Nelson's Castle (Nelson/Marlborough) Nelson, South Island, New Zealand
By bumandworker on 15-Jan-15. Waypoint GC5K978

Solved this last weekend and was in the area so thought wed have a little poke around. What a fantastic spot. We had to throw our eyes around for a little while, read some logs and then hey presto. Plain sight for sure. TFTC

Three times is the charm, finally got it! Found very quickly this time after a helpful picture from a pf. I think I was focussing too much on the ground last 2 times. Since solving the puzzle, we moved twice and are now living in plain sight of the castle. It's even for sale atm! Well, not for me Tftc for this one!

Got the relevant info about the castle from the sign a few days ago. Surprised final so far away. In area today to have a look but not overly optimistic as dnfs lately. Spent quite a while waiting for Gps to settle and looking at numerous places. Was almost giving up when spotted it. Still in good condition. Quite a lonely cache being 18 months since last found. Tftc and multi

Been back here to try my luck a 2nd time. GPS was going all over the place. Checked every tree and every branch in the region, still nothing. Seems like either this one is gone or covered by the hands of time. Will try one more time some day and otherwise replace it.

Hmm, last find was long ago and most had serious trouble finding this one. Well, me too unfortunately. No luck today, will reach out to other finders for an extra hint.

Found after long search but there it was in plain sight love the castle too tftc

I really liked the castle and its history. I got coords for the final and drove over always wondering if they were correct. After the standard moist entry, I started looking in what I thought was the mot logical spot under the edge of the walkway, but nothing. I gave up after a while and made my exit through the secret passageway.
After getting a good hint from a PF, I returned and found the cache today. If only I had eyes in the back of my head I would have found it the first time. TFTC.

Phew! I was pleased to find this cache. I wasn't overly hopeful I'd find it because I knew it would be a bit tricky or could have gone AWOL. But my GPS narrowed down the search area and after reading some logs I spotted what I was looking for. It would be easy to have cache blindness here though! It's amazing how your eyes can gloss over it. TFTC

Driving back from Waimarama Sanctuary, we spied the turret of Warwick House and came to investigate. Soon had the puzzle solved, but was surprised to see that it was almost 4km away, but the checksum worked out. Fell for the sunk-cost fallacy, and went out of our way to get to the final. Thought it might be the location of another "castle" like the one at the point on Monaco. The location seemed to fit the description and the previous logs, but after 20 minutes of searching, frustrated by the useless hint, went back to the dryness of the car, and read through previous logs. The only vague hint I gleaned was "hanging". Back for another 20 minutes of searching before giving up in disgust. I do not understand why the multi brings you to this random park, nor why it is needlessly difficult to find. The cache write up should say that it is about 4km away, rather than the meaninglessly vague "some distance". The final was a good spot for a cache, so by all means give it a write up, but the multi final should be hidden within walking distance, say around the corner in Seymour Avenue where there is a great view of the turret of Warwick House. Really annoyed with myself for letting this cache get me so riled up.

Have driven past this so many times as we go back and forth to our daughter's place but never had the chance to stop. With the weather keeping people inside today, we made the stop and collected the required information. At first wasn't sure if we had the correct answers but read the check sum statement correctly and realised we did. Off to the final and again everything was empty of people. Hopped across the moat - not enough rain to stop us yet - and made our way to GZ. Thought it might be hard after reading through the logs, but got the right angle after about 5 minutes and found the cache. tftc

Another nemesis cache.
I had visited the castle quite some time ago and arrived at the park, spent some time there getting very nowhere. This time I have Taybeedragon in tow (she may have been along for that earlier trip too, it was such a long time ago). We went straight to the final, across the moat and up to the path.The hint was ignore as it could describe a thousand places, and one of the better places the cache was definitely not at. Took us quite a while but the sharp eyes of the dragon prevailed (and I still do not see how the hint applies!)
The park was not on the maps - it is now.
Nice to get this off the list. It has been nagging me for a while!


Given that I am leaving Blenheim soon, I am putting in a concerted effort to cache out the South Island. 40 caches this weekend, only a few thousand more to go. A couple more weeks should do it! As usual I have Zara, Toby and Taybeedragon along for the ride. We were supposed to be going to Murchison, but there is some horrible weather that way, so we came here. Much better!!

Ok we have been here before. So time to try our luck again. The hunt was on and did not want to let it get the better of us this time. Took a while to finally catch up with this one even though it was hanging there laughing at us.. Cheers

Its another weekend exploring Nelson and Tasman with The Seagnoid, Toby and Zara. Early start out of Blenheim getting to Nelson by 8am. Had a great weekend picking up a couple of Labs, even a new one on our way home in Havelock.

Found while caching with ABL973. Thanks bumandworker

A week ago I had visited the published co-ords and spied the castle ... would be nice to go inside and explore but I think that will be for another time.

Working out the co-ords I could see that GZ was in the opposite direction to where I was headed so it will have to wait. I decided this morning that I'll go find the cache. Crossing the moat was easy but at GZ I was presented with a myriad of possible hiding places which I searched and frustratingly thought I'm gonna have to DNF this when like mentioned in other logs, at the right angle, I saw it and can't 'unsee' it now. Thanks bumandworker.

