Almanac Atamai and the Muggled Geocache (Auckland) Lynfield, North Island, New Zealand
By tuolei on 02-Jun-19. Waypoint GC88TXT

Completed all the stages to reach GZ and a stream running through the likely place... talk about mud, stumps and debris.

Cache #7000 This was my first intercache so really struggled from the get-go. Battled my way through to the end with a nudge along the way. Got extremely lucky at the end after spending an excessive amount of time doing all the wrong things.Now that ive signed the logbook and earned the smiley, i will go back over the stages to see tge clues i missed. My brain was certainly off-piste for most of it, but im delighted i got there in the end.A great cache to bring up the #7000 milestone.TFTC

Absolutely loved this cache. I have been wanting to do it for some time but life has got in the way. Ryan promised me a mornings caching so this was top of the list. Really appreciate all the effort that has gone into setting this up and we were very thankful that there were no glitches along the way and the wp puzzles were well within our level of expertise. Final twist at the end was unexpected and a great way to finish. Thanks for everything you do for the caching community by placing great caches like this for others to find.

Another great Teamwork caching day with lumin298! I was able (finally) to collect some hides for Reach the Peak souvenir called Aconcagua.We collected some great hides today. This one was one of them.

And it was epic! For my personal opinion this was a Cache of the Day! Hats off!
Thank you so much for a great fun finding it!

This was only the second cache of the day, but absolutely the highlight. I suggested to tramyard that we meet here and try it out, and it was a relief when the intercache site worked on both of our phones despite neither of us really knowing what to expect. Soon we were on the trail, discovering the locations and solving the puzzles - those were nice and easy but still enjoyable, and I think it's very clever how they worked in with the story. Eventually we reached the end and made a quick find of the cache, but wait - what's this - a final puzzle before we could prove ourselves to be as clever as the eponymous crime-solver. Some careful re-reading of the stages (luckily I had been keeping track) yielded some useful hints, and we were able to crack the secret of the Muggled Geocache and get our names on the log. Again, a very well set up puzzle, plus a new experience, a great location, and an excellent final means I'll award a well-earned FP for this. Thank you again tuolei for such a great cache!

We parked at the start of this cache and carried on doing the waypoints as we collected a few more caches along the way. After solving the first two waypoints and overthinking the 3rd one to find it was much simpler than we had thought, we headed to the 4th and last one where disaster struck.

The phone reception dropped out here and after several minutes of trying to get it back up and running the puzzle reset itself back to the beginning. It took a little help to get us back on our way to the final, once there we remembered a couple of clues that helped us solve the final.

Another great cache from the CO with lots of work to set it up, FP added.

I was keen to get outdoors and find a geocache or two this afternoon, with the weather seemingly on the improve. I only had a couple of hours free so I targeted a couple of specific hides. Obviously this was one of them. Indeed the main event. I had got started on this last week but then got stuck. I am back today to complete the job. This time everything went very smoothly and I made efficient progress. I must have been paying attention along the way as I had no problem solving the mystery and completing the formalities. A new caching experience for me. Thanks for all the effort that went into setting this up; favorite point applied. Cheers for the puzzle cache placement!

Really a unique caching experience!

I’ve done some inter caches in the past, but they are usually follow the arrow caches and I’ve often had technical issues…but this one was way better!! (Well I still had some technical issues…and spotty mobile service).

Was fun to read the story and figure out the puzzle - I will confess to the PAF assist when I got a bit bogged down and headed in the completely wrong direction.

I also missed all the clues for the final puzzle, so I ended up doing it the hard way!! (Later the CO let me in on what I missed…yes it pays to read EVERYTHING carefully).

Thank you for the nice little walk and unique caching experience!

The final has been moved away from the previous location. A new container is in place - changed a little from the original including a new final answer. Good to go.

Back up and running

Hi there, I *finally* worked out a way to replace this one that is a bit more manageable for me so will be back within the week. Thanks for the patience - this has proved tricker than I thought.

Sorry for the wait. My carpentry skills are a bit challenged on this replacement so I am switching to something more traditional which I have ordered - not long now.

