Wings over the World (Waikato) Mystery Creek, North Island, New Zealand
By kiwicouple on 11-Sep-10. Waypoint GC2B8H5

I'd wrestled with this puzzle on and off for the last three years, never making any progress at all. Finally, picked up a tip from a previous finder that set me on the right path. Still a lot of work to do though, and rattll and I spent several more hours on it after that. We even tried to go for a hunt without final coordinates! No luck trying that! Finally, the breakthrough came, and today, both of us needed a mystery, so off to GZ we went. Still felt a little exposed to security cameras, but the cache was easily found as per the checker hint. All in good condition. Signed, and returned as found. FP for a tough puzzle! Tftc!

I had a lot of trouble getting this solve sorted and eventually had to resort to getting some help.As we were heading (roughly) in this direction tonight, we thought we'd stop by and grab the final.Thanks for setting up this tough little puzzle

Found on our family summer holiday with trayc.g. TFTC

This puzzle always annoyed me as Id have to drive past it knowing full well I cant figure out how to solve it!! Last year a local event I chanced upon gave me a chance to enquire about it and some lovely locals gave out some crucial hints to help me along my way. It still took some considerable time to get to some final coords and after confirming with a friend I was finally able to sign the log! Was also good that I was able to drop a TB into it that needs to be taken to Auckland. Thanks kiwicouple for an interesting puzzle.

Simple puzzle solved with bits of help from various people including CO. Flying out today back home. Up for daughters wedding celebration meeting lots of her mans family, cousins etc
While up here a trip to Waitomo caves where were were 2 of the 4 in the group so we got to places larger groups don't see. Next day down to Rotorua and further to Rainbow Mountain area and a soak in kerosene creek.
Next time up here in 5 or so years on our retirement excursion.
Tftc

Found this one actually by accident when looking for a place to hide a cache... it was the perfect spot, but oh wait, there's already a cache here. Not actually the first time for me, but there you go. Found with Jagersmum. TFTC!!!

Found by accident with FMZ while looking for a location to hide my airport themed cache! Hahaha, so funny. TFTC!

Driving to Hamilton today and picking up some caches and signing some challenges on the way.

Will expand on my logs, post photos, qualifying caches for challenges, etc. When I get home. TFTC

Not much traffic about so it was a quick find.

24 January 2023 5:34 pm Find #5360

This puzzle was the reason I teamed up with Merlot58 to have a day of caching around Tamahere.
M58 asked if i had made any headway on this puzzle. No. I had done initial "stuff" but then hit the brick wall. M58 sent me what she had done & i never would have got that far. Still more frustration ensued for us both & the puzzle was again left in the too hard basket. M58s was 90% there but it just wasnt happening to get over the line.
I came home one afternoon & thought of a new way to attack the puzzle & sure enough I was soon looking at a green tick.
Delighted to help M58 with my 10% contribution on the solve but in this case 2 heads were better than one!
In the area today to make a nice quick find. Earned every Difficulty star on this puzzle! TFTC

As Sir Ed said, 'I've knocked the bugger off'! This puzzle had been in and out of the too hard basket for quite some time and I knew I was on the right track but I just couldn't quite get numbers that would work. Teaming up with Avoyager proved to be the break through. I sent my workings and after a few days she had a light bulb moment and got the green tick and so I had another look and really wanted to bang my head against the wall as I realised that I had added instead of subtracted for one of the numbers and that is what was preventing me from getting past the finish line. We were in the area today and this cache was one of our targeted ones. It was all quiet at gz so a nice quick find was made. Thanks for the brain workout, I'm giving it a fp for making my grey cells work so hard

I have never flown from this airport!
But was in the area today with a caching mate....doing Ad Labs ...multis , Trads and puzzles and virtuals
And this was on our list.
All good here...no muggles around as we made the find !
Many thanks KiwiCouple .

No prizes for guessing why I was in this particular location, but great to have a cache here too. Thanks.

last find of the trip before the ride home, thanks for the placement and puzzle all was well at GZ - now hopefully the cloud dont share the rain

Took a while to solve and when the geo checker worked ended up a quick find on a road trip to finish some of the eyes have it thanks kiwi couple many hours of puzzling TFTC

A rather tricky and time consuming cache to solve requiring a little help to solve. Now on our way round Hamilton to pick up this and some other solved puzzles. All quiet here and soon found the cache. Tftc and a favourite.

