Maths Champ (Coromandel) Pauanui, North Island, New Zealand
By MillsandLills on 05-Jan-12. Waypoint GC3A9P3

Another great day to be outside and the last day here before heading back to Australia. The puzzles was straightforward enough and the information qui key gathered. The retrieval felt way too exposed but I did locate it OK. I hope the neighbours are not too inquisitive. Log is pretty full - found a spare space to sign. Tftc

So we are back in the area after 10 months and we're keeping our fingers crossed that there were no muggles around. A nice quick find, log signed and cache returned. TFTC

#15,068. Solved this maths field puzzle based on Champion Place in Pauanui. The final GZ was fortunately all quiet at the time of the visit. Found after a short search, about 6 metres away. The cache, which was more of a small than a micro, was in good condition, all nice and dry inside. Took nothing, left nothing, signed log.*Thanks for the field puzzle and geocache placement, and for bringing us to these sites, and **.T h a n k s. .f o r. .t h e. .c a c h e.**.M a u r u u r u. .k o e. .n u i. .a t u. .h o k i. .t e. .k e t e r o k i.*---### LET US HAVE A BLOCK PARTY!!! ###On **May 3rd, 2025**, we will be celebrating 25 years of geocaching in **Rotorua, New Zealand** with a special **Block Party** event. Join us to celebrate 25 years of this amazing game, and that the very first geocache hidden outside of the United States, 25 years ago, was hidden here in New Zealand.You do not want to miss this event, so check out the ["25 Years of Geocaching NZ! (GCAKR25)" event page]( https://coord.info/GCAKR25) and [event website](http://25years.geocache.nz) for more details, join the [facebook](https://www.facebook.com/groups/924894455969387) group, and sign up to the [email list](http://25years.geocache.nz?p=4) to get updates...If you intend to come, please make sure you get your ["Will Attend" log]( https://www.geocaching.com/live/geocache/GCAKR25/log) onto the page as soon as you can in order to assist with planning the first ever Block Party in New Zealand.**Happy caching and we will see you in 2025!**---

Found with Pprime`.

Accio 14:58:59A much anticipated holiday with T4mmmy all around the North Island of New Zealand - staying for a bit in Pauanui. Today we did a bit of a tour around. Including here. There are two 'numbers' at GZ - but the bigger digits gave silly numbers so we went with the smaller digits (larger number size). That took us to a place that could have been as per hint - we had some GPS bounce so it wasn't clear cut). And a worker was mowing lawns so that was a bit of an issue for us too, but we eventually zeroed in on a spot that made some sense to us at least. And a cache was found. phew. This cache really could do with the "Frontyard with permission of owners" attribute.Thanks MillsandLills for entertaining me at this location. *{Overall find #11675}*

Found with stairman1. We had to PAF as we weren’t sure of one of the symbols. All good here. TFTC

Found with goldielover and with help from a far. The maths were a little advanced for my pay grade.
TFTC

With the help of the Owner I found this cache, thanks a lot but my coordinates show to another corner. The lady in the house nearby was very kind to me.
Thanks.

We're staying in Tairua for a few days break and today we traveled over to Pauanui to ride the cycleway and pick up caches. Enjoyed this puzzle but it took us a little while to find the cache and yes it felt a little intrusive so we were grateful that there was no-one around, TFTC

Swung past here yesterday to grab the intel, but very busy near here so carried on my way. Looked at this again later, surely it can"t be that easy, so made a point to check this morning...
A nice easy find with no one around today, very cool, thanks

TFTC found with team SEAC ??

Out with my geocaching buddies "Team SEAC" for a day of adventures.

Thanks for placing this cache

Out on a caching mission to PAuanui with the SEAC crew - B4Dawn, Keylev, NurseDr, Uncle Sam and HeMaLuDy. We signed as SEAC to save time and log paper. Keylev did the heavy lifting on the solve but happily I made the find! B4Dawn decided to channel his inner child on the swing. TFTC!

