A very Smurfy cache Pakuranga Heights, North Island, New Zealand
By TheCoblets on 12-Dec-16. Waypoint GC6Y267

Hunted around but I didn't spot it.

We are filling in time, and as we were in the area, we targeted this cache. Initially, when we headed in, I thought we would need to go in from another direction, but it was all good. After searching what we thought was gz, we moved and concentrated on a much more likely host. Around and around we went, giving the wandering jew plant a good crushing. After almost thinking it was gone, especially as it hadn't been found for almost a year, I disturbed something. I gave it a tug, but it didn't budge. I gave it a fair bit of force and out popped the cache. Yay. It was well wedged in, but the contents were in good condition. We signed and headed back out to the van, just in time for school pickup. Thanks for the placement TheCobletts

Thanks the Coblets for the testing hide???? this was a bit of a mission as the natural camo namely wandering dew has played a great part in the camo???? but for now its had a good hurry up ??????..it did require some force to remove from the hiding spot ...along with a lot of time to locateThe cache was in good condition and nice and dry ...replaced as found ????Thanks for bringing me to this place

Ran out of time, searched all main areas of interest but no luck for me today

TFTC

It was in the first location we checked but we dismissed it has being not permanent enough a home . Anyway we came back to it and there it was . Clever hide and thanks for a helping us discover a new park .

Nice cache we'll hidden

A Nice woodlands
Well covered cache.

Very nice hide and a nice sized container as well. Previous logs helped a lot, so it was a quick find.
Tftc

This one took a while but with a lot of messing around on the portal I soon saw the blackness coming towards me going to suck me in but then a cache appeared in my hand.
TFTC

It took a couple of attempts to find this one, plus a message to the ever obliging CO. Not a tricky find but we should have trusted our instincts. GZ took us about 10 metres from the obvious spot for a hide. First time round we didn’t search deep enough into the portal. Second time round we did! Cool place for the hide but we are not sure how much longer this will remain. SL TNLN TFTC

Work Commitments for the day over, it was time to get some fresh air and find a cache or two. An enjoyable way to fill in the rest of the Afternoon.. TFTC

a quick find and the last cache for the day

What a nice spot, straight forward find. Tftc

Replaced container and logbook and added some new SWAG.

Coordinates changed from:
S 36° 54.850 E 174° 53.534

Coordinates changed to:
S 36° 54.854 E 174° 53.528

Distance from original: 37.9 feet or 11.5 meters.

Small adjustment

Found while on a trip north with tmann421.
Enjoying discovering the areas and finding some caches.
Signed the log tm/ww NZ
TFTC

Found lunchbox on the ground open and no log, replaced logsheet and put according to hint but looks like muggle kids play here! SL **tm/ww NZ**

Yay found on palindrome day! Awesome spot, this is why I geocache

GPS took me one way, before I spotted something more likely the other way. Nice hiding spot, TFTC

Out grabbing a few caches for the Museum Challenge, a nice winters day today.

A nice sized cache here in a cool location.

TFTC

Decided to make a start today on the new challenge and hopefully this one will give us our first clue if we understood correctly.Finished work early today so headed this way.Parked closer by walked down the path and found we were on the wrong side back tracked our steps found another way around and carried on along the geotrail.Spotted where I’d hide it and wasn’t long after that until we were signing our names.Great location even if slightly wet underfoot today.

Tftc, beautiful spot!

Tftc.love the portal. What a neat place.

Gps led me to a spot, but as soon as I looked around I knew where the cache would be and it was.

TFTC

After the college drop off, ducked into this location for a wee look....a quick check to make sure the locals weren't having breakfast on the deck. .....then into the bushes I head.....

TFTC.

My second attempt. Phone was pointing me a good 15m away so I blame my phone for previous fail.

Out in the area today and we thought we would make an effort to clean up a few missing caches. This one was located very quickly

Hi we Swiss guys went smurfing today ..my Party smurf liked it very much and was glad that Gargamel didn`t turn up in this magyic spot..Next time I visit New Zealand I will bring with me the whole smurf gang in my collection .

I'm from Switzerland and spend 4 months in New Zealand on vacation. Found this cache after a few minutes search, thanks.

Pretty sure we went in the hard way. And did a big loop before I spotted a likely hiding spot. Sure enough, it was where I thought it would be. Was a bit wet so we also had a bit of trouble getting out from where we were. Thanks for the smurfy cache!

