A game of trivia with an Irish twist (Coromandel) Whitianga, North Island, New Zealand
By IRLNZ, dlov011 on 25-Jul-16. Waypoint GC6P2P1

I used the stefanoodle method to solve this one as I initially I would have been all at sea. The new coordinates took me to the correct location. The container was a pretty quick find but I couldnt open it so I took it back to the motel and got 2 multi tool to work. Signed the log which is all nice and dry and returned it later in the day. TFTH and the fun puzzle. A favourite point from me.

Emailed owner re query and had no reply. Possibly gone.

Figured out the coordinates, but didn't locate the cache.... oh well I guess I will have to come back to whitianga another time

While still planning our holiday in New Zealand I started downloading caches in the areas I knew we would be staying. I also tried to solve some of the mystery caches in advance so that there would be more time for searching in known spots.

I enjoy navigation-type puzzles such as this one where it's necessary to project a point to get the final location. However, there have been times when these puzzles have been a tad frustrating because the CO has not indicated whether the projection is using TRUE NORTH or MAGNETIC NORTH.

These days it is also generally not clear which north the phone or GPSr is using (more often than not it is TRUE north). The issue here is that there is a deviation between the two north bearings. It is called magnetic declination. In some places in the world it is only a few degrees -- in Germany it is about 3 degrees. However, in other places such as in South Africa or New Zealand the declination is in the order of 23 degrees! For this cache, the magnetic bearing is 23 degrees east of north. In other words, if you project 120 degrees as described using TRUE north, you end up in the ocean (as noted by a previous cacher). If you use MAGNETIC north you hit the right spot. Thus, you need to project (120 + 23) degrees TRUE north to have the same effect as simply using 120 degrees MAGNETIC north.

I have had a similar discussion with a local Australian cacher who was a scout leader, and he didn't seem to understand what I was on about. That's rather scary considering he was presumably teaching scouts how to navigate and was oblivious to the existence of the magnetic deviation.

As a precaution I plotted both options for the final GZ, and once I was in the area I could immediately see which one to use. I also did a back-projection on site with my nagnetic compass to confirm my findings. The GZ was off by about 7 meters, but that's fine considering that GZ is obvious from the hint.

Finding the actual nano was quite tricky, though. I had a good look from several directions and couldn't spot anything. A while later my wife came over and asked whether I had made the find. "Not yet," I answered, explaining that I had looked quite intently. Just as I was turning I put my hand on the nano and immediately knew I had made the find. Yay!!

Yes, loved the puzzle and the navigation, but it would be a good idea to update the cache page concerning using TRUE vs MAGNETIC north to avoid confusion and DNFs. Thanks for the challenge, though. It was fun.

Checked 2 times and can not understand, seems is in the water.??

3 for 3 today in Whitianga. Fun little mystery cache

# Found with mobi12 27 november 2022. Greetings from Västmanland Sweden. Yesterdsy we had only one multi tool. Today we had both with us. Fixed so it can be opened now without tools. TFTC

Loggade med kero54
TFTC

Making our way to Whitianga for the day and some caching along the way.

After a quick search secured it, took the photo as couldn’t be opened. Thanks for the puzzle.

#7022

Staying in Whitianga for a long weekend and doing some caches while we are here. Thanks to the cache owner for placing this cache.

Add us to the list of people that couldn’t open it Taken a photo for the cache owner to prove we found it

I came here in 5/2018 & sorted out the numbers, but I couldn’t find anything.
Today there are no juggles around (cold & grey day) and I found the cache but it seems to be rusted shut.
I am claiming a find & have a picture of the container, if anyone requires it (C.O hasn’t been active for some years).
Cheers - always good to find a solved puzzle.
PS suggest taking some pliers or similar to untwist this container. I don’t have my usual tools with me.

Found with toby84

Muggle central!! This one has taken us several attempts to get to. Finally got an opportunity to get it today. Easy find. Thanks for the challenge. Found with Reny90

Puzzle was quickly solved, but then the second stage gave be a bit of trouble. Walked in directly the opposite way! Luckily I was found, the way to deal with the second stage was explained to be (thanks Wilbywarrior, sensei) and together we ventured to the right location. Found and signed quickly to avoid muggle detection.

