Browns (treasure) island (Auckland) Bucklands Beach, North Island, New Zealand
By Awesome Marauder on 08-Feb-09. Waypoint GC1E605

Found it! Cool spot. Thank you

That's not going anywhere

Nice spot, cache is a bit stuck

Found the cache easily, seems to be wedged in the tree pretty well, cool find!

Nice big tree. Took a while because I was searching on the wrong side! Fourth cache on the island, tftc

Tftc

Tftc!!

Tftf

What an amazing big tree! TFTC

Got here from the summit just before the rain storm

Sitting down to log these after getting half an island's worth of grass and leaves and twigs out of my hiking boots...

It's been a great day out on Brown's Island with 13 other cachers (in no particular order): PJRBO, CyclicalCaching, bruzie, Infoferret, GSEL, the Seagnoid, taybeedragon, TaraTed, waihekegirl, Blenheim Bear, TwigNZ, ivss_xx, and rustynz, signing as Team Done By One - and we were!! A few new D/T combinations ticked off, a fair few kilometers hiked through knee deep grass and up and down hills... and we don't mention the buses this morning. [B)] Cleared out the island and got a group FTF too! Thanks very much to everyone involved!!

After all that, this was the first cache of the day since it was closest to where we were dropped off. All good here and a nice way to start us off. TFTC!

Thought we had left early enough to get to the ferry but stopped along the way for some fruit and then the marathon was on so had to walk the last leg. But got there in time to catch up with the rest of the gang. So it was off in the boat just after 9am for a short ride to Browns Island. Now the work begins. Its kuku grass in varing depths allover this island so if there is not a track its hard going. We are after the LAB as well as as many caches that we can gather. So we are off. First stop here and with 14 sets of eyes a quick find. Signed as Done by one Cheers..

Day 4 - Sunday 23 January - Browns Island was on the radar for the morning with the team 'DONE BY ONE' or DB1 consisting of CyclicalCaching, PJRO, RustyNZ, TaraTed, Blenheim Bear, TwigNZ, ivss_xx, GSEL, lumin298, waihekegirl, bruzie, Infoferret and The Seagnoid. The afternoon was again running all over Auckland collecting the last of the PWGTs and scooping up a few others along our journey. Finally ending the day by droping The Seagnoid of at the airport. Going solo from here.

Zara, Toby and I are on our North Island expidition for a couple of weeks. Got The Seagnoid along for the first 4 days, heading to the Auckland Mega. PWGTs and TMGTs are on the radar for this trip. Lots of driving on gravel roads and visited lots of amazing places on our 6000km road trip snagging 200+ caches along the way. Visiting Cape Reinga, Bay of Islands, Gisborne and White Rock along our journey. Another awesome trip. Thanks to all CO's.

#10,742. Today was the day after the Auckland Mega Event. The Seagnoid had got very organised and found out that you could charter a water taxi out here for about $500 return and for around $50 each you could secure a return trip on this boat. I was keen to take up the opportunity as I had seen all the caches on the island and wondered how I might get to them. With the new adventure lab added to the island there was lots of treasure to find. It was a case of Browns Island or bust.

First obstacle was the Auckland Marathon. The roads by the Okahu Bay boat ramp were closed off so we had to park on side streets. We got here an hour early to ensure we didn't have to do a long walk back to the car after the trip. The weather was stunning. Warm, sunny and light winds. Great for a boat trip but a mission on the hill climbs. Every bit of shade from the sparten collection of trees on the island was well sought out by team members after each cache. Everyone collapsing in the long grass and sucking back on water bottles. We basically went around the island clockwise doing the north and east first then picking up the central caches last. The kikuyu grass was not as long as I feared but still took a bit of pushing through. Luckily with 14 on the trip it was easier going for the tail end of the walking group.

We called our team "Back by 1" as that was when the skipper hoped we would finish as he was moored up while we were ashore and had another job to do at 1.30pm. We squeezed in with a few minutes to spare. A fantastic day out on the island. My last (and only previous visit here) was back in 1988 when it still had rabbits on the island. So great to see how it was looking today. All the caches were found by a sprinkling of fitter team members who happened to get there first while the rest staggered in and collapsed in the grass. A couple of caches were missing so phone calls to CO's from the locals gave us permission to drop replacements. Special thanks to the Seagnoid for making this fun day out happen. I am sure everyone on the trip will have fond memories of Browns Island.

