Take a Pew (Wellington) Lower Hutt, North Island, New Zealand
By agcnz on 21-Apr-12. Waypoint GC2XNTW

Was about to give up on this one (so annoying when others say its an easy find!) One more look, phone bouncing around and its getting very cold! Hurrah- finally!Many thanks for adding to todays adventure. Sure is breezy up here today! Ive been up this track a couple of times pre being introduced to this mad sport. Once from the Catchpool carpark, and once (like today) from the cemetery/garden of Remembrance in Wainuiomata. Never as much wind as today though! Appreciate your mahi in maintaining these hides. Love the pews- a bit damp to sit on today though!Many thanks again

Today is a size regular dot-day. There are a number of regulars up here, so I thought I would go for a walk and get one (preferably the one at the top of Mt McKerrow) and while about it, see what the times are, could I do one after work on a weekday?I set off a little late - 9am from the Lower Hutt bus terminal, so maybe 9:30 starting on the track, taking the Mt Crowther track to Huff & Puff. Man that road up is STEEP! I am always amazed that vehicles can make it up. Can they actually make it up here? After finding that cache I took the track that cuts across to the Whakanui. At the Whakanui junction I decided to abort this tramp - It is very cold, very wet and I had ruled out the possibility of doing these after work (in winter anyway). I am in cloud and every time I touch something I get drenched. I am wet from top to toe.So headed up to get this one cache, and when I got here, yup, not interested in pre-finding any more (I am saving them for later dot-days). Turned back, taking the Whakanui track back - doing a loop is always better that a there-and-back.I am glad to be back in my element after way too much urban caching, despite the weather. Gets a favourite.

My boots are muddy!

This was the second stop on a maintenance run to refresh all my caches along this ridge. As with most of these, the container had some water in it and the logbook was sodden and disintegrating despite having been inside a plastic bag. The old contents have been removed except for a few plastic items which have been dried and replaced. The old 1 litre snaplock container has been replaced with a new one of the same size with a smaller Sistema container inside that. The new waterproof logbook is in the inner container in a plastic bag. Hopefully any future water ingress will be only to the outer container and the contents of the inner one will be protected. All good to go, happy caching!

All very wet here, cleaned seals but damage already done I think. Sorry nothing to replace with. Beaut spot and great track - on again before we get cold! Thanks

After a bit of searching found a very damp cache. Photo not signed. TFTC

Not for us. Lots of spots checked but no luck / skill. Still the breather was good on the Catchpool / Sunny grove hike

Submitted via Garmin Live Geocaching

Found but log was super wet and therefore couldn’t write in log!

Great spot, good landmark. Book sopping wet, could not make record.

Really enjoying this part of the walk to McKerrow with the climb well behind me and some great ridgeline forest along here. I spent a couple of minutes circling the area looking for something that lends itself to a hiding location in accordance with the hint and eventually found what I was looking for. I think I passed the location twice so I'm not sure what I was thinking on the first pass. Signed the 9th for some reason. TFTC.

Pretty much an instant find thanks to the hint and great coords.

#5467. Saturday dawned fine and clear with light winds. Time to head out into the bush and do another Welly Climbs cache and get some exercise climbing the hills around Wellington. I have never climbed Mt McKerrow before so that was a target cache of the day. All up 34,000 steps achieved so the legs have been pumping. Great views in places and some lovely tall forest of rimu, rata and kamahi plus some open groves of hard, silver and black beech. Nice variety. A good long steady climb up to this cache with the track gradient easing off after the Way to McKerrow cache. Found the pew. A good spot to stop and have some lunch. The cache took a few minutes to find as it was a bit further from the track than expected. Once in hand I removed some water from the container and wiped the inside with some dry moss. Signed the logbook and replaced the cache as found. Thanks for hiding it here agcnz. (If the little known Wellington cacher logged his cache finds, he may become better known!)

