Apollos pool with the million dollar view (Akld) Little Huia, North Island, New Zealand
By glyn(the only one) on 23-Jun-07. Waypoint GC13VNK

What an adventure and bush bashing! We parked the car along Lone Kauri Road and headed straight into the bush and surprisingly found the rough track leading in about the proper direction towards Biouvac Falls. But soon we lost it and followed a gully pretty steep down but still easy to manage. Unfortunately we ended up too far downstream from the falls and had to make our way up again. Eventually we arrived at the bottom of the falls. Our GPS pointed further up so we started a climb beside the falls passed GC with out realising and ended up far too high. Going down again we soon we now found the cache. Next up was finding the Apollo Pools and we decided to try to keep the elevation and hike around the ridge but again ended up down the creek. Not so bad because walking in the creek upstream was pretty efficient and soon we arrived under the falls. Now we had to climb up to the pools what was a bit of a task as there was that huge rock we had to navigate around and then up. The under-grow was pretty bad and it took us quite a while to find back to the stream again. Fortunately we were only a short distance from the Apollo Pools now and soon had a nice quick swim (pretty cold) but worthwhile to hang on the lip and looking down, what a view! After having lunch we decided not to return the same way but instead to walk upstream and try to join Huia Ridge Track. The walk in the stream didn't last, got too tiny and soon it was no point to follow it and we headed further south towards the ridge. What a bush bashing adventure! It took us ages to reach the ridge and the track was still a bit away. Finally after following another creek down we got on the track. After the trotting on the Huia Ridge Track we headed for the Odlin Timber Track which brought us back to Lone Kauri Road just in time as it got dark by now. The street markings made it easy to follow even in the dark and after another 2 kms we were back at the car. What an eventful day, being back at the car after 9 hours and having quite a few cuts and bruises despite wearing long trousers and gloves most of the time. But it was worth while seeing so lovely spots!

Well, today was a memorable day for more reasons than some of us would like to remember! Plans were coming together a little over a week ago, as i was fast approaching the big #5000 cache finds. What cache would make the worthy milestone?

A fair bit of thought went into it and finally i came up the decision of heading to Apollos Pools via Bivouac Falls to mark the occasion. A few fellow cachers (evilno9, GreenblAt, alpenmilch80, gorbygorbachov and rustynz) were also keen to join me on todays mission and share in todays adventures. Some of these cachers have done several missions together with me or as a group over the years and i thought it was a great idea to share the occasion with some of them. Bivouac Falls would be the encore and Apollos Pools would be the target and milestone cache for todays mission.

We planned to meet for a coffee and a bite to eat in Henderson but things didnt go quite to plan did they evilno9? The coffee shop we intended to meet at was closed so we all headed in convoy to Oratia Famers Market to get our caffeine hit to start the day.

After coffee we headed in the direction of Lone Kauri Rd. We left a couple of cars at the Upper Nihotupu Dam carpark and carpooled to a secret meeting point as GreenblAt reckoned he knew a shortcut...

A few minutes into our journey, we were all wondering whether GreenblAts shortcut was in fact a shortcut or not? We heard some noises in the bushes and stumbled upon "Undie Man" who was quite shocked and embarrassed to see us so early in the morning and also on his property. Once we introduced ourselves he was quite talkative and even offered to walk us to the trailhead. We declined his offer and he pointed us in the right direction.

We proceeded to find the track and not long had we started when GreenblAt slipped on some wet mud and left some pretty impressive skid marks. He looked to be in a fair bit of pain even though he stated he was "ok" clearly not. We helped him back to his car as we were only 100m or so from the road. He assured us he was ok to drive so we made sure, took a few waypoints from his GPS and he went on his way to A&E.

A quick regather and it was decided we'd carry on with our mission but being very vigilant about any further dangers or difficulties that could occur...! We stuck to the bulldozed track which took us all the way to Bivouac Falls. This was just the taster for todays mission, the fun part was yet to come...

Nothing like a full on bush bash through supplejack, cutty grass, bush lawyer, downed trees, roots and some big as cobwebs certainly has all the ingredients to make it a memorable one! We relied on our topo maps, GreenblAts waypoints and alpenmich80's excellent navigation to get us there and back safely. We arrived at GZ and immediately realised that this was a perfect cache to mark such a milestone!

Thanks glyn for sharing this special place with us all and placing a cache here for us all to find! Thanks to my companions for todays adventure, we all had fun and looking forward to many future missions and milestones! This cache marks the big #5000 for me, TFTC!!!

A few days ago I get a text from mike-miss: hey, Gorby! Do you wanna join me and some other mad cachers and head to Bivouac Falls and Apollos. Heck yes was my reply, I have been wanting to knock these 2 off almost since I started caching 2 years ago. But I have always been reluctant to doing them on my own for obviously very good reasons. So I let rustynz know too, she has these on her watchlist too and I would never hear the end of it, if I went and never told her! She was keen as and happened to be free. So today I picked her up.

So we met up for a morning coffee at a leisurely hour of the morning in Henderson, had a bite to eat then headed over to a spot on Lone Kauri Rd that someone had been to before.
Alpenmilch80 the navigator, evilno6 (also known more significantly as upside-down evilno9), greenblat who loves TB's, rustynz (who shows no sign of being so), mike who never misses and myself the wasp killer all convened here. Things started off good, we went left, we went right and my track log was looking pretty impressive with so much activity. We weren't actually getting anywhere until we spotted a geezer in his undies who we took my surprise, well, we didn't actually take him, we left him there, he wasn't exactly geared up for a real tramp! Then finally a track was spotted but poor ol' Alan got all excited and decided to trip up so he didn't have to go any further. I think he preferred the comfort of a hospital to our trail blazing adventure.... So he managed to hobble back to his vehicle whereby we wished him well then carried on the adventure.

The track down from the road was pretty easy, didn't take much time at all, at one point no.6 almost became no.zero, he wandered off behind me and I had to reel him in... the things I have to do... so we got down to GZ without too many flurries except when I slid down the hill, nearly took out poor ol' rusty and almost straddled a suitably sized Kauri that would have crushed something near and dear to me!

So after Bivouac we started up the steep climb past the falls into deep, deep almost impenetrable jungle. It was a hard slog at times, I soon learnt to avoid supplejack and most things that required my short legs to be lifted over! Alpenmilch did a great job navigating us here! we'll keep her on! After a while we ended up right on the stream with the cache. Very tiring, but such a rewarding adventure. Fotos taken by all. Had a good bite here and a swim, Well done mike-miss for his 5000th cache, a perfect place to make it happen.