This cache was picked up within minutes of landing. I was on the wrong side of the tree when it was spotted. Story of the day for me but with 14 people you have to enjoy the group finds. Thanks Awesome Marauder for hiding a cache here.

It's my Mega weekend road trip! This is day four and the target is Browns Island, with its plethora of T5 caches and a new Adventure Lab with bonus. Will expand on my logs, post photos, qualifying caches for challenges, etc. When I get home. TFTC

First on the island (after the adlab). Found as part of Team Done By One.

23 January 2022 9:35 am Find #4768

Both Blenheim Bear and I were lucky to be able to include this trip to Brown's Island in our Mega trip up to Auckland as we had inquired late and it was fully booked. Fortunately for us two spots became available.
After a busy Saturday caching in the morning we spent time at the MEGA event . The day was rather hot so a quieter time was in order.
Conditions were excellent for the next days boat trip out to Brown's Island with-
TwigNZ, the Seagnoid, TaraTed, waihekegirl, lumin298, Blenheim Bear, Infoferret, bruzie, CyclicalCaching, ivss_xx, PJRO, Taybeedragon, GSEL and rustynz .


Logs today were signed as TD1(or Team Done By One) to save time, representing all of us. Thanks goes to Tom for the organising and taking responsibility for us and to all the rest of the group for making this such an enjoyable occasion, even if we had wilted somewhat at the end.
TFTC Awesome Marauder

First find as part of team done by one

09:37
Found as part of team "Done By One"
*(Blenheim Bear, Bruzie, cyclicalcaching, GSEL, infoferret, ivss_xx, Lumin298, PJRO, rustynz, taybeedragon, Tarated, the_seagnoid, TwigNZ, waiheke girl)*

Fresh out of the boat, this was the first find! Team Done By One was founded right here. Constitution signed and all.
Cache in good order.

Kia ora! ???? Paldies! ????
TFTC, Awesome Marauder!
#8679

A nice simple cache, but it’s been there so long the tree is never gonna let go of it!!

Text of the day :

Out with the group today on Brown’s Island for some caching fun!

First time on Brown’s Island, so was fun to check it out and we definitely got a good number of caches! My favorite part was all the grass, never knowing if it is ankle or waist deep…good times!

Thanks to all COs today!

It's our Mega weekend road trip! TaraTed and I got a window of opportunity (WOO) before we go crazy with the net COVID strain. This is day three and the target is Browns Island, with its plethora of T5 caches and a new Adventure Lab with bonus. Found as part of team "Done By One" consisting of (in alphabetical order) Blenheim Bear, Bruzie, Cyclicalcaching, GSEL, Infoferret, Ivss_xx, Lumin298, PJRO, Rustynz (out token local!), Taybeedragon, TaraTed, The_Seagnoid, TwigNZ, Waiheke girl.
It was a mega hot day, nice easy trip out in the water taxi (steve sat offshore with a rod out and waited for our return, hopefully done by 1pm, it was more like 1.15pm by the time we were all on board, but we were very very hot and sore. That deep grass and hot sun sure takes it out of you.. Thank you to Tom and co for arranging things.. Sorry for the cut and pastes. But TFTC Blenheim Bear

NZ MEGA 2020 (in 2022) road trip day 3.

A boat excursion over to Browns Island was to be the main attraction for today. This was something I had really been looking forward to for the last few months (as the idea had originally been floated *pardon the pun* by the Seagnoid about 6 months ago when the Mega was to be held over Labour Weekend 2021).

I loved the boat ride over to the island! It was great to be standing at the stern with the wind trying to take my hat off and the occasion bit of spray hitting me. This was even more true on the return leg back to the Okahu Bay Boat Ramp, where the spray was most welcome after the exertions of our morning.

The initial arrangement was that we would be picked up off the island at 1pm. Our ferryman Steve had asked us whether we thought we would be done by 1, and this became a bit of a running joke to the point that when we had found our first cache and were thinking of using a team name for signing the logsheet I suggested that we be 'Team Done By 1" and it stuck. So all logs today were signed as such (or Team Done By One) to represent the 14 of us who were: TwigNZ, the Seagnoid, TaraTed, waihekegirl, lumin298, Blenheim Bear, Infoferret, bruzie, CyclicalCaching, ivss_xx, PJRO, Taybeedragon, GSEL and rustynz to represent the locals

This was our first find, fresh off the boat. With 14 pairs of eyes to do the searching, it was never going to be long before that cry of "found it" would be heard.
No issues here with the cache, and once the log was signed everything was replaced as found and then it was off to tackle the surprisingly long grass which would be such a feature of our efforts today.

