A Square Meal (Canterbury) Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand
By fnk on 23-Feb-05. Waypoint GCMX73

We printed the cache description at home some weeks ago and tried to find it today without success, not recognizing that it was archived already.
Carolin & Matthias

Let's be honest. It doesn't look like this cache is going back. Someone else can have a bash at this great location.

Any news on this - been a long time and we are visiting next month!

Checked for this, this week, and it appears to be missing in action. Still under maintenance?

Was in the area today, so thought we'd try to find it even though it was very wet. Couldn't find it; maybe it's been removed for maintenance.

Found with friend. logging very retrospectively.

Found it late on Anzac Day night. Did not fill in the book as it was very wet. Didn't know it had been archived untill this morning when I came in to log on line.

It appears that this cache has got wet. We've archived it temporarily while we sort it out.

a ezy find this one but the cache is very wet con.nt write in the log took the joker card left the marbal

Went to show a friend of mine this clever little cache only to find it was full of water! We tried drying it in the sun for abit but the log book has marine life living in it... it might need replacing.

Sorry, I was too short in Christchurch to recommend a restaurant for the watchlisters of this cache. (But the grilled sausage I bought on the "Square" was the best I got in the southern hemisphere. And - until now - the only one ...)

But I have the habit to have the cache number x00 to be found on foreign soil, and this cache made this happen. Three hours before my plane is heading back to the northern hemisphere and the other side of the planet, I found my geocache #400. Many, many, many thanks for that.

P.S. Either it was raining hard in Christchurch, or the sprinkler system went on: This cache is flooded, the log book closer to a heap of cellulose than to some pieces of paper (I hope my log can be read). Dear owner, please give this nice cache the opportunity to dry!

Found @ 1720
Arrived in Christchurch just after lunch. After settling in, we decided to go for an evening walk and catch the tram. While waiting in the square for the tram, I peeked at the GPS and discovered a cache very nearby...

A short wander later, and we managed to log this one quickly before jumping on the tram. It was surprisingly quiet for this time of day I thought...

TNLN, Cheers,
Murf & Mrs Murf

The GPS was having an off day for this one (at least 80 ft away from ground zero) so had to resort to the clue quite early on. We saw where it was and soon realised this would be best attempted at night!

So after a quick drink at the Taproom and before a fantastic Italian meal at Cafe Valentino on Colombo Street, we nipped in and grabbed this one. A straight forward find when no-one is about!

TFTC.

Took us a wee bit of hunting - we showed a great interest in architectural photography to get this cache in the middle of the day!!!
tnln tftc

A fairly quick find on a warm and sunny day....In the city for a day prior to a road trip around the S. Island...Here from California for a week...Beautiful. TFTC!!!

Signal was erractic and we were running around like thieves in the night, quite literally. I do have reservations about snooping around benches, gas pipes and water cooler of a very prominent landmark in a place I hardly know. But it was fun. TFTH and greetings from Singapore. IN: Changi Airport Pin OUT: Nothing

Our last cache in NZ on the morning we flew out. Easy to find after we had looked through the attached landmark.. Harder to replace though with the muggle factor increasing - we took the cache for a little walk to do the logging and waited for muggles to depart for the return as our time was running out! We forgot (in haste) to write about food in the log, so we will put it here - We had great pizza from Winnie Bagoes and good indian from Two Fat Indians (they even delivery to your hotel). TNLN Thanks fnk.

We arrived in town today and didn't set out for the geocache until after dinner--well after dark. The darkness was a good cover for the search and find. We returned today to listen to the choir sing evensong--lovely voices. Thanks for the hide.

it was really fun to be sneaky on this one. success!

not too crowded but still hard to be sneaky enough to get this one
tftc

There was a festival going on in the Square, so a little bit of stealth was employed for the retrieval and replacement.

checked this out at midday, but returned at 9.30pm to complete. TNLNSL
TFTC

Busy place! Like the hiding spot.

Thanks

8.00am. A great time to visit as nobody about.
+ domino
- nil
TFTC
Cheers M+S [:O)] (1049)

At first I thought I was looking at a piece of the apparatus, so I walked away and returned later with Barabajagal. A terrific fun cache in a beautiful area. Thanks for the cache.

A nice hide, found without too much trouble. Left our restaurant recommendation on the log book - The Twisted Hop, fantastic.
TFTC.

Sneaky find! We recommended the relatively new Lotus Heart (vegetarian) restaurant just around the corner from the cache. Very tasty!

#143
First cache in Christchurch. Lonely place in the late evening, just in front of our hotel. Took TB New Zealand Kiwi and GC Swedish inventions to take them with us 19.000 kilometres far away... to Spain. Greetings from Barcelona.
TFTC.
Also logged our TB SIM

Just dropped of a travel bug

Nice cache. Lots of muggles about during the day, but quietened down in the evening. Haven't really had the opportunity to log this cache during great holiday in NZ.

