Manukau Harbour Crossing - (Auckland) Onehunga, North Island, New Zealand
By tramyard on 24-Nov-18. Waypoint GC80N9Y

Manukau SH20 underpass is currently close for public. I will monitor situation and might archive this hide in course of the time.
Sorry for inconvenience caused.

Today is a rare day in December for us - we are out caching together in daylight while one of our daughters is in charge of Christmas tree sales. We decided to start with this one and turn it into a smiley face before it disappears. We wandered out under the Manukau Harbour Crossing until we reached GZ, and began hunting. It took a little while before one of us spotted something and came out with the cache. Thanks.

Nicely done!
FP added
Thanks!

SH20 - Manukau Harbour Crossing to close by the end of 2022

Had been exploring the new bridge and thought probably should check out the old one then. Saw the sign in the picture about this closing at end of this year and no more security presence and wondered why it would have been needed all this time.

Anyway some guy passed me so I smiled like you would if passing someone on a walk but then he stopped a little further up and started watching me walking the other way. If I hadn’t seen that sign would probably have thought nothing of it but started to feel a bit creeped out.

Needless to say I didn’t even stop for the cache when my proximity alarm went off I just continued walking out the other end as fast as possible.

Longer walk back to my car now but getting a second chance to stroll over the new bridge

Yay! Have looked for this before to no avail. Today I got a smiley, filthy hands and a great view of the new bridge Tftc

M24: approaching Gz and M13 spotted it easily. A nice and easy find to start off the day on a big cache day.

391. Found this one
Didn’t have a pen so could not sign. The new footbridge looks great!!!
TFTC

With the new bridge opening yesterday there is plans to close this pathway. So while we can, with rebel98 and gorby, we have cycled past this cache

Happy to be signing, great views from here, thanks for the hide tramyard, remember cycling this years ago. Lots of people walking the path as well. Fun find

Caching along the foreshore with rustynz and gorby between Mangere Bridge and Ambury Park.

Thanks for the hide and the adventure

Needs repairs paper is saturated and magnets not holding well.
Lovely view though

cache still wet and muddy. Great views down the Harbour TFTC

Missed this on the first pass so looked again on our way back after the AdLab along the esplanade. Very dirty but signable. SL TFTC

Last find of the day with PhilBirdBoys and Gernita, fortuitously went straight to it! TFTC

Quick find with codehill and philbirdboys. Bag was really dirty and muddy for some reason. Log is soaking and really hard to write on. TFTC

It was time to cross over the Mangere bridge, but how to access the footbridge??? I soon caught on to the right path and off lumin298 and I went waking under this cool, little bridge, to find the cache! Had to backtrack a wee way as I got a bit carried away talking, but after a little nudge from lumin as she had already found this, the cache was soon in hand All was well, except the lid was off. Some neat views over the Manukau Harbour here! TFTC tramyard... my 3rd cache of yours!

A very special day for me today as I got to finally meet lumin298 after messaging her for many weeks, and go on a caching trip around the Mangere Esplanade and what soon turned into Ambury Regional Park! Had a lot of fun along the way and even managed 2 FTF's :O - All I can say is, right place at the right time! Picked up well over 20 caches over the course of 6 hours or so, including an interesting earthcache and an ad lab! Thanks very much to all the CO's out there who put out some cool finds for us

Found it
Great place to watch the herons and the cranes

After finding the new cache in Waikaraka Park I wasn't ready to go back home yet so detoured here on the way to the train station. Nice quick find here and the cache is all good, had to be careful not to drop it in the harbour. TFTC tramyard

FINALLLYYYY !!
Taken us almost 3 years to try and find this at random times, today was the day !!

Thankfully there weren't that many people around today and using our geosenses found the cache. TFTC

Was good fun find

Amazing camo, a good find, tftc

Happy Easter. Teo found this one. Thanks

Somehow Mr P got me to come with him on this bridge which actually bounces up nd down with the traffic - all was well until I found the cache and also found that the motion of the bridge was making me sick - left Mr P to do the honours and got back to steady ground. T4tc

Took a little while. GPS was a bit out due to being undercover. No pwn - took photo instead.

TFTC.

2nd visit here thanks for Replacement...
It is where I first looked... but had to be more thorough...!

Cache container was missing. Replaced now. All good.

No luck here for us today

Very disappointed here, spent way too long looking but no finding, I need more experience!

Quick little find!

Thank you!

Lid has broken off!

Great to get out and about today and away from all the covid talk. On a spur of the moment roadie after weeks of lockdown Cheers


I am logging using the Cachly app template so please excuse generic logging along the way. It’s just my way of keeping track, but I do genuinely thank each and every one of you cache owners for taking the time and energy to place these cache. Many Thanks for bringing me here. Cheers.

