MS-04: A Stumble, A Fumble, A Mind Socket Jumble Linley Point, New South Wales, Australia
By Mind Socket on 15-Feb-03. Waypoint GCD4D1

The end of an era... With another cache now bringing people to this lovely spot, and my own commitment to maintenance waning, Jumble's time has finally come.

Thanks all for the memories, hope it was rewarding for you as it was for me. It was nice of you all not to kill me for my dastardly puzzles :p

Went down to have a search around since Alfyboy informed us that our cache was way close to another one, within the limits allowed. Obviously we didnt wish to break the rules but it appears that since this cache is offline, Groundspeak allowed us to place ours, and we had no idea. How many times have we walked right past it in the past 5 years, probably hundreds!

From looking through the logs it seems that this one was an awesome cache and we have missed most of the fun by bypassing the waypoints. TFTC Shifter Brains and if you ressurrect it one day we will certainly have a go, as it is very close to home.

Cache Hunt 370; GAFF0; Weather, Sunny; Helpers, none; Cache condition, Great; Find of the day, 2nd STATUS - Found after 12months unfound; GPS at GZ - Unknown

Could this be my firsy ever GAFF 0 (Gaff 0: this looks like a great place for a geocache)??

I was on the area doing another multi, when gz ended up close to here. As I was searching for this other cache, I saw a place and it looked interesting, so I removed camo, and thought, Wow nice place to hide something. Grabbed and pulled out the cache thinking I had found it, and to my surprise and amazement, it was MS-04: A Stumble, A Fumble, A Mind Socket Jumble cache. WOW! Interesting. I got confused for a while, until I worked out that the other cache gz is in this vircinity as well. (not sure on the cache location rules, though).

Anywho, SL, TNLN and replaced. Cache is excellent condition. Once I got back to log it, realised it's been over 12 months since found. Isn't that a locationless...hmmm??? Oh well, another smiley. TFTC. Maybe to work out the puzzle next

No updates, busy moving house. I'll consider archiving since there's another cache nearby now.

Can someone send me the coords of the waypoints and GZ, please? I'll enter them as hidden waypoints and see what's where...

I plan to reinstate this cache in November, as I'm currently travelling. The waypoints have been retrieved and need work before redeploying - this is not a simple cache nor a simple process, so I need a little time

Taking offline for maintenance. This cache will likely be back in a more virtual form, same puzzles, less waypoints.

Ducked down to a location near WP2 to attempt another cache and discovered significant works going. As a result of these works the structure WP2 lived upon had been removed. I managed to find the structure within the work site and retrieved WP2 - it would have been a shame to let the craftsmanship go to waste!

Mindsocket please let me know how it would be best to get it back to you.

In other news, I passed WP1 on the way home so stopped to check it after seeing the note by 'jarah2' - it is still in place and intact.

Cheers,

Gowza

Can some one check that WP1 is still here because it looks like some new work has recently taken place on the site

Gotcha! After starting this a month or so I ago I've knocked off one of the tougher and best caches in Sydney I've seen so far. Waypoints 1 and 2 gave me no problems and finding WP3 was acheived quite quickly. Here I got a little stuck as the final riddle didnt ring any bells right up. I returned the next day at what I thought was the GZ and was impressed with the beauty and general awesomeness of the location. However after 30 minutes of searching I came up empty handed. I asked MS to verify if I was blind or stupid and he pointed out I had the wrong Co-Ords and to re-examine the riddle. I used a mix of logic and brute force to come up with the most likey GZ... yep I had literally walked past it on my previous search and the spot that was the coolest I'd spied on route last time now had an arrow pointed up its date. I returned to the location and with my new co-ords found the generously sized prize easily. Read through the entire log and signed off. However I will admit like many others had done in that book, even with the answer I still dont see how it fits the riddle... I wonder if MS would be kind enough to explain An absolutely brillient cache mate, you've re-inspired me into a fit of bastardness, watch out for my next one . Cheers!

Rated: for Overall Experience

[Hey guys! Loving the cache so far but need to make a few notes for you. Small spoilers encrypted]
WP1 - Found easy, solved quickly.] The problem is the screws have rusted and need replacing, I only just managed to get them undone.
[WP2 - Again found easily just on dusk. Started the riddles but lost light so will have to wait for another day!] I found the box lying open and exposed, the hinges broken to gain access. Was it designed like this? I closed it all up and it looks fine back in place. Clue was a bit weather beaten but fine.

[Well I better get cracking on WP3... hopefully get a chance to finish it soon!]