Needs checking

Logging with kind permission of CO. Headed out with jard1037 and mrcleverclogs to solve the mystery of the muggled geocache. This cache has been on my to do list for a while, post covid I am really enjoying the caches that incorporate a nice walk in nature. After managing to drag myself up the first set of stairs we were soon at the gas station, where we stayed for sometime as geo brain would not engage, then finally the bowser clicked and we moved on. The rest of the solves were not too difficult and two brains proved better than one. Off to the final, oh dear it would appear the cache may have been muggled again due to major changes to gz. A call and photo was sent to the CO who kindly allowed us to claim this find as after a lot of digging where the cache should have been proved fruitless, but the mystery of what happened to the cache this time may not need any help from Anaru. This is way up there on my all time favourite caches. FP from me.

Its Post Lockdown and this adventure has been released again so urbangypsynz and I came over here today to attempt this (having really enjoyed the CO's other Intercache many moons ago). We enjoyed a leisurely stroll up and down the landscape initially struggling to engage the Geo-brain at the gas station but then we were off again and got thru the rest without too much trouble.
Getting to the final GZ however proved to be rather difficult and after sending photo proof to the CO, he has given us permission to log.
TFTC tuolei, I love these adventures. FP from me

Back in business...welcome Level 2

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

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

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

All good here

I had read about the cache in the early hours of this morning and thought it would be an interesting one to do. Later in the morning I rang Supernanny and arranged to meet her later in the day at the carpark.

I wasn't too happy when I saw the steps as I have a real gammy knee. Ah well! slowly does it. At the Gas Station we had a bit hiccup but then we were on the trail again. The next ones fell reasonably quickly until the penultimate one. That one took a little longer and then the penny dropped when re-reading the story. Then we were off to the final. With the clues picked up on the way the first code we tried worked.. It would have been good if we had some wax with us to make the door a little more slippery.

One of the problems I had was the locking up of the screen. To free it I had to exit the cache pages and restart the link. Frustrating, to say the least.

The adventure is worth a fave. Well done, tuolei.

Thanks, Supernanny, for your company today.

Cheers for the cache.

Woo hoo...
This has been on my wishlist since first I heard of it.
It comes highly recommended!
So I was very pleased when Tufty mentioned he was looking for company on this adventure!
Something like an InterCache is always better with Teamwork.

We both had this afternoon free....so met up at the parking area.

It sure was a very interesting experience...!
Had a few blank moments...but actually there are hints all through...if you just have an open mind and think outside the square.
Can't believe we did a 4 of difficulty....!

Many thanks tuolei.....definitely a Favourite....
And thanks Tufty!

Looking to grab a few caches today with themexikiwi and this one looked too good to ignore. Nice day to be out, so happy for the chance to stretch the legs and solve some crimez along the way.

Soon found ourselves at the end, and thankfully I'd paid enough attention to remember a particular detail that stood out which helped up get the cache itself. Awesome cache, can't rate this one highly enough. Easy favourite.

Out with Aiden29 - had a great walk doing this one. A great sort of multi and def worthy of a fav point. Loved the final . Keep up the good work

TFTC

Was out in the area today with TheWonderStuff targeting puzzle finals, of which I have many out this way. I mentioned to TWS that we should try this new intercache while we were nearby and he was keen.

After determining where we needed to find the gas station we headed off. We had no difficulty deciphering the hints, one of them much quicker than the others as I have a degree that certainly came in handy. We finally arrived at the end and ventured to the final. TWS located the cache and then we took about opening it. TWS finally cracked the code and we were in.

Thank you for another fantastic cache and a wonderful adventure. A favourite point from me.

After a huge walk yesterday my thighs were screaming with pain but after a suggestion we meet up to investigate the muggled geocache case I hobbled along to meet up with Jag50, their muggle son and Pazza and her hounds. Mr Jag and son were very switched on at the gas station and quickly picked up on the clue and we were soon off hot on the tail of the thief. After solving all the puzzles with relative ease we arrived at the last spot and this is when my phone decided to have a hissy fit but thankfully with 4 other phones still in action we made our way to the cache and Mr Jag once again didn't take too long to figure out what was required to access the log.

Brilliant! Once again you have given us a wonderful cache experience so a fp added

We had a full day yesterday tramping and geocaching a trail near Matakana for about 5 hours but overall spent the best part of 12 hours on the move. So getting up early this morning for a coffee walk was a challenge and then teamed up with our son (Boy) and Merlot58 to go and work on the Almanac. Got to the start and met up also with Pazzabella and the dogs. On the first clue Mr Jag50 solved the puzzle at the same time as Boy twigged to the hint. Fortunately our puzzle brains were on fire and we managed to produce the solutions at each checkpoint quite easily. Got to the final location and then the last challenge. MrJag50 managed to figure out the last clue and we finally had our hands on the log.

