TMGT. The Battle 1864 BoP Gate Pa, North Island, New Zealand
By Macwatt/ Kahluis on 30-Aug-19. Waypoint GC8CXK3

We hope you enjoyed exploring and discovering the local history in the communities of Aotearoa New Zealand. The Tuia Matauranga GeoTour has now ended. Thank you to the community for all the great logs, photos, and Favorite Points over the last 30 months. It has been so fun!

Nana took me to this cache. It was very fun. I liked the part that you could use those nails on the string. It took a little while to get it but it was still fun. Thank you for this cool, fun cache.

It was a mission to find but the little game to get it up was fun

This was a fun one….

After some CO assistance managed to finally find what i was looking forward. Even with the tools it took a while to sort but got there in the end. Thanks Kahluis for the cache and the nudge.

GPS said 1 metre away. Searched methodically for 20 minutes. Nothing. Deep in the trees and dead wood. Think the only people coming here would be geocachers. maybe difficulty needs to be higher.

Early morning bush walk through fallen trees . Alittle off gps however my friends ( paf) helped me zero in on it. Great that the tool was there. Tftc

We a hard bush walk.
Navigation was tricky to know exactly where we were and if it defo was the one we found.

First geocache ever. Was fun to retrieve.

I found this one with Cyclicalcaching. We just started our geotour roadtrip so I'm catching up on logging. Thanks for this one!

It was a challenge to find but worth it. Fun getting the cache out with the tool.

It's my Mega weekend road trip! This is day five and I'm traveling to Tauranga with a short detour up from Thames to get the awest Coromandel Geotour caches. Will expand on my logs, post photos, qualifying caches for challenges, etc. When I get home. TFTC+FP

Tauranga welcomed me with an absolute downpour so I skipped past the bush track caches I was going to do and headed for my next target that is here. The GPS was giving me gyp and was pointing me into a thick scrub with fallen trees. Reading previous logs told me to look for a tree a bit further away. Eventually spotted and got to work, having found a couple of these types before. Soon extracted the cache and signed the log. Caches like these deserve favourites and this is no exception.

24 January 2022 12:44 pm Find #4800

I find it and I gotta say, this one was of my 2 favourite finds, I liked how their was a little bit of a challenge to it and I put some surprises in their too thank u so much!! ️️️

Out bright and early before the heat of the day with KGD and EyespyBen
To get our first cache for the 2022 and points for Reach the Peck
One of our favourite for the day BUT KGD had a bit of a oops here

Out with ABCDF4 and KGD for the day to tidy a few caches in the bay, to get some points for the peak, bit of a narly track but the cache was worth it, TFTC.

This one took a little while, as GPS was a bit all of over the place and we needed to be deeper in the bush than we thought. Also forgot to bring a pen . Awesome cache thanks

Found it didn't have a pen tho

Cache #700 for the year. A bit of bush bashing to get to this & then I saw it but directed buzzybb to it. Then team work got the cache. Tftc

Such an awesome cache. Definitely worth a favourite point. TFTC

Great puzzle tftgc

Wow that was fun. Definitely worth a favourite even though there are already heaps! Wouldn’t have found it without my muggle Hubble and then he helped me get the cache out too! I needed to broaden my search away from the coordinates slightly. TFTC and the fun!

First blood .

Well that was fun! Unexpected but definitely enjoyed the challenge. Really nice park around GZ, pity we did not bring a picnic.

TFTC Macwatt/ Kahluis

*** Out on our MEGA Roadtrip with Wilbywarrior. Who says this can only happen when the MEGA is actually held?! Greetings from Dunedin, caching friends
#231 ***

A fantastic park and very educational. Enjoyed the cache too

I had walked past this hide but luckily malinkaly was more observant than I. She did all the work and I signed the log. Perfect! Favourite point from me.
Malinkaly and I planned a road trip to go to the MEGA but Covid has postponed the event again. We decided to continue on with our planned journey making adjustments as we go with the ever-changing travel restrictions.
Greetings from Dunedin!
Thanks for the cache, Macwatt
#2469

Thanks Macwatt for the cache. It’s #1542 for us. We found your cache on 17 October 2021. Took a while to find but was worth the hunt. Nice cache and an FP from us

Wow. Lucky my nephew was determined to get it. I gave up but he kept going. Very clever

Oops. Forgot to attach the photo. Pen wasn't working.

