Certifiably Mad (Wellington) Wellington, North Island, New Zealand
By kjwx on 18-Apr-12. Waypoint GC3ETQG

As this cache has been out of action for too long and the cache owner has not responded or performed any maintenance, I'm archiving it to keep it from continually showing up in search lists, and to prevent it from blocking other cache placements. If you wish to repair/replace the cache sometime in the future, just contact us (by email), and assuming it meets the guidelines, we'll be happy to un-archive it.
 
Regards,
Status Quo
Geocaching.com Volunteer Cache Reviewer.

This cache appears to be in need of owner intervention. I'm temporarily disabling it, to give you, the owner an opportunity to check on the cache, and take whatever action is necessary. Please respond to this situation in a timely manner (i.e., within 30 days) to prevent the cache from being archived for non-responsiveness.

Despite previous log entries I thought I'd have a quick look.

Like previous entries, nothing found.

I located this one a few months back, so I knew where it was, and what it looked like, but ran out of time to figure out how to access the logsheet. Armed with that knowledge, I returned today, but the prize was nowhere to be found, despite 5 mins searching in all likely locations. Could the CO check this one out please?

Well I love a good field puzzle so I was disappointed to not turn up anything at GZ after an extensive search.

Could not find after much searching.

OK, cache located this time, but despite invoking PAF and discovering what was needed I still did not manage to get into the cache before I needed to get moving to make my flight home. Jammed and unjammed the straightjacket 3 times, and finally jammed it a final time but didn't manage to get it unjammed again before I had to leave, sorry to the next finder.

So does failing to find this mean I'm certifiably not mad!?

Looked for ages. I think its gone. What does it look like, it would be a big help for some advice

Thanks, I really enjoyed this cache. It took me two times, then I finally had it. We spend 20 min looking for a way how can we open it? Finally my boyfriend did it During writing my name in I just lost one small peace from the cache .... yes, the space under the stairs is very narrow but we found it and the cache is absolutely alright This cache is now my favorite in Wellington.

Signed log but only room to put initials 'brh'.

Had come by a few weeks ago to check out what was required.
Home to do a little internet research.
Back today and accessed the log very quickly.
TFTC

Me mad ? Have meant to do this for sometime but the idea of parking at the top of my old Wellington College cross country hill climb then walking down and then having to climb back up was a bit off putting. So... today we were at the college for a reunion with the leavers of my last class way back in the dark ages. After morning tea we were given a guided tour of the college and as we stood on the no 3 field and the headmaster pointed out the observatory a little light started to glimmer. This light reminded me there was a cache that would be more accessible from this angle. Unfortunately access through the college is not permitted but as an old boy we were returning for drinks, canapes and a reunion dinner later in the day and the headmaster invited us to feel free to visit any areas we wished. After returning to our son's to change into more formal attire for the function I browsed the previous logs and hints and got to work on Mr Google. Ok so Matthew James Preston played football for Manchester United, Preston North Field and Leicester City. He scored 0, 3 and 5 goals at the respective clubs and Wikipedia totalled that as 9 (maths a bit off here) With the code of 0359 or 0358 sorted I confidently set off with little blue hen and bypassing the function centre ( we were early on purpose) parked within 100m of GZ. Clad in a formal three piece suit and LBH in her glad rags we soon had the cache in hand. Glad that we had prepared adequately we accessed the log in about 30 seconds. Nothing insane about us nutters ! Log reinserted, certificate in hand we strolled on down for a well deserved pinot noir.
A quality presented cache page and a bit of local history. Worth a favourite. TFTCSL
ps As a bit of additional history.....back in the dark ages the area around GZ was the scene of many a pine cone battle between rival factions.
pps sorry to give away the code secrets. Perhaps it maybe necessary to put me back in a straight jacket.

Hanging about with certifiable geocachers must be rubbing off. An enjoyable bit of madness. Glad I wasn't wearing high heels. TFTCSL

Found the cache no problem, but retrieving the log was another matter! I think it was more luck than skill in the end. Tftc!

It took my half an hour to log this one. But I liked it.
Greetings from Luxemburg.

Found it! Great cache, took us a while to open it and also thought there was nothing inside but then we figured it out

Found it ad opened it with some difficulty, but nothing inside

First time up to this part of the town belt. Spent quite a while accessing!
Very challenging. Tftc

Found it easily enough then... With the help of utube... Tftc

• Cache #37

Beauty day for it, approached GZ from suggested parking WP (Fever Hospital - Mt Vic).
Easy find, unshackled the log from his 7 week solitary confinement for a quick 5min parole hearing, parole denied!

• Initialed as 'JW' (32nd Log)
• - 1 Cert (1 remaining)

Not much else to see around here, I thought we would have the chance of entering an old insane asylum.
The observatory was not even accessible.