A great cache, good fun and a nice morning to do it. Earns a FP from us.

What a perfect cache to give two hounds a bit of fun and a chance for me and hounds to catch up with geo-friends. While I tried to cope with a case of 'where the heck is my dog now?' the rest of the pack flew through he clues.
When we got to the final, Mr Jag50 surprised me how quickly he figured out the final combination at a speed that faster than I've seen a Westie down a can of 8% Bourban on a Friday night. He is a TRUE westie!!!
A truly perfect puzzle Tuolei. F/p

Published

One of us heard the alert for this cache at 5.30am but turned over and went back to sleep. Took a look a few hours later and thought this looked like fun. With no Found logs by 9am, and the rain holding off, we decided to give this one a go. No problem getting the intercache up and running, and we had our first puzzle to solve. Initially we came up blank, then remembered the advice on the cache page and immediately had the answer in our hands. Aha! On to the next. The second puzzle was straight forward and we made good time on the next few sections. Then we came to the last puzzle and were stumped. We saw all the clues but nothing we tried would solve the code. We knew it should be do-able, but do it we could not! By now it was raining lightly, so we decided to go back to our car to see if we could figure it out in the dry.
On our way back we passed the 'Gas Station' where a familiar figure was sitting on the seat under an umbrella studying the first puzzle. We had a bit of a chat with Gorby and gave him a clue to help solve the puzzle. Then he set off for the next location and we returned to the car and more fruitless pondering on the final puzzle. And we were still none the wiser when we got a message from Gorby asking if we had solved it yet. Nope! Well I guess one good turn deserves another, and he gave us a hint which made instant sense of all the clues. Doh! Even better, he was waiting for us before he ventured forth to find the cache. (Much appreciated, thanks Gorby). By now it was raining steadily as we headed into the undergrowth towards GZ. And there we found a very interesting parcel stashed away - and one more puzzle to solve before we could access the logbook. Fortunately this time we got lucky and had it sorted after only a couple of tries. Signed for a joint FTF with Gorby about 12.45
Thanks Tuolei for a very cool adventure! Adding a well-deserved Favourite point.
Kiwicouple's First To Find coin visited.
(FTF)

When I finally saw that this puzzle had come out, it was several hours later after it had been published! I was pretty sure that whoever might be attempting this is already finishing it or just not logged the cache yet! In fact tuolei, I was so sure of myself that I went and picked up the final for FMZ's new cache (So You Like Jigsaws?) then a trip to the bakery then finally got to the start of this puzzle.

When I arrived I could see a familiar car here, oh well... carry on. I had my umbrella up and it was drizzling, got to the 'gas station' and was pondering immensely on some numbers. I wonder if I put these into a puzzle solver.... hmmm... naah, nothing... then I heard something, looked up and there were Kiwicouple, hello you two! They had come from somewhere and we shared what we were up to. I was stuck with a flat tyre going no where, they were able to fill up my tyres with a simple clue so I could carry on... derrh! A few times the screen seemed to freeze, but a quick poke at the 'backward' key seemed to sort it, got much further around with no probs at the next clue then onwards to the last clue. By now I hadn't heard diddly-squat from Kiwicouple, so text them and asked if this was the clue they got stuck on? Sure enough it was and so I was happy to return the favour and gave THEM a little hint. I said I would wait for them before heading down to GZ.

By now it was steadily raining, I was getting reasonably wet even with the umbrella. I really should have put my gumboots on instead of my jandals! Anyway, a few minutes later off we 3 valiant warriors went into the bush! I had to depart from my umbrella as a result, and soon one of my jandals decided enough was enough and broke off in rebellion. That didn't stop me though... Mark found the hide, me and Sherrie watched as he tried to enter the cache! A few possibilities were tried but one only worked... geee I wonder which one that was, heh heh heh.... my lips shall remain sealed.

We were stoked to have found this today, mainly due to the poor conditions, but it's always nice to get an {FTF} on a mystery cache and on this occasion it was a joint FTF with Kiwicouple and also happens to be my June FTF sorted! Thanks tuolei!! A FP from me as well.

FTF#542

Tb drop