TMGT: Tauwhare Pa Whakatane District, North Island, New Zealand
By Geckoh on 07-Sep-19. Waypoint GC8D40X

We hope you enjoyed exploring and discovering the local history in the communities of Aoetearoa 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!

Went to the spot with Cyclical caching, the spot looked really interesting but was closed. Hopefully it's open next time we get around there!

Unfortunately this awesome looking place is closed at the moment, possibly due to the giant looking slip North if the entrance?

CO was more than accommodating for us, proof of visit sent and they gave us permission to log and the codeword.

Thanks so much!

Hopefully next time we pass, we can stop off for the walk!

Walk was closed today so with the permission of the owner I am able to log this cache. I'd like to return one day to do this walkway.tftc

a nice walk here today got the required information then off to find the multi cache, Mr watcache found it signed the log and placed it back where found. TFTMC

Out with watcache today
Found with a bit of difficulty

It's my Mega weekend road trip! This is day six and I'm off to Whakatane via Rotorua and the GC45 tribute. Will expand on my logs, post photos, qualifying caches for challenges, etc. When I get home. TFTC

Those are some big trees. Perfume they were here at the time of the pā. A couple of slips but are navigable, but there is an alternative entrance further up the road but no parking.

25 January 2022 4:19 pm Find #4843

Had a bit of fun solving this with buzzybb. What a view up here. Then we couldn't work out how to get to the cache. Found a sort of track & ventured down. A very big cache. Fav point for bringing us to such a beautiful place. Picked up TB. Tftc

What a great spot for a multi-cache, had fun doing this one and what wonderful views too . One we got the final co-ordinates and worked out how to get to cache, a quick find. Kimbathelion found a TB here.

This is the first multi cache that I've done and the first without hints!!

I took some family on this amazing multi-cache. What a terrific location for a multi. The beginning of the path has had a slip so that was a bit tricky, but once past there the walk was straightforward. Made a rookie error and did the waypoints in the wrong order, so we had to backtrack, which gave us some additional hill climbing on this hot hot summer’s day (oh well, think of the calories we burnt up!). We found the cache in the promised place, signed the log (last log was just over a year ago) and headed home for a cold drink. Thank you for bringing us to this historic spot.

Just reading the other logs, looks like previous loggers put the wrong year

This was our last geocache for the day, we enjoyed the visit of the Pa, all the boards are really interesting and tell nice stories. It took a few minutes to find the correct way to go to the final, we once on the right path, it was an easy find. Thanks for creating this multi and maintaining it, it was a great spot to learn some history and enjoy the views. We dropped a TB.

should have brought my walking shoes

Phew! Came very unprepared as when we were driving past the site, little Mr 8 yelled out: ‘here! there is a multi cache here! Stooooop please!’
So one flip flop less but with a happy smile, we will go home with some good memories and cool photos of the area. What a view! Thanks for planning this!

Great hiding spot! Got a bit sweaty trying to find the cache but was worth it

Had a great day to walk around this wonderful site. Gathered all the info required and made our way to GZ for an easy find.
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, Geckoh
#2429

Thank you for placing a cache here and showing of the area that way. Loved reading about the history! Great hide location as well.

TFTC Geckoh

*** Out on our MEGA Roadtrip with Wilbywarrior. Who says this can only happen when the MEGA is actually held?! Greetings from Dunedin, caching friends
#212 ***

Great location to explore. The sign boards really do tell a story or two.

Beautiful views, nice one. Tftc

What a beautiful day and what a fun and interesting cache. TFTC. Found with Moodyvontrapps

Youngest MVT: Wow, what a beautiful spot. I came here with Eggby on a warm (!?) winters day and we had the whole Pā to ourselves, what a treat. After taking some time to explore and learn about the way of life that Maori lived here, with monarch butterflies and fan tails for company, we completed the multi and made our way to the GZ. What a great hide. Well worth the visit! Thanks for the cache

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. I really enjoyed wandering around here collecting the information. Didnt take long to find the cache at the final location. Dropped off a TB. Thanks for bringing us here and for this contribution to the geotour

#11197

Wow this Pā site is huge and amazing. I loved walking to the various waypoints and reading the information. This epitomises what I love about geocaching - taking me to explore places I would otherwise not go to and the rich information in the cache description and at the site that adds to my knowledge of the shared history of Aotearoa. Very special visit thanks Geckoh. An easy favourite. TFTC # 17,043