So a nice calf burning hike back up the hill (I Like!) and drop over to Healing Waters [GC2A2T0]

Thanks for the in-field physically manipulable puzzle, was a nice change for us newbies.

TFTC! and as always ~ Happy Hunting!

Yes I am! Failed miserably many months ago, so bought our own puzzle to practice on before another attempt. Very quick find and solve this time around, practically fell apart in my hands! Log signed and certificate taken. (Only two left in cache box now) TFTP and the local history background.

This entry was edited by Renard & Co on Saturday, 12 October 2013 at 01:13:51 UTC.

Found the cache... But couldn't access the logbook! I'm terrible with this sort of thing. But I will be back... maybe!
Wish I had've come up here a bit earlier... maybe I could have caught Renard & Co in the act and got a bit of help!

Easy Find. Really cool Puzzle!

Tricksy!

Felt so good when it finally slid open - and also when it closed again! Conquered with evilsupernasty. Thanks

Awesome cache! Was heaps of fun! I had to watch a few youtube clips to figure out how to open it. Also I didn't have a pen so I poked some holes in the log to mark that I had found and cracked it, gutted my name isn't in there though. TFTC

A real nutcracker suite of a cache this one. Just like lots of others, the outter cache proved to be a quick find, but we spent quite a bit of time figuring out the rest of the puzzle. Cracked it in the end!
First time we've encountered one of these. Neato.
Log signed, cache put back together and safely re-hidden.
TFTC found with team cacher Sweet P too
The Turtle strikes again!

Found orginally as part of phasevisitor team, now created own account, re-logging as yorkshirekiwi83.

We had just arrived in Wellington and wanted to pick up a cache for the day, before driving to Porirua to stay with family. This D4 caught our interest, so we took a quick detour through Wellington College and parked just below GZ. The cache was soon found and we opened it up to find a field puzzle that was identical to one we had found before - so we knew what to do this time! It still took us a few minutes to open the container, sign the log and put it all back together again. Thanks for the fun cache, a favourite!

We had just arrived in Wellington and wanted to pick up a cache for the day, before driving to Porirua to stay with family. This D4 caught our interest, so we took a quick detour through Wellington College and parked just below GZ. The cache was soon found and we opened it up to find a field puzzle that was identical to one we had found before - so we knew what to do this time! It still took us a few minutes to open the container, sign the log and put it all back together again. Thanks for the fun cache, a favourite!

Find #73 of the 100 day challenge. We were up at Wellington College for Jed's football match today, and I checked for nearby caches (last week had us playing right next to "you give me fever"). I was delighted to see this one was pretty close, but I was uncertain as I looked up the hill to where it should be- knowing (from my college days) that an observatory is up there - but a mad house. Well off I charged and was very happy to see the metres click down till the cache was in hand. The fun secondary container took a few minutes longer, but after realising that gravity was my best friend with this one, it was soon open. Closing was harder, especially when the log capsule was dropped into the bush! Thankfully a panicked search had it found (very lucky as it's colour did not stand out), and another day towards the 100 is done.

Great cache, great history lesson, lots of fun. Fav I believe.

Off to Wellycon, the board gamers convention. Stopped off to do Healing waters, then followed the track past the lost marble to here. No trouble finding the cache, however retrieving it proved a little difficult. It only took a moment to work out what the inards must look like, yet it still took 20 minutes to open it. At which point I discovered why, it was not quite what I expected, trickier that I thought. And it still took 5 minutes to put it back together afterwards! I kept cross threading the darn thing!. Nice puzzle, gets a favorite from me.

We parked at the suggested spot and enjoyed the walk down to GZ with interesting view points along the way. Once at GZ, the first container was hard enough to wrestle from its hiding place but that was just the beginning. Managed to open the second container without too much difficulty but getting it back together again correctly was quite a challenge for Mr M5 but this was eventually achieved to his satisfaction. TFTC and the interesting and well put together cache page.

Attempted this when down in Wellington for the day. Students from Wellington College nearby were holding a "runathon" over the weekend as I approached the cache. I find the thing named in the hint easily enough but had no luck locating the cache. Will have to return another day to give this a crack, it sounds like a very interesting cache!

Easy when you do the prerequisite study, tried to do this than ran out of time on Monday. Nice walk to cache, probably could have found an easier way but decided the kids needed a walk.
TFTC

This had me really going nutty. I mucked about with the second container for ages until I locked it up. Was I close to opening it???? I had no idea (I didn't have any digital assistance at hand). Then I did an absolute no-no - I took it home because I didn't want to leave the container in that state!

Even at home I had trouble getting it open, but eventaully succeeded and not only opened it - I got it signed and back together too. I popped it back in place today, back looking fine. What a mission, however altogether a well themed puzzle piece and page design. Worth a FAV point. TFTC

PS: I picked one your cards too, it seemed suitable for me!

