Beastly Hamilton Gardens (Waikato) Bader, North Island, New Zealand
By tryfyn on 10-Oct-20. Waypoint GC8ZMED

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Logs

06-Mar-24
Hooray! The rains stopped. After a couple of days of being largely stuck indoors, I was highly keen to get out and grab a few caches. And with time on my side I opted for Hamilton gardens as I knew I would need a bit of time to hunt down the stages for the multi and the Beasts. Multi-tasking between hunting beasts and calculating waypoints for the nearby multi, I zig-zagged my way around the Gardens, back and forth looking like someone who was hopelessly lost. All the beasts looked familiar and some I knew the location of better than others but in the end I hunted the last of them down. Happily the final GZ was in a direction I was heading (sort of) so I detoured there on my way home to wrap things up. I needlessly overthought the search before going back to basics and spotting the cache just hanging around as advertised. Thanks tryfyn for a great puzzle#5046Logged using Cachly.
 
26-Dec-23
I completed this one with matagouri over 2 days.We ran out of time on Christmas eve, so returned on Boxing day.It was quite a mission but all the running around certainly helped work off some of yesterday's Christmas dinner and treats.The final was pretty straightforward. Thanks for setting this up
 
26-Dec-23
This took rattll and I the best part of a wet Christmas Eve afternoon, and then we had to come back this morning to complete. We trekked all over the gardens, poking into all the undiscovered corners in our search. Backwards and forwards we went in our search for the garden beasts and denizens. Lots of fun, FP from me. At last, we reached the final stage. The cache was found in excellent condition. Signed, and returned as found. Tftc!
 
01-Dec-23
This made for a fun walk around the gardens. Knowing my way around quite well I was able to identify and locate the various beasts quickly although one of the smaller ones gave me a little trouble. As it was a weekday, it wasn't at its busiest but as the morning progressed there were still a lot of people filtering in. I was glad to see the final located away from the majority of visitors and that made for a quick find. TFTC
 
27-Jul-23
An awesome end to a awesome puzzle…found most by memory as we’ve visited here a lot lately…in fact this is my last cache here to sign so I hope something new pops up here soon. Another deserving FP for you. Thanks for setting this up! TFTP
 
11-May-23
Great to have completed this one which was quite an effort but also must have been a major effort to set up. I was really stuck on the sphinx but fiddled with digits and finally succeeded. A favourite point for this one. TFTC
 
14-Jan-23
Found this one with novalightning. went out after dinner to find this one.Thanks for the hide
 
14-Jan-23
Was looking like I was going to miss a cache and stop the streak that I was on.

We were in town for a event and the urge to collect one meant that I had to use up a cache which I had solved and never collected. Today this cache was going to save my streak... It I could find it.

Parked close and headed to GZ. Luckily the owner had left a great hint and the log was soon in had. Had fun solving this and glad I had left it for a dot-day.

Will be back tomorrow, during the day, to collect more in the area.

Thanks for the puzzle
 
30-Dec-22
Nice hunt for all the Beasts. I did a lot of them on the internet. Cool idea for a mystery cache.
Thanks for the riddles and the box
Quiri
 
07-Dec-22
TFTC
 
30-Jul-22
As with the other nearby Beastly cache, this solve was done at home, so only needed to pick up the final today. I had thought I'd been everywhere at the gardens but turns out this path was one I had never ventured up before. Took a few minutes to make the find, thanks for the fun puzzle and cache.
 
18-Jun-22
A plan was made to head down to Hamilton/Hunty with Gorby, tramyard and rustynz for the day. It ended up being quite foggy and wet, but we didn't let that stop us.

Having previously visited the final location while down at the gardens with my nieces and nephews, we were unable to locate the cache. This time I came armed with reinforcements to help me. Well, rustynz spied the cache almost immediately. It was nice to finally avenge the previous DNF here.
 
18-Jun-22
A few weeks ago tramyard suggested another road trip for myself, rustynz and Aiden29, we asked nicely if Aiden would be so kind to be our driver again in her 'forensic' car. She was keen and today was the day appointed. I got picked up at 6:30am, then we drove over and picked up rusty then shortly after that tramyard. Then outa Auckland for Huntly and Hamilton for mostly targeted caches and an event at the RSA at 6pm in Huntly.

Loved walking around the gardens, but quite a challenge doing the werigo also at the same time, and a few of the WP's for the adventure lab, luckily Aiden was in the team or I would have forgotten a few places I needed to visit.

Walking to GZ, we thought the hide was going to be challenging, since Aiden had been here with no luck in finding the cache, but in no time at all it was rusty who found it just like that! We are very pleased about that!

Thank you tryfyn, but I am so over beasts right now, glad to finally bag this one.
 
18-Jun-22
More Beastly fun, there is a Matariki event in the hall, which we call into after finding this cache Big Grin

I can say I spotted this one, and left the retrieval to aiden29, happy to turn this one into a smiley.

