Strange House #2 Hobsonville, North Island, New Zealand
By G-2 on 12-Jun-19. Waypoint GC89EEB

We got to GZ fairly quickly, and found a likely attachment, but alas, the cache was not attached. Sure enough, after further digging we had the cache in hand. TFTC!

Tried for a while but no luck. Tf the search!

As noted by others a bit detached and rust closed. Nice walk though. Thanks.

Kids have cabin fever...met a friend at Catalina Cafe so had to stop for some caches despite the rain. Very cool camo, was overlooked by both future finders! Attachment is a little compromised, perhaps due to dampness, and cache a little wobbly

Well that is an interesting bit of Camo! Sadly it has rusted shut so I have not signed.

Miss Zoie and I were on our way to HPSS to meet her new learning hub coach when I quickly dived in and pulled out this cache. I’ve looked twice before but thanks to the updated hint I knew where to find it this time. Spilt my coffee all over my handbag on this occasion. It’s not often I take either of those on a geocaching mission.

#11,969. I have been back in Auckland for a few days on leave. I have a rental car to drop back at the airport later today. But that is still some hours away and so had time to come looking for a few caches. After spending time in Waimauku I headed to Hobsonville. Managed to find a park nearby and checked out the nearby houses. There are quite a variety of unusual buildings out here in Hobsonville. The hint narrowed down the search and soon I was hoisting a nicely constructed cache from the thicket. Signed the logsheet and put the container back as found. Thanks G-2 for hiding it here.

Long drive to pick up my passenger, just some free time to find a few caches. TFTC

Interesting building and even more interesting cache. Wasn’t expecting that but blends in nicely. Tftc

M24: After attending a GeoEvent at Sky Tower meeting and giving trackables to foreign cachers, Poland and Italy, they were from, I decided to travel to here where we have found a few caches earlier here, but now back here to clean it out a bit more.
1st cache of today, nice and easy, TFTC.

Strange house indeed. Nicely camoed too considering how much everything has grown in the area. TFTC

Was on to this quickly because of the good clues. TFTC

Last cache of the day before I bike all the way home again While I was riding down the road, I heard someone yell out my name from their car which gave me quite a big fright as I really didn't expect this! Turns out it was a friend of mine and he asked "What are you doing all the way out here?". I told him "Come with me... I have something cool to show you" .

I had no idea what this cache would be like as I hadn't even arrived at GZ yet, so I was really nervous as after all, this could've been a rusty old mint tin. However, after seeing this cache was a G-2 one, I felt a bit better as this CO always has something cool on offer! So after explaining to my friend what geocaching is, we started searching for the cache... I was fairly sure I knew where the cache would be hiding, so I let my friend investigate instead because I really wanted to see his reaction to finding it.

It was really hilarious watching a muggle friend trying to search for this as he had no idea what he was looking for! After about 5 minutes, he told me "This is so pathetic... what's the point in searching amongst wet bushes for something that is probably not even there?". I told him to look more closely around the "XXXX", and the shear shock/joy on his face when he found the cache was seriously mesmerising! He hoisted the object up into the air like he had just won a 5 year long war and I couldn't help but crack up laughing. He said "This is so cool... What is it called again? Geohunting? Can we do another one?". I had to go, but I promised I'd do some more geocaching again with him another time TFTC G-2... You may have just got my friend hooked into our sport with your cache!

TFTC! Quick and easy with a nice walk!

Nice quick find thanks to the hint. It would have been a much more challenge task without that help. TFTC

**15,122**
Mr Geckoh was so super impressed with this cache that on returning to the van, he was not looking where he was placing his feet and tripped on a clump of grass and landed with full force on a piece of a warratah sticking out of the ground. Suffice to say the neighbours heard some words that may have been new to their vocab. Mr Geckoh will have a nice wound to show off for quite some time making this cache doubly memorable - still worth a favourite point. TFTC

Fixed

Replaced container

Found it, but had really no idea of the clue. It's damaged...

Need to check

After reading the hint. We still werent sure about this cache. Looked in several places without any luck. Then decided to try out one more idea and luckily found this unexpected cache. Another good hide.

Found with Ceciliaofthedaldrys
Tftc

Found with RachB

I saw this day was going to be lovely and warm, surprisingly so for first day of August, so at a rather late hour of this Sunday morning I sailed away from home and decided on random caches anywhere around the north shore.