TFTC IRLNZ, dlov011

*** Out on our MEGA Roadtrip with Wilbywarrior. Who says this can only happen when the MEGA is actually held?! Greetings from Dunedin, caching friends
#274 ***

Solved back in august in preparation for our roadtrip up here. Had no problem with the puzzle and the find wasn’t an issue at GZ.

Malinkaly and I planned a road trip to go to the MEGA but Covid has postponed the event again. We decided to continue on with our planned journey making adjustments as we go with the ever-changing travel restrictions.
Greetings from Dunedin!
Thanks for the cache, IRLNZ
#2510

Phew that was a mission on many counts! Muggle central and once found we couldn’t open it as we forgot the necessary tool! Success after about 3 visits to the area

Having looked for this one before and gathering from the logs I must have fallen between missing, replaced and extra hides - I was delighted to find what I presume is the original. t4tc

Nice hide, found with Lex007 who did all the hard work

#28 of roadtrip caching fun with Sportynz

Day 3 of my week long road trip of geocaching, camping and seeing a few bands. Today I'm hanging out in Whitianga, seeing the sites and doing some goecaches. For the first time I am using the cachetur.no website and app to plan out my caching, and it's proving to be a handy wee tool.

Having solved this one before I left home today I completed the final step and after a bit of feeling around located the wee cache, safe and dry. No problems with extraction either. TFTC

The Seagnoid needs a puzzzle cache today so last night he solved this one. A quick snag and tag early this morning before we head out of Whitianga. Cheers.

Day 9 - Boxing Day - Saturday 26 December - Whitianga - Cooks Beach - Tairua. So lets go exploring.

The Seagnoid, Zara, Toby and I are off on another geocaching escape over Xmas, this time to the mighty Coromandel, then over to Opotiki and stop off at Rotorua to return home on 5 January. Had an fabulous time exploring many wonders of our country. Rounding up over 400 caches along the way, with a few LABS, 20 odd TMGTs, virtuals and lots of interesting earth caches to keep the mind busy. Watching the sun come up on New Years Day at Mt Maunganui was spectacular. Lots of walking and even more driving. But had an awesome time. Thanks to all COs who made this adventure so special.

Last night, I remembered that today is a puzzle cache dot day, and I did not have any solved puzzles here. So the evening's entertainment that day, was to solve this. Nice and easy, and I have no idea why I struggled with the Irish questions when I first looked at this about a month ago. However the coordinates ended up in the sea. Recheck everything. Still in the sea. Then I had a brainwave - has the CO broken the cardinal rule of navigation? Reworked the puzzle on the assumption that that had happened, and plugged the results into Google maps - Not the sea! And this morning the cache was an easy find. Maybe the broken rule is the twist?

Taybeedragon and I went on a tour of the Coromandel - one of the few places of New Zealand, especially of Te ika a Maui, that I have yet to explore throughly, and from there along the coast to Opotiki to see one of my many, many sisters. From 18 December to 5 January we found over 400 caches, including 12 adventure labs (60 caches), 20 or so TMGTs and a host of virtuals and earthcaches. And I hosted an event to see the sun come up on New Year's day - surprisingly popular given that it was at 5am. We climbed a lot of hills, saw some amazing beaches that were quite popular despite (or because of) the insane access to them, walk a lot of bush, entered and explored 8 gold mines and generally had an awesome time. However I am glad to be back, but now is the hard part, and I fear it will take just as long - logging!

I was down in Auckland this weekend to help my son and his family move into their first house. I'd planned to join a group of cachers to do a one day blitz on the Coromandel TMGT caches. We left Auckland at 7. 30am and got back to their accommodation 12 hours later. Some beautiful sights were seen, fun had and interesting poses performed for a certain G-2 cache in Pauanui.

I had solved this at home but was worried as gz looked wrong. We parked up close by and soon found it in the second place we looked. It needed a tool from the car to open it. I am the L in GENTJL. TFTC

This cache was a quick find but a long open. Glad I could put my brand new TOTT to good use to get the cache open.
Out and about at the Mega that wasn't with a group of five crazy kiwi caching chicks, Ethness, Jude_E, Nosynel, GracieGPSfun and me we added Lis's crew to our team for the day. We took a trip out around the Coromandel to get the TMGT caches and collected this on the way. TFTC.

