AR_Historic Auckland - Albert Park Walk Auckland Central Business District, North Island, New Zealand
By tuolei on 08-Jan-19. Waypoint GC827WB

From June 06, 2018 until March 06, 2019, Geocaching HQ conducted an [Augmented Reality (AR) experiment](https://www.geocaching.com/help/index.php?pg=kb.chapter&id=127&pgid=921). During that time, cache owners were allowed to submit Mystery Caches that required the finder to download and use an AR app to find the cache. The goal of the experiment was to see how the geocaching community would use AR technology. Cache owners placed more than 600 AR caches around the world!Unfortunately, the AR apps which met HQs requirements for the experiment have been or are currently in the process of being discontinued. As a result, it is currently not possible for finders to have the AR experience that was originally intended. Therefore, **HQ has decided to archive all active AR caches placed during the experiment period**. We are respectfully requesting that all AR cache owners please remove the cache container and contents as soon as possible.As technology evolves, we look forward to seeing how Augmented Reality might have future applications for geocaching. Thank you to all cache owners who participated in the experiment!

Thanks for explaining why I couldn't access it, bummer, but I understand

It's a while since I looked at this one - as far as I can tell, it looks like the Android version of the MetaverseAR app is offline at the moment. I can see the Apple iOS one still works (not that that helps the previouis poster).While Goecaching HQ continues to allow these caches to be live (I assume they've decided Adventure Labs are the replacement), I'll try and keep this one going as I understand no more of this type are allowed to be created like this.Metaverse AR is no longer a supported app which makes maintenance difficult. The app still seems to work for me though, but I can't seem to access the old experience manager to maintain it.

Can someone possibly post a link to the app for this? I couldn't find it on Google Play

A few days in Auckland for a wedding means I can do a few caches as well.
This one wouldn't work for me. Didn't like my name so stopped working although prior to that I got the first question and answer but it bombed me out there too. Some other time!

Up in Auckland for a couple of days while I'm attending a conference, so of course I have to try and get some caching in

Been a long time since I've done an AR cache and had to reinstall the app. Didn't have to much trouble with it except at the final stage the cards didn't display long enough to be useful (and there didn't seem to be an inventory function). I ended up having to grab a phone screen shot (and even that took a couple of goes).

In the end I got the final coordinates but even then I made it hard on myself. Having previously found a cache nearby many years ago I had pre-conceived notions of where this cache was and spent a few wasted minutes before actually following the GPS and got to the right location where the cache was a quick find. All good here, and TFTC.

Find #5436

This was our first experience with an AR cache, and we found it both engaging and challenging. Learning a bit more about the lives of historic Auckland residents while seeing their portraits was really cool, and made their stories come alive. At the same time, we had a harder time understanding and using the Metaverse app than we expected, and it ultimately took us a couple trips to find and hear from everyone depicted. The find at GZ was straightforward, and we were glad to get the smiley after all the time and effort we’d put in. TFTC!

Took a little to get used to the AR app, but in the end it was very fun and enjoyable! Thanks for a different kind of cache. Lots of work for one find…but worth it!

We made a night-time visit to Albert Park and Auckland University to collect a couple of puzzle hides. We had done the very interesting AR on a previous visit. We loved the way in made use of the park structures incorporating them into the story. Parked and made our way directly to GZ tonight. The unusual container was found after a brief search. Thanks.

I was struggling with the glitchy app & couldn't get 2 characters to talk to me despite being in the right location, so had to give up as I'd run out of energy & parking time.
I also found it frustrating it didn't point me to help find the locations, but maybe I wasn't using it correctly Ah well, nice walkabout after going to the art gallery exhibits & watching people practicing their tango. Thanks anyway

Out geocaching in the city today with toby84.

Our first AR cache in a 'Adventure Lab' style. Was a great experience, and learnt about about some historical figures. Earnt a fav point from me. Found with Reny.

