Do Possums get into Crop Circles? Riverhead, North Island, New Zealand
By G-2 on 25-Mar-11. Waypoint GC2QDVR

A solo excursion for Mr Coblet.I could see that this one has had a lot of DNFs and isn't looked for very often so I was keen to find it.I made the mistake of assuming that the forest would have good cellphone coverage but should have known better than to assume anything to do with geocaching and as a result of my assumptions I hadn't downloaded the cache information into my phone.I did however have a Plan B, and my GPS had been newly updated with the caches in the forest so I was able to get to GZ and read the hint with no issues but only had access to the last few logs so couldn't rely on much intel from previous finders.There are no longer any signs of a crop circle but by the time I left that may possibly have changed after all the walking in circles I did. The tree cover caused a few GPS fluctuations however I knew the general area I needed to be in so just decided to go for it.cutty grass and prickles were plentiful but mostly avoidable and careful stepping was also needed due to some very uneven terrain.I tried to work out what the hint was referring to and had a few ideas but nothing that led me to the cache.I initially poked, prodded and peeked in many spots with no luck and a one point suddenly heard some panting. I looked around and saw nothing and for a moment wondered if it was me (I was quite thirsty and tired by this point) but was pleased to find that my mouth was closed. A dog then appeared on the nearby trail followed by its owner. I was relatively well hidden from sight and didn't have a plausible excuse for what I was doing on all fours in the bushes so I decided to play possum, which seemed extra appropriate due to the cache name.The dog had definitely sensed something was there and almost headed into the bushes to investigate but to my relief its owner called it back and they departed without discovering me. Whew!Once the coast was clear I resumed the search and soon heard panting again, but this time it actually was me so I paused for a drink of water.I had almost reached the point of admitting defeat but took a deep breath, stood up, looked around and thought about things a bit. This led to a moment of enlightenment and I checked somewhere where to my delight (and relief) I spotted the cache. I had to check twice to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.I signed the logbook with a great sense of achievement and returned the cache to where I found it.Thanks G-2 for an early morning challenge that not only tested my geosenses but also helped improve my possum impressions.It would be wrong not to give this a favourite point.

Couldn't see what hint was referring too so just used geosenses. Soon spotted the top of the cache. Hint is no longer valid.This didn't stump me. Tftc

We looked for a long time during the rain, but no cache was found here.️

This cache has been on my list to do for awhile but I’ve been reluctant as I’ve read logs about gorse and cutty grass plus a lot of people weren’t able to find it so I thought it might be tricky. I was in the vicinity today to do the new letterbox cache so I thought I might as well give it a go. I found an overgrown track in and after all the recent rain it was a bit squelchy underfoot and then it was a matter of figuring out what could be one of 4. Mmmm, that could be anything! After a few minutes of searching I stood back and tried to work out what could be a crop circle as it was quite overgrown. I totally changed my focus and very soon after spied the cache. Two of the 4 are difficult to see now as they’re a bit overgrown and thankfully there wasn’t too much cutty grass or gorse to contend with so no blood was drawn. I’m very happy to find this 3 years and 2 months since it was last found. Cache was all good, a bit wet inside but with waterproof paper it wasn’t an issue.

Really big news here from logging. No idea where to even start looking

After the party that cleaned this area out, the gorst decided to make its home here!

Didn’t take the most direct way to the GZ, but eventually found my way and saw the cache inmediately.

All good here!

Beautiful spot

Found this one with Albany Guides during our 6km walk, Sep 2019

Pretty overgrown, but makes it more fun and interesting

I won't log a DNF as I didn't really give it a proper go... when I got within 16 metres of GZ I just couldn't find a way to go any further... well certainly not one that qualified as a 1.5 Terrain rating! I decided that my work clothes were not appropriate attire for what lay ahead. So I said "bugger that" and returned and went back to the car.

Met up with an old friend this morning and then headed out this way for a spot of caching. Found the letterbox cache and then headed here. Area around GZ was very boggy, but I still give it a good search, but it was getting late and dark.

I had just done the nearby letterbox so thought I would grab this one as well. However I only had the GPS with me and I had no idea what images were showing on the cache page. Otherwise I might have interpreted the hint differently. I checked clusters of what I thought were groups of four but no cache revealed itself. I did encounter lots of gorse, fallen logs, pine trees, dense wet vegetation, and other misery. Gave up after 10 minutes. Maybe one day I will return. Who knows.

