Island surrounded by muggles (East Auckland) Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
By Uncle Sam on 17-Oct-15. Waypoint GC657ZD

Cache location now gone

**21,970**Took longer to find a suitable carpark than it did to locate the cache. Glad to get this one ticked off under the cover of darkness, even though traffic was still fairly constant. TFTC

Very quick find. Waited for the lights to go green - everyone racing past, too busy to look at me. No problems.All good here except the missing cache lid as previously noted.TFTC!!

got this cache. was so random, I was just crossing the street having parked at the warehouse, and my boss turned up at the lights on his motorcycle. just coincidence. small world. cache missing lid but was dry and possible to sign. easy to find. found this a few days ago but was too many muggles then, so came back at 8pm

Found it. So funny with all the muggles but my brave child had no problems

It's in the road so it was hard

Omg! Millions of muggles. Dont go during traffic. It took us a little while but got there in the end. lol

Yes

Found on a Sunday morning, great hiding spot!!

Up with eyespyben and ABCDF4. They had already done this one so I was dropped off as they went to pass. Managed to find, sign and return between changes in the lights. Thank you for the placement.

No luck today looked in all the likely spots within reach, what hint.?

Its easter weekend and not as many muggles around today. This one had been on our list for sometime but due to M13s school being so close he was a bit apprehensive to retrieve this one (not really sure why), anyway cache found and log signed.
TFTC and the cloak of invisibility has been returned.

Easy find with the thelp of the hint.
Tftc

Very very busy. My tactic was that the cars wouldn’t be there long enough to wonder what I was doing but it was hard to search! Tried my beat but didn’t come up with the goods. Not sure when would be a good time to try this one?

Found it but didn’t have a pen

Maybe make it easier and leave a hint because it is quite stressful with all those muggles around

After spending most of the day doing errands there was time to stretch our legs and get a few caches.The cache title is certainly not misleading and as we arrived at the Gz we both wondered if it was actually possible to do this.We noticed it from a far so at the next change of lights we made a quick grab and were able to sign the log.Another light change and cache replaced.Phew glad to get that out the way.

No luck for us today

No find for us here tonight, really crazy place!

Thanks

Had some time to spare, and thought the traffic wouldn't be too bad. I was wrong. Spotted the cache from afar. However, I waited for the phase change and went in for the kill. TFTC

Like real life frogger game... tftc

We were grabbing some shopping for a friends birthday BBQ and I also needed to grab a cache for the day, this cache seemed to be the way to go.

After waiting forever to GZ we finally reached the island. The grab and retrieve was easy and it was in the first place well looked. It all looked in good condition. TFTC #924

Very busy here all the time just had to go for it

Had a look during the day. Timed it during traffic flows but nothing to be located.

How to disgust someone that used to love Geocaching. Come here.

Too busy

Found 2pm
Arrangement made to travel to Auckland again. So by the time we all met up and vehicle loaded with cachers from Huntly, Rotorua and me from Papamoa plus 2 bikes we headed north. First back to Highbrook to collect balance of caches that we had missed previously. Once this was done we widened search patterns including new caches at Panmure Basin. Weather today not the best so we cut the day short and headed for home. Caches signed as Team HRP.
Thanks to all cache owners for placements. SLTFTC

Nice hide
Lots of muggles
But go with the Lights

With Gap (of Fap and Gap), ABCDF4, and eyespyben... It’s been a few months since we all ventured out together. We enjoyed catching up, swapping stories, and the usual banter. Time seemed to pass quickly, as it does when you have good company...

Since the weather wasn’t looking too hot, we decided we needed to stay close enough to our vehicle. When our caching options were tabled, beginning in Highbrook seemed to be a preferred starting point...

We had just set up to tackle this cache, when a heavy downpour arrived. This was a cue for us to head for lunch across the road... On returning, we circled around the cache before finding it... Glad to get two very tricky road intersection caches off the geomap. TFTC.

Up in Auckland to tidy up a few caches with Abcdf4, Fap & Gap,
and Squiral Nutcase, nice placement.