Thanks for placing this cache.

urselves today We were due to meet at the boat ramp at 9, but today was also the day of the Auckland Marathon which meant that a lot of the nearby roading was closed to the public. So to be sure I wasn't going to be late, I got here an hour early which gave me time to find this cache and do a stage of the nearby Adventure Lab. That lab mentioned about the nearby webcam so I have attached a screenshot of that result too.

The cache itself appears to have been damaged by previous finders. Not terminally so, and it still functioned fine when I found it, but clearly there has been some rough handling at some stage. But I was able to add my name to the log and replace it back as found.

Thanks for setting this new cache up to help keep us

23 January 2022 09:35 Team D By 1 are working our way around the island today. Thank you Awesome Marauder for placing a cache in such an amazing (if hot) location.

Got off the boat here and while some of us were still sorting ourselves out and debating how to tackle the island (Clockwise? Widdershins? Centre last? Or zigzag in and out?) a few of the team had already snuck off and found the cache. Rather crappy coordinates here, but a good hint so the find wasn't too bad.

Day 3. Day after the Mega. In a lot of ways it didn't feel like a mega, but one of the things that did have that mega feel was being able to do this trip to Brown's Island. Fourteen of us - CyclicalCaching, PJRO, RustyNZ, TaraTed, Taybeeedragon, Blenheim Bear, TwigNZ, ivss_xx, GSEL, lumin298, waihekegirl, bruzie and Infoferret. Too many to write into the logsheets so we called ourselves DoneByOne (or variations thereof), as that was when we were due back to the boat. We left Auckland's Okahu Bay at 9am, so the whole island took just under 4 hours. Our shuttle had another job at 1:30 and was hoping to not have to do another trip back to get us. But he didn't have a job in the meantime, so he just waited for us! The whole 4 hours! The grass was knee high, the sun was hot, there are no tracks and almost no trees. Thank goodness for SPF 50, wide brimmed hats and anti-sneezamine tablets! And a big bunch of people to minimise the search times!

I noticed I walked distinctly slower after we got back. Wading through long grass really wears out the legs!

Boiling hot here on the island today but we made it round here for a quick find. TFTC

Easy find thanks

Very creative

Finally the boating weather is good on a weekend for a trip to Browns Island !!
This container was too hard to extract but managed to screw off the lid & sign in. TFTC

I came over with a group of geocachers to do these caches - it was a good day and the weather was hot. We had a good walk around. There was no issue in the group finding any of the caches - 11 cachers, one muggle, looking for 12 caches on the 12th Jan.

TFTC

The magic number was twelve for our trip to Browns Island. It was the 12th of January and we planned to find twelve caches on the island. We started with ten cachers, but two visitors from England were welcomed into our group for a total of twelve. We signed all logs today with 'The 12'.

Two of us got to GZ first, so we took opposite sides to search which cut our search time in half to almost nothing. TFTC.

We had been talking about Browns Island for a while and when the chance to go was raised we decided to take the opportunity to visit this island for a day of caching. It was another beautiful day in Auckland with the sun beating down and with very little cover on the island I am still feeling quite hot as I type this several hours later. This is not an easy island to make your way around due to knee deep grass and having to forge our own trails. We also had several roosting birds diving at us in some parts to add to the excitement.
This day was all about the twelves, out with 12 people on the 12th of the month to find 12 caches; so therefore we decided to log the caches as 'The 12'.

Nice stroll along the beach from the last one gave time to reflect on how nice this place is. TFTC.

The caches on this island were always on our radar when we had planned our trip to NZ.
our initial plan was to seek out some kayaks but when we heard that there was a group going today we made some enquiries and although numbers were restricted we were told to venture to the mooring / meeting place and see if we got lucky - we did and made the numbers 12.
12 cachers, 12 caches on the island and all found on the 12th
We enjoyed the walk albeit very hard going with the long grass between most of the caches - lovely wildlife seen though we did upset some nesting gulls (not deliberately)
All 12 caches found and signed "THE 12"
Thanks to Cameron for allowing us to join the group
This cache found after a bit of a search
TFTC
Tim and Viv - ddm

Walked along the coastline from the last cache to this one which made the going much easier and there weren't too many birds to upset in this area although still plenty to see. Some shags were hanging out on the end of the old jetty and they were happy to leave us to it.