I have looked at this one for quite a while now as it is one of my favourite subjects and indeed something that I have made my career around. Naively thinking that I should be able to solve this one without too many problems I set about solving but began to realise that maybe it is actually more of a handicap to know too much about the subject as I went to places that most others may not know about.
After quite a few months of picking this puzzle up and getting now where I eventual investigated something that I had seen before but had not pursued enough at the time and then clicked onto what the puzzle was about; with the help of Mrs B we figured out the first stage of this puzzle. From there I again thought it would be plain sailing but another challenge was thrown up; had the right idea but found the wrong info so decided to contact the CO's just to confirm we had the right track for the first part which they did. Another look again found the right info and the solve was finally made a few weeks ago.
We were coming up to our 3000th cache and wanted to make it a good one so decided while in the area this one would be it. All was quiet at GZ and parked across the road for a quick find - all good at GZ. FP for another great puzzle that kept us challenged for a while, TFTC.

This cache had been bugging me on the unsolved list for quite a while. However, I ran into the COs at a recent event and asked for a hint. That, combined with what was playing in the bar, even I couldn't ignore. I still was having trouble getting the numbers to work so PAFed and all became clear. Today, I'm doing a bit of tidying so decided to pick it up. All good. TFTC.

No particular plan today but a group of us have been diligently working away at some of the Hamilton puzzles and now it's time to collect. I met up with Davidson Clan and managed to bag 21 today which wasn't even half of what I'd planned but the weather was horrible. That combined with all the DNFs made this a pretty difficult day however at least I'm not working This puzzle wasn't so much difficult as it was time consuming. Glad to get there in the end and be here today to pick this up. Cheers kiwicouple, TFTC.

***

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In Hamilton collecting a few puzzles that have been on our list for a while now in the rain today nice quick find here.
Tftc

Have been searching the web... and even my soul... but suspect this noob won't be able to solve this one without a nudge in the right direction ;-(

The puzzle caused me a fair bit of grief. Finally got an answer after a bit of a nudge from another Capital cacher. I wasn't too far away this evening so drove a few extra k's to look for it. A nice quick find at GZ just on dusk. Cheers and TFTC

3227 I spent a year or more flying to Wellington each week for work. Had looked at this one a few times while either on a plane or sitting waiting. It was not until I had finished the travel and had the time to actually sit down and do proper research that I came up with some numbers. So as it was such a nice day I headed out and collected. Thanks for the flight.

Finally got around to solving this one so made a point of finding it while in Hamilton for a few days. Great puzzle and a nice easy find at the final locating. Thanks

Thanks for the heads up Troutfly - that sure is a bit odd. Removed the old cache from the post and placed a new container in an appropriate hide.

This was not where i thought it would be. Spent some time looking at the obvious and then noticed it across the road taped to a lamp-post and in full view! Thanks.

needs a new log book its wet

tftc nice hide

Nice one thanks

Found it

Out and about with Gap (of Fap and Gap). We planned on a big round up of caches around Te Rapa... so we started off early. It rained as soon as we arrived in Hamilton, and never let up. I got so wet, I had to ask Gap to visit a second hand shop to get a warm, dry coat... All part of the adventure we had today.

This puzzle took a while to sort out, and the satisfaction of getting the approval tick was sweet. We searched ground zone thoroughly but didn't find the cache. It's been almost a year since this was last found and it looks like the structure has seen a recent refit. We think it's possible that the cache was discovered and removed during the change over. We decided to leave a 35 mm film canister here to keep the cache active until the CO is able to do some proper maintenance. TFTP and TFTC.

Today was the the day to clear a lot green boxes from this area and turn them into smilie faces. With Mrs Fap visiting grandchildren got an early start with the Squirrel, with caches been found easily. But then the rain just started coming down and coming down and both of us getting wetter and wetter.

4.35pm - Combined effort to solve then nothing at GZ. Left new log. SLTFTC

After a solve a while ago and a dnf. Thanks for the replacement cache. All quiet out here today

TFTC

Oops, this cache was replaced a few weeks ago. Good to go.

All good to go.

Cache seems to have flown. Will replace in the next week or two.

Please check my recent DNF as there has been considerable ground work due to the industrial development and the area looks nothing like Google Earth any more

thank you

Was out here on Monday having spent far too much time working this out with several attempts for PAF. when I had a set of co-ords I went and there has been a lot of recent work in the area of the GZ as a result of the new industrial developments, and after talking to a previous finder he confirms that I was in the correct area.