Wandered up on a clear sunny morning to complete the puzzle and wander around this awesome place. Well worth the puzzle time and great to see it so well maintained with awesome signage. Great spot. Thanks so much for bringing me here on my TMGT road trip to see the sights

#9669. I am making my way north to a conference in Thames over the long weekend. But after staying in Rotorua overnight my muggle friend and I diverted over to Whakatane to do the TMGT caches. It was a lovely sunny, warm and calm day. The views from the pa site out over Ohiwa Harbour were spectacular. Worked our way around the various display boards gathering the required information. Finally we had some coordinates and at first they seemed a bit unlikely. But a closer inspection revealed a pathway to GZ and soon we had the cache in hand. Signed the logbook and replaced the cache where found. Thanks Geckoh for hiding it here.

Found it, nice and easy and a beautiful spot to

Found it confusing with all these changes of coordinates...

Collecting a few TMGT caches while we’re on holiday. Walked up with my host. Perfect day. Stunning views. Collected all the info and found the track make a quick find. A great sized container. A nicely worked Multi +FP
TFTC

Coordinates changed from:
S 37° 58.656 E 177° 4.266

Coordinates changed to:
S 37° 58.723 E 177° 4.252

Distance from original: 413.3 feet or 126.0 meters.

changing the listed coordinates to the new first signboard, the old signboards had been removed, also changing the rest of the questions to reflect the new signboards.
Final cache location remains the same.

Now to check out Tauwhere Pa and collect the info for this TMGT. This became problematic with lots of great new signage and no Doc numbers. Thanks to the CO for getting us to our destination and the special code to add to my pasport. Cheers. Love these new sign boards. Kept me busy.

Day 16 - Saturday 2 January 2021 - Whakatane to Opotiki today. Some TMGTs to visit before we leave town. Meeting up with The Seagnoids sister for the evening. And the rains came, with drums beating and an awesome night lights show.

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.

The signs are back, although they are in different locations (and none bear DoC-like serial numbers), many thanks to Geckoh who made this findable while they were gone. Enjoyed exploring the area and seeing some of the earthworks still visible. Dropped in a path tag and a favourite.

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!

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.

By the time I got to this location, the weather had calmed down a bit and the sun was even starting to make an appearance. It was therefore a nice walk from the carpark to get to GZ. Once I was there, the cache itself was a quick find and a pleasant surprise to find it of a decent size too. There were no issues at all with the cache or log, which was signed before everything was returned exactly as found before I made my way back to the van to carry on with my journey.

Thanks for setting this cache up.

Was a bit confused when I found the information boards missing - I had not read the writing in the description. Phoned a friend and they sent me the final co-ords. Off I went to collect and found I should have taken a batch of TBs to drop. I went on a road trip following the "Mega that wasn't" in Auckland over Labour weekend. TFTC.

Thanks signs have no numbers but we got the coordinates off a previous finder. I see you can message the cache owner as well.
Still took us a while to find but got it in the end.
Travelling with Kiscardi.

Please read the note in red in the description as it will save you PAF to help as notice boards are missing as I think they are being repainted.
Heading around East Cape today 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.
Sometimes we just stop and grab a cache cos we can.
TFTC and bringing us here
sorry for the cut and paste

Found it but hard at first but finally got it

DNF

I enjoyed reading the fact sheet about the Tauwhare Pā Scenic Reserve and the associated pdfs. After having a good walk around the site and thinking about how the Pā was fortified, we found the cache. On the way back I took a different route and saw these magnificent trees.

Jude_E, NosyNel and I are continuing on our figure of 8 tour of the North Island collecting the ‘Tour’ caches, plus others, plus seeing the scenery, plus having a good old time. TFTC and favourite given.