Mike-miss summarises it all brilliantly! congratulations on this being your "5000th find"

I had dressed for the occassion, wearing long trousers, and 3/4 sleeves, but it was not enough protection from the cutty grass, that I somehow got into a fight with, and lost. I felt the cut across my nose, then could see and feel the blood start to trickle! I grabbed a hankie to stop the flow, and alpenmilch80 provided a teddy bear plaster, to cover the damage. Thankfully it stayed on till the end. These two slash marks, where the main battle scars for me today.

With waypoints, track logs, and some verbal instruction, alpenmilch80 and mike-miss navigated us to GZ. On the way we did battle with cutty grass, supplejack, branches that where rotten that broke when you grabbed them, and even flax had a go (once it flicked back, and slapped me across the face - it was that kind of day!). But this was all part of the adventure with mike-miss, Gorby, alpenmilch80 & evilno9.

The view from here is very special, and the drop off quite impressive. We picked a perfect day to visit, a million dollar view, and a million more memories. Thanks for the hide and the adventure

After the initial drama getting to Bivouac Falls, enjoying a trail, we started the serious bush-bash to Apollo.
Following the guidance and waypoints Greeblat left us with we made good progress. After a couple of up and downs we descended the final hill to have Mike-Miss guide us the last bit to his celebratory achievement.

A hip hip hooray for your 5000th, Mike-Miss

We signed the log, enjoyed the pools, some lunch and just a stunning view from Apollo before returning to the car.
Wow what a day with so many highlights, stunning scenario and awesome company! TFTC

Our friends svesh came all the way from Sweden to take us here. Beautiful place, worth the adventure and scramble to get there. TFTC

This entry was edited by A&J Kiwis on Monday, 22 December 2014 at 08:06:37 UTC.

Yes, you really need to be a nature lover to do this.
Equipped with two maps, two compasses, two GPS, one iPad, one iPhone (and gloves) we sat off for this one. A party of 7 people, the youngest only 12 years old. CO had been very nice to us and given us directions, and permission to park, at the best stop to find the path to the Biouvac. After 100 m we had lost it..... Our plan was to go to the Biouvac first and then go a bit upstream before turning east and approach the cache from above. Instead, with some help, we ended upp at the stream about 250 m above the Biouvac. This meant that we decided to do the Apollos pool first. We had plotted some waypoints on the route that we meant to take, so we tried to follow them as best as we could. We walked, crawled and hanged. Under, over and through the bushes. We are bruised, cut and bashed, but no major injuries. We ended up at the pools from the side, not from above, which was a bit steep. When GPS said 12 m to the cache we still couldn't see the pool! We had to make a little loop and eventually, after 3 hours, we caught the view! Stunning! The GPS told us that we were 995 m from the car. Looking down we wondered if we would have made it if we had decided to come along the stream and climbing up to the pools.
The cache was very open, one of us just happened to stumble over it. So we decided to hid it a bit better - no just kidding. Anyone who are able to get themselves up there deserves to find the cache easy. On the way back we went more up, before turning back and then aiming for the Biouvac. From there we found the path and had an easy walk back to the car, which was good, becauseby then we were all very tired. Back at the car we were welcomed by the caretaker of the property with tea and biscuits. Very nice and refreshing. One more hour and they would have called the ranger.
Thanks for a very non-touristy experience. We would never have done this without the geocaching. Our clothes have changed colours. We know all about some New Zealand plants, like bush lawyer, sapple jacks and cutty grass. Nice day for this sort of activity, no raining and not too hot. But what will we do now? We have done the optimal cache for us, so what more is there to see?

having hit the nearby bivouac falls in under 30 mins from the road to GZ..(vistra and i) ( much to our utter amazement given some of the terrifying bush bashing times that are logged - and having basically walked a good track all the way there... no bush bashing required...) we just had to try our hand at this one, having already loaded a guide route following the logical topography for a good walk...

So off we headed, almost immediately discovering the bivouac at bivouac falls and hoping there was not dead geocacher underneath?.. we soon found another good track that followed the logical route.. a tiny bit of easy bush bashing was required along our "logical route" and 56minutes later we are at GZ, cache also logical and soon in hand... amazed to find TB's out ... so they go on another adventure.

Then it was time to head back to the road, which funnily enough was quicker then heading in, guess we knew the path by then... spot of lunch at the car and off to clean up some more caches to make the day worth while...

Bivouac Falls and Apollo's Pool have been on my to do list for a while now. During the week Alligatorsnz contacted me about going out caching on Saturday, so I came up with the suggestion that we go for a bush bash to try knock these 2 caches off! So plans were made and Alligatorsnz had plotted an 'ideal route' to the caches, based on the topography of the area. We found a spot to park on Lone Kauri Road, close to the start of the ideal route and after setting off into the bush in drizzly conditions, we almost immediately came across an old road, that then led to an old track, which we followed all the way to Bivouac Falls! Amazingly the track generally followed the ideal route that Alligatorsnz had planned! The track was slightly overgrown in places, but it certainly wasn't the bush bash we were anticipating!

After spending a short time at Bivouac Falls, we set off to Apollo's Pool. We took a route up from Bivouac Falls, soon encountering the collapsed old bivouac along the way, at times following what appeared to be a trail and at times doing a bit of bush bashing - this section was certainly more like what we were expecting! Once we got closer to GZ, we dropped down to the stream and followed it for a short distance until we arrived at the pool - about an hour after we left Bivouac Falls. The cache was soon found and was in good condition. We then spent some time chilling out at this great spot - but not choosing to take a dip in the pool! We then retraced our steps back to the car and had finished our adventure in time for lunch.

What an awesome spot this is and a great adventure getting there! Thanks for the cache - a favourite point added!

Also I did the quiz for fun on Geocaching.com and found out that I was The nature lover (as I didn't know that before). Just for fun I pushed the button for the ultimate cache, expecting it to be somewhere in the USA. I was positively surprised when I found out it was in New Zealand. We are living in Sweden but the other part of svesh is from New Zealand. So in two months time we are heading off for a month holiday in New Zealand. We hope to be able to make a try for this cache then! A new note will come if we are successful.

Well the view is certainly the reward for the effort, Beautiful - along with the lone Kereru doing acrobatics in the breeze. A good days trekking with Nzkeko, we had a hard slog to get there as we chose to go across the top rather than up the stream and the cliff. Kept an eye out for the wasps, but thankfully no sign. Saw evidence of pigs in several wet spots. The inevitable cutty grass that we learnt to avoid as much as possible, but sometimes just had to 'ice breaker' our way thru. Have plenty of scratches and bruises to show for it all, but it was still all worth it. I thought it was pretty darned good GPS work by my cache buddy to come back out onto the rd within 200 metres of where we left the car!! TFTC and the incentive to do a good NZ bush orienteering day.

