The Shires Foreign Exchange (Waikato) Karapiro, North Island, New Zealand
By quinella on 15-Mar-14. Waypoint GC4Z9A4

Really happy to have found this one with a little help from the Wisconsin cacher!

I will be traveling past the NZ location twice on this coming weekend (28th and 30th)If anyone in the US location wants to pair up and solve this weekend?

All good here, thanks!Great spot to stop. FP added

Day 2 of our tour around the North island with Blue Jay. Today, we drove from Matamata to Rotatua, taking in a fantastic tour of The Hobbit movie set. We also found some great caches and this was one of them.TFTC. Toffee Man.

Worked in this done months ago while planning out trip. Easy find. Tb out We also acknowledge the traditional custodians of New Zealand / Aoteroa, as we geocache throughout their land while on holiday.Thanks for showing us this place, & for placing and maintaining this cache. The is our playground

Out around eastern Waikato with rattll today. A hot, humid day. I'd had the final coordinates for this one for some time, so was pleased to stop off today to make the find. Enjoyed the concept of swapping info with a US cacher. FP there. A short hunt before the hiding place found covered by long grass. All good, dropped off a tb. Tftc!

I am in NZ & would like to swap info with someone in the USA.

HiI'm from Germany and on holiday in New Zealand.Will be at GC4Z9A4 at September 16 and could provide the 4 digits for the Partner Cache in US. Is there somebody who wants to play this Cache with me? Best regardsAnja

Looking for 2 teams to team up with in NZ for a cache, wanna play?
It would be for myself, dawnzie and TexQuester.

Got a buddy a long time ago and made an exchange. Happy to sign the log today after a short detour. The cache is missing its lid and is crushed. Bag a bit dirty, but signed log easily. Thanks for the hide

Fun find with rustynz

Looking for someone to swap information in NZ

This is my second cache I’ve done like this and I enjoy them. I like connecting with other cachers overseas to swap info and learn a little about them along the way. This time I partnered up with Forkycache who helped me out. So thank you Forkycache! My mini cacher GigiEV tried to partner up with someone but no one answered her plea so I hope it’s ok to log the 2 together. Was great to able to finally sign it off today on our way to Hobbiton!

Found with trayc.g on day 6 of our family holiday. Today is the day we head to The Shires Rest for a tour of Hobbiton. Can’t wait!
TFTC Sorry I had to use info from my mum as no one answered me on the USA cache page.

Cache lid has disappeared and container needs replacing. Needs some TLC

Teamed up with CoachMcGuirk123 in Aug and got the required info for this. Pretty cool idea...imagine being able to do both caches! Cheers for the unique caching experience

Visiting for the Halfling Marathon. Lovely day for pre-race caching. Solved the puzzle prior to beginning our adventure. TFTC

Looking for a New Zealand partner to swap information! Contact me if you need a Wisconsin partner!

I am looking for a partner in New Zealand to complete this cache as I am in Wisconsin for the weekend to trade the info needed for it.

Many thanks to nmagrett who helped us with the numbers from overseas, I hope they have no trouble at their end as ours was very straightforward. Thanks so much for getting us out to work some Xmas food off. TFTC!

We're looking to exchange info - we have nz numbers

Went to Matamata with NZPatoto to look at motorhomes and decided to grab a couple of caches on the way home. Found by NZPatoto. 2nd for the day. Thanks for the cache.

Was in Matamata with Nahkins so decided to do this cache on the way home. We had solved it a couple years ago. An easy find and a great view. TFTC and another smiley face.

I have the Wisconsin numbers, if anyone wants to swap ️

Tag-team with dlbenton! Let's make something happen!!

Out and about with the elder Future Finder today enjoying a Sunday drive through the country side. As we ended up down this way I determined to complete the formalities on this puzzle hide. We parked up and I got to searching. Missed it on the first pass. But a more careful second look and I had the goods in hand. Cheers for the puzzle cache placement!

Was driving past and collected the information for the Wisconsin cacher. Hoping someone is wanting to swap information

Out on a sunny day in the Shire to find this cache. Thanks to the geovloggers halemeister and Cache Canada for help with the USA end. Loved this cache. Thanks quinella a favourite from us.

Oh man, ranger boy! Your caches can be tough, but this one takes the cake! I had to PAF to half the WGA, I swear! Luckily wisjanine was on the case! So glad to be a cheesehead when it counts! Tftc and kia ora!