Travelling to Hicks Bay from Rotorua today with Nosynel and Ethness. Our goal is to find all the TMGT caches in a big figure 8 across the centre of the North Island. Geckoh was really helpful here as since cache publication the necessary unfo has gone from the 3 waypoints. Some amazing trees near gz. Great information. Thanks so much. FP for the great service!
#6080

A nice multi stroll. Thanks for getting back to us with the missing information.
I am on a North Island Figure of Eight tour. For the first 4 days I spend time in the Bay of Plenty with my husband JDScout in Rotorua. Now I am on part one of the eight loop going around the Eastern Cape. This part is being done with my good friends Ethness and Jude_E.
Thanks Geckoh for creating this hide. It was find 8960 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 bit of a trip away to get out the Waikato, I decided to target some Eastern GeoTour caches. This trip ended up being 1294kms over the two days, and a good run for the car. Day 2

Coming from East Cape, I had a scenic drive around the coast. I had been here a few weeks ago, and had missed this one as my C:GEO database hadn't been updated before I left. I had been looking at a version that was a few weeks old and was unaware the locations had been removed. What an absolute muppet and a rookie mistake. Anyway, Gekoh messaged me, and when he did I worked out why I'd missed it... Yup, still an idiot. Anyway I made the grab here in darkness, and obtained the code. Nice to see a really good sized container too!

TFTC Geckoh, the cache was found in good order Signed, sealed and returned to GZ. 9 find(s) of 10 today, making this find #2228

Went for a Hikoi around all the waypoints but sadly the signboards are still missing. Thanks Geckoh for the coordinates to complete the task and ultimately find the cache. I enjoyed the walk but unfortunately it is absolutely bucketing down here today so I’m walking away with a smiley but also very wet! TFTC

We read all the details on the boards. Kumara pits, pa sites,trenches,views. Wish we’d packed a picnic.
We appreciated the help but enjoyed the few hours of our lives at the spot. Gecko-amazing caches!!!

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.

Surprisingly found the cache but not via ID numbers off boards, as there were only fresh posts and bare wooden boards. With fresh dirt underneath. I'm totally weirded out as the next person read all the boards? Installed yesterday morning perhaps? (i'm logging 2 days later as my original log is missing)/

Found it. Great spot.

25 July 2020 12:58. Well my brain didn't save my legs on this one! Parked up, Point A no problem, (once I worked out what I needed to do- thanks for the reassuring checksum). Then point C and point D, which was when I realised that I had missed out point B.... so back I went!

Information acquired, a few mishaps with the calculations, then off to where I thought I should have been the first time! Very glad of a quick find and a large cache! Apt keyword..

What a fabulous place, would love to know more of its history, so thank you for making this part of the GeoTour. TFTC serms a touch inadequate, so have a FP as well!

Thanks for this fun multi cache! We cycled up from our bach to complete this cache and really enjoyed the view and exploring this lovely area! We managed to find without too much confusion although the different levels of the site nearly threw us off! Thanks again for this little adventure that encouraged us to get out and explore somewhere new!

On a TMGT expedition, with four wagging tails in tow (they got to rest in the van for this one). Daylight was limited, so we quickly did the waypoints and found the goods, in a nice big container. Information was interesting, and could have spent a lot more time here (but two more Pa sites to visit before dinner) tft multi cache smiley

TFTC

Our friends and family thought we were crazy when we said we were going on a day trip from Auckland to Ohope to find a plastic container in the bush, but we forgave them as they don't know any better.
And it turned out that they were the ones who were crazy as it was a beautiful day and a very pleasant drive so they missed out on an awesome trip.
We had been on a bit of a roll with the TMGT caches up until March and only had 9 left to find but then Covid-19 put a stop to our plans so we were very pleased to resume the tour today with this awesome multi.
When we arrived at the Pa we had the area to ourselves so we could enjoy the peace and serenity of the area as we completed each stage. Although we were joined by two very friendly fantails who accompanied us most of the way.
Once we had all the numbers a quick calculation gave us some plausible co-ordinates and we headed off to the final where closer investigation into a likely spot revealed the very nicely sized cache.
Thanks Geckoh for bringing us to this historic place. We enjoyed walking around the area and discovered areas we would otherwise not have explored had it not been for the cache.
A favourite point from us and our 92nd stop on the Geotour.

Excellent walk and awesome hiding spot. Well done! Almost left without finding it

This one is definitely my fave! Had to actually use some thinking and despite a last minute disagreement on the location. Happy to say, I found it !

Thanks for the multi. We were lucky to have a spectacular day for this walk, and were very happy with views all around.
Great spot.

lovely sunny calm winters day for a gentle walk. good clear wpts and straight forward to solve. great big trees here. good views from the top. tftc

Found, full log to come.

Short walk from home while in lock down

COVID-19 ANNOUNCEMENT
Any finds logged during the lockdown run the risk of being deleted, not to mention the risk of spreading the virus.
Please stay at home.