The first for Waitangi day, I parked at the suggested location but there was probably an easier spot.

I had the cache in hand pretty quickly. I figured how the straight jacket worked pretty quickly (without inspiration from Google) and after a couple of minutes fiddling I had access to the patient.

I always seem to have more difficulty putting these back together than pulling them apart and this was no exception. I was getting quite frustrated having spent twice as long trying to rebuild it when it all slotted into place.

A fun cache, the hospital is very interesting. There is building work happening at the moment it would be good to see it used for something.

Worth a favourite

#300! And maybe (just maybe) enough marbles left to complete a few more yet ... Sat on the pine needles in the sun to nut this one out, although some web based self medication was required. TFTC.

In town today with Grumpy Ant and Wldeybeast. Always enjoy a visit back to the old school. Flash new path up to the observatory club. I didn't know the previous history around here but I do remember that there was a shooting range nearby when compulsory military training was a part of our lives.
Found the cache after resorting to the clue. Grumpy had the first go, then Wildey. Ms M was getting bored so I was sent back to the car to get the iPad. Grumpy found the You-tube video and it still took us more than five minutes to tear the cache apart. It felt like the "Famous Four have a mystery to solve" rather than being certifiably mad as we muddled along.
Thanks for a bit of fun. A favourite as is customary.
TFTC

We set off with not much time and an ambitious list of caches. This turned out to be the only one we did as the walk from the suggested ambulance parking was a little longer than we expected (or we might be less fit than we remembered) and then the fun began. Thank goodness there were no muggles as we were at the cache site a full 25 minutes! fabulous fun and a very intriguing field puzzle which definitely left us needing certification. It might have been the only cache of the day but it was well worth it. A definite favourite point here. Tftc

Thought my eldest would enjoy the field puzzle so detoured on our way home. After twenty mins it was driving her mad and the other two geokids were doing the same to me. So called it a day to do some research on access methods. Great page & theme carry through.

Left empty handed and suitably mad. This cache obviously needs some more thought on my part.(and searching)
TFTHunt anyway

PATIENTS' ADVISORY: Please note the facility will be closed until 5pm while a working bee is held on the grounds. Family and friends of neighbouring Gifford Observatory ate welcome to lend a hand as the trust tidies up in preparation for an astronomical viewing later this month. We expect visiting hours to resume tonight.

And we're back in business ...

I decided to try and find this one on my Saturday morning run. For an additional challenge, I thought I would try and get to it without reading the description, instead just make my way to it through whatever was in my way. I went through Wellington College, encountered some dead ends, but got to GZ in the end and found the cache fairly easily. But the challenge had just started...

I spent about 20 mins trying to get into the straight jacket, before very reluctantly giving up. I'm a geeky nerdy guy who loves a good puzzle and I'm usually pretty good at them, so this defeat hurt. Hurt bad. Reading in the logs that others had solved it easily didn't help either. Ego battered and bruised, I moved on.

Later on in the day, I had an idea! Surely I had figured it out! So I drove back in the afternoon to try again (I very rarely make a special trip to find a cache). Turned out that my idea was rubbish. However, after playing with it some more, I did finally figure it. I had previously guessed how the straight jacket worked, I had just been missing the right technique to open it. I also discovered a method of putting the straight jacket back together very easily - which restores the ego somewhat.

Thanks Kjwx for a fantastic cache.

WARDEN'S ADVISORY
Please note: The discovery of a body on Mount Victoria today means the hillside is swarming with police officers. The crime scene is not near GZ for anybody planning to visit later, though you should avoid accessing the area via the Carparking co-ordinates listed here.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7246900/Body-found-in-Wellington-suburb

Good find after a short struggle with the log. Took longer to put it back. SL TFTC

Was a bit worried when I arrived at the scene but then realised that the cache has the required permission. However a couple of muggles going back and forth. This was really a recce in view of the indications that it was likely to take some time to do the cache and I had to go on to other places. But when I arrived at GZ I found a container which didn't appear to be the cache or if it was it was so well disguised that it had been used for another purpose and I definitely wasn't going to dig through that
Took a bit of a look around but didnt manage to spot the cache assuming the object I was looking at wasn't it!

GUARD'S LOG
2.59pm: Delivery by the Mount View Asylum director of new paperwork for the next batch of geo-lunatics.
3.05pm: Tree trunk partially blocking stairway to patient ward. Maintenance alerted but this should not affect access to the site.
3.07pm: Pinned up a notice requesting visitors place any litter near GZ in the provided receptacles.

