Tuakopae Falls and swimming hole (Bay of Plenty) Lower Kaimai, North Island, New Zealand
By kaimaikid on 21-May-08. Waypoint GC1CF62

Not sure if I was approaching the cache in the best way. Was very hard clambering in over all the toppled trees. I think I’ll revisit this one when there is less water and I can cross the river to approach it from another angle. I will be back as I’m sure it’s still there

Bit of scrambling around we didn't need to do. Cache a lot closer to stream than we thought. Went one level too high.
Cache was pretty much tripped over by Mrs cacher!! Log and contents very damp. Lovely area and falls. Tftc

Almost a couple years since this was found last. Walk this track before and never knew the falls were here. Didn't have to bush bash as there is a good track been cut through to the falls. One you just notice the second quite clear. Pretty cool falls. Walk to the top to the second small one. Went with the hint and I would say it put me in the spot as the last person. While I was hunting Dot calls out he has found it. Not where I expected it to be. Surprise no one has stumble across it. Love these caches. But time has started getting to it. Rather damp inside. Was able to make my mark on log sheet. Thanks for bringing me to a great spot. Tftc

Long search. No luck. Some trees fallen over so not sure but cache may be buried. Either that or my geosenses are badly off course. Quite a few DNFs today.

Find number 4614. This one had been on my todo list for too long. This was my second visit to these falls. On the previous visit I was tired from an overnighter at the Hurinui Hut so never ventured up for a look. I had time today on my way home, and no big pack on my back. I followed my GPS and did a bit of bush bashing to get to GZ. Arrived to find the cache right in front of me. Signed and made my way back. Thank you for the placement.

Second cache of the day quick find here for ApacheD and myself using the hint provided . Then it was off up the Henderson tram line to the next cache and onto Hurunui hut for the night.
Tftc

Found it!! What an awesome way to put a geocache!

Having been here before, I didn't even bother getting the GPS out of the caching bag but just followed the hints instead. The river is a LOT lower than last time and I arrived at the falls dryshod. Unfortunately, I then started my search far too high and wasted about an hour before I sat down to read the logs. Something a previous finder had written put me on the right track and the cache was quickly found. I'm really glad to have knocked this one off. It sort of marks a new beginning for next year. FP. TFTC.

This is another cache that's been on my 'to do' list for way too long. So I got everyone in the car and on the way. Parking was straight forward although sometimes I get a little nervous leaving the car in these random places. We hit the track - made the LH turn down hill then headed for the water fall. Great day for it and very happy I'd put the kids in their togs. While they braved the cool temperatures of the swimming hole I started on the cache. It didn't take a lot of searching even though the coords were less then helpful - the description was enough.
The cache was in reasonable condition but I cleaned it out - unbagged and dried everything - then repacked. Its lasted well though for 9 years with little cover and now ready for the next cachers.
Cheers Kaimaikid - TFTC

5.05pm - Just a few caches on our way home today to finish our distance challenge. SLTFTC

With Gap (of Fap and Gap)... Another big weekend drive to clock up some distance mileage.

Distance from previous cache: 49.78 km

This one fell very close to the limits for us, and we needed to find this cache by hook or by crook... We're betting this one has changed considerably over time. This was not an easy find, but a challenge of epic proportions.

After leaving the formed track, we had to bash and crash our way along the river to the falls. With no signal, we couldn't PAF, and we had to rely on the cache description. Furthermore, our gps was zeroing out a long way from where we expected to find the cache. We did manage to follow the instructions and climbed away. After an extensive search, we spied the cache in its hide. What a mission!

We reckon under the current conditions, the D/T rating could be much higher... A good workout. TFTC.

Flush with the success of kayaking up McLaren Falls Park, and heavy traffic getting out of the Falls Road, we turned left instead of right. "Why don't we do the Tuakopae Falls" one? Last time we attempted this was in the middle of winter and the rocks were treacherously slippery and I wasn't keen on an impromptu swim. After a few false trails and false levels and lots of bush bashing we finally arrived at the correct area. We walked up the "track" and searched in several likely spots without success. I went down a level and re-evaluated things. I spotted a dug-in step heading to "nowhere". Mmmm where does this go? Stepped up and there was the cache!!! This whole area was very over-grown and the "track" where the cache is, is not used anymore (will ensure the longevity of the cache I hope) as it by-passes to the right and up. Was a great feeling to actually find this cache. Thanks kaimaikid for the placement.