Nailed it! Literally! Nice camo! No one was around! Thank you

I was a bit short of time & didn't have appropriate geocaching clothing - got thoroughly wet feet just walking across the grass .... next time I'm in Bay of Plenty I will try again.

Thanks very much Macwatt for your prompt cache check confirming that the cache is still there which also confirms my suspicions that I need an eyesight check.
On our way for a round of golf at the Tauranga Club presented us with an opportunity to make a second visit.
Armed with some excellent guidance/instructions we pretty well walked straight to the hide.
In my defence it is nicely camouflaged and it was behind a tree that somehow I omitted to look behind on the last visit. I can’t even claim that the coordinates could be better as I was within 3 metres of where my phone wanted me to be.
A nicely crafted cache container. Thank goodness we didn’t need water. I’m over those ones!
Cache signed. Code recorded. FP selected.
TFTC

Called by today and checked...I can confirm that the cache is all good and still in the original place

We waited until no-one was in the property next door before searching for this one. After wandering around for a few minutes to get a good fix on GZ we spotted the hint object and figured out how to access the cache. All good here, codeword noted. Thanks for another creative cache Macwatt, a fave from us too.

Out chasing the four Geotour caches this afternoon. We searched and searched and searched and couldn’t find anything resembling a man made cache. Quite a few tree falls at GZ. At least one or two appear to be new. Couldn’t find any pipes under the horizontal trunks though. Will watch with interest.

Very cool! First active based find. Took us a while to find but got there in the end:)

This is our first find Kids had a blast took us a while forgot a pen

Vistra and I really enjoyed our wander around the grounds here: a part of Tauranga I'd never seen before. The field puzzle required to extract the cache was fun. TFTC

AliGle and I were staying down in Tauranga for the weekend and visited Gate Pa on the way to some op-shopping in Greerton. We enjoyed our wander around the grounds here, then made our way down to this cache. Enjoyed the field puzzle required to extract the cache. TFTC - fav point added!

Made us work for that one LOL creative find. TFTF

Out and about for caches this sunny afternoon so went to the Gate Pa historical site. Search in the wrong places to start but then located likely suspect. Great cache container and puzzle. Tools were all good, nothing missing. Great to have an extra pair of hands for this one. Favourite point from us. Thanks

A gorgeous park. So much history around and we don't know much of it anymore. New Zealand is an amazing little country steeped in so much tradition and history. Not being a New Zealander I know nothing of it, but am learning much on my travels.

Wow - Gate Pa! I have read of, and heard about, the many brilliant strategies Māori used here. It feels quite an honour to stand on, and walk around, this land today. Thank you for bringing us here Macwatt/Kahluis. The cache is also well executed but overshadowed for me by the awe of the battle. An instant favourite. TFTC # 17,013

Very different excellent

Isis58 and I are on a mission over the long weekend to find as many TMGT and PWGT caches as possible with the occasional normal cache thrown in as time allows. We have seen a container like this before so with a tool each and some team work we soon had the log out, signed and codeword noted. Thanks for a fun hide and your contribution to the geotour.

#11166

A little bit of extra fun at the cache. What a stunning autumn day. Leaves are in full colour and great information about Bridge Pa to be found. Thanks for the cache and a fav for the fun factor in both searching and obtaining this cache.

Another awesome cache that stands out. Have been meaning to come grab this for a while but never got round to it. Glad we did! And learning about the battle.of Gate Pa as we went. Cheers

Been in Auckland visiting family and now travelling back home. Parked up the night in Memorial park and had time to collect some local caches. Enjoyed the history and the puzzle at GZ. Everything present for retrieving the cache. Also remembered to collect that key word as sometimes I have got so excited about the cache I have forgotten to record it. Thanks for the smiley.
Approached from Cameron Road and enjoyed the bird house just across the road at the Vets.

What a spot! couldnt find it at first but worth it at thw end.

Tricky tricky but good find

Found it!

Wow! Such an awesome and creative cache Had to really scout out the surrounding area while dodging a few muggles here and there (thankfully not too many tho ) In the past I've come to the next door shopping center heaps but never been to the domain. A really nice spot with a lot of history too! After searching in the wrong place for ages I did manage to find something out of the ordinary and easily retrieve the cache. TFTC! This was one of the best

Found it took ages but forgot a pen so couldn’t put my name in it.

Very cool. Took a while to find

Really loved the tool concept. In good condition and everything there : )

Very clever! Took some team work to get the container out once we located what was required.

