In a world gone mad with fear, another global city has ground to a halt in the wake of harmless fun. Like Boston's visceral
aversion to Mooninites, Auckland New Zealand has demonstrated an armed distaste for Geocaching. Geochaching is a GPS treasure-hunting game where participants find hidden containers placed around this big blue planet. Unfortunately, security caught the gamer on CCTV strapping a package to a rail near Aotea Center; they then called in the bomb squad. Tip to geocachers: don't wear a bearded, ninja-suit when placing your cache in busy urban areas.
Update: Tip 2: don't use a cache that
looks like a bomb! Pics of the device after the break.
posted Feb 13th 2008 at 4:06AM
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
tumnasgt @ Feb 13th 2008 4:13AM
Haha, it's not often New Zealand gets mentioned on international sites, and even more rare that I read about them first on these sites.
Josh @ Feb 13th 2008 4:30AM
I know, eh?
Just like Australia...
Alexander Pink @ Feb 13th 2008 4:26AM
They're pretty much the most hated group in America...
New Zealand...Rocks!!!
Jim @ Feb 13th 2008 4:55AM
You're pretty much an embarrassment to every American and every human being on this planet. You'd be shocked to know that infantile, ignorant Engadget posters top the "most hated" list.
....Education rocks.
Conchord @ Feb 13th 2008 6:04AM
Jim, you might want to see a show called "Flight of the Conchords" to get that joke.
Jorvay @ Feb 13th 2008 9:42AM
Bwahahaha, I was thinking it but you beat me to it. Best show ever!
WebOn @ Feb 13th 2008 4:32AM
global paranoiac hysteria
In the future our descendants will remember us by the pseudonym of "Homo-paranoicus"
WebOn
Kent @ Feb 15th 2008 4:56PM
Is that your rapping name?
-KENT
nih @ Feb 13th 2008 4:37AM
That was a fairly calm and reasonable response, considering. Nobody is suing anyone and nobody was arrested.
Fred @ Feb 13th 2008 4:55AM
Although I'll undoubtedly be screeched at for cheering on an Oppressive Climate or Fear and Paranoia (tm), I have to call this good police work, not hysteria. I WANT police to investigate someone strapping a package to a railing. That's not paranoia, that's something that should be checked out.
ClaMs @ Feb 13th 2008 6:22AM
Tom Oliveri,
You must be the most irritating person on Engadget. Your useless hate or stupid comments are so tiring. You seriously need non-digital friends.
nih @ Feb 13th 2008 6:26AM
Rofl pwnt.
TVGenius @ Feb 13th 2008 9:41AM
They thought THAT was a bomb? Wow, good thing they're not finding all the caches made of 2-4" diameter black PVC pipe with pressure caps on the ends that we've got around here.
Tom Oliveri @ Feb 13th 2008 4:54AM
you speak of paranoia however that does not look like a bomb to me.
WebOn @ Feb 13th 2008 5:21AM
what?
exactly
wikisomething:
Paranoia is a disturbed thought process characterized by excessive anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs concerning a perceived threat.
Glenn @ Feb 13th 2008 5:00AM
The only bit missing from the article is that the city has faced 2 or 3 bomb threats the last 10 days. The district court building was evacuated both the 5th and 12th because of phone call threats and packages left unattended... personally am pleased to see the cctv being used for good :)
Sirius @ Feb 13th 2008 8:57AM
Looks like the read link got engadget'd too...
Wwhat @ Feb 13th 2008 6:17PM
Here the pivotal question thought: who the hell cares enough about NZ to go all the way to it and then place a bomb on a bridge? Some islamic sheepherder group that doesn't like the competition of their sheep business and thinks blowing a hole in a bridge will help?
Twitchy @ Feb 13th 2008 5:07AM
That explains why the traffic was so chaotic as I was going to work (I live 2 streets over). Lucky I walk and not drive.
BTW, just FYI, but the site where the 'bomb' was left is about 120 meters from Auckland Central Police station.
Boris @ Feb 13th 2008 5:25AM
GO New Zealand!
