Uncle Sam takes a stroll (East Auckland) Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
By Uncle Sam on 01-Nov-13. Waypoint GC4RBMX

Found after solving the uniquely designed puzzle..thanks for setting this cache..the log was hard to sign so a new one was placed????

Well that was a pretty cool multi, we had a team working on this one, M23 was at home working his wonders with relayed info and M13 was out doing the dirty work, we arrived at GZ to a lovely looking garden and a happy gardener across the way, we exchanged pleasantries and he ducked back inside. M13 was having trouble locating so I jumped in and dug deep to find, the cache did have water in it and the log book will need replacing as it has been damp for sometime.
TFTM

Hello, the log is very wet and will need replacing, however it had been quite sometime since this had been found
Cheers

A plan was hatched to try and find as many different combinations on the D/T grid that we could in one day. A route was planned and planned again a number of times. It has been months in the planning but today it was coming to fruition.
I left Hamilton at 4.45am and met up with ABCDF4 and eyespyben in Huntly before arriving at our first cache at 7am. It was a long and tiring day with the last cache found as darkness set in. And after a celebratory dinner at McDonalds I got home at 11.00pm.
My calculations is that we achieved 47 with only 2 DNFs. Thank you to all the cache owners.
This one took a little time to find. Eventually it was found tucked well under. Thank you for the placement.

We had talked about this personal challenge, D/T Grid for sometime, so decided to attack on long weekend ( Waitangi),EyeSpy first up at 4.30am,so time to rise as KGD will be here soon and left Huntly for our first cache in Ak at 7am. Lota of laughs, plenty of U turns, tree climbing, muddy gumboots, very steep climbs and plenty of Kms travelled. Our total over the period was 47 different D/T ratings and only 2 dnfs. Thanks to all the Cos for a great day in the Supa City and KGD for his organisation skills. mind the nosey neaighbours.

We had talked about this personal challenge, D/T Grid for sometime, so decided to attack on long weekend ( Waitangi),I was first up at 4.30am,so time to rise as KGD will be here soon and left Huntly for our first cache in Ak at 7am. Lota of laughs, plenty of U turns, tree climbing, muddy gumboots, very steep climbs and plenty of Kms travelled. Our total over the period was 47 different D/T ratings and only 2 dnfs. Thanks to all the Cos for a great day in the Supa City and ABCDF4 for bringing me, KGD for his organisation skills.Well under

This is such a super idea for a multi!...
I have been keen to get this for years...but am not often out this way. Today was the day!
It is certainly much more doable than many of the other multis out Howick way which I have heard have become are rather problematic over time.
The find took a while....but perserverance is my middle name and I just needed to delve a bit deeper...
Thanks Sam

Had looked at this on and off for a while but never got round to solving it. Had a bit of trouble with the bus stops but was sure I must be in the right sort of area - CO confirmed which digit was out and I was soon on the right track.

In the area to collect today. GPS on phone was bouncing all over the place. I looked here, there and what felt like everywhere but no luck. There was one area I didn’t want to go to near because there were a LOT of wasps. Sent CO a message to check and he offered to come down and meet me.

Whilst he was driving I went back to the car to grab the proper GPS. As we got close to GZ he says ‘not sure if I’m going to be much help!’. Anyway we researched an area I had already looked in with no luck. As we were about to walk off I looked again and there it was after all!!!

No need to go close to the water, near the wasps or too far into the undergrowth. In fact it’s a quick easy find really just trust your instinct.

Thanks for the cache! Fills a nice gap on my D/T grid!

Looking for something to do today as it was still fine weather and we needed to get out. We had gathered all the information quite a while ago and so we decided to pop out and grab this cache. It was the last one that needed to coll
ect in order to attempt the final cache in this series.

We headed over to park nearby to where the co-ordinates put the cache final. A bit of a walk across the fields and we came to the approximate location of GZ. Mr Kiwi dived on in and searched in the undergrowth looking for the cache. After searching for a while in a few places, he settled down on a new area and started searching there. Once in the right place, it didn't take long for the cache to be found. The log was signed at last and the code retrieved to reveal the whereabouts of the last cache.

TFTC

Cache #603

We have had this one solved for quite some time but just never got the final. We ventured into the area today so decided we better pick this one up. A few minutes at GZ and the had the cache located

A few weeks back we were caching in the area. We drove up and down the road collecting & then double checking the required information. At the time we were unable to come up with the correct co-ords. Later that evening Scotty had a look at the gathered numbers and somehow figured out the correct final co-ordinates.