A neat wee multi. Found all the IDs quickly did the neccessary sums and had the co-ords. The olny issue then was how to get to the GZ. At 9m off from the top I was tempted to head down directly, but as I walked away I noticed the other track which soon had me at the right spot. Found the cache soon after (nice big container) signed the log (got the code word) and replaced, TFTM

I was staying with friends in the area for a few days so found some free time to visit the TMGT caches in the Whakatane area This one required some careful recording of many digits but it all worked out well Except it took me some time to get to the final without a need to exceed the T1.5 rating After that all fell into place Some time later I realised I had not collected the code word so next morning I went back to get that - idiot I enjoyed very much the remnants of the pa construction at this site I marvel at the earthworks completed without the benefit of steel tools and wheeled barrows or carts Thanks very much for bringing me here This definitely warrants a favourite grading

????

Given there is an extra day to geocache this year and with a bonus souvenir on offer I made sure I went out a find a few today.

Have been here before, so it was great to return. The multi straight forward a fun to work through, though it felt oddly familiar. Enjoyed the views as I wandered around. Final found with issue, and took a TB. Thanks for the fun multi.

Sorry about the late log. Just going over my TMGT series as have completed over a few years and signing this off. Very interesting wonder and some interesting signs to read. made a good find and copied the codeword thx.

An important objective in today’s travels was to find some more of the TMGT caches. This was the last for Whakatane before heading on to Gisborne. No problems with the questions and a pleasant walk to GZ for a quick find. Another informative and very enjoyable cache in this excellent series. Signed log, recorded code, TFTC.

Visiting a cousin in Ohope so keen to clean up a few local caches. Enjoyed the walk and views from the top. A favourite from us. Thanks

Checked cache and logbook entries, previous finder is NOT in the logbook....
Last finder is ALSJFS.
MonopolyMasters76 - log deleted (NOT Cool)

Cool

After reading the Facebook page only one of us went for the walk to find the numbers and the cache, whilst the other stayed in the carpark and cleaned the Lake Waikaremoana dust off the tailgate. It was a lovely morning for a wander and to enjoy the views. This was our last TMGT cache in the Bay of Plenty - another area completed. TFTC.
+ a marble and a FP, - nothing.

Tried to do this at night but too dangerous.

Gorgeous view at sunrise.

Grand size, good hide, not much swag today.

Felt the puzzle and the terrain were both at least a half point more than D1.5 T2.0.

Really enjoyed hunting for this cache. No other people around today which made things easier.

We are away for a few days on a TMGT tour journey through to Gisborne and back again. Wow it was a hot day to be clambering around here. We persevered, and the waypoints actually fell together really well. We were grateful to get to the final and have it signed off. SL. TFTC.

Today's mission was to find the TMGT caches in the Bay. I parked up and headed off to do the work required to deduce where this was hiding, A cheat sheet I had drawn up to simplify working out the multi worked pretty good and I was soon looking for the cache. No problems there. With the logbook signed and the code word recorded. It was back to the car and off to the next one. Cheers and TFTC

Yes! Our first BOP TMGT find. And such a great multi and cache too! Definitely giving an FP here, and TFTC

Perfect. Location. Coordinates. History. Hide.
Fave for sure.
Those were my field notes made at the time and all I can say is that this is one of the best TMGT caches we have found. We're near the end of our second month in New Zealand, and have so far found over 34 of the TMGT caches. Whakatane is a place we’ve never visited before, and the Maori history is fascinating.

Here in town to get the TMGT caches even though we will never ever qualify for the coin or anything - it is still great fun and this is our last here. We have been to Tauranga and Thames etc as well as the ones in Auckland. That might be our lot!

After getting the trad at the entrance we noticed the sign that dogs are not permitted here - this is not unusual at a DOC controlled pa site but gave us a conundrum - Mrs Tuolei being no fan of multis, Mr Tuolei was despatched while the other half looked after the hound in the parking lot. A "no dogs" attribute would be handy for ethical dog owners - we check these and they are useful (unlike IMO a fair number of other attributes).

Found A a bit confusing as to what was required and not certain I agree with the intepretation of one of the digits but the checksum was useful - the other waypoints went smoother and at the last one did the calculations and got a very likely spot. Didn't spot the geotrail and made things slightly harder for myself than necessary.

