

Reperio at 1920.

After spending the morning caching around the inner city of Dunedin with Roostaman, we headed away from the chaos of traffic and muggles for the solitude of some scenic countryside caches. This was one of the many puzzles we solved before heading over to NZ...and today we managed to make the find.

Gratias Cumbyrocks.

Found with the Earthbounds on a great Mega caching day in NZ. An easy find on a cold afternoon. TFTH...SL...TNLN

Worked this out before we came overand we made a quick find of an excellently sized cache?
Thanks for the caching fun

Nice spot for a cache

We enjoyed solving this one and Marcello1 and Tankboy5 really enjoyed finding the cache! TFTC.

another easy find. thanks

nice big container.
tftc

Solved this one back in OZ and found with troobloo and Bushbaby321 while at the NZ MEGA. Enjoyed the puzzle and the theme. SL TN Left some PT's along the way. T4TC

In town for the NZ Mega 2012. Attended a fun morning up at the Mega site......and spent the afternoon on a caching run with Karma Reprint and Kiwi_moose. A fun wee puzzle; cache quickly cornered by KM. Cheers.

A nice quick one, we did hear a big train somewhere nearby while we logged this one. Out on a MEGA caching run with Karma Reprint and Team Gators. TNLN Thanks

A nice wee puzzle, and a bit of an aha moment at GZ.

A days caching at the 2012 Dunedin Mega, with the Lincoln lads, Kiwi Moose and Team Gaters Thanks for the hide.

Another great find and puzzle on the Emvy_Us / Waiiti20 mega tour of the Southern South Island. TFTC

Thought I was past Thomas, but a great grandchild soon changes that. Solved back home in OZ in readiness for trip across the ditch to the NZ Mega. Found with Coruze and Bushbaby321.
SL.....TNLN.....T4TC Cumbrocks
troobloo

Solved some time ago and was in Dunedin for the Mega so was able to complete the paperwork tonight. TFTC

I think Mr B probably had his boys solve this one for us so I thought I should at least help out with the find. Quick and easy to locate at gz. Thanks.

With two boys I was trained for this one. Another one to add our Mega totals.
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I visited your cache as part of a week-long self indulgent Geocaching trip from Nelson to Bluff and back again. I apologise for not leaving a completely personalised log, but I do want to thank you for the time, money and effort you put into placing your caches. Without people like you who place caches, there would be nothing for the rest of us to come and find. You are fantastic

This cache was found as part of the New Zealand MEGA 2012 Event trip.

This was on our trip through the Mega Caching Expedition to Dunedin with Wazza&Kara.

Great work in your effort to provide this cool puzzle cache.

TFTC Cumbyrocks. Appreciate it

We had solved this puzzle before arriving in Dunedin for the Mega Event.
Once at the GZ, locating the cache container was relatively straight forward.
Thanks Cumbyrocks for this neat Mystery cache.

They're two they're four they're six they're eight
Shunting trucks and hauling freight
red and green and brown and blue
they're the really useful crew

All with different roles to play
Round Tidmouth sheds or far away,
Down the hills and round the bends
Thomas and friends

With three boys I know these engines well!! Due to computer hard drive failure I had lost the coordinates and not redone the puzzle. Went with a group night caching and we just couldn't figure out how to get to gz. So this goes back on the list for next time I'm in Dunedin. Especially as I have been told what makes the final location the right one.

Went out after tea for a few more puzzle caches Stretch0 and I braved the patchy rain and biting wind an evening find - was pleased our workings out put us in the right spot - another pre-solved puzzle whilst here for the NZ Mega thanks for the puzzle and the cache

Worked this one out in the months prior to our trip down for the Mega and after a bit of fine tuning in identification we had a green light for the result so the next part was the log in hand and headed out trying to grab a few caches in the wind and dodging the rain in the process so was really good to finally grab the cache and sign. Thanks for the cache and puzzle was a great time

Had to research harder than most but was enjoyable to study these sturdy much loved trains. Was really pleased they lined up well!

Solving this one bought back childhood memories of reading the Thomas books
At GZ, cache looked like it had been muggled with lid off and contents scattered around. Gathered everything up, looks like everything still there and re-hid, hopefully not so easily found by muggles. Took TBs as wouldn't want to see them lost.

Had to check some of our answers with the train buff in the family then off to locate. After finding container and contents exposed, have re-hid cache and hope it isn't too difficult for the next person. Found with debsnz

I knew most of these characters as I had recently bought most the stories for two of my grandchildren. And of course I had to read the books to them in turn learning who the characters are.

In: Geocoin.

Cheers for the cache.

Worked this one out before my last Dunedin Trip 18 months ago! Found on my caching trip to Dunedin. Dropped off 2 TBS. TFTC

After a quick check with Mr 7 and his Thomas books we had the co-ordinates and were off after a meeting at night. Found with Ingidayna and Cacheman Chris. Well hidden and designed, great spot for the final, very meaningful. TFTC

tftc

A night find with cahemanchris and castlewood-crew. Had thought I had solved this one sometime ago but clearly it had been a few years since the thomas days and had not got it correct, so thanks to castlewood-crew who also had made the wrong selection but had corrected the booboo took us to the final YAY TFTC

Found the cache and put back to match hint. Our boy has a whole box of Thomas.

