Ansons Surprise (Canterbury) Yaldhurst, South Island, New Zealand
By gracie7 + Mum on 07-Apr-19. Waypoint GC85YHH

Our last full day in NZ and we are doing a loop through Darfield and Oxford and searching for caches missed on other visits. Thanks to the COs for your placement.

Gevonden

Didnt take long to find but gave us a big fright!

WTF classic Sally was glad i spotted it first

TFTC. Q Thank goodness, andyfreya found it first. Yuk.

When passing earlier today I noticed some possible damage to GZ so we made a note to stop on the way back passed. Yep, GZ has taken some damage (possibly by a car?) but the cache remained. We moved to slightly to a smaller hint object. All good here again. Happy Caching

Having solved a few Mystery caches in the area, a last minute decision was made along with Reschedule to fly to Christchurch for Queens birthday weekend.A last minute rush at home before flying to solve some more mysterys, but that still wasnt enough, so after finally arriving at 11pm, out with the laptops to solve a few more.Saturday morning we set out with a goal, to set a new personal best. Having seen what numbers others did in the area, that shouldnt be too hard. We had some targets in mind, Eclipse, Skelly, Smurfs along with any traditionals and other random mystery caches we come across.We aquired the best vehicle for the job, a rental car! Overall we thorouhly enjoyed it, but we did not quite complete it all, so we will be back. TFTC and thanks for giving us an excuse to head for Christchurch!

Having solved a bunch of mysteries over the past couple of months, including the night before finding them. A spontaneous trip down was made by Kiwi Does Stuff and team Reschedule to collect some Canterbury caches. We have headed out to set ourselves a personal best for a days caching. The perfect caching wagon (a rental car) has been acquired allowing us to go anywhere with ease.All of the caches have made for an enjoyable weekend to remember and resulted in a solid and best days caching.Apologies for the generic log, all caches signed are a mixture of Res, Resch & Reschedule - a big thanks to the CO for creating, placing and maintaining all of their caches. TFTC!

Great laugh. Well done

I had no idea what I was expecting here but it wasn't that so yes I got a surprise. Good spot for it too. TFTC # 22,181

A nice quick find - and a nice surprise. Thought Andy was talking about a real one beside the cache but no it was the cache. Cute.tftc#7251

Amazing! Brought lots of joy.

A quick find here on our way home, have a favourite point as we have a similar one.TFTCTim and Viv - ddm

What a surprise! Fave from me. TFTC

FTF in 2024! TFTC.

Beautiful hot day for a drive and a few caches. Enjoyed this one and it's disguise. Bonus new spuds across the road!

This indeed was a surprise! And I bought some potatoes across the road which was also a nice surprise. Thanks gracie7 + Mum, your cache is healthy

Well done. Tftc

Found on a nice drive in the area. Enjoying the caches

Very funny

Found on our way back to the cost!

Loved it.Made me jump out of my skin lol

Like a rat a tat tat we it ttc

Awesome!

Very very cool

You got me

Mum was on her way to ChCh solo and she stopped here and checked on this one. No note from the police anymore but plenty of log with 1 and 1/2 strips left. All good here. Happy Caching

We aborted the last day planned for caching around ChCh because of rain. On the way home we couldn't not go for a surprise. Holymu took this one for the team and we had a good laugh. How bizarre to arrive back at the Coast and enjoy the sunshine. Thank you gracie7 + Mum

We were heading back to the West Coast earlier than planned due to constant rain making caching uncomfortable but were determined to find a selected few on the way.
This was one of them.
Thank you gracie7 + Mum.

Trouvée rapidement
MPLC

This one wasn’t far from my base for the night. Stopped to see the reason for its novelty value! Now I get it. Rather nifty! #6311. TFTC.

Argh . Easy find . Tftc

Yes I was surprised to find this one easily and a little note from the police who had also visited the cache hopefully they were surprised to

Great surprise lol! Tftc

Awsome surprise
Amber, Maiya and Taylor

Darfield is my destination today. The forecast rain isn't far away. After checking into my motel I went for a drive. Yikes. TFTC

A definite favourite from me.