I was with paddle chick when I went to help her find it , it wasn't long we had the cache signed and back in its hiding place. I am so sorry this is a late log as I was going to take my grandson to find it then realized I had logged it myself .Tftc bumandworker

Finding the numbers was the easy part, we did that months ago. As for the find that was not so easy. We have both searched every nook and cranny that we could find on more than one occasion, and where my phone was bouncing around there were many nooks and crannies to search. After another fruitless search this morning I contacted a previous finder. Luckily this cache remains in his memory and he was able to give me a good nudge as to where to search. It turns out my phone was putting us in the wrong place. I found the top half of the cache (in plain sight). I had a scratch around on the ground and found the other half well buried in the leaf litter. There was no sign of the log so I just put a scrap of paper in it, which was all I had on me. I am very pleased to have finally finished this one - which I probably would not have done without the nudge. Thanks bumandworker for the multi

Having driven past here so many times, it was time to stop and read and discover all sorts of fascinating things about the history of the place. Thanks for the reason to come here - and thanks also for the clever hide!

Needed to find a few caches today. TFTC. Worth a favorite point

A multi that we had solved earlier, and was hopeful of a find, because the checksum worked. Thank you for sharing the history of the "castle" (Warwick House) and creating the hide.

It was just a short walk from the car, and we were all searching for the elusive hide (rebel98, supernanny and gorby). The GPS and phones seemed to bounce around, so we were all quite spread out. It was only when I rechecked an area that the cache revealed itself, and I called out to the others I had found it

One of the few multis we had done this weekend that had success! Several were bummers and just plain dumb and obscure! But this one was excellent and was a pleasure to work out. I was with the team from Auckland, the Westies, down in Nelson for 3 days and today being the last day, pouring with rain we stood at the sign with umbrellas to work out the final co-ords. Didn't take long to find the necessary info though with several pairs of eyes looking. Then we carried on caching until we got to the final. Cheers B&W for a nice multi.

Log later.

The four of us completed this multi as a team , on our last morning in Nelson .
Luckily it was very straightforward ,,,,, and we got the final later in the day !!!!!
A bit tricky , and not really near our co ords , but rustynz found it !!!!
Thank goodness , as we tried other multis which we had major problems with !!!!!

The weather forecast for today has been looking pretty suspect all week, so much so that at one point there was predicted all day rain for most of the region, and further afield too. The C I T O event was postponed for the umpteenth time so Saturday was freed up for us to do what we wanted, as long as we didn't mind getting wet. Then yesterday I checked again and where once there were warriors of rain clouds there were now promises of clear sky (until around 2pm at least)
So, a plan was hatched (as always) and a trip over the hill to look at lamp shades, cat feeders and the market were the order of the day followed by "one or 2 caches". Ha, that'll never do so it was a triple 3 today; 3 Trads, 3 Multis (that I'd grabbed the numbers for and worked out the final, and failed to find previously), and 3 solved puzzles. A healthy haul on a grey Winters day.
This was my 3rd and final return visit multi of the day, and armed with a pointer from a previous finder I went straight to it. Well, straight to it after trying stepping stones and getting wet toes!
Q E F over a year since I got the initial numbers
T F T M and C b&w

In nelson from Blenheim for the weekend and enjoying some of the many multis in this city. This has been good fun and has taken us to many places we have not been before.
This was easy to get the coords but had trouble at gz. Took the right angle bit too literally. But Jo slipped and when she recovered- there it was. TFTC great spot.

Well that's one more caching monkey off my back.

Having attempted the FTF fourteen months ago, and with several visits since, I thought this would end up being 'one of those caches'

It turns out it was one of *those* caches - gotta love 'em - and so I was pleased to eventually get to sign the log.

A nice multi, exploring one of Nelson's landmarks.

Thanks for that, if not for the hide itself

#1106

I had the final coordinates not long after publishing but this one has proved a very elusive. This I brought Nanzie with me for a mother's look. Sure enough she found it. I'm sure I looked there, obviously not from the right angle. Thanks bumandworker

#3472

Like others retrieving the information wasn't too hard and we learnt some interesting stuff. On our latest trip to nelson we had time to head out to gz. We struggles for a while trying to get the GPS to settle and find the cache. Just as we were about to give up we got the right angle and there it was! Easy when you know... TFTM and TFTC

I did the reading and gathered the data on Monday while doing the round of the Historic Houses. Enjoyed reading all the information here, got the answers and like many others was surprised at where I was heading. Another quite lovely place with tenuous links to the title. TFTC #6926

Enjoyed this cache on a day when we encountered some frustration with the town and around Nelson caching. Which is not to say that this one didn't have its own special level of frustration.
Enjoyed the visit to the "castle" and reading up on the history and more recent events that involve this splendid property. Puzzled by where we were off to, but hey, follow the GPSr.
Once at GZ the cache find took us quite a bit of work. Eventually we got our angles right and had what we sought in hand. Cache in order, log signed, safely re-hidden, just as found.
TFTC found with team cacher Sweet P too , during an enjoyable 4 day caching foray in sunny Nelson.
The Turtle strikes again!