This one had us going around in a bit of a circle, trying to hone in on the hiding spot. However, as we neared an object, hayleyfcy asked: "could it be in there?" Yep. Yep it is. Thanks!

The cache is in perfect Smurf condition. Thanks for the cache.

Bit concerned. Found a place with a black garbage bag with a space where a lunch box size cache would go but no cache. Could not do full search (in office gear!) so will return

Fun find here today, managed to jump the mud, did a few swaps tftc

Approached GZ from higher ground, increasing slippier and muddier as we neared GZ indicated by GPS. Had a look around the GZ and exhausted the potential spots. Kiwiscot ventured further afield and shouted that she had found a likely spot before triumphantly coming up with the cache. It appears that the general GZ has become the dumping ground for undelivered local rags. Daily streak continues, TFTC.

Mrs Team Welsh rang me yesterday and asked if I would accompany her on a tour of some of caches out East Auckland way today. I am never one to turn down a fun geocaching adventure so I agreed.

Out: TB.

Cheers for the cache.

Out and about with Tufty today and it has been a year since we have cached here together so managed to pick up a few on this geocaching anniversary date. No problems here, TFTC

I'm up in Auckland for one of my regular visits, and with having this week off work I am looking to break my longest streak for finds as well as push through and gain my 500th Cache whilst I'm here.

Today is day 10 of my current streak. The weather this week has been great so far, until yesterday. Strong winds and rain meant I wasn't sure I'd get a chance to go out, but the rain held off this morning long enough for me to have a go at some of the local ones I hadn't tried before. I was just hoping I wouldn't have to deal with too many downed trees or it being too boggy underfoot!

Having parked up on the road, I could soon see that this hide would be in the trees down the gully. My phone GPS can be a bit hit and miss in tree cover, so I took an easy approach in, and soon spotted a couple of good possibilities for the hide. However, they were both wrong, so I had to leave the copse and re-approach in order to get a good idea of where GZ would be. This time I was about 10m from my original attempt, but faced with a portal so I knew I had it right this time. The container is in good condition, although the logbook is a little damp, but I was still able to sign it and then everything was put back exactly as found. There were 2 TB's available, and I took one whilst dropping off one of my own.

Thank you for placing this cache for others such as me to find.

This seems like a suitable spot to drop off two more TBs. Dry and safe. Travel safely!

Tftc

A mission to "Choose Your Hard - Part ?" had been eyed up for quite a few months between HKCB and I and so a short while ago the call went out, obviously with a call to make a day of it as we were in the area so collect a number of other caches along the way.
The object of the day was to aim for the higher terrain and difficulty ratings in the area.
So at 5 am we set off from Hamilton (in the company of 11HPG11, Kyb3r, HKCB) as we knew that many sets of eyes were going to be required for this little venture in Auckland today. All caches today have been signed HOAC to save space for the poor CO.


Thanks for the placement, thanks for the cache

Cats&Dragons and myself have been eyeing up the "Choose your hard" series for a few months now, and we were both on the same wavelength that many eyes are going to make this much easier. So we put out the call and HPG, Kyb3r and Alpenmilch80 joined in for the fun. The general plan for the day was to focus on the "Choose your hard" series then grab a few harder caches in the area.

After locating the dots we put a bit of distance between us and them and headed to another part of Auckland to hunt out a few more caches, focusing on multi's and puzzles to help with the planetary pursuit.

Took longer than it should of here, and we had checked the right spot as well but missed it. After reading the description I knew we were in the right spot and a bit of digging around revealed the cache.

A big thanks to all the CO's for the placements, we signed all of the logs as HOAC.

Out today finding some caches with Cats&Dragons, HKCB and kyb3r. Trying to knock off a few frustrating puzzles and different d/ts. Logs signed as HOAC to save room.

Took a bit of a hunt for this one but turns out we just needed to open our eyes a bit more! Nice sized hide.

Was in the area so thought I'd drop off 2 TBs. One likes forests, this is a good spot, one likes to make music, Smurfs should enjoy that. Bang a drum!

Had fun finding it.
Maybe bring a pen as it stopped working

Forgot I need long pants in the evening. Have the local mozzies a real feast tonight. Great place for a cache. Nice size as well but unfortunately TBs were at home.

