NOTE
This page was modified on 8/6/06 to correct
a slight error in section three
This page was modified on 9/6/06 for the last time to correct one
last small error in section three. The cache has been found now, so
we know it all works!
As for the comment about counting your change... Guess its
true!
Welcome to the “Spanning the gap” multi cache.
DUE TO CACHE
SATURATION LEVELS IN NELSON IT IS INTENDED TO ARCHIVE THIS CACHE
WITHIN 6 MONTHS TO GIVE OTHER NEWER CACHERS SOMEWHERE TO PLACE
CACHES!
This cache will require a reasonable
amount of effort.
Put aside at least a morning or afternoon to do it.
The FTF suggests that it will take you
at least 4.5 hours, most likely a lot longer.
Please take your time, and do not
rush this, there are a lot of numbers and equations to do,
so rushing it will invite disaster and a trip to somewhere like the
middle of nowhere!
You have been warned.
Stage one will show you several
different Bridges that Span the Maitai River, all quite different
from each other and quite fascinating once you take the time to
study them.
Stage two takes you to another method of spanning a gap, this time
with rubbish!
Stage three takes you to yet a third type of gap span which is
similar to the location of the final cache site.
Stage one can be done on foot and your dog will love you for
it.
You will need to drive to stage two, three and the final cache
site
All stages are within a 7 km radius of each other.
All stages of this cache are Dog Friendly, but a lead will
definitely be handy at times.
STAGE ONE
On this stage you will need to walk a total of about 5Km round trip
if you are doing this on foot.
This Stage requires you to find 6 silver plaques, each one about
8cm x 1cm and engraved (not very well sorry) with
"GC-SPAN-XXXXX" where XXXXX represents letters or numbers or
"whatever" that are clues to a number between 0 and 9. Some of
these clues are obvious, others a little harder, and a couple just
bloody silly. These plaques are not easy to spot, and you will get
frustrated, but persevere!
The best way to start this is by finding your way to the
co-ordinates above and parking / starting there. find the path that
follows the Maitai river, and find your way to the first bridge,
the main highway bridge. this is bridge "A". Each bridge that spans
the Maitai River after this is the next letter in sequence. Ignore
any bridges that cross tributaries, only the bridges across the
Maitai river count. The last bridge is up at Bramford Park.
this is not going to be an easy find for you is it!!
At all of the bridges except for B, G, H and J the plaque will be
found somewhere around where the path goes under, over or
around the bridge. At the others, the plaque will generally
be at the other end of the bridge to the path. There are no clues
you have to find them! Beware, some are quite well hidden.
As some of the plaques fall within the boundaries of other caches
and other waypoints from the multitude of caches in the area, we
are only allowed to include bridges A, D, E, F, H and I. Feel
welcome to find the other ones, but they are not included in this
cache.
So to finish this cache you do not have to find the ones on B, C, G
or J
If you want to make the cache more
interesting then you can ignore the four answers below and include
them, but "officially" they do not exist!
After visiting them all, each Bridge should then be able to be
associated with a number between 0 and 9.
though as said before, only some of these count.
so to help with the equations here are the other associations,
don't look if you want to do them all!
B = 6, C =
8, G = 7, J =
3
Once you have all the numbers you need, use them to decode the
following 4 waypoints which make up a square.
Square point 1 = S41 DH.ABB E173
DG.FID
Square point 2 = S41 DH.ABB E173 DG.FJG
Square point 3 = S41 DH.AJI E173 DG.FID
Square point 4 = S41 DH.AJI E173 DG.FJG
STAGE TWO
Find your way to the dead center of the square.
Just for fun, find the four corners and stick some sticks in the
ground, count the paces along each edge.... Is it really a square?
Makes you think doesn't it! The world is an egg!
Once you are there, look toward the transmitter tower of the
Grampian Hill.
Between you and the tower is a prominent pine tree, Go there.
From the base of the pine tree you need to go (C-G)(G-E)I metres in
a JJH bearing to find a sign.
Using the information on the sign, find the next four clue numbers
below.
A = number of Elliot Street
B = number of Akerston Street Viewpoint
C = number of Matangi Awhio Walk
D = number of Nelson Public Library
E = number of City Council Offices
F = number of Nelson Provincial Museum
G = number of Anzac Park
H = number of Marina
I = number of Millers Acre Center
Reference point 1 = S41 BF.(A-I-1)(I-F-1)(F-E-1) E173 BE.
(A-I-1)(I-F-1)(F-E-1)
Reference point 2 = S41 BI.(A-I-1)(I-F-1)(F-E-1) E173 BE.
(A-I-1)(I-F-1)(F-E-1)
Reference point 3 = S41 BI.(A-I-1)(I-F-1)(F-E-1) E173 BD.
(A-I-1)(I-F-1)(F-E-1)
Reference point 4 = S41 BF.(A-I-1)(I-F-1)(F-E-1) E173 BD.
(A-I-1)(I-F-1)(F-E-1)
Ok… now
Triangulate (or quadrangulate as the case may be) using the above
Reference points and below distances to find the next location. All
bearings are with reference to "Magnetic" north
Reference point 1 is 1.59km at 58 degrees away from the new
location
Reference point 2 is 2.23km at 114 degrees away from the new
location
Reference point 3 is 1.59km at 152 degrees away from the new
location
Reference point 4 is 319m at 10 degrees away from the new
location
STAGE THREE
Once you have made your way to the new location, start at the top
and count the number of steps down to the bottom. Each step down is
one step.
You will end up with a number…. Lets call it “X”
Use “X” in the formula below to find the final cache site
S41 16.(658+X) E173 15. (479-X)
FINAL CACHE
Make your way there and your all done! – good luck
Cache is a standard 1 litre container with usual logbook and
trades