Hands on (Canterbury) Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand
By La Vista on 10-Apr-10. Waypoint GC266YC

Archiving - still seems active.

Sad to let this cache go but current circumstances means Adieu, au revoir, & a wave goodbye! Thanks for visiting & getting your hands on this.

Attempted search & rescue today, in pouring rain too! Looks like a complete strip for as far as eye can see & some trees already removed & replanting. [xx(] Hmm other possibilities but will await completion of the landscape project before placing new cache. Ah the joys of urban caches.

Gardener struck

Will see what can be done in such circumstances.

Went to find tonight and hello, the gardener has been busy. No sign of ivy on the wall and certainly no sign of cache. Wish I had tried earler to get this cache

On our visit of Christchurch we went shopping there. We found the cache at its former place. Today (21-1-11) we saw the hedge was gone. So we wish the owner that he will find a good new place for the cache. TFTC!

Very tricky spot to get to in the daytime, found it quite quickly at night

Our 400th find and a tricky wee hide. JK used the hands on approach. We nearly gave up. It was a good thing it was late and the shops were closed. Thank you for the hint.

Ironic - we cycled here and were picking off this cache when a new one was being published that we were going to pass on the way home if we had the information ! We were 2 hrs late . Yes you have guessed it, La Vista was the first to find. It was obviously set as a tempting trap. Well constructed cache in an interesting area to say the least. Not sure if Little G are fully upto speed with this Urban caching yet or ever will. Thanks LGM

Quick find in the morning with the family whilst out on an adventure. Early enough in the day so that their weren't too many about. Still had to pick the right time to make the grab.....having wee dudes pondering the hand prints helped!

A quick cache dash.TFTC

Checked out GZ. Cache is OK but due to damage in the area, have made a change in location, hence a change in the clue.

Foumd it on the second look. Lots of muggles so kids were doing the handprint thing as distraction. TFTC

*CAUTION SPOILER* I arrived at GZ just after 10pm to find the surrounding bush ripped apart and the cache lying on the ground near GZ. I tried to repair the bush but it was a bit beyond that...I replaced cache behind the pipe for safe keeping until the owner can come and see whether the cache needs to be moved to avoid the likely trimming that will probably now take place thanks to the damaged bush...TFTC.

The first in a night out with Wahine. TFTC. Also thanks for the advice on using my old palm pilot - programme sorted and now mostly paperless. Cheers

Lucky this cache had nearby necessary supplies for the plonkers - one of whom left home with no GPS and the other who took the GPS with flat batteries! Out night caching with Mermaid66 on a bit of a La Vista trail. Never looked at this specific spot. Muggle factor pretty high. TFTC!

Nice easy find on a Friday afternoon TFTC!

TFTC- nice fun public one...could be a challenge for most !

Nice Place, but I didn't found the box. My friends were hungry and gone away. I dont want them waiting for me so I breack up.

TFTC

Second La Vista cache of the day. I have been by here before, but was thwarted by the muggles. But a bike "repair" in the area gave me the cover I needed to make the grab. Cheers for the cache!

Ah the name all makes scene now.

Bitsprayer

Certainly busy today but fortunately the clebrity was to one side!
Thanks
erninz

Interesting clue

Agree high muggle zone but whwn asked by a muggle what we were doing we explained the basics but omitted the detail. She was most impressed and then left us alone.

Easy find in the dark, can see why you have to be stealthy...

Sure is a busy location on a Sunday afternoon. Located JK and got lucky. TFTC

Found with Mr B while on a Canterbury cache raid. JK almost managed to sidestep us on the outside here but we just managed to tackle him before he scored under the post. Enjoyed the cache theme on this one, quite unique. TFTC

It's all about timing

Didn't sign the log as forgot to bring a pen! Well hidden.

TFTC

TFTC

Have replaced cache, is now smaller 20mL (previous was 50mL) camo'd screw top container. Area had major spring cleaning but now able to place the cache. Similar hide but clue is slightly different.

Not good news when u can't get ur hands on ur own cache! Will replace cache as soon as poss.

We will check if cache has gone missing or suffering from cache creep.

Argh, very very well hidden.... Are you sure it's still existing ?

No luck today, but know roughly where it is...will be back on a less busy and warmer day. Got to meet a fellow cacher...nice to meet you Moose Breeder.

Didn't find it, did find RichBritty though. Great to meet another cacher. Even with 4 geocaching eyes and hands we still couldn't find it. Must be well hidden

Found this after hours and raised the suspicion of security. Cache is well hidden.

Great easy cache,Did it at night no muggles so it didnt take us long, Visiting Christchurch,Thanks

nice and easy from the waikato

Our first cache (of many, I'm sure)! Very sneaky wee place you've got there but it didn't take us long. Thanks

Nicely done, muggles were an issue but got it in the end using the clue.
TFTC.

Found with graememoo2, tftc

Was a little concerned for a while but then it twigged.
Trickiest cache today hands down.

Gotta hand it to you, this is one sneaky cache.

Found on a nice few days in Christchurch finding some good fun caches. Interesting features, quite hidden. Soon found cache. SL TFTC

This is the closest mall to my home and I can't believe that I have never ever noticed the hands before.

Pondered for a while and then clicked. 8am Saturday excellent time.

When I saw where GZ was going to be I backed off to quiet area and pondered the clue. Unless your in the know, its one of those you have to be there stories, TFTC.

Not today- to drizzly and cold

this one was very interesting did not know about the hand until we got there steveboi retrieve this one

Quick first grab for the team on a beautiful day exploring the Christchurch metro area. As mentioned below was to visit this carpark more than once today!

Good hide and love the theme.

Thanks for the cache.