A stumble, a fumble, a mind socket jumble is a truly brilliant cache and a very appropriate name.......When Gowza suggested that we do this one as a joint effort we were very enthusiastic. The first puzzle was hard but made us laugh when the answer became clear. The next one was solved quickly and without too much grief. The final cryptic clue had us thinking for a while. After a good nights sleep to clear the mind, the answer suddenly came to us. How wonderfully devious!
The answers were in hand. Gowza went to GZ and confirmed the find.
Finally, the Burkey Turkeys had a chance to go for an early morning stroll today. What a beautiful spot for the GZ. Thank you Mind Socket for all the work that has been put into this one. This was an awesome adventure. There should be more like it!
Cache # 398
TFTC

141 - First let me say what an evil yet brilliant cache - there should be more like it! I have thoroughly enjoyed the hunt... I am pleased to say as a side note that the Gowza / Burkey Turkeys joint venture completed the cache in only 2 days..... from what others have said in their logs, this is quite an achievement!! [:p] It is certain that without the "mensa sized brain" that is the Burkey Turkeys i'd have been between a rock and a hard place.... Thankyou Mind Socket for a great set of clues and for taking the time to say hello, it's always a pleasure to meet fellow cachers! Overall a great experience....

Yes! after 6 Weeks of searching and racking our brains for that last clue we have finally found a stumble, a fumble, a mind socket jumble. We scrambled for the first waypoint and slowly moved on to the second. The second was hard as well. The third was not (underline this) easy and the final cache had us trembling on our knees. Oh well at least we found one of the hardest caches ever invented. TFTC took 2 travel bugs to send them on their way.

Coin begins it's journey here from where it was found as a swap.

The journey has come to an end. The final location of GZ is befitting such a caching masterpiece. What a wonderful place to sign the log book and read the torments of those in years gone by. Having solved the final puzzle, thanks Mind socket for pointing me in the right direction and to Altaire for keeping tabs on my progress. I found a suitable entry point and began a glorious journey on a road I had not travelled before. This was truly a pleasant walk. Approaching GZ, I looked in a few spots, only to succumb to the fact that , yep I bet I have to go there, and get my clean clothes all grubby and ..... well you get it. I'm just so glad nobody else walked by at that moment.
What a large cache at that. A perfect seat not far away, and i was able to peruse the contents and log book at leisure. With a building storm over head and a few spots of rain, I reluctantly packed up the cache. I left a new Geopin, 3 tape measures and some batteries. I took the unactivated Geocoin. Thanks Altaire, another one dedicated to you.
I also left the FEMA2 TB and the Let's Cuddle TB.
Thanks Mindsocket for showing the geocaching community how a cache should be done. You are truly a master. Each Waypoint is a clever hide in itself and the puzzles...well only a true master would come up with something like that.
A thoroughly enjoyable journey.

Finally had a chance to retrieve Wpt3 today. It was with my mensa like brain that I solved the puzzle from Wpt 2 a week or so ago.
Arriving at Wpt 3 I recognised an area I had walked past many times before.
Oh mindsocket you are a sneaky evil person. You had me stumped for a few minutes. Then I spied something that made me go huh!
Yep there it was the next puzzle. What a sneaky hide and an ingenious method of hiding the next puzzle.
Took the required photos and have retreated back to the safety of home to try and solve another brain teaser.

Checked in at WP2 today and WP3 on the weekend. I've shifted WP2 slightly to a stable resting place and reinforced it a little.

The wpt 1 puzzle was solved,as I still rub that sore bald spot on the top of my head. All week, the pain of this irked me until in a moment of sheer brilliance the Easting popped out at me and in a moment not long after the Southing fell as well. How can one be so daft!!!
Once again walked straight up to Wpt 2 and in the blink of an eye quite literally had the required information.
Sadly, Wpt 2 needs a little TLC, not only does it have an ant infestation but well lets just say the whole game is hanging in the balance at the moment.
Having looked at the next puzzle I can see that bald spot growing bigger.

This was a cracking caching experience. It easily sits in the top rank of caches we’ve had the pleasure of completing. A little over 3 months ago we made our first tentative search for something of meaning at WP1. We failed miserably and retreated ignominiously in disarray and dismay. Three weeks ago we returned to the fray and with our few meagre wits about us this time were able to locate that which we sought so keenly.

Gleefully we fled back to our mountain fastness to do battle with the vicious little puzzle we’d secured. After a few mind bending hours that evening we’d obtained the next WP location but knowing full well the dangers of hubris we did not rejoice overmuch. The next weekend we secured the next instalment in quick time and once more scuttled home for another joust with sly and convoluted trickery. Two nights later and we had the WP3 co-ordinates in our hot little GPS.

