Simply Gorgeous! (Auckland) Anawhata, North Island, New Zealand
By mm1968 & funkymunkyzone on 24-Jan-09. Waypoint GC1M1HX

Went after this one to fill a gap in the D/T grid. All i can say is WOW. this river is trashed. After that flash flood a few weeks back i was left wondering how bad could it have been, well the utter destruction says it was probably worse then you could imagine. There are trees that have been ripped out of the ground and deposited up banks 4m above water level. There is debris wrapped around trees 2.5m off the ground. Rocks, boulders, sand and soil just everywhere. It is a really hard walk up the stream. Its going to take years for mother nature to return this to even some semblance of its former glory. I didnt have the greatest faith that the cache would still be there, as the cache down stream would have been 1m under water. But with help from the photos the cache was located. The water shows signs of have been lapping at the base of the tree but the cache was dry as a bone. Had to fight the roots that ensnared the cache. A bit disappointed that I didnt do this eariler and get to see it in its glory but it was a good day.

Its a group of gorby, jag50, A80 and myself, who continue our adventures up the Anawhata stream to the next cache. The water level is higher than I expected, but luckily the water is not icy cold. But the rocks are covered in s slippery green slime, which makes the stream/bush crashing just a little challenging at times

Great navigation skills from jag50 who found the cache in a flash! can't wait to read the log. With the container found and log book signed, we are dropping down to the stream to the next adventure and cache. Thanks for adventure and the hide

After navigating our way up the stream , we with Alpenmilch80, Gorby and RustyNZ, found our way to GZ. Nursing cuts and scrapes from the bush crashing cutty grass and gorse we were happy to have got to GZ. Now just where might the cache be. Stopping at the 5m mark and MrJag50 quickly looked around and decided to reach out and look in what could be the right spot. Ammaaazzzzinngggg. Gorgeous was right there under some natural camo. Sometimes the Gods are with you and to find this one so quickly they were not just smiling but laughing. Or maybe they just felt sorry for us. Being wet, scratched, and bedraggled but in good spirits.

Got an itch to do some full on caching, asked rusty if she was free today and she was so we tagged in Jag50 who are no slouches when it comes to strenuous walks like this, despite saying no initially they decided that one of them was now feeling well enough so they came along! Then a last minute text to A80, she was keen to go, she wanted to do some sort of walk but had no plans as yet so decided to come along with us. She mainly wanted evilno9's cache witch she hadn't yet found but came along for the exercise to this cache and Anawhata Stream cache. As Jag have said we got close to what we thought might be GZ, then as Mr Jag realised we were close he looked up, spotted a tree, searched and found the cache! Now that was cool! Cache in very good condition FMZ, I see it's been a year since last found. No surprise there considering the terrain to get here! Thanks for the placement, then we moved on. Pity we didn't come down stream to here, as you say, we have probably missed the best parts of the stream!

With the weather forecast predicting a hot Sunday we decided Friday night to give this one a go to cool off before Monday starts (again). My muggle friend and I were joined by evilno9. It was a fun day slipping over the stones and enjoying the cold water. Just an amazing scenery along the stream. TFTC

This one has been on my to-do list for ages and I've finally made it out here. chateau Mosquito Track is closed at the top so I approached from the downstream side starting at Kuataika Track. The floodplains are a thing to see. I though it would have been almost a year since the last log, but to my surprise, there was an entry from just the day before. Still, this place deserves more visitors. Cheers for the cache.

Out for a day walk with NZ pixie and needed the spoiler photo GPS signal a bit weak in here have not Been down Anawhata stream for a very long time thanks for the cache.

I've had my eye on these two caches for a long time and with summer in no hurry to leave gathered up some troops and headed out with Kiwileon, mike-miss, lemski and little red hood. Unable to make a loop walk due to the track closures but it made no difference as it was a great day out anyway. Got through without the need to swim too far and after bit of a hunt with our own personal spoiler pic in the form of Kiwileon made the find. Back to the stream and off to the next. TFTC

, nice cool water

Out for the day with KiwiLeon, evilno9, Lemski and Little Red Hood. Parked on Anawhata Road and headed down to the stream via the Kuataika Track.
What a gorgeous place and a great adventure along the stream to GZ! A few deep pools to navigate past but did manage to stay reasonably dry throughout.
No spoiler photos as no coverage at GZ so had to rely on the GPS which was reasonably accurate. A quick find of the cache and we set off again further up to Tofska's cache. Loved the walk thanks FMZ!