Kiwicouple and I decided to take the ferry from West Harbour to the City to sign off a few caches.

I hadstarted this one a couple of weeks ago and found it frustrating in that in most cases I had to face away from the item I should find the info on. I finished it today and signed the log once I got it out.

Cheers for the cache.

Wow... That was a nice and log... With some technical challenges...

Thank you for the cache

My 1616. Smiley on the map

I had started this one once before…or maybe even twice before, but I had issues with the app and glitches, so I decided to leave it be…

However, a quick conversation with Lumin298 the other day and I decided it could be done and give it another go.

Today I was with Pax and Lumin, so we headed here to tackle it.

Definitely still had some technical issues and some crazy things (like giant people talking to us), but we managed our way this time.

After taking the small wander around, we headed down to the final, where Lumin let us search for it.

A relatively quick find on the most spikey container I’ve ever seen! Cool, but definitely spikey!

Anyway, thanks for a different sort of adventure, like a virtual adventure lab!

This cache is ridiculously close to home, but somehow I had never even tried it before. One time I tried scanning the QR code but hadn't realised I needed to download the app first. But really I have no clue why I just never got around to it.

Today I did though, and it was excellent! A nice wander around the park, everything made sense and I didn't have any issue with finding the answers or using the app. I did have to visit George Grey again at the end but found what I needed and got the coordinates (and I have to say I found this riddle a lot easier to solve than the similar one in the CO's Adventure Lab!!)

At GZ I had a quick look where I thought it would be, but then read the logs and realised the coords were directing me somewhere else. As soon as I looked there it was a super quick find. Took a while getting the log out of the awesome container but I managed eventually and placed it back following the instructions.

Thank you for the effort that went into this, both the AR and the final, and for giving me a nice walk around the park this morning!

Bit of a walkabout with HeMaLuDy and Liverkiwi, full day of caching.

Thanks for a very interesting time with this AR cache. Enjoyed the walkabout and discovering new things about a park I haven't been to in a while.

The final was a bit tricky. Was at the first tree we started to look at. There was a bit of tooing and frowing but I returned to the tree and looked a little deeper and came up with it. TFTC

We enjoyed completing this cache today, something a little different. We had no trouble with the app once we worked out how it worked. It took quite some time to find the final, initially searching in one place, looking in a couple of others, then focussing on a different item. But in the end the cache was in the first place we had been searching, we just needed to look harder, we were very happy when B4dawn called out found it. Out today with LiverKiwi and B4dawn.

Some of us from Team SEAC decided to meet up for a day of caching in Albert Park. With a virtual, an adventure lab and an augmented reality cache to complete, it was going to take a while. So those of us who went all met up in Albert Park and started our time in beautiful surroundings on a magnificent caching day.

We had been wanting to do this one for a long time now, ever since it was published. So today it was wonderful to be able to get it out of the way. It took us a while to figure out how the whole thing worked, but once we got the hang of it, it was easy to go around to all the required stages and get the information required.

We finally got to the end of our little tour around Albert Park and tried to get the information required to give us the word that would unlock the final coordinates. This took a while as the information would flash up on the screen and then disappear half a second later. It took someone with a fast screen-shot finger to capture the information.

Once we had the final coordinates, we headed over and saw where the GPS was pointing us, so we had a look but to no avail. We then decided that it must be the other possible place on the other side of the path, but after 10 minutes or so of searching that, nothing was found. Whilst most of the group were standing around wondering where the cache could be, one of the group went back to the original searching place and found the cache. Now the clue from Sir George Grey made sense.

TFTC

16:05
My first AR geocaching experience. It's a real interesting concept and has a lot of potential but, also, probably does require a lot of work to make something enjoyable.
I had received a tip that the playing cards are shown to you just for a split seconds before disappearing, so I prepared my best screen-shotting skills when starting this. Luckily, it's really easy to redo each stage and get that card again. But yeah, is this a bug in the metaverse app?

