Nikau Reserve (Waikato) Waikaretu, North Island, New Zealand
By Andrew Woodward, Adopted by McCutchan Cache Clan on 15-Jul-08. Waypoint GC1E81R

️ Trouvée ! / Found it ! ️

J'étais un peu incertain de la trouver suite à l'échec de mes prédécesseurs mais elle était bien là et s'est laissé trouver assez rapidement.

4012ème cache trouvée.
Merci Andrew Woodward, Adopted by McCutchan Cache Clan pour la cache

I was a little uncertain of finding it following the failure of my predecessors, but it was there and was found quite quickly.

4012th cache found.
Thank you Andrew Woodward, Adopted by McCutchan Cache Clan for the cache

This cache was on our 'must do' list, particularly as we were staying there.
The first waypoint was found in short order, but finding the important message for onward travel was a teaser.
However with the important data to hand we headed off and finally arrived at the obvious location. This should not take too long we assured each other. After 20 minutes we judged the expression '.... not take too long' was no longer appropriate. Next time we will bring a large crowbar to make sure that we have not left any rock unturned.

This is an amazing place. We arrived yesterday afternoon and spent the night at the café. Today we are doing thethe cave. Really well set cache, it did take us a while to find WP1 even though we were looking around the right feature to start with... TFTC

On a girls trip to Port Waikato.
Unexpectedly ended up here.
Nice coffee.
Great final gz.

We decided to explore "West Waikato" for the day as I have never been here before! We found quite a few amazing places and enjoyed finding the caches along the way. What a cool multi, and very fitting location for the final! TFTC!!

Poor old multis don't get nearly the love they deserve - admittedly this one is a bit more off the beaten track than your average cache but still. Merlot58, Jag50 and I took a great drive down to Raglan on a convoluted route that brought us past here.

I'll see what my partners in crime say but for me I'm happy to confess WP1 was not a quick and easy find for us as while we had a search of the obvious spot. The danger of assuming where a cache or waypoint should be and in the end we expanded the search area and then shrunk it back down again before finding the WP info right on the posted coordinates.

Took a break after that for fudge and homemade lemonade (excellent) before heading back to the car and the short drive to GZ. Quick walk and the cache was found. Thanks for the cache, all good here and a spot very much well worth the visit.

Jag50, Tuolei and I were heading to Raglan for day and because we had to take a different route to the one planned we ended up at this rather out of the way multi but I'm glad we did. What a lovely garden and we did get to see quite a bit of it after we struggled to find the first WP and wandered up and down. I think we all had ideas of what we were looking for and none of them were what we found! Whew, it would have been embarrassing if we hadn't found it as no one else seemed to have issues. Once we had the final co-ords we had some delicious homemade lemonade in the cafe then headed off in the car down the road a bit and soon found the cache container in a great spot. Thanks for bringing us to this lovely place

Out on a road trip with Tuolei and Merlot58. Took a bit to find wp1 but once at the right level we found what we needed. Stopped at the cafe for yummy homemade lemonade and fudge before driving closer to the final where the cache was soon in hand. A fun little multi and gets a fp for bringing us to a great location.

So our drive has lead us here. Interesting place. Found first waypoint and off to final. Dot came up with the goods. Decided to carry on to see where it would take us. Was surprised to come across the waterfall. Pretty cool. Thanks for bringing us here. Tftc

So cool to finally come to this amazing area!
It was the cache that brought me here....will be back with family and friends to see the Caves!.
Very peaceful walk.... easily found waypoint 1 and final!
Cafe lovely....had yummy toasted sandwich...plus boysenberry fudge!
Thanks for keeping this multi cache going!
Favourite Point!

With rebel98 staying overnight and exploring the caves. We made our way to the first point on Saturday, and was having a few challenges finding the co-ords. Once on the right level, there they where, all safe and numbers easily seen.

So its Sunday, and its time to find the final. Luckily we took the right path, and little rebel soon had the cache container. The contents nice and dry, sadly no TB seen. I guess its gone missing. It looks like the container has been found a few times by muggles, but thankfully the cache has been put back as found.

Thanks for the hide, a fun little multi. We went exploring further, and even discovered the picnic table, which is slowly be overtaken by the bush.