Today was our first down for caching after lock down.
Teamed up with a few regulars from team BOP and Auckland was the dedicated search area with a few others on the way.
Good day in all and target completed. SLTFTC

With (Mr) Davidson clan, Gap (of Fap and Gap), and McJandals... After 58 days of unbroken lockdown inactivity, the step down to Level 2 gave us the freedom to make caching plans. Our local geomap gave us little joy, so we needed to look further afield, and this quickly morphed into an epic expedition...

After dinner, we decided to walk some more of the Mangere Bridge Esplanade... We'd found a couple of caches hidden by this CO today, and it didn't take too long to establish a pattern. Who knew this subway was here? We enjoyed the walk out over the harbour and spotted the cache on approach. Thanks tramyard and TFTC.

With a group fromthe BOP in Auckland after 7 or 8 weeks of lockdown . So good to be out caching again. Quick find here.

Really enjoyed it

Found pretty quick. Good hiding spot.

Oh go on then, one more. I was just behind the FTF On this but when I bumped into them heading back out, I decided to leave it for another day. Well today’s the day! I’ve cached in here before, by day and by night. This is actually the third I’ve found along here. It feels much safer here now, but it’s lost its character. For the best I suppose. Nice secure spot. Thanks for the “just one more” cache.

Spotted this one on approach, thanks

Great view! Fun find! Our gps got confused under the bridge but got us close enough

Thanks for our first find and the first log for 2020! Heath and Lou

TFTC

Our second visit to this cache didn’t really look last time as there had been a dnf or two and the security was standing nearby.Then it turned out it was missing in any case.Back again today and wasn’t sure whether to give it another go or not but decided to go for it.No security today and only a few cyclists.Gps very jumpy but just went with our senses and made a find.Glad to come back today.

We were redirected here on our TA thru-hike due to the neighboring bridge closure. At least we got to find another cache!

I'd almost given up on this one, as I had tried twice and found a security guard at GZ the first time, and some people running a survey the second. A few people passing today but no real problems.

TFTC

Up in Aucks with ABCDF4 and my new scooter and the caches just pop up quicker than you think,
Thanks for the trail around the water front, high tide sun shining, what more does a cacher
want, thanks to the Cos for the placements

Quick find as lots of muggles around today
Thanks to tramyard for placing these caches on a great walk trail

Probably not too magnetic now. Very wet today. Thanks for bringing us here

GPS all over the show under here. Relied on my cachey sense

TFTC great walk under the bridge

Taking a walk in the Onehunga area today and we did not even know this walkway/cycleway bridge even existed till today even though we have driven over the bridge probably 100 times. Pretty cool walk and obviously deserves a cache to be place here of course. Quickly found, signed and returned

I had promised to bring my niece and nephews back to complete the remainder of the caches along the Mangere cycleway today on our scooters. We ended up heading over to Mangere Bridge to continue finding caches.

The kids couldn't believe that this pedestrian bridge was right underneath the motorway! We travelled to GZ and with the GPS and phone bouncing around we went back and forth before locating the cache in a logical position.

Out for some Saturday morning caching with Miss D. Hint spot on for a nice quick. GZ very busy today so we had to wait for a gap to grab and replace cache. . TFTC.

Found it while on my holidays in New Zealand Thanks for the cache!

Nice pedestrian and bike path. Thanks for the cache.

Last time I walked this bit of crossing several years ago it was a grotty and seedy sort of a place. Good to see its been done up and have security guys wandering along the path keeping an eye on things. Easy find. TFTC

For my personal challenge of working towards getting my calendar on GC.COM to be at least the same shade of green or darker I need to sign off at least 10 caches today. I won't grumble if I find one or two more. It was time to search the Mangere Bridge area today.

Never been up here before. Good views.

Cheers for the cache.

After finishing my work meetings for the day I had a bit of time before I had to head to the airport and my next port of call. I went to look for a few caches around Mangere Bridge. It's a long time since I've walked along here. All good with the cache today. Found it pretty much in the first place I checked. Time to head back to my car now and off to the airport. TFTC, Biggles.

Thank you for the cache!

Have been along here once before in the dark ages when the bridge wasnt so pleasant to walk along. Its much nicer now that its been tidied up & very clean. GPS signal was tragic & phone no better. Was facing a complete "l dont know" when all of a sudden my GPS came right. Only 16m shy of GZ, phew. Wandered along & soon signing the log. TFTC

I have looked for this one a number of times. Today I just came up to GZ and put my hands on it right away. Thanks for hiding tramyard.