Canaryz and nzkeko coming from Bivouac Falls along the ridge, thinking we may hit the wasp nest, but fortunately they were gone. No wasp nest and we spotted may be three wasps in total.
Again the feeling that the "eye in the sky" did npt see all the gullies and cliffs because of the thicket made sense.
Reading my Oregon trace, we were not zigzaging too much and reached Apollos pool after a good hour bush walking without any trail. Saw several wild pig traces and places where they have dug into the ground for food.
Arriving at the pools from the top, we thought coming from the bottom would have been a lot more difficult then what we just went through.
After a snack and some pictures we started our way back to the car following my Oregon Gps.

The back way was crossing a very dense part of the bush and at one stage we were walking about a meter above the ground on a thick carpet of Dr Seuss plants. These were all over the place. We passed a huge kauri tree both on our coming and going. Great tree and hope it will no succumb to the deadly root mushroom.
This bush is pretty different from the one we encountered in Hawkes Bay when we did some remote caches there. Thank God no blackberries. I was happy to have the comment of a previous cacher attracting my attention on the different greens of the long narrow leafs that are either flax or cutting grass, but once in the bush, it's a bit difficult to avoid the cutting grass and they a\have left a very visible mark on my hands. Instead of a machete, I will certainly add some garden gloves to my geocaching gear, they would have been most welcome, I tell you.
It took us a fair bit of time to go back to the car as we were trying to make a pretty straight line and so faced the thick bush which slows one down very dramatically, but we did it and after 2.45 we were back on the road about 150 meters from the car, which is not bad and again our track accord the Oregon was not too bad out of the mark. I have always wanted to make a real bush walk experience, well I have been rewarded over what I was expecting.

The view at GZ is just breath taking and awesome. The weather was perfect.
It is definitely not a cache for the faint hearted nor "lounge geocacher" .
I was really positively impressed by the stability of my Oregon 650 even in the midst of the thickest bush.
Thank you for placing this cache and indeed it is a fav point worth. Love the 1 million photoshopped bank note .
Left a geocoin who wants to visit remote caches.
Cheers
nzkeko

I just took the quiz on the Geocaching. com website to find out what kind of geocacher I am. This is the answer it gave me and highly recommended that I find this geocache:

You are…The Nature Lover!

You were voted “most likely to see Bigfoot” in your high school yearbook. You live for the days you can get out on the trail and leave civilization behind. Trail mix and energy bars are your go-to snacks. You are happier spending all day hiking for just one (preferably T5) geocache than you would be finding 100.

Although the concept is great, the logistics of flying from America, find lodging and transportation and logging a find on this one would be next to impossible.

Wow. This was a hell of a trip. Found this one a couple of days ago with meilyrox, markgeostar, rsmith and the two muggles on a 6 hour bush bash. After starting the journey from the 92 Lone Kauri road carpark and heading in on a track we soon crossed the stream and made use of the track heading up again. Off the track we headed along the ridge line which took us basically north and a bit past the cache before heading west to the cache. I dont recomend this route to anyone. It took us a bit over 3 hours just to reach the cache and then a further 2 to reach the Bivouac falls cache. The best route would definatly be to start heading inland from the road nearest to Bivouac falls and then bush bash up hill as much as possible to Apollos pool. From Bivouac we found a small trail which turned into an old forestry trail and came out at the edge of someones backyard. Only took about 30 mins to get out. SOOO much easier!
All in all I had a great day and will always remember the lessons it taught me. 1 iphone 5 GPS is the best way to go (you agree aye Glyn?) it was more accurate than the handheld GOS we brought along. 2 when traveling off trail choose the shortest route, not the round trip. 3 when carrying someone elses backpack... ditch their extra LITRES of water.
Apollos pool definatly has a great view. A top favorite for sure. This adventure was the last log of my Far North adventure with Markgeostar. Keep your eyes out for the 8 new caches we have placed... shameless plug...

Amazing! I had been eyeing this up since it was the monthly cache and although we studies maps and comments before hand it still took us 6 hours. We parked in the car park and we took the walking track until it veered off coarse then kept to the ridge line across the whole way. We ran in to a large wasps nest without warning with about 600m to GZ and had 30mins to recoup and make sure we were ok to carry on after many of us stung multiple times. We kept going till we found the stream... using GPS and geocaching app on an Iphone mainly, and not 10m down was the amazing pools! After 30mins snapping photos, some swimming intentionally and some not, and some food went down as well.
We decided to continue north of the pool to try find our way down then to Bivouac Falls cache and I think lucked on the right pool by how many were there. Steep going but again amazing views, just stunning. After reading the logs we looked around for a trail and it was found up the bank about 2 O'clock from the cache if looking down stream. From there we followed it up and over to the road and walked back to the road and then back to the car park fairly quickly (maybe 45mins). It was amazing to be counted among the few to have placed our names in those books and I would love to go back and swim in those pools! Simply wonderful day minus the numerous stings. With Markgeostar, MrRush742, RSmith and 2 Muggles who often come with us Oliver and Jenny. Well done crew!!

Thank you for a great Cache! I was one of the lucky intentional swimmers in the pool and double lucky as didn't get stung by the wasps from the nest - our top victim counted 21 stings!

It was a big trekk and was hard going at some stages through the bush, but well worth it.

Great adventure with great company! Amazed we found it! The sweet views made up for the wasp stings on the bum 3hours15mins to get there, 30min break at the top and then about 2hours out via the bivouac cache.

Congrats, Glyn, on geocache of the week!

http://blog.geocaching.com/2013/09/its-time-to-kick-it-up-a-notch-apollos-pool-with-the-million-dollar-view-gc13vnk-geocache-of-the-week/

Well deserved!

After making the find on the nearby cache it was off on a serious adventure. I certainly got all the exercise and outdoors experience I was after! Very difficult terrain to traverse. I was obseesed with keeping altitude so as not to miss the cache and have to back track. This worked out well enough in the end, but it was not easy. Cutting crass got me, bush lawyers got me, random vegetation of all sorts drew blood today. Not to mention sapple jack hell that you get to repeat several times. Very rarely did I think I was following any sort of former track. I really need to add a machete to the geo-kit! Very wet up here in winter which made the going very slippery and I did take a tumble or two. Because of the wetness it was also surprisingly cold for the middle of the day--my breath regularly condensed.

