Seeing Is Believing (Auckland) Favona, North Island, New Zealand
By Bennett24 on 20-Mar-20. Waypoint GC88BR4

Our second time back trying to work this one out with CharlieJoJo. Had high hopes, sucks that we couldnt obtain this sucker:(

After 2 full days of geocaching this long weekend, today was a day to get some other domestic jobs done - or so we thought. But then Mrs NZT sent a group message as they had tried the multi previously and they thought they might be more successful finding a solution with more of the crew there - and how could we miss out on that action! Less than an hour later we had quite a group - NZT, Keylev, NurseDr, laval. and us.This was truly a team effort with much comment and suggestion from all. Mrs NZT did the final calculations that got the green tick in the geochecker and off to find the final. There we found a couple of decoys before the final cache was found and signed. A very clever idea, no idea how it works but happy laval was there to help us with it.

I was procrastinating some chores when a message came through from Mrs NZT suggesting a trip to this area with a meeting time at parking spot in 40mins....well of course I'm in!! Laval and one of the geo-hounds joined me too as did quite a few of the regular Team SEAC members. Amazing spontaneous adventure!!Well what to say about this one without giving too much away?? This cache will frustrate you, surprise you, enlighten you and many many other things!! It was truly a team effort with every single person adding something that led to a successful find. After NurseDr made a suggestion about perspective, Laval was the first to be enlightened. NurseDr and I were messing around playing some weird version of whackamole to see if that helped us also see the light.....quick tip, it didn't. However some of the others were able to see what laval had noticed and then Mrs NZT and Mrs HeMaLuDy started to do some maths. I put a couple of ideas into the geochecker even though they didn't feel quite right and of course we got some red crosses for those attempts. Mrs NZT then suggested something else and although we thought that might be even more of a stretch I put it in too and what do you know....I got the congratulations message.....woooo hooooo. Off to the final and whether deliberate or not there were a couple of red herrings hanging about but that didn't stop us from spying the actual cache and we added our signature to the log. Thanks for the cache - a great adventure that I was very grateful we did as a team! A fav point.

Had originally tried to do this one on our own a couple of years ago and vowed to come back on a sunny day with reinforcements, today MrsNZT put the call out for a group effort on this one and the call was answered by keen SEACers, NurseDr, Keylev, Hemaludy, etc. It was truly a team effort with laval figuring out the magic, NurseDr providing a different perspective to create the magic and Mrs Hemaludy and Mrs NZT calculating the final coordinates. Only took us an hour and lots of teeth grinding and hollering. The 2 geohounds with us were confused about why the walk was going nowhere for quite a while!Finally got a tick from the geochecker and very pleased to have this one found now! TFTC and a fav added.

So there we were quietly doing a little light caching while out with dog, after a full weekend of heavy caching with Team SEAC when the call came from MrsNZT for a group effort on this one. So keen SEACers, NurseDr, Keylev, Hemaludy, etc answered! It was truly a team effort with laval figuring out the magic, NurseDr providing a different perspective to create the magic and Mrs Hemaludy and Mrs NZT calculating the final coordinates. It only took us an hour and lots of teeth-grinding and hollering. The 2 geodogs with us were confused about why the walk was going nowhere for quite a while!Finally got a tick from the geochecker and very pleased to have this one found now! TFTC and a fav added.

That was a lot of fun, and were a challenge. Happened to have the necessary tool with me. Thanks.

Walkway is back open and cache has been check, all good to go.
Please note: a tool to extract the final will come in handy.

Have been told the pathway is shut for a couple of weeks. Will keep our eyes on it and re-enable once it is open again.

Did the first part of this so long ago I can’t even remember, but I got distracted by the DNF nearby and didn’t make it to the final the same day.

This was the second of two caches close by that I wanted to find before leaving NZ.

Walked straight to final coords and after pulling up some series PVC fishing pots, we shifted our focus and I eventually noticed something out of place.

Turned out to be the cache!

Nice to get this excellent milt before leaving.

Really amazing job, thanks for the fun!

After attending the event I came round to finally pick up this final. It has been bugging me for some time because I was not able to come around when I got the 1st part. Pleased to tick it off. Thank you for the placement.

I had tried this cache before, but couldn't get the magic to work and thus had to give up.

Today the sun was right and the magic happened.

It still wasn't easy to figure out the right coordinates, but after correcting the flaw in my logic the geochecker finally agreed.

At GZ it was an easy find, though it fits in really well.

All in all an AWESOME, GREAT, GREAT cache. FP from me.