We are on our summer holiday, we usually take a few weeks and travel around the South Island, but this year we are heading around the North Island. Heading up the West coast and back down the East coast. Finding only a select few caches along the way, we are mostly targeting some challenges we have qualified for, some large size caches, some that fill gaps in our date placed grid, a few D/T combinations, some with lots of favourite points, letterboxes and anything else that grabs our fancy.

I had a fall on day two of our holiday, while out geocaching which has resulted in a fractured bone in my leg and I am in a moon boot and with crutches and I was told to keep weight off my leg. So I am only limited use when it comes to our trip now. I tend to stay in the campervan and just hand out suggestions of when and where GK should search.

I was interested to learn more here so I went with gk to look around, after reading all of the information panels we headed towards gz. hmmm not one I can get to with a broken keg so gk had to manage this one on his own. There is one like this in Nelson so he knew that he could get to the log. which he did.
This is his favourite cache today so he wants to give it a favourite

Thanks for placing this cache and thank you for the smiley.

Found it, but dropped pen on the way!!! Hint wear decent footwear not jandels. And it takes only one well coordinated person to retrieve.
Not that fun to be honest, found but not cool all the drunks/homeless rubbish around the place.

Dropped pen on the way and definitely recommend wearing covered footwear as there are a lot of man made hazards around. Neat way to hide it though.

#8963. Having been in Auckland for a week, I am driving back south to Wellington but diverted through Tauranga and Rotorua to pick up a few targeted caches. High on the list was TMGT caches. I knew only a little about the history of Gate Pa but after reading the cache page and the signboards I am now more familiar with what events took place here. The British getting an early taste of trench warfare before WW1.

I parked over on Church Street and waited until a tropical downpour had passed by before I
headed over to GZ in bright sunshine. Got to love these summer heat showers. Being in sandals was not the smartest of choices today. I regretted this option several times later in the afternoon. But saw a route through the shrubbery and eventually found the cache behind the tree. Aha, now I know what tools of the trade were needed. Luckily they were still here as I didn't have amy of those with me. I have done 2 caches of this nature before and they are fun to do. With care the container soon worked its way to the top and I had the cache in hand. Signed the log ad replaced as found. What a well constructed cache. Instant favourite from me. Thanks Macwatt/Kahluis for creating and hiding it here. Code collected as well.

1 January 2021 11:50. I had been relying on my phone to do the navigation, but it led me into the shopping car park. Once that error was noted and rectified, I frittered away more time reading the info - not the DLI's finest hour....

Loved the cache, my favourite of the area (and that's got some competition!) TFTC Number 8955

As I said in the virtual here, THIS IS AWESOME! It is great that NZ is now celebrating its Maori heros, rather than largely ignoring them as happened only about 20 years ago. On that virtual I said it deserved more than one favourite, and this one does too, so again you'll just have to settle for a single fave and a path tag.
I wrote in my note book "Yay to the Maori, sticking it to the capitalist dog!" Fun writing in reactionary language and pretty much getting it literally accurate (nearly)!

Taybeedragon and I went on a tour of the Coromandel - one of the few places of New Zealand, especially of Te ika a Maui, that I have yet to explore throughly, and from there along the coast to Opotiki to see one of my many, many sisters. From 18 December to 5 January we found over 400 caches, including 12 adventure labs (60 caches), 20 or so TMGTs and a host of virtuals and earthcaches. And I hosted an event to see the sun come up on New Year's day - surprisingly popular given that it was at 5am. We climbed a lot of hills, saw some amazing beaches that were quite popular despite (or because of) the insane access to them, walk a lot of bush, entered and explored 8 gold mines and generally had an awesome time. However I am glad to be back, but now is the hard part, and I fear it will take just as long - logging!

Wow what an awesome place to visit. Love all the info boards. Kept me busy for ages. Left our calling card here. Cheers. Fav from me.

Day 14 - New Years Eve - Thursday 31 December - Running around Tauranga today for LABS, TMGTs and some other interesting caches along the way.

The Seagnoid, Zara, Toby and I are off on another geocaching escape over Xmas, this time to the mighty Coromandel, then over to Opotiki and stop off at Rotorua to return home on 5 January. Had an fabulous time exploring many wonders of our country. Rounding up over 400 caches along the way, with a few LABS, 20 odd TMGTs, virtuals and lots of interesting earth caches to keep the mind busy. Watching the sun come up on New Years Day at Mt Maunganui was spectacular. Lots of walking and even more driving. But had an awesome time. Thanks to all COs who made this adventure so special.

