Suburbia Spread (Wellington) Horokiwi, North Island, New Zealand
By SAROC on 21-Sep-11. Waypoint GC34GNH

All good things come to and end, eventually. So it is with this cache. Thanks to all who have had fun decoding the puzzle and making the find.

Finally made it up here, but no hint object found, and possibly some more clearing has been done since the last find.

This geocacher reported that the cache might be missing.

(# 5130). Solved a while ago and decided to grab this one today. The area has seen a lot of suburbia spread in the last few years so is an apt hiding place. Stood there and had a good look at the urban progress made. A quick find. Everything in order. Thanks for the puzzle.

This one has lurked on my radar, taunting me for several years now. The first bit was oh so easy, but the next step eluded me until a couple of days ago, when something suddenly 'clicked' and I was able to finally pin this one down (not where I expected at all)!

Made my way to the final tonight, and was surprised by such an apt location. Although there are still some fields to be seen, how long I wonder before they all merge into one 'mega suburb'? There has been some recent construction work nearby, but miraculously the cache has escaped unscathed, and the log book, although a touch damp, was perfectly signable. TFTC, a much appreciated addition to the DGSc challenge 2.5+ tally.

Maybe the fern has gone die to recent infrastructure works?
Thanks for the puzzle

We are caching our way to the Wellington Mega, concentrating on picking up solved puzzles along the way. As we made the final approach to GZ we were a little concerned that the cache might have been compromised - there has been a bit of work done here recently and there is a lot of bare earth. But it was indeed safe, just out of the danger zone. Certainly do get a good view of Suburbia Spread from here. Thanks.

#5376. To help celebrate Ross Taylors birthday after that stunning batting display yesterday in the One Day International victory over England, I decided it was time to go and join the suburbanites and locate the cache. The puzzle had me perplexed when I first started geocaching as I didn't own a smartphone at that time. After doing some other puzzles with this technique I soon had the initial info but it needed a bit of playing around with the numbers to get some useful coordinates. As I approached the GZ tonight I noticed a warning sign in place at the gate. Decided there was unlikely to be any workman about at this time so headed up to the GZ. Probably best to do this one outside working hours as the general area is closed off with construction but there is a free run all the way to the cache, which I found immediately thanks to excellent coordinates. Thanks for the interesting puzzle SAROC. Certainly changed a lot even in the year or so since I last cached up this way.

TFTC
Quick find here today see **taybee log**
[?] Found with ***taybee*** [?] Sign log book

**taybee** is caching again with **taybee nz**
very quick find there today thanks to **Flowerydaze and Mr T** for putting in the geotrail to the cache
All in good order, sign log book as **taybee** or **tb** TFTC Log by Gsak
Cache was find at **2017-12-31 15:08:00**

I got the co-ords fairly quickly but it was quite some months before I've had a chance to seek out the cache. After admiring the view I got down to the nitty-gritty. After I'd search for several minutes, Team Geocacher Mr. T. got in on the act and found it in seconds - I had been looking in the wrong spot. Darn it. Thanks for the cache.

I first looked at this puzzle quite a while ago and got stuck at the final hurdle. Last week while looking at a different cache I recognized a pattern which gave me the clue I needed to solve this. But despite landing in the right area the coords were undoubtedly wrong. Unsure where my error was I asked the CO which step had the error and to my surprise it was the very first part which had an unexplainable wrong character. A bit of research on the coding method indicated that should not have been possible - or at least staggeringly unlikely. Anyway, I redid the puzzle from the start and suddenly the coords were much more plausible.

Today on a stunning calm evening I made my way to GZ and was presented not only with the promised view of a growing suburb but a new perspective over some of the older ones. When I turned my attention to the cache the GPS wasn't quite pointing where I expected and the view was soon replaced by a wall of foliage. I spent at least 5 minutes clambering around in the undergrowth until I eventually spotted what I came for. A somewhat larger cache than I was expecting and a bit wet inside. The log was well enough protected though and was duly signed.

Thanks for pointing to the error in my decoding and, of course, the cache.

A bleak place up here just like most of the developing suburbs in the Wellington area these days All good at GZ Log nice and dry TFTC

Well hidden cache.

A well concealed hide and great views of the spread of suburbia. Now off to view in Google Earth for another view of the growth. TFTC.

It took a bit of scrambling around in the bushes but eventually we came up with the goods. Once we found it, I couldn't believe that we had missed it to begin with. It seemed so obvious. Thanks for the cache.

Together with arbor95 I am on a holiday tour in New Zealand.

We are two Germans, old friends since a long time. Together we visited a lot of other countries in the past, even before we started geocaching. [^]

For our trip we usually looking for some extraordinary caches.

Therefore we had mostly a lot of fun.

Not easy to access ghe cache, but I found a way.

Thank You very much for this geocache, for the challenge and for the maintaining.

Greetings from tripleclaus to SAROC.