A fun puzzle in a beautiful spot.
This is supposed to be a Mega trip. Jude_E and I flew up from Christchurch. Ethness flew up from Wellington. The DBees and Gracie's GPS fun drove down from Northland.
Thanks IRLNZ, dlov011 for creating this hide. It was find 9188 for me.

======== NZ Mega 2021 ========
Planning for the NZ Mega 2021 event is well underway. It will be held in Auckland over Labour Weekend, October 2021

In Auckland for the mega that isn't! We decided still to come and find a few caches, especially the TMGT ones. A popular spot today. Tftc.
#6349

A quick find but needed TOTT to open the cache. Signed GENTJL.

Jude_E, NosyNel, Thedbees, GraciesGPSFun, Lis’s Crew and I are on the ‘Mega that wasn’t’ trip in Auckland the weekend. We’re collecting the ‘Tour’ caches, plus others, plus seeing the scenery, plus having a good old time -as usual . TFTC.

Solved this one at home and then went off a holiday hunt. Got to the first place and fossicked before remembering the was another step. Got to gz and searched to no avail. Muggles were watching and we had fish and chips to pick up, so after 20 mins of searching we had to leave for home without this one.

Found, full log to come.

Phew - that was a lucky find! A fingertip search at last found the little one . Solved way back when in the UK. TFTC

There are the least three steps involved with the difficulty here. First, the puzzle, although that’s not too tricky. Second, read the description of the cache in some detail or else you'll make the schoolboy error we did initially. And finally you have to have to find the little blighter because it has to be there somewhere, but you just can’t see it. Luckily for us, a 4th potential hazard, the host item, was unoccupied today but I suspect that at other times it’s not. Overall, a very good cache.

Solved last night while staying nearby and popped out today to collect the final. Muggle sat at GZ so looked around for somewhere to wait them out. Oh, maybe THAT’S GZ! Gave it a good once over with no joy. Returned to my original idea of GZ once the muggle had moved on but nothing matched previous logs. So back to the first search area and a more methodical method came good! Iontach!!! Thanks for the craic cache!

Solved the puzzle and think I found the right place but with so many muggles around this morning a quick find before going home was not going to be possible so hopefully it’s still there for when we return to Whitianga sometime in the future. Thanks.

Well it's time to hit the road on my annual clear out of the area. Mostly G-2 caches of course but every now and then I was surprised with a different CO. An early start and a great day for caching with only one DNF right at the end.

I was quite excited about this one as I've had 2 DNFs here in the past and it seems the original cache has been there the whole time!! Tuftys log had filled me with confidence as I knew where it should be but I'll be honest... the angles involved still made this one difficult to spot - hence why I've missed it twice before.... Got it this time though - the log bursting with all the previous finders - great to have this one ticked off. I put a fresh log in and replaced as found. Cheers IRLNZ for keeping this one alive

I was here yesterday and after solving the puzzle ages ago and decided to sign this one off. There were people milling around here so took a little walk down the beach but when I got back they were still there.. It was then I got muggled by Davidson Clan and McJandals. They had just replaced the container with a mint tin which would rust out in no time flat so I got one of my plastic containers and waterproof logsheet. All of us signed it and they put it in place.

When I got back to the snail shell I re-read some of the logs before Gorbygorbachov's and after Buttels to find that the cache is a magnetic nano. This means that Gorby and the ones after him up to the one before Buttels did NOT find the original cache but Gorby's replacement. It is a case of Gorby incorrectly thinking he was replacing a cache BUT in reality he wasn't as the original cache was still in place.

Today I found the original cache and removed the one that Davidson Clan, McJandals and I placed to cause no more confusion.

Cheers for the cache.

In Whitianga for the day been to the TMGT roadshow and getting a few other caches while in town. Thanks Tufty for correcting the fact that we were totally misled by Gorby log. Cache is a magnetic nano so not where Gorby had replaced it.
Tftc

On a spur of the moment roadie to try get further with the TMGT series. I am logging using the Cachly app template so please excuse generic logging along the way. It’s just my way of keeping track, but I do genuinely thank each and every one of you cache owners for taking the time and energy to place these cache. Many Thanks for bringing me here and for the great history lessons. Cheers Whilst in town we decided to clear up a few of our solved puzzles that have been sitting waiting to be found. NOTE. Due to Gorbys log earlier we were misled totally, not only to the incorrect spot but also container. Thanks Tufty for clarifying.

