@ Te Ore Ore, North Island, New Zealand
By Skindo on 29-Feb-12. Waypoint GC3E3JG

Always good to solve another Skindo puzzle so let and find the cache container.Kia ora rawa atu for the cache skindo.

This cache has been found.---I like data. So, I spend a lot of time looking at the project-gc.com website and some of the information it contains. Included in the Stats is the BadgeGen data, and included in that is The Author: Awarded for writing longer logs. Write longer logs to receive a better badge. If the user's Found it logs contain an average of at least 100 words, the user will receive the Diamond. Project-GC has some basic filtering in its word count process, which may affect the count into something the user may not expect. Lab caches are not included in the calculation, since they lack logs.

And easy find. Twig thought this symbol is an ampersand. We were confidant that it wasn't but had to convince him with some proof. But that raises the question - is this the "at symbol" or does it have a real name? Wait one...

Turns out the official English name is indeed "at". Other countries have more interesting names - pig's tail, monkey, etc. (these are swedish and Polish names respectively).

Anywat, easy find.

Twig NZ, Etherlord, Ethermaster and myself are off on another Skindo archive raid, targeting Pahiatua to Masterton. Lots of lonely caches this trip!
The plan was to do this Monday, but the weather put paid to that, so we moved the trip forward to today, after attending the dawn Anzac memorial.

A big team effort - many of these I had solved, others Twig or Etherlord had done the work. My solves were from a VERY long time ago!

Signed as TECATS (Twig, Etherlord Clan and the Seagnoid)

I was touring around part of the Wairarapa today in the company of Etherlord Clan and the Seagnoid (all logs signed today as TECATS for the 3 of us), with the aim of continuing our chosen mission of targeting as many archived Skindo caches as we can find and generally mopping up any others we are driving past.

I had a complete brainfart moment as we parked up near GZ. For some inexplicable reason (I'm going to blame the 5am start to my day lol!) I had managed to convince myself that this symbol was an Ampersand, which I'm suitable embarrassed about as I know what an Ampersand looks like. Anyhoo, this was further compounded when the Seagnoid and I, possibly distracted by our conversation, start looking in a very plausible but very wrong location!
"What are you doing over there?" we heard as Etherlord was walking to a place about 30m from where we were. "Just checking" was the reply as I sheepishly realised my compound error.

A quick and easy find, made by Etherlord, at GZ for this one. No issues with anything here, and we were soon back on our way again with the logging sorted.
Yay, another solved Skindo puzzle cache hits the dust!

Thanks for placing (and leaving) this cache to be found

It's ANZAC Day today, the anniversary of my first date with EtherLady.
What should a good Husband do?

* Spend it with his @WonderfulWifey?
* Or go away on another 'date' with two of her three other 'Husbands' like we did on Valentine's Day?

The date won out again (sorry darling!) and BoardGamesHusband, StaycationHusband, and RealHusband convened for another assault on archived Skindo caches in the Wairarapa (plus a couple of other randoms thrown in for good measure).
To try to claw back some W.A.F. points, we did take SkyCraneKid (FKA. EtherMaster) along for the trip. Not sure if it was sufficient though...?

-----

As we pulled up, we had a lively conversation about the name of the cache and what this symbol is called. [@TwigNZ](http://coord.info/PRPHK6E) was adamant that it is called "Ampersand" in the UK, despite Uncle Google saying "What you smokin', boy?!?".
We managed to distract ourselves from the conversation long enough to get out of the car and head towards a likely GZ, only for my GPSr to point to the opposite corner of the intersection.
I queried the other two, only for me to find the container before they had even managed to join me in the hunt.

> log signed as TECatS (for TwigNZ, Etherlord Clan and the Seagnoid)

Thanks Skindo for all the caches you have placed, and growing this hobby in New Zealand!

#8438. Heading north today with Infoferret to locate some skindo caches in southern Hawkes Bay and to identify some locations that might be useful as cache hiding spots. We arrived in Masterton by mid-morning and headed off to find this cache after lunch. This was one I tried to solve a few times trying a number of different approaches. It was only at a recent puzzle solving chat session that I got a hint as to how to solve this as someone in the team found inspiration from the related weblink. Simple once you know how but how do you make your brain think that way? Once I applied the newly learned technique the numbers were quickly in hand and the geochecker tick soon after.

Parked nearby and wandered over to @... It was an instant find but the log was wet. Put in a fresh sheet of waterproof paper in a new plastic bag. Signed the log and replaced the cache where found. Thanks skindo for hiding it here and setting up this diabolical puzzle that I stared at many times over the years .

Out and about with GSEL on a 3 day mission exploring the Wairarapa and Southern Hawke's Bay. I will admit to being very glad of a puzzle solving session a few weeks ago where a group of us tried to see how many of the fearsome skindo puzzles we could solve... GSEL has a seemingly endless supply of suitable paper, so he was able to leave this in a better state than we found it... TFTC.

I'm not able to maintain this cache.

With Gap (of Fap and Gap)...

