East Bench (East Cape) Horoera, North Island, New Zealand
By Beauty & The Beast (with Artemiskid and the Gang) on 03-Jan-05. Waypoint GCMGWW

The track is closed which I found out on arrival but went up to this cache location anyway. Cache is saturated but otherwise still in place. Unable to sign so a photo instead.

Before visiting, please check status of the track with Information centres in Opotiki or Gisborne. As of 15 November 2023, the track is still closed. Please updated us if this has changed in the mean time.There's been a lot of significant damage to Tairawhiti Region, including this track during cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023. As a result, the local owners and caretakers have closed the access track to the lighthouse. Please respect that.Some more info here: https://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/kaupapa-maori/no-seeing-in-new-year-at-east-cape-lighthouse

The logbook is very wet, the path is closed. Temporary probably means for ever. Please place big warning to the listing. We travelled quite long way to look only at cows. TFTC

Together with Travelser I'm going Down Under. We are driving around with a motorhome. After 7 weeks driving around through Australia we arrived the 2th November in New Zealand. For ten days we will cross the Northern Island and than for 2 weeks the Southern Island.During our trip we of course search for several caches. Most of them brought us to very nice spots, like this one.We came all the way from the middle of the North Island to find these cache. For me it's gonna be the most eastern cache in my life think. So we spoke to the farmer and he gave us a kind of permission to go to the path. The way to the bench was doable, but after that there was a lot of damage. So up to the lighthouse was impossible, and for sure in the rain we had.All the CO's, and in this case Beauty & The Beast, thanks for bringing us here and give our trip a special accent.

After traveling around Australia with Oopie for 7 weeks, we have now been traveling with the camper in New Zealand for 4 weeks. Along the way we will of course also visit various types of caches in beautiful places, including this one. Thanks CO for creating and laying this cache.

Logging a few years after finding this cache now that I have the premium app! Found 3.1.19 with Annika47 at 4:35am on our way up to see the sunrise. ️

The walk up to the lighthouse is still closed so we were unable to do this great looking walk today.

Unfortunately, the track is temporarily closed. We should have checked before coming, but the road was still very nice and enjoyable. We also spent some time looking at the beautiful horses and answering questions about them. One our way we were sadden by a search and rescue operation on the coast. This reminds us life is fragile. We didn't know this place was a gathering place for New Year's eve, and we understand the decision to close it to prevent gathering. We'll come back later, when it is safer for everyone, thanks for placing this here!

Thank you for logging the DNF Dimepodore. This is first we've heard about it. Googling up, here is some official information on why the road to the lighthouse is closed:

https://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/local-news/20211129/access-to-east-cape-lighthouse-closed-off/

It's all very political... nothing new.

Beautiful spot TFTC

When you are in the area, you do have to go to the crazy landmarks, don't you? Like the furthest Eastern spot of New Zealand! And naturally there is caches here. Perfect to have one at the half way point as well!

TFTC Beauty & The Beast (with Artemiskid and the Gang)

*** Out on our MEGA Roadtrip with Wilbywarrior. Who says this can only happen when the MEGA is actually held?! Greetings from Dunedin, caching friends
#191 ***

Heading up to the lighthouse so we had to stop to grab this one. Nice views from here and a good point to take a break on the way up. Quickly found.
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, Beauty & The Beast
#2431

We had a blast from the past stay in the Hicks Bay motel last night. Now on our way to Gissy via the East Cape lighthouse.

Up we go. A quick find and then I sat on a sunny step while I waited for Ms M to join me.
TFTC

Found it without using app just looking around. Stayed in the east cape campground last night amazing spot. Traveled from Marokopa on the west coast. TFTC

Thought there were going to be more steps to the top...great day. Easily recovery. TFTC

Visited this spot during my East Cape Easter 2021 journey.
This is actually my second visit in the area. But last time I haven't got time for all hides in the East Cape area.
This time is quite different story. My longer Easter break is dedicated to this area only.

Quick and pleasant find on my way to the lighthouse.
All ok.
TFTC

#12,679. A nice walk in East Cape, Te Araroa, Gisborne. Great to have a bench stop here. GZ was all quiet at the time of our visit. Quick find. The cache was in good condition, all nice and dry inside. Took nothing, left nothing, signed log.Thanks for the placement, and for bringing us to this site, 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.

Fantastic views. Love these steps

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 certainly was not up for going to find this cache so GK went, he caught up to some other people on the track just before gz they had met some people coming down and of course they all decided to have a good old yak here. GK waited for them to move along and then he made a quick find, signed the log and returned it as he found it.

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

Day 7 of my week long road trip of geocaching, camping and seeing a few bands. Today I'm heading to Gisborne, the long way.