Tftc

11:46
FITW Rebel98
Wow, that's another favourite from Bennett24.
Even for the first stage, took me a bit to see that answer that was right in front of me. Once that was sorted, and opened, I got onto the actual core of this cache. And to Rebel's surprise I got it pretty quickly. It was a nice sunny day which helped.
Wow! This blew my mind a bit! How do you even make that!?

A bit of a quirk trying to firgure out which part of coordinates is which but it's just a bit of a trial and error to come up with a plausible place. And I had a previous finder to confirm which set of coords is definitely wrong.

A well crafted start and a well crafted final too! FP!

Kia ora! Paldies!
TFTC, Bennett24!
#8617

We first had a look at this one over a year ago in November 2020 and were quite perplexed by it at the time. We tried all sorts of ideas but just couldn't work out how to get the co-ordinates so left it for a while to mull over.
We intended to come back a lot sooner than this but with a mixture of Covid delays and other things time got away on us however we never forgot about it and were very pleased to return today on a walk with our muggle family.
We managed to convince them to stop and have a look with us and they ended up being quite interested, trying out a few ideas themselves.
As we continued to ponder the matter there was a sudden moment of clarity followed by great excitement as we all discovered the secret. How awesome and so interesting.
Our elation was put on hold for a moment as we struggled to get the geochecker to work but then it all fell into place and we got the green tick.
The family headed off and we stayed back to head to the final where were were at first a bit stumped as to where the cache could be but then we noticed something that required further investigation and sure enough it was the very cleverly hidden cache.
This is such an awesome idea and we are very pleased to have finally worked it out.
Thanks so much Bennett24, this one is a definite favourite point for not only the unique puzzle but also for the hide itself and the overall experience. It really made our day.

At GZ for first light today, got the first stage open and looked at, and believe it when I say I didn't see anything, my sleuth skills deserted me and I returned it all as found. Would love a pointer to get me underway properly

Cheers

In line with the NZ Geocache Reviewers guidance on what Covid Level 3, Part 1 looks like, geocaching is permitted but not events or any new listings. It seems the NZ Covid website has failed to maintain pace with Lockdown level amendments and changes and is still lumping Geocaching in with Orienteering and other gathering type activities. Link from Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/NZGeocachingReviewers/

We are disabling our caches until the level 4 lockdown period for the Covid virus is finished. Please do your part to stop the spread and refrain from geocaching during this time. Stay safe & healthy all!

A great muilt with a nice final pick this one up with ABCDF4

Please just one more
Did the puzzle sometime ago
So can pick up the final today before going home
Nice one very enjoyable

Lockdown over - back to level 2.

Disabled during level 3 lockdown in AKL. Please stay home and stay safe.

Lockdown over - back to level 2.

Disabled during level 3 lockdown.

Attempted this multi last weekend but failed. We only had a little bit of hint & got nowhere. Had another attempt on our return walk along the coast but by then the hint had gone all grey.
Took a bit of a nudge during the week cos I was curious as to how this cache would pan out.
Returned today in much brighter hint conditions. After some tinkering had the info I needed & got the green tick first pop.
At GZ I was sort of wondering where it would be. Very happy to find it & sign the log. Cool cache & it was something new to learn. TFTC

Took awhile to see.
Needed one nudge to locate final.

The first time, I happened to be in the area, so I just stopped by to take a look to see what I was dealing with. I only had my GPSr, and it didn't show the pictures, so I couldn't get inside.
The second time, I was able to get in, but then I had no idea what to do next. I tried a few things and figured I would have to walk across water to get where I thought, so I beat a Hastie retreat (as in the name of the nearby street) back to the safe confines of my Geovan, and began a carefully planned regimen of sulking for several days. Did the Bennett24s get me again? Undoubtedly.
After dropping our daughter at the airport for an early flight this morning, I had a few minutes, so returned. The sun was just coming up so it was a beautiful morning. I noticed that the cache was not put back exactly as I had left it. Someone else had been here. (Hint: it was the CO). When I continued my examination, I noticed how things were, and came up with a theory as to what I needed to do to get the coords. Yes, things were just as they needed to be for me to apply a little know piece of knowledge that I had accumulated back in 19-aught-77. Could it be? Did the technology still exist? Did aliens bring it back to earth just for this cache? Why am I asking questions?
I applied the correct stimulus and the information I needed appeared as if by magic. How was this possible? I saw it, but I didn't believe it. It still took a little time to figure out exactly where to go. I put a few possibilities into Mr. GPSr and followed the best one.
At GZ, I soon realized that my problems were not over. After checking a few places that I thought the cache might be hidden, and coming up empty, I started sulking again. I would have gone away without the cache if it weren't for a slight accident, which got me to look right at the cache camo. I was familiar with several of the CO's hides, so I knew this had to be it. TFTC.