Sooo, night cache to keep our streak going. Had been meaning to get this on a a public holiday like Christmas where the streets would be mostly deserted, but never got round to it on those days, and we needed a quick one we could do tonight! This lead to us getting all geared up in high-vis - I even had my hard hat on, no safety boots though. According to the law, it's not illegal to impersonate others (unless you're pretending to be a cop), but I wouldn't really be impersonating anybody anyway - technically I am certified to work on Auckland Transport sites (i.e. roads, islands included!) because of my job, so I was very ready to say that I was 'checking up on the traffic light signal here' if someone asked HAHA. That was not necessary, as it didn't take us too long to find it, and nobody in their vehicles really paid us that close attention. Though on the way back, I did spot a company vehicle across the street, glad whoever has that ute did not come out and see us, as they would have known that I didn't have a job there! Anyway, was quite a laugh and thrill retrieving this one, but glad we don't have to do that again anytime soon! Tftc

Hayleyfcy and I have been eyeing this one up for a long time. Two Christmases ago, for some reason we didn't attempt it (would have been perfect that day as no one was around). This Christmas we were overseas, so couldn't try it. Tonight, with our streak on the line, we finally made our first attempt at this. Luckily, through both of our jobs we have acquired some clothing items that proved to be helpful in making us invisible to the cars around us (though, as a teacher, mine said Visitor, so we were careful in where I stood). As it was dark, the search did take a while, until I reached my hand in an obvious spot I had earlier skipped and put my hand on the cache. We were pretty stoked to have nabbed this one tonight, though I do fear that we are now becoming surrounded by a sea of yellow and will need to venture farther afield to keep this streak alive. Thanks for this challenge!

This cache has been a bit of a nemesis to me for a while. I've tried to find it twice before, obviously without success, and as such it has been the Blue spot in my sea of yellow in and around where my partner lives for far too long.

I've always been very conscious of the passing cars whenever I've been here, so I thought to myself "when better to find a quiet moment than early on Christmas day?" Finding myself awake at 5.50 today, I jumped in the car and drove off down the road whilst a cup of coffee was made for me to have when I got back, assuming it was still hot.

Arriving at GZ, I was prepared to crawl all over the place in order to find the cache, but amazingly it was right there in front of me in the first place I looked. I'd swear it wasn't there last time I was here, but just at that moment I simply didn't care. Joyously I signed the log whilst the occasional car drove past, and then replaced it all as found and came home to my still-hot coffee.

I'm delighted to turn any blue frown into a yellow smiley, and none more so than this one. A great start to today's festivities!

Merry Christmas Uncle Sam

I'm from Switzerland and spend 4 months in New Zealand on vacation. Found this cache quickly, thanks.

I am from Switzerland too and was geocaching today with Nöggi2..First we were on the wrong Island .somehow...we compared pictures and ideas ..and I said its not here ...then we walked on ..I imagened it to be more difficult...but when I saw the island ....we went together there I snaped it in front of Nöggi2 s nose away ..I was so happy !!!that I did not care about all those car-muggles

Log later

Good ol' mint tins, you love em' or hate em'. Tonight though, me and FMZ come here making very good use of the fact there's almost nobody around. I approached from the outside of the barrier and was promptly told off by a certain someone for being outside and not inside away from the traffic... what traffic!! Time to go home for much needed sleep before an early 6:30am start to work this morning, OMG... that's about 5 hours sleep.

DNF

TFTC

This took some searching for!! We even rang the CO for a hint, but before we had chance, Mr LiverKiwi had found it. TFTC Uncle Sam

Last night a plan was hatched to get out on our bikes and go for wee ride, but where to go? Well, there was some cache maintenance that needed to be done, so we will start there and maybe find a few other caches in the area. Plan made. The morning dawned and we had a nice little lie in before swinging into action to make the most of the cold, sunny and dry day ahead. Bikes on the car rack and off we go.