Anyway, got to GZ and found the cache after a few minutes of looking. I was pretty sure I knew where it was (very good coords btw) but thought I should check the safer options first. Cache is in excellent condition. On the way out things were going better until I made a navigation erro and ended up two gutways away from desired. Ended up coming out 100m upstream of the falls. Turns out you can loosely follow the stream down and make the "standard" crossing below the falls. I was ever so glad to be back on the pseudo-track heading back out to the auto.

Cheers for the cache placement! Not to mention showing me this lovely spot and giving me a good excuse for some exercise. Most of all, thanks for the adventure G2!

Cache 2 on my solo Waitakere mission. I came via Bivouac Falls, after parking on Lone Kauri Rd. After leaving Bivouac Falls, I followed a trail for a while, and came across the bivvy, and the two mugs. Shortly afterwards I lost the trail, but found, then lost it again several times before finally getting close to Apollo's Pool. I was very conscious of maintaining my altitude, as the last thing I wanted was to drop off the side and end up approaching the cache from the bottom. Along the way I found various interesting things. Mostly poison notices, but also the occasional pink triangle, indicating there was once a trail, and the occasional strainer post and wire. The last 50m before the cache seemed to take forever. I could hear the falls but couldn't seem to make any progress. I finally found a way through, near some great Kauri. The terrain was so steep at that stage that I was eye-level with the foliage at the TOP of the Kauri, towering up from the lower slopes. Very cool.

Once I took my pack off, I gave myself about 10 minutes to enjoy the scenery and have a rest. The cache find was straight forward, then it was off, back the way I came. The return path varied slightly from my approach, but I'd waypointed the various positions along my route to help my return. All up, from Bivouac Falls to Apollo was 40 mins each way, and from the car to Bivouac Falls, to Apollo and back to the car was bang on 2 hrs.

Thanks Glyn for bringing me to this awesome spot.

I started at the carpark across the street from 92 Loan Kauri Road, then hiked upstream from the point where the trail crosses the stream. After that the actual path was anyone’s guess. It was a solid, hardcore bush-bash and stream-stomp the whole way. It took about 2 hr, 22 min to reach Bivouac Falls (GC14ZEC), then another hour to reach Apollo’s Pool (GC13VNK).

The crossing between Bivouac and Apollo’s could have been faster, but I ended up dropping heaps of elevation and found myself at the bottom of Apollo’s. From there I had to scramble up to the top rather than crossing along the top from Bivouac. I need to confess that this was not intentional—my internal compass was messed up and I’m blaming it on the iron sands. Ha!

I counted three varieties of cuttygrass. The worst one is the tall, pale green one. Vines, vines and more vines tripped me up constantly. And the spongy stemmed Dr Seuss shrubs were a big obstruction to forward progress. My shins are a bruised and scrapped mess and I have racing stripes from the cuttygrass.

Both caches were found in good, clean and dry condition. At Bivouac, I gave the little Tibetan prayer wheel a spin, meditated a bit and gave thanks for the trip thus far and for the trip yet to be. I left it in the cache for the next trekker to spin. I think it helped—I made it back out a little worst for wear but otherwise just fine. At Apollo, I took the two TB as they have lingered here long enough and it might be another year before the next clown attempts these caches.

The path back out was an attempt at a direct route to Lone Kauri Rd, but as I mentioned, my internal compass was messed up. I ended up walking about 0.5 km north before turning west toward Lone Kauri. A quick check of the GPS was in order. Setting and tracking along the old school magnetic compass bearing kept me on track. After that, it was a 2 km slog to the road, then another 2 km back down to the car park.

All up, I logged 10.5 km in 6 hours 23 minutes for an average of around 36 min / km. I’m posting this same log to both caches as anyone crazy enough to find one will want to find the other on the same excursion.

Both sites offer amazing view and instil a sense of wonder. Makes me feel small, really. Thanks to Tramper Ted and Glyn for setting up these caches. Without them, I probably would not have ventured out to these glorious spots.

EDIT 2012.08.05: Here's a link to a KML file that opens in Google Earth. Let me know if it works or not.

Route: Bivouac and Apollo
Activity: Hike
KML Import URL: http://share.abvio.com/1b73/148f/4eca/4cd0/Cyclemeter-Hike-20120429-0858.kml
Started: 29/04/2012 8:58:49 AM
Hike Time: 6:23:23
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 10.52 km
Average Pace: 36:28 /km
Fastest Pace: 4:30 /km
Ascent: 530 metres
Descent: 538 metres
Calories: 1609
Official: No

This entry was edited by Paultaps on Sunday, 29 April 2012 at 08:17:50 UTC.

This entry was edited by Paultaps on Sunday, 05 August 2012 at 08:16:44 UTC.

Not much to add from evilno9's log below. Definitely a bit of an insane bush bash but loved (just about) every minute of it. Was also brilliant being in a bit of the Waitak's I hadn't been to before Would definitely recommend this one to anyone who likes getting off the beaten (or any other form for that matter ) of track.

Thanks for bringing me to this spot and the cache Glyn.

Well we sure as hell didn't take the optimum route to get here but I have to say it was one of the most enjoyable attempts to find a cache I've managed so far. And given the quality of some of the caches out in the west I think that's definitely saying something...

I received a call from AK_Hazard on Thursday night with a "proposition" that involved attempting the two caches out this way. Never one to turn down a challenge and having been keeping my eye on this for quite some time it seemed that it was time to give it a good go.

In the interests of preserving the mystique of the best way in all I'll say is that we got wet, dirty, bruised and bashed and it was all just part of the fun.

We made the find exactly four hours after we'd started (and we were out in 2 1/4 more) and while AK_H phoned home from one of the dodgiest places I've seen for trying to make a call I took care of the paperwork and dropped off a couple of TBs for the next lucky contender.

Fantastic day out in the Waitaks and once again - thanks Glyn for an amazing place for a hide. Never would I have even though about coming here if it wasn't for that little box. TFTC

We found this one as a group. I learned a good lesson on the way back not to trust my GPS compass entirely, and to take a back up with you. Luckily we did do. My GPS was sending us slightly in the wrong, and checking with a compass saved us wondering around in some rugged bush for longer than necessary.
We were going to take some million dollar notes as prizes but on seeing the references to god and jesus put them back.
Time taken in total was approx 5 hours.

Didn't get that far.It was just to far for my little fellow with short legs. He did well but does not want to go bush crashing for a while. We sat and waited for the others to make the last 200m and return (almost 1.5hrs)

Thanks for providing a cache that is a real challenge to get to, we took 2.5 hours to bush bash in and then 2.5 hours return, on a cold wet winters day. Somewhere where you would not normally go to, beautifull waterfall would be a great abseil.