Having camped the night nearby, I got up early to head to the lighthouse, stopping here on the way up the stairs for a quick test. Found safe and dry, TFTC

First one for 2021!! Happy new year

This is the time of year to escape from Gisborne while all the R&V revellers enjoy themselves. Decided to head up the coast. Stayed the night at Te Araroa. This morning got on my bike to visit the lighthouse. A bit of gravel road but not as much as there used to be. So many horses around. Had a few waiting for me at the gate when I got back. Thanks for the smiley.

This is the time of year to escape from Gisborne while all the R&V revellers enjoy themselves. Decided to head up the coast. Stayed the night at Te Araroa. This morning got on my bike to visit the lighthouse. A bit of gravel road but not as much as there used to be. So many horses around. Had a few waiting for me at the gate when I walked back. Thanks for the smiley.

Found it. Took out some erasers and put in some toy animals

On a road trip with NZ Bozzy finding TMTG caches , many oldies and also filling in some DT spaces. Today we took my first trip around East Cape . beautiful day and lots of views. Quickly found as we walked up to the lighthouse

Thanks it has been a warm day and it is a nice walk up to the lighthouse. Thankfully there is a pencil in the cache and we can sign it. In our excitement of climbing to the lighthouse we forgot our pen. I suggested we carry the pencil to the top and sign the cache up there and drop off the pencil on the way down but Kiscardi was not keen to do this.

Nice one - took a seat to. TFTC.

Wet day-Took a mate home to Orutua on the way out to the light house and decided to check out the caches while there, with no GPS or notes I was lucky to find this one TFTC

Good rest spot!! Tftc

A quick find while on our way up to the lighthouse, yes a good spot to take a rest. Cache in good condition. TFTC!

Travelling from Lottin Point to Gisborne 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. A nice stop on the way up the hill. Many thanks.
#6089

Not sure if I am half way up or not but still had a wee rest.

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.

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

A quick find on the way down the hill. I did indeed stop here for a breather on the way up.

TFTC Beauty & The Beast, the cache was found in good order Signed, sealed and returned to GZ. 8 find(s) of 10 today, making this find #2227

On a TMGT expedition, with four wagging tails in tow. Another cache where they got to laze around, while we put in the effort - 800 steps of it. Nice to have a breather along the way, and something to sign to say we’ve been here. Tftc

Was relieved to pause for a moment and find the cache. Beautiful view. Tftc

Found on our walk up, spent some time with some very excited piwakawaka!

Found quickly on arrival. TFTC

We found this one on the way up, just thought it looked like the obvious place and signed on the way down. Left a Lego man, minus a hand. TFTC

Found this one on 7/2/20 on the way up to the top

Quick find on the way down the hill. Stunned how many people had made the journey today out to this far flung spot
Tftc

Every step was worth it. Awesome view Tftc

Found!

Thanks for hiding a cache at this outstanding place. When you reach the bench it is about half the way up to the lighthouse, and every step is worth the cost. Greetings from Germany!!!

Nice place to stop and take in the view. On the way out here it was very cloudy but luckily it’s now cleared. Nice cache, nice placement, all is well here. At the moment this is my most easterly cache in the world, but not for long!

Not as taxing as it might have been! Nicely graded steps (so far.....) and a view beginning to happen. TFTC

Needed a rest.

A nice spot for a break on the way up the hill. Phew, a lot of steps up here. Cheers

Nice rest stop half way up. Quick and easy

Tftc!! )

Beim Aufstieg hier kurz gerastet. Ein Handgriff und der Cache war unser. Dfdc

Quick cache on the way up and the again the next morning.cool cache and view of the valley.
Tftc

TFTC Beauty & The Beast (with Artemiskid and the Gang) !
A great spot for a cache to rest on the way up.
Cheers for that!
SL
CJH

Today has been a great day for caches! Drove from Whakatane to the East Cape, & grabbed a bunch on the way. Log is a bit damp, love the container.

Angine

Found with the kiddies while road tripping the area! Such a beautiful spot you have here. Miss 4 found it with no problem and we all enjoyed the rest. Thanks for the extra incentive to do this amazing walk.

As the light house was overcrowded we found only this one

Wahrscheinlich die östlichste Bank auf der ich jemals gesessen bin greetings from Austria tftc

Die östlichste Bank auf der ich wahrscheinlich jemals sitzen werde Gruß aus Oberösterreich tftc

Found ist on our way down! Thanks!

These three East Cape caches were on our "must do" list when we planned this Australia/New Zealand trip. Week 9 of the trip and goal completed. Thanks for your efforts in keeping this cache going and for placing it in a great spot for a break. Cache in good shape. TFTC

Objective, the lighthouse. It's going up well to get here.
Let's keep going.

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Thanks Beauty & The Beast for the geocache [^]
Greetings from Belgium,
Frank et Muriel travelling in New Zealand

Happy geocaching

#16049

On our way up to the lighthouse we were pleased to have reason for a little rest. Thanks to the hint it was a quick find. Thank you for leading us here.