Thanks for the hide tryfyn, today am exploring the gardens with aiden29, gorby and tramyard Wink
 
18-Jun-22
Middle winter Hamilton / Hunty (18th) road trip with Aiden29, Gorby and rustynz on foggy and rainy day.
No problems at all at the final.
TFTC
 
06-Jun-22
Caching in the Waikato with Team Welsh again today, on the Sunday of Queen's Birthday weekend. After the crowds at Hamilton Gardens yesterday we chose to come back here early this morning (8am) to do the Beyond the Garden ad labs and one or two other nearby caches. Before we left the gardens we were keen to stop by and find the Final of this puzzle which we had solved a few weeks ago. We had really enjoyed the solve and the method of getting each subsequent puzzle - once the checker had decided to play ball. At GZ we got the answer to our puzzlement over the hint, and after peering carefully we spotted the container. Thanks, adding a Favourite point.
 
14-May-22
Was here a few weekends ago & got to find almost everything. Back today to finish it off. Some tricky things to find but delighted to find them all. Wandered over to GZ & made a nice quick find. Great puzzle, very enjoyable. TFTC Big Grin
 
03-May-22
This has a higher Difficulty Rating than I am used to.
So I reached out to a Friend for some help in navigating this on my device; while I was staying in Hamilton.
You sure have put a lot of effort into putting this mammoth Mystery Puzzle together tryfyn.
Never seen anything remotely like this!
Armed with some final co ords, I found myself at GZ.. .and soon found the reclusive cache!
Good safe place for it .
Favourite Point for sure....
 
30-Jan-22
Having been to the gardens a few times I was familiar with the location of most of the statues though a couple took time to locate. and thankfully we had no problems with the find at gz. It's always nice to be brought back to the gardens so thanks for this puzzle
 
29-Dec-21
I had decided to venture out of Auckland for the first time in months and decided to take my nieces and nephews along with me. I promised to take them to Hamilton Gardens along with doing some geocaching.

After picking up all 4 kids and starting our journey I realized that we would get to Hamilton about an hour before the Gardens would actually open. So I decided that we would detour at Huntly and complete an adventure lab and a few other caches beforehand.

Having visited the Gardens before I had a vague idea where most of the beasts were and was able to complete all the waypoints before leaving home. Not sure the kids would have been up for all the extra walking around between the points anyway.

At the end of our visit, I bribed the kids with ice cream if we could detour away from the parking lot to find this cache. Knew I was in the right spot due to the hint in geoguesser, but after a lot of searching by myself and one of my little helpers we failed to find the sneaky cache. Kids were getting a little impatient, so I had to leave this one. Will have to attempt this on another trip to Hamilton
 
04-Jul-21
We took a chance on solving this one from home before our day out, figured we knew the gardens well enough to wing it, and we did! No one about in this area today, located and log signed. We're now enjoying a wander. TFTC!
 
24-Jun-21
Solved a way back with a bit of help. Was in the tron today so time to knock this one off, got to GZ after going to wrong side first and eventually spotted the lil evil blighter!
 
08-May-21
This was tricky with new development being done. We made it in the end and collected today.
Was surprised at GZ as was sure not there,,,,,,, but ,,,,, hadn't looked carefully enough.
Tftc.
 
24-Apr-21
Thanks for the cache TRYFYN in Hamilton dropping my daughter back at University and grabbing a few caches while here. Got a little wet at GZ after the recent rain over night. Cache in good condition.
 
20-Apr-21
Solved a few weeks ago. Found at last at the third attempt. Thank you for setting this up.
 
12-Apr-21
I'm in Hamilton to drop my child off at Boys High for a Karate Competition and then blissfully geocache the day away. I was here picking up [Beastly Hamilton](https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC914J3_beastly-hamilton-waikato?guid=c72024fe-fcdf-478c-9fac-789c1d4ce4df) and figured I'd give this multi a go. Honestly though I wasn't exactly sure what to do. One PAF later and I was on my way although further calls were necessary - in hind sight I should have just kept them on the line Smile I got there in the end though - hilariously making one more phone call "I'm at the final and still can't find the cache!"

I really struggled with this one and I'm not even sure why. It was a fun multi and a nice wander. Cheers tryfyn & TFTC Smile
 
03-Apr-21
Thought we would give this one a shot today. Very busy in the gardens but expected. Enjoy the gardens so didn't mind wandering around figuring out where they all were. It was fun to do. Tftc
 
07-Mar-21
**12,998**
We could hardly resist the urge to complete this fun cache whilst in the Hamilton Gardens completing the Adventure Lab (avoiding chores at home). Thank you for an interesting puzzle cache - a nicely concealed final too. TFTPC
 
06-Jan-21
I had to drive down from Auckland to Rotorua, and I decided to stop off to explore the Hamilton Gardens en route. I spent about 5 hours here in total, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience despite it being a scorching afternoon (this Wellingtonian is not used to the heat!).

I grew up in Hamilton and remember visiting the gardens many times as a kid, but for most of that time "the gardens" consisted of the upper area, with the greenhouses. In my teens the lower gardens were just starting to be developed. I have a clear memory of seeing many of the concrete structures in the Chinese Garden surrounded by empty piles of dirt in the early 90s, and at that time I was distinctly underwhelmed. Happy to admit that I clearly did not have the foresight of the garden planners as a cynical teenager!