Late lunch time outing today to collect our daily cache. Managed to find a car park nearby and strolled on over to gz. At first I thought I would not be able to complete the find as a couple were working close by in their vege patch. After saying hello and wandering a few more metres I found that their view was obscured and I was able to have a quick rummage around thankfully making a quick find. Log a little damp but otherwise all good.

Unknown to me at this time the gate to the car park was being locked. Once back at the car I found I could not exit. Quickly figured out what was happening. After a 20 minute wait the gate was then re-opened and I was on my way. Just bad timing. Lucky I was not in a rush. TFTFun multi.

I spent an hour or so yesterday gathering the various answers required to get a final set of co-ordinates for this cache.

I was lucky enough to meet the CO at my event today, so I was able to just get a bit of clarification on 1 aspect of my results, before heading out this afternoon to have a crack at finding the cache.

The co-ords were spot on, and the Hint was good enough that the cache was found in the first place I looked. I can confirm that the container and its contents are fine, although the logsheet was a little damp (probably just condensation) so i had to be careful when signing not to tear it.

But with all the appropriate admin sorted, I replaced the container where found and headed off home to grab a well earned coffee.

Thanks for the placement, and the excuse to roam around in the mud :p

Mrs Team Welsh rang me yesterday and asked if I would accompany her on a tour of some of caches out East Auckland way today. I am never one to turn down a fun geocaching adventure so I agreed.

The CO very graciously allowed us to log this cache as a found after we sent him a photo of a swarm of wasps flying around the GZ. Thanks, Uncle Sam.

Cheers for the cache.

Tufty and I had a great time getting all the numbers correct on the first go... got the green tick and off to the final. Due to the wasp swarm and me being allergic to them I took a photo and the owner has kindly allowed permission for this to be logged.

Permission given to log as found by the very kind CO. Thank you!! Now off to find the rest of the series

Got the green tick... headed to co-ords. Unfortunately there appears to be a wasp nest either right at or extremely close to GZ. Had a quick look but due to not particularly wanting to end up in hospital following a swarm attack thought I'd better leave it...

For safety's sake could you please check on this one? Rather large active wasp nest at GZ

Out doing some caches with Merlot58 and Aiden29 and we had this on our hit list to be done. In the very wet weather we made a number of strolls. We discovered that some of the information is now out of date and some of the places like at (E) no longer exist so other tactics had to come in to play. Also we must have missed the odd one and so our final co-ords were not giving us the right geo-checker. As luck would have it a bit of free ranging with a couple of the numbers and we quickly turned up the right Co-ords. Off to the final spot and the final location was somewhat not what we were imagining. Very overgrown and not really as per the hint but sort of. Fortunately MrsJag50 had been eating here carrots today so spotted the cache.

Aiden29, Jag50 and I had a hit list of caches we wanted to collect and this was one of them. I had tried strolling on my computer which only yielded me a certain amount of information, so in the pouring rain we did a little more strolling and driving. Thankfully some of my couch strolling did help as E no longer appears to exist, then we managed to miscount so failed geochecker the first few times. With a little persistance we figured out where we went wrong and eventually got the green tick. GZ is very overgrown and it wasn't much fun searching in the rain but it was me who had eaten carrots and finally found the cache after quite a search.

Spent time out this way with Jag50 and Merlot58. Merlot had done a little homework to start on this multi, but we needed to double-check some of the questions. In the pouring rain we drove up and down and took a few strolls to check our answers. After being fairly certain of our answers, and the coords calculated, we tried geochecker. No success. We went back over our answers and tweaked the odd number just in case something had changed. After a few attempts, we figured out where we were one number off and finally got the green tick. Headed off to the final, which is very overgrown. The hint is not really helpful anymore. Fortunately for us merlot found the cache as we were about to give up and try on a drier day.

I've had on my list to try and complete a line on my fizzy grid bingo card but got a bit fixated with high difficulty low terrain options but I'm struggling to get one or two of the really hard ones. This morning I took a look to see how hard it would be to do higher terrain ones and found this one. Well this just looks like walking up and down a really long street - no abseiling or caving, that's me.

Beautiful day today and there are some quite good caches in the area so we enjoyed spending a bit of time around here. Got all of the answers and they checked out in the geochecker once I noticed I had missed a simple arithmetic operation with one of the numbers. Ground zero is a bit trickier as the area is a bit overgrown and the GPSr was bouncing me around a little. There is one or two blackberry bushes trying to get a foothold in the area but not actually where the cache is.

Made the find, signed the log and went to replace it...uh oh, dropped the lid. Spent a bit more time looking around for that and finally got it. Since this is our 51st fizzy grid combo, a week after we got to 1000 finds and our first fizzy grid bingo line, we dropped the travel bug "crowning achievement" for the next finder. Thanks for the multi and cache.