Finally managed to get there... happy find thanks

I'm not sure what to say here. I worked with two folks who had found the Wisconsin cache, wisjanine and Eagle Son. Thank you both! But when we got to the Hobbit Hole, the Wisconsin information was not available. Sorry to future seekers I won't be able to help!

This is an interesting concept for a cache, but a little bit difficult in execution. Good luck to all!

Clever twist here. Thanks.

Cant remember who I teamed up with as it was so long ago now i dont pass this way very often but made a slight detour this morning on my way to Auckland to visit family only time for one cache today and this is it.
Thanks for the cache.

We are visiting Hobbiton on April 9. Can anyone provide the numbers from Wisconsin to help us find the cache here? We'll pay it forward if we make it!

Please email

On a spur of the moment roadie with Phillip.perry from the Bay of Plenty, a plan was hatched and here we are after leaving Tauranga at 6am to make the most of the day. Great to have these places to visit and many thanks to all you COs for the placements. Cheers Got the required info December 17 from Suntse. Finally had an opportunity to sign this on our way home today. Unfortunately cache had gone and left it’s hobbit hole. We had a replacement with us and have replaced with new log to ensure other visitors are not disappointed. Am happy to remove if CO wishes. Otherwise happy caching. I do however have to award a FP for the unique way of getting coords. Well Done.

I’m visiting NZ and looking for a WI GCer to give me help! I’m only in town tomorrow. If I travel to WI, I promise to help any fellow GCer in NZ.

Looking for someone to swap please
Also with eyespyben

Out with my friend and family. Found it. Now for a coffee.

FINALLY I have managed to get out and grab this cache! I communicated with Geohunter 100 in November last year, and he/she kindly gave me the correct information - they already had been given the information from this end so there was no trade required (although I had collected the information ready for a trade). The delay has been waiting to team up with some friends here who wanted to go find this cache with me.... months later after a bizarre beginning of the year for me, I have finally collected the smiley - yay! TFTC

With thanks to Bobz42 for the USA part, I was able to stop by GZ here to collect the cache while in the area visiting Hobbiton. It was touch and go for a while as to whether we’d get the info in time, but I was super happy when I got Bob’s message and it all came together at just the right time. An interesting concept! TFTC, quinella. =^.^=

We have just returned from our first trip to New Zealand. In fact the first trip to that part of the world. In researching possible geocaches near locations we would visit, we saw this great cache. What made it even better, is we live very close by the sister cache in Wisconsin USA. So before departing on our trip we gathered the needed information from the WI cache in order to find the NZ cache.

A small discrepancy between the write ups for the location of the NZ cache was resolved when we contacted the CO of the NZ cache. It was confirmed that the location of the NZ cache as we calculated it from the WI cache directions was correct and I believe the CO has since updated the NZ listing to reflect the proper instructions. Thanks for the confirmation. Much appreciated.

Glad to report we easily found the cache and also collected the necessary info to solve the WI cache, which we look forward to finding soon. The CO suggested we may be the first to solve the puzzle without the help of fellow cacher in the other part of the world.

In any case kudos to both COs. Love the concept not to mention the great tie in.

TFTC

Thanks to Matthew Hawkins in WI, I got the info needed to complete this cache. Headed down to Waitomo glow worm caves so detoured over to grab this one on the way. When I saw where it was, I almost smashed my head into a wall as I had stopped near there 2 days before. Hopped out and took a look where it seemed to need to be. YES!! Signed and replaced as found. TFTC!!

I really like the idea of this cache. So much so that I'm trying to get a similar one organised with my home town in England. So, I visited the Angel a few weeks ago and registered my interest. Teamed up with Geohunter100 in Wisconsin and information was exchanged a couple of days ago. It's a pretty miserable wet day out here in the Shire but that hasn't stopped me or the Hobbiton bus. TFTC.

What an excellent idea for a cache. When I put the call out for help, I was a bit worried when I had not heard from anyone, then out of the blue Scooter2010 asked if I would swap information. Yay thanks so much. Today I "popped" over to make the find. I was glad that there was a spot to pull over as the road was a constant stream of camper vans (Lion Supporters I presume). Cache spotted protected by the barbery - youch. Thanks so much for this cool cache quinella.

A big thanks to the "Pawn of Chaos" for his help...... must be a great guy knows about the All Blacks lol anyway he sent me the required info and visa versa ......all solved and off to find ....at GZ a well placed well weathered cache was located ....log signed and returned thanks quinella for this international cache ......great

2839 Got a message from Candyman wanting to exchange info. This duly done I set off to make the find. Once found I carried onto Hobbiton for a coffee before returning home. An interesting cache. Thanks Candyman hope you make the find as easy as I did.