I had a feeling agcnz was probably the cacher with whom I had the greatest caching imbalance. I checked and found that I have found only 37% of his whereas he has found 95% of mine. I resolved to use today to eliminate part of the deficit by hiking this track for the first time.

This was supposed to be the third find of the day; it turned out to be the first. It was only as I neared that I began thinking about the cache name and I had to chuckle (and admire the handiwork) when I did.

Finding the nicely hidden cache was a straightforward process. Despite it being a robust looking container, quite a lot of water had made its way inside. The extra protection for the logbook meant that was only a little bit damp and I was able to write in it without difficulty.

Found on a club trip from the Harry Tod Recreational Reserve up to Mt McKerrow and back down onto the Coast Road south of the Camp. A nice walk. TFTC

Came up from Willis Grove, with the aim of doing a circuit up Mt Crowther and across to the McKerrow Track. Was hoping to do all four caches on this part of the ridge before returning to Sunny Grove, but the track was a lot slower going than I expected (lots of mud!), and I only had a couple of hours (running time), so I turned around after just the first two.

This was a nice easy find - a little damp, but then everything was damp after the rain over the last 12 hours or so. TFTC, and always nice to find a lonely cache!

Good on the folk who made the pews, I'm sure they get well used. Found while completing the series along the top here. Got muggled by a couple of folk who were checking on the traps and recording details, we ending up having a great natter about what we were respectively doing. Turns out the traps do get checked regularly (monthly) throughout the year, and rats have had a strong presence in the area this summer due to the prolific berry and beech tree growth. Good to know the many traps that are seen everywhere are being used, monitored and doing their job. Following on from this I saw quite a few deceased rats and even a hedgehog.

TFTC agcnz, #7536. Drained the water, gave it a good wipe and on to the next one. Gets a fav from us.

This entry was edited by waiiti20 on Saturday, 24 January 2015 at 07:02:46 UTC.

#5992. We had a good day tramp from Sunny Grove to Clay Ridge Track and return. A welcome pew for both of us to take a rest. Quick find. Took nothing, left nothing, signed log. Thanks for the cache.

This entry was edited by huhugrub on Thursday, 04 December 2014 at 00:58:22 UTC.

Found it

Had a great day up here with the DoC man finding a kiwi. A quick find while passing through - TFTC !

I’m not sure where the nasty weather forecast for today got too! At 12 O’clock we had blue skies with white puffy cumulus clouds floating merrily by. So I decided to take a walk. I left “Sunny” Grove at about 1:30 and as I like to do walked to this the furthest one first and then made my way back stopping off to find the others as I went. This one took me a little longer to find than it should have, as others have said there was some water in the container, but the logbook was nice and dry in its plastic bag, so no need to panic. Although I’d been up here before I thoroughly enjoyed my return visit this afternoon. Cheers and TFTC

Quick find and the pews were used momentarily - passing through with some Duke of Ed boys. TFTC

Fairly quick find but cache and log book were wet. Dried as best we could. Found on our Duke of Ed tramp. TFTC

#3 for the day TFTC

Found on a breezy stroll up to McKerrow. TFTC

Another one for the day, with The Wandering Dragons

Cache #933 - did today with Downunder Wanderer. #4 for us on the track. It took just a little bit of searching, but the cache was quickly in hand. All in good shape, and the nearby seat offered us some relief from the walk. TNLNSL. TFTC!

A quick find and I did indeed take a pew for a short break. Very little birdsong which was a shame, perhaps it was too hot. TFTC!

It took a couple of laps to spy this one,

A good chance to stop on our way to the Clay Ridge Views cache. The track we quite boggy today.

We think we met Tramper Ted just prior to getting to this cache (although we didn't know it at the time) - nice to have a chat. Took a little while to locate this one, even with the hint. There is a trap attached to a tree not far from cache (and in similar location as indicated by hint) so be careful if you have children with you looking for this cache. TFTC

Reckon these pews need a little more refining as not quite that comfortable to sit on! Nice hide. TFTC

Took a while to find this one but got there in the end. TFTC

Last one for the day before back down the hill as we were running out of time to complete any of the other caches further along the McKerrow track. TFTC, liked the pews carved by DOC.
Found with brighty1960 and Andy B.