A week later, after a brief battle with subterfuge and the dark arts of sly concealment, we were once more to be found chortling with smug joy as we headed for the hills with the vilest puzzle of all clasped to our bosom. This was a very nasty piece of work. We won’t bore the reader with the many, varied and twisted trains of thought and paths of possibility we explored in our increasingly despairing quest to solve this wretched riddle. Four days later, Lady Altaire had a moment of epiphany and the rainbows end was in reach.

Thus on this glorious spring day, befitting the finale, we ventured to a delightfully attractive location to complete this epic episode in windmill tilting. The find was as quick & painless as the puzzles were trying. We sat a whiles in a lovely and serene area doing the cache business in quiet satisfaction. Delighted were we to have found this cache by solving each and every puzzle encountered. We made a few suitable swaps.

PS: Dear Mind Socket. We know you are one of the learned elders of this game here. We sincerely hope you deign one day to partially return and perchance once more to throw down another gauntlet of similar ilk to this one. There are some recent adepts of this pastime who relish indeed the opportunity to test themselves against the best.

A work in progress. Arrived at Wpt 1 with Altaire, who had come along for morel support, they were already further along with this puzzle.

Well what can I say but the geocaching gods must have liked me today because I walked straight up to what I needed and had the required info without so much as a blink of the eye. ( Much to the shock of Altaire who just couldn't believe it...... and I might add did not tell me where to look)
I think I'm going to like this one.

Unfortunately I could participate in that cache only virtually. But even that made unbelievably fun.
THX Wurschtl

So finally done. THX go to my team mate Wurschtl with whom I did that cache almost in our usual way of splitting the work.
The first WP1 was nice but my spoon, was not needed here. The riddle first kept me stumped, but then Wurschtl came up with something he did not understand and zoom we had our first southing or was it an easting? Not late thereafter the missing part was found.
WP2 kept me coming twice, as I first had to go back to find the key...
The riddle was obviously easy although I hadn't even thought about it at all. THX Wurschtl!
WP3 was then quickly retrieved but for that riddle I used the bruteforce tactics as done by others and so we could head for GZ today.
The final hide is also nice, especially whith pink gumboots...
So what should I say. I used an electrician, a plumber, an decrypter and a locksmith and for sure some parts of the brain (including those who said give up!).
In total a wonderful experience with some of the best hides in Sydney and a wonderful first riddle.
The last one I assume needs to be explained during lots of beer. I have no clue even though I know the final result...
TFTC
Alpini
proud PLG member
In Coin/TB, Out: Coin

Rated: for Overall Experience

tb + coin drop off

Carried out a cache check and maintenance today (on my pushbike in the rain).

All is well, WP3 is back in action and it's good to go again.

Sorry it took me so long.

Finally I have found this cache! I can hear many sighs of relief. (The geomrs in particular) If it can't be found in a reasonable time frame the rest of the geofam lose interest. But I'm like a dog with a bone.
Waypoint 1 gave us next to no trouble we had this sorted within a few hours thanks go to my Brother & Sister in law in crime.(The extended arm of Ruffasgutts4x4)
Waypoint 2 was a walk in the park for us, literally to!
Waypoint 3 was found without delay but the clues within were not much help. I had my suspicions about one of the clues but the other was anyones guess. I used one lifeline for wp3 and the answer confirmed my suspicions. But there were still so many possibilities? I used all resources at my finger tips and some others as well.
Once I arrived at the suspected GZ I was convinced this was the place but a quick look in all the obvious places turned up nothing it was only after a lengthy search of the surrounding area that I returned to the first spot I looked and there it was, even the final search was a battle in itself. Mind Socket you have a very devious mind indeed!
Truly a 4.5 star cache. I have taken the Water fifth element TB (this was the crux of the search in the 1st place) and left the crowsfeat 30 Geocoin. Thanks again for the help and this challenging cache!

Waypoint 3 is undergoing maintenance. The others are still in action according to recent reports.

Found wp1 after a fair bit of head scratching. We are now massaging our brains to determine wp2. Curse you Spindoc Bob all we want is WATER! But now we are consumed by this mind bending puzzle.

Found waypount 1 easily enough, but I needed a bigger tool. The contents had me stumped so I needed a big hammer and a bit of brute force. That's looks like a likely spot.

A week later, I found WP2, but had I forgot the key. I returned to home to ponder what I did wrong. Eventually I needed a hint. An email to Bear_Left revealed that I had the right place and I was thinking laterally. Solving the puzzle from WP2 at home was a sinch.

Two weeks later I headed to WP3. A bit of searching revealed the clue. But a week of thinking ended with the return of the hammer and its brute force. Another check with Bear_Left confirmed my suspicions.

So with a firm idea as to where it was, I wasn't going to allow the threat strong winds and rain deter me.