Not for the faint hearted. But well worth the view.
There is now a green Kathmandu fleece hanging off a bush somewhere between Apollos Pool and Bivouac Falls

Rumo and Rala Productions proudly presents: The movie based on the cache :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWDzvSRNg7w

Originally, we wanted to log when Rumo had finished a YouTube photo/video compilation, but Christmas and having Rala's parents over from Germany took so much time, so we'll start with the text and "some" photos first:
First of all: Congratulations to Greenblat for a mapping-planning-routing-job well done. If this was a "near optimal" route, we can all be happy that we took it, though several of us had to remind themselves continuously that "this is supposed to be fun". We can only fathom how difficult it can be on less optimal routes.
Also, it is a great idea to hit the falls stream a little further up. This way, you cannot miss it. And in addition, you have a great "Aaah" moment, when the bush gets brighter and brighter to finally give way to this breathtaking panorama. Too bad the weather did not permit for a dip in the pool.
Needless to say that this was a most enjoyable caching experience in great company. Keep those difficult caches coming!

TNLN, TFTC

Part 1 of the photos is here: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=a195c229-8825-47dc-b197-15585a724ca8

Found together with a great team of fellow cachers who aren't afraid to get up early

Onward from Bivouac falls,we opted for the 'high road'. Amost immediately we were up to our teeth in kiekie and supplejack but with head down and a few forward rolls nothing was going to stop us.

I had plotted the route in minute detail from the 1m contour map on the ALGGI website and was pleased to find the terrain was quite accurately represented so we were able to avoid any really steep terrain. However it faithfully led us to every kiekie bloodbath, supplejack mesh, and bush-lawyer hijack the hillside had to offer

Our planned route dropped us in the stream 100m above the falls, and rounding the bend to see daylight in fron of us was amazing. Will let the others describe the view...

Couple of shortcuts on the way out saw us back to the cars about 3.5hrs after we started.

Thanks for the cache - this is one of the ones that enthused me to get into geocaching and I wasn't disappointed!

Continued on from Bivouac Falls for the bush bash of the century - Blat Grylls in the lead, and the rest of us (OGP, KiwiLeon, Gadget-tron, Rumo & Rala) following along through cutty, vines and whatever else could be thrown at us. It was all worth it, though. Fantastic spot, and I imagine a great place for a cool dip with a great view on a hot summer day. TFTC!!!

Out with a great team of fellow cachers.
We followed GreenblAt's lead through the cutty grass and supple jack on a route that he set up nicely.
After a long but nice walk the bush opened up into the million dollar view (and a pool)
Thanks for bringing us here. This is what's Geocaching is about.

Here a little video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp0BKKfhPGg

We took the more direct route back, which ended up a lot quicker (but not recommendable down hill)

Thanks for a great morning out in the Waitakere's.
TFTC
#1147


[This entry was edited by KiwiLeon on Friday, December 18, 2009 at 10:30:24 PM.]

After successfully finding the Bivouac Falls we headed deep into the "Jungle" with no track to follow other than the route GreenBlat had plotted the night before. The bush was so thick at stages that you often could not see the person immediately in front of you. After a reasonably good walk we found the stream that fed into the pool. Got to the pool with a view and then we had to retrieve the cache. Good thing there were some amongst us who were prepared to balance on the edge of the ledge and get it. What a great view over the Waitaks from up here. The route back was quicker but the bush seemed to have grown thicker and the hills steeper. I guess that is because we took a more direct route out. Thanks Glyn for the Cache.

One solid bush bash of a slog that took us to a spectacular place. It's that much more fun with a good group.

As the bush was drawing evermore blood I had to keep reminding myself this is fun and part of the adventure.

The pool dropoff and view are worth every bit. We were in and out much quicker than expected too.

TFTC

Heard good things about this cache, all of which proved accurate. We decided on the no-brainer approach up the stream. The poly-prop, trousers and gaiters were worth their weight in gold! With a bit of sensible route selection, the climb to the top didn't prove to be too much of a hurdle. However it was a little too cold to hang around there long. So with the day drawing on we departed, stopping by Bivouac Falls, and down to the car park as the sun was setting. A great day with an added sense of achievement. Thanks for the cache

Funny reading francis.m.zahn's post... thats the whole point!

Anyway, did the usual drive-by of Bivouac Falls, then up the river to the real reason we were in the middle of dense Waitakere bush. After the procurement of a spider-web-clearing stick, and a hug of the grand kauri, Tom and I stumbled off precarious ledge #375, and right out onto Apollo's Pool. Dripping with sweat and bits of Waitakere plastered down our backs, we took one look at the pool and bombed it. This winter I think I'll haul one of these in: http://www.kiwitub.com/technical/burner.htm

Sat around there for a while, contempating life, and whether the track we found near B Falls was an easy way out, then hauled ass outa there. And yes, the track back from B Falls DOES cut a good hour of bush bashing off the total time. If you like the feeling of full-length strides, you may want to park at (Edit: Ooo, got rid of co-ord incase it annoys creator, sorry), and walk in from there.

Right, off to Extreme Waitakeres Cache #3, Holey Mercey... have we missed the lowtide window?

Thanks so much for the cache! Much enjoyed by myself and fellow non-caching-but-keen-adventurer Tom.

[This entry was edited by ccoutts on Sunday, November 30, 2008 at 3:49:27 PM.]

Well, must say I disa pointed with this cache, I like thought that it was easay 50 yard walk from road, where I come from (Tunisia--where one showed me this)well we were suprised to say.
This one took ages to get too, had to go thru tall grass with thorns & vines, climb up a waterfall to get to to the container, with the position out by least 80 yards & only to find some naff stuff in the cache for all effort gave.Left some choc biscits rapped in plastic gladrap (to be not a animal atracantion)
Th track is not existint which was not relised till we home to read cache page--PEASE CHANGE RATING OF TERRAIN TO 10!!!
Then walk bak to car, even got feet wet! Even new pants from Katmandoo are mudy, so cant take them bak too!!
Wont do any moor like this one!! No thanks---fran & co.
(PS forgot to sine log, can th next sine for me--ta!)

Cache in great condition, found by a group of cachers, some of who confessed to be way out of their comfort zone! Well done guys, enjoyed the experience---Glyn.[^]

We cancelled out last week because of the weather and the weatherman (Glyn) pushed the red button. This week the weatherman pushed the green button and it was all go.

On the way to Gr8dads I dropped by Pack n Pedal to get some gaitors as Glyn had mentioned them in his last email, and looking at the cache photos, they looked like a fashion accessory in these parts.