After doing our cache maintenance, it was off on the bike ride. We had to make a wee change in our plan and actually passed this cache a first time, having a quick look around while waiting for the lights to change so we could cross the road. Nothing. On the return journey back, we had a another look, but still nothing. After talking about it between ourselves Mr. Kiwi had another quick look but still to no avail.

Right, time to call the CO who we chatted to for a while. While this was going on, Mr Kiwi searched one more time for the cache, and this time came up trumps. He must have had a blokes look the other two times. In the mean-time the conversation with the CO had finished before the find, so they didn't know about the find. Anyway, the log was signed and the cache replaced where it was found.

TFTC.

I'm spending a couple of weeks in Auckland for a change, and have flown my lad up to spend the 2nd week with me and to give him a chance to catch up with a few that I had already found up here, but also for the pair of us to discover lots of new ones together.

I'd had a quick crack at this one a few months ago when I was fairly new to Geocaching, but came away with a DNF at that time which I put down to inexperience and did not log at the time. I was keen to have another crack at this one, so we went out this morning on a quick trip out get my lad's 200th cache and a few others along the way, and decided to check this one out on our way back home.
We spent a good 15 minutes hunting around, picking up rubbish as a pretext to being there, but again came away empty handed.

As always, I am eternally grateful for all the CO's who make the effort to place Caches to be found, and maintain them, so thanks to the CO for putting it out there in the first place, and Happy New Year to you!

Had been looking forward to today all week with another goal in mind to try to grab a few Auckland based caches that "obviously" needed collecting (as it would just be right). So at 4am I met up with RWIMF for a good days caching and an over ambitious plan (Home by 3.30pm). We signed most of these with "RWCD" or some such variation there of.
So today I managed a grand total of 54 finds (only 3DNF's) and plenty of conversation. All I can say for the days activity in Auckland was that traffic was all good till just before 10am and absymal for the rest of the time until we started heading for home so that I could still get some chores done for the day.

Making our way back towards Pakuranga it was time to clean up a few we had missed previousley. It was more of a case of there being so many muggles going past that you were invisible, and so it was to be. Nice quick find here. Cache all good to go for the next cacher
Thanks for the placement, thanks for the cache

D

Working night shift. Midnight dash for our daily cache. Even at this early hour of the morning the roads are busy. Super exposed. No place to hide here. Not my cup of tea. Maybe another day.......

Woohoo! After a string of DNFs I finally found a cache! Bit awkward by myself and didn't check properly when I first got there so was stranded on the island for a while. Even found a red herring cache container that had me for a moment. Got there in the end. Thanks for the cache Uncle Sam!

Out in the Eastern Suburbs again this weekend with Merlot58 and Aiden29. Had to stop at this intersection for the lights so the team bailed from the vehicle and found the cache while Mr Jag50 found a park close to the next cache. Muggles abounded and two guys paid very close attention to what was going on but did not learn much as they had to leave the scene prior to the cache being replaced.

Pulled up right beside GZ as the lights turned red. As there were few vehicles and muggles around so quickly shuffled out of the car and went to searching. Cache was located and signed, but a van of muggles were staring intently and had to wait until they had gone before returning cache.

Once again I was out in East Auckland with Jag50 and Aiden29 collecting more caches. We stopped for the red light and Mrs Jag said, there's a cache right here so we jumped out, left Mr Jag to find a parking spot then proceeded to quickly find the cache. A van of muggles nearby were watching us intently so we had to wait til they got the green light and had moved on before we could return the cache.

Was caching with TF on this wet drizzly Saturday. Had a hit list of a few caches and this was one of them. It was pretty damp by now so no one took any notice of what we were up to so made a nice quick find, replacement and back to the car. TFTC

Couldnt quite park close enough to grab it without leaving the car, so had to walk a bit. Thanks

once again, a fluro vest and a clip board makes you invisible....nice quick find amidst the muggles and traffic...cheers V.

Tftc. Plenty of muggle traffic passing by but having granddaughter with "something in her shoe" helps.