Glad I had my son need two to get it

North Island Campervan trip Day 6

After the fantastic holiday I had a few months ago traveling around the South Island, making the most of one of those incredibly cheap campervan deals available at the time, I figured it was worth taking a week off work before the stresses of the usual holiday period to enjoy some of the delights to be found around the top of the North Island.

This would be a great chance for me to seek out some targeted caches such as the TMGT ones as well as some that would help me with my Jasmer grid, missing minutes (for a couple of challenge caches I'm working on) and any other caches that caught my eye.

With the wild weather, I had decided to play it a bit safe and spent last night in a Motor Camp in Tauranga. I was intending to head back down to Whakatane/Ohope and then start the journey back towards Auckland today, never quite knowing how far I'd get by the time evening rolled in, especially as it was a later-than-usual start for me this morning.

I had never been to Gate Pa before, although I've heard some of the history before now. I had to sit and wait in the van for a while until the rain gods decided to take a wee break in their efforts to drench me, and then I was out of the van and almost running towards GZ like a rat up a drainpipe! Once I got close I had to be a lot more cautious on the very slippery slope, plus of course every nudge of a branch meant I got an extra mini-shower.

But it didn't take me long to spot the cache and figure out how to retrieve it properly. Everything here was good, and once in my hands the log was swiftly signed and everything returned exactly as found before I made my way back to the van before the rain started again.

Thanks for setting this field puzzle cache up. FP given in gratitude for it.

2nd attempt at looking for cache, turns out i hadnt gone far enough.gps jumping around n no data made it difficult..but after reading hint and activity i had a better idea what to look for..dont know if i did puzzle right but i got it..my first puzzle cache.TFTC.SL.

Heading over to get the TGA TMGT caches, I then went up to get the last in Whitianga, and then (because I'm mad) decided to get two I'd previously DNFd in Auckland.


A neat hide. I knew what to do as soon as I saw the cache holder, and quickly went to work on retreiving the cache. Easier than a certain one in Huntly that took a bit of playing with. The nearby boards were a good read to learn more of the history of this area.

TFTC Macwatt, the cache was found in good order Signed, sealed and returned to GZ. 4 find(s) of 15 today, making this find #2306

Thanks liked that how you had to get it out. We had been warned about it but Kiscardi didn’t seem to have any trouble.
Traveling around the north island for two weeks with Kiscardi we are from down south.
Her aim was to collect all the TMGT cache and I said that would be good to do and the mega was also in the plans but with COVID that was cancelled.
I looked at my missing dates and the old school challenge for the north island. Plus the odd D/T gap. Put those cache on the list too. And off we drove.
A catch up With the southern raiders in Auckland for a few days break half way round.

Heading up the Coromandel and back down to Tauranga while on a road trip around the North Island with NZ Bozzy.
We are collecting North Island TMTG caches and also some oldies and some missing DT ones as well And celebrating a special birthday too.
TFTC and bringing us here
sorry for the cut and paste

Not sure what to expect I came laden with a bag of possible tools of the trade and was pleasantly surprised all the tools I needed were at GZ. I've seen another cache like this one so I new what needed to be done and soon had the container and log in hand. A fun find for the whole family. Great to tick off another TMGT cache!

Clever little spot

With a virtual up for grabs here as well as the TMGT treat this was a definite highlight. Enjoyed reading some of the signs and was poignant to stand atop the hill at the pa and see the mount in the distance - comparing the fortified pic versus the sight today.
This was a nice cache, we've seen a few in Nelson like this hide style. Olivia was called to come and give a hand but by the time she'd got down the slope to me I had just extracted the treasure. All good here and FP of course. T F T C M/K

A road trip with my daughter today. She wanted to go to Tauranga, and I was on leave for the most part of this week so this was a mutually enjoyed visit to the BOP for the first time in a few years. We left at just after 6 to beat the traffic and after a long hold-up at Maccas we were soon on our way. A stop off in Paeroa on the way to the Mount (which was unexpectedly, and frustratingly, closed) and then a few TMGTs and the Waihi mine loop walk and all was good. Back in good time and late enough to avoid the traffic snarl ups.

Wow. After 10 mins of searching debris, I finally spotted it. Turns out I needed to lift my eyes up a little.
I found one of these puzzles in huntly yesterday but it was quite as easy to extract. This one is very good condition. Well done. A definite favourite from me

This one had a cool puzzle, theres a lot of rubbish trees down there that made it harder to access, other than that it was fun.