TNLN TFTC

Cool spot, TFTC.

An easy find, good to see M@ down this way

Glad to tick this one off this time as it wasn't accessible last time I tried it. Just a little 'beware' from a paranoid Aucklander - a similar cache in a similar location caused a bomb scare up there recently.
Cheers - M@

Bug visit I forgot to log.

Visiting from Orange County, California, on a 2-week biking/kayaking/hiking and backpacking adventure with Active New Zealand Active Adventures group throughout the South Island. Lots of muggles about, yeah, but NOT near the hiding spot. Even so, I used my wife's photography skills to hide what I was doing !! SLTNLN -- thanks for the fun, fnk...

Muggles about? No kidding. Even getting close to the area was hard. Left it for another day as confidence in stealth is necessary, being spotted by the wrong people could be embarrassing... we'll be back - and of course bringing the GPS might help.

Visiting from Canada and caching at the convenient stops. Found this one today while waiting nearby for friends to arrive. Thanks.
#1025

[This entry was edited by Cache Hawks on Friday, February 29, 2008 at 9:31:52 PM.]

Tricky and good fun.

A quiet little corner. tftc

Quick find right after church. I think some cachers came and found it right after us. TFTC

Found it after a short search. Lots and lots of muggles.

Wet weather caching meant the area was not quite as attractive as it might usually be. Took Diabetes Travel Bug. Left recommendation to visit The Twisted Hop - excellent food and beer. Will try to return whilst in Christchurch to leave beer mat giving map to get there - co-ords are S43.32.073 E172.38.492.

TFTC

Biggest problem were the muggels (and the church, which was closed due to a concert, since I wanted to go the straight way through the church ) .

Teammate took photos, while I took the cache.

Took TB for a long travel.
TFTC.
_sunrise_

Dropping TB and grabbing it, so that it gets a start location

Fun find, finally! We enjoy eating at Strawberry Fare on Peterbrough in ChCh. the BEST desserts ever! We took nothing but left our Apple Blossom Travel Bug.

Maximum stealth required for this one on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
TNLNSL TFTC

we got confused with which centre it was!

thanks to


Dr Karl,from the physics freeks son!

Two goes at this one. The 1st was a recce to locate the area and the second a quick dash in when there were few people around and it was getting dark. TNLN TFTC Dan'gle

Muggle-rific spot alright. GZ also bouncing about, perhaps the tall building blocks a bunch of satellites. Anyway, didn't have description with me but remembered the decrypted clue, so went straight for it when muggles permitted.

Took Geocoin for transportation to another cache.

Boy!! I looked and looked and know I was inthe right place oer GPS altho coordinates kept bouncing alot. Took an hour to look knowing I was right on top of it but no luck.

Found it in my tea break, cool day but still lots of muggles. No trades.

A interesting and challenging retrieval with plenty of muggles about. Made like we were really interested in the local architecture. +TB -GC TFTC.

Got it! Wrong place last time! Overcame the 'Muggle Factor'.

Thanks Dr Karl!

Place to eat in Chch - apart from your house? - the plethora of fast food stalls behind the Arts Centre on a Sat/Sun.

Cheers

and TFTC

Came by at dusk to defeat the muggle factor and found it easily. I'm leaving my personal traveling Gypsy geocoin and a trackable California Wooden Nickel. TNSL Thanks for the cache!

Found with Marky Sharky and Alfoyle. It took us ages to locate GZ. We must have walked past it 3 times.
TFTC
Gazma

Got up and going early to find this one since the city is is in the middle of the Buskers Festival and there are thousands of muggles in the square. Had to look twice but got it. Last cache to find on a bike/bus ride from Nelson to Christchurch. A solo effort since the rest of the team stayed at home in Auckland. TFTC

Muggle City!

Didn't find, but we'll be back! Enjoyed the World Busker Festival though!

Found without GPS, but with assistance from google maps of approximate location, while in CHCH on business. "Where would I put a cache if I was.... ah!"

TFTC.

Easy find across the street from my office. Officially our 100th find. Took TB Ellie Elephant. Best Chinese joint in town – The Chinese Kitchen – is found about 43 31 907; 172 38 287 (ie: a little east and a bit further south, down the alley between two hotels). Try especially the pork dumplings. Reopens end of January. TFTC.

Just got home TFTC

good hide, lots of muggles obviously, but stealth paid off,
tnlnsl

Dropped in NZ Trekking geocoin to record our travels in NZ.

Alas, we are nearing the end of our holiday in NZ. We found this cache without too much trouble and left behind our little friend Ellie the Elephant TB who has travelled with us since we picked her up on the North Island some time ago. TFTC - Not sure about eating recommendations, but we did have a reasonable meal at Oxford on Avon.