We have been planning for Queen's Birthday weekend for some time - routes and caches were identified and mapped, and Gap solved a whole lot of puzzles in readiness for this adventure. We scoured many online logs and took note of the condition of the caches and their logbooks. We determined to replace any containers and logbooks where there was a dire need - This is not usually our habit and is quite time consuming; but we are enthusiastic cachers and believe in doing our bit for the wider caching community...

When nightfall arrives in winter, it comes quickly. By the time we pulled into Masterton, it was dark and rain was falling. We had no trouble finding our accommodation on the outskirts of town. Masterton seems to be quite a compact little town in the car headlights... After dinner, thoughts turned to continued caching... The rain returned as we arrived at ground zone. We must have made an interesting sight as cars swept around the bend; some slowing out of curiosity. We searched both sides of the gateway before finding this hide. The logbook was saturated and it appears to have been wet for a very long time. We had thoughts of replacing it, but left our kit at camp... Thanks Skindo. TFTP and TFTC.

Day 2 of our Road Trip
Early start today, weather fine but very cold.
Heading south we detoured up side roads, some sealed some gravel.
Caches like yesterday that needed log sheets replacing as they were so wet we couldn't sign them. Just as well we bought new log sheets and bags with us.
The huge numbers of caches in this area we know that we will have to return on another trip.
Always great to visit new areas. Thanks for the cache placements. SLTFTC

We got quite close to this one on our way to Castlepoint this morning but there was a cycle race on with a checkpoint right here so there was no chance of searching for a cache without people wondering what we were up to. Dropped by to complete the exercise on the way back to town. Unfortunately after all that the log was too wet to sign but we feel justified in still claiming a find. TFTC .

Today I was manily after the triple 2 series of caches so that I could move on to the next stage.

Not a triple 2 cache but still a solved puzzle.

Cheers for the cache.

Fortunately I have seen this type of puzzle several times before and knew exactly what to do - unlike some of the others in the series.
We didn't have too much daylight left but did a quick drive around to pick up a few solved puzzles and this one was high on the list. No problems finding the cache but log was too wet to sign so have inserted extra log in new bag. TFTC and challenging puzzle series.

Tried so many options for this, ended up using the PAF approach Just initialled soggy log. Thanks skindo!

We decided on Thursday night that we may go Wairarapa way and get some puzzle caches we have had worked out for a while now, but never had long enough to get them all so today was another day of trying to collect some more of Skindo puzzles and if lucky enough get the odd multi and traditional along the way. It feels like a park and grab day when the many puzzles are all worked out and its just a big collection day, A quick find here signed the log and placed the cache back exactly where we found it. Thank you for the great puzzle we always enjoy the challenge of working out another Skindo puzzle. Thank you for placing a cache here. We are travelling over many roads we have already done when we were caching in the eary days and grabbing all the traditionals if we only were wiser earlier we would off worked out puzzles prior but the area is so beautiful we really don't mind the roads the views and collecting more caches, as some new ones have come out since, TFTPC cache was all good here just a bit damp.

Kaleb had a teachers only day today and looking at the weather thought it could be a good day to clear up some caches, did over 400km and we enjoyed every moment, and being a week day the roads were even more quite than normal slowly made our way down while kaleb did the finding he managed to spot most of them pretty quick, until we had lunch in Masterton and carried on to some of the back roads, got home around 7pm and enjoyed a hot coffee, thanks for the placement and as always the joy of being over this side and travelling roads I wouldn't normally get to travel.

Hubby and I got up at 6am and were on the road by 7am. Caching run to Wairarapa to pick up mainly puzzle solves. We are hoping to get to 250 finds for August to collect that challenge cache. It was a long day and went down many gravel road. Car was so filthy we stopped in Palmerston North and put it through the car wash on the way home. Roads not busy as the weather is yuck.
This was a special collect today. I missed the Eketahuna event where i believe a hint was given out to help on this. Bugga. I was part of a discussion about it subsequently and played around with the numbers and did all sorts and then got the lightbulb moment. So easy when you know how. Pulled up and the co-ordinates had us exactly on a spot that exactly matched the hint which was quite specific. Looked thoroughly. The area had an overwhelming proof of a good sized flood through the spot. We replaced the missing cache which we don't normally do but this was a sure thing on this occasion. Awesome puzzle. Giving it a favourite.

I have a full day meeting in Wellington starting early on Monday morning, so I decided to take a leisurely route to it, via a two day tour of the Wairarapa. Booked me a cute little Airbnb cottage in Masterton and planned a route to an area that I have never been before. Left the Manawatu in the pre-dawn light to make the most of the day and it has been an awesome day, with springlike weather, and full of lighthouses, seals and of course, braces, powerpoles and caches.

Solved this one after meeting the CO at a recent event and asking him for a hint for the series. Unfortunately, I was interrupted by the muggle farmer when I arrived at the final location for this cache so didn't have a chance to search. May revisit this evening on my return to Masterton.

Out and about collecting some of the local caches today.

Was able to log this one thanks to tmann's help.