Come around the coastline was the way to go here and got to the cache without too much trouble. The cache was found without too much trouble.

Like others saw the buildings nearby and wondered what was in them - evidently not a lawnmower judging by the state of the grass here - kikuyu is king of the island here! I thought it was bad in my front garden.

Thanks for the cache, all good here.

Browns Island was on my "to do" list. It was my pleasure to join trip to Motukorea organized by TheWonderStuff.

Log signed as "The 12"

Our Group had 12 Geocachers
on 12th day of January
to find 12 caches on the Island ....

Discovered here another handy landing spot on the Island. TFTC

I have often looked at the caches out here and wondered how to tackle them. So when TWS put the call out a few days prior to fill a taxi I was in.

With so many twelves happening on the day it seemed very appropriate to call ourselves "the 12" for the purpose of logging.

It was a very hot day, and the isn't much shade on the Island and on the way back to the beach started feeling very hot. Made the beach and seemed to cool off. Shortly after returning home, started to feel unwell, turns out I was dehydrated, this can be a side effect of some of my medications, and my body temperature was way to high. Spent the evening trying to get my temperature down and keep it down whilst also trying to re-hydrate.

Arrived at the tree first with agozo, but I picked the right side.

TFTC

A plan was made for 12 of us (10 plus 2 interlopers) to head to Brown's Island to find the 12 caches on what just so happened to be the 12th January. Thus we signed all logs as 'The 12'. We couldn't have asked for a better day - sunshine and a warm day, but the humidity wasn't too high. The grass has grown back with a vengeance - nearly all of it knee/thigh high - and I'm not that short! A few locals weren't very happy about our visit, swooping and dive-bombing us as we tried to locate a few caches. But all in all a great day out with no DNF's.

Cache found quickly and we took advantage of the shade here to stop for a few minutes.

4 OF 12 for the 12.

Had the opportunity to travel over to Brows island with 11 other caches for a day of adventures.

At the old wharf; a shame it's no longer used.

Set off as part of the group of 12 looking for 12 on the 12th. After an easy wade ashore at the beach and putting footwear back on, we were off up the hill. The find on the first cache was a good omen for the day and this one was making an excellent strike rate. The shade here was appreciated as it was a hot day. TFTC

Been a great day out caching on the island. Missed a few because the seagulls are nesting and I didn’t want to be pecked to death. Death by seagull. The missed caches just give me a reason for another trip when it isn’t breeding season. Tyfc.

1849 found it. Coming to the end of my island adventure. I wonder what they keep in the shed?

TFTC On a geo-trip from Washburn, Wisconsin, USA and our first day in New Zealand. We had targeted all of the caches on Brown's Island because we wanted to get out on the water, and it looked like an interesting place. We had the entire island to ourselves.

Ferge's kayak rentals set us up with a shuttle for the shortest paddle possible. With wind at our backs we had an easier paddle than on the way back. Spending a full day on the island to trudge through the grass mats was an interesting adventure. We likened it to snowshowing 3 feet of powder in our area!

Dropped a pathtag here.

On a geo-trip from Duluth, Minnesota, today is our first day in New Zealand. We had targeted all of the caches on Brown's Island because we wanted to get out on the water, and it looked like an interesting place. We had the entire island to ourselves.

Wow, that grass is something else!!! I have a feeling I'll be pretty sore tomorrow!! The paddle was challenging, the walk around the island was brutal, and the heat just about did me in!! Thank you so much for placing a cache out here, it was an interesting spot!

Quick find here (and no tall grasses to fight!!) thanks for the hide!

First one found. Nice and easy. First day on a trip from the States. Planning the trip over the last few months with lostcheq and Mocrin, we had decided a kayaking trip on this trip would be a great beginning. Spent the day on Browns Island. It was a challenging paddle to get to the island. The island from a distance looked easy enough to hike. Looks can be deceiving. The thick thatch under the grass made any inland hiking arduous. All caches were found; some easily some not so easily. Thanks much for all the fun. Enjoyed the variety of birds on the island.