After attempting to bush bash directly there from B falls cache, we headed back, to go down the stream. Alex positioned himself in all the dangerous spots to give us a helping hand, which was very cool. The trek up the creek was pretty demanding, and then we got to the base of the falls, and tried one side but headed back as there was no way through (or up). Took the other side up, and yeah, there are some mean drop offs, one false step or slip and it would be all over. It was at this stage I thought of the tag line to a movie I had downloaded and watched the week before called Flatliners - The tag line was " Its a great day to die"
At the top I was perched on the edge of the waterfall having lunch, but had to move away as the shear drop made me feel very nervous.
After half an hour it was back down, Alex went early, personally I was pretty happy to sit it out and await the helicopters to come and haul my ass out of there.
On the way down I remember holding a vine, and not having a foot hold, and I had to slide down the vine to find a home for my feet. At one stage I heard the call from the team "boulder!" and herd some boulder crashing through the under growth, thankfully to the left of me.
This cache is the first cache where I have had to use alot of upper body strength( you know, hauling yourself from vine to root like some sort of modern day Tarzan).
Back at the car park Glyn pulled out a chilly bin full of beer, and it was the best tasting beer I have had for ages!
Took some pics with my ph camera.
Thanks for the cache Glyn(The Messiah of caching!)
Great 5 hours with other like minded cachers who proved to be good company, good to meet ags too!

Grmbl. We had planned to come with all the guys, but due to the danger of rain the whole mission was postponed one week. That was the Saturday when we were NOT in Auckland. Bummer. But nevertheless we enjoyed what we were doing instead
http://flickr.com/photos/stefan_marks/tags/whirinakitrack/

That was an epic trip, with all thanks to Glyn and Alex. Headed down to Bivouac Falls, which I had found last week, then followed the stream to the Con Bryan. Lots of small but vertically challenging waterfalls along the way.
On arrival at the Apollo falls we traversed around climbing through heavy scrub and steep faces to Apollos Pool. Certainly the million dollar view from here.
Back down the stream, we headed for the main Pararaha then looked for a route up the ridge. Having been programming waypoints into my GPSr, I led the scrub bash up the hill. Very unpleasant piece of bashing in my tired state. Surprisingly in the last section, I found an (overgrown) benched & formed track which we then followed to the ridgeline.
A great day, with some great company. Thanks all.
Logging some TB's that I have through the cache too.

13:16 Well what can I say this was the most extreme caching I have done in a long while, has to one of the most physically demanding caches I have ever done. I have the bruises and sore muscles today to prove it .

We approached this cache following the Con Bryan Stream after trying to approach from the Bivouac Falls cache. The final assault on the cache was an uphill battle indeed, I managed to lose my hat at one point so had to retrieve it. That was my excuse for being a little late for the mini lunch event.

Lunch was great fun perched on a side of waterfall, which indeed has million dollars views. It was a shame that the Helicopter that Glyn had arranged to fly us out failed to turn up, so we forced to descend the hill through numerous vines and hazards. At times the descent was more of a graceful fall then a descent.

Thanks to Glyn for the beer at the end, don't you agree that beer always taste better after a hard walk?

It was a great day with a great bunch of fellow crazies, thanks to Alec and Glyn for arranging the day. Thanks to the rest of the fellowship for making it such a great day.

Woo hoo - we did it!! well it took the band of merry men a while to get here, and some time lost after we had to back-track just after the first cache.
Thanks Glyn and your mate for leading us in here. It was a challenging but worthwhile trek.
What a magnificent view!!
- coin
TFTC
Ps: The only one with dry feet to the end!!!

Getting to this cache really takes some effort, and our party, generously organised by Glynn was guided in by Alex, who is very at home with the area (his backyard). After finding the Bivouac Falls cache we opted to head directly for Apollos Pool, but after only 10 mins of heavy bush crashing, the river route was becoming very appealing, so a retreat was made and we descended to the river to make faster, but wet progress .... for a while.
The real work began when we reached the base of the falls, and the search for a route up very steep and thick bush, complete with a rock wall barrier, resulted in slow progress. Colourful language was heard as the party got tangled in vines, tripped, stumbled and baulked at almost insurmountable obstacles until emerging, thanks to our guide, exactly at the top of the falls! This place is truly a gem, enjoyed by the party which nervously found spots to park for lunch on the edge of an awful drop.
After half an hour (our guide departed early to head home for lunch) the descent to the stream was made, no less harrowing than the climb. Another stream bash was followed by more steep bush bashing, ably bulldozed in front by AGS, which eventually got us back to the Bivouac track in a fair lather.
The rest was easy, and we arrived back at the cars something over 5 hours after leaving them. A celebratory tipple was provided by our leader (cheers Glyn!) and after a chinwag we finally departed, well satisfied with our efforts on a great day's outing in good company.

(1379)
Wow, what an awesome spot. Many thanks to our expert guides Glyn and Alex for getting us here safely. Managed to keep socks dry for a little while, but gave up the idea, after it became easier to transverse the stream, than to bush bash the banks. Toughest cache to date, really tested my physical abilities, glad to have made the journey in good company. Would rate as one of the best and hardest caches I’ve done. Came back battered and bruised, but highly satisfied with the million dollar view and the fact that I survived to cache another day… but probably not tomorrow, as the knees are starting to suffer. Thanks again for the great day out.
TNLNSL, TFTC

Well what can I say other than we made it, and even better we made it back to tell the story.

Joined forces with M@ for this one, there's safety in numbers.

After finding Bivouac falls we headed for this one, only 500m away, but the hardest 500m I think I have ever done. Our approach to the falls was a little lower than we would have liked and required a bit of scrambling in a near vertical direction to obtain the GZ. After finding the cache a welcome lunch break was had while we admired the million dollar view.

Our progress to the cache was much better than our return route, hint to future cachers, pigs don't know where they are going. Anyway 5 hours all up close to an hour of that sitting on rocks admiring the views.

TFTC, TNLNSL

Yeah, the going's a lot easier with company - thanks sp8sm8! Totally different route for me this time round, trying to keep high early to avoid the steep climb (well, relatively speaking!). Still quite a tough journey. Apollo's is the penthouse pool around here - primo placed for views while soaking on a hot day.
Cheers glyn - M@

Yes I think The Fergs covered off this commentary well. A real challenge for a great location and we got to knock off Bivouac Falls as well. This place would have to be the only natural platform in the Waitakeres where you could base jump from with a parachute, however I didn't pack mine on this occasion Thanks for the great cache. Picked up TB Truck
- Clip
+ Witch on Moon

Apeldoorn and I did this together with Bivouac Falls. We had been planning this trip since last week and were really looking forward to it. I had asked some of my Waitakere Ranges guru's about this place, none of them knew of it.