Anyway, my tip to anyone else would be - you don't actually need to screenshot every single card, as at the last "experience" the caretaker actually shows all of them at once, again, for a very brief moment. But, if you get the screenshot of that, that also makes it easier to try and figure out the final word.

It was an interesting walk, thanks, but to make more of these, something probably would have to be done to improve user experience.

At the final location, I started looking at the wrong tree, and I looked and I looked, and started to give up, and then checked the map... Hmmm, maybe it's not this tree!? And indeed, it was another. Cute wee shell for the container.

Kia ora! Paldies!
TFTC, tuolei!
#8704

My first experience of an AR cache and took me a little while to get the hang of what to do and how to achieve. As I received each piece of info at the interesting places and 'people' I was pre-guessing what the final thing would be, and failed miserably when it came to it! Headed from some confirmatory info then off to GZ for the find of a unique container which was slightly visible, added a leaf as camo once replaced. Great experience and a great cahe, thanks tuolei.

Just the two target caches for the day today and with an impending move from the area I reckoned the time was right for a trip to Albert Park and nearby area. We enjoyed the walk around for both the new Virtual and the interesting AR cache too. The sun was hot, again, but the area was fairly quiet all around on a Saturday midday, and parking was also in abundance. We reckon many have gone away, and are still away. Thanks to both of the COs for their hides today.

In town today with merlot58 and nette1234 for some caching fun!
After completing the newish virtual at the University we realised that two of us had not done this AR of Historic Auckland in Albert Park!
So we managed with a lot of help and encouragement from merlot to get the special app on our phones....and managed to finally do the whole thing!
I had a few blips but we all managed in the end!
Wow my brain had a workout like never before with this technology!
Nicely hidden but nette1234 soon found it in it's hiding place.
So good to achieve something new!
Good one Tuolei! ☆☆☆

Had a bit of fun down loading the app on to my android phone.
Tapping onto The blue (Grant) helped with location.
Enjoyed the technology.
Thanks.

A few technical issues, had to phone a friend. Got there in the end

Thanks for the hide tuolei

With rebel98 wandering around Albert park, meeting some historical tour guides along the way

We ended up walking for almost 2 hours, a distance of 2.37km.

One stage did not want to work, and in the end we had to PAF.

Thankfully it was a lovely day wandering around the park, and with the ap, we got to meet some of the early residents of Auckland.

A fun find, but should have taken water and food, as we were so hungry by the time we finished.

Thanks again tuolei for todays adventure, not the MEGA weekend we had hoped for, but maybe in January we might be be lucky

After completing the 3 lab caches which we had set out to do we decided to give this a try. It was lots of fun and different to what we were used to so really enjoyed it. I hope it wasnt too hard to create. Think we got very lucky with one of our finds so like others we didnt have to ask for any extra help which for us is unusual. Final find was easy enough. Always liked this park. Used to come here alot when we lived nearby. Thanks for giving me a reason to visit again.

Fun outing in the rain doing the augmented reality questions, coordinates took me to the exact spot but needed a hint from the CO. Thank so much!

OK, I'll admit I didnt do much here. TW did the app stuff and I just tagged along, helping where I could and hindering most of the time!!. Thanks.

Had completed the first part for this over a year ago and while TF and I were in town I enlisted his help to find the final. Between us and interesting extra hints from the CO we finally managed to locate it. Love this type of cache and as always I appreciate the effort with the cache container. Thanks and an easy fav point here

This one has been on my to do list for quite some time. Today, I was in the CBD to hunt some Pokemon and thought it might be time to find it. I enjoyed the experience and the bit of history provided along the track. For some reasons I ended up having to restart the hunt as my progress was lost on the first attempt also, for some of the clues, the first line of text did not appeared (I have an Iphone 7, might be the reason?). All in all though, a great experience, thanks Tuoley for going through the trouble and taking the time to set such an interesting cache. TFTC

Had a wonderful walk around with Daughter #4 (thank goodness she was with us as we had a few technical issues). Really interesting. Found cache on the ground without a log so replaced log, and replaced cache as per hint. (FP)

I was meeting up with a friend today and mentioned I still needed to grab a cache for my calendar day. I was looking at a few trads that were not to far a walk away, but then I remembered this one, which was just over the road from where I was meeting him. It would be way more fun for a non cacher.