Hahaha it was a good one. Thanks for the fun.

#22147. Time was getting on, but we thought it was about time we stopped to look for this one (plus we were behind a car going rather slowly). TFTC.

We must have driven past this cache many times before but today we were stuck behind a snail like car, so decided we'd get out of the convoy by stopping and looking for it.
Eeek! Of course I was the one that found it. And I always thought that surprises were nice . TFTC.

Quick find. Like the cache container. TFTC

The idea of doing 200+ caches in one day had been one that I had considered for a long time, but not something I had made any moves on doing anything about until the idea was raised by others in a geocaching group I am a part of. As we were all based in Wellington, the logical place to try this was Christchurch with it's lovely flat lands, long straight roads, and wonderful art work series. Unfortunately the weekend that worked for most of the group was not one that worked out for me, so instead I came down here a few weeks earlier than they planned to and did the the trip by myself.

I started finding Geocaches at exactly midnight on Sunday. I kept finding Geocaches for the next nineteen and a half hours, when at about 7:30pm I decided that the tiredness was getting to a point where this was no longer a sensible idea. I found:

31 Traditional
180 Unknown
1 Multi

For a total of 212 Geocaches in 19.5 hours. That's a rate of 10.9 per hour. I am pretty happy with that. I focused on the Smurf series, the Metal Mania series (a set of puzzles that I very much enjoyed), and the Glossary of Geocaching series, with a few other sets and individuals in between. It was a fantastic day, very much helped by the wonderful weather and the use of a car that had no problem on gravel roads ('cos it was a rental).

A huge thanks to all the CO's that place and maintain these Geocaches. Despite the rushed day I created for myself, I did enjoy each and every cache I found. It is only with CO's like this placing them out in the world that this wonderful game continues.

#12,253. I drove down to Christchurch yesterday and stayed overnight at my sisters place near Leeston. Today has been chosen for my big day out. I was on the road by 5.30 am and finished right on midnight 18.5 hours later. I managed to find 188 physical caches and 22 adlabs for a total of 210 caches. Overall it was a fun day doing the Smurfs, Skelly and Eclipse tin power trails and a scattering of other traditional caches. Glad I did it and glad I wont have to repeat it. Apologies for the cut and paste logs. I think you can understand it was all about the numbers today.

This was cache No.129 for the day. Anson would have got a big surprise if he/she had found this one. Lucky I am am cacher and I am prepared for all sorts of weird and wonderful surprises. Thanks gracie7 + Mum for setting up and maintaining this cache.

Having a bit of a struggle with the phone for this one but found in the end...

A good surprise.

My Smurf odyssey complete. Darfield cleaned up and the car full of extremely cheap petrol I had some tome to find a few Eclipse series before heading into town to find some sustenance.

But first a Trad on a street corner.
A quick find.
TFTC

What is it? It's a (redacted)!

A quick find as I head home from my target cache finds (one of three extras).

I haven't seen one like this in ages, thanks for the grin.

TFTC gracie7 + Mum
Find number 4822

(Logs signed Rincewind3 or R3 if saving space. Occasionally signed BRN if caching as a team with *B*o&bronnie, *R*incewind3 and *N*otManlyJack)

About to wander down to get some groceries when the skull series come through. After doing one, I headed back via these caches.. Haha, I wasn't sure after reading the description on what to expect here.. I thought it might be that, but the size was definitely unexpected. Thanks for the placement

TFTC gracie7 + Mum, the cache was found in good order Signed, sealed and returned to GZ. 5 find(s) of 9 today, making this find #3578

Kia ora for the cache.

Was a great surprise all right.

Very nice. TFTC.

In the area getting some caches this is day 3. All good with the cache. Thanks

I find it

Love these types of hides. Well done.

Quick and easy find. Got a laugh from me too! Thanks for the cache.

I saw one of these swim in the Avon River earlier today..... TFTC

Like it tftc

Great surprise

Easy find here

A bit stumped, and a surprise find. Good to see Darfield police have logged this one.
Well done and fav for you
Tftc

Ah kids loved it! Fab

This was a cute diversion from fining caches all in one series or another. TFTC.