Came here to try to revenge my DNF, I saw a previous log mention a cousin of Heinz being Victor Vector. So found that dude fairly and squarely and after considerable foot slogging (5 paces is not what I thought was an appropriate amount for a short dude like myself, so 12 paces seemed ideal). I managed to focus my beady little eyes upon something I wood-n't normally consider considering. Well hello to you little cache. So after gleeing over the situation, I signed in on the little blighter. Nice to bag this one G.

At last. It was time to fill in some gaps and find some puzzles, so brought Daddypig123 back over here. We had a few looks for this last year, and had no trouble finding Heinz but nothing within 5 paces of him. This time we decided to ignore the gps and try to see if Heinz had a twin nearby. He didn't but he did have a distant relative, Victor.
And so Daddypig123 was the one to make the find, 12 paces from Heinz. I was gutted, it was like a stake through my heart.

The log was soggy but I managed to scribble something on it, and moved on.

Took a while but we got there in the end! TFTC

Abit waterlogged but tftc!

Quick find! Log needs replacing is a bit wet!

Mrs NZT and I had planned a day out and loosely planned to head somewhere north from home. After finding some multi final coordinates which pointed us west we were compelled to stop for the trads along the way. There was even more reason to stop for this one as it seems Gorby couldn't locate it....always nice to make a find after a DNF!!

We wondered what the hint meant and as we got to GZ we saw something in the ground that made our hearts sink just slightly due to another of your hides that has a similar surrounding. But all that aside we walked around to familiarize ourselves with the area and Mrs NZT almost immediately picked the cache up - woohoo, nicely done!

Thanks for the cache

Keylev and I decided to explore some of the north shore today. It was a very warm day and we enjoyed the lovely bays and secret walkways to the caches. A ladies lunch and coffee's rounded out a very pleasant day. Thanks for bringing us to this part of the world!

A quick find after a couple of logged DNF's is always a sweet moment

TFTC!

All good here.

I initially thought the cache was going to be along the fenceline where the older one was, but my phone had other ideas, I still wouldn't have believed it until I saw 'Heinz' and GZ was set in stone. I tried variations on 5 paces.... btw did I ever tell you I hate this type of grass, it irritates my skin. Never did find the cache, but I did find a cool possibility of one, a black plastic pipe of sorts, that'll make for a nice cache somewhere, so that went into my pocket. Cache may well still be here, but after 5 minutes I was tired of that grass.

Found Heinz (or however it is spelled) and used the usual G-2 concrete detection and fished around but there was nothing that seemed out of the ordinary apart from the smell. Disagreed with my companions about how big 5 paces would be.
And then the geohound tried eating all of the bark mulch, so time to give up and head home for a cup of tea.

A nice quick find thanks.

Ms_KR and I are up in Auckland for a break. We went for a wee cache and picked up a few before heading "home " for some gardening.

Thanks to all CO's for publishing and maintaining their caches. Cheers.

Found on our second attempt here. Bit ashamed of our efforts now we’ve found it

Was up in Ak for the day with ABCDF4, Fap & Gap, and Squirrel Nutcase to tidy a few caches in Hobsonville. Logged in under Tm HRP, to conserve the logs. Parked in auntys drive whilst we got this one .Thanks to all the Co s for the placements, good day had by all. Neat caches.

With ABCDF4, eyespyben, and Gap (of Fap and Gap)... Since Gap had jobs scattered around Auckland, we decided to base ourselves out West. With two Adventure Labs in Hobsonville, it made sense to hang out there for the day... All finds signed as Team HRP (Huntly, Rotorua, Papamoa).

The house looks like a small church, but we were more interested in the cache... That was a more fascinating piece of construction - A clever hide in this sort of environment. Thanks G-2 and TFTC.

No real plans for today but over dinner and a couple of drinks last night Hobsonville was the choice. All caches signed Team HRP (Huntly,Rotorua,Papamoa). Great day in a new area. Couple of caches missed but that happens. Will be back another day to complete area.
Thanks to all cache owners for placements. SLTFTC

Up in Auckland {Hobsonville}
To gather some more smilely faces
with Squirrel Nutcase,Fap & Gap,and EyespyBen.
What a great day.Beauiful Art work around
Very cool we will be back

Found with betanate

MBWNZ101 and I were out to find the last of the modern wonders we needed - hunted around but only one thing seemed out of place... couldn't actually find the cache though!

