Warning: The series is set in a typical rural area. Roads can be narrow with limited parking opportunities next to caches. Safer parking may be up to 100m away. Traffic is usually intermittent but can be much greater during harvest time. Vehicles can vary from quad bikes through to large harvesters. Vigilance is required at all times, particularly with geokids.
The caches in the series are not located at the published coordinates.
It is envisaged that the set will be completed over a period of time but could be done in a day provided the geocacher has access to the internet during the day. There is good mobile phone coverage in the area for a range of wireless devices. The caches are arranged in four groups:
- the starting point (The Octagon – Start)
- the outer group (The Octagon – Outer 1 through to The Octagon – Outer 8)
- the inner group (The Octagon - Inner 1 through to The Octagon – Inner 4)
- the final cache (The Octagon – Final).
The Octagon – Start must be completed before attempting any other cache. All caches in the outer group must be completed before any of the inner group. And, of course, all other caches must be completed before attempting The Octagon – Final.
Check Point
Before attempting this cache you must have completed all eight of The Octagon - Outer and all four of The Octagon - Inner puzzles and have collected the four missing pieces for a final Sudoku Puzzle .
If required you can obtain additional copies of the Sudoku template from The Octagon - Final Worksheet. Use the printer icon on the task bar at the top of the Google page to print a hard copy.
Your Task
This last cache in the series, The Octagon - Final, can be found at
S 41 AB.CDE E 146 FG.HJK
where the values of A..K can be obtained by solving the following Sudoku. The template alone is not sufficient - you will need the four additional pieces of information from The Octagon - Inner 1 through to The Octagon - Inner 4 inclusive. You should notice that the letter D does not appear in the grid. In fact
D = C + B - J - A
You can check your answers for The Octagon - Final with:
The Cache
Now that you have the final coordinates, it only remains to locate and access the cache container.
Once near GZ you should recognise the container without too many difficulties. It is placed on public ground but very close to a residence. The cache has been placed there with the full knowledge and approval of the resident.
Oh, one final little challenge. The container has been secured and you will need to decipher the code. The combination is
guerr frira fvk
In Conclusion . . .
Thank you for completing The Octagon series. We trust you have enjoyed the puzzles and your tour through the rich rural areas of Wesley Vale, Northdown, Thirlstane and Moriarty. We have experimented with a number of concepts to create a different type of challenge and have integrated some different presentation techniques. In the process we have challenged ourselves and extended our skills and understandings.