Next morning I woke, dressed and headed out. As I approached the location I had a feeling this was the place. Once the GPSr read 10m to go, I took off the backpack and began my search. Within 30 seconds I had the cache in my hands. YES YES YES. A great feeling to have found one of Sydney's hardest.

As I wrote my log, with no rain thankfully, large low flying planes passed overhead. Just to be a smart-alec I left the Water TB from the Fifth Element series – cruel aren't I.

Thanks Mind Socket for a challenging cache that I have now conquered. I wonder if I can create as challenging a cache?

Solved the puzzle a couple of months ago but were beaten by the fading light to hunt for the final cache. We were able to look today and found it relatively easily.
Great cache and puzzles which we thoroughly enjoyed.
Thanks Mindsocket.

Finally we (I) found it, otherwise it would have killed us. Still puzzling over puzzle 3, we tried the brute force method and eliminated the impossible options for GZ.
Thanks for the fun and games Mind Socket (and the hint via SMS that I needed to place my hands on the cache)
Took toy dolphin
Left neopet and toy soldier

We have started the challenge.
Found WP1 easily enough, but had to go find the right tool. (Nice hide) Returned to find the clue in the middle of a thunderstorm. We were wet right through, thank goodness the clue was laminated.
Went home to ponder the puzzle.
Next day, off to WP2. This time well supplied with tools. Probably too many tools (don't worry it's back in one piece) Subtlety, may be your strong point, but it ain't ours
Back home again to ponder the next puzzle. Didn't take too long (all those years of pub trivia have finally paid off).
Off to WP3, easy find now we understand your style. The puzzle however is still a puzzle! We will be back (or we'll go mad)

Did this over the course of 6 months. Had to restrict myself to flying visits during trips to and from work commitments.

WP1 - 2 visits. First time had wrong size screw driver.
WP2 - 1 visit, but only after a few days at home working out the clue from WP1.
WP3 - 4 visits. Worked out the clues from WP2 quickly but confused myself at WP3 looking for the wrong thing. Found on second visit then spent months trying to work out the clue. Tried the brute force approach but somehow managed to completely miss the one solution that made sense.

Eventually gave the help line a call who pointed me towards the one crucial clue I had missed. All then fell into place quickly and the cache was mine.

Not the hardest cache I have ever done (the much-maligned and sadly defunct Son of Sam takes the prize for that) but I've never spent 6 months trying to solve one before.

TNLN

Four score and ten years ago I began MS-04, well it feels like it. I manoeuvred my way through the clues at WP1 and WP2 and finally found the clue at WP3. I hadn’t asked for hints thus far so I was going to work this out myself. After no sleep for 15 days and reading “Cryptology for Dummies†three times, I had it solved. It was simply a matter of understanding the relationship between:
1) the phases of the moon, when in alignment with Jupiter,
2) the migration of whales off the east coast, and
3) the flow of rainwater off Uluru in March.

I contacted MS for confirmation – and confirm it he did – I was indeed, TOTALLY WRONG (even the bit about Jupiter apparently). MS generously gave me a hint and a mere two days later the clue was solved.

But it was not over yet. Even standing at GZ the cache eluded me but I was not leaving till it was in my hand. Finally SUCCESS!!!!, it was like holding the Holy Grail.

Exceptionally frustrating, exceptionally aggravating, exceptionally annoying – just plain exceptional. I loved it. Thanks heaps Mind Socket, there is a real sense of achievement with this cache. Took nothing, left my soul.

The first took a while
But then we could smile
To the second and third
We flew like a bird
But there we found verse
That lead us to curse
We looked up we looked down
We started to frown
But even the hound
That cache never found
Till one day we decided
To get single minded
And set off down the track
Meaning not to come back
Till we stopped feeling bad
And the treasure we had
Though that final verse
Is still making us curse
We will solve it one day
That's all we can say

Except thanks MindSocket, for three weeks of puzzles and frustration!

Still working on this one. After decyphering clues 1 & 2, clue 3 is proving a tad more stubborn. I even took three sniffer dogs out to check out a site this morning,with no result. But we'll get there eventually....
Seizer

Came hunting with our brand new GPS. Got confused when it kept directing us to the spot, then went back and read the instructions (as you do, when all else fails). Came back, did as we were told and are now puzzling over the puzzle.

We'll be back....

Checked out WP2 at lunch the other day. It's still there, but I didn't get a chance to look inside due to muggle activity nearby. It looks undisturbed, so it should be fine.

A work in progress - no time to do the whole thing at once so I've just been doing some flying visits while driving past.

WP2 may need some maintenance. I found it in pieces on Tuesday and considering the large amount of activity in the area today (I swear I wasn't playing with matches) it may be at risk despite my repair job.

I'll make another attempt on this next week.