Checked this one today, all good here - ready for the next finder!

This was so exciting!
It was my second visit here....
This time the " magic " happened and I saw.....therefore I now believe!
Came up with probable co ords...which turned out to be correct...
The final is pretty cool too.
Luckily not too many muggle cyclists today.
Definitely a favourite point...even though I dont understand how it happens !
thanks guys!

It was fun

Solved this multi during Covid19 part 1 in NZ as it is my local cache. I had plenty of time to play with and see how it works .... Such a great idea and fun to do it. Little bit confused with the final but when at right spot it was big applause! Log signed on my missing dot day in October. TFTC

Was easy to locate box hard to figure out puzzle

Wow, the moment I found the numbers was pretty awesome.... that then the hide.. I wish I could give up dozens of FPs sorry I am allowed to give just one. FP T4tc

Managed the first part no problem, but was scratching my head trying to make any further sense. So resorted to phoning a friend who gave me a nice big nudge to send me on my way. Certainly a very cool cache in all respects, definitely gets a FP, cheers

Ok is "Seeing Is Believing" ?

Do you need to see something before you can accept that it really exists or occurs?

How many times do you have to visit a cache before you find what you seek? Well this is our 3rd visit

As to time, what is time? Time is the indefinite continued progress of existence and events that occur in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future (wikipaedia)

Then combine place and time, and what you get is the answer to what you seek See now you know how to solve this cache! yeah right

With rebel98 and gorby, we have something, are manupulating something, have a few possible somethings, almost discounted something, had a something moment, and got the checker to work

Loved what you had created Bennett24, rebel98 spotted the cache in its hiding place, so happy to be signing the log it has been quite a mission, but we got there in the end.

A week or 2 ago, I came here with Rebel98 and rustynz and Aiden29. We were at WP for an hour or so not getting anywhere, so we rang a previous finder for help, he popped over and gave us an idea to work on. But as it turned out it was cloudy... so didn't get anywhere. So we abandoned the mission. Seeing was not believing.

We had been talking thru the week me and rusty about another attempt, and today looked more promising. So I parked up at their place and off we went in Rex's car. Got to GZ and things are looking promising, a sunny day really helped. Yaah finally got some numbers to work with, but now what do we do with them? By now it was getting very cold, so back in the car we went. Still didn't get anywhere so we left it and went and did Agazo's adventure labs.

Later, we a hint from a previous finder, and this led us to finally guessing the final co-ords! We were stoked about that, so off we went there, it was cold and blustery. Them 2 were dressed for it but I was not. It was Rebel who had the sharp eyes at GZ, and the cache was soo signed after that. Awesome idea for WP1 and thanks for the cache.

My eyes are sharp today. A true joint effort. Second visit to GZ to see the light. Dressed for the freezing conditions, and thankfully we got back before the rain. New way not seen before. Thanks

In the company of Tuolei and Team Welsh, we arrived at the first waypoint and soon had it located and opened. The waypoint hide is very well done - the sort of construction we have come to expect from this CO. As we set about trying to See what there was to be Seen, we were joined by the CO's who told us that they Believed we could do it.
After trying a few things, suddenly we WERE Seeing! But not really Believing! How is that even possible?
We worked out where the final had to be and set off together to make the find. The hide itself is another interesting bit of work from the CO's, and makes wonderful use of what is at GZ.
It was nice to be with Tuolei to share their milestone find. This is a great cache to achieve it with. Adding a very well deserved favourite point.
Many thanks.

Here we are...the highlight of the day to get our 4,000th cache. We had been discussing a suitable cache with some caching buddies and I knew that the CO's caches may not be voluminous in number but they are always more than generous in quality.

So here we are with Kiwicouple, Team Welsh and the COs while we try and get this one. The first WP was found nice and quickly and is awesome in itself and then the hard work trying to get the numbers for the final began. It wasn't easy and took a bit of patience but eventually in the streaming Winter sunshine the final numbers appeared.

No spoilers but the field puzzle is simply astonishing! What a surprise and I had no idea such a thing could be done. With some numbers in hand we worked the geochecker and after a couple of crosses got the green tick - hurrah!

Took the walk to the final with our crew and the cache eluded us for a bit and no mercy from the COs - we were on our own. In the end Team Welsh found the cache which is a good thing as if not, I might still be out there wandering up and down scratching my head.

After the find I was treated by the COs to a certificate/poster for our 4,000 finds and a bottle of wine. So generous and awesome and a great day out. Afterwards we went for a group lunch and had a great time and Albert the Geohound was super well-behaved.