TFTC skindo

Last summer the idea was born to visit [Green]'New Zealand'[/Green], together with [url=http://coord.info/PR3NXJG][red]'MimiNemo'[/red][/url]
After some important decisions regarding the beginning of our trip, the flights, the general route and the car were made, the most important question was still unanswered: which caches can we visit during our tour [?]
To get an answer for this topic I was fetching almost every cache from both islands [8)][:X]
[url=http://coord.info/PR3NXJG][red]'MimiNemo'[/red][/url] and I love [Teal]'Geo-Arts'[/Teal]...so we added all these cache series to our wish list
After this decision was made this list was more than 300 puzzle caches long...unsolved puzzle caches
Two weeks before Christmas it was getting time to start solving all these mystery caches
Even with the different language I could find almost every solution
In the case I was not so successful I was contacting some of the CO's...and was always getting help from them...many thanks for this support [:X]

During the following weeks our cache list was growing and growing...meanwhile more than 1000 caches long...too long for a simple bookmark list from GC
Time to get our route and caches in sync...time to save the PQ's to our Garmins...time to start this holiday:

Chapter 18: [Green]Martinborough[/Green] to [red]Palmerston-North[/red]
For this day we had a lot of unknown caches from 'skindo' at our wish list...but we also stopped for some other caches
This cache was one of these caches

I would like to thank all the cache owners for showing us these great places and maintaining all these caches,
Dev46

Together with [url=http://coord.info/PR3BC8B][red]'Dev46'[/navy][/url][/red] I was on a 'sightseeing-tour' through lovely [Green]'New Zealand'[/Green]
During our great time we could see a lot of beautiful places and we also could find 'some' caches in the area...this was one them [:X]

Many thanks to all CO's for all these nice caches
Dev46

it was a pleasure to solve the puzzle and visit this geocache with bubblezone during our long trip
many thanks to the owner!

we solved this riddle fairly quickly, but for the search itself we would have been grateful having a hint (if only delivered with the geochecker). the grass was incredibly high out here and it wasn't easy indeed to find this cache - but eventually we succeeded. thank you.

#5193. We had looked at this one for a while. Interesting puzzle. Found after a short search. TNLNSL. TFTC.

This puzzle had me puzzled for quite some time, and in the end needed help to crack it. Easy when you know how.
Very good to finally make the find, the first of a few in the series today. TFTC.

#5888. Managed to polish off 4 and the remaining 5 in this series today. Troodles did the hard yards with the puzzle; luckily the cache find was a lot easier. TFTC.

Puzzle solved from afar and will hopefully get to visit soon

10784...

Found @... this was quite a gnarly puzzle, and the hardest of the series to solve, many thanks (we thinks).

Finally manged a solve on this one, tricky stuff!

TFTC

A nice puzzle which provided quite some frustration before I solved it. It was good to finally get here to complete the paperwork. TFTC

Did with Mycro Man on the way to and back from camping at Castlepoint

Did with CrystalFairy

Pleased to solve this puzzle and find the cache.

SL TFTC

Found @ last.

I overheard a conversation at recent gathering that put me on the right path to solving it.

Tricky, tricky, ticky!!!

TFTC

Like many others, the puzzle has defied solution for me but I came here several months ago after one of the ideas I tried placed me quite close to here. The location looked more plausible than any of the others I had got but I didn't get the geochecker tick, so thought I would try anyway. Despite having looked in the correct place right at the start, I didn't spot it (grrrrrrrr.......) and thus missed on a FTF by quite a large margin. After a tip from one of the previous finders that I had been in the right area all along, I came back today and the cache was an instant find in the same place I had looked first on my last visit. Signed log (at last!), TFTC and I hope one day to understand how the puzzle works!

WOW another joint FTF with -gonefishing- , was about to head home when I got a call from -gonefishing- to see where I was, why of coarse I am @, why do you want to know, well he said he thinks that there maybe a great opportunity to figure out where this devious cache is and wondering if I was interested.

Who am I to say no to a FTF, this must be one of those caches that you have to either know where it is @ or not @ well I definitely know where it is @ but @ this stage that where it is staying @ as for where it is @ is for us to know and you to find out. All I know and willing to say is it is @ the spot where Skindo placed it and @ this stage as far as I know it will remain @ this spot.

Another clever little puzzle that was definitely @ actually in my hand only for a few seconds and now is back @ the spot that it belongs. Thanks for placing the cache here @ this spot and for bringing me here @ this lovely time, TFTC TNLNSL (4393) Yeetrees FTF craze also decided to visit this spot as well.

Well this puzzle turned out to be bit of a conundrum! Each time I saw skindo at an event he would ask why I hadn't solved it yet and claim it was simple. Now, having got a tick on geocheck and paid a visit to GZ with Yeetrees to claim a joint FTF, I can rest easy. For anyone who is wondering where the cache is, I can confirm it is @ ....... . Actually, it is right where my cacher's intuition suggested it was likely to be!
TFTC.

I've added some more information to the cache page

Published