Great day out on the island, even better to do some geocaching, tftc

So cool to finally be here! TFTc

Nice quick find. Kayaked over from Bucklands beach

Dad chauffeured a group of us out to Browns Island today. His only request is we be off the water by midday as the winds would be getting up. We all waded in from the beach on the north side, and walked clockwise around the island. Holy cow was the long grass hard!!! I was tired by this point, so suggested that we walk around by the rocks. This was a nice easy find close to where the barge and water taxi's drop you off.

Signed Logs with CDRW

Today was by a bit of a chance and an opportunity presented itself with RWIMF (thank you to RWIMF's Dad) for a trip out to Browns Island for a reccie.
So up early as we were to meet at 7am at the boat ramp at Bucklands Beach so a chance to grab a couple before the day got really interesting. We teamed up with Team beconaze for the day, we were dropped here while beconaze headed off to the next island
Twelvth cache of the day on the Island as we worked our way around it. A bit of a wade through the grass to get to GZ and a clamber over hidden obsticles. Treasure was located with Ease. I know the legs are going to itch tonight from the long grass.
Find it hard to beleive that more cachers do not come out here

thanks for the cache and the placement

Easy find, left in same spot but covered it to make more discreet.

We've been spying up these Browns island caches for a while and this week Mr beconazes long time wish came true and he picked up a jet-ski on Monday. All week we've been dreaming of what we were going to do with our weekend. We settled on Browns island, what better than jet-ski over and then spend the day caching, swimming and on the beach, sounds perfect.

In line with Mr beconazes family tradition we named our vessel according to our initials. We settled on "PORK", with the thought that if ever we got another, we could name it "morepork". And here begins our curly tail. Mr beconaze woke up bright and early on Saturday morning and couldn't wait to get down to the wharf and get out on the water. Unfortunately he didn't really check the marine forecast and we had a rough introduction to jet-ski-ing in the Hauraki gulf. Pork chop is not a favourite. We saw porks belly 3 times on day one and didn't make it past Mission bay before we gave up and went home, lucky we didn't need a hambulance. We thought we should have had our personal locator bacon but we couldn't find it at home as the garage is a pig-sty.

After doing some research on Saturday evening, we tried again on Sunday morning. We launched off St Heliers beach and we were told by a grumpy woman that we were 1m inside the wrong zone (tusk tusk), so we asked her for a ham but she was a bit sow, as we were driving off we thought that was a bit rash, she shouldn't get herself into such a flap. But you know what, we brushed it off because you will never make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

Once we were on our way it was smooth sailing over to Browns island and when we arrived we were thinking to ourselves that the best part of having this jet-ski is being able to find a nice quiet beach and do some sun bacon. Mr beconaze wanted to be a hog and dropped of Mrs beconaze for some bacon and he went off for a play, he was thinking that Mrs beconaze would find it a bit of a boar but it got pretty hot pretty quick so she got crackling and did some streaky bacon as she ran into the water to cool down.

After our big day on Browns island we made our way back to St Heliers. We felt bad about being told off earlier in the day so made sure to keep things on the straight and farrow. We nearly had a moment when we were putting pork back on the trailer and Mr beconaze let go and he drifted off, we nearly had free range pork. We were quite tired by the end of all this, so we went home to relax with a few swines. The neighbour spotted the new toy today and he was a bit jowlous, maybe we need to introduce him to geocaching too?

Now onto the cache....nice easy find at GZ, cache is in great condition. TFTC

Came here almost 1 year ago. Now here kayaking with my son Rileyminecraft24

When we heard that Urbangypsynz was organising 2 water taxis to take a group of geocachers to Brown's Island for the day we were very keen to join in. We have passed this island many times over the years on our way to Rangitoto, Motuihe, Motutapu or Waiheke islands. And now that there are 16 caches on the island we were determined not to miss this opportunity to go find them. The weather was perfect, with a little cloud cover and a light breeze to keep us cooler than yesterday's scorcher. On our arrival on the island we clambered off the front of the water taxi to the shore, and set off up the stairs at the end of the beach. After that it was a direct ascent up to the trig where a few of us watched as most of the group descended into the crater from different directions. From there we walked the island in an anti-clockwise direction, and found all 16 caches on the island by midday. Then we returned to the beach for lunch and a swim, before an earlier than planned departure at 2,30. All in all a great day out and (as the water taxi driver said) "a bit of an adventure". Thanks Urbangypsynz for organising this trip and for including us. We really appreciate it.
A great way to celebrate our 900th day of our caching streak (began 1st August 2013)

Nice to visit another of the Gulf's treasure islands. Spotted a few interesting items of flotsam and jetsam along here - noteably a green motorbike helmet which was a source of speculation and amusement in our group. Nice to pick up another older cache - it's been here almost as long as we have been caching.

