Hunt Debrief #1 - Wellington

Hunt Debrief #1 - Wellington
Coin found on 28 September 2014, at 2:50PM by Chaucey & Anna

Oh, what a miserable day it was. I woke up dealing with an hour of sleep lost to Daylight Savings, then as soon as I arrive at the station, it's windy and freezing! Though it was a successful hunt, the original plan was to have the coin hidden outside, so I'm glad I managed to find a new hiding place inside and write new clues in the half hour before it started!
-Huntmaster Orion

In this hunt debrief, you'll find out the answers to the clues I posted on twitter, the coin's location, the winners, plus the chance to flex your clue solving skills with a bunch of unused clues!


Answers have been hidden inside a grey background. To read them, simply highlight the text with your cursor... like that.

The Clues - Solutions and Explanations

#theHunt_WLG Clue 1 » 1940 days ago, a ring was found. Its hiding place is the north edge of the search zone. @hdpaNEWS might remember.

If you did the maths correctly, 1940 days before the hunt is 6 June, 2009. If you searched the TVNZ news archive for "wellington ring", you may have found this news story. The ring was hidden on Queens Wharf.
The Wellington ring hunt was actually the inspiration behind this project. The original first clue was going to further reference this, but I decided to drop the idea (see "Unused Clues" below).

#theHunt_WLG Clue 2 » What do @SOL3MIO, @BillBailey, and @passengermusic have in common? It's the south edge of the search zone.

A bit of Googling is needed on this one. You'll find they are all performing at the Michael Fowler Centre soon.
I later found that the answer could also be "they all have performed previously at the Opera House". Luckily, both of these places are south of where the ring was hidden, so there wasn't a problem. 

#theHunt_WLG Clue 3 » Americans won’t agree with the street name. The west edge of the search zone is where it would run aground in 1840.

The street I'm referring to is Grey, since in American English it would be spelt Gray. In 1840, the shoreline ran along where Lambton Quay is today, so the location is the Intersection of Grey Street and Lambton Quay.

#theHunt_WLG Clue 4 » If you passed the container of treasures, you've gone too far east.

This clue directly refers to Te Papa's translated Maori name, "container of treasures".

#theHunt_WLG Clue 5 >> Action shot of the Hunt Coin! It's in the darkess there, somewhere... http://ow.ly/i/7218X

This clue wasn't meant to be an instant "oh I know where that is!" clue. By this time, if you had solved the past four clues, you would have a rectangular boundary around Wellington City. All you would have needed to do is find where inside that box you would find the posted picture.
Of course, the next five clues would help you pinpoint the coin's location (see "The Coin's Location" below).Also, spelling mistake. Drat.

#theHunt_WLG Clue 6 >> I'm on a quay but nowhere near the harbour.

This refers to the handful of Wellington's streets named "Quay". But hopefully it narrowed your search to looking along Lambton, Customhouse, and Jervois Quays.

#theHunt_WLG Clue 7 >> Something happens here every hour, on the hour.

This refers to a mechanical clock that opens up every hour and tells the story of Wellington's past.

#theHunt_WLG Clue 8 >> Weather was horrible, so earlier I got a tall hot chocolate and a raspberry brownie for under $10.

The only place I know where you can buy raspberry brownies is Starbucks Lambton Quay. It's not where I hid the coin, but you at least know it's quite close.

#theHunt_WLG Clue 9 >> Where do you deposit old coins?

At an Old Bank, of course!

Answer - The Coin's Location
If you didn't/couldn't solve the first nine clues yourself, the tenth clue will always tell you exactly where the coin is. This hunt, the coin was hidden at the Plimmer's Ark display in the Old Bank Arcade, Lambton Quay.

Congratulations to Chaucey & Anna for being the winners of the first ever Hunt!

Unused Clues
There's always going to be a drafting process in making these hunts. Here are the clues that didn't make the cut, or were abandoned (in part due to the weather).

» In 1492 Columbus looked for me. Today I am in Thorndon & I am the northern edge of the search zone

This clue refers to New World Supermarket, Thorndon.
This clue, word for word, is the first clue from the ring hunt 1940 days ago (much respect to @antsgardiner, a.k.a. @donoogle_com). I was going to have this as a first clue to see if anyone would notice, but came up with a more blunt reference.

» The longest-running mayor shot three under par.

This is the Albatross sculpture next to Frank Kitts Park.

» Cross the bridge near a four-sided palindrome.

This is the City to Sea Bridge next to Civic Square.

» WHAT'S MISSING FROM THIS CLU?

This clue refers to Capital E.

» XLI.MMDCCCLXXXIIS, CLXXIV.DCCLXXXE

Solve the Roman numerals and you get 41.2882S, 174.780E. This is a bridge along Taranaki Street Wharf, the original outdoor hiding place for this hunt.

The Hunt #2
As promised, the second of the two instalments of The Hunt will be taking place in Auckland. It's still in the planning stages, but keep an eye on @hunt_clues for the latest announcements!

Until we meet again.
-Huntmaster Orion