I have to say that my finer knowledge of Gossamer Drive has expanded somewhat after taking the time to do this multi. I didn't actually use the GeoChecker for the final as I was quite happy to just go and check it out. In saying that it was actually quite a comfortable challenge in that if you take your time it will fall in to place. As I was about to approach the final a friend of mine who I had made contact with earlier in the day happened to pass by and stopped as he thought that I was having car trouble. And so when I explained what I was up to he was quite intrigued as he had never heard of this thing called geocaching... another convert. Anyway, it didn't take too long at GZ to find the final. Thanks UncleSamNZ for taking me on a rather pleasant stroll along Gossamer Drive. Nice effort.

I have previously looked for this one bit did not find as it is getting really overgrown here and the old hint threw me off. Talked to the CO and found the location had been changed; with hint updated it made it much easier to find as it is getting really overgrown know! Finally made it back today to log the cache. TFTC, enjoyed solving it.

Amended hint.

I had been wanting to finish off this series for a while now, as I had inadvertently found two of the caches without realising that they were part of a series. As I was in Auckland today for work the decision to focus on the series and a couple of other puzzles was on the cards once the work had been done. Managed to get 5 of the 6 numbers needed for today, with one DNF and a revisit to a previously found cache.

I had looked at this multi a couple of times and thought it would be possible to solve from the comfort of home. Sure enough after some time on the internet the final location was figured out and all that was left was finding the final. With all the rain we have had the walk to the final was very soft and spongy underfoot, and after a good search with no luck a PAF was needed. Turns out I had looked here before but not quite in the right spot. Still took a few more minutes of searching before it was found, thanks for the multi.

We were nearly confounded by slightly miscounting bus stops but eventually geocheck agreed with our coordinates and we squelched to GZ. When we got there yapping dogs across the way were rather distracting and we spent ages looking everywhere we shouldn't. We were about to give up and had a last minute flash of inspiration. Whew. Great to have this multi and now have an encyclopedic knowledge of Gossamer Drive! Thanks Uncle Sam.

Decided on a day trip to Auckland with Cats and Dragons, so an early start at 5.30am, in Auckland by 7am before the sun rose.

this was one of a series of multi's that we done all at once, got answers mixed up, but soon sorted and the cache was discovered.

This one gave us some grief, we searched and searched, turning GZ and nearby upside down, we even got a message from the CO giving details of the hide, do you think we could find it, in the end the big guns arrive and plucked it out from right in front of us- DOH!

After a big day of working yesterday "Yardwork" that is, it was a chance to make a last minute dash up to Auckland in the company of McCutchen Cache Clan to try and get a few caches that would meet my need for the DGSc Challenge that I was stupid enough to start.
So Huntly at 5.30am, Auckland by 7am, not a bad start to the day doing a few caches that possibly would have been left until I got given a "ROUNDTOIT".
This one had been in the making for a rather long time and today it caused us all sorts of issues which was only sorted by making the call of the desperate, and as the sound of the approaching army was heard the salute to arms was made and the cache was soon located much to the embarresment of the out of towners. thank you for the help in finally putting this to rest. Apart form our ineptitube a great little multi.

thanks for the cache, thanks for the placement

Did the walkabout, and made the visit, got the bus number out by 1, but from the logs was pretty sure I was in the right place.

Very wet and the replacement hint area was under water, so didn't look there.

have since geochecked, and I was in the right spot, but may have to go back for another look.

I solved this one a while back but have only just got round to searching at the final location. On my second attempt (thanks to a tip from the very helpful CO ) I finally found the cache, yay! One more of the series complete, just two more to go TFTC!

Saw this had been sited again so came out in my lunch hour to finally "smile" it. Wasn't where I thought it would be but finally found it and was on my way again. TFTMC UncleSam, enjoyed the stroll.

Got a call from Vistra to see how I was going towards a June spelling challenge that this would be useful for. This prompted a caching session to get the caches we required for it before we run out of June.

I had tried this one before, but didnt have my results on me, so started again from scratch, found all relevant information this time and got the green tick first time, so off to GZ, which is where I suspected it might be.

Searched the area and around what was aparently a recently fallen tree, no joy, called the CO for a nudge and he said he would be straight around. No joy for him either so it was replaced. TFTC

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[2016 New Zealand Geocaching Adventure](http://www.nzgeocachingadventure.nz)

New cache container. Base of growing tree

Teamed up with yorkshirekiwi83 this afternoon to have a go at this multi, which we both needed to find for a "JUNE" spelling challenge. We didn't find it too hard collecting the necessary information along Gossamer Drive, driving along it one way then back again to double check our answers. Plugged our answer into GeoChecker and got the green tick right away. Went to GZ and had a good look around, but it was fairly overgrown and we couldn't find anything, so we gave the CO a call and he was nearby, so he popped out to join us and couldn't find it either (although it could very well still be there somewhere!) CO brought a new container with him and re-hid it, so we signed the nice new log sheet. Thanks for a cool multi!