Another nice and quick find on the trail today with the taxi II crew, plenty of interesting specimens to check out along the way and plenty of rubbish too getting washed ashore unfortunately. Cool spot and some awesome views - TFTC

Today we are partaking in a day trip to Browns Island in the Auckland Harbour and departing at 8.30am on the first boat.
We read up on a bit of early history about the island and thought what they proposed in the late 1940's was bloody stupid. Good smooth ride to island and with a beach landing was all fun (no jetty on this island)
10 of us in this group so lets find caches.

10.15am - Able to walk along beach to collect this well camoed cache. SLTFTC

So far no breakaways from the group, Taxi 2. Just like the group ahead, the motorbike helmet was inspected! how on earth did it get lost, and end up here. Oh what a story it could tell

At the moment we are sticking to the edge. Not far from here pazzabella went for a swim! it was that kind of day. Thanks for the hide and the adventure.

Nice walking along the beach and spotting all the birdlife. All the trash wasn't so nice though although the helmet did make for some lively conversation. Quick find at GZ. TFTC

Found this no problem with our keen group out here today !
Was a bit surprised by all the rubbish washed up here....will bring a bigger rubbish bag next time.....

Sixth cache on our Browns Island field trip with a bunch of other cachers. Spotted something that didn't look right and there it was. TFTC

Found lots of rubbish washed up on the beach on our way here, including a motorcyle helmet! Couldn't quite figure out how that one got here. Found the cache after a brief search, then we were on our way.

logged with taxi2 TFTC

This Island is well worth the visit. Stunning views here. The only disappointing thing is I still haven't found where to get a decent latte yet. The place here looks all closed. Tftc

A well worthwhile day out on the Island.
Had been before, a long time ago, but this time, covered most of the Island.
Somehow expected there to be some basic animal tracks, however, no such thing.
This made the going tough in places. Back home feeling I have had a good work out.
Many thanks to the Organizer.
A nice easy find here today. tftc

I was part 2 x boat-loads of cachers who headed out to Browns Island for a wander around, a swim and a cache grab. Much discussion about log signing and Jan Group was used. We got around a bit quicker than expected, so I found a shaded spot and had nana nap while waiting for the boat. Thanks for the cache.

Had joined up with a group of cachers for the day. We were amongst the second landing party and decided to sign in as a group "Taxi2". Wow even more dotterils seen. Most we have seen in any one locale.

With Gap (of Fap and Gap)... And finally, the new day dawned. After a hot and fitful sleep beside an open ranch-slider, it was time to get up and inspect any damage wrought by overachieving mosquitos in the night. I think I escaped the worst of it... So, with anticipation and enthusiasm, we headed off toward today's great adventure on Browns Island... The day was cooler and overcast with a few spots of rain. Hopefully, this weather will hold...

Browns Island: Again, much of our walk to this cache involved hugging the coastline and walking across old lava flows. I did notice the typical beach flotsam and jetsam, but the helmet Philip Perry picked up and wore was an unusual surprise... A new cache container perhaps... Then, not far from ground zone; another sign that this place is not quite as isolated as it seems: sheds.

The cache was a quick find with good coordinates. However, that natural camouflage is a give away... 10 caches to go. TFTC.

On a trip to Auckland with Davidson Clan to take part in a Browns Island excursion. After a 0315am wake up call and some intensive caching between then and now, we've finally made it to the Island! 23 of us landed and split into 2 teams based on which boat we arrived on. We started this journey around 9am and this is our sixth stop. Cache was found quickly and in good condition but did leave us wondering what was locked up in the nearby sheds?.. Cheers Awesome Marauder

Phillip.Perry and I did a road trip up to Auckland to join the others on the Browns Island excursion we started our day at 0315 as we were woken up by the sounds of screaming and sirens (probably a normal day in Auckland) we decided we would get up and cache our way from Takinini to the boat so by the time we arrive at the Island we had already clocked up a few caches. This was the sixth stop on the island and a quick find with a group of 10 searching around GZ.