GEK

Thanks for the update, GEK. I've been watching the developments from across the water, and will check on it when the nearby activity dies down. Since my phone #'s in that waypoint, I've been half expecting a puzzled phone call from someone at the scene. :p

Located the cache this morning at the end of a most enjoyable journey. All Waypoints and the cache are in excellent order. If not for the odd spider's web, you'd think they were placed yesterday.
The puzzles at each waypoint fell within 3-4 hours of thought, except for the final longitude which I couldn't figure out entirely, but was close enough to narrow it down to a couple of places and, since scuba wasn't mentioned. I was able to eliminate all but one.

When I first heard about geocaching 5-6 years ago I looked into it, but there were only a single-digit number of caches around Sydney. I never pursued caching then, but always thought it could be fun - both physical and mental.

This cache has provided all that the activity promises and is in tip top condition for anybody to try who'd like a challenge that is acheivable.

Finally found this one after working on it, on and off for the last two months.

Found WP1 with BigMickB and missleah, without any trouble, missleah cracked the first part of the first puzzle that day, with the other half coming to me a week later, so BigMickB and myself headed off to WP2, which we found pretty quickly. We sat down nearby and worked out the puzzle at WP2 within the hour, and it was off to WP3. This waypoint took quite a while for us to find and were starting to consider calling it a day, when we had success!

We then racked our brains over the final puzzle for a couple of weeks, when we thought we had it, so BigMickB and I headed off for the potential GZ. After spending half an hour there we decided to head off as some local muggles were getting suspicious.

We came back a few weeks later, and came to the conclusion it probably wasn't GZ. So we emailed mindsocket, who confirmed our suspicions.

After reevaluating the clues, we looked at a new GZ and after a decent search of the area, BigMickB came up trumps.

Thanks MindSocket for an awesome caching adventure!
Took "Final Countdown" DVD
Left "Risk" Computer Game

Without a doubt, the hardest, most mind numbing difficult cache that I've ever completed. And also one of the most rewarding to complete. This one has taken Shaggy and myself about two months of head scratching and confusion, after Shaggy revealed he was after a 'reason to despise Mindsocket Geocaching'. (See the forum topic -'Return of the Jumble (shameless plug)')

We've finally unlocked the final waypoint this afternoon. We had hoped to be one of the first teams to go the whole nine yards without reaching out to the Mindsocket helpline, but alas, WP3 was not going to reveal its secrets without a bit of help. Many thanks to Mindsocket for his promt responses.

As for our next challenge, I've heard something about an Achilles virus running around Sydney....

ABOUT BLOODY TIME.....

The penny finally dropped this afternoon as I lay under the trees and the 3rd waypoint for another 2hrs.... My thanks to Mindsocket (who I can no longer refer to as the Mindless One) for the MASSIVE hints I recieved from him yesterday whilst up at Gosford and today, also to Crowmage for trying to nudge me in the right direction.

I hope your ears were burning today MS, cause I was calling you every name under the sun, and none of them are useable here.

Yet another classic cache...

Took the soon to be revamped Chopper and bouncy putty, left a 240v 3mt extention cord and a most appropiate DVD, The Final Countdown..... I had been counting down on this cache, mainly to control my tempter

Rated: for Overall Experience

SwampGecko, *sigh* !

Sorry MS. So close yet so far. I had big plans for today, this was to be my 300th cache. Then followed by 24hrs of solid caching(to see how many I could get within 24hrs of finding the first one). I spent three hours trying to figure this waypoint out... it has turned me sour for caching the rest of the day so I have folded my tent, spat the dummy and gone home til I am in a better frame of mind. oh yeah I did return wp3 back to where it belonged. Thanks to MS and crowmage for trying to help the idiot out.

Rated: for Overall Experience

Sorry to hear you had so much trouble Swampy, especially since I know how close you are. From your last message, you were soooo on the right track.