Out exploring with rustynz, little rebel (or is it little blackbird?) found the cache in its hiding place. Thanks for the hide

This was a wonderful experience. Had we realised this was ahead, we would have planned a stopover and done the caving and other walks. We were able to spend some time at the cafe and wander through the gardens, find the clue and off to search for the treasure.
Loved the area at the hiding place and definitely good for a stop and a picnic. Picked up a TB, although two were listed.....

This cache was the whole reason I choose to do this drive today! Drove to the cafe and pulled into the carpark, and was rather suprised at how many cars were there! Wondered round the garden till I found the way point details. I walked around a bit more wondering where the path was. In the end spoke to a local guide who offered to give me a guided tour to the nikau cave, when I explained I didn't actually want to go in today, just go find the cache he then pointed me in the right direction. I drove closer to the final point, and started walking. dum de dum de dum. hmmm that looks interesting! upon reaching the point the cache was immediately in my hand. I'd been good this time, and brought 2 TB's to leave in the cache for the next person

Our first find! Beautiful spot

1968 Arrived at GZ1 and had to quickly get the information as the lovely smell coming from the nearby cafe was very tempting. Off to GZ2 for another quick find.

So we grabbed WP1 going in one direction of our journey and it was hosing down and we saw WP2 was back the way we came so decided to get it on return. On return it was cleat so made for a nice wee walk. TFTC

Just driving around here and visited the cafe nearby. Unfortunately unable to discover the cave today but maybe next time. Greetings from Finland. TFTC.

13:48
After seeing glow worms in the nearby Nikau caves we had a light lunch in the cafe before beginning our search for this nice quick multi, I say quick but I'm embarrassed to report finding the coordinates for the final location took us far too long, we were looking for a small container secreted in some little hidey hole somewhere, not where it actually is and when I eventually lifted up my head to see it blatantly staring me in the face I was shocked and as previously mentioned embarrassed, once my red face had returned to its normal pale shade again we set the coordinates into the Android phone and walked the short distance to gz promising myself never to mention it again, the surrounding country side is stunning and the whole mornings experience was amazing so we would like to award this cache an fp, all is well here, tftc . Greetings from Bury in Lancashire, England.

Nice hide

Went for a drive out to the Nikau Cafe,Had a Cuppa then on to the final,Great spot

Stopped in and had a coffee and a chat with the owner of the cafe. We were informed we were too late for the guided walk through the cave so we'll have to come back for that. We enjoyed our cuppa then we headed off in search of WP1 which was quickly found. Off to the final we went and enjoyed the short walk from the car to GZ. Cache was quickly found in a very peaceful location but definately worthy of a cache. We enjoyed this one so giving it a fav, TFTC!

Out and about this morning enjoying a drive in the country side while collecting some caches as I went. I stopped off at the cafe for a cold beverage and had a chat to one of the cafe staff there. Anyway, I didn't have any luck with way-point one. With somewhere to be this afternoon I decided to press on. Though before I did that I decided to explore some of the sights I had discussed back at the cafe. Well, let's just say it is better to be lucky than good, because I stumbled across the final. Final is in good condition. Cheers for the multi-cache!

It was starting to rain by the time we reached Nikau reserve today, so we donned our coats and walked to WP1. Loaded the final co-ords and headed off to GZ. Interesting spot for the final cache. We would have liked to explore a bit more but the weather was against us. TFTC.

I was down in Hamilton for the morning with yorkshirekiwi83 to attend a meeting and we decided to head back to Auckland via the Waikato back roads and pick up a few caches. Made a quick find of the cache at GZ after a nice little walk. TFTC!

Well I was driving past and saw the parking area as I passed the cafe, and thought I'd go for a walk. I didn't expect to stumble on the final, however after doing the loop, I started thinking about where the final could be. Checking the hint there were a couple of hinted areas on the track.. I thought maybe I'd give it a shot... And was rewarded! TFTM!

While I admit I didn't complete it in the prescribed manner, it was still a little adventure that caching sense helped with

I was out with a daughter and two grandkids for a drive-around to visit the Nikau Caves. We completed this cache first and after reading one of the logs, decided to continue up the path until the 5-yr-old fell and hurt himself then it was back to the cachemobile. We tried to get into the Cave but were advised that the 5-yr-old was too small. So we will be back in a couple of years.