We had a great time wandering around, playing the adventure and talking to all of the hsitorical figures. We had a bit of a struggle at points with the GPS bounce and also seeing the letters for the final bit of information, but once we had it it was quickly off to GZ. We searched the wrong area for a short time, but then gave the GPS time to settle and was soon in the right area. It was at that point my friend spotted something odd on the floor. I picked it up and there was the cache just laying on the ground. I soon had the log signed and then replaced the cache back in the nearest area that seemed to fit the hint. Thanks for the cache and the adventure. We both had a lot of fun doing this one. #1015

Well that was strange - I went up there thinking it was odds on that I would need to replace the container but not only was the replacement container still there, the original that had gone missing had turned back up again, right in the original spot. So all is good here.

Missed this one - will take a walk up on Monday to double check the final since it's been so long.

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.

Couldnt finish this. Both our screens just locked up with blavk screens when we had to take a photo and wouldnt let us progress any further

I have amended the metaverse to give the answer away - but if you need it, the answer is 1901.

The info is missing so disabling cache for now.

Answer fixed for now, I hope they bring the statue back.

These AR caches are always a challenge for me, but thanks to group friends it got done.!
Found as part of the 33 caching group from the US, Canada and Puerto Rico. We stamped the log with NZGA2019 to save space on the log pages. Thanks for placing and maintaining this cache that added to our caching adventures.

I tried this and with only one iPhone and the construction was not able to complete it.

This was the best AR I have ever done, really enjoyed it and all the information and great places to visit. Only problem, and only slightly, was the missing statue and can't believe it was damaged just four days before getting here and removed two days before I attempted this one. Talked to a park employee to see if they could help me, and they directed me to an office. I had attempted to look it up on the iphone and couldn't get a clear image to read. The office staff used a larger computer and we were able to get the correct answer. All in all a favorite point for me and a great job. Had a bit of trouble getting the GPS to settle down for the final location, but it did and coords were good, just have to look in the correct spot. TFTC

Wow, what a cache. I searched the wrong tree for a good 20 minutes. Some choice words came out when I found the cache. Memo to self. Never assume where a cache is

TFTC! Favourite point from me!

Well hasn’t this been a journey.
We’re visiting Auckland for the day and EatAllThePie & I decided to grab some caches in Albert Park.
I have to say, I’ve never done an AR cache before, but I’ve decided that I love them! It’s a beautiful afternoon and the wander around the park was great. The statue of GM Reed is currently missing which meant we had to do some quick googling, but once we’d been to all the required places we were on our way to GZ.
Now, finding the cache was a different story... We probably spent a good 20mins hunting around the wrong beautiful tree, and we were seconds from logging out sad DNF before EATP pulled out his GPS and had one last look at where GZ should be.
Let’s just say he said some choice words, and I laughed. Hard.
Once we’d established where we were meant to be searching the cache was located easily!
TFTC - A fabulous journey and a great time hunting!

Enjoy one of the many photos I took to throw muggles off what we were up to!