MBWNZ101 was ready to give up, but perseverance is key!

Turned out my hunch was right and there were are!

TFTC

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

Nice find with woolwood9 today.
*Thanks for giving us a reason to visit this area!*
Signed log: **tm/ww NZ** (may be a black smudge on plastic logs)

Once we found the hint object the cache was soon located.

For some reason I needed to get out of the house and find some Geocaches. This was on my list for today. TFTC.

Always wondered what the house was. Thanks.

Unbelievable, I thought Mr P was kidding when he said he had found the cache. T4tc

Out in Hobsonville this afternoon with AliGle and decided to do a little bit of caching while in the area. All was quiet at the small house, so used their driveway and popped across the road to look for the cache. Was a bit unsure of the hint, but I soon spotted something out of place... nicely done. TFTC!

Out in a Sunday afternoon with the lovely Vistra. Found the cache but didn't fully get the hint and the reference to Heinz.

Was surprised on approach to see there is a fair amount of construction going on around the "wee hoose". All the workers were otherwise engaged - I know that may come as a surprise to some- and paid no attention as the brief hunt was conducted. All good, TFTC.

Happy palindrome day! Getting this one on Sunday afternoon probably helps a bit as area was quiet. Sneaky hide indeed! TFTC

Out on a quiet day finding some more caches in the western area. Thanks for hiding G-2.

Across the road from my last find here but just as satisfying as a find. All good and replaced as found. T F T C G-2.

Have swapped vehicles and am now in Mr Bean's look-alike car, rather than the oversized van of earlier. Much more manouverable.
A different day, Day 2 in the area and it's my birthday today, yay 53 years young. After hoping that I'd be going out for a meal with my colleagues it turned out to be another food option and a quick drive around the area and a few finds - again. For a few finda I'd sought some help, and this was useful to convert into a few more smilies.

I'm up in Auckland for the week, with a couple of options for transport and with a healthy choice of 4 evenings plus one late-afternoon at my disposal for caching. Would be remiss of me not to take advantage of what some (km) would call a 'target rich environment'. And so my week was spent well, a count of 75 caches was found, a few DNFs and a plethora of G-2's special cache treats with awesome camo and attachments. Some nice evening weather made things easier, and I averaged a 10km walked each day = nice. Thanks to all COs for their caches, individual logs as/when remembered.

Today was my last dot day in November so I headed out to grab a cache. Sadly the first two were DNFs but even in failing light I managed this one - I think it would've been easier in good light though.
T F T C G-2.

Out and about for a spot of geocaching today. I hope the rain holds off longer still. Anyway, I parked in the driveway of the strange house, but no one appeared to be home. I found the hint a bit of a distraction here. In the end just fooling the arrow on the GPSr was sufficient to get the job done here. I seem to remember finding a previous hide here, unless I am confusing that with a different location. Cheers for the cache placement!

Needed to be quick as my parking wasn't that legit, thankfully the first place I checked.

TFTC

Cool hide. Thx. The last one in HP

Visiting NZ from Australia to meet up with relations and do a bit of sight seeing and a few geocaches of course. Our base is in Hobsonville. Many thanks to the cache owners for placing and maintaining these geocaches for our and others enjoyment. Parked near the strange house and discovered the real function of this building - well I never !!!

Greynomads - Bill and Diana TFTC TNLN SL

Out and about caching and just enjoying an adventure. Found it as some more amazing camo thx.

Another well camoed cache that blends into the environment. Loving your hides G-2 thanks

Managed to find a close parking spot and wandered down the hill to GZ, found the hint object and then the nicely camoed cache. Many thanks for another one in the area.

I remember the older cache hidden across the road from this one which took me too long to find. This one was much quicker thank goodness. TFTC

I remember the old sewerage ponds by the Strange House.
As an old Airforce daughter!
Clever hide....

My 2nd visit here, the first time my search was foiled by some workmen parked up at the strange house but today it was quiet and I must have been on the CO's wavelength as I made a relatively quick find here of the nicely camo'd cache

Many thanks to the Artist and thanks for the cache.