Cheers for the cache.

5.20pm - Arrived at location and realised I had a puncture, changed in pouring rain with the Squirrel holding the umbrella, SLTFTC

Another grand adventure with Gap (of Fap and Gap). We hope to rack up as many caches as we can, and put them toward our current GIO License Challenge. Today, we head to North-West Waikato to tackle some of the most isolated, far-flung caches I've ever seen. A big drive that will take us from Port Waikato to Raglan Harbour, and everywhere in between... And the weather is going to make this ride interesting.

The drive to this cache was well in excess of 15 kilometers... The landscape became wilder and the road had to follow suit. At one point, I looked outside the car window and there was a horrific drop onto the valley floor below... not for the faint-hearted. We arrived at the intermediate just as the car tire deflated. To make matters worse, it started to rain. I went off to find the waypoint and left Gap to the elements. When I returned, Gap was well into changing the tire. I stood dumbly holding the umbrella, trying to keep us both dry.

The waypoint coordinates took us to an interesting final location. We followed the rough track to ground zone and searched momentarily before finding the cache. I'm sure this would be fantastic in better conditions, but I'm struggling to appreciate it just now. TFTC.

I am on a quest for lonely caches, so this one fit the bill. At stage 1, I was looking in the wrong direction, but then spotted it IPV.

Stage 2 was an interesting walk to a neat geological structure. XNSL. TFTC.

We went into the cave and had a wonderful, but wet time.

I was visiting the Nikau Cave with a group of muggles, and I didn't actually check to see if there were any caches nearby. We were walking back from the waterfall nearby and heard someone yell, "Sophie there's a cache here, you need to sign it". Awesome! our tour leader was looking for the final and another member of the group who I had introduced to caching found the actual cache. So did the cache in reverse as I was then shown where the first way point was, but loved the area and how you have set it up and this gets a favourite from me.

Also very much recommend the cave tour as well, includes actual caving and some impressive features in there as well.

Also hope you get better soon and all the best to you and your family, my thoughts are with you all

TFTC

On the walk to waterfall. was my 3rd find of the day

Going caving for the 2nd time with a meet-up tramping group i loaded the trio i could find on to my GPS. Fist stage was an easy find in after the pizza lunch .2nd stage I got roped in to leading a group off to the waterfall. On the way back i thought there was enough time to stop for this one.

I didn't know there where any other cacher's on the trip (there rarely are). The moment i started the search the other 2 joined. Yellareddy found it, we three singed it and confused the others with attempts to describe geocacheing with out sounding completely nutty.

Collecting some lonely caches today and took the drive out. WP1 was easy found but should get some retouch as is already hard to read. Perfect location for the final. Gets a fav. TFTC

Two friends and I went for a trip this afternoon. My friend said he wanted to go 'north-west'. So we took some random roads. Left's and right's not checking a GPS or phone, and we knew we wanted to find a reserve to walk around.

So somehow we made it out here after going via Huntly - Pukemiro - Waingaro - Highway 22 to here. Somehow. We just got lost for fun. But we stumbled across this place. I must make it clear that I didn't pre-empt this in anyway. My etrex was at home and there's no reception.

So we went for a walk. My friend started climbing this high rock for fun and I thought "This area would be PERFECT for a geocache!". I saw a tiny trampled down area of grass and I found a lunchbox in the first place I looked. Crazy. So, I didn't do the multi itself, just found the final by chance.

Thanks for the cache, this area is awesome.

After this, we headed around some where, and ended up at Port Waikato just after sunset, dinner at Pukekohe and home by 9pm.

Love this whole area, the hosts & the campground (that we had to ourselves). A nice walk in the early morning, a waypoint that was so obvious that I nearly missed it, & a walk out to the waterfall afterwards-great way to have a little pre-breakfast exercise. A favourite because I love this area & many more returns are on-the-cards. This was only No 3 & yes the caves are awesum too!TFTC

Made a slight (YEAH RIGHT) diversion on the way home and found this little guy.
Thanks for keeping the older, more remote caches in existance as managed to fill in quite nicely another hole in my collection of lonely caches (not only in distance from another cache but longer than 6 months since it was last found).
A great Drive out here although I was wondering where the road was going to take me but in the end a great, quick and simple little multi

TFTC

Spent most of the day at Te Akau at a sports event then decided to take the long way home given that this cache was only 15km away straight line. Still quite a long way to drive on wet gravel roads though.
All quiet at the cafe for WP1 then a super quick find of the cache unlike previous attempts.
Thanks for updating the coordinates and keeping the cache active.
Many thanks

After a very exciting trip throug the cave (we can recommend that) we found step 1 for this cache. That was easy. The next day we drove by the final and found that easyli to. Thanks for the cache and greetings from Denmark.