We had teamed up with Dkelley825 to exchange the information required to solve this pair of Shire caches. We were sent what we needed just a few hours before we headed off to attend Mega, and quickly converted the information to a final co-ordinate. This afternoon we made a detour from our route south to GZ, where we made a quick find of the cache. Thanks for setting up this Foreign Exchange cache, and thanks to Dkelley825 for making the exchange.

Had to stop off and get this one on the way to the Mega, many thanks to Turtle-Sue who helped out with this one. Great to be able to get it turned into a smiley. TFTC

Teamed up with Turtle-Sue in The Shire, USA so hope to pick this one up on the way to Mega in a couple of weeks.

Thanks to yodabeach for helping me out on this cache. Had a great time getting the info and sending it to yodabeach. These are fun cache to do. Wish there was more.

TFTC

Thanks to 2CraziesMSN, we managed to exchange the required info. Seems like the foreign one is a bit more difficult than this one! It's always fun to do a cache that's a bit different, thanks for setting it up. It was a nice drive to GZ today. Tftc

I've done the number swap with 2CraziesMSN. Looking forward to going for the find hopefully next month, if not sooner.

Got the info i needed from "the shade and butch" a while ago, when I found out i was being treated to a trip to Hobbiton for mother's day. The much anticipated tour day finally arrived, so this cache was a must do, as well as gaining the information needed for our American friends.
Our numbers worked out perfectly & the cache was a quick find in a quiet muggle free area.
Left a pet rock - a pig
Thanks for setting this up. Love the concept

Road trip to Matamata for NZPatoto & I, staying overnight in the motor-home to collect the smiles in the surrounding area. Overall it was a really neat weekend with lots of fun & laughter. (this is the 17 of 17 for the trip. Decided to collected the info required for Wisconsin and have teamed up with Thirstytrail. Have got the info required, now to find another day to travel and find the cache. Thanks for the puzzle.

I have the numbers from Wisconsin looking for a trade

We spotted this question mark on our way over from Hamilton to the Mount and decided to give it a go as we saw that DuckTruckers was ready to partner up. I emailed him from the car and then we retrieved the info he needed and we carried on our way. He got back to us quickly with what we needed and that night we sent him what he needed.
We planned to collect this one as our last for the weekend, number 51. Unfortunately we were a bit later than expected and by the time we reached GZ it was pretty dark. Our geocaching sense lead us to the treasure quickly and we signed, replaced and were on our way.
Thanks for a different type of caching experience.

I'm from Wisconsin and I am ready to trade.

I would like to work with a fellow cacher from New Zealand to log our caches. I know where your numbers are for you to find your cache.
Thanks, The Shade

The facebook call went out from Philip.Perry for another night time mission, Soon we had nailed down that we would hit Hamilton and TNXPro put up his hand to join again too. Awesome trip with 20 finds a couple of DNFS a Wherigo cache, Lettebox and even a couple of puzzles. Got back to Tauranga at 2am and was another awesome trip looking forward to the next one still have lots in Hamilton to do

We looked at this one on our way over to Hamilton and saw Pixiestix13 note on the page, We pulled in to the place to find the angel and get the info needed and sent it off to Pixiestix, we where very surprised to get a reply very fast back and with the info we worked out while at maccas where we needed to go. Such a cool idea for a cache and the way you have to work with someone in the states to get it done Thank you so much for setting this up And thanks Pixiestix13 for the info we needed good luck on finding your part over there

On another improptu night mission with Kiwimikebop and Philip.Perry. Why Thursday night I will never know but I agreed anyway and we were off from Tauranga about 6pm. I had set a time limit of home by 1am, as I had a big day following at work. We headed over to Hamilton as a team, but with Philip doing the driving, the navigating the reading the descriptions and eating pizza (all at the same time) I could relax and concentrate on getting a message across to Wisconsin for this cache We hardly made a dent in the caches in Hamilton, but we certainly had fun and found a few good ones. Home by 2am - damn, work in a few hours.

I saw the call out from pixiestix13, who had posted directly on this page (which I reckon is a better idea than using an external site), as she had solved the required digits over in Wisconsin. We decided to stop at this one as I liked the concept of helping someone out across the other side of the world. As we were driving past anyway, we stopped for a quick visit and soon had the digits that pixiestix13 required.