Got the green tick but that takes us to a spot with a rather large downed and overgrown tree. Perhaps you might like to check the cache, Uncle Sam.

My first multi doing it alone with some help at the end. Also grabbed my first trackabke

I was really close yesterday, but didn't find the cache. There was a man gardening across the way, so I didn't overstay me welcome. Instead, I went home and see if Geochecker agreed me. After a couple of adjustments, I got 'Success', so I came back today to make the grab. Left: Kiwi and Pengi goes to New Zealand TB. TFTC.

As we were in the area we decided to give this multi a go, haven't had much luck with multi's lately, as they either seem to be missing their final caches or we get stuck as tricky WP's. Luckily that was not the case today, although we did have to cruise up and down Gossamer a couple of times to double check a few numbers we finally got the green tick and waddaya know, we had already guessed GZ and were pretty much on the money . MissNZT made the find in the end and then we had to slosh back to the car and head home to think about dinner. Thanks for the multi fun Sam!

Solved this one yesterday after work- after a DNF on another multi nearby, I was determined to get a smiley, so I stopped off to collect the required info for this one as it was on my normal route home.
I think some muggles near one of the clue locations thought I was a bit strange as I wandered up and down past them, counting posts (in my head so I didn't look too much like a crazy lady). Ran out of time after collecting the required info, so I left, resolving to find the final today.
Raced back after work and parked as close to the final as I could (didn't want to run out of light), and followed my phone to the coords I had input. Got to GZ and had a bit of a hunt, overlooking the hiding spot during the first two searches, and having to stand back once or twice to scratch my head and use my geo powers. Then I decided to have one last, good look from another angle, and bingo!
Signed log and replaced. Took note of the number too- I may have to go back and revisit some of the UncleSams Ivhave already found so I can get the rest of the numbers and complete the series!
Thanks for the multi UncleSam!!!

Out for the day picking up a few caches to help us complete the final stages of our current GIO licence.

This was a fun multi and pleased to say that we got all our answers right (with the exception of the bus stops but that was easily fixed) and the find was a quick one, with a helping hand from nature in recent months!

#4233

Wow we made this so much harder than it needed to be! Foraging around for ages and then 'oh there it is'. Co-ords were spot on but our geo senses most definitely were not! Thanks for the fun adventure! All codes now collected - we can find the final now but will save it for another day to help us fill our calendar. TFTC

Have redone the calculations...should be all good to go.

I need to check some of the figures again.
Should be back on line soon

Could not get the green tick today so didn't even get as far as looking for the actual cache

I have just put the cache back and amended the clues.
If you have any problems with this cache, please just let me know.
Cheers

Need to do some work on this one.

Logged with permission of CO. After a nearby event discussing puzzle solving techniques, the CO joined us and Stik-a-crane as we found the answers for this multi. Initial calculations were not successful in geochecker, but after a bit of recalculation we were then on to the cache. We successfully found the location of the cache, but after both Mr Stik-a-crane and the CO searched the cache was not able to be located, perhaps because the branch is no longer there.

A nearby event had finished and a few decided to check out some of the local caches. Teamed up with team HeMaLuDy and the watchful eye of the CO for this one as we gathered the required information... I'm sure the local neighbour hood watch will have our number plates recorded.
Run the necessary calculations... bother no green tick... a quick amenity stop was required by many of the group by this time. A little gigging with the numbers soon gave us the green tick, and off we go for the hunt of the cache... the co-ordinates were great, the hint was helpful, but the environment was not the same as when placed... so with CO's permission we logged the find.
Thanks UncleSamNZ for a great adventure for the whole team (kids and all), and the great company.

TFTC.

Out with team stik-a-crane & HeMaLuDy ... I was in charge of recording the numbers esp. the bus stops, phone booths, restaurant and phone numbers .... with combined forces we solved this multi ... went to GZ BUT alas strong wind had struck .... lucky we had the CO with us ... to be able to log this find

Found as Hemaludy but now have my own caching name. Just catching up on logging. TFTC.

We had a great afternoon trying to figure out all the clues. Had a break and went home to check answers and have a feed. Once refuelled and with the gps co-ordinates we set out to find the cache, sadly we don't have the experience. We followed the clue but then could not locate the prize. We will return when we have more time. Was a lovely day in the sun and fresh air and working with my daughter on the clues was great.

