1000 year old Rata (Bay of Plenty) Waikaremoana, North Island, New Zealand
By Carla6 on 29-Jan-09. Waypoint GC1M6GJ

Wouldn't have walked here without the cache, beautiful tree and forest and we hiked in abolute solitude too ... Fantastic! TFTC

All maintenance complete

I'm on a road trip in my motorhome, taking a week to get from Nelson to Rotorua with a few detours thrown.

Lovely walk to an impressive tree. I wouldn't have noticed the track of there was no cache nearby, thanks.for bringing me here

This is one amazing tree! So lovely to see these giants still in our forests

Walked up the hill to the track to this cache. Its nice wee stroll. The tree is pretty amazing and the new platform it great too. Took just a few moments to intrupt the clue and the cache was signed & returned. All in great condition. TFTC

We have been here for a couple of days, time to leave, but we have one more cache to find

It is lightly raining, so I have the raincoat on, and the hard part of the track is right at the beginning, by the road. The steps a little washed out, but once past that, the track is lovely.

I went up anticlockwise, then after finding the cache, decided to do the loop, which was an unexpected surprise with all the little bridges that needed to be crossed.

Made my way to the old Rata, took a few pictures, had the place to myself.

Following the arrow I was soon finding the cache. Water inside the container, but thankfully the log book was all dry, and I had no problems signing.

By the time I got back down to the car, the rain had stopped!

Thanks for the hide Carla6, another fun find, your cache has taken me to another amazing place

What a pleasure to be out geocaching in these times. Tough times for sure with Covid, with my own life rent asunder, but hey, I’m surviving it seems and stoppin a whole at Lake Waikaremoana on my way to a totally new chapter in life has been an extra special bit of pure joy. Thanks for the cache

Took the kids to the area to show them this part of the country before school starts. The bush-walk with this cache was a good way to start the day today. Nice big old tree. The cache was a quick find by my son as soon as I read the clue. TFTC

Enjoyed a sunny day at the Lake. Great walk up from the visitors centre. Enjoyed all the old trees. No problems finding the cache. Thanks.

We are in the area for two days, we will take the opportunity to do some hikes.

Wow! What a beautiful tree!

---
Thanks Carla6 for the geocache [^]
Greetings from Belgium,
Frank et Muriel travelling in New Zealand

Happy geocaching

#16054

We walked up the Ngamoko trail, nice views from the top, and found the cache on the way down. Impressive tree! TFTC!

Kids are doing a hike dropped them of yesterday and picking them up this afternoon hopefully. Stopped here on way to get them I have replaced the log with waterproof paper inside a pill bottle inside your container all good to go again.

Found that!
Great walk up here on beautiful day.
Cache soggy so could not sign. Have photo.
Thanks

TFTC. Log too wet to sign.Thank you for taking us to this tree.

Thanks

Thanks

Found cache thanks to clue. Cache is saturated and unfortunately had nothing to replace log book with.

An impressive tree and nice walk. Tftc.

This geocacher reported that there is a problem with this cache.

Sixth and last find for Easter weekend 2018. A really neat walk, so many mature trees, feels like maybe what our forests used to be like... Very tranquil, heaps of bird calls. Walked up with the geofam, so not quite as tranquil as it could have been!!
Log book is absolutely soaked, and starting to fall apart. This cache needs some help. Unfortunately we had nothing that we could dry or replace the log book with. Hopefully the next finder will be able to help.

The rata itself is amazing. Well worth the short trek, just to sit and soak in the magnificence. Thank you for the placement.

We found it on a short walk from the campground to the big Rata-Tree!

Thank you for the cache!

In the area for a couple of days and visited this cache today and the tree,
this was a short stroll to both and worth the visit .
Signed the log and replaced as found.
Thanks for the placement and the smiley.

CZECH
sice to není kůra a byla vedle kešky, ne na ní, ale budiž... v krabičce je mokro
strom vypadá zajímavě... říkal jsem si, že je škoda, že tady nejsou fotky jak rostl a pak mi došlo, že 1000 let je hodně

We love the walk to the rata tree. What an amazing place to walk around and enjoy. The rata tree is incredible and well worth the walk. Definite fav point for the location. TFTC

Nice find while driving around the area today.Great area visited.SL TFTC

Nice walk in to this spot. Lots of very old and interesting trees in the area. Beautiful bush. Cache a bit wet and could do with a new bag. Dropped a TB. TFTC

Log is soaked.

Awesome bush walk. Easy find. TFTC

Easy find, nice tree and nice treks - both the short loop or hike up to Ngamoko

Quick find with a friends help

Loved this walk.
Zippa, Lois and Annie came along. We left a friendship bracelet.

#1537 13:10

Found with no problem, very nice surroundings. What a wonderful place!

Thank you for the cache and greetings from two Czechs!