Visited today and replaced log book. All good again.

Looks like it has been muggled and needs some maintenance. Stay tuned!

Found it but unfortunatly has been muggled Looks like workmen removed corner bush and exposed it.We put it back together and put it beside a big rock under some tussock.It is still fairly exposed so might need to be shifted also log book was missing

nice train one I see why you choose this place. Just got be careful with the area as some people use it as no 2 toilet stop. Was not keen using my hands to move bush around 8th find for the day

Forgot to log this cache when I found it with sonia26642
TFTC

Solved this one at home yesterday before coming down today to visit the fam.
Had a bit of trouble with one of the friends....seems he's been rejected as an official friend of Thomas on the internet!

But I used to LOVE this TV show! This and Pingu... Oh, and Sesame Street... those were the shows of my childhood...

So... When I came down, went for the cache, and it was quickly spotted...caches are so much bigger down here! Nice to find something of decent size. You don't get many this big in Central Auckland!

TFTC!!

this one awakened the kid in me:-) my first mystery, good fun to work out and hard to wait for opportunity to go and get it! great spot, and even better puzzle, thanks heaps!

Early evening hunt, with Miss Woody, who worked out the co-ords and led the hunt at GZ.
TFTC.

Had a bit of a scrabble looking for this one until I checked again to see what I was looking for, which reduced the options somewhat. Great to find a decent sized box for a change.

TNLN. TFTC.

A fun one to do No trains to be spotted at final though

found late at night, fun puzzle, had to check with the kids im not to up on thomas

great wee cache thanks

Had fun doing the puzzle. Didn't have a clue who any of the trains were so google came in very handy. Found cache fairly quickly - there's a good selection of toys in there which was good to see. TFTC.

TFTC

tftc

Asked Little Train Nut (aged 3) for help on this one as we knew he was the expert! He loved telling us the answers and gave us a green car to swap for some train swag. He must have got it right as the WP was spot on!

Left the Great Train Race travel express to start it's race here.

Went on a caching marathon today, trying to see how many we could get in one day. Number 12 for the day, nice cache. Thanks!

Today S-L-P (a.k.a cousin Sarah) and I attempted a bit of a caching marathon, the aim was to get at least 50 finds in 24hrs. Our efforts were hindered somewhat by a later than expected start to the day, meaning we missed out on a good four hours of caching. This cache is where we started our marathon effort (which hasn't yet finished, we are just home at the moment throwing together a few logs while we wait for a delicious pot roast to keep us going for a few more hours) so it was number 12 for today. Had it stamped on 17 January 2011 at 13:39:00.

Thanks!!

5769 Asked the kids whether they wanted to do some virtual train spotting... and they did, cool spot, surprised how windy it got here today, TFTC

Didn't need the kids to help with this one, as could remember most of the answers from my youth. For what it's worth, I'm definitely more of a fan of Ringo Starr's original narration, and my favorite episode is the one where James comes off the tracks

Great idea for a kid- and nostalgic adult-friendly cache, cheers.

This was never going to be an issue to solve with Guwapo's well known interest in planes and trains, especially the ones shown in the clues - see photo. Only took him a few moments to solve without any issues. However the weather wasn't all that nice this afternoon so he stayed at home playing with his trains while Papa went and logged the find. Salamat!!

I think I am now a qualified train spotting story reader. Cache was a little further away than I was expecting. Good sized cache full of goodies. TNLN T4TC.

Brings back memories!

Fun cache to decrpt. I alway love this location too! TFTC

Quick find TFTC

Solved puzzle at home. Muggles eating fish n chips at GZ on my first visit to GZ. All clear later in the day. Found without clues as left at home. TFTC

I thought this puzzle would be really easy, because we have a much-read collection of these books, but the TV models aren't always the same as the book illustrations... Great idea, thanks Cumbyrocks, and the place has many pleasant memories for our family too.

Had a flat battery this afternoon, so after the AA man got the car started I HAD to go for a half-hour drive- the ideal excuse to go geocaching rather than run errands?

A great puzzle for the kids to do, they enjoyed it. A lovely spot, thanks very much Cumbyrocks!

TFTC SL kids loved this one they worked out the numbers I have read them these stories many many times great stash in the cache took stickers, put in marbles jandel & shell sorry we had no trains.

No. 545

Quick find once the puzzle had been solved.
TFTC

FTF under 5. Thanks for the great prize.
We had no trouble solving the puzzle on the night the cache was published, as the kids had all the required resources on hand.
Thanks.

I was never into these train stories, so apart from one of the numbers, the rest were a bit of a mission, got there in the end, though. -TB TFTC

Found this with yum9me! Taken far to long to get around to logging!

Found this one with terman8or. Also had a walk into the park. It's changed a bit since I was a kid. TFTC.