Challenging to log when busy, unfortunately we could not give a restaurant recommendation other than our campervan

found at 6.30am (9/1/08 - the system doesn't appreciate that somewhere away from the centre of the universe can exist with a different time) on a quest for bread - not very successful alas. had to use the hint - GPS was playing up on evening trip the night before. Took note, left a big coin that wouldn't neccessarily be appreciated now on the collection plate

My first find for the new year and in NZ (Over from Australia for the Scout Jamboree). TNLNSL Thanks

Took Train-mad Tiki 3 for a ride on the Chch Tram, to his great excitement!! We hopped off for a quick cache hunt in the Square, grabbed this one, then hopped back on to meet up with Tiki's 2 & 4 at the Arts Cantre for more hunting. TFTC.

Real date 1/1/08

Last find of the day, Easy enough with not too many muggles about @ GZ.

TNLNSL

T4TC.

on my second vist armed with the hint it was a whole lot easier as originally my GPS was sending me to another corner, amazing this cache isn't muggled, good location
thanks

Mtrax Canberra, Australia

Had a bit of difficulty with this one at first. The co-ords seemed to be pointing directly into the cathedral itself but fortunately there were only so many places this cache could be hidden!

TFTH

Good day to go for this one. The Tram restraunt is a novel way to dine.
Out with little Red Engine and Meadowsweet
Cheers,

S.t.

quick find, no one about when we started but just as we were about to return it the church emptied so we had to hold off. cheers

Since small 10 year old kid had to climb on side to find on back of the metal thingymobobby.
TFTC ClownyCacher

TFTC. we're fond of South of the Border.

Hi,

easy find, at a very nice but busy spot!

Thanks,

Robert & Monique (Holland)

TFTC. muggles about. needed clue for help. lovely day in the square.

Easy find, lots of muggles about. TNLN Cheers

Yep, found it! Nice cache!!!!!!!! Thanks!

Nice hide, nice clue, good one! Thanks!

I had a quick look after work yesterday when there was a huge number of muggles around. I dived in and grabbed it at 6 am this morning when the muggle count was very low.

Pedro's in Worcester St has great Spanish food.
+ USA 2005 Geocoin
TFTC!

Not to many around. So a couple of innovative tricks later we managed to log it safely.

Nice hide.

If you'd like to walk a few hundred metres North along Colombo St. you'll find a nice selection of restaurants which are quite a bit cheaper than the central city options. Good Thai, Burmese and other Asian food.

TNLN.
Thanks

The fences are gone!!!

Nice inner city cache!

Xmas parade was today so was very careful...but luckily everyone was too busy watching santa!

TFTH

This cache is accessible once again - hooray

Did this some time ago but only now managing to log it.
The fences had gone (the logs at that time said they were still there), but you could see where they'd been and clearly only just been moved.
But, could not find any cache.
The clue makes it pretty obvious so I'm sure we were in the right place, but nothing found.
From subsequent visitors it's obviously there now so wondering if it wasn't there for a while after the fences were moved.

I have it on good authority that the fences will be gone very very soon. However, I managed to get a sneaky way in, through connections in high places...


Cache is still in place, in good order. TNLN. Thanks.
Restaurants i recommend:

Raj Mahal, corner Worcester and Manchester, and Alva Rados, also corner Worcester and Manchester, opposite side to Raj Mahal, upstairs. YUM YUM!

the alterations are still going on.

The alterations are taking a lot longer than we first thought. This cache will be livened up again as soon as those fences go...

Tried to get to it...but still fenced off

It's still fenced off, no chance of access!

Unfortunately this cache is still fenced off. I doubt it will be unavailable for too much longer though.

Went looking for this at 6am but no sign of it at all. But wanted to recommend the restaurant we ate at the night previous, Thai Smile on Columbo Street, so decidsed to log a DNF. Great idea for a cache but should probably be taken off line until it is checked out by the owner.

Looked today, but the cache is under lock and key behind construction fence.

Looked around and it is still fenced it. Too close to the police station to try any daring attempts at it. Maybe next year!

I had passed by on Friday eveniing but got the evil eye from a guy in the info place but Since I was in town early (0830) Saturday morning I circuited the area and checked out any half accessible areas. The most promising looking area, which had been open on the previous evening was behind a locked gate this morning.??? So I went away hungry!

here in the mainland-big show on nearby so wasnt able to go anywhere near the GZ.
Better to try in the evening I suggest-esp with the fencing

Still "under construction"! No chance to get there...

Likely areas still fenced off. Not game to break cover by climbing them during the day (and close to the small police station...) Will keep an eye open for when the construction is complete.

Thought looking on Christmas day might help keep the muggles at bay, but that proved not to be the case. The most likely area was fenced off anyway, so we gave up for now.

Made a visit to where this cache should be. The area is fenced off and I couldn't even see the suggested spot in the clue.

Anyway.... had breakie at The Bog Irish bar and while not the cheapest it was really good and value for money.