TD likes Smurfs. Much more willing to relinquish the location to their secret place than the nasty Nymphs. Approached from the lower end, all was going well in the green stuff when all of a sudden TD was up over his ankle in mud. Chuckling in the bush, Smurfs must have enjoyed that. Soon had them sussed though, nice container and log book, all dry and replaced. Totally Smurfastic! TD had the last laugh, after cleaning off in the stream. If only the Nymphs were as cooperative. TFTC

A very wet and muddy walk in my work shoes but didn't take long to find the likely spot. Another good cache in the neighbourhood. TFTC

I was concentrating on where my GPSr said GZ was supposed to be when I spotted a location that just had to have a cache hidden. TFTC.

As in all of the caches I have done after work today gumboots are also essential at this cache too. I probably approached from the wrong side of the creek but with the gummies, it presented no problem anyway. looked at previous logs and I was sure that even though the co-ords were out there was really only one place the cache would be, sure enough I found it in the 'portal' just as the cache page said. The cache and plastic bag were very wet but the insides and more importantly the log was very dry. All good here TheCoblets. Thank you for the cache.

Log later

Out and about for a spot of cache detection today as the rain seems to have finally moved on. I parked at the top of the park and made my way through the wet grass towards GZ. Plenty of mud around here. Anyway, my GPSr had me some 10+ metres away from actual GZ. So after a few minutes of looking around some rather unlikely spots I surveyed the more general area and decided it looked better over there. A short search uncovered the prize after that. Cache nice and dry inside. Cheers for the cache placement!

Ground very wet and boggy underfoot as we headed through the grass and into the undergrowth. Spied a really good hiding spot on arrival and soon enough had the cache in hand. We can report that the cache is all nice and dry inside after all the recent rain. Nicely themed container, TFTC!

Out in the Eastern Suburbs again this weekend with Merlot58 and Aiden29. By now having attempted about 5 caches our feet were starring to get damp in our boots. Going into this park just got them wetter. Our co-ords were a little off but we soon had the nicely themed smurf cache in hand.

Returned out this way with Jag50 and Merlot58 today. With boots already damp we ploughed forth, trying not to slide over in the mud. A little back and forth over the creek as our co-ords were a bit off, but we found it in the likely spot. Nicely themed cache.

Once again I was out in East Auckland with Jag50 and Aiden29 collecting more caches. The previous nights rain meant the long grass was very wet and a bit boggy so we had damp pants and feet by the time we reached GZ. Our co-ords put us 10m away and thankfully Mrs Jag checked a place I had already looked in and found the nicely themed cache

Out with SethRaven and Panda0505 today chasing some caches for a Tufty challenge. Gotta love this hide. Remember back when the Surfs first came out , still have a few floating around as there were rather expensive all those years OK. TFTC which is well themed.

Out today with Fencarrows and Panda0505 gathering caches for a Tufty challenge. My GPS had me about 3/4 meters away and when you looked around Ms Fencarrows went to check the most likely spot . . . . . . and there it was . . . . . what a fabulously themed hide . . . . . TFTC

On a quick walk to pick up a few caches this morning; this was the third for the day. GPS was slightly off when I checked the location but soon saw where it was likely to be. Cache is in great condition. TFTC.

My brother had quite the smurf collection at one time but long gone by now. I understand that some of them are quite collectible if you have any need of arguably even stranger hobbies. Anyway we headed down here prepared for a bit of a hike but actually a very easy stroll down to GZ. Like a couple of others we initially checked out where our GPS took us but then we turned around and saw the far more likely hiding place. Quick step over and in hand within seconds - nice container and nice cache guardian. Thanks for the cache, well done.

Nice quick find. Nice container! Log nice and dry. TFTC.

A day mopping up some caches in the area that I had failed to find in the past. I was happy to have some new ones to try as well. Liked the cache container. TFTC

Love this hiding place Coblets!
What a lovely place for kids to play in here !
Beautiful !
Added a pink bambi....all out of smurfs ...

