Sinister Secret of the Pirate King Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
By tuolei on 15-Nov-16. Waypoint GC6X14M

A cacher, Angelorum, has chosen to "dump" a large number of trackables, that presumably they have stolen and kept for themselves for pathetic reasons known only to them. Please don't visit expecting to find a bunch of trackables.

Aiden29 had unfinished business here so we arrived at Three Kings to do an Earthcache for an International EarthCache Day 2022 and to complete the mission with this mystery hide.
It was on our way to Community Celebration Event hosted by CyclicalCaching & PJRBO nearby.
Our Team was Aiden29 , Gorby , rustynz and myself. We found the cache fairy quickly. Great puzzle , container and the content. Thanks for setting it up!

Hi Grant, nice seeing you today at the event for Jethro and Pauline, eben though I never got a chance to say hi even!

But today rusty, aiden, tramyard planned to get the EC on this big hill for IECD. It was aiden and rusty who had done the hard yards on the workings for this puzzle, alas, I looked at it and gave it up after an hour or so one evening during Covid. I thought at the time, I could work it out, but felt I had to be familiar with this type of game which I wasn't.

Anyhow, aiden wanted to find this after a previous DNF, but it was trammy who found it today. Rusty has previously found it, but she was searching in vain. So due to being here at the final. I'm taking liberty in signing in with the others. It was a very appropriate final too!

So now off we go, doing the EC, thanks for the placement.

I finally returned to avenge this DNF. I had made plans to meet up with tramyard, Gorby and rustynz to complete an earthcache for the earthcache souvenir before we attended a Celebration event for CyclicalCaching, who was finally returning back home after being stuck in NZ during the Covid lockdowns.

As this puzzle final was nearby, we made a short detour, as I hoped more eyes may make easier work. The area had been cleared of all the tree debris, and it didn't take too long before the cache was located. Nice to turn the frown upside down.

**14,784**
Took awhile for the GPS to settle so that the treasure could be located. Once it had, argh the treasure, she t'was revealed. Ho ho ho and where's me rum. TFTPC

Caching in these solved puzzles, just the 2 from this CO today, and a place I was heading to anyway. I hadn't made note of the hint but at the indicated GZ there was only one likely place and so it was good to get off my chest. Added my name and replaced as found. An interesting puzzle and a nice warm up for Leif. Thanks tuolei. FP here from me

And so, finally, we are allowed to go Geocaching again after just over 7 weeks lockdown when caching, and other non-essential activities were not recommended to be done to reduce the spread of covid, and reduce unnecessary movement through areas. Plenty of time on my hands to solve puzzles, not solve puzzles and read logs of previous finders of caches, and to message a few other cachers to discuss 'stuff.
Not a huge amount of caches found but managed my last 2 regional 'hidden months' (both from 2001) as well a Wherigo and a couple of solved puzzles and a final Ad Lab stage to complete that one. The weather was nice and warm and was good to be on the trails again and not cooped up getting up to meme mischief. Thanks to all COs.

I met the CO of this cache last night and enjoyed talking about some of the puzzles in Auckland (most of which sound way too complicated for me!). This is one I was able to solve though and isn't too far away from home, so I set off in my pirate ship (the bus) to retrieve the treasure. Solved the puzzle last week through a bit of drawing on the diagrams and figuring things out, it was a pretty quick solve but one I enjoyed. Didn't take long to find the treasure which was in excellent condition. FP for the cool puzzle and the themed container, and of course, thank you thank you thank you thank you

Yaaaaaar. After a few miss-steps in the woods - must still be getting my land-legs, the treasure was found and plundered. Thank ee kindly.

Fun little puzzle to solve!

Took me awhile to understand what was going on and then took several tries, but I came up with a method and got it working.

Stopped by here on the way home. Today. Nice and quiet at the GZ and all was well!

Thanks for another puzzle!

Back in business...welcome Level 2

Due to the government ordered Covid-19 lockdown, I will be doing my bit to #slowthespread. From 11.59pm on Wednesday 25 March 2020, I will not be accepting any Found logs on any of my geocaches, until the Level 4 Alert is lifted.

Please do not embarrass yourself, your hobby and your country by thinking that geocaching is essential - it is not.

If you would like a geocaching related activity to do while you are observing the lockdown, I welcome messages about how to solve my puzzle caches - I am happy to give hints and tutorials so you have lots of new caches to find when this is over.