A look at the map showed this was no drive-by cache, reinforced by Glynns description. I loved the line "DEFINITELY NOT FOR CASUAL *DAY CACHERS* ITS TOO DANGEROUS!".

Having looked at the photos of the falls, and reading some of the horror stories of the climb up (reminiscent of Gollum after The Precious) we decided a top down approach was needed.

We stopped first at Bivouac Falls cache, then another hefty bush crash followed and we approached the falls from upstream. A glance over the abyss that is the Apollo Falls convinced me that this was the right decision, and we soon had the cache in hand. Not much of a picnic spot at the top, but a celebratory cracker and cheese was called for.

This really felt like a worthwhile cache, and getting to a place that no-one else visits was sweet as! The view was outstanding.

Left a tape measure if anyone wants to measure the drop (may need another 60 or so tapes). Took the million dollar note to be given pride of place on my desk.

Left Missisipi Geocoin, he's gonna love the view, hope he's got a good head for heights.

Back out the way we came in. In total, including the detour to Bivouac Falls, 5 1/4 hours. I don't know if we went near Glynn's fabled "easy way" but the trip went smoothly.

Fantastic cache Glynn, well done on that one, I'll monitor this cache with great interest.

I had a mixture of previous and our planned tracks loaded on the GPSr for this trip but lost them when I stupidly reset the trip meter on exiting the car. This was our second and for me I think now was likely my final attempt to find this cache. We stopped off to easily find the Bivouac cache and then proceeded by the river route to the Apollo’s pool itself.

Traversing just over 500 metres took over an hour and then we had to find a way up to the top of the waterfall. Things got a bit disorganized then, with different members of the group trying different routes.

Although on a promising lead I gave up as I was unhappy to have the group so scattered and we re-gathered to have lunch perched about 2/3 the way up. We then scaled an almost vertical cliff like section and burrowed through some very tangled scrub. At this stage I had a stick poke me hard in the eye in spite of wearing glasses, and from then on I had a one eyed, somewhat blurred, view of things.

We had trouble fixing our position with both GPSrs jumping around with EPEs of around 30 metres. I then discovered my head mounted antenna had gone missing whilst I crashed through the thicket which did not help.

We then tried ringing the cache owner who kindly issued some instructions just as the phone connection failed. We searched some more in the direction indicated and searched a couple of matching areas before listening to pleas from a couple of the more experienced trampers to head homeward as the day was drawing dangerously on.

We then searched for a little time to find a rumored "easy" way back but quickly decided to be safe and simply retrace our steps back the "hard" way. This "hard: description became more fitting when the rest of the party scaled a particularly steep section by pulling themselves up on a fern root but when I, as tail end Charlie, and also the heaviest had it pull free and leave me with out a handhold. Luckily we had a rope along which ultimately got me up but by then I was in a semi exhausted state.

Actually it was a lucky day as the leading guy found my external antenna on the way out and likewise a lost gold watch was recovered on the way out.

I have just returned from several hours at the eye clinic where they treated my scraped cornea and indicated my eye sight will hopefully recover in a few days.

Thanks Glyn for a couple of memorable days and I have seen and enjoyed the sights but please excuse me if I give up on the cache itself.

Forgot to log bug in.

St Ouens joined us for Expedition Apollo. Armed with plenty of food, coffee, maps for the visually impaired (super-magnified), 3 GPSrs (only one turned on) and determination the brave adventurers set forth on a route cunningly crafted by Tramper Ted.

Through the, at times, daunting undergrowth they bashed. St Ouens was heard to say 'this is like an assault course', and 'I didn't think NZ had jungles'. At one stage the team accidentally did a circuit, fondly named the Totara loop due to an old fence post that became familiar. After much muttering and cursing the fearless explorers arrived at the cache site and without too much fuss the cache was found.

A leisurely lunch was had, then the return route plotted, once again via the Totara fence post. Due to even more cunning the trip back took half the time, however it was not without its losses. One of the TT team arrived back minus a watch which is probably now languishing somewhere in the deepest Kauri grass. Future explorers should know that it is a worthwhile find being a Suunto Altimeter/compass etc model.

We burst out not far from our start point nursing a few cut fingers and a fair bit of dirt, but rather smug at the success of the expedition. Thanks Glyn for the adventure, but feel free to get a full time job as this may slow down your time available to research and place these sorts of caches:) Loved the challenge, thanks Glyn.

#630. A fitting cache to blow the week's cobwebs away; burn off a cold and celebrate a return to NZ from overseas. Cast in the role of the expedition's photographer, I set off with fellow travellers Tramper Ted who simultaneously performed roles of navigator, entertainment manager (more later), captain, and barista.
I was immediately impressed with the level of technology, the high definition maps and the sheer beauty of the logic by which we were to quickly navigate the bush in search of this cache. ...'This route is less than a kilometre as the crow flies" springs to mind....
By the time we finally reached the cache some three and a half hours later we had experienced a few moments including a helter skelter slide down a slope..."just clearing the debris out of the way"...; navigators nightmare as the 60Csx led us in a complete circle; and an interesting history lesson about why farming in the Waitakeres is a bad idea - see photo of Totara fence post. The Totara fence post became something of a beacon for us appearing at times of difficulty.
The final ascent to the cache was a real effort and lunch was thoroughly deserved.
Our return by contrast was speedy and efficient less than 90 mins - just as well cause my batteries were running low.
Thanks for the cache Glyn - would love to find out the "correct"" route and have you follow our route next time you need to go in.
Final points: 1) We never saw the falls! 2) We've found a neat place for another cache on the way - sorry Zorgon!
Enjoy the photos folks.

[Well, that was 'epic'.
In the traditional laconic Australian manner, my partner-in-crime of the day, Sam defined 'epic' as 'harder than expected' which seems like a bit of an understatement in retrospect...

I don't think it would be a spoiler to reveal our route as I wouldn't wish it on anyone else... If you are at all concerned, then don't unencrypt the rest.

]
Started at the Lone Kauri Rd midway carpark at 9.30am and walked up the Pararaha & Con Bryan rivers all the way to the Apollo falls. It is a spectacular location with beautiful bush and little falls all the way. (If you want something more accessible, go down the Pararaha valley from the same carpark - just as beautiful but no bush bashing required)
Mainly in the stream with just a few sections of bush to get round some of the larger falls.

Blown away on arriving at the marked waterfall viewing point as we weren't expecting something of this magnitude. We climbed up the ridge to the left of the falls which is not for the fainthearted. Steep climb up using tree roots with sheer drops on either side.

