Hunt #5 Debrief - Wellington

Hunt #5 Debrief - Wellington
Coin was not found

Hmm... whether it was the rain or lack of recognition, for the first time in an outdoor hunt, the coin went unclaimed. But 3 out of 6 isn't too bad a record... luckily the following week I held an impromptu hunt in my hometown with the unclaimed coin, with much better results.
-Huntmaster Orion

So, just for the consistency reasons, in this debrief you'll find out the answers to the clues I posted on Twitter, and the coin's location!

*Spoiler Alert*
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

#TheHuntWLG Clue 1 » Where Harry gets his robes cleaned. Today it's the NE corner of the hunt zone.

By "Harry", I meant "Harry Potter". Of course, he gets his robes cleaned at Platform 9 3/4 Drycleaners at Wellington Railway Station.

#TheHuntWLG Clue 2 » The W edge of the search zone has been seeing stars since '41.

This is the Carter Observatory. They opened in 1941.

#TheHuntWLG Clue 3 » New Zealand's tallest building in 1985 is the S edge of the hunt zone.

A bit of research was required for this one, but at the time the tallest building was the State Insurance Building (formerly BNZ Centre). It was the tallest building in 1984, and retained this record until 1986.

#TheHuntWLG Clue 4 » Introducing Tic-Fact-Toe... Featuring @ricky_martin in centre square! http://ow.ly/i/apTdJ

It's time for a puzzle! This time around, I gave nine statements, and you had to decide whether they were true or false. Once you found the only three-in-a-row, it would point to the suburb the coin was hidden in. The puzzle and its solution can be found here.

#TheHuntWLG Clue 5 » @TheSimpsons quote by @AJemaineClement: I've seen more life in ______________________________! http://ow.ly/i/apXj5

To be honest, I wanted to couple this picture clue with more shout-outs...

("The Simpsons" are owned by 20th Century Fox)

Anyway, the quote in question comes from "The Simpsons" Season 22 Episode 01, "Elementary School Musical", where the Flight of the Conchords guest starred. The words that fit in the blank are The Wellington Botanic Gardens.

#TheHuntWLG Clue 6 » I see a fragrant circle sectioned in four.

ow.ly/i/apYAY « Clue 7 #TheHuntWLG

Another picture clue, but this time it's not quite... right. The tweet itself is written back-to-front, so if you mirrored the image, it reads as "L. NORWOOD". The circles behind it represented the shape of a fountain.

#TheHuntWLG Clue 8 » A Kapiti Coast filmmaker recently won an award for their short film featuring a blind man. Where was it filmed?

The film is Linda Niccol's "The Handkerchief", which won an excellence award at the US Best Shorts competition earlier in the year. You can find out more about the film (and where in the gardens it was filmed) here.

#TheHuntWLG Clue 9 » The same hiding place, but zoomed out. http://ow.ly/i/apZZQ

This was a view of the garden from higher up, showing the "fragrant circle" I talked about back in Clue 6.

Answer - The Coin's Location
As always in The Hunt, the final clue will always tell you exactly where the coin is. This time, the coin was hidden in the Lady Norwood Rose Garden at the Wellington Botanic Gardens. Rather fittingly, for the fifth hunt, I hid the coin near one called "High Five".

Twitter Practice Clue
Here is the answer to the practice clue released on Twitter before the hunt.

» Dramatic international relations.

The answer to this clue is the Embassy Theatre.

Unused Draft Clues
So like the first Wellington hunt, the weather was a bit... iffy, so I used my "Plan B". Below are my "Plan A" clues. I'd like to point out that the first four clues would have been exactly the same, but clues 6-9 would lead you to a different location. So here they are:

» You're looking for an octagon that isn't in a prime-numbered postcode.

The postcode in question is 6012.

Clue 7 for "Plan A" works just like before, only this time the background shape is an octagon (referencing the fountain from the above clue), and the words spell out "SALAMANCA", for Salamanca Station.

» It's closer to the MetService than the Lambton Quay Weather Cam.

» There's only five stations, and I'm in view from one of them. Take your pick!

The "five stations" are the stations accessed from the Cable Car. If you combined this with the picture clue above, you should be able to find the Fountain at Kelburn Park, which would have been my original hiding spot, had the weather been sunnier.

Upcoming Hunts
Well, after the result of this hunt I decided to hold another one in Paraparaumu (locally known as P'Ram) the following week. Although that's been and gone, I'm still in the middle of writing the debrief, and you'll be able to read it here soon.
As always, though, keep following @hunt_clues on Twitter to stay current with what I'm up to next!

So long for now.
-Huntmaster Orion