Lovely walk in the forest this afternoon after work. Actually put my bag down almost in the middle of the hint item. Wasn't until I'd walked around a bit and thought about the hint some more, doh of course there it is, cheers

There were plenty of bees zipping past, but I didn't bother them and they didn't bother me. (I could hear LC saying, "Am I bovvered?"). Once I got to GZ, I did a quick visual at each possibility and spotted the cache. TFTC.

Beautiful day for a stroll in the Forest, walked the perimeter of the crop circle several times, then on the last look there it was. Log was too wet to write on so I left a new waterproof log. I am glad the bee hives were on the other side of the road, but good to see so many.

New log

To hard for a first find, don't see a crop circle or nothing

Don't know why I haven't found this cache years ago !
And not far from home ...
Nice easy stroll on a wide road!
On my way to the nearby Letterbox one ; I made a mental note of the side road to this one .
Wandered towards gz...saw the obvious prickly gc entrance ..
Pushed through to look at the Crop Circle ( Formations )!
Obviously Geo cachers going berserk for an FTF!
Easy find with such a good hint !
Thanks Glyn !

Very wet log, we left provisional paper. Somebody with a lot of imagination power was naming this cache.

dzgb

Reckon it gotta be worm eaters.
Great walk
Tflc
On a geo tiki tour from wales uk

I was out in the forest today to collect the letterbox cache out here so had to collect this one as well. Nice quick find. TFTC

It was a relatively nice afternoon so we decided to go for a short walk to collect our daily cache find. Arrived at GZ and would have to agree that the area looks suspiciously like the landing site of some alien Possums. Quickly located the cache and wandered back to our car. Thanks.

Quick visit out to Riverhead Forest to collect the Letter Box Cache for our Geocaching Learners Licence Stage 2 Challenge. Decided on a little detour on the way back to the car and we knocked this one off as well. No signs of any possums on electric puha today but the crop circle is still visible so we feel they may have recently had a mid year gathering.

An expected and much appreciated early finish after my exam today had me eyeing up a few target caches and a chance to clear the Riverhead loop of errant puppies, piggies and all manner of other fauna. With some healthily loaded salad and tuna sandwiches for company, a full tank of fuel, and a promise of rain all afternoon I ensured I'd got my scruffiest caching attire and was all set. Hitting the trail before 1 this afternoon had me back at my accommodation beforte dark with a succesful mission achieved. All in all got all the targetted puppies, piggies and over 40 smilies, including a first Smile cache.
That's a few in a row now from this C O . Made a hash of getting to G Z after finding the right path but found the easy way out. I quite like those little containers, saw a few around today
Q E F here and T F T C

I felt I was going around in circles to get to this cache! I'm never worried about possums in the bush, I believe pigs can make you run around in circles when they see you in the forest making you temporarily disorientated resulting in a rapid trajectory up the nearest tree of the area adjacent to the area of interest i.e the cache.

Found the other day on my way to do so more Puppies. Had to laugh in the end as to how hard I managed to make this for myself. Thanks for bringing me to a place I'd never been to before. Cheers V.

Log book still needing replacement but even though dogs didn't find any possums we don't require any possum replacements. tftc

#1844, Quick find, nice walk

11.30am. Had intended to go to the Coatsville market but couldn't find a park within a km or more so dropped Mrs JF off and went for a bit of geocaching nearby. I'm sure I have been in the general vicinity of this cache before so knew the pattern of the vehicle tracks. Quick find at GZ.
Left a signature pathtag.
TFTC
M&P.

Our two dogs really enjoyed helping us find this one. thanx

#4278 @1205
Following a few days work in Auckland, I stayed on to spend a couple of days caching (and to cache up with my kids at uni). Ambled in for an easy find. Well hidden. TFTC.

Out to find a few caches today in the West.

Once we found the entrance to GZ, a quick find.

TFTC

#3344

This entry was edited by KiwifruitsNZ on Saturday, 01 November 2014 at 10:47:37 UTC.

Been a while for me so was nice to get out and get this one. Kept an eye out for aliens, wallabies, possums and Nicky Hager. None causing circles here. Thanks!

Good one. Nice hide. Watch the gorse...