As luck would have it NZTravellers, B4Dawn and I realised that all our other work and social commitments aligned to give us some free time this week so what better way to put this to use then some afternoon / evening / night caching the WHOLE week!!! After 4 weekdays of very long days (work in the morning, then caching all evening) we took a break on friday to get ready for a bigger Saturday to finish the week off. We had many more Team SEAC keen to join this one which we haven't done in a little while with all the lockdowns etc so it was a great day!

I had managed to solve this one at home but checked the details as I wandered across to GZ. We had to stay super quiet so as not to attract the attention of the nearby muggles...it felt like we were on their property! Cache was soon found though so we could continue on (which included some playing on the tree swing!)

Thanks for the cache.

B4Dawn posted in our group chat of a trip down this way, a beautiful part of the country, to locate some of the local caches....some of us had found some but the majority were unfound by the group....

Thanks to the CO's for placing and maintaining the caches, with the majority in good condition and dry...

Off the bikes after a little break and refueling at the nearby shopping centre....calculated some co-ordinates... hey presto.. .another smiley...

Signed in as "SEAC" to save logbook space.

TFTC.

I had made a call out to team SEAC to see if anyone wanted to wonder to Pauanui for day outing to grab some caches. Ended up with a swamp of us wanted to go! So on the day itself, we packed up the bikes, picnic food and embarked on this great journey! All logs were signed as "SEAC" to save space.

Sorry I missed this but no obvious two digit number and with muggles all round enjoying their evening on the neighbouring decks ferreting around was not an option. Perhaps I’ll try again next time I’m in Pauanui.

We went for an early morning walk along the beach and detoured up the sand dunes to find this one. Glad the maths wasn't too involved, and we were soon heading to the final gz where the cache was spotted in the first place we looked. TFTC

In Pauanui for a few days so decided to test my maths out and see if I could find this. Thankfully not too many people around today as the weather wasn't the best as I felt exposed making the find

While the kids were boogie boarding we headed here to see if we were maths Champs. We found a couple of options at GZ and the calculations did not really give us a convincing result, but we headed to the calculated GZ and were happy to make a find.

We are on our summer holiday, we usually take a few weeks and travel around the South Island, but this year we are heading around the North Island. Heading up the West coast and back down the East coast. Finding only a select few caches along the way, we are mostly targeting some challenges we have qualified for, some large size caches, some that fill gaps in our date placed grid, a few D/T combinations, some with lots of favourite points, letterboxes and anything else that grabs our fancy.

I had a fall on day two of our holiday, while out geocaching which has resulted in a fractured bone in my leg and I am in a moon boot and with crutches and I was told to keep weight off my leg. So I am only limited use when it comes to our trip now. I tend to stay in the campervan and just hand out suggestions of when and where GK should search.

While I was sitting watching the athletes this morning I had a look at this puzzle, I was rather pleased with myself that I quickly had some likely looking coordinates. As we were leaving Pauanui we came by to see if we could find it. GK spotted immediately and reached over to pick it up. We sighed the log and returned it. Then we wandered down to the beach to have a look. This is a very pretty area that is enjoyed by many.

Thanks for placing this cache and thank you for the smiley.

The Seagnoid sorted out the math once he read the equations correctly. Then off to GZ for a quick snag and tag. Cheers.

Day 11 - Monday 28 December - Pauanui - Puketui Valley - Whangamata. Another full on day and hills to conquor!

The Seagnoid, Zara, Toby and I are off on another geocaching escape over Xmas, this time to the mighty Coromandel, then over to Opotiki and stop off at Rotorua to return home on 5 January. Had an fabulous time exploring many wonders of our country. Rounding up over 400 caches along the way, with a few LABS, 20 odd TMGTs, virtuals and lots of interesting earth caches to keep the mind busy. Watching the sun come up on New Years Day at Mt Maunganui was spectacular. Lots of walking and even more driving. But had an awesome time. Thanks to all COs who made this adventure so special.

Pretty trivial for a math puzzle - I was expecting something requiring more in order-of-operations than just brackets first. Oh look - it's breakfast time! Is that the CO making breakfast here? we have had ours over an hour ago. Yep, up before dawn!