Enjoying a lovely sunny day in Whitianga, we hunted in two spots for this tiny cache. Just about to give up and look for another one and with a feel of the hand we had it!

Up in whitianga for a beautiful afternoon looking for a few caches. Enjoyed solving this trivia cache, spent a while hunting for it, were about to give up when I had one more search and found the well camouflaged nano. Thanks

Early morning stroll before the cider and scallop festival . Solved this wee puzzle prior to arriving. Very simple find thx

Had a good about the GZ but no sign of the cache. The area is looking a bit distressed I hope that wasn’t caused by catchers....

Solved the puzzle a wee while ago. Nice and interesting. Had time today to make a find. Although quite comical really trying to work out GZ, have forgotten how to project deg on GPS etc. Relieved to have got there in the end. Thanks for keeping this one alive. SL. TFTC.

Find number 5814. I had a quick look just on dark without success. Back this morning after reading a bit more trivia. Armed with that I had success. Happy to have got things right. Thank you for the placement.

Early morning Caching Mission to see what was up the Coromandal Peninsula, and working our way back from Whitianga down to Whangamata. This way we would leave enough caches to make the cache run worth it, hitting it from the south which would make it an easier day next time.Today I was in the company of HKCB, (logs were generally signed HKCD) and we soon set in putting the world to rights, discussed may sports and enjoyed good music, caches along with fantastic sunshine.Managed a total of 63 caches and only 3DNF's so all in all a pretty good outcome. We set out from home, departing at 3am with a long drive, and big day ahead of us. The good thing at this time is that there are very few other cars to worry about on the winding roads. We eventually made it back home by 4.30pm.

Got the required information, soon followed by a quick cache find, all quiet here
A big thank you to all the cache owners for their diligence in maintaining these caches for the likes of us to enjoy.

Nice spot to stop and have a rest after finding a few caches

Love the container!

Found at 5:19 pm while on holiday up north.

I had solved the puzzle, but my notes say that they may be inaccurate. In any case I still turned up
and having read previous logs, I had a fair idea as to where the cache would be and soon spotted a likely looking spot. Thanks to Gorby's log I was able to pinpoint the cache and soon had it in hand. Unfortunately the logsheet was damp, but I was still able to write in it. TFTC

Mid-morning walk with the tribe, decided to grab a cache while out. Good pacing exercise for the kids from GZ to final. Sat laughing while they dug for the cache, to no avail.Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.

A quick solve prior to our weekend away to Whitianga. Walked to this one after dinner from our accommodation. There are two possible locations this one could be but only one is viable based on the location of GZ. A nice quick find, all good here thanks to gorby for replacing. TFTPC!

Back up and thank you to the cacher who replaced it. Great work TFTC

Am loving my first trip up to Whiti. Its a beautiful place.
Thanks Gorby for replacing cache, but the shoe is full of black crickets and was a shock when I disturbed them.
Thanks for bringing me here.
Tftc

On a big mission to get a pile of caches so I can land my 7000th cache on either Mnt Ruapehu or Mnt Ngauruhoe on the 16th March! Hoping, weather permitting, that rustynz can join me for her 5000th cache as well on the same day. A bit of planning going into this I can tell ya!

Enjoyed solving the puzzle while I was having breakfast this morning and sitting in my car. I had crashed the night in my car and while waiting for sunrise I solved this puzzle.

There are 2 options for this cache, I presume the seat on the beach is the correct location. I have replaced the cache. It has new paper inside a seashell, inside a childs water shoe under the wooden seat RH side when you're sitting down.

Searched for a good 1.5hours Roth no luck. Did multiple repeat searches checked our coordinates and logical places along with reading thr previous logs on here. No luck, hopefully someone who has previously found it is able to do a check on it

Solved this one the night before my trip up to Whitianga. A nice puzzle that I soon had solved. Wish that happened more often! Drove by here on our way to find a snack before heading home and arrived at coords and wondered where I had gone wrong. Reread the description and realised I needed to add another step. Once that was sorted we soon had the cache in hand. Thanks for the hide and the puzzle.

The Central North Island, Day 2: Coromandel - Tauranga.