Solved this one a long time ago, but had not got around to finding. Last night loaded some of the solved puzzles into the phone, so now I have no excuse but to find them (yeah right)

I was just a little worried as I had not noted the hint in the geochecker, so I wandered around looking for something obvious, or not obvious at GZ

Now whilst searching in the wrong spot, got spiked by some grass cuttings that included I think pheonix palm

Anyhow kept searching and then spotted a likely hide and it was. Was surprised to see the cache had been visited earlier today by another cacher.

Fun puzzle and fun find. Thanks for the hide tuolei

I think like a lot of others, when I saw this puzzle I put this in the 'this will make my brain hurt' pile. One or two years later I finally did it and thorough enjoyed the solve. My heads had a work out but if I tried to create it I think it would have taken me weeks. A genius piece of work tuolei! f/p

A bit of spare time, perfect opportunity to grab a couple of solved puzzles while the area is quiet. GPS took me straight to the hide. I put this puzzle in the too hard basket as have never played Dragons and Dungeons but pulled it out and had another go and was pleasantly surprised to get the green tick on attempt 2. FP given.

Found 3.25pm
Area very busy today. Took a little while to find this cache. SLTFTC

I had been avoiding this puzzle bc it looked long and tedious. But I attempted to hide a cache the other day and got a message that it was too close to the final hide for this so I thought it would be worth having a go at it. I sat down last night and solved it relatively easily - knowing the general coordinates from where I tried to place my cache definitely helped speed me up. Then went to walk the dog this morning in between rain showers, found it nice and easily. Very cool cache here. Thank you for the cool puzzle!

With some of our Team BOP mates: (Mr) Davidson clan, McJandals, NZFlossy, and Philip.Perry. Logs were signed with our Team BOP handle... Today, everyone is looking for a break on the Mystery at the Museum case. We spent most of our morning on the Crayola puzzle trail, and all of these finds have been used to cover case requirements... But our mission isn’t complete, and we need more caches.

The group consensus was to try our luck on the Cluedo mini trail in West Auckland. With several kilometres to travel before we arrived, it would be a given to stop for other hides along the way... Amazingly, our little mission brought us to an area where we had not really ventured much before. We came across a puzzle we solved a few years ago... We enjoyed the short walk in and had no trouble locating the Pirate King’s treasure chest... Thanks tuolei. TFTP and TFTC.

On a road trip with Team BOP After doing the Crayola trail we came into Auckland and found some more caches and beautiful parks. Thanks to all the COs for some great caches and please forgive the template as it saves a lot of time back home. Had help with puzzle but feel much richer for the walk TFTC

On a mission with Team Bop. We’re hoping to clear up the mystery at the museum challenge. 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 caches. Many Thanks for bringing us here. Cheers Great puzzle and cool container.

Was out and about with KayGeeDee picking up some solved puzzle caches.
Easy find here in appropriate position.
Great that the chest is keeping dry here!
Never been here before !

Lots of tree trimming around GZ with piles of branches everywhere. I checked multiple locations going round in circles using just my phone but could find the cache.

Find number 5577. I am trying to reduce the number of not yet found solved puzzles. Today I reduced the number by 16. After a walk to GZ the GPS had me going around in circles before I finally spotted it. Love the treasure in it. Left a TB. Thank you for the placement.

#616. I have always heard of Dungeons And Dragons, but honestly never had any idea about what it was. I just always figured it was another board game. But then the TV show The Big Bang Theory came along, which I really enjoyed at first (until it jumped the shark) and they played Dungeons And Dragons a couple of times on there, and then I realised what sort of thing it actually was! I reckon this cache will be the closest to playing it that I will ever come.

Coincidentally, just yesterday I heard the DJs on the radio station ZM berating someone because he still played Dungeons And Dragons in his 40s and they were all laughing at this guy. I thought it was very disrespectful, and it's put me off listening to ZM again in the near future.

Anyway..... being the computer programmer that I am, I didn't do this via any sort of trial and error, instead, I read the story, converted it into a computer simulation, and got my simulation to try every possibility. And, true to form, the first time I ran it, it told me out of all the possible solutions, there was exactly one path out with at least one of each point remaining! (Wow, that never happens, computer programs are never supposed to work correctly first time...)

I put the numbers into the geochecker which confirmed that the coordinates I had were correct.