TFTC Created a bit of a distraction for the muggles

I went armed with my hi-viz jacket to look all official checking the railing around the island for safety when I found the cache . It is amazing thousands of cars pass through this intersection daily and you look conspicuous on the island hunting for a small cache. I had surveyed the scene before entering the island and my suspicions were proved correct
TFTC

After a Friday night hang out session with a mate at Wendy's, I decided to take a detour and try to pick up this cache on the way home. I had seen this one on the map for a while, and each time I have passed it I have thought about getting it but obviously never did until tonight. I agree completely with others who have logged that it is hard to find this one unnoticed as there are certainly a lot of muggles around all the time. But I did it, and I didn't get noticed so much tonight I think because of a brief rain shower, and so I was able to extract the cache, sign the log and put it back without raising too much suspicion. And then on the way back to the car I had to cross the road in front of a stretch humma-zine. Thanks Sam once again for another cool cache.

I've been spotting this one for several days but finally today I stopped by and grabbed it.
It was full of cars here and there, so I played I had a problem with the bike and stopped at the exact point...
TFTC!

Trying to lurk when you are being directed away from the natural lurking spots it is hard to look innocent sooooooo...

Clip board and hi vis vest in hand, I did an official looking lurk as if inspecting the structure. The result? A cache and everyone in cars looking the other way. YAY! TFTC

I thought this one would be fairly doable on a Sunday but i way underestimated the traffic on a busy weekend afternoon. I crossed and stood on the island hoping to view the cache but couldn't spot it. Obviously forgot my cloak of invisibility today as i felt rather exposed with what i would assume was everybody starring at me in their cars while waiting for the lights to change. Looks like ill have to do this one under the cover of darkness

Busy intersection indeed, I spent far longer waiting to cross the road than finding and signing the cache. TFTC.

Even though I was here at nighttime this intersection was pretty busy ! While waiting for the Green Man I had time to predict where the cache might be , and it was ! Thanks for this one !

Kinda weird standing here logging the cache, good fun

TFTC

Took an opportunity to grab this one on a quiet public holiday morning

Nice and quick find, although very public. TFTC

FIRST CACHE!! Busy environment. Awesome hiding place. Thanks

Cool cache; felt like a centre of attention though Busy at all times. TFTC

Speed is the key

Luckily we had a couple of cloaks of invisibility (Hi-vis vests) in the car which we donned in order to attempt this. Being Jan 4th and a public holiday the place was deserted so the find was easy and so was the return. Didn't really need the cloaks in the end

We headed across town to do a bit of late night shopping at Sylvia Park, but first came a bit further to visit this Island. Parked and made our way over the crossing. Then, with some careful timing to ensure the nearest cars were all moving, we moved in to GZ and made the grab. Signed the log, then repeated the procedure for cache replacement. Thanks.
After that we headed back to Sylvia Park for a very unsuccessful shopping expedition.

I am also trying to complete a 50 day streak. It seems that I am following a number of other 'streakers' .
Anyways, I made the grab, then waited for the light to change before I replaced. If you do it right, there is pretty good cover from prying eyes. TFTC

Been working on a 50 day streak with some other cachers including the CO!

Was heading home and it was PEAK hour traffic. Keen to try out the cloak of invisibility again I decided this would be the ultimate test.

I parked close to GZ and donned the cloak. I felt invincible with it on and boldly strode to GZ clutching my hard covered note book!

The lights were all red so all the traffic was stopped when I stepped onto the island. Was my cloak working, did people stare, were people busily calling the police......

I carried on oblivious to these questions and pretended to examine the Armco and nodded approvingly when I found a tight bolt. I even opened my notebook and wrote a few comments!

During my bolt examination process I was working my way closer and closer to where my GPS was pointing. I spied the cache which required more bolt and rope examination of the Armco.... With a serious professional look I extracted the cache and signed the log.

I returned the cache to its little hidey hole and proceeded to take some photos for my report!

Job done I headed back to my car removed my cloak and scared the bejesus out of the guy standing next to my car as I suddenly became visible again! (Note to self check the surroundings before removing the cloak of invisibility!)