Enjoying a beautiful stroll along the shore line, missed this one the first time, I blame the Sun! Another look and cache in hand, musthave beenvery bad sun strike.

There was a plan hatched this morning whilst I was at Music School with EIR-0T, to make an assault on Browns Island which was hosting a hand full of FTF's. A huge thanks goes out to Keylev and family for ferrying us across to the Island on the jet ski, which might I add was a much less eventful journey than expected...where only once during both crossings did I feel my acquaintance with the water could have become very close.

Once getting back out to the coast we headed around the foreshore (the going was much easier) to this cache location....and more treasure....

Group signed as SEAC (South East Auckland Crew).

TFTC.

While watching Purply play his game of cricket Mrs HeMaLuDy saw a plan was being formed to visit Browns Island and attempt a number of FTF's. She said Mr HeMaLuDy should join in. A quick discussion resulted in joining forces with Mr Stik-A-Crane and then off to join the rest of the SEAC team. Keylev, Craggar, Lavel, NZ Travellers, Stik-A-Crane, Newlynfam all being present today. Cool place to visit.

A huge thanks goes out to Keylev and family for ferrying us across to the Island on the jet ski. We all had a very pleasant but tiring day. Finished off with a great get together afterwards.

Once on the Island this was the fifth cache for the day.

Group signed as SEAC (South East Auckland Crew).

TFTC.

As the gang had noted that several new caches had been published on Brown's Island, we decided that we had better sort out a plan to go and find them! So a discussion ensued over the next few days, and it was agreed that keylev's jet ski would shuttle everyone across to the island for a group caching afternoon.... and some FTF's if we beat any other potential FTF hunters!

So on Saturday morning, we met at Half Moon Bay, and set off in two groups. A lovely- but slightly bumpy- ride over there, I hadn't been on a jet ski in years! Once we were all safely on the island, off we went to find some caches! All logs signed as SEAC- South East Auckland Crew.... our little group name!

We were going past this on the way to another FTF, so decided to stop to find this one too. Didn't take to long.... the coastline is much easier than traipsing through the long grass!

TFTC!

After a recent spate of new cache placements on the island including this one a plan was hatched and a group of us headed to Browns Island with the help of Keylev's jetski.

After we were all on the island off we went.

We signed all logs today as SEAC (South East Auckland Crew) The crew consisted of Keylev, Cragger, Laval, Stik-a-crane, Newlynfam, HeMaLuDe and of course NZTravellers

Half way around the island and this cache was soon found. A great little spot in the heat of the afternoon!

TFTC

Found log later

Brown's Island is a destination that I have wanted to visit for a while now, so when FMZ sent an email around a couple of days earlier to check if anyone was keen to form a group and catch a water taxi across to the island, I jumped at the chance. So the "Water Taxi Crew" was formed - consisting of myself, yorkshirekiwi83, funkymunkyzone, slieschke, gorbygorbachov, alpenmilch80, mike-miss, lostcourse, Team Welsh, avoyager and harisree. The weather couldn't have been better and after a lovely trip across the harbour, we soon found ourselves on the island wandering around, taking in the great views, finding caches, placing new caches and having a lot of laughs - in all it was a great trip to the island!

After our trip to the volcanic cone, we made our way around the shore line of the island to this cache, which was a nice quick find by the group. TFTC!

[red] For information on the 2016 New Zealand Geocaching Adventure being held in Turangi, go to... http://www.nzgeocachingadventure.nz [/red]

An email arrived with a spontaneous invite to join a group of 11 from FMZ to the island. I managed to move my plans to Sunday and eagerly awaited the Saturday. It turned out to be a great day with the perfect mix of people, weather, scenery, adventure, etc. Quick find at GZ. TFTC

Walked along the coast admiring all the views and birdlife. Nice quick find at GZ. TFTC.

Ambling along at a very leisurely pace we are, all 11 of us. Having a fabulous day in the warm sun while we are at it. Someone found this cache, it wasn't me, in fact I didn't find one cache today even though I helped in the searches, however we have been signing in under our group name 'The Water Taxi Crew'.

FMZ emailed asking if anyone was interested in visiting Browns Island this weekend, well couldnt pass up this opportunity, so a group of 11 of us headed there by water taxi. FMZ, Schliescke, Alpenmilch80, Vistra, Lostcourse, harisree, avoyager, Team Welsh, mikemiss, gorby and myself signed as Water Taxi Crew. We had a great time out on the Island, got to see an amazing view of the city I have never seen before.