Got to GZ and made a quick find - it's a big cache and has a bit of swag in it - not having brought anything I didn't trade.

Well done multi in an interesting area that I had to myself. Well worth a visit - all good here,. +FP

Love Pa sites. Nice views around and a straightforward hunt. Left a tb.

Full log to come

A wee bit of maths to sort this one out then onto the final. Hazaaaah, it was where the maths worked out. Excellent! Another really interesting place you've taken us too, thanks.

We really enjoyed this multi. Was a nice walk around with great views. Nicely set up, was easy to follow. Interesting history. Took us a little while to find the final as our gps was jumping all over but loved it. TFTC. Greatly appreciate the time and effort that goes into these types of caches. Bonus have driven past many of times and always wanted to come here so thanks for bringing us here!

TFTC great spot great clues

So today we decided to take the day off from bathroom renovations and head on over to Whakatane to buy some nice juicy fresh corn from Julian's Berry Farm then pick up the 4 TMGT caches in the area. We decided to do this one first. The really hard part was climbing the hill as bad backs and bad knees make the task that much harder. However we found all the necessary information and were awe-struck by the view from the top. We settled down to work out the final and once at GZ Mr S soon made the find, and retrieved the word. We made our way back down the hill to the geomobile and near the bottom a young girl came running up the path and asked us and the couple behind us "who owned the dark blue car?, because it's been broken into". Damn, damn, damn and a thousand curses on the low life who smashed the passenger window. We reported it to the Police but don't expect any result. Glass everywhere and a very uncomfortable trip back to Rotorua. Fortunately we had left nothing in the car so nothing was stolen. Unfortunately we had to abandon the rest of our TMGT cache hunt. So a rather unhappy finish to what had been a lovely day and a good walk.

Thanks Geckoh. Another TMGT on our passport.

I’m here visiting my girlfriend who hasn’t done geocaching before so I took her along. She enjoyed this a lot. Thanks!

Super hot out there today but great lot of history and enjoyed the multi, surprised at the great sized cache, thanks for the placement and the history of the area as we would have not visited had it not been for this cache.
+fav point

(# 5610). Up to the Bay of Plenty to see relatives for Christmas, Today I based my caching around Whakatane. Enjoyed getting the required information at the various areas of the Pa. A quick find at the find. Everything in order. TFTC

fun

Easier to find than the last multi here. TFTC

#11,537. We enjoyed exploring the Tauwhare Pa Scenic Reserve in Ohope. Managed to collect the information from the various waypoints. Final GZ was all quiet at the time of our visit. Found after a short search. The cache was in good condition, all nice and dry inside. Took nothing, left nothing, signed log.

Thanks for the interesting history, multi and placement, and for bringing us to all these sites, and …

.T h a n k s. .f o r. .t h e. .c a c h e.
.M a u r u u r u. .k o e. .n u i. .a t u. .h o k i. .t e. .k e t e r o k i.

A nice quick find today with Ms_KR. We had a nice walk to the interpretation boards. and made quick time of gatherinf the info needed, A nice sized cache too.

Christmas holiday road trip to Auckland. Day seven, from Gisborne to Whakatane.

Thanks to all CO's for publishing and maintaining their caches. Cheers.

He mihi mahana tēnei ki te iwi kāinga arā ko Ngati Awa otira ngā hapu kātoa. Pai rawa ta māua hikoi haere kei roto i te ngahere, ki te pā hoki . Ka piatata mai ngā rau o te kawakawa. Ahakoa he totika te ara, kāhore ano māua kia taka! Kua mau i te taonga,ā, naianei, kua kitea te huarahi tika e māua/ Warm greetings to the resident iwi and all the sub tribes. We had a lovely wander around the bush and the pā. The kawakawa leaves sparkled. Altho our track was direct we didn't fall. We have got the cache and now we have seen the right way. Tftc

Out for a drive this way and decided to come up here. Been here before. Love the views. Few people around today. Getting the info was easy. But usually that is where it ends for me. Lol In an area that I think looks promising and Dot comes up with the goods. Nicely hidden. Tftc

What a great adventure this has been. Gr33nslime put me onto the Tuia Matauranga GeoTour and has been the main driver to get the family out and around New Zealand. This tour has taken us to some really different and wonderful places that we would not normally have been too. The wealth of information that has been shared about the country has been great to read and filled in many information gaps that I had about our early history. Thanks for the cache and for bringing us here and for taking part in the tour. It has been all very enjoyable and will the driving and days full of caching has been rather different, it has been filled with visits to very unique places full of local history like this. Where will this tour take us next I wonder..