Found this one very difficult but eventually got it! Loved the puzzle!

This one took longer to find than it should have. That was partly due to the constant vehicular and foot traffic around the Mitre10 site next door and also due to a very recent deadfall which has seen several trees come down pretty much where my phone was showing GZ to be. However, the cache hasn't been affected at all and once I spotted the container the cache was in hand lickety split. TNLNSL TFTC

We enjoyed some teamwork here.Nice to have the tott provided. We would have been ok as I carry a handy tool that we used to speed up the process. Thank you very much for the excellent crafting, and the informative text. Another fp from me. 4/4.
#6024

That was fun. Even JD gave it a thumbs up. I am on a North Island Figure of Eight your. For the first 4 days I spend time in the Bay of Plenty with my husband JDScout. We are basing ourselves in Rotorua during this time.
Thanks Macwatt/ Kahluis for creating this hide. It was find 8923 for me.

======== NZ Mega 2021 ========
Planning for the NZ Mega 2021 event is well underway. It will be held in Auckland over Labour Weekend, October 2021

A most interesting place to visit -I must do more research when I get home. As for the cache - favourite given. Thank you for the wonderful caches you have made.

Out and about with Jude_E starting our Figure of 8 tour of part of the North Island. not only geocaching but enjoying long the scenery as well.
Signed JE. TFTC

This one took some finding - a bit of climbing down the bank and back up again - until we found the spot. Then it was a matter of solving the puzzle, and little by little, we eased out the cache. Very clever, and it must have taken quite a bit of effort to make! A fave from us! TFTC

Found after some retail therapy close by.

Found after some retail therapy close by.

At the end of a long day this was a nice stroll across the park. This is my favourite cache. Working together was helpful. Great fun. We really appreciate the effort in the caches. Thank you

2nd attempt at logging as the app shows found but it's not transferring to the website. Please excuse brief copy and paste. I had a gym challenge at the Mount so made the weekend of it and targeted most of the tour caches.

This one I had to loiter around a bit while a dog walker 'followed' me around the park, eventually he departed and I dashed to GZ. Found my target and it was very cool! and I found a lovely fungi nearby too.

This was our first geocache find and what a cool one to find. Weren’t quite sure what we were looking for, but found it relatively easily. Filled in the fresh log and left a little something.

Found eventually. One of the coolest caches I've found in a while. Didn't bring a pen so photo of log as evidence.

Checked to operation today ...replaced log ..all good to go again
Happy caching Macwatt

On a TMGT expedition, with four wagging tails in tow. But again got to wait in the camper van. Saved logs made this interesting, as we were initially looking higher up the bank. But did find and. complete the challenge. One of these caches has a full logsheet. Tools of the trade are in place and useable Tftc

Second time I've looked for it and finally found it! VERY COOL

I spent the day running around Tauranga getting quite a few caches. I wandered a bit before I spotted it, then it took another few seconds to get the cache. TFTC.

Took awhile to find but finally spotted and didn't take to long to get the puzzle done and have the logbook signed tftc

On a road trip from Wellywood to get some of the TMGT caches. This one took a little bit of searching as GPS out. Lucky my sidekick spotted the GZ thanks to the hint. A beautiful day here. Cool hide, gets an FP from me!

sorry such a late log on this geo TMGT series. Wonderful place to explore and great to sign off yet another code word.

Great find! Didn’t have a pen on us but will definitely come back another day!

Bit of our daily lockdown walk we decided to find this geocache.

It has been awhile since we have been out and about so took us a bit to get into our groove - stage one was eventually found and then provided some excellent problem solving for the Little One - a team effort saw us home and the log was soon in hand. Loved this one thanks!

An easier find here than back at the village thanks A nice touch with this one It must have been interesting erecting this set-up What did the neighbours think of the noise?!
The battle on this site had great significance among the many conflicts fought during the NZ Wars In terms of its importance in NZ history I therefore reckon the cache sits among the top 10 in the TMGT series Another favourite too Thanks Macwatt

First, find the pole.
Then do a bit of thinking.
Thanks for this cache... a new one for us.
We read all the information on the battle too.
FP given

What a neat interactive geo cache

Found it with friend, we had to go further than we thought as the GPS was a little wack

Kinda hard to find, but really cool. I found it difficult to deal with getting to it due to some physical disabilities but still had a good time !