I wonder if the CO did something similar to create the story in the first place? Because, without the simulation, I simply can't fathom how tuolei could have known that there was only one possible way through without investing *a lot* of time. Either way, I really enjoyed the adventure, even though I didn't quite experience it in the "authentic" way that others would have.

Today my mission was to find the physical caches for 7 puzzles that I have previously solved. I managed to find 6 of them, which is one less than I hoped, but still not too shabby.

It was dark by the time I got here. But that didn't matter at all, once two dog owners with two very disobedient dogs left the area, I managed to grab the very cool cache after fighting off a lot of spiders. This cache hadn't been plundered for a while I'm guessing, given the effort it took to get it open.

Thanks for the cache and puzzle! FP added because I had so much fun solving it.

A great puzzle (lots of fun solving and got it on the first time!).

A quick find.

#6227

After finding some wizards not that long ago I decided that this one was worth a proper look so with a long lunch scheduled on Friday I went about the business of choosing my adventure. Missed the subtle hint on the first pass but clicked for round two and soon had some coordinates filed away for the next day.

Out here today and plenty of dogs hanging out but all quiet near GZ and the cache was soon found. Another great cache in design and execution - TFTC

Raining in Huntly today so decided to head to Auckland with EyespyBen.
To pick up some puzzles {Final}
Having a great day so far.We found our treasure nice and dry and a favourite from as.Thanks

Tftc for the nice wee hide drop of tb and the pick up a tb

Out and about today, enjoying my first caching session of the new year. I solved this one a few days ago. Finally took the time to carefully read the cache page. Right, I got the idea so set about playing. My first round resulted in defeat, but I learnt a thing or two. The next go seemed promising, until I realised I had missed a room. Back to the drawing board. The third round was promising, but ultimately fatal. A slight adjustment resulted in victory and the checker agreed! At GZ today I soon came up with the nicely themed final. I exchanged trackables. I appreciate the effort that went into setting this puzzle up; favourite point applied. Cheers for the puzzle cache placement!

Excellent puzzle, I must say, and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. I worked out the puzzle using a tree that kept branching and branching. It was a fun little diversion during a boring conference, and when I colleague asked me what that was... well, I said it’s some sort of game. Good fun all round, and indeed, not too difficult if you have time to kill. I was also glad that the final worked out to be not too far from where my sister stays.

Today, I made the short walk to the GZ, and after wandering around the general area for a few minutes, I had the right idea, and spotted the very beautiful treasure chest in its hide. Nice! TFTC and deserving of an FP indeed!

I looked at this one when it came out but put it aside as I wasn't in the right mood to do all of the reading at the time. Finally solved this one a couple of months ago with a colleague; she cracked it first but I solved it a few minutes later, nice puzzle when you get into it.
Set about clearing up the caches in this area toady and this was one of several solved puzzles on the list. Another great cache container; all in good shape. FP definitely for the time and effort that has gone into this cache. TFTC.

Popped in to check this, very pleased to see in great condition. Dropped Captain Hook, asked him his favourite letter of the alphabet he said "rrrrrrrr"

A rather fortuitous Trade Me purchase has brought us to Auckland and conveniently I've turned this into 2 days of caching as well
What an intense puzzle! The solve actually came from Davidson Clan but I am familiar with D&D and had to give it a crack. That was fun but took me a while... reading - pen and paper but a really neat way of getting coords.
At GZ it was clear I hadn't been here, and seeing all the dogs around made it clear we were going to have to watch our step The cache was found fairly quickly and in good condition. A neat container and fitting contents completes the experience, a favourite here cheers tuolei, TFTC.

Nice to be home and time to cache. Help from the younger family to solve the puzzle - but the cache hide was fabulous! (FP)

As soon as the mum of the team saw the theme of this puzzle it was promptly handed over to the 20 year old of the team who knows this stuff well. Soon sorted and the final co-ords calculated and has sat in the solved file for a long time until today when we were able to make the find. Loved the final cache and Ryan said he loved the puzzle. Thanks

We never played Dungeons and Dragons, but this did not restrict our ability to solve this puzzle. We had no problems with our approach to GZ and found the coordinates to be spot on. Another nicely themed puzzle and another FP from us

Thanks Tuolei for letting us know of our error. As I was in Auckland again this weekend I added this cache on the must do list when I arrived at the parking area I Immediately knew we had not been here last week not quite sure what where we were last week. Anyway I made a nice quick find here today and added Davidson clan to the log book I also managed to get another nearby cache so that was good the we had fish and chips for dinner at one tree hill.
Tftc

Team BOP ( myself Philip.Perry and TNXPRO ) have a few solved puzzles in Auckland so planned a trip to Auckland to collect the puzzles. Cool puzzle soon worked my way through to get the green tick.
Tftc

With a bag full of solved puzzles around Auckland, I teamed up once again with Davidson clan and Philip.Perry. Team BOP were reunited once again to gather as many solved puzzles as we had time to find in the two days we had allocated.