Had just cleaned up a few caches at Mclearns falls so had a bit of time to find this cache .....parked at the car park and off into the bush ...crossed the stream and started heading up the LH side ....well this turned into a real bush bash as the track has basically disappeared .......after a period of time fighting vines ,fallen trees and under growth I arrived close to GZ ....I had to use the hint and my worse fears was that it had washed away .....after about a half an hours searching Kahluis spotted what looked like an old track and decided to give it a go .....bingo there it was ....not freshly painted any more but never the less in good condition....the log was signed and we took in the view of the falls for few inutes and then the dreaded bush bash back to the stream crossing .....thanks KaimaiKid for a great placement and cache ...but I am guessing that time has made the terrain more difficult than it was originally .....maybe an increase rating would help others

Had just cleaned up a few caches at Mclearns falls so had a bit of time to find this cache .....parked at the car park and off into the bush ...crossed the stream and started heading up the LH side ....well this turned into a real bush bash as the track has basically disappeared .......after a period of time fighting vines ,fallen trees and under growth I arrived close to GZ ....I had to use the hint and my worse fears was that it had washed away .....after about a half an hours searching Kahluis spotted what looked like an old track and decided to give it a go .....bingo there it was ....not freshly painted any more but never the less in good condition....the log was signed and we took in the view of the falls for few inutes and then the dreaded bush bash back to the stream crossing .....thanks KaimaiKid for a great placement and cache ...but I am guessing that time has made the terrain more difficult than it was originally .....maybe an increase rating would help others

Wet feet and a stiff bush walk, which was just what I needed to take my mind off things. I followed the description rather than the co-ordinates and arrived at what I'm 95% certain was the right tree. A good search but no cache. May have been muggled or, more likely, dislodged and fallen. CO needs to check. Oh, and I saw a naked, middle-aged man running along Old Kaimai Road...???!!!

I've been wanting to do the series of caches around Hurunui Hut for a while now, and they had just started to annoy me. Decided last minute to head up there this afternoon to try and turn them into smilies. Parked up at the top of the Kaimais and headed along the ridge track leaving about 12.45pm and headed straight for the hut as I would grab the ones I past on the way back. I was really impressed with the quality of the track, with big sections of it nice and flat. Got to the hut in 1 hour 40 mins, with the return trip taking a little longer. All up the trip took pretty much on 4 hours.

Struggled with this one as the GPS was pointing me 23m away. Started searching where the GPS lead me as I didn't think I had the photo and with no cell phone coverage I hoped I'd be able to find it. After a few minutes of looking I realised I did in-fact have the photo as I download a pocket querry on the phone which had this cache on it. Took a few minutes to work out where the photo was taken and after a bit of a search I stumbled upon the cache. An awesome spot and one I'm sure I'll revisit with the togs, thanks for the hide.

Found it after a wee search (20 mins after parking up). I didn't have the hinted photo loaded, and there were a couple of tracks to choose from - but made the find without too much difficulty. Awesome spot and great cache. Log book a little damp, still writable. Thanks for leading me here. Tftc

Nice an easy fined. Excuse messy wrghting log book was damp pen wouldnt work so used edge of butterfly stamp in cache to wright. Walked past checked gps an could see it when turned around to go back. Hint was bang on

Been wanting to get to this site for ages and Christmas afternoon seemed the perfect time. What a fabulous place and certainly worth the climb. Directions certainly helped. Great cache thank you.

We spent a hour looking for this one, had Jess 88 with me who went for a little dip.TFTC

This was quite the experience finding this cache a beautiful view of the waterfall. On the way back I went for a unplanned swim haha good thing I had a pair of shorts in the car.tftc

Wicked spot!! Was a bit too late in the evening for a swim tho cache and everything inside is wet...

No find today, good excuse to come back, too busy swimming then ran out of time, what a magic place! We had overnight camped near the Hurunui Hut and I managed to hit toe badly while chasing possums barefoot in the middle of the night, so it was a painful walk back. When our delight at the falls attracted some muggles, who then offered us a ride to the car at the eastern end of the road we took it, not much time to look for the cache. Might even go back next weekend!! AWESOME! A favourite without even finding it!