Decided that with a day off, and summer coming to an end it was time to get one more decent walk in before the winter set in. So headed off with evilno9, kiwileon, mike-miss and little red hood to tackle some caches out the back of anawhata.
Headed up the stream and with the lack of rain in the last few months, it wasn't too hard to negotiate. We hit the odd deep spot, but for the most part didn't get too wet. Once at GZ, had a bit of dig around, and pretty soon, we found the rite spot, and a nicely hidden cache. Thanks for bringing us out here. A great spot, and a great trip. TFTC

Wouw what a challenge. Starting at 11.30am. Walking the mosquito track was a challenge of slippery and see how we could stay up right. Was happy that we have read that we need to go down till the stream. So we did. And down more slippery and almost sprain our ankels.
Finally arrive at the stream and a smile came on our face. Here the "real" journey will start. Our doggies loved it. Jumping, swimming, walking do all together. For us it was a bit different. We had our backpacks with us....but not waterproof. So when we needed to swim we needed to keep these above water what didn't work for one.
Luckily we had our phones and camera in the click-clack so that what a bit of a less worry.
At the cachelocation we didn't have the spoilerphoto. But remembered it a bit. and so found the cache
Yippie, proud to have it...but now we need to go...
After foundint this cache it became more and more difficult. We got tired and that was showing. We slipped more and more. And were looking were to get out to get on the track. Which wasn't so easy....but when we did
another Yippie.
It was already 6pm and the feeling of being here in the dark wasn't a good feeling.
Damn the hard part came...our legs were heavy and we needed to go up and up again. And than only 300m to the road. Going through a meadow where cows graze and our they were fond on our dogs, but these were not happy with them. So it was a bit of a scarry situation.
Happy when we arrived at the road. For a 4km walk back to the campervan. It's 8pm
And now....everything....just everything hurts.
Except our proud feeling...we have made it


LEFT EEND

Almost 2 years since the last find. I am glad that I found it so easily after a DNF further upstream. A great day out

Out with GreenblAt, TWS, and -OGP-. We'd been looking at the weather forecast all week, but it turned out to be a beautiful day.
Nice walk down the beautiful stream. The cache name says it all.
We found the container (with cracked lid) and swapped it with a new one. Old logbook was still dry.
Continued our walk down the stream and up the (steep) track back to the car park.
Thanks for a great day out.
TFTC

Handed a new container/log book/stash note for this cache to TWS for placement since I'm out of the country at the moment. Thanks guys for putting it in place.

One of my fav caches. Replaced the non leaking cache for owner.

Will upload a couple of photos when back home.

Thanks Chris for placing - we had a ball!!

TFTC

Would like to do more swimming down stream caches.

Heading on down from Anawhata Stream cache TWS was carrying the replacement container. Contents and logbook on the original were dry so I left them in the new container after doing the logbook honors.

Not sure what the needs maintenance log was for. There was maybe 3 drops of water in the other one. Oh well. Another great reason to venture down the stream on a glorious hot day. Would have been better to have the owner along too. [8)] But some of us have jobs. Next one!

Thanks FMZ

Continued on down from M@'s Anawahata Stream cache with TWS KiwiLeon and OGP. Stopped at the remains of the Kauri dam for a photo op. Quite an amazing amount of work must have gone into building this one and it is surprisingly intact.

We were impressed at how high the vegetation is flattened down and flood debris indicating high water levels through the gorge. The gorge must be fiercesome in places when in full flood. Couldn't download the spolier photos (must have a word with my mobile provider at coverage in the Waitaks!) but coords were good and GPS accurate here away from the bigger cliffs.

Thanks for the cache FMZ

#2532
Like the cache title says…. Simply Gorgeous! Found in the great company of Tramper Ted and sp8s, as we continued on down from the nearby Anawhata Stream cache. Tipped some water out of the cache container… but contents dry in their baggies. Sat mid-stream on some rocks and enjoyed our lunch in the sun, and to dry off, before continuing back to the car. Many thanks for the fun.
TNLNSL, TFTC

Came here after doing M@'s Anawhata cache. Co-ords very good today at GZ. Cache was wet - container lid is not sealing. Suggest a maintenace visit to replace container as it won't last.
Great spot for lunch but did have to beat off the wasps.
Steep haul out of the valley.
Great day out in great company.
Cheers TT

Yes a gorgeous place for a cache, we made it our lunch stop. Out for an adventure with Yugeo #1 and 1/2 of Tramper Ted.

A nice bonus cache to M@'s.

Cache had a bit of water in it.

TFTC

Well, I couldn't wait for a maintenance visit to come back here again - so hooked up with Rumo & Rala for a joint FTF mission. The water level was just a touch lower than last time, although the day was slightly cooler. Most enjoyable trip - thanks for bringing me back.
Cheers, M@

Read part 1 of the story here: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=a4f0b5db-c861-4f86-998d-d94f765bb24b
...We continued our way down the stream along the kauri dam towards the new cache, having no troubles finding the obvious hiding object. As we opened the container, a cheerful "oooh" sounded through the bush as we discovered the FTF prize. Thanks a lot and: "cheers" to the owner. Refreshed, we continued our journey along the more or less demanding terrain towards the stream exit point. The way up to the carpark is definitely demanding, but the views are rewarding. We would love to further explore the gorge that embeds the stream on its way down to the ocean.

TNLNSL, TFTC

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