So one day before I left work in NYC I was chatting with my colleague Dave about New Zealand, he was off to there in Sept/Oct for the rugby world cup. I was joking around with him saying he should leave me something in NZ for me to find when I got there a few months later, I joked it should be the toy Cockerel on my desk (long story on that gift from another friend!).
We joked about it a couple of times so we figure maybe it would come off but maybe not as I was sure he would be too busy with the world cup to leave me some ‘treasure’! We were well on our journey when Dave emailed me to catch up and also to let me know he had left some goodies for us in NZ, he needed some time but he would let me know the details before we arrived! I was pleased to see the idea had come off and had no idea what to expect!
About 2 weeks later, the day before we set off in our campervan, we got an email entitled “Treasure!!” with a PowerPoint attachment from Dave and Regan; we opened it up and were treated to an amazingly put together PowerPoint treasure map. The detail in the PowerPoint was amazing; maps, location photographs and clues to what the Treasure could possibly be! Dave and Regan had crafted an excellent treasure map and trail for us to follow and find on our journey through NZ! Happy Days this was brilliant!
So with the map and clues in hand we set off on our Campervan extravaganza! We had 5 locations over the 2 islands to go to and all were on our route so there was going to be no problems missing any, 1. Waitomo caves, 2. Punakaiki Rocks, 3. Fox Glacier, 4. Queenstown and 5. Milford Sound.
It was with great trepidation we came to our first location, over 3 months had passed and we did not know if the elements or other people may have found our treasure or damaged it. When we got to Waitomo we found the sign this particular bit of booty had been hidden behind! Unfortunately we searched all around the sign but it had gone, we saw a plastic bag which looked like it could have contained the treasure, but it looked like some pirates had gotten there before us! Gaarrrrr!
We were not downtrodden by this first missing treasure but we were a little worried about what lay ahead, had pirates already beaten us to the treasure we sought….only time world tell!
Next up about a week later was the Punakaiki Rocks Treasure, we got to the national park in the afternoon and went straight to work with Dave and Regan’s Clue “We all know Fran’s a joker, but he’s not the only one. Take a look in the rafters of the phone booth next to the visitor centre in the National Park”. We made short work of this one, after a panicked moment where we thought another treasure had been lost, we found it, success!
So our next location was Fox Glacier a couple of days later, we followed the clue “After a tough day hiking the glacier we highly recommend a soak at the Glacier Hot Pools – ‘X’ really hits the spot. Think Shawshank redemption”, after a little search around the sign that was in the treasure map as part of the clue Steph hit Gold!
Next up for us was Milford Sound, We were confident with this one, the photo clues suggested no pirates would have taken this one; “If you want to discover more about the stunning Milford Sound you should read the information boards. The one displayed above will be of particular interest and may reveal a few secrets.” On we went in search on our treasure. We were searching for the sign in the clues whilst we were wandering around during a perfect Milford Day, but we could not find the sign to match what was in our memory, we went back to the laptop to review the clues, we had missed the sign in question. We set off again and found the sign….the Treasure was not to be found, we checked around but nothing. On closer inspection we saw that the wooden beam the sign was on looked brand new. Not to be out done we spent the next 30 mins tracking down local workers, I ended up in the manager’s office to learn that every single sign and support in the area had been replaced in the last month by the Dept. of Conservation!!! Really!!! Could they have not waited!!! Our second bit of treasure was lost.
Our Final bit of Treasure was in Queenstown, we pulled up to the location in the evening on one of the last days of our Campervan adventure…..We had been robbed again, the Treasure was gone!
Out of pocket three pieces of treasure but not down trodden, Dave and Regan had set up an excellent Treasure hunt that was hilarious! We had such a great time following their trail and finding their treasures! A huge thank you is owed to our dear friends for putting this together, we miss you!