Gee whiz this was a tricky cache having never done one like this before. Not a very techo person but gave it a go & ended up with a
Made a start, no idea what I was doing so fiddled around a lot doing numerous pirouettes. My phone gps location took ages to react so overshot many times. Was a bit nervy in the park as someone without a home kept following me the entire way. But there were enough other visitors around so I carried on. Got stuck plenty of times & had to revisit a couple of places. Finally got to the end of the stages & then struggled a bit more. Eventually got the required info once the brain engaged. I actually had all the info just hadnt put 2 & 2 together . Trotted off to GZ but yet again my phone wouldnt get any closer than 165m! So used the map to get me in the general area. Spent an age searching & was about to give up. Changed my approach & came up trumps. Very happy about that. Enjoyable AR to do, once I got the hang of it!
TFTC

Day five of our 11 day binge trip we are signing as NNES. This is are final full day in Auckland before heading up to the far north.
We wanted to try this geocache type as my friend Ethness has 3 live. I love wherigoes and I enjoyed her AR that I tried but I needed an Apple phone for it. So she let me use hers.
This one is Android capable so my One Plus should handle it but it didn't. I was disappointed as it looked like a great AR when it works. Luckily I got a help from the CO to get to the final.

Yay school holidays! Time for a road trip with my friend Ethness. I flew from Christchurch to Wellington. The idea is to drive up to the top of the North Island and back. We planned the trip ages ago.

Thanks tuolei for placing this geocache 7770 find for me.

Sadly there was no large event in New Zealand in 2019 but there are a few Mega events planned in Australia. New Zealand will have another large event in 2020 in Auckland. 
======== NZ Mega 2020 ========
Planning for the NZ Mega 2020 event is well underway. It will be held in Auckland over Labour Weekend, 23 to 26 October 2020. Thanks for hiding this geocache.

I was looking forward to completing this cache as I have placed 3 AR caches (2 in Wellington and 1 in Greytown) and there aren’t any close by these places for me to do. This looks a really interesting cache to complete. I will be googling Albert Park and its statues to find out more. Unfortunately there was a glitch and NN got some help from the CO so we could get to the final.

The school holidays are here and NosyNel and I are on a road trip north - to the far north. TFTC. Signed NNES.

***======== NZ Mega 2020 ========](http://nzmega.com)***

Planning for the [NZ Mega 2020](http://nzmega.com) event is well underway. It will be held in Auckland over Labour Weekend, 23 to 26 October 2020. It's going to be a massive celebration of geocaching:

* 20 years of geocaching worldwide.
* 20 years since New Zealand had the very first geocache hidden outside of USA.
* And it's 2020 - all the 20s!

Talk to your geo-friends and start planning to be part of [this event](http://nzmega.com) - you won't want to miss it!

I went and replaced the final - it's a bison tube for now while I keep an eye on the final. No idea where the rat was, I didn't find any sign when I was at the final.

Well, I found GZ... And a dead decaying rat.

Unfortunately, the cache container has gone (confirmed by messaging the CO with pictures)... So, logging with permission.

Was still a pleasant walk around the park and a bit of a history lesson.

And a fun bit of AR.


TFTC

What an adventure! This was so much fun. Even in the massive winds and rain today! We found the cache eventually, but on the floor. Owner will need to check the replacement of it as the clue did not lead to it being at GL. We have put it back where it realistically started

LOVED the augmented reality search! Our first and hopefully not last! Favourite point for you.

This is my first AR cache and if others are just half as good as this one I will have to go in search of others. I love Wherigos so found this to be similar. I wasn't sure what to expect but soon had it sussed after my chat with Sir George Grey. I forgot to take note of the info at each stage but a walk back to revisit George gave me what I needed. My gps had me searching on the wrong side of the track for a few minutes but decided to try the other side after reading previous logs and it then decided that area was also 0 metres. Found a perfect hiding spot but there was nothing there, circled around once back to the same spot and realised I'd nearly stood on it. Replaced back where it should have been. Thank you for an awesome experience. I enjoyed the lovely park and learning just a little about the history. I wish I could give thus cache more than 1 favourite.

#8783

Cache check - in place as it should be.

Another much sought after FTDNF.

This is my second attempt at an AR cache. The first attempt in the UK hardly worked at all but this one got me to the end if not smoothly then at least it had the good grace not to forget the stages when things went wrong. As all of the letters had not appeared as I went round and the final summary was too small to read on my phone, I went to the hint and found the only word that matched it!