26/9/04 - Found WP1. Took Gravitational Pulse Satelite image of the clue and returned to the nest to perform more detailed analysis.
15/10/04 - Figured out coords for WP2. Required extraterestial intervention, an alien abduction, an MIB team and a hell of a lot of coffee. The evidence was undeniable and the result is conclusive! The bird is back in the air!
16/10/04 - Crashed & dived when I met Mindsocket at Burralow Swamp event cache. WP2 coords solution I had seemed to be half right and half wrong. I concluded that the left half of our brains was so far left it was left out! This can happen sometimes when you consume too much coffee during late night geopuzzle solving sessions!
19/10/04 - Lift Off... again! Confidence soaring. Made a mistake earlier, before I got it right. Now that I have it, I can go after WP2.
19/10/04 - Couldn't wait. Braved inclement weather and headed off to WP2. Due to dense cloud cover the Gravitational Pulse Satelite could not get a clear image so relied on transcription and dictation to recover the clue like substance. Beware the giant huntsman and its offspring. Yum!
20/10/04 - Back at the Nest I solicited the assistance of Eddie (a very boring efellow) and together we boiled the clue for 30 minutes or until transparent. The way was clear. We SMS'd the Mindsocket and served up the mash! He smiled and rubbed his belly. Yum! Now we're off to WP3.
21/10/04 - At WP3 there was a gap in the rain so after work I skittered down the path and carefully surveyed the area. Said hello to the Waypoint guardian, carefully avoided hords of shiny black cousins with the stripey red back. Poked and prodded. Shooed away a curious dog walking a person before dinner. Eventually, in the dark I saw it and alas, between the last cache check and now "a bit faded" has progressed to unreadable. So I phoned the Mindsocket and have returned to the nest to see what will eventuate.
22/10/04 - Back in the Crows Nest there was a message waiting. So I put the soup on to boil and am now waiting for it too to become transparent. Hmmm, still waiting...
8/11/04 - This one is driving me Cuckoo which is going to be a major problem 'cause Cuckoos don't look good in black! My rep will be tarnished. The 'burras will laugh about it for a long time to come and don't even mention Seagulls to me.
What I needed was a little Hydro Injected Nitroxide Teaser.
This Bird Brain turned out to be no match for a Mind Socket. Who said there was no shame in asking for help! I feel glum.
9/11/04 - Mindsocket threw me a bone. Great for dogs but Crows, I'm note so sure.
10/11/04 - Accompanied by the Cuddly Little Unknown Elephant (with big ears), a new Subaru Forrester and a birthday card for my daughter, I trudged off to our 67th Coordinate (from a list of a possible 80+ that we had brute forced into existance some time ago).

Good Golly Miss Molly! Cache found! Signed Log, took lint remover and left Magic Silly Putty and a Revell Minikit (BK-117 Space ship).

Do I really need to add that I had a hell of a lot of fun with this one. Many thanks MindSocket.

[This entry was edited by Crowmage on Wednesday, November 10, 2004 at 1:39:05 AM.]

Maintenance carried out, a more robust WP3 note is in place.

26/9/04 - Found WP1. Took Gravitational Pulse Satelite image of the clue and returned to the nest to perform more detailed analysis.
15/10/04 - Figured out coords for WP2. Required extraterestial intervention, an alien abduction, an MIB team and a hell of a lot of coffee. The evidence was undeniable and the result is conclusive! The bird is back in the air!
16/10/04 - Crashed & dived when I met Mindsocket at Burralow Swamp event cache. WP2 coords solution I had seemed to be half right and half wrong. I concluded that the left half of our brains was so far left it was left out! This can happen sometimes when you consume too much coffee during late night geopuzzle solving sessions!
19/10/04 - Lift Off... again! Confidence soaring. Made a mistake earlier, before I got it right. Now that I have it, I can go after WP2.
19/10/04 - Couldn't wait. Braved inclement weather and headed off to WP2. Due to dense cloud cover the Gravitational Pulse Satelite could not get a clear image so relied on transcription and dictation to recover the clue like substance. Beware the giant huntsman and its offspring. Yum!
20/10/04 - Back at the Nest I solicited the assistance of Eddie (a very boring efellow) and together we boiled the clue for 30 minutes or until transparent. The way was clear. We SMS'd the Mindsocket and served up the mash! He smiled and rubbed his belly. Yum! Now we're off to WP3.
21/10/04 - At WP3 there was a gap in the rain so after work I skittered down the path and carefully surveyed the area. Said hello to the Waypoint guardian, carefully avoided hords of shiny black cousins with the stripey red back. Poked and prodded. Shooed away a curious dog walking a person before dinner. Eventually, in the dark I saw it and alas, between the last cache check and now "a bit faded" has progressed to unreadable. So I phoned the Mindsocket and have returned to the nest to see what will eventuate.
22/10/04 - Back in the Crows Nest there was a message waiting. So I put the soup on to boil and am now waiting for it too to become transparent. Hmmm, still waiting...

[This entry was edited by Crowmage on Friday, October 22, 2004 at 3:54:01 PM.]

Sounds like you're having fun, Crowmage! I'll try to fix WP3 this weekend or next. In the meantime the "phone the owner" option remains valid, though I'm not sure that anyone is hot on your heels. Swampy, Pesky, ...?

Cache check carried out tonight. All is well, if not a bit jumbled.

WP3 is getting a little faded, still legible, but give me a call (ph# at WP2) if you can't read it.