Its has taken me a couple of weeks to get my head into logging these and my memory is fading, so am relying on a combo of field-notes and the other logs from Team BOP...

I hadnt had a chance to solve all the puzzles on our list, including this one, but as I was along for the ride and found the log book, I can log the find. I will be trying to solve this in retrospect though.

This was a WOW puzzle page. I never knew anything about D&D even back 25 years ago. I appreciate the detailed puzzle page.

Thanks for putting out the challenging puzzle and TFTC.

Having never played dungeons and dragons before, we quickly worked out what we needed to do. We moved from room to room and quickly worked out the location of the chest. Today, after quiz we headed to spot x to locate the treasure. A nice quick find here in the most obvious location. Thanks for a nicely themed puzzle and cache, favourite point added - TFTC!

I use to be a keen Dungeon and Dragons fan. (In fact I'm pretty sure that I have some of the original manuals somewhere.) Anyway this was a lot of fun and bought back memories of some of the campaigns we once use to play. Today I decided to go for a walk and collect my well earned treasure. This was a quick and easy find as I avoided the muggles. Fav point from me. TFTC!

I use to be a keen Dungeon and Dragons fan. (In fact I'm pretty sure that I have some of the original manuals somewhere.) Anyway this was a lot of fun and bought back memories of some of the campaigns we once use to play. Today I decided to go for a walk and collect my well earned treasure. This was a quick and easy find as I avoided the muggles. Fav point from me. TFTC!

I use to be a keen Dungeon and Dragons fan. (In fact I'm pretty sure that I have some of the original manuals somewhere.) Anyway this was a lot of fun and bought back memories of some of the campaigns we once use to play. Today I decided to go for a walk and collect my well earned treasure. This was a quick and easy find as I avoided the muggles. Fav point from me. TFTC!

I never played Dungeons and Dragons back in the day, but decided you are never too old to learn new tricks so I made my way from room to room til I eventually found my way on the sea cave floor. Armed with my treasure map with x marking the spot, I set off today to search for the treasure. I took a more direct, but probably not the easiest root to GZ where after a short search I found the treasure chest and added my name as 3rd to find. I really enjoyed this puzzle, well crafted and fun to solve. FP given

I should have noted that this park is an off the lead dog park so searchers of a canine find get everywhere here. If off lead dogs worry you bear that in mind. I wouldn't be surprised if signs of searching is actually signs of placing as the CO stumbles around in the dark placing the cache, dropping stuff out of his caching bag like a Hansel & Gretel trail, eh, kiwicouple?

Just like to note that the 'signs of extensive searching' mentioned by FMZ were not made by geocachers, probably not by people, and certainly not by us.

We were at the computer when some new caches were published. This puzzle looked interesting, if complicated, but we decided to give it a go. We are both from the era of Dungeons and Dragons but never played the game. We chose a solve method, and worked our way through the rooms encountering all manner of adventures along the way. Miraculously we eventually found ourselves in a Sea Cave with the treasure chest in our sights, and a treasure map of sorts to find some real treasure.
Arrived at the point where X marks the spot, and a brief search revealed the treasure trove. Opened the chest to find the booty still intact! After placing our mark on the scroll inside, we returned it to it's hiding spot to await the next treasure-hunter.
Thanks, we thoroughly enjoyed solving this well set-up puzzle, and finding the nicely themed cache. Awarding a well-earned Favourite Point.
Kiwicouple's First To Find coin visited.
(FTF)

After a successful FTF on a new multi published around the same time, I headed home to resume other activities. After a little while I noticed this new puzzle so took a look and had coords sorted in a few minutes. Must have just missed kiwicouple I guess. There were signs of extensive searching but had the cache in hand in the first place I looked - good coords. This is similar on concept but different in execution than a puzzle idea I have had for a while. Fave point. TFTC

Well done on the design!!
Very good.

Published