Great cache - and should be on everyone's "must-do" list of Auckland caches, thanks for the cache!

I do enjoy multis and knowing the CO we were expecting something special. Came here in the company of Kiwicouple and Tuolei to try and get this one located and celebrate it as Tuolei's 4000th cache milestone. CO's came along to enjoy our torment and it was great to be able to get it figured out without their help and we could then discuss how WP1 was achieved. Grateful for the geochecker as this ensured we were going to the correct place and then having a theory as to how it was hidden made for a gratifying find. Always feel under pressure with the CO's present but they let us find it in our own time and with no help. Very unique cache that didn't disappoint and wonderful to be there to celebrate Tuolei's milestone who I am sure will post pics with his log. TFTC and an easy fav point

Team BOP headed to Auckland after 50 odd days of cabin fever from lockdown and no finds. Team BOP today was Fap and Gap Squirrel Nutcase McJandals and myself. When we arrived at GZ a couple of Aucklanders were onsite quickly located WPT 1 and worked out what to do here but what do we do with that I think we had to many heads thinking of stuff and coming up with different options I’m positive someone actually had the answer early on but it was dismissed by the map as it definitely didn’t look like a T2 area should have maybe looked at satellite image got there in the end can’t remember who found the final in the end. FP from me for this no idea how you come up with these brilliant hides but always enjoy doing your caches.
Tftc

Today was our first down for caching after lock down.
Teamed up with a few regulars from team BOP and Auckland was the dedicated search area with a few others on the way.
Good day in all and target completed. SLTFTC

With (Mr) Davidson clan, Gap (of Fap and Gap), and McJandals... After 58 days of unbroken lockdown inactivity, the step down to Level 2 gave us the freedom to make caching plans. Our local geomap gave us little joy, so we needed to look further afield, and this quickly morphed into an epic expedition...

Somewhere in our travels, we made an arrangement to meet Merlot58 and Jag50 at this newish multi. We figured that a few heads should be able to crack this tough nut quickly - after all, the FTF pairing took roughly 3.5 hours to complete this mission. We'd love to say that it only took us a few minutes to locate the cache... and about 3+ hours to galavant all over the area to test out possibilities.

The first waypoint was a thing of beauty. This is definitely a well crafted field puzzle worth a favourite point on its own. In the light of day, we quickly deduced what was needed. But herein lies a problem. We are pretty adept at reading cache pages and information at face value. But the mind takes over and starts to make inferences. Do we take the information as is, or do we flip it and reverse it? The possibilities threw up a collection of coordinates that needed checking and dismissing - Some were easy to rule out, and a couple took us on an adventure around the nearby properties.

Let's try something else... Maybe our maths is faulty. The resultant reworking took us to a nearby park a kilometer or so away... This also proved to be a mistake, but it gave us a chance to clear that location of caches. On the verge of giving up now, a couple of SOS calls netted a few nudges from the CO. With clarity, we began to see and believe that this hide could be found... and it was. Thanks Bennett24 and TFTC.

Well seeing is certainly believing here! We quickly figured out what was required at WP1 and once we elicited the required information we headed off to a likely spot. Mmmm, no that can't be it as it's too close to a trad and the T rating doesn't match so we headed back and parked up just as several members of Team BOP arrived. So we let them figure out the first bit for themselves and then we put our heads together to work out the final. Well let me just say that wasn't quite as easy as we thought it would be and after trying a couple of other spots we were still empty handed. It's nice to see a geochecker has now been added as that would have helped us eliminate some of the likely spots we tried. Long story short, we got there in the end and eventually made the find of this cleverly hidden cache. This certainly earns it's D4 rating and I'm giving it a fp

After weeks of lockdown (over 50 days in fact) this was our first weekend where we were permitted to get out under Level 2 and go caching. This cache had been on our watchlist and looked like fun.

Came here with Merlot 58 and were amazed at how quickly we located the cache at the waypoint and after being challenged a little bit with the lock, astounded ourselves with solving what we found inside. We quickly realized that the sun was our friend. Armed with the information we quickly checked our options and were certain that we had the coordinates. Imagine our dismay when it turned out we were wrong and in fact there could have been multiple answers. Some silly and impossible but others very real potential spots. We returned to the waypoint and happened to meet up with the crew who had driven up from Bay Of Plenty for the day.