Out and about after work this afternoon for a drive in the country and a walk in the forest. Nice quick find here. Cache in excellent condition. Covered a little better on return. Cheers for the cache placement!

Found this one very quickly with the good hint. The log book is full and had to write over the printed text. TFTC.

This entry was edited by GESAnderson on Wednesday, 30 July 2014 at 08:27:59 UTC.

Log full.

Mutter, Mutter, mutter, curse - look around all likely objects, search some more, consider flinging phone onto the forest floor and stomping on it as it couldn't make its mind up....pause, breathe, one last look before abandoning the search - hang on, is that something? Found a space to sneak the date and initials into the log and went on my way. TFTC. Indeed, what the puppies might want to be when they grow up.

Pleasant stroll through Riverhead Forest after a long orienteering race this morning. Tricky hide but got there in the end!
Thx for bringing me here and thx for the cache!

TFTC

I don't know. Have you found out yet?

I didn't have a spare logsheet with otherwise I would have replaced the extremely full one there.

Cheers for the cache.

Nicely hidden, TFTC

TFTC clever hiding
In top ten finds so far thanks

On the way to the cache, had to explain electric puha to my English husband. Nicely hidden cache, thanks Glyn

30/10/13 Visited at 16:24
Find 11 of 17 for the day and #1551 in total.

Isn't it funny, all we need is a container and logbook as we cache by ourselves and don't bother with swaps much but when we found the cache we both turned around and said "why such a small cache out here".
Enjoyed the walk and the cache.

Echo 8 - Spice 3
("\(0o0)/") Thanks for the caching fun!

{Sent from a mobile mind, not just a mobile device.} °°° +

#4948 In between events we were randomly caching around the countryside with our travelling companions Coruze, Kiara001 and TrooBloo. We couldn't go on any of the bigger hikes that were organised for the Mega so this was an enjoyable cardio approved walked - right up our alley . We didn't quite understand the name of the cache until we had located it and Skulldaddy was reading the cache page to us all whilst we were signing the log, then it was "aaarrrrhhhh - oh that's funny!" . Our thanks to glyn for another caching contribution, we've enjoyed wandering around finding many of your caches. Cheers [^]

A few of us Aussie's banded together to make NZ a hyper of activity! Accompanied by team Skullracing, Troobloo and Kiara001 we randomly picked caches to do so we weren't stuck in one particular area. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in NZ with the different variety of caches and some really unique ideas.

Coruze, Kiara001, Skullracing and I were having a very pleasant walk through this area.
Crop circles ?? Here, really, oh well keep walking to GZ. Getting closer we were reading
more of the cache page (description) and arrived at GZ before we finished.
I was opening the cache and the final part of the description was read.
AAAHHHH, those crop circles, got ya.
SL.....TNLN.....T4TC glyn
troobloo

the day was nice and a nice walk was in order to get this cache and some others with Skullracing, coruze and troobloo. Troobloo found this one and whilst we were wondering about Crop Circles and how it related, we decided to read the cache description properly and had a little chuckle as we 'saw the crop circles' you were talking about!! TFTC glyn

Found with Rediguana, Moneydork, Sharkiefan and Bladesedge. TFTC

I reckon they probably do! - Love the cache name.
TFTC

Found with moneydork and co. Tftc

Located quickly, the second of three on a walk here this afternoon. Enjoyable area, didn't see either opossums or any crop circles but I did find the cache. Signed log, TFTC

Nice quick find on the way back to the car
Cheers Gav

A quick & easy find, TFTC

We arrived to grab a nice bunch of four caches to finish what turned out to be a good run!

Arrived at GZ, and a quick read of the hint, gave an approximate location to search, and we found the cache in no time! Nice hide!

This is Day 3 of our trip to the Land of the Long White Cloud for the 2013 NZ MEGA event in Auckland. I joined Gunnie69 and Kaisho53 for a fun packed 5 days of geocaching adventures. The day was focussed on tackling the 101 dalmation series and making our way to the NZ MEGA site.

TFTC glyn(the only one)

Kaisho53, Ghostgums and I dropped by this one on our return trip from Game Series. This one could have been quite elusive but eagle eyed Ghostgums spotted something and moved in for closer inspection... Yep, that'd be what we are looking for, nice work GG... [^]

A nicely crafted container and neatly placed too. Great work indeed...