Taybeedragon and I went on a tour of the Coromandel - one of the few places of New Zealand, especially of Te ika a Maui, that I have yet to explore throughly, and from there along the coast to Opotiki to see one of my many, many sisters. From 18 December to 5 January we found over 400 caches, including 12 adventure labs (60 caches), 20 or so TMGTs and a host of virtuals and earthcaches. And I hosted an event to see the sun come up on New Year's day - surprisingly popular given that it was at 5am. We climbed a lot of hills, saw some amazing beaches that were quite popular despite (or because of) the insane access to them, walk a lot of bush, entered and explored 8 gold mines and generally had an awesome time. However I am glad to be back, but now is the hard part, and I fear it will take just as long - logging!

Really creative cache, had a great time looking for it. The creator of this cache was also a very nice lady who corrected us when we started walking in the absolute wrong direction:)

Detour to Whangamata
What a Lovely day
Did this puzzle some time ago so it was great to get the Final
No muggles around today

Detour to Whangamata with ABCDF4,
What a Lovely day,
Nice easy find No muggles around today,
not even home owners.

Quick solve, and the first cache of the day.

Tftc. Muggles everywhere!

Got to GZ, didn't like the look and realised I'd stuffed up my calculations. As I was redoing them, a local pointed me in the right direction. TFTC.

Found while on my Christmas holidays in Pauanui. Thankfully not too difficult TFTC

I'm not good in puzzle caches at all but I had PeanutButterBaby with me and she did calculations in her head so quick so I was able to get this hide fairy quick! It's almost end of our stay in Pauanui. TFTC

out with darby & joan, didn't take us too long to find this one, tftc

On a maintenance run for our caches and had nufrat on board as well. Always great to solve a puzzle, all puzzles I can solve are great puzzles. Success today, not a sign of anyone in the neighbourhood and made a quick find. SL. TFTC.

Took a while to get thanks

Called by hoping to make the find today, When every homeowner was outside of there place today doing stuff, making a find impossible. Will try again another day.

Find number 5802. I did the maths on this some time ago. On my previous visit I was not successful in finding the cache. Back today for another look. Thankfully I was able to sign the log. Thank you for the placement.

Tough one will retry later

Another hiking day for D4nielB and me. We started on Broken Hills (Water Race Track and Collins Drive) and continued with a relaxing walk in Pauanui. Of course, we also took the chance to look for some caches on our way.
We quickly found the correct number and calculated the final coordinates. The container was a quick find without any problems.
Greetings from Hamburg, Germany.
Juliane

Today Jul1ane and me started with a hike at Broken Hills, going to the Collins Drive via Water Race Track and back down the main track. Afterwards we did a short trip over to Pauanui.

Easy math, easy find.

Took a bit of figuring but pretty sure I logged the right cache. Smallish plastic bottle camo painted. Not much in it. I’m first on what I assume is the log. My first ever puzzle cache!

Did the calcs but DNFd the cache.

I came here, got some numbers, phone GPS wouldn't settle & had left Garmin behind....
Another time, perhaps.

We decided we would head up to Coromandel for a couple of days to do some Geocaching and walks, in spite of the heavy rain at home. Once we crossed the hills the weather soon improved and by the time we reached our destination it was fine and sunny. After staying at Thames overnight we decided to do the four or five unfound caches on the Tapu road and carry on to Pauanui. After overnighting down by the beach we spent this morning caching around Pauanui before heading back home. Second on our list. We did the maths and came up with a decent sort of answer and soon found the cache. No muggles around this time the year in spite of school holidays.

Thanks MillsandLills.