A WIP still, got to WP 2 after a small misadventure, I had centered the wrong waypointco-ords, this sent me off to an area I really didn't want to be, If anyone saw the news today about the Home invasion, I walked right by it. There were cop cars everywhere, I was trying to work out why when I realised what suburb I was in, and there's me walking around with my GPS in hand..... and to make matters worse when I phoned MS to tell hem how close the wp was to the crime scene, he goes "Where are you? You aren't suppose to be there......." so back I walk pass the area again...

ONTO WAYPOINT 2

Having bagged 9 nominations at the 2nd Annual Official NSW Geocaching Awards, Mind Socket Geocaching is pleased to announce the return of its present signature cache to full availability. "MS-04: A Stumble, A Fumble, A Mind Socket Jumble", having taken 2nd place in the Best Puzzle Cache category, notorious for its brain bending puzzles, is ready and waiting for YOU*! Following lengthy delays caused by headquarter relocations, a sudden and unexpected reduction in geocaching mobility, an epidemic of apathy and fluctuations in local currency markets, the 3rd and arguably the most confuzzling waypoint of all is back in most of its glory, closing the missing link between waypoint 2 and ... the rest, if only marginally. The coveted winners' page erupted with positive comments at the news.

If you don't yet have a reason to despise Mind Socket Geocaching (is there anyone left?), this is your chance to find one.

Following the announcement, rumours were leaked by an unknown, but reliable source that preparations had begun for the next MSG epic. Codenamed "Mind Socket's next cache", the project looks set to raise the bar once again (before the glue comes off the magnets, causing the bar to fall unceremoniously to the ground). Project partners, including The $2 Shop, Bunnings and Storage World were tight lipped about the venture, disclosing only that they were excited to see such ground breaking innovations as a solar powered cheese grater and self-destructing bubble wrap being excluded from the highly refined manufacturing process.

* where you not in finders("i!" "leek" "bushrat" "alternateroute" "bear_left" "oky's mates");

Even thou this is out of action I decided to attempt the first waypoint, and who should I run into but the master of concrete canyons himself on a lunch break, actually I was down there on some geocaching related business and MindSocket just so happened to be near by so he came down to laugh at my attempts on his cache, a pity I am familar with all the known waypoint hiding devices.... especially THAT particular type.....WORK IN PROGRESS

Did a cache check last night, hoping to drop off a TB there. WP3 is temporarily out of action until repairs are carried out.

Curses ! foiled again...

If the monkey isnt wrong, and the code is not in the umbrealla, and the waypoints are listed in the jumble with the pink Gumboots... AAAARGH!

This time, no matter how dry my MonkeyBrains were, i think i still took a WRONG TURN someplace and ended up knee deep in the Lane Cove river splasing around, with some rather puzzled neighbors looking on.
I think I've got the co-ords wrong, still!

Ill get you next time Gadget! NEXT TIME!

[last edit: 6/3/2003 1:30:25 AM PST]

We were in the area so decided to have a go at WP1. Found very easily after our GPS put us on the right side of the road. It was orginally 50m out, and took a long while to get even close to the right spot.
We had a quick look at the puzzle but decided that it was best left to another time, we had other caches to catch today. We are on the hunt and will be back.

User's web page
This is more of a did not complete than a did not find.

Man, did i pick the best day for this or what?
I was gauranteed complete solitude at all waypoints for every cache i did today. Noone else was mad enough to be out in the torrential rain.

I kept singing to myself,,, hello muda, hello fada... ad they say that we'll have fun when it stops raining, you know the song!

found wapoit one, as sneaky as it is! then puzzled over some cryptic clues for a while, and well gave up, the rain was getting me well, i figured it would be beter to dothis one in the sunshine. I think the water had soaked into my Spnge like MonkeyBrains!

So home to play trivia quiz on #geocaching

Found waypoint 1 without too much trouble
Solved the puzzle and headed to waypoint 2 on the double
Easily spotted waypoint no. 2
But there were lots of puzzles to do

1 hour later had the coordinates for waypoint 3
But the wapoint took much longer for me to see.
Darkness fell and the cache had to wait
I couldn't afford to get home very late

Back to GZ after another week
The final cache I did seek
The poem for the cache had me stumped
But my third possibility proved to be trumps

Retrieving the cache was not much fun
Now I know why Leek had his washing done.
To Mindsocket a great cache you have made
The waypoints and puzzles must have been fun to have laid.

OK, Bushrat, Michael will get a visit from a pair of bears this weekend. (Better hurry, IdeoPersons!)
(And they did!)

[last edit: 4/13/2003 4:51:17 AM PST]

Bushrat, are you now highly impressed with us? We didn't ask anyone for any hints!