Collectively we worked out what we had to do from a range of combinations. It took a phone call to check what we had, only to discover we were still wrong. A D4 rating required us to do something a bit more. One needs to remember when one is perceiving the world differently that one cannot just rely on that alone but factor one into what one was solving. But only in part. After further checking we were satisfied we had the answer and traipsed off to yet another locale. Mr Jag50 spotted the well hidden cache. While no TOTT were required it required some effort with fingernails to lift the cache from its hide as it had swelled a little in the damp. Hooray for the power of one and a different way of perceiving the world. FP for a great field puzzle.

Great to get out and about today and away from all the covid talk. On a spur of the moment roadie after weeks of lockdown After a couple frustrating hours finally got there after meeting up with the Westies. Great idea and nicely crafted. A FP for the set up.


I am logging using the Cachly app template so please excuse generic logging along the way. It’s just my way of keeping track, but I do genuinely thank each and every one of you cache owners for taking the time and energy to place these cache. Many Thanks for bringing me here. Cheers.

This is my "local" area so I will keep it for some handy "dot days in the future". Great hide by the way!

All good to go again now we are in level 2. Please remember to stay safe and practice safe caching.

We are disabling our caches until the level 4 lockdown period for the Covid virus is finished. Please do your part to stop the spread and refrain from geocaching during this time. Stay safe & healthy all!

Published

No joy for Mini and me today. Mini found the first stage but the our combined brain power plus that of a very seasoned puzzler could make no further progress. Lunch beckoned. We will have to return.

Found this one with McArgister. It took nearly 3.5 hours to complete - I was there the whole time, but McA had to take his little helper home for lunch before returning a short while later to resume trying to nut out WP1. I had worked a few things out was on my way to solving WP1 not exactly through the desired method, but similar enough, just through observation, however it turned out that all of our time wasted trying various things was because of one word in the hint that ended up being, well, misleading is the only way to put it. I will not say anything more about that here because I don't want to spoil any part of it, especially as WP1 is brilliantly crafted and an awesome idea for a field puzzle. So eventually something changed and we had the coordinates in front of us. We then made a slight error of judgement as to where GZ would likely be, headed there and realised our mistake so back to WP1 to recheck. Unfortunately this was now impossible, but by doing things a different way, we confirmed that we had everything right, so with no error of judgement this time we headed off to the final for a quick find of a nicely camouflaged and secure cache. It should have been a half hour or less exercise and will be for some/many others, it was by no fault of McA or myself that it took us much longer. But eventually we got a joint [FTF] phew! TFTC!!!

Wow. This one sounds intriguing and just what we need to take our minds off current events. Always look forward to your caches and it sounds like a great one when I get there.

Phone was on 1% as this was published, after a FaceTime with Mum & Mr McArgister. Also I was in my pj’s and dressing gown. The close proximity and the allure of another cache by this CO got me dressed quickly though and with Mini and a battery pack in tow, we were off. First to arrive at WP1 and it was Mini that discovered the excellent camo. We had deciphered the access to this en route so Mini was in quick smart. Well, that’s when things got tricky! FMZ soon arrived and we spent much time pondering and thinking at an appropriate social distance. Mini asked the nearby ants for help. They were no use. I’m the end we decided we’d just go for a walk and look to see if anything clicked. Unfortunately not, so with Mini hungry and scratchy I parted ways with FMZ and left him to it. After Mini had been fed though, I exchanged some text ideas with FMZ still ‘in the field’ and couldn’t resist returning. Still nothing for a while until I was performing experiments at ground level and passed one up to FMZ at which point the clouds parted and angels sang and a shaft of light shone down upon us and he exclaimed that he had the answer. Seeing is believing, but we still couldn’t believe what we were seeing here. How was that done??? Sure enough though, it all became as clear as daylight and after a couple of possibilities we had unusual but logical coords. We weren’t expecting a drive but off we went, not too far thankfully. Once parked though we realised it couldn’t be correct due to nearby traditional caches. Hmmm, back again. Did we have them upside down or back to front?!? At WP1 we assured ourselves not, but required a TOTT this time. I realised that we’d been there a long time and that the minutes were ticking over, one of my few contributions to this attempt, so with that in mind we tried some other coords and the second of these matched a possibility FMZ had considered earlier. Off we tootled, chatting about how we may not have jobs soon. More time for caching I suppose At GZ FMZ was on the side that it was hidden so made a quick find and gave himself a real bruise where he kicked himself for not finding it before when he’d been in the area. An excellent hide that blends in perfectly but is so simple in design. Unsurprisingly we got the FTF and we were on our way. Perhaps we could have solved this quicker, but it made it all the more satisfying that we earned it. An honour to be joint FTF on another of your excellent hides. A fav point for sure. Thanks for the plastic fantastic cache!

(FTF) #249