I came down to Whangamata with rustynz, from Auckland for a v-e-r-y long day of caching, but mainly to try for a possible ftf on a new virtual cache that popped up a few days ago in Whangamata. If you want to read about that adventure look at GC7B898. So afterwards, we came up here to Pauanui to attempt some caches in this area. My partner in crime rusty has done most of them here including this one, so once I had the number to do the math, I sat in the car and I contemplated what ^ meant! I had an idea and so did rusty, so once I worked out what I thought it was, I punched in the final co-ords, and rusty came with me to the final and pulled out the cache for me! She remembered where it was! Nice to have such cooperative help! Thanks for the cache MillsandLills.

Log later

Thanks for the challenge even if I was second guessing myself when I got to GZ . But all was good had s sneaky look and it was there. In Pauanui for a couple of days , what a beautiful spot TFTPC

Picked up the info for this on my after supper caching walk but wasn’t sure what ^ represented. A quick message to my geo-buddy in the UK and all was revealed.
Picked up the cache on this evening’s walk. Probably just as well I waited a day as the household were having a dinner party last night.
Thanks for placing and greetings from the .

Its no longer an eclipse canister? Would also be great if it had a pencil sharpener

On a trip with TNXPro to clear a little bit more of the Coromandel. We'd finished the Broken Hills yesterday and Mt Pauanui this morning so I was looking forward to some of these park and grab caches. Once at gz the info was straight forward as was the math. Pleased to see the final wasn't too far away because my legs were feeling pretty tired. The cache was found quickly and in good condition thanks to accurate coords and a straight forward placement. It does however appear to be on private property and judging by the placement and recent property maintenance I'd say it is known to the owner. Happily this cache is no longer a mint tin but a larger vitamin container. Cheers MillsandLills, TFTC

This was a quick and easy puzzle and I was glad to be on flat ground after a couple of days of hill climbing. The cache was located quickly, despite muggle activity in the area. Left a TB. (https://coord.info/TB2A8FV)
TFTC

I ended a good day of geocaching on foot to this little puzzle cache. Easy math and decent sized new (& dry) container. Can be updated from micro to small. Hopefully nearby property owner is aware of the game I dropped off a traveller.

Found it but it was soaking wet so we couldn't sign

What the hell????????? It was a plastic bag? Nothing in it!!! Please replace....

This was fun and we made it more difficult than it was....the funny thing was at the first calculation we ended up at a fence...but no cigar and reading some logs it made it sound as if we were spot on...lol...back to calculations...and the fault was quickly found...wrong input from the co pilot...now we are back on track and soon had the log signed...what a cunning placement he he he..any way we saw a bit more of Pauanui than had seen before and a close look at a few fences lol thanks for the great cache and I guess I get to wear the big D hat

I guess I'm not that good at maths. Two of the three numbers on the south coordinates were correct but the important one "somehow" got imputed wrongly so another fence - or two got serious scrutiny. After a big doh moment the true coordinates were got and a bit of light humour at the end. Thanks for bringing us here.

Parked up alongside GZ and quickly worked out the required 2 digit number. Sat in the car, nutted out the maths and then proceeded to walk to GZ. Cache quickly located exactly where the hint/coords said it would be. I guess that makes us maths champs?! TFTC!

#235. Day 4 of my caching road trip. Checked out the maths and had a look on Google Earth before leaving home, but nearly got floored by the numbers when I got to GZ. Quickly realised my error, and worked out the puzzle on this auspicious day - the celebration of the 3 millionth cache! Very appropriate to do a maths challenge. Signed the nice new log, and left a WENZ calling card. Thanks for the cache in this great spot!

New cache container in place.

Did the maths, found the spot, found little bag for putting log in, but nothing else as too many Muggles about for proper search.

This one is minus a cache container...

2.55pm - Not too sure on how to solve this one so tried a couple of guesses to find remains of cache on ground. Location seemed to fit in with the hint. Placed log back into plastic bag and hid as best we could. SLTFTP

With Gap (of Fap and Gap) on a hot, Auckland Anniversary holiday... I am recovering from eye surgery, and haven't been out caching in a while... Today's efforts are going to be testing...