I jag to come back two days later to actually look for the cache but had no luck. It's quite hard to search work all the people but I had a reasonable go without success. Anyway, thanks for compiling an AR cache that works!

Met up with alpenmich80 to give this one a go and was soon getting into the swing of things collecting info as we went. Struggled with my android at the end to get the final coordinates sorted, but was fine on iOS and after a short search the cache was in hand.

Cleverly done and another nice excuse to walk around here. TFTC

Meeting up with evilno9 after work to enjoy a walk through the park. I had some issues starting the AR with my phone, but got it working just when evilno9 moved on to the second person. We moved along easy collecting info's and cards making it to the last person. At that point evilno9's app gave up but good we had mine still working. Got to GZ circling likely objects before finding the chewed on container to sign us in. Interesting mix of AR and geocache. now off for to enjoy some beersies....

As Albert Park is close to my work I decided to get an early start and take a walk around the park, before the day heats up too much. I downloaded the required app to my phone, grabbed a pen and my GPSr and headed out of the office. I had a bit of trouble getting started and wasn't making any progress. A quick call to the CO put me right. From there I had no difficulties finding and visiting each of the way-points in turn. All questions were successfully answered. I did experience some frustration with the final question due to reading things on a small screen but the built in, by the CO, plan B option meant I wasn't completely stuck. Off to the final and I missed the hide on the first pass. Tried another spot before returning to the original GZ and making the find. The cache had fallen out of position and the camo bag was rather "chewed". The cache its self was in good condition. Cheers for this new caching experience and answering my SOS! Favourite point applied.

Found this with a group of other local cachers. It was a really fun and new experience as I havent done one of these types of caches before.

It was made even more interesting as there were teams setting the park up for the Laneway Festival so having the mini cachers with us really helped so they could sneak under some of the barriers which were in place to stop people from the festival from entering the university and other buildings and find the required info.

Thanks for the fun!

What an excellent reason for a sunny walk. It was nice to do it with a group. We were lucky as the Laneways event tomorrow made for a lot of erections, toilets and fencing interesting encounters with the AR characters. Two we couldn't get as they were behind the fencing (to keep people in!). Google helped with one and a small child helped with another (he crawled under the fence to get the required info). TFTC my first AR

Unfortunately, my Android SmartPhone didn't work properly. The camera would turn on, but I didn't see any of the AR stuff. I was able to look over shoulders as others did the stages and help with the final. TFTC.

Had seen this cache come out and thought I'll get to do it one day. Well, urbangypsynz asked if we would like to do it today, we put it on FB awhile back and sure enough got several keen followers who wished to come along.

I was a bit worried when I arrived at Albert Park, heaps of fences were everywhere... would we be able to get to all the 'stages'? I saw Agazo already here, and kakesnz and Phronimos, then a few minutes later urbangypsy arrived then keylev and family, then sometime during our adventure NZTravellers showed up! What an excellent group. (12 of us if I'm not mistaken!

I had no issues at all with the app, the others mostly were able to proceed as well. The only thing I had difficulty with was 'snapping' the cards, too fast for me, but Karen and Rivka dealt to that easily.

It was a fantastic day, we walked far more than we needed to, only one answer we had to google since it was well fenced off (speakers corner), the other was dealt with by a small built child who was able to slip under the fence! That was a lot of fun.

Finally came to deal with the final, that took a few minutes, but with so many people on the case, the answer presented itself rather quickly. Amazing team effort. Then it was off to GZ, had a big search all of us, but it was me that found the cache in it's little hidey hole. Whoo hoo, the first AR cache in Auckland and now it's done. If anything though, perhaps the difficulty rating might be a little low, perhaps 3.5? Anyway, that's only my opinion.

Thanks Grant for making the 'puzzle- multi-werigo' it was fun and a FP from me.