We had a feeling we may require a few visits to this cache to access the log book, and we were correct. We had an initial recce on Anzac day, but ran out of time, but did find where we could park quite close by next time.
After a bit of googling, we felt more confidant to tackle the strait jacket today. It looked easy on the web, but every time we thought we had made progress, the strait jacket foiled us again. We were getting cold and frustrated, and were just about ready to give up, then success! StreetWalker triumphs!
Yes, we are mad, thanks for the confirmation.
TFTC.

#3624. A maddening field puzzle (should have paid more attention to the YouTube video). Nearly had it a number of times. We were on the verge of giving up, when I finally got access. Phew! Reassembly wasn't perfect, but good enough. TFTC.

This cache just about drove me nuts on two separate occasions. I visited GZ the day after publication but just couldn't find the container despite a reasonably thorough search. Decided to admit temporary defeat after being muggled by an aggressive dog in its own muzzle straight jacket. Returned today and finally found the container, after following the obvious geotrail. Then a protracted struggle to get the log ensued. I think it took me almost half an hour to get it! A challenging and unique container indeed. Thanks for the interesting history and the cache. TFTC!

Saw this cache when it was published and I wasnt crazy enough to go up there at night and try and get this one, after reading the cache page and having a look at the difficulty rating on this cache I decided that I would go out and team up with -gonefishing- and grab this cache as it sounds like that it seems like there is a bit more that a simple cache, arriving at GZ -gonefishing- decided to have a look for the cache and couldn't find it so I decided to check out GZ and managed to get my had on it, after opening it I soon realised that kjwx was back up to her usual trick, dame knew it wasnt going to be easy, handed the cache to -gonefishing- while I dusted off the cobwebs and he had the cache opened with a few second, you have got to love it when this happen, signed and replaced the cache as we found it and we decided to head back to the car, but for some strange reason -gonefishing- decided on taking another route back to the car so I said that I would wait for him at the junction, I was totally sure that he must have gone mad, as the route that he took added another 5 minutes to the walk, glad I was on my senses, thanks for placing the cache here and for bringing me to this lovely spot, TFTC TNLNSL (4317)

I the family would already agree that I was suitably qualified to attempt this cache.
Having read the first logs, yeetrees and I decided a joint assault might be a good idea. Yeetrees managed to retrieve the container where I failed, but then passed me the inner container. Whether it was my psychic powers, psychiatric disposition or just my tongue held the right way, the container revealed its secrets within seconds.

Thanks for the fun cache and interesting write up.
TFTC.

FTF shared with boxhill . After looking at the listing when it was published I decided to put a visit off untill the light of day. The puzzle was discovered after a short search and as I had a bit of an idea as to the solution I thought that I would soon be signing the log. However the brain didn't want to kick into gear this morning and I began to get the increasing feeling that It would drive me completely nuts. However then boxhill arrived on the scene and two pairs of hands seemed to work as the cache was eventually convinced to give up the log. Thanks for a fun??? and interesting cache and an unusual log container. TFTC

Happy Days a joint FTF with fozzmiester.

I arrived to find fozzmiester sitting there with a rather whimsical look on his face. He showed me the cache container and asked if I’d seen one before. The answer was no! I had a play and admired the engineering while he explained to me what was required. After viewing the visual information we had available and a couple of pauses to re-evaluate matters we got the container open after about 10 minutes of trying (not sure how long he spent before I got there, a wee while I think).

A well set up cache page and cache. A favourite without a doubt.

That certainly was a tricky one , and probably certifies what the rest of the family has thought for the last three and a half years [:o)] [:o)]!! TNLN SL TFTC

One of the best caches I have done for some time . Informative, interesting, and with a superbly-written and illustrated cache narrative. And a puzzle the likes of which I haven't seen before as a final challenge! I managed to park a lot closer than the recommended spot so it was only a few minutes' walk to the cache. Once at GZ it actually took me quite a bit longer to find the container than to get to the log - it had been pushed in a long way and I didn't find it until the 4th or 5th attempt at that spot. The puzzle was great, it was a good mental exercise working out how it functioned and the best way to get into it. I had it open in about 10 minutes, and getting it back together again properly was almost as difficult! Signed log, TFTC and it gets a very well-deserved favourite point!

#2954. 3rd (team) to find @ 15:20. Took a longish circuit walk to GZ and return. Great views from grounds we haven't been to before. Very interesting field puzzle, which Mrs h solved by the time Mr h sorted out the trackables for the cache. While Mrs h was putting the puzzle together again, a group of walkers arrived, looking for their way to the "hospital car park". We had to temporarily hide the cache out of sight, while trying to take a peek at the now closed facility nearby. Replaced the puzzle and cache when the coast became clear again.
- Phishbonz FTF pathtag
- Drama Mask - Happy pathtag
- Drama Mask - Sad pathtag
+ Andrea Memorial TB
TFTC and the puzzle.

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