I messaged pixiestix13 the digits she required to locate her cache, with the hope that we receive a reply soon enough that we could find the cache on our return trip and what do you know, we had a reply within a couple of hours. Thanks pixiestix, your timing was perfect. On our return trip, we were running an hour late, but I had done the required maths at McD's at midnight, so we had to grab this on the way home.

My family are big fans of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, so this is a fitting cache to bring the family back to sometime and maybe we will visit Hobbiton too.

Thanks again to pixiestix13 for the coordinates. Good luck with your find and thanks to quinella for the fun cache. I award a fav point.

Managed to gather a couple of guys from the BOP Geocaching Facebook page to commence a small assault on the Waikato. So together with KiwimikeBOP and TNXpro we left Tauranga around 7pm, head lamps in hand




This was the 2nd stop on our little excursion - once we had got our head around the requirements and found pixiestix13 who already had the details we needed - things started getting exciting. It was an interesting place to venture in the dark so we took a couple of selfies before getting the Wisconsin info. We sent our message via the Groundspeak Messages tool on our way to Hamilton and just hoped for a reply before our return trip. When the message came back just in the nic of time we were so stoked - and the final coords TNXPro came up with looked legit so we made our way to gz. The time of night made any vista here irrelevant but I'm sure it would've been a great view. Mike got his hands on this fairly promptly so it was a quick park and grab really. Just as well though because the temperature was plummeting!




So due to a very interesting concept and a simple, straight forward, enjoyable experience - I do believe I'll use a precious favourite point here. Cheers quinella and a special thank you to our Wisconsin partner pixiestix13.

Thanks to TNXPro I have the info I need! Can't wait to go and find it!

I have the information for the NZ cache, and would love to team up with someone!

#337. We had gathered the necessary information to complete this challenge in March, swapping information with Ranger Rob in the USA. Unfortunately, we didn't get it before our Hobbiton visit at the time. So, four months later, we are driving past the area again, and we made a slight diversion to drive past the final location. A lovely spot too. Excellent multi-stage cache - an FP from us! Tftc.

We are looking for a NZ partner to help us log this cache here in Brookfield, WI. We have already gather the required information to assist our Kiwi partner. Send us an email and we can trade. Thanks in advance.

Gathered the required info from Wisconsin, with the assistance of Silyngufy (thank you so much for your help). Approaching GZ, we came the back way up Buckland Road, following a rental car - so no surprises when it turned in at the entrance to Hobbiton ... we wonder how his GPS was set up, to have them coming in on such a windy and narrow back road.
A lovely area at GZ - with a rather nice outlook over the surrounding farms. TFTC.

Got a partner from Wisconsin - Ranger Rob, who has provided us with the required information. Unfortunately we have already had our Hobbiton visit, so making the actual find will have to wait until we are in the area again - maybe not until later this year [:-(] Lots of fun and a new experience though- will be worth an FP in due course!

We now have the necessary info from Wisconsin , a big thank you to Silyngufy ... we will visit the cache next time we are over in the Waikato.

We have found the NZ info today, and had left a message on the Groundspeak Forum ... just waiting now for someone from Wisconsin to contact us... .

7.50pm - Teamed up with chevyole and squirrel nutcase to solve this cache. I was unable to sign this cache with the squirrel when he did it, then a few months later called into the GZ on my way home on a Haniltom trip. Wasn't until the other day passing realised I had never logged this one, so hopefully it is okay to log now. SLTFTC

No Gap today (Auckland)... How will we manage? I have my nephews (10 and 6) along for company. It's going to be a 'stay close to the car' day, especially with the weather being so changeable...

I've had this puzzle lined up to collect since early April. Thanks to Chevyole, I got the necessary numbers to make my coordinate calculation. There was a small road-gang of two parked at ground zone. I wasn't going to let them deter me, so I got out and found the cache right under their noses. Well placed prickles hide this cache from idle hands. TFTP and TFTC.

We just stopped to gather the required info and we were questioned by some locals what we were doing here, apparently this is a private cemetery so take care and if questioned best not to mention geocaching!

Thanks to my partner Sevencards - we completed this great cache. Sounds like he had a greater adventure finding his cache than I did finding the NZ one. But I will let him tell you that! Great spot for the cache, great views even on a drizzley day. I took this opportunity to visit the Hobbit movie set and I had a great time - I had been meaning to do this for a long time TFTC

I also have the info if a New Zealander would team up with me. Send me a message

I have the WI cache info and would like to trade for the exchange, feel free to message me.