/Fodtusserne

Found WP 1 before the cave tour. The rest had to wait till after. Couldn't find it for quite some time so I went for a walk.
With no GPS, hence no track recording, I got a bit confused. The iPhone told me, I was getting away from the car, when I thought I was approaching it. Ended up crossing the river and walking back on the road.
Had another search for the cache and found pretty quickly. Didn't I look here before to?
Here I was aware of the cave before I saw the cache. But thanks anyway for letting me combine two hobbies.

Only one car in the carpark when I pulled up, tentively followed the GPS to WP1 with figures crossed that there would be no one about. I got my wish, but had to chuckle at how obvious the placement is.
A few muggles about, near final, but managed the find without them seeing.

Fantastic place, and will have to come back to explore properly one day.

Came over to celebrate my nephews birthday at the Caves. While he did the tour with his mates I slipped away and found the Geocache. Well placed and co-ords spot on.

TNLNSL

T4TC

Cache up and running

Found way point, then short drive to find GZ. Lovely area to explore, took some nice photos.

Arrived at the cafe too early for our cave tour so mentioned to the proprieter that I'd look for the cache while we were waiting. She was quick to jump in and point out where the cache WASN'T but was in no way going to offer any help whatsoever as to where the cache WAS

relatively quick find - great location in every sense: clever hide at GZ, in a lovely reserve, surrounded by cool limestone country, quite close but light-years away from Auckland.

Totally reccommend this cache. Take the cave tour as well - great collection of stalactites and a challenging squeezy bit where you get to do your GI Joe belly crawl through the stream.

Oh and the cafe as well, fantastic pizzas and home-made bread and super friendly staff.

T4TC

Took a trip out there today, Stopped for morning tea at the cafe (Excellent BTW), had a chat to the staff and the owner, made the details of the final a bit easier to read and hopefully should last for quite a while.

While we were there we fed their nice black cat some carrot cake, and patted the dog that purred like a cat.

So after our coffee and cake we headed on out to the final, checked on the cache, signed the log, topped up the swag.

The cache is already to go, Happy hunting

Nikau Reserve (Waikato) was transferred from nickippy to user McCutchan Cache Clan

Can this either be replaced or archived to stop it showing on Pocket Queries.

Cache is still there, however I need to update and do some maintenance on cache.

WP 1 needs maintenance. The coordinates for the final have faded and are illegible.

Well this find turned out to be a four hour saga, but at a very pleasant location indeed. We arrived mid morning and fortified ourselves with a coffee at the cafe before setting off on this multi. We found WP1 OK but just could not read the final coordinates in either format - they have faded and are not legible. We took a punt on what we could decipher, but that was obviously wrong. We carried on and did the bush walk all the way to the waterfall, which is highly recommended. We returned to the cafe and had lunch. The lady in charge found her notebook with the "final" coordinates written in the back and we set off again. Unfortunately they were wrong and took us into a nasty area of blackberry and flax that we see other geocachers have also arrived at and given up as we did. We talked to the cafe lady again and she showed us on a map and photo where the cache was. We recognised the spot and set off again, to achieve a successful find at last. We have corrected the coordinates for the final location in the lady's notebook, but this multi obviously needs attention as this is not in the spirit of geocaching! This is a delightful cafe / bush walk and caves (which we did not visit) which we would highly recommended as a geocaching destination if WP1 is attended to.

Unfortunately my iPhone decided not to have any reception in this area, so we couldn't do it. We did find the first waypoint by chance while we were walking around. And I saw it had the updated coordinates (36.xx.xxx 174.xx.xxx).

