Bad Winds (Auckland) Mellons Bay, North Island, New Zealand
By Howickcandys on 07-Jun-08. Waypoint GC1D0H5

Location of Final is now unsafe, replaced by new cache Bad Winds Too.

This cache definitely needs to be checked.

A cacher asked me to check this cache and in doing so I discovered there has been a significant change in the GZ area, highly likely from a major storm earlier this year. The faint track is still accessible but now very fragile/crumbly in many parts. The cutty grass that was once at GZ now seems to have slipped down the cliff. Access to that cutty grass is almost impossible as the cliffs are very unstable now in this surrounding area.

A quick look around GZ for the cache didnt reveal anything and looking down the cliff where it has fallen away the cache is likely to have been buried.

For the safety of cachers and the stability of houses above GZ, the cliff is so unpredictable it might be wise to shift the final cache location or archive it.

Disabled until I can check it out and/or the weather improves

Well, I nearly fell off, then nearly got stuck up the cliff. I gave this a serious search (2 hours) but couldn't get the GPSr and hint to align. Indeed, I think there has been some significant changes in the surrounding terrain making the hint less than helpfull. Lovely spot for a cache though I would suggest this needs a check.

Back for another attempt at this one. Once we realised that magnetic North is 20deg East of True North the first WP was much easier to find. Horrible place to put a cache though, dirty and smelly. The container was also jammed in really tight, so much so that Matt was shouting "it's stuck, it's stuck" to Jax whilst a lady was walking her dog along the beach. God knows what she thought he was doing LOL

A pleasant walk to GZ but once near we couldn't find the right track as there are lots of them crossing the bank. Due to the heavy rain last night the ground was a bit slippy and after getting cut to pieces by the cutty grass and the clue not seeming to make much sense we gave up on this one. Having read the other logs think we were roughly in the right area and may consider going back on a drier day. Will have to wear long trousers and gloves if we do go back!!

What an awesome cache. it gets me every time when i go to a cache and ive been in the area before but never known about the treasure there waiting to be found!

found with "nztinkerbell"

Great Spot just have to be wary of the dog walkers TFTC

2nd time lucky. extended the search around GZ and came up trumps.

Moving all TBs and GCs to a new home.

Solved the puzzle and easily found waypoint 2. Got a few metres up the cliff to where the GPSr indicated the GZ was. Nothing! Resorted to the hint. Still nothing! The cutty grass is not that friendly. Have a few cuts for my efforts.

Solved this cache in bits as so many muggles and muggles' dogs aways out walking. Got lucky today with no one around. Quick find afterall. Thanks.

Cache check and GC dropoff.

Could the next visitor please uplift some of the TBs and GCs here.

Quickly worked out the required information and off to WP 2 for a quick find, Then onto the final for another quick find. TFTC

can someone verify

2, 7, 8 last log 3/11/2009

can someone verify

Four Elements Geocoin last log 4/19/2009

Finally cleaned this one up. GPS was pointing this way and that a bit, but the clues led me to the right place.

Cache check and TB dropoff

Found stage 1, then my ipod touch ran out of power. I've got the information, so I'll come back another day.

Back again!! I must have searched with my eyes closed!!

Plan A: I followed the cords down the beach until the GPS pointed at the cliff. Tried to find it via the hints, but I think we differ on the definition of a path, and the only cutty grass I could find didnt have a cache. The rest of the path up petered out, although I tried a number of options.

Plan B: follow the GPS. So I climbed straight up as the GPS had me going over the top of the small slip on the cliff face. I didnt manage to get past the slip, but I did get to the top to try an approach from there. Waved to the locals while I was in their backyards and dived off the top. No way could I get down the cliff face to where the GPS indicated. The nearest I could get was metres away The GPS was consistent as to where I should be going and I couldnt get there! I then lost a bit of altitude when a step on the old staircase I was standing on collapsed.

Plan C: Forget everything from the previous attempts and just head straight for the cache. Which I did, and made a quick and easy find.

I was over complicating the hide as its really quite straight forward. Thanks for the cache!!

Nope. I couldnt find it.

Just been down for a check.
WP1 and Final are still in place, there's a bit of rubble near the final, but it is still safe and sound, hiding in plain sight you might say .
HC

We made the projection and walked to GZ without issue. We came across a large land slide near to the place our GPS told us we should be. I'm wondering if the cache may have succumbed to the erosion and be hidden amongst the rubble??? Or were we just off track?