Not too longer walk from the main track. The final one in a good days geocaching.

One of 5 during a caching romp along the McKerrow ridge. Track much boggier in places than we had expected, so lots of mud running to be had. Fantastically still and fine day meant that the views were spectacular. We did the climb up from Sunny Grove, and trekked as far along as the Clay Ridge Views cache, then did a U turn and retraced our steps. In all, with photo stops, lunch and rest stops (not too many of these), we took around 5 and half hours for the return trip.

Cache find was pretty straightforward, all in order, signed the log and rebidden safely, as found.

TFTC found with team cacher Sweet P too
The Turtle strikes again!

One of 5 during a caching romp along the McKerrow ridge. Track much boggier in places than we had expected, so lots of mud running to be had. Fantastically still and fine day meant that the views were spectacular. We did the climb up from Sunny Grove, and trekked as far along as the Clay Ridge Views cache, then did a U turn and retraced our steps. In all, with photo stops, lunch and rest stops (not too many of these), we took around 5 and half hours for the return trip.

Cache find was pretty straightforward, all in order, signed the log and rebidden safely, as found.

TFTC found with team cacher Sweet P too
The Turtle strikes again!

Also found this one on my way back. Needed 2 attempts and had to search a little bit. In/Out : TB. TFTC. Sherlock Hood.

FTF 1550 . I feel that the native bush is always at its best after a rain as it accentuates the colours and smells and today was no exception - however the mud along the track was quite another story. The moss on the trees around here is testament to the amount and regularity of precipitation that must be received in the area. Another great location at which the cache was found after a short search. I didn't take advantage of the seat today as if I had, I may not have wanted to continue on up the track .
+ Weta TB
TFTC

Published

Was out and about helping agcnz place a few caches along this track and needed a rest so thought that I would take a pew, who was I to know that agcnz was going to take this literally and place a cache and name it so, I think that I am going to need to hide his camera away next time I go tramping with him. Have being meaning to do the McKerrow track for such a long time that when I got the offer from agcnz saying that he was going to up to McKerrow to check on the cache GC1BDM2 - OO's Mt McKerrow Cache (Wellington) which he had just adopted not long ago and was wondering if I was interested in coming along for the walk, now how could I refuse such a nice offer and also a chance to get some exercise in as well. Arriving at GZ and we found this lovely spot that really required a cache so decided to help agcnz in grabbing some co-ordinates and giving me a chance to get my breath back before moving on up the track. What a great little spot for a cache, thanks for placing it here and making me do some more aerobic exercise and giving both Hurricane Luke and you the opportunity to have a good walk. Thanks for placing the cache here and for bringing me to this lovely spot, TFTC TNLNSL (4312)

Find #1192, the fourth in today's line up - with the chief & thief, as we continued to make progress towards Mt McKerrow. This spot was quite interesting and evidence of the fantastic work that DOC does continuously to maintain the thousands of kilometres of tracks throughout the country. The colour of the wood itself was quite remarkable too. A rather deep volcanic red, which must've been a side effect of it being saturated by water, because the piece I took home has dried much lighter. It still looks great however.

Another great cache in a thought out location - thanks agcnz. SL TFTC.

Find #1191, the fourth in today's line up - with the chief & thief, as we continued to make progress towards Mt McKerrow. This spot was quite interesting and evidence of the fantastic work that DOC does continuously to maintain the thousands of kilometres of tracks throughout the country. The colour of the wood itself was quite remarkable too. A rather deep volcanic red, which must've been a side effect of it being saturated by water, because the piece I took home has dried much lighter. It still looks great however.

Another great cache in a thought out location - thanks agcnz. SL TFTC.