Cheers glyn.

Sweet_bee and I were in the area tackling a few caches while attending the nearby Mega and decided it would be plain rude not to look in on this one.

We neared GZ and had a look about. Hmm. Nada. Then something caught my eye. Ahh - I have seen this sneaky kind of hide before. Very well executed. I can't believe this one has only one favourite point! Have another on account of your fine efforts We retrieved the log and signed our names. It was all in good condition. We re-hid the beast securely.

Very well done - and a lovely little area. TFTC glyn(the only one)

Thought we might be in for a real challenge here but found in first place we looked-thanks for the info & a great place for the cache-always nice to walk in the forest

This was not so easy, as my GPS put me a few metres off position. I was wandering about aimlessly for a bit, but then stepped back and started counting things, looking for the magic number. Doing that, it was soon found. The camo is very good, and the placement is really well done. The other challenge was getting the log out with my pinky. I very much enjoyed this one! TFTC! NINO.

Found it (with the clue). Our first find with our new Christmas present.

Took a detour back from nearby cache, even though we noticed 2 DNF's thought we'd at least have a look. We circled and circled, scratching our heads and have to say Ted wanted to press on back to the car. But perseverence paid off when I can't say I noticed something, I just investigated a little further and it paid off with the find. Very cunning hide, can understand the recent DNF's. Guess they will be annoyed to see our "find" log. Thanks for the blurb about crop circles very interesting. SL. TFTC.

I dont like D.N.Fs but we searched and searched to no avail

Looked everywhere and no go...
Will be watching this one.

http://www.t4tc.co.nz/

Enjoyed the walk to GZ. Really had to focus for this one but luckily managed to spot it quite quickly despite being a very cunning hide. TFTC.

Had to return to cache next day, after doing nearby letterbax cache. Realised I had left the swap behind on the ground - didn't want to make spotting GZ too easy on the next cacher.

Very hard to walk passed this one without looking for it, while doing the cache further down the rd yesturday, leaving it to find today, to fill in another day on the calendar.

Nice walk, not so nice day. Thankfully there were only four or I would have been there all day. TFTC.

A cunning hide that had us going for a few minutes. If we were in more of a rush, we may have moved on prematurely, but we stopped, read the previous logs and conducted a detailed search. TFTC.

It took a few minutes and reading a few previous logs before we determined the possible hide and yes, we were rewarded with a very nicely hidden cache glyn TFTC!

#4839

Our fifth day of our honeymoon to New Zealand and Australia.
Yesterday it was a bit late before we had logged all caches, but we woke up very early this morning. For *Ba it was a nice day with a nice wake up and a nice amount of caches in view. After having our New Zealand breakfast we walked to Hertz to rent a car for one day. It became a Toyota Carolla, which is here a small car, but in the Netherlands already a medium size car. As always driving on the right side of the road it was our first experience of driving left. But it went not too bad. We took only by accident the exit as we did not notice that the left lane was the exit one and not the slowest way on the highway.

Normally we are not the geocacher who love to do trails like this, but as our target is to reach our 5.000 founds during our honeymoon trip in Australia we needed a certain amount of caches. For us this is the second time in our geocaching career that we found more than 100 caches on one day.

After doing the trail Jo wanted to go back to the hotel as she had some pain in her eyes. We decided to take a little detour to also visit a multi cache , letterbox and earth cache. The total founds of today came on 110 caches. After driving back to Auckland we first changes glasses in the hotel, brought the rented car back and walked again to the supermarket for a diner. Along the way we visited some shops and Ba found a belt for only 5 NZD. In our opinion the food is very very expensive in New Zealand we had a simple diner of Mexican wraps out of the oven and a salad of onion and cucumber. The desert was the same as yesterday, because we bought already a six pack.

This was our last day in Auckland. Tomorrow we drive further to Whitianga. We hope the weather is at least as good as today. We started with a very cloudy sky, but during the trail we saw also some sun. And if it could be a bit warmer, that would even be more nicer.

We found this cache today around 2.50 PM local time.
After finding the nearby letterbox we decided to make a little detour to the car to look for this one. The four trees were spotted from a distance, but it took us a while to find the cache. It was hidden properly so we just didn't looked good enough the first times.