Cool multi to solve before the hords invade the beach.
T4TC - M@

Maintainence check and TB dropoff, Still there, but Cache was upside down and a bit damp. Dried out and rehidden right way up.

Oops didn't mean to disable, everything is fine!

Interesting way to explore the bay.

Can't say I enjoyed WP1 much. But had the bay to myself and enojoyed the vertigo at final.

Took Coin and TB dropped Daisy Duck TB

Cache check and GC drop.

All fine

Relocating superbike to different locale to get more miles on the clock - at owners request. Swap TBs as well. Yeehaa Buddy!

They say three's a charm - and so it is for this cache. Tricky! Definitely most challenging find thus far!
TFTC
+GCx2, TBx1
-GCx2, TBx1

re dropping travel bug as hadn't logged for the mileage

TB dropoff and cache check.

All fine, looks like the cache was found on the 25th and a GC uplifted but find not logged yet!

#507
What a fun little multi, must admit not used to Auckland beaches - you people really need to come to the Bay of Plenty and enjoy a real beach!
Mr Geckoh found the final whilst Miss Geckoh and I amused ourselves, and watched for prying eyes. Took a Geocoin to move along on its way.
TFTC

3 Men and a cache couldn't find your stash.

Found WP 1 OK but the final was nowhere to seen. 1 hour search and nothing to show.

Please confirm co-ords and clue are correct as there is NO SIGN of the treasure.

Putting in long lost Geocoin

TB Dropoff and Cache Check,

It's still there safe and sound!

Looks like I need to make the finl clue a bit less cryptic, 'cause I really would like this cache found more often, and its not really that hard to find!

Don't know what happened here, worked out info needed to head of to next wpt, found the coords there but couldn't for the life of me find the cache.
I waited for half hour for a mum and 2 kids to leave near GZ but it wasn't going to happen so came back later.
Spent 2 hours searching for it, up and down and round and round and hiding from muggles, and even got sprung once in an awkward position, all I could do was pretend to be on the mobile phone.
I don't think I could possibly search anymore for a better outcome so I'm logging a disappointing DNF.

TB and GC Dropoff

GC Dropoff,

Someone has posted a sign nearby which is well worth heeding, dont go there!!

Good timing and dry feet all the way on this one. Nice quick find at WP1 but final a bit of a mission, GPSr not very stable today which had me clambering around like a mad thing, and in all in the wrong places. Gave up in the end but a quick call on my return to the car gained me an extra hint so tried again, and found quickly. Much easier than I had anticipated, why do I always make things harder than they need to be?
TFTC

Thanks for the feedback YUGEO4. Coords for the final have been replaced with more permanent ones.

(1605)
Not so quick find. Co-ordinates for the final are starting to rub off, but are still legible, may need to change the medium. Tricky spot for the final, was a bit hesitate to venture up, but no drama in the end. An inquisitive dog walking muggle inquired what we were up to, so we explained geocaching to them, more recruits maybe. Thanks for the interesting historic cache.
TNLNSL, TFTC

After the stormy weather I checked in to make sure that all was OK. I also replaced the container with one that should be more waterproof, and possibly easier to find.

Got the tides right today, makes it much easier.

Was surprised to find the final alsmost straight away after the problems others have reported.

Cache is damp, tipped a small amount of water out.

TFTC

Curses, hadn't picked that this was tide dependant, worked out the location but couldn't get near.

#962. Thought cache name very appropriate for WP2 which was quite tough without a certain piece of equipment. Found final quite quickly on the way back down. TFTC.

Since we'd given TWS a fair go at finding this one now after a week, we thought we'd go back and finally sign off the log-book

Headed off down to the beach and struggled to get the timing right between muggles and their doggles. Quickly got to GZ and grabbed the cache in 2mins - much better chance at sucess once you wear appropriate clothing (See photo).

TNLNSL - Thanks for the challenge HC's!

We didn't know what to expect after reading the logs, but we had no problems at all with this one.
Made the projection, which took us to a likely spot which did indeed contain wpt1. Then on to the final where we poked around for a bit until the cache was in our hands. No drama!
TFTC

Popped back in as I happened to be in the area again, funny that!

Trust your gps! Great cache and great spot, thank you so much. Took the red jeep.

One of my fav caches, enjoy all my visits. Cheers!