Found today with a great group of people and two geohounds. Governer Grey took a fancy to me and wanted to hang out, my android kept taking me back to the start despite entering the correct information, but to be fair GG may have used this model in his lifetime. Plenty of phones were working so I was able to read over shoulders. As in previous logs we were hindered by the Laneway preparations so instead of dodging walking and sitting muggles we were dodging forklifts and hi viz workers, google and a small child found the answers to two inaccessible locations a different experience. We had a great time and enjoyed this very well put together cache, congratulations Tuolei. After Gorby found the cache and the log was signed as teamevent the group split, some off to find nearby unfound caches and Gorby and Kakesnz and I for a well deserved coffee and catch up. FP from me.

We were a little late arriving to the party and although we got most of the stages ourselves, there was some catching up and team work to get to the end. As others mentioned, we had to dodge festival preparations today but managed to get the clues and solved the cache for the final. Had some handy insect spray for the mozzies at GZ, TFTC and the fun group find as Team Event.

Met up with the group organised by Gorby & Urbangypsynz to tackle this relatively new Augmented Reality geocache which was something I knew nothing about! I had already loaded the Metaverse app and on getting to the starting spot was pleased to find my phone worked fine and that I was able to follow all the instructions. Although the park was being set up for the Laneway Festival we managed to get all the answers (with some help!) and quickly sorted the final to head off for the find. A bit of searching and the cute cache container was found. Looking at where the log was, I was unsure how I would get it out but a quick shake and we were able to sign it as "Team Event". Thanks for the company of everyone that came along and Tuolei for setting up this AR cache.

Found on 25 Jan 2019 at 7:42 pm.
We had just finished a magnificent New Zealand cruise all along lots of ports on both South and North Islands and when we finished we stayed in Auckland for a few days.
Luckily the kids were with me to provide cover for any muggle traffic when out and about. Absolutely perfect weather as well for the days spent here, couldn't ask for more.
After checking into the hotel we went for a nice long walk to find a few caches.

There was a lot of setup and new fences being put up for the music concert soon but that didn't hide any of the clues thankfully. After about 50 minutes (and 2 app crashes that thankfully recovered perfectly) we headed over to GZ and found the sharp pointy little cache straight away.
We have a few of these AR caches in Melbourne where I live so I new of the glitches in the app but it all worked well in the end.
Thanks tuolei for the cache, the adventure, the hunt and the fun.

We met up in town after work, to have a go at this new AR cache before going out for an evening meal. One of us has an android and the other an i-phone so we were interested to see which one worked better. The android struggled from the beginning, so we were glad to have the i-phone as well. As we wandered around the park gathering information we saw many muggles in hi-viz vests setting up lots of portaloos and cordoning of areas in preparation for the Laneway festival in a few days time. We had a few technical issues but with the help of PAF we made it to the final GZ. Once we found the right tree, we soon had the cache in hand. Thanks for all the effort that has gone into setting this one up - we relived many memories from the past when we both used to walk through the park on our way to Auckland Uni.

With my 900th find approaching, I was looking for an interesting cache to celebrate the milestone - then this one was published at the weekend!

I set off on Monday lunchtime with the intention of finding the first few "experiences", but I got hooked and completed all nine. I headed to the final - and couldn't find it.

With a nudge in the right direction from the CO, I stopped by on my Tuesday lunchtime run to sign the log. Thanks - gets an FP from me!

