Plaquest (Auckland) Blockhouse Bay, North Island, New Zealand
By Nedd on 26-Aug-06. Waypoint GCXZ8F

Long time since last found, so time to free up the area for someone else to use.

15:29 Second visit here, the first time was just to gather the text from the Plaque.

This one took a bit of looking, hampered by a bee's nest near GZ. I called Nedd to check if I needed to be near that part, and I didn't so the hunt was back on and the cache was found. The hide took a while to locate. Thanks Need for the cache.

Took: SHARKIE TB
Left: Nothing

Co-ordinates were plotted easily but GZ took a while but got there in the end. TFTC

Well, I made a complete hash of this one! Found the plaque, but copied down the writing incorrectly. My excuse is that my version was more grammatically correct.
Spent an interminable time at home trying to get some sensible answers, before finally doing a return visit and finding my error.
After all that drama, finding the well hidden cache was dead easy by comparision.
+ Sharkie TB
- nothing!
Thanks for the cache!

Great cache. Took us a while to solve it. TFTC

Almost gave up on this one due to the miserable weather but fortunatly gave it a few more minutes and came up with the cache. GPS signal is pretty dodgy around the GZ.

Took a while to sort the coordinates. Thanks for the cache. Nice little hiding place.

Solving the puzzle was the hardest part.... a near by family were enjoying the bbq's but posed no problems to finding the cache.

Found with BFR, took a while to work out the co-ordinates, but got there in the end.
Once at GZ a quick search the container was found.
Cheers
TNLNSL

Had visited a few weeks ago, and noted what was needed for the puzzle. Knew we had the wrong answer then, so headed home and used a feature of the computer.
Returned to the big smoke for Anzac day, and had to grab this one. Lots of possiblities, but RadioNut soon had it in his hand.
Thanks for the unusual concept of this cache.

Went with butterfly lady and radionut 50 who had already visited and worked out the puzzle.
In - playing cards
Out - badge

Solving the puzzled took us way longer than finally finding the cache. Area was crowded with Muggles, but nevertheless we were able to grab the cache without beeing seen. TFTC.
Took: TB "What the heck am I?"
Left: glowing star

Found with friends. Not much Fun
In TB What the Heck am I

Not "quick and easy" enough?

Plaque easily found. Letters quickly counted and final cache coordinates decoded. Nice easy find, compared to the previous Nedd cache we did. Lots of muggles at the beach today, had to avoid wedding party taking photos near GZ.
TNLNSL, TFTC #120

In haste made 2 errors in the deciphering process, but soon figured it was not intended we swim. So learnt the lesson of patience.

Great hide. Thanks for the hunt and a great location.
The new paint seems to be working well.
TNLN

Found when still a muggle going along for the adventure.

3 visits: 1 to get a pic of the plaque, 2nd to find muggles around GZ, 3rd at dusk to hop around like bunnies around the place. Found few undergarments, beer bottles, a wasp nest (yep, we called the search off for couple of minutes after reading in the papers about wasp attacks around North Island), then finally, poking around in the dark (can wasps see in the dark?) we heard the plastic klonk! yay - no 4th visit necessary!

We faced another mini-cryptographic challenge, whilst many family groups enjoyed a day in the sun. With the derived data entered into our trusted ‘trekky’ we ventured forth in (misplaced) confidence. The overhead leafy bits did create some problems, but perseverance finally prevailed.
Found dejected bear who soon cheered up when we offered to find him a new habitat with other forest creatures

TB Robinbear in residence. Cache has new camo coat after old paint badly peeled - new method under trial - have high expectations!

This is another great cache from Nedd. Took a little while to locate the plaque and then another longer while to work out the coordinates. Luckily our 5 year old was happy playing in the playground while we sat in the sun with a pen and paper. Then it was off to GZ with fingers crossed...first time was unsuccessful then hubby did a second more detailed pass and ...yay.. got it!
TFTC Nedd

Now this was fun, even though we had to repeat the letter count to finally solve this one. Nice spot. Collected TB, Home Sick Kiwi.