Left foggy Hamilton early and headed for the hills. Found cache (love these ones) easily by following instructions step by step. What a majestic place this is! If water was a bit warmer, I would jump in! Picked up Finding Courage TB, which has been sitting here waiting patiently for over a year.

Sadly my GPS was all over the place under the foliage, so although I searched for quite a while, including some bush-bashing, I could never get closer than 30m. Another time perhaps!

Final Hunt for the day, and its been a hot one travelling all over the Western BOP with Mrs Dragon, (Not helped by Air con packing it in at about 8am this morning).
A quick walk to GZ, negotiate the fallen tree across the track and onto the falls, getting the feet wet today has been a bonus.
Removed a small accumulation of water from the cache, checked the seals and it was all good to go again.
Thanks for bringing me here TFTC

After a morning of unsuccessful hunting, decided to detour for this cache which has been on my "to do" list for some time. It was a fine but chilly day, and the water to the falls was particularly uninviting. I decided not to go for a swim, though the swimming hole is superb. I carefully made my way up the slippery creek to the falls and spotted the required entry to GZ. Found the cache exactly as described without the need to search. The log looked like it was wet, but everything was nicely packaged in plastic bags and dry as a bone. Recovered a little better than found. Nice little hide in a great location. Thanks for bringing me here. TFTC

Lovely walk & yet another beautiful spot discovered thro' caching! Too chilly very early this am for a swim, altho' it looked very tempting .... Cache all good, TFTC

Took a bit of thinking but I found it in the end! Cache nice and dry, unlike my feet!

DNF but had a great swim.

This was an awesome cache. We looked in the wrong place for ages then I went on and found it. Joshtait was with me. After we found it we jumped in for a nice cold as swim. Well more like quick in, quick out but we jump in thats all that matters.

Soooo cool. Needs shampoo hehe. Currently like 15 items!
Just wondering...Has anyone jumped off the waterfall or know the depth? 0.o was quite tempted lol
Found this with Gav (He found, I was close!!)


Josh - NZ (Email: [email protected])

7894 Overshot the side track initially, used the photo hint to locate the cache, GPS was wandering a bit. Cool waterfall, thanks for sharing its location.

Tuakopae Falls and swimming hole (Bay of Plenty) was transferred from Rick-a-mortis to user kaimaikid

Great cache - took a little looking had friend with me - helps to have extra eyes Learnt what Kie Kie is - bit hard to know which track to take - it wasn't the first track we chose should have gone straight up Cache in good condition - beautiful spot well worth the walk TFTC

Took a while.Right hand side of the track had me confused. Miles's log gave me what i needed. All good. thanks.

Another attempt at his this one while I was in the area. This time my brain was working a little better and I figured out that last time I was a little low.

Directions and hints spot on.

Cache in excellent condition and very dry. River also quite low made for a easy crossing. Glad I made the effort to try again. Thanks

Got to GZ with out a problem. Had a good hunt around with no luck. will try again another day. Took a picture of the falls which matched original picture exactly.

This entry was edited by Miles. on Sunday, 31 July 2011 at 19:34:34 UTC.

Great spot on a hot day and no-one around. Cache was a bit damp inside so dried some out and removed some very mouldy bits.
In- bracelets, Out- hacky sack. TFTC.

Lovely walk and great swimming place. Thanks for the cache. In = body lotion, Out = key ring chicken thing !

THIS TOOK A WHILE.THEN READING IT AND READING IT THINGS STARTED TO MAKE SENCE..THANKS A AWESOME SPOT

Really difficult one today. Track has basically gone into the river now. Did a lot of bush bashing and took a very long time to get near cache site. This area hasn't seen any maintenance for a long time. TFTC

A bit of a mission as it was damp underfoot from recent rain. Found GZ no problems, but we were searching the wrong area to begin with, maybe we had got off the proper track [?]. An easy find though, once we widened our search area.

First cache. Lots of fun. Thanks heaps.

Hi,
thanks to the hint we found it after 30min and after that we needed 30min to make pictures. Thanks.
Greetings Team Gevatter.Tod

Pleasant walk even if I did land on my arse walking incautiously across the stream. Bush very dry, stream low, rocks slippery! Easy find, pity I had forgotten swaps as the container could do with topping up. TFTC.