Anyway, it was near Mayoral Drive and none of the Bus Drivers knew WTH was happening because first of all they had all been routed down there because Queen St and Victoria St. bus stops were all being renovated and now this... Not a happy couple of hours for anyone!
Max @ Feb 13th 2008 7:37AM
Who knew that a Lock & Lock container painted black would look like a bomb?
CaptCaveman @ Feb 13th 2008 9:02AM
Obviously Warner Brothers Saturday morning programming hasn't made its way over to New Zealand yet. Even I know that a bomb is round, black, and has a wick sticking out of the top of it.
Unless it's one of those new fangled ones that the kids are making. The boxes with the pictures of mushrooms and question marks from Super Mario Brothers ( http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/02/tiny-ohio-town-freaked-out-by-mario-prank/ ). Now those are scary.
Jon @ Feb 13th 2008 10:57AM
Wow! http://www.lnt.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2878141
Wwhat @ Feb 13th 2008 6:20PM
Jon placed a link to bombmaking equipment, I've alerted the authorities and he'll be arrested promptly by bobbies I expect.
Just kidding (you have to specify that nowadays)
Sam @ Feb 13th 2008 8:10AM
It seems Datacom were involved :D
"While the area was blocked off, an employee from nearby Datacom came to police and told them the device was a geocache" http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4399742a10.html
Sirius @ Feb 13th 2008 8:54AM
Hah.. I thought there was something oddly familiar about the picture (I live in Auckland; saw the picture before the title)
Although I am now more glad that I'm swapping my phone for a gps capable one... this seems fun (geocaching, not bomb scares..) :)
Okki @ Feb 13th 2008 9:29AM
And this is why Geocaching recommends you put geocaching decals on your treasure.... (and charges you a fortune for them; $10 for a decal.. I mean.. really!?!?)....
techieguru16 @ Feb 13th 2008 9:50AM
i have never heard of Geocaching before. sounds like a fun game! =)
clinton davis @ Feb 13th 2008 11:09AM
Check this out.
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=98741&in_page_id=34
Don't hold your iPod like a pistol!
Chris Przybycien @ Feb 13th 2008 12:42PM
It's hard to find a good cheap geocaching container that isn't going to scare people. The best containers are made for military use... like 75% of geocaches I've seen are in those ugly green ammo boxes.
Rhialto @ Feb 13th 2008 1:08PM
I'm a geocacher since last year and this is SO FUN!
I'm sure it's not the 1st time this happen and not the last one too!
Allen @ Feb 13th 2008 3:05PM
I too am a geocacher, and I have to say, this was the lamest one I've seen to date. It DESERVED to be called a bomb scare. Do you see what was packed in there?
Last one I found was a cooler with beer in it. THAT is what this is all about my friends. I also found one with the CD key to Rise of Nations TAP in it, but no discs. Which was cool because I lost my CD key and I got to play the Napolean campaign one more time.
But not only did this guy critically fail by loading crap in there, he made it look like a bomb.
The mooninites= neon signs flying the finger at you. This= looks like a dark black metallic object not too dissimilar from a landmine.
Wwhat @ Feb 13th 2008 6:21PM
Perhaps it has a get-out-of-jail-free card in there?
Bossdrum @ Feb 13th 2008 7:56PM
Wow... It is always strange to think about the hundreds and often THOUSANDS of geocaches in every major metropolitan area... Any new geocacher is usually shocked by the fact that there are geocaches literally everywhere. Yeah... and most are designed to be camouflaged and not obviously labeled.
I'm surprised, but thankful this doesn't happen more often.
random cacher @ Feb 13th 2008 8:15PM
Did the bomb squad log their find?
wildlifeguy @ Feb 14th 2008 9:17PM
I geocache and we had a bomb scare in Modesto where it was an obvious rubbermaid container that the city came out and blew it up. I guess they needed the practice. It was on school grounds clearly against the rules of geocaching. This one sounds like it was a gainst the rules too! On a rail line?!?!?!, WTF was this guy thinking?!?!?!?!
Is that a coin in there?
Peace!