Sunday caching adventure. Thanks for the hide.

This one is the last on our list to find today on our big day out,and yep it was a surprise..TFTH

Logged as part of team DAAWK haha cool cache. Faveing tftc

.Time today to freshen up with the Eclipse series.sunny but chilly wind out today. Time for a surprise, and a sqeal from Abbykitt, oh no, I'm not touching that!!! Ha ha love that!! thanks for bringing us here
Logged as team DAAWK.
Downsouthinv, Abbykitt, AnnieLin Wombats4 and KNCN

On a trip to Christchurch for labour weekend.
A cool cache that me go ahhhhhh
Logged in a term DAAWK.
Abbykity, Annielin,downsouthinv, wombats, KNCN.
Tftc

A road trip in to uncharted territory so why not .
Loaded up the cache mobile and headed up the road and let's see what fun adventures awaite us.
Today we continue our adventures and head towards our targets for the day .
Now we need fresh breath so we need eclipse and I think more than one .
We could not resist stopping here but on second thought in not so sure now
Cool hide
A nice but cool day let's go .
With Annielin and Abbykitt and wombat4 and kncn
Signed as DAAWK

Getting out and about in to the out doors is my happy place so any excuse to go caching.

Life is short. Live one foot step at a time.Never say" I'm gonna "- Just do it!!
Thanks for the hide
tftc

On a Labour Day Weekend trip for us southerners to nab the Smurf and Eclipse Series plus a few more.
Yesterday was a mammoth day finding all but 2 of the Smurf Series, totally exhausted but why not try for thie Eclipse Series today! Series done and dusted so finding other random ones along the way.
Logs signed as Team DAAWK our group of cachers.
(DownsouthInv, AnnieLin, Abbykitt, Wombats_4, KNCN)
Sheesh that surprised our team..a couple high-tailed it haha. Fave-ing
tftc for this one

Found with Judith on this lovely sunny day. TFTC a unique cache

TFTC . Quick park and grab. With Kaz53

49th find today and only 11:34am. Nice one.

??

Finally reached cache number 1000! Little miss 4 and I headed out to continue finding some more of the Fresh Breath caches. I figured this one would be a good way to start the day with a bit of extra interest. Excellent cache! Little miss 4 was very excited to find it and so was I.

Not big, not small, definitely an other for size. TFTC

This was good
TFTC
683

We went on a mission today to collect 40 caches in the Eclipse series, and at least 50 overall in one afternoon. This was one of the other nearby ones, and our find #24 for the day. We have met a container like this once before! TFTC!

We arrived a day early for our daughters graduation tomorrow, so having picked up the rental car, we decided to try to grab the 5 new geo tour caches as far as Lake Coleridge today, and a number of other more traditional caches on the way back.
I had a fair idea what I was looking for here, but it was bigger than I expected.
Many thanks for putting this here for us to find

Found it ,cool .

**13,594**
A great little surprise and glad to find it after a DNF on the previous cache. TFTC

Ha ha - TFTC

Got a small fight. lol

Easy find

Yikes! TFTC

We are out for the day with busy paws to get caches on the west Coast road. Anson is the best surprise cache so a fav from us. Thanks for this cache gracie7 + Mum.

Thanks for putting out this cache for woolwood9 and I to find!
SL **tm/ww NZ** (may just be a black smudge on the many wet or plastic logs)
*We soon had another good cache located!*

Appreciate your effort in making fun caches for us to find!

Nice to be away on another geocaching trip with tmann421, travelling to a few places in the upper South Island.
All logs signed tm/ww NZ
TFTC

Down in Christchurch with the Squirrel, ABCDF4 and eyespyben. During Covid lockdown, we solved a load of puzzles and decided that this would be a good time to visit. We've enjoyed a few days of good weather and seeing the Canterbury countryside. The caches have been in varying states - some good, some not so much. Our time here has been a blast, and we'd like to thank all COs who have made this adventure possible. Thank you and TFTC.