After completing the Pauanui Trail, we headed into the township to collect the remaining caches. This was one of a handful for us to visit. We were reluctant to have a go at this one. I am a primary trained teacher, and one of those mathematical symbols was an unknown. At this point, we are still none rhe wiser... We used what information we did know, and made a 'guesstimate' projection of the final. Surprisingly, we got a likely hit...

We searched an area that looked like it had recently received a thorough combing over. Nothing cache-like materialised, so we widened our focus area. Something drew us back to our original search zone, and we spotted fragments of logbook and the ziplock bag. This has obviously been plundered. We signed the log, sealed it into its bag, and slipped the remains back under the hint object. This will need CO attention. TFTP and TFTC.

This weekend we are caching a few corners of the Coromandels that we have never visited before. We have seen Pauanui from the 'other side' many times, but somehow never made it here.
We've had this puzzle solved for quite a while, so it was good to finally be in the area to collect it. Widened our search area a bit from where the GPS was pointing, to a spot that didn't look quite so suspect. Then we noticed a tiny plastic bag and logsheet on the ground. We presume there should have been a container here somewhere too? Signed our name and left the bag 'wedged' in the object at GZ. This one will need maintenance.

rustynz tells me I need to catch up with all my logging

After a trip away on our way home! thanks for the hide (we had been chasing FTF nearby!)

We decided to come into town on a FTF chase, but also to find this puzzle. I like finding puzzles when I can, so soon arrived at GZ to see if my maths was up to scratch. I must confess google, and muggles assisted with what one of the symbols meant, and soon we were arriving at GZ.

I missed the cache on the first pass, but on re-reading the hint, thought I must be in the general area, and soon had the container

Thanks for the puzzle and the hide, now its time to find the beach!

A successful calculation and so find. T4tc

I had to pretend to be in the phone to avoid looking too strange. Nice simple mystery thank you

TFTC
#463

Mr S did the work for this one as he is the maths champ in our house. Found without difficulty, thanks for the cache.

Don't know why I didn't find this on my last attempt! A few muggles about but with geo-kid and geo-dog in tow nobody was too suspicious.

It was a fun drive over the kopu hikuai, with a massive frost making it really slippery. Tftc!

The first sunny day after the rain so went to Pauanui for lunch and check on some caches that we had not found. This is my second visit to this one and it was a quick find this time and no-one about this morning which helped. TFTC

Haha! Dodgiest cache ever - does the CO live here?! Glad I found it quickly as I must have looked a bit odd, don't think anyone saw me TFTC!

The maths seemed easy... Too easy so maybe I got it wrong. However the previous logs backed up my results. I didn't search very long as I felt too exposed and trespassy. Nice idea, hopefully get it next time I'm here. Thanks.

#11374. Troodles is always keen to find solved puzzles (generally she is the solver). This one was a quick find. I was just sitting on the car seat when I noticed something was not quite right with one of my shoes, and managed to stop myself putting the shoe on to the floor mat. Phew. After several minutes of de-shitting, the shoe was in an OK state to go in the car. TFTC.

Our destination today was Tairua and Pauanui, which we didn't have time to check out on our drive from Hamilton on Tuesday. The day started a bit drizzly in Whitianga but starting clearing as we drove south.
No problems with finding the number or with the maths, and soon we were at GZ. Hmmm, the neighbours were out on their balcony with direct view of GZ. I tried to act as a shield while StreetWalker searched and he soon found the cache (though it appears to be on private property, maybe a "placed with permission" note need to be added?). I think the neighbours were too busy with their socialising to notice us.
He was just about to get into the car when noticed he had dog crap on one of his shoes. Bloody dog owners who don't clean up after their animals [xx(]. It then took him several minutes, with the aid of a twig, to remove the crap from all the grooves on the bottom of his shoe. Thanks for the maths workout and TFTC.

Steed and son are thoroughly enjoying a few days in Pauanui. Together they nutted out the maths, but ended up in the ocean at first, then a flip of the figures had them somewhere much more likely, so they were able to make the find. Signs of life here, but no familiar faces appeared.

I drove over from Tairua today for a wander in Pauanui (and also to cache, of course). Unfortunately it started drizzling as I set off, and was raining by the time I got to Pauanui.

