Anyone who found the original of this cache will have an advantage. I needed to shift that one due to muggle interference.
Deep inside the Misty Mountains lived a wretched creature with a mysterious golden ring. One day he lost his precious ring and then a hobbit called Bilbo Baggins arrived at his hidden lair. While searching for his ring he played out a game of riddles with Bilbo.
Smeagol was a hobbit-like creature who lived in the same village as his cousin Déagol. He was often found strolling and searching for hidden treasures along the banks of the GLAD-NZ River, a tributary of the Anduin (Hutt) River. While out fishing one day Déagol was pulled underwater by a large brown trout. While struggling to swim, he discovered a golden ring on the riverbed below. It was Sméagol's birthday and he wanted his cousin to give him the ring. When he refused, he murdered Déagol to get it. This was no ordinary ring but the missing ring of the dark lord Sauron and over time this ring changed Smeagol into a very sinister and wretched creature who lived far beyond his natural years. One day a hobbit called Bilbo Baggins entered his dark world deep under the Misty Mountains (Rimutaka Ranges).
When Smeagol discovered he had lost his precious ring he was beside himself with anger and fear. And to cap it off a strange creature called Bilbo Baggins was taunting him from across his pool under the mountain. The pair engaged in a high stake game of riddles. Smeagol did not plan to share his dinner with Bilbo but rather to eat him, but first he needed to find where he had placed his magic ring which made him invisible.
These are the riddles they played out under the mountain. Work out the answers to each riddle and use these to find the hidden key to open the logbook at the cache final. Each is a single word answer (sourced from internet). Use the number of letters in each word.
1. Smeagol:
What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees,
Up, up it goes,
And yet never grows?
2. Bilbo:
Thirty white horses on a red hill,
First they champ,
Then they stamp,
Then they stand still.
3. Smeagol:
Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters,
Toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.
4. Bilbo:
An eye in a blue face
Saw an eye in a green face.
"That eye is like to this eye"
Said the first eye,
"But in low place,
Not in high place."
5. Smeagol:
It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills.
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.
6. Bilbo:
A box without hinges, key, or lid,
Yet golden treasure inside is hid.
7. Smeagol:
Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking.
8. Smeagol:
This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.
The secret pass to find the treasures at the cache final is at WP1 located at S41 06.ABC, E175 05.XYZ
Where
A = Answer to riddle 5 plus Answer to riddle 6
B = Answer to riddle 8 plus Answer to riddle 4
C = Answer to riddle 3 plus Answer to riddle 6
X = Answer to riddle 7 minus Answer to riddle 4
Y = Answer to riddle 1 minus Answer to riddle 8
Z = Answer to riddle 2
Checksum of A+B+C+X+Y+Z = 31.
This cache used to have a key at Waypoint 1 to unlock the final. The wet Wellington weather has been a Riddler and destroyed keys and notebooks. So the cache has reduced to the basics. Find WP1 to locate the final hidden elsewhere in the same park.