Bear_Left, we are indeed impressed! We were quite frazzled at the end of this one! Now for something really challenging how about trying our Michael? No one has come up with the goods yet, so we figure it's either too boring or too hard!!!!

We found the cunningly hidden waypoints OK, but actually had to _think_ to solve the puzzles! (Ow!)
Then we got the poem in WP3... We can both recite it by heart, and it will probably be amongst our last words.

However, we set it aside a couple of hours for a pleasant stroll along the seaside, and guess what we stumbled over! A geocache with MindSocket's logo on it! Who'd've thunk it?

We have now withdrawn the pins from the MindSocket doll and will stop cutting the brake lines on his car. Roger's a _nice_ man!

Our most challenging cache so far, and some lovely spots that we probably wouldn't have found otherwise.

We rescued Robert Actually from this fiendish cache and will escort him to a more readily found home soon. Left a small FM radio.

I did own up, I just mailed the answer directly..... I didn't want Mensa to revoke my membership.
By the way, the Waypoint guardian in my picture is actually a Deinopis or Net Casting Spider

Since AR didn't own up, I'll dob him in. There was a hint or two, but less than other teams so far.

Alternate Route, we are highly impressed - are you the first to do this one without hints?

Despite the weather being like 4 S in 1 D I managed to hunt down this cache over a number of days. (Doing one WP a day on my way home from work).
Dastardly clever hiding spots for WPs and equally clever puzzles to solve.
Mind Socket has raised the cache bar up a notch and should be commended for a personal best.
Left Robeart Actually (travel bug) to start its journey across the world.

An excellent cache.

Mindsocket, thanks for a very entertaining weekend of deciphering curly clues and discovering ingeniously engineered waypoints!

We used part brawn, part brain to find wp2. After going to every spot we thought it was in (except the right one) we lay down and thought about it and raced out bright eyed and bushy tailed the next morning. With wp2 under our belts by 9 am we thought we were in for an easy day.

On to look for wp3, armed with some (wrong) information from a brains trust who was supposed to be sporting fan. After a couple of attempts and some moral support from Mindsocket we found wp3.

After lunch it was on to another wild goose chase in which every false lead seemed to take us to a place that looked like a perfect hiding spot.

Finally, soaking wet and beginning to froth at the mouth, we bludgeoned Mindsocket over the head with the mobile phone and received a couple of helpful hints. The penny finally dropped, and it was off to GZ, where we received a close inspection from the fuzz cruising past. After a final hint from Mindsocket (he must have felt sorry for us, inside roasting his tootsies by the fire while we rats were outside drowning), we had the plastic fantastic in possession.

Alas, the hat was gone, but we took a mini rubbish bin to put our puzzling paper in.

On the way home we drove past two characters behaving suspiciously at wp1. We were going to dob them in, but we've thrown out our fridge magnet.

Mindsocket - our hats off to your brains. Thanks to both of you!

I've changed one of the digits in the jumble. This does not affect the waypoints, puzzles or cache in any way, except to remove a potentially misleading solution to one of the puzzles from the realm of possibility.

Well designed and superbly sculpted waypoints, cryptic puzzles that I could solve (eventually), fantastic locations, near to my home - what more could anyone ask for...

After some clarification and a few hints, I managed to beat the devious puzzle that was guarding the location of the final cache...

A truly great cache Mind Socket - the most fun I've had since Get Smart!

Photos and further details on my site later...

User's web page
We sped to WP1 to find it being assayed by a welshman wearing pink gumboots and an leeking umbrella. Undaunted, we slapped a couple of Telstra logos on the i! GeoKart and he squelched away. The horrible truth quickly dawned on us: we could spend valuable time sitting and thinking about this brain-numbing puzzle, or we could try the brute force approach. Naturally, we sat and thought about an even more brutal approach, which, after several bottles of red cordial, we executed only to be rewarded with a severe paucity of something under our nose! What do to? Get a bigger hammer? Or try a sea-change? Tricky numbers spiraled through our brains. But wait, what's that over there? Great cache, Mind Socket, we had oodles of fun! Being a virgin cache, we added some all-new i! action models!

I found WP2 & WP3 after a bit of a fumble
but now I'm stuck and starting to grumble

Visited WP1 twice today... The first time, the surrounding area was occupied by several Telstra NDC workmen, so I didn't think it would be a good idea to hang around looking suspicious... I did confirm my suspicions of where the WP was hidden though...
Returned later under the cover of darkness to do the deed, recovered the clue and took facsimiles of it home to boggle my brain... I'm all boggled out...

Nice one so far MS...

I stumbled and fumbled around at WP1 early this morning, but couldn't find anything much... I did find a few things, but nothing I have managed to unjumble or make sense of yet... I may try again when I'm fully awake...