After puzzle solving in the Canterbury region along with EyeSpyBen we were invited to join Fap (from Fap & Gap) and Squirrel Nutcase to a week long caching adventure in the Canterbury area. With flights and accommodation booked were off, all met up in ChCh. and many hard dusty Kms travelled and many caches found, I think the Squirrel has said it all in his brief. Many thanks for the placements and Cos for bringin us to the very pleasant areas we travelled in to your region

After puzzle solving in the Canterbury region along with ABCDF4 we were invited to join Fap (from Fap & Gap) and Squirrel Nutcase to a week long caching adventure in the Canterbury area. With flights and accommodation booked were off, all met up in ChCh. and many hard dusty Kms travelled and many caches found, I think the Squirrel has said it all in his brief. Many thanks for the placements and Cos for bringin us to the very pleasant areas we travelled in to your region

With ABCDF4, eyespyben, and Gap (of Fap and Gap). Logging all finds as Team HRP (Huntly, Rotorua, Papamoa - Our hometowns)... During Covid-19 lockdown, we solved a truck load of puzzles around Christchurch - Canterbury region. No use thrashing the old grey matter for no cause - We decided we should make good on this handiwork...

There are lots of interesting trails and geoart surrounding Christchurch. What you aren’t told is how far flung some of these caches actually are. Some beforehand advice would have been great, so here are some of my notes... You’re welcome!

1. Mobile coverage is patchy, especially in those quiet, rural areas where it was most needed. Saving caches to offline might show that you are prepared and organised...
2. There are many dusty metal roads on the trails. The car will get messy, and your hair will feel like cardboard at the end of the day...
3. Suitable clothing and footwear are essential. You will climb in and out of hedges, gorse, and other rough stuff. You might get scratched, cut to shreds, and bleed a lot. It’s not advised to wear your brand new jacket on the day...
4. Take lots of food and drink. You’ll probably be head down, tail up and not realise you haven’t eaten until late afternoon. There are very few shops or gas stations out there...
5. Make sure that you secure keys and wallet and know where these are placed for easy retrieval. A full box of pens might be useful too, especially if you’re inclined to free some into the wild...
6. Know the difference between left and right, and north, south, east, and west. Turning right and heading north will not get you to South Christchurch quickly.
7. Look with girl’s eyes rather than boys eyes... Some caches haven’t been found in a while and you might have to get down on your knees to pray.
8. Always be prepared for misleading hints. This is what turns simple caches into D5/T5 hides... “Head height” could mean the cache is positioned at your toes.
9. Have a sense of humour and like the people you go caching with. It’s going to be a very long day, and you might want to hurt someone during the journey...
10. Make sure you can operate your phone/device and it doesn’t crash when you most need it...
11. Learn to cut and paste logs because you’re going to repeat this function so often when logging all of your finds.
12. Above all else, have fun and be kind...

No time to waste today - We each had caching jobs to do, and our day was mostly planned... Not so much of a surprise on this one - We’ve learnt to expect anything from this game... Thanks gracie7 + Mum and TFTC.

Were on a Maintenance daytrip to visit some Smurfs and then just a couple of AFBs before heading for home. On the home stretch now and we stopped to check the fullness of the log and replaced it while we were over this side of the hill. All good here. Happy Caching

Awesome!!

Bit of a brute! Quickly captured the cache guardian and the log was signed. TFTC.

Finally had some spare time to have a daytrip with Surveybase and mop up the caches in the area. Was a great day weather wise and nice to catch up. Lunch at Darfield bakery also a plus!!. Sorry about the cut and paste logs. TFTC's.

Was back in the area with Shannonp1 to mop up the Smurf series after mopping those up before lunch we headed east for some Noseynel and 8Man puzzles this was a quick grab on the way past. Thanks for the effort that goes into placing and maintaining a cache.

Awesome cache and a quick find. Unfortunately had no pen so took a photo of log. Happy to send this to CO if they’re the type that cares. TFTC

A quick find. A great cache. Thanks.

Nice hide. Tftc.

Thanks for the cache!