Woops, date correction.

I enjoyed this find as an early start had Team McWindeLuneX7 here before the crowds arrived. Good location too, thanks La Vista.

The first find for the morning, and it had the appearance of being difficult and could take us a while until McPhan moved something and at my height I spotted it easily. Nice hide thanks!

3052. [font=Comic Sans Ms][green]I think this became our favourite parking spot as we ended up coming back here a few more times for various reasons, not all to do with caching.

A quick find and then we were off on a day of urban Christchurch caching - and what a beautiful spot to be doing it in!

TFTC and the handle.[/green][font=Verdana]

Rated: for Overall Experience

1st find for the Aussie invaders on the second full day of caching around CHCH. An early start for us meant a muggle free chance to look around with the cache quickly found.

Thanks for the fun of the hunt.

Was over this way shopping. Had to wait for my sister and friend so took the time out to find the cache. Thought for a while it was going to be a DNF as had to walk away a couple of times to avoid muggles. Maybe it was the low sun ray shinning on it that caught my eye. Well camouflaged. TFTC

3283. There were too many muggles around when we first arrived so we went for coffee instead. On our way out we spotted and found the cache.

Thanks
Iris & Rodney

A lovely wee cache and in a great spot too. I must admit that I have been to this place many times and have never noticed these Hands on things, but I guess this is what caching is all about, taking us to interesting places and showing us things that we normally walk straight past , So many thanks for this great wee cache, and a great hide aswell. Cheers Bo

`F.O.D. Lots of muggles around on a wet day Nice wee hide Added clear brown gem

Quick easy find after doing some shopping.
Not muggles around today.
TFTC

It was dark but mall still open so there were quite a few muggles around. Managed to retrieve it after reading past logs and by the right beam of light at the right moment of looking.

Tried this a couple of times this evening, and managed to grab it on the second attempt once the majority of the shops had closed. Cheers Gav [5839]

Not many muggles about today as it was raining. TFTC.

Good hide Not many around as it was raining

Arrived just after most of the shops had closed so not many muggles around which made for a quick find.TFTC

(91) Was at work well before dawn today, but had an hour and a half between meetings so just had to try my luck at this one.. Sure enough very quiet here at 6.30am, and the cleaner was to busy.. So in and out with much ease.. TFTC. SL.

Out for a spot of night caching in the city. It was after 11pm when we arrived at this cache, so no one aound. Quickly spotted the hint items, and shortly after had the cache in hand. Nice hide! Thanks.

# 1989

Arrived just before 10am (general Mall opening time) and was able to retrieve the cache without any muggle observers. That's another La Vista cache ticked off my unfound list.

Found at about 8:15 on a chilly Christchurch morning - I think winter is on its way... Thanks

An early morning jog before a day of lectures at the Australia New Zealand College of Anaesthetists Annual scientific meeting

Found on our way home from the event in Dunsandel. Shops closing so not to many muggles around. TFTC

Had to be stealthy. TFTC.

We came here just on dark,and have never stood sideways to find a cache before.Standing face to face we stood on JK and fiddled with our hands.Anyway It seemed to work ok as no one took took any notice of us.Soon had it in hand.Thanks La Vista for an interesting hunt.

Caching with Ribsc, my Mum and nephew Ben before heading home to the Coast.
8/16 for the day. I wonder how many people actually see these cool hands or just walk right past? A quick find and sign and we were off. TFTC

Found with Gracie7 TFTC

Interesting spot. Thanks.

The reason for the title became clear when I got there. I had to wait a little while for a couple of muggles to move on and from there on it was a relatively quick find without notifying the world of its existence. Nice one! Thanks. Hatas

It was quite muggly, so decoded hint for a quick find by SW. Nice to park within metres of the cache after an aftenoon of hill caches!
TFTC.

#1326 (6/6 finding the last of the Port Hills caches). Thought we'd have a go at this on the way home. 4:30ish on a Saturday afternoon was not the ideal time, but with the hint and a bit of stealth we managed to track it down. TFTC.

Muggle are no problem at 7 in the morning - Nice one La Vista - It all dawned on me when I arrived - well done SL TFTC

Found in the evening. Forgot to compare mine to theirs.

Found at 10:00am, Apart from the odd sideways glance , no real problem and no grovelling. Another unusual urban cache. Thank you L. and R.

Nice sneaky hide - well done.

A quick find before heading home across the alps.
TFTC

Arrived at the GZ on the way to work to see NZTikes searching at the GZ and the classic stop searching and look like you are admiring something so I went up and introduced myself. Nice to meet others on the quest. Classic La Vista hide TFTC. (108)

This cache is going to be sooo hard to retrieve on a busy day. I am glad we went early but even then, the sweeper was cleaning GZ so had to wait 10 min for him to go. That was fortunate as it meant we got to meet 'macraeclan' who was also doing an early morning retrieval. Cachers will need to take a bucket of stealth when going for this one. TFTC.

Great hide and sooo easy to retrieve at 9pm. Cheers and TFTC

Popped out as soon as the cache was published, thinking the area would be fairly quiet on a Sunday afternoon... Turned out to be fairly busy but we took a 'hands on' approach anyway and managed to grab the cache with some stealth. TFTC

very nice - I can picture it - lol - walked past with an eye to a cache. - looking forward to putting my hands on this one.

Drat ! Just passing on the way to work (really, on a Sunday night !) and quite excited to have found in the drak and wondered as I unravelled the scroll would there be any other names on the list.....and of course there was ! Well, it was a full 4 hours after being published ! Thanks La Vista for a great little cache. I have been in and out of South City more times than I can remember and have never noticed so many stars before, but then again, I don't often visit after drak !!

Published