A great adventure for day 30 of our streak and a very notable one as it now makes ourt LONGEST streak of days finding a cache!.

Thanks for the hide and adventure UncleSamNZ!

I'm currently attempting a 50 day streak for the GIO Licence I am working on and as an added challenge a few of the SEAC crew are joining in.

Got home with kids (late again) but had in mind to join the CO at a charity thing he is at tonight and grab a local cache there. However plans soon changed when other half got a call from work which meant he was going to have to go out and may be late. Argh I still havent picked up my cache for the day!! Quickly negotiated a 15-20 min window and raced out the door.

Had passed this a number of times so had a pretty good idea of where I was meant to be. Walked across and casually stopped to look at my phone whilst busily scanning the area. Soon spotted what was required. Grabbed it in between light change and popped it back the same way. Phew its busy here at 7.30pm on friday night.

Thanks for the cache. Streak day #13.

Had to work a bit later tonite so it was 7:30pm when I came past this cache. Traffic was light so it was a quick park and grab (with a hi-viz vest on just for that extra bit of camo.) TFTC

Took a nice early walk to Pakuranga to grab this cache. This is usually a very busy intersection but with so few cars around when we got to GZ, timing to retrieve the cache was easy. Then enjoyed the walk back home before the rain came in. TFTC

Nice cache. Went at. 5.10pm on a Friday night. Very busy! TFTC.

Confident I managed this without getting seen but only due to extreme patience despite being in a rush to get home. Had to spend a fair bit of time standing in the rain waiting for the right time to pounce (and replace!) but it's all worth it for a find! Thanks!

Retrieved the cache, & continued across the road to open & sign it out of sight of the traffic, before returning when the lights changed to replace it. Very busy intersection!

Needed a cache for a gap in the calendar and decided on this one after a meal out. Nice quick find which is good in a spot like this! Walked off to sign then replaced as we headed back to the car. TFTC

One for the non-kiwi and/or non-sports fans!

Priorities McArgister, priorities...

East Auckland 1
West Auckland 0

Hoping for a FTF on my birthday but I see I have been beaten by some other non-rugby watching cachers. Ah well, off to work, on my birthday, on a Sunday. Cheers Uncle Sam.

Since this pretty local cache to me had popped up today, I decided it was the perfect excuse to pop out and get a cache for today. I parked up in the back streets on the residential side and took the path to GZ. Safely crossed to the island and spotted the hide on approach. Nabbed the goods and completed the formalities. I then waited for a change of light phase to rehide without muggle on lookers. Cheers for the cache placement!

Published

Was enjoying my Sunday morning lie-in, happy with the thought of not having to get out of bed in a hurry today, when I get a message from a caching friend; "Go, go, go! It's so close to you!!!!" Huh? Did I miss something? So I check my emails- oh, a new cache! Hmmmm, only 4.2km away.... well, there goes my lie-in!!! Jumped out of bed and threw on the first clothes and shoes that I laid my eyes on (luckily they were mine and not my husbands ), and raced for the door, calling out something incoherent to hubby about a FTF on my way past the lounge. Luckily he was enthralled by the rugby, so he grunted something equally incoherent back, and off I went!

Read the description on the way (at aaaaaalllllll the red lights I had to stop at!!!!)- ok, shouldn't be too hard, have found a couple of those kind of hides before. If only I can get there!!!! Darn red lights.... luckily the whole of East Auckland seemed to be at home watching the rugby as the roads were pretty deserted. Pulled up by GZ and threw my car into the nearest carpark I could find, then hit the asphalt and raced towards the island, looking left, looking right (nope, not for cars..... for other potential FTFers!!!).

Was very relieved to see no-one in sight, and still not many cars either.... I began looking, and the cache revealed itself very quickly in the second place I checked. A tense moment as I opened the container and removed the log..... had someone been quicker than I?........ WOOHOO, a blank log!!!!! A very satisfying {FTF} early on a Sunday morning.

Cache replaced, and I was off on the hunt again..... this time for my morning coffee!!!!

TFTC UncleSam, and the Sunday morning adventure!!!