#8470, 15:17,
During our holidays in Newzealand we searched some Caches.
the vegetations is very narrow at the point of interest, but finally we were succesful.
Thanks for placing and maintaining this box
arbor95

Took a few goes to solve this, and few prickles at GZ. Astounding spread out this way! TFTC

Thank goodness. Solved ages ago and Selesi & I tried to find it earlier in the year without success. Back here today and did what we thought was a good search in what we thought was the right spot. After some considerable time (and some Muggles up top coming and going without knowing we were there) it was eventually found. Woo Hoo. TFTC and the puzzle.

Finally got this one. UlmusLynx was in good form today and we managed to get this one after several attempts. TFTC

Suburban spread indeed! It is incredible views, and had hammers and saws going as the background music, so can see the spread only continuing, TFTC

My word the QRP led me on a merry dance. Finally I nailed this one.
In the 'hood today and time for a crack at this one.
I was astonished by the extent of the development and building going on here. Gee, the Aucklanders would be envious of how well we are doing with pumping up the housing supply in our region.
Enjoyed the view. A good place to bring a cache visitor. Thanks.
Cache in order; log signed, safely re-hidden, just as found.
TFTC found with team cacher Sweet P too
The Turtle strikes again!

I had a slight hiccup when my first solution placed GZ on the nearby motorway. It turned out I had degrees, minutes and seconds, not degrees and minutes. The second solution was much better. I followed a very obvious and recently cut geotrail down to a ...bait station. Back to the top and re-examine the GPS. Everything looked correct, and a more thorough search revealed the cache just half a Metre from my previous route. Everything nice and dry. Signed log. TFTC

Found it with Team FIN [janahola, kapeka, laalaa & temyllyl]

We had fun with caching few weeks here in New Zealand. Lots of geocaches and many sort of them too. We saw awesome places, weather was pretty good all the time and people were friendly and polite. Caches were pretty similar like in our home country. Of course there were some exeptions. Nice and really scenary country!

Greetings from Finland

FIN (laalaa, janahola, temyllyl, kapeka) holiday in New Zealand. Marvelous country and nice landscape. The journey continues to Wellington.
Greetings from Finland.
Thanks for the mystery.

Fifth day on our geo-roadtrip in New Zealand, and caching our way towards south. Logged using our group nickname FIN with janahola, laalaa and kapeka. Driving to south and heading to Christchurch Mega event. Today we headed to Wellington to catch a ferry tomorrow. Tooking some 'detours' via caches of course.

On a geoholiday road tripping to Christchurch MEGA and around beautiful New Zealand. Our four people group (temyllyl, laalaa, kapeka and myself) from Finland used group tag FIN to log the caches.

Today we drove from Whanganui to Wellington and stopped to some caches on the way. This was solved before our trip. Nice view from the cache. TFTC!

Welcome to MEGA Finland in 5-7 august 2016!

A straightforward puzzle and a quick easy find after a short steep walk. The cache is aptly named TFTC

Had a doh moment, but thankfully, soon had it sorted! Great views of the Suburbia Spread, many thanks for the cache.

Solved this some time ago and then made a dash for the cache. TFTC

The first part of the puzzle was easy, but I had been struggling to work out the next part for at least a year. Eventually I gave in and asked for some help which enabled me to finish off the puzzle.
It took a while to find the nicely hidden cache.
Thanks.

Been on my solved - pick up later list for a while, so have made an effort to go to these ones in the area. TFTC

Quick find on way home tonight. Solved puzzle last night after puzzling over possible meaning of last part for a couple of weeks. Able to take the back road. Couple of minutes of searching and hey presto. View of new construction pretty good but fog coming in and enveloping surrounding hills so couldnt see any further. TFTC.

Found on the second attempt. The first time we thrashed about in the gorse a bit and gave up. For some reason the wife wasn't appreciative when I said that I worked out the puzzle again and got new coordinates 25 m away. This time I came back by myself. The new position wasn't much better but eventually I noticed a marked trail with a great location for cache under a ----. My GPS had me 15 m out at GZ. The cache is in good condition and the top is growing its own camouflage.

These type of developments are definitely not for me, big houses on no section, looking pretty much like the one next door. I like a bit more chaos / character.

Outlook from GZ shows that there is a lot more to come.

A fairly significant trail led down the hill, but the cache was spot on the co-ordinates, so didn’t go too far from GZ

Thanks for the puzzle

Being a munzee-er on the side, I worked out the first part of this interesting puzzle relatively quickly, but stumbled on the next stage. Thanks to help from another cacher I was soon on my way again. Houses in these sorts of areas always seem to spread like a samey fungus. Had a bit of trouble locating the hint object (____, what ____?!), but got there in the end. Impressively large cache! TFTC

Struggled at first with the puzzle and then at GZ. Matter probably wasn't helped by my concern for the safety of Coca the geopup as she raced around the various hazards. However, eventually departed with a fist full of splinters and the logbook signed. Definitely a fitting locale considering the cache title.

Took a little while to find the required info, but only a quick hunt at GZ to locate the goods! TFTC and another useful method for solving.

Saw a likely geotrail and some slip marks so knew we weren't far off the mark. Thanks for some new skills and the puzzle.