With a little bit of mutual help from Hack1of2, we headed out this way. Got to the WP for the puzzle, only to find it occupied by a group, complete with sunshade shelter, themos etc.... they were obviously here for the long haul.
Moved onto the final, and was pleased to find a good parking spot. Great view of the shire here.

Thanks to my US cacher 3 Hawks for the teamwork. Grabbed this early hours of the morning on the way home from work but had forgot to put in corrected coords so luckily remembered the area on Google earth and made a stab in the dark and came up with the goods.
Thanks for the great idea.

A great idea for a cache.
I gathered the required info on Sunday and made the trade with abcdmCachers. Was back in the area after climbing up Wairere falls, so stopped of for the find on the way home. No view at 8.30 at night, just lots of darkness, but still worth a fav point from me. I wonder if I'll ever get to find the US cache?

Was working nearby last week (ok not really nearby but close enough for a 25 min detor) so decided to have a small diversion to get the required information, after teaming up with beccaday and doing the swapsie of info today was the day to go and claim the find.

Thanks for the cache and the international help

Learnt about this cache from US cacher, lobsters9494, but sadly wasn't able to get away for the FTF race. Got a message from furryhermit about teaming up last night; having just picked up our new-to-us car, it didn't take much to persuade the other half that we needed to take the new caching mobile for a spin on some back-country roads first thing this morning. Gorgeous sunny day & fabulous views on a really circuitous route to get here; we've definitely seen the shires today! Thanks for your help, furryhermit, & thanks to the COs for a great caching idea, a fav from us too.

Helped out by heavin in Wisconsin. Had a great visit to Hobitton this morning. We took a private tour at 8:30 before all of the tourists arrived and had the Shire entirely to ourselves. Definitely worth the money. Fun cache. Worth a favorite point! TFTC!

4th to find
Quick find, great view. Thanks to PharmTeam from Wisconsin for your help and to quinella for placing the cache. We haven't done one like this before, so found it an interesting & fun exercise!!

Have done my trade of info with 3 Hawks, will pick up next time out this way.

Woo-hoo, third-to-find! Found with the help of Pawn-of-Chaos. Interesting idea for a cache, and a great location for final - I've often stopped here over the years to soak up the wonderful view. TFTC!

Something a bit different for a change. Came out to get the required numbers after work and noticed a white car leaving just as I arrived. Could it have been NZ Skyliner? While adding a note to the forum page looking for a Wisconsin partner Cats & Dragons turned up. They had just received the required code so were one step ahead of me.
How could I resist the invitation to join them for the hunt for the final. After a wee detour we managed to find the cache. By the way I am not claiming a FTF as I didn't officially have the Wisconsin code at the time. This was rectified soon after by teaming up with CNA'Stein to do the trade.
Many thanks
PS A couple of pics attached from our visit to Hobbiton in 2011 just before the filming of the Hobbit movie so everything was pristine perfect. A wonderful experience for a LOTR fan ... me included

Well I haven't had a reply from the cacher I messaged on the forum yet, but I was at the posted coords just on 6pm, so unless anyone was there earlier I'll claim FTF of the answer if not the actual cache yet! (Hoping the American cacher gets back to me real soon!)

Corrected a digit in NZ formula after feedback…thanks guys.

Published

{FTF}

wow what a call, had a message as I got home from work from "lobster9494" asking if I would be interested in going for it. A quick gulp down of dinner, a hurry up to the Dragon and off we set. Lobster9494 sent the required info while we were driving to the listed Coordinates so all was a go.

Arrived at the listed coordinates to see a familiar car (the Mighty Zorgon) sitting there waiting for a reply from Wisconsin as he had already got the required information at this end, but as yet no reply. [;(].

A quick jump of the fence, retrieval of information, a meeting of minds and a set of coordinates we were off to the adjusted coordinates, (after emailing Wisconsin Tony the required information, it was now 1am where he is). Hmmmm something not quite right here, a quick call to the CO and doh, an adjustment of the final calculation and off we were once again in the opposite direction.

This new path made a bit more sense, arrived at GZ and soon located the cache and the empty logbook, Great. A real unexpected adventure, contact a new cacher on the other side of the world, make the find with a local mate, enjoy a pleasant drive home with the wife after a successful mission.
A great evenings entertainment.

TFTC