Enjoyed a great Sunday afternoon adventure. Only one of our party ventured into the cold water. Kids did some swaps. TFTC

Thanks for this awesome cashe. Got muddy looking for GZ so had to have swim. Refreshing before great quote time. I have found my spot. Thanks

Not sure why people don't go here, had a great swim in very refreshing water. Especially good after getting Kaimai Crossroads.
GC all good.
- Jeep TB

This was a wet one for sure! Fun mission though. TFTC.

We didn't even get close to the GZ. Well, we're not sure. But with little coverage and slippery rocks, then a path taking us away, we called it quits. Hot, muggy day and we'd been successful else where...

Took a bit of searching for this one but managed to find it safe and sound. Great spot to visit. TFTC

Nice place that I didn't no Existed, Good hide with graet views, well worth the trip. TNLN Cheers Muzy Man!

The picture does not seem to be in the description anymore??
Seem to be having trouble loading from its source location
Seems to be ok now



[This entry was edited by psychrn on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at 6:07:48 AM.]

Has been quite a lot of rain lately so probably not the smartest of days to attempt this one. Decided to go with natural footware as we didn't have boots with us. Stream crossings not too bad but had to be quite careful with the flow rate being quite high as we waded across.
Didn't have the photo with us but could still picture it in my head and didn't have any problems finding the cache.
Lovely scenic spot!
Many thanks. Definitely cache of the day.

The homeless dude must have gotten all his washing dried cause he has packed up home and moved on!! Nice wee tramp in boulder hopping over the creek to the cache.

In Mini Tennis ball
Out Master of space Geocoin.........

[This entry was edited by Geckoh on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at 10:58:24 PM.]

The Freezer Mice strike again!!!
Joint trip in with Boges and Twigster.
No wet feet today, and a brilliant wee spot.
+ Castle Mans GC
- Nil
T4TC.

(Apologies to Geckoh for not logging the GC straight away... but TFM stayed in the bush overnight and didnt have access to the internet.)

On a mission with freezer mice and twigster. Quick walk in and no wet feet. Nil in or out

Combined effort with Boges and The Freezer Mice. This is a great cache site and what we consider as real geocaching. Double thumbs up TFTC

Found it with my Dad. Signed log as GuanoGerbil. OmaGosh, over and out...

Found it with my Dad. Signed log as GuanoGerbil. Thanks for the fun!

The washing is still hanging out, but the owner seems harmless enough. Ended up a bit of a bush bash with the merry gerblings after we got to the falls and found ourselves on the wrong side of it. All good fun though. Quite a spectacular sight with the recent rain. Would be a great place for a swim on a hot day. The photo led us right to the cache. First time around the Old Kaimai Rd - something I've been meaning to do for years, so thanks for showing me!

what a neat place for a swim in summer-looked tempting today lol-amazing whats just of the beaten track -great place to hide a cache-left jumboz calling card-

What a great spot for a cache. Loved the walk in and scramble to the cache site. Excellent instructions thanks. That dude still is hanging out his washing, but is quite friendly, never fear. Collected TBs. TFTC

Tuakopae Falls and swimming hole (Bay of Plenty) was transferred from kaimaikid to user Rick-a-mortis

Did a drive by on this one, near GZ there was a car parked and what looked like washing hanged near it on the fence/trees, Maybe a homeless person has found a new home near GZ?

Will try again another day.

Great place!! We didn't have the photo but managed anyway!! TFTC

found with the wookie on an awesome BOP day, found the cache with ease and rehide it very well.

on the way out we meet 2 guys and a little girl who asked us if we were here for the same reason they were, hell yes.

they were from Finland, sorry guys I have forgotten your names. nice meeting you any way. happy hunting in NZ

+ bug
+ torch
- bike light

thanks for the cache, awesome work

found with rick-a-mortis. great place to visit. Great meetin other cachers on the track too.

TNLNSL

TFTC

Most difficult terrain we have been so far as we have to be a bit careful. with our 5 year old geocacher. Fortunately we managed to cross one difficult spot with the help from Rick-a-Mortis and TgaWookie.
- glass thingy
+ dice
TFTC

Second FTF today! Thought I would be second on this one as I was already committed to doing the longer Ananui Falls cache en-route. However stopped off at 4pm to find GPS battery flat. Had already had a look at the photo on laptop earlier in day so went and found the spot accordingly. Wasted a little time going too far up the track first-only because I didnt have the instructions on hand.
Nice spot would be great swim on a hot summers day.
TNLN thanks

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