Found as a part of a previous group TanjackMüley, aka WanderingSparrow. Now I'm continuing on my own. TFTC

First cache for a while but we thought we would go up the lighthouse for sunset. Glad we found this on the way up and not the way down it being dark. Tftc

Good hide in a very public place, very trekked on most days. Today not quite so, being rather bleak, a few stormy squalls rolling through. We stopped and paused, and retrieved and signed the log and returned. TFTC

Found

Good cache in great area on a perfect day after the sunrise. Found by my 6 year old daughter.

Lots of steps

Easy find out n between heaps of muggles in both directions. TFTC. Pinetree and Sunrise

We started out today early. Last night was spent in Tologa Bay. Tonight's destination was Whakatane. We stopped here and found the geocache on the way to the light house. I will have to settle for this find being my most eastern find as we couldn't find the one at the light house. The view at the light house was awesome.

We crossed Cook Strait using the Inter Islander on Saturday. Today is day five. We spent the full day in Gisborne yesterday day.

This Easter JDScout and I are off on an East Cape adventure. We are driving in our campervan from Christchurch. This has been something we always wanted to do. I am combining this trip with geocaching.

Sadly there is no large event in New Zealand in 2019 but there are a few Mega events planned in Australia. I plan on going to the OzGeomuster in July. To find out more visit this site: https://www.ozgeomuster.com.au

If you can't make Aussie. New Zealand will have another large event in 2020 in Auckland. I will keep you posted in my logs.
Thanks for hiding this geocache.

Quick find after the lighthouse visit.
TFTC

Found on the way back from the top and finding the one up there. This was way easier than that thankfully. Tftc.

Thanks for placing the cache, The road out is a challenge, wonderful views.

Quick and easy find on the way up. Thank you for the very nice view (and the very welcomed stop)!

TFTC ♡

TFTC

# 2051 24.02.2019

Pretty nice climbing up to the light house.
Relaxed a few minutes at the eastern most bench.
Thanks to Beauty & The Beast (with Artemiskid and the Gang) for placing!
ViT4 Steffi & Peter

An Tag 14 unserer Tour ging es von Gisborne weiter in Richtung Nordost. Dieser Ausläufer Neuseelands ist sehr einsam und touristisch anscheinend nicht sehr interessant. Oder liege es daran, dass dieses Gebiet den Maori gehört und daher von Ausländern gemieden wird. Nicht dass es uns auch so wie Cook's Erkundungstrupp ging, die aufgrund leichter Verständigungsschwierigkeiten einfach mal von den Maori aufgegessen wurden. Das war wohl das erste Meet and Eat in der Geschichte des Geocachings. Auf der Straße waren wir meist allein und Viewpoints und Japaner (oder Chinesen) sind hier absolute Mangelware. Ebenso verhält es sich mit den Caches, was das Vorwärtskommen zwar beschleunigt aber auch irgendwann zu Langeweile führt. Man ist gar nicht mehr gewohnt eine Stunde am Stück Auto zu fahren. Die verlassene Tolaga Bay Wharf war dann das erste Highlight mit dem angeblich längsten Pier der Welt. Man wolte das Monument tatsächlich verfallen lassen, hat es sich zum Glück dann doch noch anders überlegt. Sehr imposant und fast schon für einen Powertrail geeignet. Ab Te Araroa änderte sich die Lage. Denn nun stand die Fahrt zum East Cape an; 21 km Sackgase auf größtenteils nicht asphaltierter Straße - wobei Straße wohl die falsche Bezeichnung für den Weg ist. Es leben aber anscheinend tatsächlich Menschen in dieser Gegend und ein paar Touris kamen uns ab und zu auch entgegen - immer schön grüßend, wenn man sich aneinander vorbeiquetscht. Die drei Caches im äußersten Osten Neuseelands (und somit wohl auch im äußersten Osten der Welt; ca. 100 km weiter östlich ist die Datumsgrenze) konnten mehr oder weniger leicht gefunden werden und die Besteigung des Leuchtturms haben wir uns auch nicht nehmen lassen. Nach diesem Abenteuer kamen wir noch an einem extrem alten (dem ältesten NZL) Pohutakawa Baum vorbei, an dem wir ohne Cache bestimmt mal wieder achtlos vorbeigefahren wären. Unser Campingplatz lag dann sehr idyllisch auf einer Schafwiese und wir machten außerdem noch die Bekanntschaft von einem älteren Paar aus England, die in Frankreich leben, deutsch sprechen und aktuell NZL bereisen.