Travelled via the beach as walking across knee / waist high grass was quite tricky, quick find at GZ, but no TB's in it. TFTC


[u][Teal]New Zealand Geocaching Adventure 2016 Labour weekend in Turangi visit [url=http://www.nzgeocachingadventure.nz/]New Zealand Geocaching Adventure 2016[/Url] [/Teal][u]

It was an amazing day of caching and expedition in Browns Island. 11 of us boarded a water taxi from Viaduct as per the plan. weather was awesome and it was a perfect day for caching. Got down with all enthusiasm, by getting a little bit wet and with Mike's help. Thank you soo much everyone for a wonderful day of boating, caching, hiking... laughing and more laughing
walked through the shore to this one. signed the log as the water taxi crew. tftc

A plan was hatched over email to visit Browns Island to nab a potential first to find and to generally explore the island. Team water taxi was soon formed. After finding thanks Robbie, we left the long grass behind us and made our way around the coast via the beach. This made for much easier going. Once at GZ the hearty crew quickly came up with goods for a super quick find. No tbs in the cache. Cheers for the cache placement!

Not much more i can add that hasn't been said already. An enjoyable walk along the coastline to this one on an incoming tide. A peaceful spot, TFTC!

Hoorah! A cache that's not too hard for us Aussies!! Looked for 3 caches on Browns Island today but only found this one. Spent a bit of time exploring this beautiful little bay after our climb up to the trig and back. What a great spot!! We were very lucky that the weather played its part today too. We've been on weather-watch all week so that we could get out here while we are in Auckland and today couldn't have been more perfect. Thanks for making this an enjoyable find.
Pic attached

Tftc

Yay out kayaking and found this one. one more to go on this lovely island

Was out with Keylev (and husband) and Tufty. Was a last minute decision for me to join them. Great day out. Enjoyed walking around the island…will have to come back one day.

TFTC

Out with keylev (and husband - the jet pilot) and UncleSamNZ to try and pick up a few caches on the nearby islands. It was a great day and an ideal day for cooling down with the odd dousing (thanks Russell).

Keylev had already signed this one off so she let UncleSamNZ and I search for it. We soon had it in our hands.

Cheers for the cache.

Lovely easy find after a lovely kayak. TFTC

Quick find it just stuck out line a sore thumb lol.. lucky since managed to leave gps at home haha... neat log entry from island worker (non cacher) who found the cache while approaching tree for a ...p... lol

feeling very hungry but just enough time to fit in one more.. well there is only one more;-) very easy to find the box... looks like some people have found it accidentally...

Bit of a mission getting boat in at low tide but nice walk on good day. TFTC

We found this the other day, when taking the jetski on a run from westharbour. But we ran out of battery and could find the other ones! We shall return

Mr Team Welsh set off from St Heliers to conquer Browns Island and the two caches that were there. Unfortunately it was a head wind and took about 2 hours to get there but a nice quick return trip with the wind at this back. Great place to visit by kayak and yes the grass is at least knee deep. No worries with finding the cache. Thanks

Lovely spot but no travel bugs was hoping to be able to move them on...

Originally logged and found whilst out with mum (keylev) but now have own account so logging all finds I was present at and helped with.

Thanks for the cache.

Originally logged and found whilst out with mum (keylev) but now have own account so logging all finds I was present at and helped with.

Thanks for the cache.

Kayaked over to find this. Quick find by Mrs ToT. TFTC!!!

Edit: No TB's to be seen.

This entry was edited by throwersontour on Thursday, 02 January 2014 at 05:43:14 UTC.

Hello ,
The TB Luna's Hollidaytrip would like to move on and come back to Europe.
So if the next visitor would like to grab the TB it would make us happy.

Thanks and regards.
Lunatics

We've been meaning to come to Brown's island for ages, but the wind kept blowing in the wrong direction for the mooring to be sensible. Finally got a good breeze. Lovely island. Tftc! Took TB.

Found it. My wife Karen with friends Geoff and Fran paddled our kayaks from St Heliers in drizzly rain. Fran walked to the top while we paddled round the Island. Brought some rubbish home too. . Left a trackable with cache HQMMWF.

Easy find, right next to where we parked the boat. TFTC

Great cache after a nice kayak across the water

thanks for the cache.