In: -
Out: -

TFTC

"Soms gaat het om de reis, soms gaat het om het doel", is ons cachemotto

[navy]2012: Voor ons het jaar van nieuwe ervaringen opdoen [/navy]

[limegreen]Cachegroeten uit Rotterdam, the Netherlands[/limegreen]

Took a while, but we found it.

Easy find.
Out = Kangaroo, In = rubber lizard
Thanks Glyn, TFTC

Found at 9:37 AM on 6/04/2012.

Maybe this one id a crop square...?

TFTC glyn(the only one)

No possums on the way - but some wild pigs were around here - the clue for the cache made it easy. Thanks for the cache.

Took me a wee while to figure out despite the very obvious clue. TFTC!

Not sure about making the crop circles, but having spent a bit of time in the bush I know that if you see possums sleeping on the track, in the sun, it's best to find somewhere else to walk, as things can get deciedly alien, TFTC

Whilst the phenomena has been widely reported in the more sensationalist media, there have been no scientific studies on the veracity of claims that the ‘Trichosurus Vulpecula’ can be the author of such vegetational manifestations , nor any reason to believe that sinister occult practices are being perpetrated by alien creatures. It must be considered by rational thinking persons that a more mundane explanation exists.

A likely reason is that some members of the geocaching fraternity had been attempting to locate a certain spherical object containing tracts of an uplifting nature and in frustration at the lack of success have become temporarily disorientated resulting in a rapid orbital trajectory of the area adjacent to the area of interest.

I first thought about taking the direct route from the carpark, but decided to follow the road around. A bit longer but certainly an easier walk on a sunny day. Lots of California Quail running around, much to the dogs joy! Thanks.

7512 The crop circles were possum free today, quick find after grabbing some energizing vee, TFTC.

Nice quiet walk on a wet Saturday afternoon. Quick find.
TFTC

Nice circle

A nice stroll to GZ on a winters day, the track a bit muddy, but no one around.
With the hint a fairly easy find.
SL TFTC

If you look at the area with google earth, it appears the local growers have been run out of town by the possums.

TFTC

Out with CreedyNZ and GreenblAt.
Interesting to see them around here.
TFTC

Out with Greenblat and KiwiLeon.

Great day for a forest walk.

TFTC

Keep NZ Green……….BLAT. T4TC

Found along with team welsh. Nice to meet up with more friendly geocachers. We soon located this cache. SL TFTC

Met tmann421 just as we pulled up, so headed off to GZ together. Nice to catch up and discover his secret to how he finds the time to geocache all the time. TFTC

On the home stretch after some unexpected orienteering.

Time to eaze up on the green stuff (V) Glyn!!

TFTC

Nice easy find, were planning to do all the others in the area, but just after we signed the log book the heavens opened and we got soaked to the bone within 2 minutes. Decided to retreat back to the car and leave it for another day... Thanks for bringing us to the forest though, hadn't been before and now we know of a place to put our new bikes to the test... TFTC!

Great cache page. First find of the mornimg after an enjoyable stroll to GZ T4TC.

Luck was with me on this one the old Garmin took me right to it TFTC Glyn

Ignoring the rain - went out for a bit of a caching spree late saturday afternoon up at the riverhead forest with evilno9. Nice walk, and quick find. TFTC

After a couple of days off it was decided that it was high time for a spot of caching so grabbed Mel_Ramsay and ignored the rain and headed out here. Knew that the FTF was already gone but it's a nice drive out here anyway and the walk was just as cool. Soon made the find once we hit GZ. No sign of the possums but thought we spotted a roach... TFTC

Friwi and I decided might as well check this one out, as no one had posted a log yet. While the wives and kids caught up over a cuppa and morning tea at home, we headed out and parked nearby. Not expecting a FTF we almost walked past GZ talking about other caches we might grab today (the wives don't need to know.... LOL). Backtracked and headed in, to find yes indeed not only a crop circle but a FTF for Friwi & I.

Saw this one coming out last night but thought twice about it as it was already dark and wet outside. Geomatt called this morning and told me that it hadn't yet been found, after a quick discussion, we decided to head toward GZ and have a look at the New Zealand version of the crop circles. The possums have done a good job around here Joint FTF TFTC

Hmmm, "Joint FTF"---interesting use of words for that log, considering -;)