Undeterred, I returned to this lonely puzzle determined to solve it this time (I tried and failed a few years ago). I used to love algebra and quadratic equations at high school, but as that was 25 years ago I had to rely (shamefully) on Mr Google to confirm my calculations.

I don't know how I missed this last time! Quickly dashed to my calculated GZ, grabbed the cache, signed the log, and returned to the car to dry off. TFTC

Easy math and a quick find. Tftc.

Easy maths and a quick find using caching intuition. Nice it's no longer a rusty eclipse tin. Tftc

Quick find once we worked out the maths!

No worries with the maths on this one. The container is looking pretty tired with the rust. TFTC

Did the maths and walked towards the cache but then realised that all and sundry were sitting on their porches awaiting the arrival of Cyclone Pam. Will have to wait for another time when there are less muggles around.

Nice little part of town, got the numbers ok but did the subtraction wrong so headed to the wrong place initially but redid it properly and the cache was soon located. Thanks

Once we got the abacus working properly, we made an easy find. Thanks.

I joined forces with yorkshirekiwi83 for a couple of days caching around the Coromandel Peninsula. After a very early departure from Auckland, we then drove around the Peninsula anticlockwise, calling in at Pauanui, Tairua, Hahei and Cooks Beach, to find caches in those places, before taking the 309 Road to Coromandel, where we stayed the night. Spotted this puzzle while in the area and realised it would be a quick solve, so went and did it and soon found the cache afterwards. TFTC!

[red] 2016 NZ Mega Event in Turangi... http://www.nzmega2016.nz

Decided to go away for an early start to the weekend and make a real effort on the Coromandel Peninsula, Vistra was up for the challenge of joining me. We were near here and had just done the multi and the trads in the area, so why not try the mystery, got to GZ and the number was obvious, worked out the coords, went to GZ, really we must have made a mistake, checked the maths, nope that is correct, read previous logs and decided we were correct, went back and searched and yup there it was. TFTC

Guess my maths is still ok! Quick find before a spot of swimming. TFTC

Awesome

We're having a great little holiday in whangamata and having a lot of fun exploring the surrounding area, using caching as our unofficial tour guide to help us discover unknown-to-us places. We'd hoped to spend some time at the beach here today but the forecast rain has arrived early so we're taking the chance to grab a few caches around town while we wait to see if the sun comes out again.

I usually avoid multis or field puzzles that involve Maths as I invariably get the answers wrong but young teen was confident of his algebra and quickly worked out the final co-ords for me. Another heavy downpour started so the teens opted to sit in the car while I went out to have a look. The nice thing (the only nice thing?) about caching in the rain however is the distinct lack of muggles. Even so, I was a bit hesitant to search when I saw where GZ was pointing, as there were people at home on the other side of the fence. Just enough cover to be able to search unobserved, I decided, and thankfully it was a nice quick find. Cache all good, TFTC

The Eyretle girls enjoyed the rope swing while Mr Eyretle did the maths and I found the cache. Started raining so we had to retreat to the car to sign the log.

Quick fun find in the rain! Maths not too challenging...

We finally found it after a bit of hunting. Good hide.

A quick easy find nearby, after some simple calculations. TFTC

TFTC

Since we try to find a puzzle cache a day, we had to stop here on our way from Whangamata to New Chums Beach. Puzzles are not so common in this area. A quick count, found and log. Thank you for showing us this nice village! Greetings from Sweden!

Raining but lots of fun Celebrated with a swing...

Nearly didn't find this GC within the limits of my Navman on the day. Once retrieved was found to be severely damp. Now dry, pencil sharpened, and re-placed.

Satisfying find after last two logs. Enjoyed looking for this, thanks.

We did our maths and thought we has solved it and a trip to the area and found
a recently painted fence all nice and shiny but no cache. Maybe we got it wrong.

We tried to get the maths right but were headed for private property. No luck with this one. Maybe we need to go back to school.

Passed for math camp.
TFTC