Third attempt at this one. Finally found it with a lot of help from Nedd. first timers with a GPS unit. Took the eyeglass, left a key ring and signed the log.

First attempt yesterday was just to find the plaque, embarasingly didn't see it. Today there it was, wrote down inscription and went home to decrypt it and went back in the afternoon with wife and kids. Couldn't find it so must have had co-ords wrong. Asked for help from Nedd who has put me back on track, so will give it another go on saturday.

Back into the bush.

Its unbelievable how stupid I've been with this cache. First visit in fine weather, tried to work it out with scraps of paper and ended up surprisingly in very nearly the correct location, but convinced myself it was wrong. Then gave it to the grandsons for a homework task, then a revisit to entirely the wrong place due to one very serious oversight (not their fault). Two more counting exercises occurred and, wait for it, another visit, but still the serious error was not discovered. Asked Nedd for confirmation of results, and was informed error existed. Finally did the whole thing again in a different way and surprise, surprise, stupidity revealed for once and for all. Unbelievable! However great local park and nice hide. Thanks Nedd.

I decided that it would be best if I let the Palm count up all those letters for me, and the spreadsheet worked well. Unfortunately I mis-transcribed the plaque's information and ended up 180m away. The mistake was obvious as the computed location was in the bay! A check revealed the mistake, and I was off to the real location, whick quickly yeilded the cache. Left Loxar's Duck, took Le Cassina

Bit like Tofska, I managed to make a hash of the counting. Eventually, in a idle moment at work I created a pivot table and immediately saw the error of my first two attempts.
Of after work and down to the GZ. Well hidden - nearly didn't find it but got there in the end. Left TB and signature Jersey 2p. TFTC

As there were a few muggles around I wrote down the wording on the plaque and went back to the car to decode it out. I came up with an answer and hotfooted it of to the GZ.

Sure enough there it was.
In: Grey Car and Badge.
Out: Esel aus Wesel TB
Cheers for the cache.

5th for the day, but what a time consuming one. I knew from previous visits here where to look for the plaque but it took a surprisinly long time sitting in the sun to count and check out the info.

In fact my checksum seemed wrong but it was by now getting late so I set off anyway half convinced I had it wrong. I was relieved to find my GZ looked so promising. In fact I had noted it a year back as a possible site for a cache placement.

A couple of minutes probing with the magic stick got the desired result.
TNLNSL T4TC

Gees - I can't count for peanuts! I was especially careful to count the 'F's in 'OF's, that apparently us males are particularly hopeless at counting! I wrote a quick program to check my working and only got half of it right (except for the 'of's, of course ).
Next stop the cache area, where EPE just wouldn't settle down and sent me dancing all over the place. I had to be particularly stubborn, searching every inch my fingers would go, in the eventual hiding place before the cache revealed itself.
+ Esel aus Wesel TB
Enjoyed this puzzle, thanks Nedd - M@

Fingers were well and truely crossed after all the counting and we were pleased to find the cache exactly where we zeroed out.

Hardest part was finding the plaque to start with. Must remember to read the cache notes better

TNLN. Thanks for a well designed cache.

Missed the FTF by 5 minutes, arrived at gz to find tramper2 departing, though he hung around for a chat. This is the second day in a row we have met up looking for this cache, though yesterday we ran into a slight problem with the code, now happily fixed.
TFTC Nedd, a good challenge, TNLNSL

My first FTF at 1600hrs with Mr sp8sm8 in hot pursuit.Nice work by Nedd in his first cache hide.Location is part of our favourite morning walk routine.No problem in locating cache,neat placement.Look forward to the next one.
TNLNSL.
TFTH.

Disabled temporarily as there appears to be a problem with the code used, which I am rechecking. Sincere apologies for leading searchers astray, will fix ASAP.
Thanks, Nedd

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