Got to Apollo's pool at 1pm and looked down to see someone else coming up the steep ridge, much to my surprise.

tofska, we were the abseilers at the top. sorry mate, I think you were on the right track. Sam was trying to signal you away from the edge and up the way you were going... Thought we must have just pipped you for the FTF only to open the easy-find cache and see we had been pipped! Talk about early bird gets the worm.. Waited for tofska for half an hour but no joy.

We didn't have enough rope to abseil down. Read Zorgon's log and decided that 1hr40 out to the road would be simpler than backtracking, sigh. Obviously we didn't find the optimal route as what followed was 2 and a half hours of brutal bushwhacking. Crawling & falling through sections of nigh-impenetrable vines and scrub. Pretty stoked to have Gary Turner's topo maps loaded www.gtmaps.co.nz as it certainly helped us find the track.

Another hour hike out to the road along the track, the last 20 mins in the dark with headlamps in a strange mirror of Zorgon's entry this morning. Another hour hike down Lone Kauri Rd to the carpark - absolutely nobody interested in the hitchhiking requests of two nutjobs in wetsuits with packs after dark! Back at the car at 7pm, a character-building 10hrs in the Waitaks. All good!

We had extra food, we had extra water, we had rope (but not extra rope!), we had wetsuits, emergency blankets & headlamps. We came out well worn but relatively safely. Make sure you do the same!
[

An alternate definition of 'epic' is 'A long narrative poem about the deeds of a hero'. The long narrative is above so here's a poem to help fit that definition...

There were two young men named Sam,
who went geocaching up the Con Bryan,
they left Apollo's pool,
bushwhacking like fools,
but lived to cache again.
]

Edit: OK – didn’t think I would get away with that

Spotted this one earlier in the week and my interest was certainly roused given that nobody had grabbed it after being live for a couple of weeks. I convinced “Boges†to join me on a mission today and, without any communication with Glyn, we agreed on a route that looked promising. Unfortunately Boges suffered some damage to property during the storm so reluctantly had to bail out.

When I saw that it still remained unfound on Friday night I couldn’t resist a rare Auckland FTF attempt on my own. Got up at 4.30 am and arrived at the entry point 15 min before sunrise. Needed the headlamp for the first 20 minutes or so until the light started filtering through. Really hard going and I was reminded of those scenes in the Simpson’s where Homer’s conscience is talking to him. The sensible Zorgon would say “one slip and its all overâ€; bad Zorgon counters with “chance of an Auckland FTFâ€; sensible Zorgon says “my legs have turned to jelly – lets have a restâ€; bad Zorgon says “no way – what if someone is coming in on an alternate routeâ€. Had all the right gear for trip; good boots, gaiters and all exposed skin covered from nasty surprises. I had even laminated a paper topo-map just is case the GPSr crapped out and I needed to use some rusty compass skills. Somehow though I left my drink bottle at home and didn’t notice it was missing until too late. Ended up having to have a drink from the stream to avoid dehydration. Anyone know what the first symptoms of Giardia look like?

Finally made it to GZ but to my horror couldn’t find the cache. After ¾ hr searching I gave Zork a call who kindly found Glyn’s ph number. It turned out that I hadn’t been searching close enough to the “death zone†at the top of the waterfall! Thanks for the help Glyn! It is certainly a spectacular place to visit and a genuine adventure.

By the time I got back to the car just under 5 hours had elapsed. Definitely harder than I had anticipated but a fit person normally halves my times on these sorts of trips. It seems that my route was close to optimum according to Glyn so I am certainly glad I didn’t pick a different way in. By the way Glyn has sworn me to secrecy regarding my route so please don’t ask

I had been hoping to visit the other caches around the Karekare area but my brain couldn’t convince the jelly legs to walk up any more hills today – next time!

Thanks Glyn for an adrenaline filled day and for showing me a magnificent place on a beautiful day.




[This entry was edited by Zorgon on Saturday, July 14, 2007 at 2:24:02 AM.]

Well yes, this is probably the most physically demanding cache I've attempted to date - and I'm feeling it in my thighs right now! It took about 3 hours just to reach the first waypoint. I tried to avoid the gorgy bits by climbing high and crawling along pig tracks, and similar on the other side on the way back - probably not a good move.
I got to within 22 metres of the cache, but the intervening, and impressive, wall between was my stumbling block. I couldn't find a way up between waypoint 1 and GZ, and it looked steep with big drops on either side.
A couple of abseilers appeared at the top and waved. They signalled that I should go back down and take a longer route around the bluff to the left, so I tried that with no luck. I'd run out of the time I was prepared to stay so headed back.
Although a real test of my physical and mental stamina, I enjoyed the outing despite not getting to GZ. It will be good to come back in summer with more time to explore and enjoy the awesome pools. Hopefully I will be quicker then, now that I'm more familiar with the area. I wonder if the compass I left somewhere will still be there!?
Cheers glyn - M@

C'mon Zorgon, we demand a full report - grinning at us in triplicate just won't do!!!

We saw Zorgon's scribbles in the logs of a few caches of the Great View series in the waitaks just before us today. Not sure if it was before or after Apollos pool?? But I was thinking it must have been after, because you could hardly read his name, as if he was struggeling to hold on to the pencil!! He must be knackerd!! Might need some recovering before we hear more news!!

Coin Drop

Today the weather forecast indicated a narrow window that just might allow a attempt on this cache, so I rang a couple of friends and we decided to "Go fot it"

I had spoken to Glyn re several possible approaches and he kindly advised against a couple of my more fanciful ideas but would not be drawn on "THE CORRECT" approach. So we started the day with some tentative probing which after several dead ends led us to what we fondly imagined was a possible one.
We then progressed some hundreds of metres in the right direction and then got to some spectacular scenery which unfortunately also proved to be a barrier to further progress. We retraced our steps (pretty big ones some of them) and cast about for alternative routes but initially we failed to find anything

About then it started to rain quite heavily so we withdrew when about 600 metres from GZ, but likely twice that over the ground. On the return trip we spotted what looked to be another possible route but decided to wait for better weather to try it. Some of this was real "tiger country", as my old dad used to say, and is not to be treated lightly.

Analysing our track on Mapsource I see us oldies were traveling at 0.8 km/hr and while the fit should easily double that it will still take a good while.

However we enjoyed ourselves and my friends have implored me to include them in any further expedition to sesrch out this elusive cache.

Took wetsuits, helmets and ropes but didn't think to bring lifejackets and rafts... The river was in major flood. Usually it's ankle deep and quiet but today it was waist deep and raging! Would have been great fun with a boogie board. Turned back after covering a mere 20% of the distance to the cache in 1 hour. Need to think twice about this one if it's been bucketing down for the last 3 days...

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