For a newby like myself a surprised found. Very good concealed in the exact place as indicated

I had a theory where the final would be for this so went and checked it. Yeah, seemed likely, but I could hardly rule out a few other spots. With no intention of performing acrobatic feats without more certainty over GZ it was time for a drive up, then down the road. I surprised my self with how quickly the WPs fell into place. Except for the bus stops which I clearly miscounted. Still I was able to correct for that on the fly. Entered my solution into the GPSr and headed straight back from whence I had came! Had to get a run up to get things going. Once up the hint made perfect sense and I was soon signing the log and recording the last set of digits I needed. Cheers for the multicache!

We laughed a lot trying to find this one, and swore a lot too. Overall, one of the most difficult ones I've done so far. Loved it though

13957... Easy find once we got up and over... Glad to put this one to bed, thanks for the challenging multi.

I managed to find this despite being handicapped by age and corpulence. Thanks

DNF... No problems locating all the POIs... unable to locate the cache after taking a stroll following Uncle Sam's footsteps... GPS was all over the place today... TFTCSF.

We had an unsuccessful go at this one on Sunday. When we first arrived we check out a very likely spot even though our GPS was telling us to go 10 metres elsewhere. We didn't see the cache so went 'up and over' to where the coordinates took us (with wet feet in the process) but were unable to locate it.
After a bit of assistance from the CO , went back today for another crack toady with UncleBoris. We went back to the most likely spot and after some acrobatics (and following some hints), the cache was soon in hand. This one definitely deserves it's terrain rating!! TFTC

I had previously tried this cache and once again the coordinates seemed to be taking me up and over some water and the possible location did fit with the cache ratings.
After some help the cache was finally located although no where near my other locations....TFTC

Spent 30 min looking with no luck. Think we are on the 'right side' as per coordinates but no luck. Thought we even had a few likely spots, allowing for coordinates being a little out, to look but couldnt come up with it

Gathered the information last week and got the coords for GZ. Time to harden up today and go and get this smiley (knew what was coming just looking at the D/T).

Was it a good idea to attempt this cache just when the Police Eagle helicopter was circling overhead and sirens heard in the area?? Just added to the "stroll" I guess. Looked longingly at GZ and thought well, even though I struggle with this type of cache location, time to give it a go, Im sure I could do it, yeah maybe I can (I really needed the code... ). Performed the hint with some wriggling. Had a good look around and then hey presto, there it is. Phew.

TFTMC Sam, enjoyed completing it.

The team parked at one end of the zone and walked the entire stretch - quite a walk to ensure all the counts were completed correctly.
Geocheck verified the numbers, and the cache was found easily!
2YO was ready to get out and run around by the time we got to GZ - and got her wish while Dad and the boys looked for the cache.
The cache was found lying on the ground - obviously not where it should be... Dad signed the log and put in a suitable location... CO may want to check?
A fav point from us, as we really enjoyed getting out and about, and walking the streets. Was a perfect day to do so - weather was fantastic and not too many muggles around!

Cache back where it belongs...unsure how it got out.

A cruise along Gossamer Drive followed a discussion under a tree soon had us headed in the right spot. A very quick find by the young fella with us. TFTC!!!

Yesterday, we managed to quickly find and gather all the information we needed at each waypoint, headed towards the final and after 40 minutes of searching, we had no luck. After the mozzies had a sufficient feast on us, we gave up in frustration. We emailed the CO to determine we were actually searching in the right location, and he was kind enough to determine that yes, we were, so decided to have another crack at it this evening. Luckily, this time, we were more successful! However, we don't disagree with FMZ, in regards to the final being a tricky hide! Thanks for a great multi, Uncle Sam! A favourite point from us, both because we enjoyed gathering the info for the multi and for the sheer amount of frustration involved for the final.

After finding another and not finding another, I noticed I had an email from the CO, and together we nutted out what had gone wrong here, so after that it wasn't difficult to sort out. It certainly was a tricky find though, but I'm going to leave it at that in order to not spoil the final! FTF #1408 TFTC!!!

PS - re the geochecker, it just seemed to spit the dummy on my phone, so I rang home and it worked a bit better on a PC.

Published

Gave up in frustration. Counted everything but coords dont look right. Geocheck wouldn't work for me, kept asking for a 5 digit code but nowhere to type one in, only a silly game.

Just checked geochecker.com seems to be working ok.

Will recheck the co ord's over the weekend to see if I have made an error somewhere.
Cheers

Amended Question "E"