I last visited the gardens when my daughter was a baby, in early 2006. I recall being stunned by the beauty of the Char Bagh garden at that time. Today I remain impressed by the gardens I had seen before, and those I had not. Particular favourites were the Katherine Mansfield Garden, the Surrealist Garden and the Italianate Garden.

After completing the nearby wherigo and multicache under the searing summer sun, I wasn't sure that I had much left in me to complete this cache but I thought I'd give it a go, as I already knew the location of the first beastie. To my relief, I was presented with another beastie to locate and I knew exactly where that was too, so off I trotted. Each time I was lucky to know exactly where to go to find the next one (having just traversed the gardens over the previous few hours). And very quickly I had the final coordinates in hand.

Approaching the final I wasn't sure how easy it would be to get the cache, but luckily I had no problems. Another fantastic cache in a beautiful location, using a method I haven't seen before. TFTC
 
04-Jan-21
We have always enjoyed the Hamilton gardens so another walk around it to see the new developments was a welcomed addition to the list of things to do for the day. We arrived at the gardens to find an almost full carpark (including the large lawn area) after having a beautiful morning and decided to have lunch at the cafe first.

We then proceeded to GZ only to find a mass of black clouds over head and just as we arrived in the area the rain started to pelt down, luckily there was a shelter nearby to give refuge . We were stuck there for about 1/2 hour in the heavy down pour until it lightened up enough to make it back to the car for our jackets. At least by this stage much of the crowd had gone and we had the place a lot freer to make it around the waypoints.

We began by asking advice from the info centre who pointed us in the right direction, from there we were able to find our way around to all the required places and were also able to do the adventure lab at the same time. Really liked how this was setup and we even had been to the final GZ along the way which we were all curious about on our first visit.

Thanks for another interesting challenge, FP added.
 
04-Jan-21
Much better caching day today. On our way back from up north. Meeting son for lunch but road is closed so extra time for caching. Last time we were here it was bucketing with rain and our humour had gone south. Abandoned the final until today. Straight forward when it's sunny and the coffee is still working. Thanks for the Ad Lab and bonus tryfyn
 
04-Jan-21
Well this was a cache with many twists, turns, and stings in the tail..finally had to quit for the first attempt as the weather was ..to put it mildly "atrocious"..today or is that next year...and oh the sun does come out in Hamilton so attempt # 2 was successful..although I did feel like a creepy old man as many people who came too the location and saw me sitting while logging ..quickly about faced and left ha ha hope they weren't cachers..thanks Tryfyn for this adventure..the memories will stay with me for along time..the scarecrows..the mossies the about turns, and at last the signing well done big effort required in set up and finding
 
04-Jan-21
Had a great wander around the gardens finding these beasts, the ladies at the info centre were most helpful when we got stuck and were quite intrigued with our treasure hunt, they even asked us if we were leaving if we were successful. Glad to say we were and nice to get this one completed and signed off. Thanks for setting it up.
 
21-Nov-20
great puzzle and we had scene most of these statues from several previous visits.
enjoyed this one and found final in the dark.
final can be found after closing time.
thanks for the cache
 
21-Nov-20
With Gap (of Fap and Gap)... It’s been a long time since we’ve done some strenuous walking... and today made it blatantly clear - We are unfit.

Much of the groundwork had been done previously, and we just needed some time to visit the final... It was dark when we arrived on site, and the park was still host to visitors. We were very surprised by the large number of rabbits scurrying about the place. That can’t be good for the gardens...

We found our way to the final and after a brief search, spotted the cache. We think this is one of the better puzzle caches from this CO - Thanks tryfyn. TFTP and TFTC.
 
01-Nov-20
Early Sunday morning with the garden staff getting ready for the pumpkin races and scare crow comp. I nice walk. It sure is a big park tftc
 
31-Oct-20
Great walk around the gardens with EyespyBen this morning as we were in the area.
Great puzzle very different
Thanks to the CO
 
31-Oct-20
After a really good walk around the gardens with ABCDF4 managed to rattle up all the required co ords, and off to sign the final. Thanks for brindin us back to this ever changing place of quiet and tranquility.
 
Spent several hours on Monday walking around and around in circles, eventually found them all, some were hiding in plain sight, got the final and quickly spotted the container
 
18-Oct-20
Find number 6974. This one came out as I was driving home from Mercer so decided to have a look at it. Some of these beast I knew where they were. Having recently been for a walk thru the gardens made them easy. A couple though had me going. Eventually I had the final coordinates in hand. It was after dark when I got to GZ and after a little search I decided to go home and try again at daybreak. Back this morning with the same result. Decided to chase another FTF and come back. Now I had time and boy did I need it. I even widened the search but still no luck. So in desperation I contacted the CO and confirmed I was in the correct area. Back to where I first started looking and to my surprise I felt something and the cache finally revealed itself. Pleased I took it to a nearby seat where I sat and signed the log. Muggles then arrived so had to wait until I could return it. I think the finding of the cache took me longer than the locating of the log. Thank you for the cache. {FTF} number 239
 
17-Oct-20
Published