2nd time lucky
Buzzing from cache to cache

Feels like I was cursed by this cache.
Didn't have too much trouble solving the puzzle, and even found a neat wee tool to add to my bag of tricks.
Didn't have much trouble finding the cache either.
The trouble I had was loading (and keeping) the solved coords on my GPS.
The first visit I had only loaded the coords without saving them, then when we got near I thought I should check to see if there was a hint on the cache ... coords gone.
The second time round I found I had loaded the original coords instead of the solved location.
Third time lucky tonight.
TFTC

Not quite a s simple as I was expecting especially when I made a silly error along the way, thankfully assisted by the CO who nudged me back on the right track.
Suburbia sure is preading out this way, I was rather surprised.

TFTC

Another puzzle that's been solved for some time, waiting for us to be in the area. Very interesting views from here.
Another find for StreetWalker while I was wishing I had put on better footwear (back in the car).
Thanks for bringing me here.

#3628. Good to finally find ourselves in the area to grab this one. Dropped Hero the Horrible (cache is not pirate themed, but its hiding place is a bit of a crows nest). TFTC.

Did with CrystalFairy

Solved this one months (really months and months) ago and finally went past today with Wandering Dragons, Violet Butterfly and MycroMan to find the cache. The kids loved the cache (nice and big with lots of toys) and the location (nearby running about and sitting on edges). Thanks for the cache and views.

Cache #461 - really nice final location, even if it did involve getting dirty! Did with Crystal Fairy, Violet Butterfly and MycroMan. Thanks for taking us here!

A nice final place. TFTC!

[:>} fun and educational puzzle

Got it at last. The first part worked out okay, then I puzzled over the 2nd for ages before receiving some assistance. The GZ is fairly overgrown, but the is a bit of a geo-trail if you look closely. Took the Caching on the Moon coin for a ride. TFTC & puzzle.

Solved the puzzle soon after it was published. The first layer was quickly removed. Had the second layer sussed in the blink of an eye. The final step had me going for a little bit, but I soon some co-ords I was happy with. Called past today to find and complete formalities. Nice puzzle and an interesting spot. TFTC

Decided that it was time that I went around and grab this cache, this was one of those spots that I thought would be a great location for a cache. Had looked at it when they first started looking at this GZ when the first works went in but thought to myself that it was a bit far too close to muggles central. Who was I to know that they would leave a nice little green belt near GZ. Arriving at GZ today just after the weather decided that it wanted to change and blow me around, yes it was a bit blustery near GZ today but no major issue. Managed to solve the puzzle quite quickly the night it was published and decided that I would leave it for a nice day, what a clever puzzle with a twist to the obvious, lucky for me I knew what I was looking for, very clever I must say. Found cache quickly and was very happy to see such a larger container out in the caching world again. COOL, TFTC TNLNSL (3404)

Got a wee hint at the CITO, which had me on track for the first part of decoding the puzzle, the next bits soon fell into place - a good multi layer puzzle, and a good sized container too. SL TFTC.

after a hint from the CITO, this cache was a breeze

Took a while to figure the puzzle out but easy find once I got the co-ordinates. Dropped off Caching on the Moon GC and picked up Tiki TB SL TFTC

#2335. Mrs h solved the first part of the puzzle, and Mr h solved the second part. Not far from GZ, we met a muggle gentleman taking photos of suburbia. But no problem as he soon left.
- McBoxer TB
+ New Zealand Tiki TB
TFTC.

The first part of the puzzle was easy enough as I've done similar before. The next bit slowed me down until I realised I was thinking too hard. The decode didn't work as I was using India's contribution to the Western numbering system. And then at GZ overshot the mark and ended up at a bait station. Thanks for the cache, good fun working it out.

Found with Huntleigh. Swapped stuff.

I didn't see the notification for this util 10:30 as I had left my phone in the car. However once I saw it I raced home where the nice little multi layered puzzle was quicky deciphered as I had been using all of the required knowledge and tools recently. The final was an easy find due to good coords and the makings of a nice geotrail (long grass tells great tales of passing feet) for the 2TF 10 minutes after -gonefishing-. Thanks for the fun puzzle and TFTC.

I don't have the specialised way of solving this - which would cost me to obtain as my present equipment can't do the job- but used another way of resolving it which came up with a rather strange result for the essential bit! Will watch with interest to see how others get on.

FTF @10:40 A nice wee puzzle requiring a combination of skills to solve. Fortunately I had all the necessary tools to hand, so didn't take too long to unravel the puzzle. A nice spot for the final - I had noticed this spot a while back and wondered how long it would take for a cache to appear! It was certainly busy in suburbia today.
TFTC.

Called here this afternoon, three new caches in the area made it well worth while making a trip. Solved the puzzle within a few minutes of seeing it when I got home at 12:30, found cache quickly and signed log as 3TF at 14:00. Nice multi-faceted puzzle, and great to find a decent-sized cache container at GZ . Signed log, TFTC.

McBoxer TB drop

Published