Published

I wish I could say this was really fun to do but for us it was 90 mins of pure frustration with technology. For a start Pazza2's android phone didn't want to play at all, it would not load the experience despite turning on and off and trying to reload a dozen times. @$%#&* That left just me and my iphone which would load the group but then halfway through an experience I would lose everything and have to redo that part again. I think it took us 30 mins just to visit George and get started. $%*#$! Anyway, we persevered and continued on and soon lost count of the number of times I *&*@$%. At one stage I decided it would be more fun to take whatever the audience had taken and join in with the ribbon dancers who were lost in the music at the band rotunda, they appeared to be having much more fun than we were, thank goodness we weren't trying to get ftf! Then with one of the questions we kept getting told that our answer was incorrect even though we knew it was right so we just put numbers in til we could continue (turns out it was a slight error which has now been corrected) but there was lots more $%#*&. Anyway, long story short, we managed to eventually get around to all the places and eventually got to the final experience and as I was loading it, the whole metaverse app just quit on me. $%*&@^!!!! All I can say is if we had had to start back at the very beginning again we would have turned around and headed to the nearest pub. Thankfully when I reloaded the app I hadn't lost anything and we were able to complete the experience and find the cache. I suggest having tweezers on you as the log was very tricky to access. Once the log was signed and the cache returned we headed to the nearest pub anyway for some much needed medicine.

Hopefully others doing this AR will have a much better experience than we did!

When this cache was published I was stuck on Brown's Island with the CO and was pretty sure that the FTF would be claimed by the time we had returned to the mainland. I had the notifications set up on my phone, and was checking when we had reception as to whether anyone had found it yet. Arrived back at Orakei and made plans with TheWonderStuff to head to Albert Park and attempt this even if someone had already claimed the FTF.

I have had experience with this new type of AR while down at the Mega in Wellington, so I had an idea what to do. Luckily we found parking and headed off. No issues on my new Android phone, although I had a mild panic when I accidentally hit the back button and had to re-type the game into the search box in the app thinking that it was going to restart the game, but thankfully it had saved my progress and we could continue on.

Only at one spot did we have a different answer to what the game wanted, but we tried the number on the opposite wall and it was accepted. After visiting all the locations, we had the information, it took us a second to decipher the code word. Headed off to the final location, and had a bit of a search. A mouse scuttled out from the final spot, scaring both of us. After a closer examination I located the cache and the very cool cache container. Luckily I had my multi tool on me and was able to use this to extract the log. We opened the cache to find a blank log sheet - still not believing that we were actually FTF.

Thank you for the great walk around the park. I learnt a lot of history and had the chance to take more note of the sculptures etc that I often pass by on my walk to and from Uni/Work.
This was a fun experience with no technical issues and an enjoyable cache. Fav point awarded.

[FTF] #86

I found this with Aiden29 after the Brown Island trip. It was interesting doing this kinda cache( looking over Dani's shoulder at her phone) as I had never heard of these types before. Would of taken sometime to put together... its kinda like a modern whereigo cache.

No real drama going around, the whole experience was actually rather pleasant and enjoyable. The sun was hot. A mouse lives at GZ as it spooked me when searching lol.

A FTF too... first one for years.

Thanks for the cool cache, it was something different and fun.

When I saw this new release I was keen to try another AR cache after a disastrous attempt with one in Wellington. My Samsung Galaxy S5 would not play ball so I thought my new(ish) Samsung Galaxy S7 might prove better. Oh Oh Oh how wrong I was
So, after finishing with work and meeting up with Merlot, I soon found myself standing under the Gov.G Statue and gleefully hit play. Nothing....
Again hit play.... Nothing. I then hit the location arrow to see message 'This experience requires you to be at a specific location' ....nothing. Repeat the above steps several times and then dump app. Reload. Switch it off and switch it on again. go to settings. apps. permissions and allow all permissions to this app. Check location on google maps. Recalibrate gps location. Try play again. Switch it off and on again, repeat last 17 steps several more times before saying @#@!$@!***^%. Fortunately Merlot58 managed to get her one running ( of a sort) so I tagged on with her. My recommendation is to do this on an overcast day, to avoid looking at a screen in glaring sun.
NO,second thoughts, my recommendation, is skip all the above and head straight to the pub!!!
BUT good on you Tuolei for being the first one in Auckland to release an AR cache! None of my lousy experience reflects on a well thought out and designed cache. [^]
We also met up with the resident mouse that lives near the cache.