Security guard came down as he saw me searching the wall - he seemed not to bothered - I carefully replaced it while he was talking to another guard who wandered along.

TFTC

Late afternoon outing to collect our daily cache. Nice little walk and good views west over the harbour. Surprised by the number of security guards working. Had a chat to them. Seems like this walkway was a popular location for homeless persons as well as drug users and I suspect taggers as well. The guards are aware of the geocache that is hidden along here and wished me luck on finding it which proved not to be an issue. All good. TFTC and for bringing me to this location. Now wouldn't it be good if they could do something like this on the Harbour Bridge.

A nice walk on ANZAC Day collecting caches.

Took a while as the GPS was bouncing around but then the shorter of the two of us managed to locate it!

#6327

A nice and early start in the company of HKCB to locate a few caches around the airport area so that we could get HKCB closer towards his 10,000th cache. Headed from home at 5am and got here just as dawn was about to break, and the good thing being that we pretty much had the place to ourselves the entire day as we headed out collecting a few caches. Today was also to be a good day for testing out the new MTB.

Having worked our way around this part of town it was a last chance to grab a few along here where a lack of muggles fishing nearby allowed. Not sure quite why a security guard was posted close to GZ but thought it may have been the CO going the extra mile to ensure the longevity of the hide.

Got there in the end, thanks for the placement and the cache

With a significant milestone coming up, but still needing about 80 or so caches to get close to the mark a numbers mission was on the cards. With a few new trails placed around Auckland Airport this seemed to be the perfect place to start so having teamed up with Cats&Dragons and with the bikes in tow, we were all set.

As Cats&Dragons had already found a quite a few around this area we mainly focused on those caches that he hadn't found and I'd grab anything else we were also passing. The day was a great success, though we fell a few short of the number needed as we got rained out mid-afternoon.

A huge thanks to all the CO's who's caches we found. Some great quality hides too, which I'll mention in those logs.

Great views from up here, nicely hidden too.

Didn't even know this walkway was here but enjoyed cycling along here this afternoon. Nice hide quickly logged and replaced, cheers

Remember walking under here once before and it's certainly a lot nicer now, which made for a nice walk to whatever the GPS decided was GZ at the time. Plenty of bouncing around, but logic kicked in and the cache was soon found in a likely spot before we took off for one more for the day. TFTC

TFTC

New hide placed! Hint updated. Enjoy!

Condition at GZ is changed. Will replace this hide with new container.

Was over this way clearing a few green spots and wandered along here. Reading about the last DNF, I still persevered but after spying and carefully feeling every available nook and cranny, I failed here. Now an unamusing blue spot.

Felt very carefully in a few potential places - I didn't want to knock it into the water - but didn't find it.

Met some lovely ladies at the start of the walkway under the bridge who are there to make sure people don't tag or partake in other unsavoury activities. Had a good idea of where it would be although I was having trouble with the GPS and the smallest member of the group made the find for us. Many thanks

Nice to see some increased security on this bridge. Small hands and fingers prevented the cache having a dive and swim.

DNF

Still there !!!

MrsJAG was out with Merlot and Supernanny for a girls caching adventure. Supernanny had already found this one so watched on as we carefully extracted the cache, signed ourselves in and carefully returned the cache. Rather precarious so hopefully it lasts!!!

In the area with Mrs Jag50 and Supernanny getting some caches. It was a little nerve wracking retrieving and returning this cache, I would hate to be the one who dropped it!

Wow... have to be very careful and precise with your movements for this one .....
Was a bit worried....especially as I dont like heights.....!
However.....I managed just fine...
Co ords great...and in first place I looked!
Cheers

Had to walk slowly to GZ as one of the 2 security guards on the bridge was walking ahead of us and we thought it would look sketchy if she turned around. Briefly wondered if the bench not too far from GZ at the viewing point would be a better place for this cache, but I guess this adds to the experience haha. michaelteacher did the retrieval, and decided he'd had enough... don't blame him, I'm not afraid of heights but the shaking from the cars above and where the cache is made it quite intense putting this back. Hope this lasts where it is! Tftc

I never knew the path across the bridge was so nice and clean. Must have been the two security guards we saw. Luckily when we got to the GZ we were out of sight of both of them. Didn't enjoy the shaking of the GZ every time a car went past. Co-ordinates were hard to lock onto, but there was an obvious spot. This was a tricky extraction and left me a bit shaken up (also not a person who enjoys heights) so hayleyfcy offered to put it back. Luckily everything got to the right spot. Nice views from up here.