Today, we traversed the East Coast of the Peninsula, visiting the key sites of interest along the way. The weather held up for most of the day, with even quite a bit of sunshine in the afternoon. Many places were crowded with tourists, but it wasn’t as bad as I would have expected. Didn’t cause muggle issues in too many places either. Another long, tiring but eventful day with a couple more places crossed off my NZ Bucket List.

The following is the specific log for each cache:
Solved puzzles are always higher on the priority list, so a detour into Whitianga was made. The coordinates were clearly out, but the hint narrowed the possible hiding spots to two, both of which I inspected l. The cache was found on one, on the second sweep. Signed in and TFTC!

Finally made it to Whitianga. Solved the puzzle some time ago but didn't find it as I did not read it all. This time soon in hand tftc

Up in matarangi for the weekend and geocaching today in Whitianga with imcuzz. Enjoyed picking up the caches along the beach here. This was fun to work out - mystery puzzles are great. TFTC

Great day to go caching with Pinocchio59, this was a fun quiz and had us stumped but persistence paid off in the end. Stealth is definitely required for this one as eyes were on us from all angles. TFTC

Had a solution for this but didn't find the cache

Found with bkj97. Bit of cache nous needed here as our coords were likely to get us wet. After checking a likely object we lucked in on the second one. T4TCSL

Our answers also put us out to sea but after a bit of trial and error and a couple of likely spots carefully searched the cache was finally recovered. Approx 70m from our solution. Will check bearing later . Tftcsl

Oops - something wrong with my calculations - I found my GZ was out at sea. Reworked the sums & got the same....

Didn't find it. Muggles on beach played on this beach.

After sleeping in Whitianga for the night it was time to explore the area whilst leisurely making our way back to Auckland.

Unfortunately there were muggles right where we wanted to search so we waited on the beach for a while but there were well and truly settled in...will have to be back.

MUGGLES on the beach

Had worked out the coordinates before coming away on holiday. When walking down to the wharf from our hotel we realised we would be going past. Going by the previous logs we thought we would have a long search, but after waiting for a muggle dog walker to go past the little critter soon in hand and log signed.

Our first find in Whitianga. Hopefully many more to come.

Our first find in Whitianga. Hopefully many more to come.

This was a fun cache, sorted out the answers, arrived at said point, projected as requested, looked, looked, looked and looked again. Couldn't find it initially but came back the next day and the cache was soon located. Many thanks for this cache placement.

Found after second visit. Interestingly the cache has cone loose and by chance we found it in the sand nearby. What a skilled fluke!

Found coordinates for Heath Paul Gee 36 42.157S 175 52.222E

Was on the spot but not found May need a beer or two

Hey thanks Guys a great cache that was testing to find...infact I had looked in the place I found it about three times....and if I did not have conformation from a friend that was there ...it would have been a DNT lol so pleased to put a smile on this one well done and thanks again

This certainly had a twist to it. We worked out the coordinates in motor home parked up at Cooks Beach. Grabbed our bikes and took the ferry across. Arrived at coordinates and then got a bearing and moved the required distance. My bearings wavered between two objects. Parked up the bikes and searched and searched. Began to doubt our direction and looked at other options. No luck. Returned to initial area but starting to draw attention so moved on. Had a beverage and pondered the hide. Couldn't let it go so back we went. "Looked" and "looked", then a final feel and yes! The beer worked a treat. Thanks for the great puzzle and even better hide in a beautiful setting.

I though I had this one worked out but did not find it

Day 2 -We had planned a big weekend with 6 of us travelling the Coromandel area and logging caches as team BOP. Found many great spots, several caches we replaced wet log sheets and others missing for some time. Lots of km's travelled on tarseal, gravel and some not so good roads. Lots of rained showers seemed to plague us on the first day. SLTFTC

With Gap (of Fap and Gap), (Mr) Davidson clan, NZFlossy, TNXPro, and Philip.Perry… This is the first time we have cached overnight together. What an adventure… We group signed as Team BOP for efficiency and expediency.

We visited so many beautiful and remote locations on the Coromandel Peninsula. Many of these areas deserved to be hosts to caches. However, we encountered several that needed owner maintenance. Wet logbooks seemed to be far too common (We’ve had a lot of rain). Oftentimes, a sodden logbook was stuffed back into the container with a new, bagged logbook alongside (What's up with that?). And then there were some caches that were quite obviously missing (and have been for a while)… Nevertheless, a huge thank you to all of the COs for bringing us to these amazing places… We are determined to return and explore some more.