I'll remember to bring the good old gps next time, instead of flash new technology

This was an interesting visit. Was a bit unsure whether to make the drive given some of the comments, but on such a nice day why not. Had excellent afternoon tea at the cafe, yum. Then went to WP1 - the co-ords will take you to the very obvious feature, and accuracy was 4m today. However the WP had been rewritten in NZTM so had to go and find the local who knew all about this! Apparently the original WP has gone missing, so we had a chat and he is going to reinstal them in the correct format, however the hint might need to be changed (if you want to use it).

Apparently a bull got its head stuck in the tree a few years ago and the farmer had to enlarge the hole to set it free! Anyway, got info for final and went there, checked final co-ords and have passed them on so they can be in correct format as well. Found cache, then did bush walk - which is absolutely worth the time, its beautiful bush with an interpretive trail (pamphlet available at cafe). Also a side trip to an old Maori pa site at the top of the hill. All in all a fantastic area, and this cache is truly worth the time investment.

Once the co-ordinates are corrected this will be a top cache. Don't forget to leave enough time to do the bush walk and visit the cafe, even do the cave trip if you really want to top off the experience. TFTC

Logged from my phone using the Geocache Navigator by Trimble

Absolutely teaming down with rain, so we figured, what the hey, lets go do this one.
Got there to a lovely sunny day, but first hiccup, the first way point was barren, no batten.
Met the owner of the cafe, who said she had it written down somewhere, so was all on again.
Unfortunately the co-ordinates were wrong, but we went for a lovely stroll around the track.
On returning to the cafe and some well deserved refreshments, we were told where the cache should be.
A hunt around the new GZ and we cracked it.

WKTBO T4TC

Nice easy find once we used the clue at wp1. Co-ords for GZ are out a bit but the clue gets you there. Stopped in at the cafe. It's a wonderful spot with great homemade food and the owners are great too chat with. The swing bridge is need of repairs but you can still use it to cross the stream (with care! ). Our kids had fun doing the crossing with the swing bridge. TFTC Great place.

Six months since the last attempt so keen to have another go. Found the reinstated WP1 (thank you) and asscociated coordinates to the final without any problems. These coodinates took me to the same unlikely place as last time - knee to waist deep grass with plenty of flax and blackberry scattered about. Are you sure these coordinates are right? Spent the best part of an hour fossicking around in the wet grass without any luck. Plenty of possible hiding places but no obvious features that draws the eye.

Should be up and running again now. Thanks for your patience. The floods shouldn't be a problem any more.

So a flood apparently made a job of things. Will have it up and running again asap.

Just started looking for the first waypoint when we heard a voice asking if we had found it yet! Seems that the cache owner's parents own the nearby business.
Unfortunately it seems that Saturday's flooding which was apparently much higher than the waypoint location has swept it away
Had a nice lunch at the cafe then the proprieters found some coordinates in a book that they thought might be the coordinates for the actual cache location.
Indicated GZ was in the middle of flax and blackberry but had a quick look anyway without any luck.
Have been through the caves a few years ago with the kids and can certainly recommend the effort if you pass by this way.
Will wait for the cache to be properly reinstated before having another go.

I loved the drive over the metal roads and the remote area.
Long arms are needed for both. Took the tb to bring back to town

Saw this one come up last night.
Due to distance to travel thought I d knock this off before work today.
After about an hour travelling on ungravelled windey rds we got to the Intermediatory WP.
mmmm gate closed and sign "Closed" up.
Went over the fence and found the said clue. Problem was you need quite long arms to retrieve the container-some people may need to use a a tool of some sort.!!
Got to the suggested waypoint and must have looked for a good hr.
Then looking at the clue given at Intermediate WP I had another good look.
Heard the nice familiar sound of clunk of plastic container.
Yes this is very well hidden indeed.
Suggest difficulty be upped to say about a 2.
Final co-ords are a bit out and have sent them to owner-cant give them here as this is a multi.
Id emphasis the clue at Intermedory WP as that is real helpful. ( and I might point out the obvious place in hindsight)
Good 1st cache and I would like to do the nearby Nikau Caves at some point.
Forgot did stop here afterwards in my rather dishevelled dress and enjoyed a toastie and Flat white. Very hospitable people. !!
Discovered the GC here as well.
TFTC and FTF # 98


[This entry was edited by psychrn on Sunday, September 07, 2008 at 10:31:55 PM.]

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