Hunt #8 Debrief - Hamilton

Midwinter Expedition

Hunt #8 Debrief - Hamilton

Coin found on 11 July 2015, at 1:10pm by Sophie, Ayla & Matt

What a great hunt!
It had everything - great weather (even if it was a little chilly), a new city, multiple teams and confusion, and even technical difficulties. There's a story to tell there.
Stick around for the answers to all your questions!
-Huntmaster Orion

So for the first time, The Hunt visited Hamilton. I got off the bus around 9:30 in the morning and set off to hide the coin, the sun's warmth was busy making a lot of that early-morning steam you see everywhere on cold mornings.
It all started off well, but around lunchtime, a bit of panic set in. You'll see why.

*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

#TheHuntHMT Clue 1 » It's the one thing that divides the city's residents the most - and according to the map, I'm not on the right side…

A nice broad clue to start us off. The thing that divides Hamilton's residents most is the Waikato River. If I'm "not on the right side", I must be on the left side, or west of the river.

#TheHuntHMT Clue 2 » Known as the Samsung Sweeper, it has more exits than the 5×Roads. It's today's West edge of the search zone.

This clue refers to the Hamilton 400, the V8 Supercar event that ran from 2008-2012 around the streets of Hamilton. The "Samsung Sweeper" is the name given to the King Street Corner roundabout, which has six exits.

#TheHuntHMT Clue 3 » The North edge of the search zone is a building with a orange tag and a black arrow.

I actually hung around inside for the first hour, to warm up. It's the logo for the Garden Place Library.

#TheHuntHMT Clue 4 » I'm where @Brooke_hs and @walterneilands made it rain chocolate fish.

This clue refers to the TV3 show Cadbury Dream Factory, where in one episode (Ep06) a Hamiltonain had chocolate fish dumped on their car to let them know they were on the show! They fell from the bridge on Bridge Street.

Here's what happened around lunchtime on Saturday - I noticed my tablet was running a bit slow, which happens if I haven't cleared the memory or restarted the tablet in a while. So I restarted it.

Before I restarted, the battery was on a solid 60%. Enough to finish the day, easily... but when it restarted, it came back as 20%! As a result, the app I was using to pre-schedule messages was having problems uploading the picture clue... so in the meantime I had to send this:

#TheHuntHMT Clue 5 » I'm having trouble uploading today's picture clue... please stand by. In the meantime, I'm a few steps away from 1990.

This clue refers to a Time Capsule buried along the Waikato River, not to be opened until November 6, 2040.

#TheHuntHMT Clue 5A >> Looks like I'll have to describe the photo today. It's a small plant beside a chain link fence.

So I was Hamilton with a slowly dying tablet, and not enough battery to finish the day. I ran off to Centre Place in the hopes of finding a cell phone store that can charge my tablet. I left it to charge, and pre-scheduled the next two clues in the meantime.

#TheHuntHMT Clue 6 » Here's your next clue, in emoji!

I had so much fun writing the previous hunt's emoji clue, I wrote another one! Here's how you translate it: "There's a building with old treasures (Waikato Museum), a great place to take wedding photos (Ferrybank), a clinic for eyes and glasses (Hamilton Eye Clinic), and a running club (Hamiton City Hawks). It's between these places, under a bridge in the plants."

#TheHuntHMT Clue 7 » You could have bought it for $280, then put a hotel on it. I'm less than a kilometre away.

On the original New Zealand version of Monopoly, Garden Place was a yellow property you could purchase for $280.

I checked back on my charging tablet, and was finally able to send the picture clue!

#TheHuntHMT Clue 5B » Here's the picture! Sorry for the delay. ow.ly/i/bLuMu

I would like to give a big thank you to the salespeople at 2Degrees Centre Place for their help on Saturday! Much appreciated; it helped the hunt come to a successful end just two minutes later! Obviously knowing the precise "chain link fence" was crucial to the winners.

The Unpublished Clues
But before we get to the winners, here are the unpublished clues. If you're playing along, try these clues before checking the answer.

#TheHuntHMT Clue 8 » Don't feed any trolls that may be lurking, Vicky!

Trolls live under bridges, and Vicky is short for Victoria. Together, they make the name Victoria Bridge.

#TheHuntHMT Clue 9 » Park up, and stay riverside.

If you hadn't figured it out by now, the coin was hidden by the Waikato River.

Answer - The Coin's Location
As always, the final clue will always tell you exactly where the coin is. For this hunt, the coin was hidden under the Victoria Bridge on Grantham Street.

Congratulations to Sophie, Ayla & Matt for finding the coin first!

Unused Draft Clues

In the hunt writing process, some clues get scrapped because they didn't fit in with the rest, were too vague, too difficult, or for other reasons. Here are the clues that didn't make the cut:

» The S edge of the search zone is a school that has a native bird in their logo, and is always doing their best.

In this clue, I'm talking about Hamilton West School.

» Deposit and withdraw water-based transportation? I'm on the same street.

This clue refers to Ferrybank. I tossed this clue out and replaced it with the emoji clue.

Upcoming Hunts
This week's hunts are taking place in Auckland (Wednesday, that's tomorrow!) and Wellington (Saturday).
As always, if you're following @hunt_clues on Twitter you'll be among the first to know what I'm up to, and if a hunt is happening in your area!

So long for now.
-Huntmaster Orion