Can the GZ please be checked to confirm it is still there as searched a nearby structure which I thought was a likely candidate but came up empty

Thanks

A very tricky puzzle indeed. Eventually got onto the right track, but then didn't properly explore the options presented, making the whole process of solving much more complicated than it should have been.
Solved eventually with a pointer from kiwicouple, steering us back close to where we had begun our journey of discovery.
All a learning experience, as with most puzzles.
Arrived at GZ and cache was spotted on approach to landing . No parachutes required today, but oxygen masks were deployed due to the high altitude .

Solved this puzzle quite some time ago, but finally found myself in Hamilton for work this weekend. Managed to make a small detour to pick up the nicely hidden container. All quiet at GZ today.
TTFC.

Great puzzle - love that era - know them well. Needed a nudge though. Busy spot but cache all good TFTPC

A lot of traffic in the area today, but a good quick find with NZFlossy

Got halfway through the solve but needed a nudge to make the final connection. Thought I was going to need help at the final too but j-u-s-t managed to extract the cache alone. Thanks for a great puzzle!

Had a nudge to help with the solve. Cache didn't take to long to track down. TFTC.

Solved puzzle while waiting in the Koru lounge. Will have to return for the booty! TFTC

Finally worked out puzzle. Nice easy pick up

Forgot to say that i visited with TB

Got halfway through the solve and then went down the wrong track. Had to get a hint to complete the puzzle. Easy find and then had to wait several minutes before I could put the cache back. Thanks very much kiwicouple.

Another visit to the airport, this time not for a flight. Quick find and on our way. TFTC

Spotted this from the car, TFTC!

This was a toughy, needed a little help with this.
Quick find once I had solved, I actually had placed a cache very close to here last year but had to come back to get it because this one was about to be published.
TFTC

OMG finally solved, very nasty puzzle lol

Flew in here and grabbed while no one was about TFTC

[Solved a while ago (after getting a big nudge in the right direction!) and finally had cause to be in the vicinity on another errand, so stopped to retrieve the cache. Had to] stretch right up on tippy-toes [but managed to get it - just!
Thanks for a great cache & puzzle - only a tad too frustrating!
KatyAndScott]

5242 Now... that was a long time to be on standby[|)]. Wasn’t familiar with the operation of a couple of the older airlines, so missed a few connecting flights. Glad to get our final boarding call today. Many thanks for a well themed and executed puzzle.

Very cool puzzle! Great to be out caching on a nil wind blue sping day.
Many thanks

Really tough puzzle to solve, took quite and effort and many hours researching many different kinds of facts and figure about planes.

After banging my head repeatedly on the keyboard it finally came to me and the pieces fell in to place.

We were really surprised that we were the 2nd to find for a cache placed over 2 weeks ago.

oh finally, a green tick! One of the most frustrating puzzles for a long time. Thanks kiwicouple for many a wasted evening over the last couple of weeks Actually one of my very fave things to do of an evening is solving cache puzzles (now 50 on the solved-and-yet-to-find list!). Keep 'em coming

Oh yes!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is quite a tricky puzzle, but with a bit of help and a lot of determination the puzzle was cracked, now to wonder on over there and claim my rightful place in the logbook!!!!!!!

This is proving to be a bit harder than we expected. Have increased the difficulty rating to 4 as an incentive/reward.

FTF but appears not FTS and what a relief to have finally been able to complete this puzzle.
Began work on this one since Sunday after publishing and now fell somewhat qualified to sit an
entry level exam for the CAA.Fairly good knowledge now on the aspects of Airplane construction,
build types,logistics and Air disasters after watching some Air crash investigation episodes on
Nat Geo channel. Truth is true inspiration and the Aha came in the workplace from a very unexpected
revelation.Well all in all truely overcomplicated this one and was nearly at Wits end....
After solving,not a minute to waste and off to the find the place of Aeronautical mystery and was very
pleased to discover the blank scroll... Thanks KC for the mental anguish and for leaving this micro
behind in the Waikato,to which actually I only have myself to blame ..
All those who are suffering on the sidelines,don't give up...and you can earn your Wings too!
[orange] TFT Great P [/orange] and [red] TFTC [/red]

2 solves but no finds yet, this is certainly posing a challenge!!

I was wondering whose green ticks those were! This has me completely stumped. Too many hours wasted and so far nothing worthy of even trying in Geochecker. Possibly over-complicating it?

We need one of those who solved it to point the other puzzle challenged people in the right direction for this one!

Published