Day 14 of our tour took us from Gizzy further into the northeast. The beginning of the day was a bit boring because of very few caches along the road. It seems that we are no more used to drive longer than one hour without a cache or a stop for a view point. The first highlight of the day was the Tolaga Bay Wharf with one find and one DNF. The second highlight of the day was the drive to the East Cape and the most eastern caches of NZL and maybe of the world. The last one at the lighthouse was really difficult to find but finally we did it. Unbelievable that people live there in total loneliness. The last cache of the day was a very interesting earthcache at the oldest Pohutakawa tree of NZL. We would have missed this without the cache. Thanks for showing.

During our 3-week journey through the South Island of New Zealand together with Löwi17 we also passed this beautiful place. A cache here and there may not be missing. Greetings from Germany by S & T147

Found on my way up the hill. TFTC

Easy find and a nice rest. TFTC. Should have brought some H2O

Tftc

Half way back down... think that is much harder than half way up! TFTC

Worth the steps

Nice quick find

Puh - these are a lot of steps... and we've made only half of the way until now... Thanks for hiding the cache at this spot!

Half time to the top. TFTC

Found easily while walking up this steep way up to the lighthouse. Tftc

Found on the way up:) 4:35am
Excited to see the sunrise
Kugs56 found it too:)

pleased for a reason to stop while walking up to the light house. busy on the track today. tftc

First find in a long time. Here at East Cape and had to find the two easternmost caches in NZ. Quick find on the way up the endless steps. Signed and replaced. Thanks!

Certainly needed a break here! Well worth the view though. Many TFTC

Found on a perfect day en route to the lighthouse. Cheers and thanks from Grandalf(2542)

Today we made a trip from Hicks Bay to Gisborne, again on the route of the Pacific Highway, thereby visiting many new sightseeing locations and looking for caches, too. On this trip we searched, found and logged a lot of caches. The weather was very good all day long, a bit colder in the morning but it got warmer in the afternoon. Funny clouds were our compagnions especially in the afternoon.
Almost no muggels observed us as they had other things to do than observing harmless geocachers.

Thanks to Beauty & The Beast (with Artemiskid and the Gang) for showing us this location and for the fun we had at East Bench (East Cape). The search we had here today didn't take too much time.

Greetings from Germany and hope to see you soon in the forest.

TFTC says H_M_A @ 5. November 2018 @ 06:30 Uhr @ [#123312](https://coord.info/GCMGWW)

Found on my second trip up this hill. FIrst was about 40 years ago and a bit hazy. Dont remember all the bush cover on the slopes. And dont remember the steps so may have just been mainly a track at that stage. Good hide. TFTC worth a fav

Day 6 - Wednesday - Te Araroa to Tauraunga. Another day in the sun - so lets go!

Its early morning and we are at the base of East Cape Lighthouse. So now its time for a climb up and up the many many steps on a glorious morning. Someone has started numbering the steps - there are over 800 to climb - buts could not find any numbers past 150. Lots more to go. Stopped here for a well earned break and of course to snag and tag this one. Cheers

The Seagnoid, Zara and I are on another epic caching adventure for the next two weeks, starting with the Wellington Mega, then East Cape, Taraunga, Waihi, Rotorua and back to Wellington. Its been an awesome journey, over 2500 klms later, visiting many amazing places. Thanks to all COs

One of the highlights of this trip, getting to the East cape peoper. Looks like someone started numbering the stairs and gave up at 150. With over 800 stpes that's rather early to give up! No ambition.
Had a 10 second rest at the seat. No point resting any longer, it's just delaying the inevitable. Okay, we rested longer - had a cache to find!

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Day 6 of my Mega trip: East Cape to Tauranga. Two weeks of travel with Taybeedragon, from Blenheim to the 2018 mega event, then on to my mum's eightieth birthday in Rotorua via the East Cape and Tauranga and the hole in the ground that is Waihi. Dropped the dragon off in Wellington while I continued on to Motueka for more family time before at last arriving home. We may have only found 230 caches over that 3000 km, but I qualified for 4 badge upgrades, hit the 10,000 cache mark, and even have a missing month ticked off! Throughout most of the trip we targeted special caches - earth caches, virtuals, wherigos, etc, although there were a lot of traditionals too. On the cache maintenance side about eight caches were replaced, and many more logs were added to or replaced. Many thanks to everyone who made this an awesome trip.

Fun.

One week off during school holiday time, combined with some cheap flights made a great adventure in the HB and Gisborne area, popping into BoP a couple of times also. I had great fun and I am grateful to all CO's who placed the caches for others' entertainment!!
Main reason for my adventure in this area!! TFTC!!!

Phew 800 steps that sounds a bit of a challenge, still, like anything, taken one step at a time one gets there in the end. - - - Then also there's a cache here to stop and search for . That provided just the length of breather we needed, then it was onwards and upwards towards our goal. Thanks for the bonus smilie here .

Caching with Sidewaze as we make our way around East Cape to Tauranga and then back to the South Island via Palmerston North and ferry across Cook Strait. TFTC