# 1808 On the move from Wellington to Auckland with the fam so it was the perfect opportunity to travel up the east coast and collect this series of geo tour caches.

This was the tenth of the trip. We had come from Gisborne and found this one on the way to Whakatane. Wasnt expecting to do so much walking but really appreciated being forced up and around this site and imagining what must have been. Had some minor hiccups getting the correct numbers, checksum might help with that, but then wasnt satisfied with the final spot either which seemed completely inaccessible until we found the track down. Large container full of rattl rocks found! Cheers Geckoh for this one and the history.

It was really hot here when we visited, I think I was the only one not sweating. I don't mind the heat, but FMZ and harisree were glad for the aircon in the car afterwards. Another great historical spot. Thanks

FITW FMZ.
On a weekend caching adventure to find some TMGT caches. A nice multi cache to find.. It was quite easy finding the WPs despite the hot sun. TFTC

***[======== NZ Mega 2020 ========](http://nzmega.com)***

Planning for the [NZ Mega 2020](http://nzmega.com) event is well underway. It will be held in Auckland over Labour Weekend, 23 to 26 October 2020. It's going to be a massive celebration of geocaching:

* 20 years of geocaching worldwide.
* 20 years since New Zealand had the very first geocache hidden outside of USA.
* And it's 2020 - all the 20s!

Talk to your geo-friends and start planning to be part of [this event](http://nzmega.com) - you won't want to miss it!

Found this on a TMGT roadtrip with harisree this weekend. very hot already when we got here, but headed up and visited each WP gathering the required info, and then a bit fo a respite from the heat to go for the final. Nice one. TFTC!!!

***[======== NZ Mega 2020 ========](http://nzmega.com)***

Planning for the [NZ Mega 2020](http://nzmega.com) event is well underway. It will be held in Auckland over Labour Weekend, 23 to 26 October 2020. It's going to be a massive celebration of geocaching:

* 20 years of geocaching worldwide.
* 20 years since New Zealand had the very first geocache hidden outside of USA.
* And it's 2020 - all the 20s!

Talk to your geo-friends and start planning to be part of [this event](http://nzmega.com) - you won't want to miss it!

Off in my car and I happen to have rustynz and Rebel98 with me for this 2 day weekend. We plan to get Geotour caches in Whakatane, Gisborne, Tolaga Bay and Napier. A trip that would take 1401km returning through Taupo back to Auckland.

Up, up the hill we go and rusty has the info printed off, makes it easier than reading it off the phone. We find the signes easily enough, but several we need to take fotos that somehow improve the reading of the numbers. We got there in the end, did the math and checked and rechecked as there is no checksum to keep us on the right path. So when we got our final co-ords, it seemed to be a good place so we found a track and soon was walking along it and I soon spotted something suspicious, YEP, it's the cache and a good size too as per the description on the cache page.

Really enjoyed the wander through the 'Pa' imagine if you could see all the Maori families here going about their daily business, eating, laughing, singing, raising kids rather than always hearing about the fighting between different tribes or with the white man.

Thanks for the cool location Geckoh.

A group of Westies (rustynz, rebel98 & gorby) on a East Cape caching adventure, came the scenic route

The sun is shinning, I had printed out the multi questions, and here we are making our way to the various signs.

It is amazing us here, so much atmosphere, and history too. You can see why the Pā was placed here.

As to the maths, only one of the tags was a bit faded, so we had to approach from different angles for the numbers to reveal themselves.

With numbers calculated, we went to GZ, and with us spread out, it was gorby who found the cache in its unique hiding spot. Loved the container, was not expecting one that size.

With log signed, pictures taken, and code word noted, we are on our way for more adventures

Another fun find, thanks for this TMGT Geotour hide, and for the history Geckoh

Beautiful walk, good maths, and we were soon finding the cache. Thanks for the geotour hide With rustynz and gorby

Mr Rattll was having a few days away to visit family but was happy to take the long way around to collect some geotour caches.
Finally made it to Whakatane and what a beautiful sunny day to be back in the Bay.
It took a while for the GPS to settle here, but got there eventually.
Left a pet rock - a crab.
Thanks for setting this up Geckoh

Log later