After looking on the wrong direction to start with I spun 180 degrees and saw an amazing spot for a smurf portal. Left a bit of swag kids may like to trade with

It's our 40th wedding anniversary today but there was still time for a cache. This wasn't quite where my phone suggested but a quick look round and the likely spot was found. Thanks

It's our 40th wedding anniversary today but there was still time for a cache. This wasn't quite where my phone suggested but a quick look round and the likely spot was found. Thanks

After a busy morning of helping with our local East Auckland Salvation Army Christmas Appeal, Mrs NewlynFam - who was also helping, and myself, realised that we needed to get our cache of the day for our respective caching streaks. We had about an hour before families would start to arrive to receive their Christmas hampers... more than enough time to find a cache. That is how we came to be finding this one. Anyway, even though my phone App was not settling, after we walked into the area we figured out pretty quickly where we would hide a cache if it were us hiding it. And sure enough I soon found it. So thank you once again TheCoblets for your efforts. I liked this one.

It had been a very full-on day today helping out with the Christmas appeal at The Salvation Army in Howick, but I knew that I needed to get this cache for my GIO Licence, as I am required to find a number of caches within a week of their publication date. So, once all the hampers had been made and present wrapping completed, it turned out we had about an hour up our sleeve before families arrived to pick up their packs- just enough time to duck out for a cache or two.
Grabbed Sherlock the Puppy, a caching buddy who is also involved with the appeal, and off we went. Pulled up to the closest road to GZ and headed on in (and of course, I forgot the insect repellent I paid for it later!!!). Followed the phones and at once spotted a pretty cool spot for a cache, so we had a bit of a look around there, to no avail. Hmmmm..... followed some of the trodden-down undergrowth around a bit and checked one or two other places, but decided that the first place we checked would be where we would hide a cache, so it must be there And sure enough, Sherlock the Puppy soon had the cache in his hands, once we'd decided to have a closer look!!!

Thanks for the cache, TheCoblets, and for helping with my GIO licence requirements!!!

Just spied this new green spot so had to come visit this morning. Awesome wee park and a great cache hide which was quite easy to spot following the geo-trail. I am heading way up North this weekend so have taken the TB to expand its travels. TFTC

Out walking to grab this cache. Reached GZ & decided it was 'there'. Well it wasnt there so looked elsewhere. In the end, looked there again & there it was. TFTC

Dropped a trackable off at this newly placed cache in the hopes that its visiting cachers will help it on its journey.

Miss 10 did this cache today with her Poppa, wouldn't want to be a smurf trying to get this one. Thanks for placing the cache. Have left a trackable to help it on its travels.

Had just arrived back from Thailand.

Needing to keep our daily streak going I had "left" a cache next to the airport for that specific reason.

Had just claimed that when this cache was released. I knew I would probably be late but headed in the general direction.

Parked up and saw at least 2 familiar cars and knew that it just wasn't meant to be.

Caught up with Keylev, UncleSam and Billelle and understand that Dragon_Griffin had already left.

Keylev and Billelle stayed behind to watch me struggle to get this find. They gave me a gentle push in the right direction and I soon had the cache in hand.

Signing the log as a STF some 10 minutes after the rest of the guys had done the joint FTF.

TFTC

Now lets get home and catch up on some sleep!!!!

Had just got home and had started cooking my dinner when the SEAC team facebook chat started beeping. And I was been told to go, as it was only 1km from my house....but I said....NAAAAA....I'm cooking my dinner :-p

So I had dinner and then decided to head out.

Arrived at GZ and heard some people in the bushes. Found a few of Team SEAC and another cacher. They had been there for about 5 minutes and still hadn't found it.

I started searching then spotted something out of place....and had the cache in my hands within 1 minute of searching.

Thanks for hiding the cache

Joint {FTF}

Published

Sorry....my dinner comes first :-p

Joint ftf. Log to follow

Yes Leanne....always food before cache :-p

.... and you call yourself a geocacher, Sam!!!

I had just settled the kids into bed and started to check my emails for the day when I noticed 2 new cache publications... 1 in Mt Roskill... too far away, and the other just down the road!! So I yelled at the hubby I was just off out quickly and made a mad dash to GZ. Keylev was already there and another cacher turned up as well. We searched for a while before UncleSam also turned up, and within a few minutes he had found it right in a spot I had already looked, doh! Although he has the extra height which helps We all signed the log and then made an exit out of the tree cover as the mozzies were really munching! TFTC!

On notification of new cache ,arrived at GZ and found keylev and Dragon Griffin already looking and then UncleSam arrived. We had all checked out a tree without success when we eventually heard found it coming from the tree . Thankfully it did not take long as we were getting bitten alive so we all signed the log as joint FTF and beat a hasty departure after NZT arrived and we watched him quickly locate cache
TFTC

Joint FTF log to follow