Yes I love this grand residence. Was lucky enough to be invited to a function here last year and really enjoyed breathing in the ambiance. Got all the numbers for the cache some time ago but previous visits to GZ have been unsuccessful. Today I came armed with a nudge and boy what a difference that makes!!!! TFTC.

Got all the info for this then forgot to get the final
Duh!

Having paid a quick visit to GZ the other day I flagged any thought of a real search until I had more information. Far too big a search area without a hint or container type to make a full blown search. Particularly on a weekend with houses just above me.
Returned today with enough info to narrow the search area and found the prize.
Enjoyed looking at the Castle from the gate and reading up about it.
TFTC

With the muggle factor at GZ our first attempt was aborted. Today, stealth with the cover of darkness paid off when the elusive cache showed itself hidden in plain sight. Thank you Bumandworker for lacing this cache.

Our second attempt to look for this one, the first effort thwarted when a mum and several kids arrived. Tonight we waited until we thought the place would be deserted to have another shot at it. Thank you bumandworker.

I had done the leg work for this multi a weekend or two ago with StreetWalker but decided the final was nicely placed for a post or pre work visit to augment my streak. And thought I'd better not dally with the paperwork as it took us a wee while to spot the elusive cache and the longer I left it, the more likely the memory would fade (especially as had neglected to keep the final co-ords).
Phew, no trouble re-finding the container so quickly signed and replaced while the area was deserted. Enjoyed reading the info about Nelson's castle, and would love to have a wander around inside. The final location was a pleasant spot too. Thanks for day #287 of my streak.

Nice multi. Took me a bit further afield to find the cache than I expected but a good spot for the final location anyway. Took me two goes to find the cache too. Success today when I searched in a slightly different spot from before and found the cache fairly quickly. TFTC, Biggles.

Certainly an interesting old building. Enjoyed learning some new stuff. Must admit I had two or three attempts at GZ but eventually came up trumps. I'm sure I looked there before though??!!??.... Thanks BW!!

#9067. We got the info pretty easily (though there was a lot of material on the sign to read through). As we were leaving Troodles spotted someone else reading the sign; I wonder if it was chrisb34. At GZ we really struggled. I'd pretty much given up, but Troodles had more staying more. Reassured by people commenting how good the coords were, she inspected an object at GZ very closely, and eventually spotted the wee blighter. Interesting cricket. TFTC.

Dam, it was there all along. I'm sure I'd checked that spot out but the cache had eluded me. A great Multi with lots of interesting info. Initially I was quite surprised by the separation by the distance from Published to GZ cords but the CO kindly confirmed I had the right spot. TFTC. Worth a Favourite

Darn, can't have my caching eyes in focus. Two visits, the first one muggled out after a short search however early this morning all was quiet at GZ but still no joy after an extended search time. The CO has confirmed my coordinates as correct so clearly I'm missing something.

Out looking for a possible spot to hide a cache that didn't work out. Came back past here and vaguely remembered seeing a new cache published near this place. I had been thinking of using the sign myself for a multi but always procrastinate too long. All four of us worked out the answers and learned some interesting facts along the way. Gz seemed a fair way off but made sense as we approached. Mrs KE saw reference to KE assisting with the container supply so I realized what we were looking for. Fortunately I spotted it almost instantly as the coordinates were perfect. Possibly a good thing as far as the CO is concerned. Girls did the spinning thingy for a few minutes and then we headed home. Good multi.
Thanks bumandworker for the cache.

#8791

Solved the puzzle, arrived at GZ searched around and it wasn't too long before we spotted the cache
Interesting notice board, we would have a lot of fun exploring the hidden, secret rooms
Thank you for the cache and the interesting puzzle

Yes, an interesting house. I bet it could tell some stories! No problem finding the cache at the final gz, once I decided to follow Sobad's advice and trust the GPS - co-ords spot on. Familiar caching territory there too. Good one, thanks.

We had good looking coordinates that fitted the check sum. We checked an area near where the GPS showed 0 that matched T rating then a more likely looking area that didnt match the T rating. No success in the time we had.

Back again this morning with reinforcements and a set of coordinates that hade more sense. Getting closer but there are *lots* of little hidey holes where a cache of this size could be hidden. The damp morning had brought the biting sandflies out in earnest, so we did not have a prolonged hunt.

hint added

FTF at noon.
The hint suggested a type of hide we had rejected. Well more not really considered as we had focused on areas that fitted our ideas based in the cache title. We have also had problems with reception in the GZ area in the past so did not entirely believe the GPS. If we had trusted both GPS and T rating we would have found it earlier. An almost instant find on the revisit.
Thanks for the cache and especially for the hint.

This entry was edited by SoBad on Friday, 16 January 2015 at 23:42:43 UTC.

Published

19:00 Too close to home to pass up. Master B and I hopped in the car to grab the numbers from a place we often pass by. Found the facts and despite the check digit not quite adding up our coords pointed to a plausible area.

Upon arriving to GPS was flapping in the breeze a bit and seemed to suggest well into a private property. Had a rummage in some possible locations but ended up empty handed.

Back to check our figures tomorrow.