As we headed along the walkway from the Mangere side our GPS decided it wasn't going to be very helpful so we temporarily bypassed this one and found another cache on the other side of the bridge before returning for a second try.
This time the GPS was more settled and we soon spotted a likely hiding spot.
We had to wait for a nice local muggle to pass by first who stopped and gave us a bit of information about the construction of the bridge before heading on his way.
Once the coast was clear we checked a likely spot and were pleased to make a quick, but very careful, find.
We very carefully replaced it, not wanting to be the first ones to do the inevitable, and were pleased when it was safely back in place. Phew!
Clever hiding spot and great views from up here. TFTC.

Bored looking security guard "hanging out" just past GZ, didn't look like he was going any where soon, so cache left for another day.

Out for a spot of caching with Gorby picking up some new caches in this area, and blowing out some cobwebs - been cooped up at home too much this week. Need some fresh air. This one took a bit of searching, especially as our phones really didn't like being under a concrete roof. Eventually they settled down a bit and a comment from Gorby, from a previous log I think, and I knew where it would be. Pretty precarious, but hopefully it lasts! TFTC

Out with FMZ for a couple of hours of caching, Mangere bridge looked good for us to start and that's where we ended up. I personally have never been on this cycleway under this bridge, so that was cool in itself. We passed a lonely security guard just as we got onto the bridge and he was still sitting in his lonely chair when we returned.

The co-ords for this were hard to pin down. We started looking in many, many of the obvious spots, but then FMZ had an idea, a spot we both had walked past and not noticed, so we retraced our steps and by now the phone was catching up with the right co-ords and I found the cache, but I had to be very cautious about it's removal or it would have been goodbye cache! Signed us in and then also had to be careful with the replacement of it! Whew, that was a close one Ark! Hope it lasts alright. Then we wandered past the security dude onto the next one.

Log later

I returned today with better weather and a few pointers from the CO. After looking in a spot I wanted it to be hidden, I checked another, more precarious spot and found the cache. How long will this cache last before the inevitable happens? TFTC.

No luck here today. Looked in all the obvious spots without sucess.

The rain interrupted my search for a nearby cache, so I spent the rain time looking for this one which is actually under cover. As I zipped along the walkway, I passed a lady with her three kids and began a quick search at GZ. Soon thereafter, the lady caught up and said, "I know what you're looking for."
Another cacher!
She told me they cached under the name of Tmyster10 and had just over 50 finds. Between looking and chatting, and chatting and looking, neither of us could find the cache. It was raining very hard, so we may not have looked in the right places as we tried to stay dry.
After they left, I continued to look. A security guard from 'Red Badge' came by to see what I was up to. I explained Geocaching to her. She was so impressed (I exaggerate), she made a Geocaching account on the spot under the name 'Badge Red' and downloaded the app. Unfortunately, this cache is premium, so she couldn't see it on the screen.
I was happy to run into another family of cachers and to make a conversion right on the spot. Now if I had only found the cache.

Out for a walk with the kids and dog to get a larger cache near by, we all wanted to continue so we headed up over this bridge - i was initially a bit worried by the presence of at least 5 security guards along here - what kind of place is this??! None-the-less seems innocent enough and there sure are a lot of muggles, had a look for about 5 mins before having to give up from all the muggles and proceeded along the bridge. Had another look on the way back when we spotted another likely Geocacher - nice to meet you Agazo! Had to leave him to it though as i still couldn't find it and the baby required attention. Will watch with interest!

No use. I was no match for tuolei, who had rigged up a saddle for Albert the Greyhound and were proudly trotting back my way. They kindly offered to assist with the find here, but there was no time for that, there was still one unfounded cache on the bridge. A geohound would be excellent cover...

After a couple of nearby FTFs this was third on the list - fortunately Mrs Tuolei had spotted how to access the right area as we walked around so we were quickly on to heading to GZ. This was our first visit to crossing via the Mangere Bridge - there were quite a few muggles out cycling and walking the dog so good to see it being well used.

Got to GZ - or at least to my approximating of it - with the overhead motorway the GPS was still showing me a ways away but in the end the cache was in the first place we checked. At this point having determined the position we debated how to retrieve it safely. A TOTT of sorts was improvised and the cache quickly and safely retrieved. [FTF]#3 of the day.

Good hide here, FP for the effort - hope it lasts!

On our way back we ran into @mcargister (well he was running, we were walking) who is indirectly the cacher responsible for introducing us to geocaching - our first time meeting...so we teamed up to take the walk to another cache and see if we could get that one too.

Good cache and worth the effort to walk here, thanks very much.

Published