Wasted time checking some obvious places, before finding what I was after. Tftc

With such bad weather this morning, our day's plan had to change. It cleared a bit so decided to venture out and see how many we could find towards finishing the museum event. Lol we had our hand on this one straight away but didn't investigate far enough, after spending time searching the area and other objects of interest we returned to the original object of interest and found the cache. Yay. SL. TFTC.

Having found the previous Strange House cache hidden near GZ, we saw why that cache has gone as the old hiding spot is no longer accessible. Got to the new GZ, and we soon spotted the hint item. Following the hint, we soon had this cache in hand.
We had left the pen in the car, so had to retreat to the car to get a pen and sign ourselves in. Had to wait for a runner to pass us, before we were able to return the well camo'd cache back.

Had a look at this a while ago and while I was in the right search area I needed a hint from Supercacher to set me right. Another G2 special that gets you with the Visual Spellchecker. You see whats there, but your brain normalizes it so you perceive what you expected to see....and as Im writing this ive just had another experience of G2's inventive constructions...impressive all round..cheers V

I have shot past this spot a couple of times before and didn't think to stop even though I noticed the strange looking house too. Today we were back in the area, collecting the odd cache and walking albert the geohound.

Albert makes for great cover as he will stop and sniff just about anything and so it was we came down here and he conveniently started snuffling at an object at GZ which made it easy for me to spot and retrieve the cache. A nice piece of artistry on an everyday cache item made for a fun find. Thanks for the cache, all good here.

Out gem hunting and this was one of the closest ones to home, nice quick find. TFTC

From memory this version is a lot easier than the original. Well crafted cache. I think it was built as a prop for Noddy's Toy Town but the movie never went ahead.

I fluked it and spotted it straight away. Interesting building, think it use to be a church??

TFTC

I decided to get out of the caravan inbetween showers this afternoon and head out Hobsonvill Point way.

This is a house that I wouldn't want to stay in as it could be a bit smelly. It definitely ain't a church though some people might say that holy waters pass through here.[:o)]

Cheers for the cache..

This morning we are about to start a new caching adventure with a flight to the USA via Fiji. But first we want to make a find in NZ, so one of us headed out early to check out the Strange House. We know a bit about the history of this place having had a friend who worked in the facility many years ago.
Arrived at GZ and made a very fast find of the cache - mostly thanks to having pre-located it last night! Thanks.

Finishing up the day out here with one more and soon figured out the hint item which helped to narrow down the options. Unfortunately there was a trap within the search area but careful inspection revealed this wasn't some kind of snappy cache and it was soon ignored in favour of some other items of interest. A bit more poking around and the cache was found. Cleverly done as usual and a nice finish to the day. TFTC

We found the previous cache hidden near here but see why that one is no longer in place as the old hiding spot is no longer accessible.
We took a little while searching for this one but soon spotted the hint item and then switched our minds to G-2 mode. Soon afterward we spotted something that we were pleased to discover was the cache.
Nicely placed as always. thanks G-2.

Time for one more cache as its getting dark, and I need to get some dinner on the way home. Still took a few minutes of head scratching before I double checked a spot I'd looked at already. I reckon the strange building looks like an old chapel dating back from when Hobsonville Point was an Airforce Base, that's now been secretly turned into a covert command outpost, a bit like the church used in the movie Die Hard 2.

Love this Strange House.....glad you have another cache here...
Wish I knew what the building was used for!
I also wish I could say this was a quick find in first place I looked..
But sadly....no.
I was here for quite a long period of time!
Even took forever to find hint item ...and as for the final...not at all what I'd been expecting!
Always expect the unexpected with Mr G-2!
Very well done all round!
Favourite Point to follow!

Published

I was at home studying for my upcoming exams this week when the notification for a new cache along Upper Harbour Dr came out. I was ready for a break and itching to get some fresh air, so this gave me the perfect excuse to escape the house for a few minutes. I raced out thankful traffic wasn't too bad this morning. Just as I was parking near the cache in Greenhithe the notification came out for this cache. Quickly found and signed the log on the other cache and raced towards this location, knowing exactly which Strange House this cache was referring to. Parked right outside and took a bit for my phone to settle down. Located the hint item and not long after located the cache. Opened to find another blank log and signed FTF at 11:20 am. TFTC.

[FTF#95]