A quick solve at home... The problem I have with caches like this is getting the right bearings. Found after visiting another possibility. Got there eventually. TFTP and TFTC.

a quick find

#258. I solved this one last night, and then checked my predicted GZ using Google Earth street view. Bingo! Recon I had it sussed. It was dark when me & Mrs W1nz got to Whitianga - but everything checked out and there was the cache. Great clues, great puzzle and great placement! Tftc!

Solved this one before a holiday down here even after a re calculation and 2 visits still no luck...

Solved the puzzle readily enough thanks mostly to Uncle Google, calibrated the electronic compass and away we went. There were muggles everywhere, and a remarkable number were swimming on in to the early evening. They all said it was cold. I didn't bother testing it out. We went one place then the next, reckoned we knew what we were looking for, but couldn't turn it up. Back we went to the original location and tried again without success. We were trying to be subtle but got trounced by SneakyKiwi who were parked 2 cars down solving the puzzle as we searched. With a "we know what you're doing" they helped us with the search. At last it was discovered - of course I'd looked there several times before! We were glad they intervened as we would have given up and gone home empty handed. Enjoyed some time with them before driving back to the camping ground. Nice to have met you. TFTC

Not easy stealthing while it's so busy but did it

127 Mum worked out the co-ordinates and we went off for a walk. Not too far from where we holiday with family. Pretty hot so most muggles were probably hiding from the sun. Finally found it. TFTC

117 Mum worked out the co-ordinates. Went for a walk in the heat as it is not too far from the family beach house not many about. Almost gave up, then mum found it. TFTC IRLNZ

178 Worked out the co-ords with the help of hubby and google. Put them into google earth on hubbys phone as I don't have my gps with me and of course the kids have run me out of data on my phone. Wow this is so close to where are holidaying, as per every year. Come on kids I don't care if it is the heat of the day there is a cache to be found. Guessed where we thought GZ would be when we got there and of course it was in the very last spot that I looked in. TFTC IRLNZ. Gets a FP as it is my first mystery cache and I enjoyed working it out.

Glad I finally found it!!! I solved it before coming to Whitianga (3 days of camping). First morning I had a look at the coordinates, sitting on all the poles..., later I realised the mistake and came back the next day, only to see a lot of people with cameras for the sunset. So last try on the last morning here, lucky me (finally) I was sitting in the correct spot, bent over and spotted it.
I most liked the Douglas Adams question!!! Great books!!!

Arrived at Whitianga to do some fishing, but Hughy was still blowing hard. Had a look at the questions and arrived at two results. One took us into the housing and one didn't. Wandered around the lazy way in the Geomobile to get our bearings. Finally decided that both our calculations were wrong, but spotted the most likely spot to hide a cache. Had to wait until the Muggles moved away, then went in and found the goods.

We must be lucky Irish.

Thanks IRLNZ

With the annual work fishing trip on this afternoon in Coromandel town, I thought I'd make a full day of it and head over first thing and make it a bit of a caching trip too. So I was out the door about 5.30am, with a general plan to find caches around the Whitianga and Kouatunu areas before heading over to Coromandel Town for the fishing trip.

I had solved this puzzle not to long after it was published, however the projection wasn't working to well for me so thought I'd do that bit when I did finally get over here to find some cache. Since then I had forgotten that there was one more step to do and I headed straight to the starting point and started the search. Wasn't to sure what the hint was getting at, but thought it might be some cryptic clue. Having searched for 5 mins or so, without any luck I re-read the discription and realised my mistake. Once I was finally at the right GZ, a short search had the cache it hand. Enjoyed the challenge, even though I made it much harder than it should of been.

After solving the puzzle made our way to GZ today. Good grief, we literally checked every spot before finally spotting the cache. Phew. TFTPC

Second to find, we quickly solved the puzzle and decided to collect all the new caches in the area that have been placed since we last visited. TFTC

Here in Whitianga for the scallop festival, thought I'd look over dinner where some unfound caches where hiding. What? A cache not found yet??? So over dinner, worked out the trivia and headed to GZ for the final. Quick find and pretty stocked with the efforts by the wife and I FTF 7:50pm

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