FOUND IT!!! after a 1 hour search last sunday with TWS and GB I thought "I'll give it another try" Quick find today.
Greenblat, you are next!!
logged at 1630
- Gecoin
+ Travel Jeep TB
TFTC HowickCandys

Pretty much like GreenBlat says, looks like someone has found it now though, ah, the old cutty grass , well when my cut hands have healed Ill head back with some rubber gloves.

Made up for missing this FTF by getting 4 other FTF's today



Now ill sit and wait for the logs saying "I dont know what all the fuss is about" [:o)]

[This entry was edited by TheWonderStuff on Sunday, June 08, 2008 at 12:18:14 AM.]

I'll add an DNF, searched with The WonderStuf, Greenblat and my son for an hour. Gonna try it again with some heave welding gloves.....

Met TT and St Ouens at the start point. Very impressed with the dedication doing all of this hilly area by bike!
Stuffed up the calcs and went off on a tangent.
Running out of time on this Auckland visit so decided to push on and leave this cache for another day.
Congrats to TT for the FTF!

Got up early this morning to beat the crowds. Must have done the calcs wrong or not set magnetic properly on WP1 as was out to sea but distance and clue combined to make it obvious. Searched low and high and higher... and much higher for the final.Terrain was a bit loose from the rain but the bits that were falling off all missed me! Couldn't find anything that related to the title. Gave up after 45mins as muggles started appearing on the beach.

[This entry was edited by Greenblat on Saturday, June 07, 2008 at 3:04:20 PM.]

Revisit together with The Wonder Stuff, KiwiLeon and KiwiEric. Well we spent the best part of an hour with 4 pairs of eyes and still didn't come up with the goods. Went higher than previous; Leon went even higher! Looked in every root, log and even the cutty grass. Short of digging up the hillside and passing it through a sieve we ran out of ideas...

Given the number of DNF's and this being our first cache and all, I thought I'd better check this out.
Check the Calcs, Tick
Check WP1, Tick
Check final, Tick, though it looks like it has been well and truly searched over.
Then I staked it out, and what did I see but two cachers visiting WP1.
So after letting them get to the final, and have a bit of a fossick I "muggled" them.
After a bit of searching High and low, the cache was found.

[This entry was edited by HowickCandys on Saturday, June 07, 2008 at 11:06:36 PM.]

[This entry was edited by HowickCandys on Monday, June 09, 2008 at 12:45:50 AM.]

Hah FTF for the TT team! Don't know what all the fuss is about. Heres how it went..... Were biking the eastern caches with St Ouens and arrived at co-ords to find Zorgon there too.

Gathered the info, but a mistake was made in the calculation and we headed off in the wrong direction (some serious uphill involved too). Got too far before we realised the error of our ways. Then went back to the cars as time was running out.

St Ouens discovered he had left his GPS at the start point so we drove back to get it (lucky it was still there). However then he had to leave. The TT team continued to the correct place for WP1 and found said item quite quickly.

Headed for final. Mrs TT hunting whilst Mr TT pretends to loiter, then cache owner arrives and watches our activity. He had become concerned at all the DNFs! However it is there, just where it should be. Important to let the GPSr settle well cause the land features might confuse it. TFTC, well done HowickCandys, and nice to catch up too.

Hmmmmm . Ill write my log once I clean myself up

I was nearby doing Greenblats new Compass cache when the phone beeped a new cache alert. Checked it out, 26.2 km's from my home cords, about where I was right now

Load up the cords, oh, a multi!

Read the questions off the wap browser at wp1. I cant see the terrain rating or difficulty rating from the wap.

Get 2 wp2, ah, in there? You serious? Got out the phone and used the torch. Clue was good here. I can hear some guy aproaching up the beach with his 5 year old daughter, probally followed me up, wandering what I was up to He saw nothing, his dog had ago at me though, he said she only barks, I replied well if she bites me it gets put down.

Back up the beach, damn, no topo maps loaded. Up or down. Get to 15 meters from Gz and convince myself, there maybe away in from the top? Back down the beach, in the car, used the road map on it to search for entry point from the top? Nope. Back down to park the car and walk back up the beach.

Ok, so up I go. Get to 2 meters, search, nothing. Its here Though, starting to get dark, had to retreat. Very cool, and now seeing the terrain rating, it all makes sense

Maybe Ill get FTF in the morning?

Thanks for the fun!

Published