Easy find. Waikaremoana is certainly a fantastic place. Thank you

Incredible tree! TFTC

Ninalila and I have few days off to visit Whakatane, Opotiki, Gisborne and Napier.
During those days we enjoyed a lot of different calm and beautiful places, views and landscapes.
At the same time we enjoyed our time with geocaching to find good spots so we can discover things we don't usualy see when you travel at touristic places

We logged with our team name : Lekiprokos

Thank to all owners for the caches and the discoveries.

fefe.adrien and I have visited the East Coast during few days, such as : Whakatane-Opotiki beaches, Gisborne parks, Waikaremoana & Waikareiti lakes, Onepoto caves, Tutira lake, Napier Art Deco city centre, etc.

Thanks to the geocaching and owners, we discovered lot of secret and lovely places !!!

We signed on logbooks with our team name : lekiprokos

So happy to stop here for a walk into the bush.
Wow this tree is like Mother Earth !!! So impresive, especially his main roots. We learnt that a rata tree start life as an epiphyte... Unbelievable !
Impossible to know his existence without the geocaching, no panel, no information about it. Probably it is better for this old tree...
All this forest seems like a native bush with very old trees with Rimu for example...

+ 1 favorite point for the discovery.

#5904 @ 04-03-16 at 10:48

Found this Cache together with Kadres during our Trip around the World! Thanks a lot to all the Owners for showing us such nice and interesting Places

Thanks for bringing us here!

Thanks for the Cache and nice greetings from Austria!
Visit our Round-the-World-Photoblog at katjaandjuergenontour.zenfolio.com

04-03-16 at 10:48

Found this Cache together with Juekru during our Trip around the World! Thanks a lot to all the Owners for showing us such nice and interesting Places

Thanks for bringing us here!

Thanks for the Cache and nice greetings from Austria!
Visit our Round-the-World-Photoblog at katjaandjuergenontour.zenfolio.com

On a road trip in our four week lasting holidays 2016 in New Zealand we found some very nice caches at wonderful places.
TFTC: NXJ, Geli & nietS

Spent a day at the lake...

After we spent the nigt at the nearby DOC campsite this was the first cache of the day, A nice walk up to this cache which was easily find using the hint
TFTC

Found it after going the long way around the loop track but worth it! TFTC. Log is a bit damp and the outer packet is torn. Magnificent spot.

Greetings from Wellington. Decided to at the last minute to have a go at this one. Really glad we did. Enjoyed the walk up and the tree was amazing. Even with a patchy GPS signal the cache was a straight forward find - didn't even need to use the hint. Thanks for placing this cache - we would have never visited this wonderful spot otherwise!

Another find on the great north summer roadtrip with the Banians- a week of travel from Wellington to Auckland via Napier, Wairoa, that secluded road between Wairoa and Rotorua, and almost the Coromandel peninsula.

Took the correct route to the cache- we were somewhat pressed for time and lucked out on this one. Majestic old tree(s), and an excellent rest spot. TFTC

Found on our road trip from Wellington to Auckland for a wedding. Day five, Wairoa to Rotorua.
Nice walk in the shade, didn't take long to get to the Rata and the cache was quickly located, Log signed, photos taken then back to the car. TFTC.

We stayed overnight in the campground nearby -- very windy!! A little overcast this morning and still windy, but not bad on the nice trail to here. We took the full loop -- a lovely trail -- and got to the majestic tree! Trail markings must have been updated sometime not too far back -- no trouble at all finding the way. After gazing at the tree, we went to look for the cache. While I was checking the wrong one, she got to the right one. As noted, the log book is pretty damp, but still singable with a ballpoint. Thanks for marking the nice spot. Earns a favorite for the location.

Amazing, I managed to go straight to it. Log is definitely damp, and plastic bag of no help.
Even had difficulty writing with the ball point pen I had with me.
Sure is some tree!!
Thanks.

Thanks for the cache. Lovely and majestic old tree. Cache is quite wet, a little maintenence is needed.

GPS might drive you crazy. Plus there are a few track junctions and you have to chose the right one.

Needs new paper cause the old one got wet and falls apart.

As per instructions, no tearing hair out this time:p

Found this cache on a great holiday in NZ, with Omma0815. Thanks for the cache

Found with zliber on a great NZ trip. Thanks for the cache!

I was staying at the nearby Holiday Park and went for a walk up the hill to check out this impressive Rata tree and look for the cache. The cache was a nice easy find, although the log book is slightly damp. TFTC!

Nice Spot. i make it by a walk with JJ idll Cr

tftc

I found this cache on a tour with handraweil one day before the great walk starts.
Thanks for that cache.
Greatings from Bavaria
CR

This was the second last of a series of walks we did around the area today. As I was short on time, I used the hint to get me to ground zero but I think the coordinates were very good and would have got me there anyway. I enjoyed the walk needed to get to the cache.

Biiiiiig

Not difficult to find with such a good hint. The log was damp and the plastic bag broken, but we folded it around the container and hope that helps keep moisture out.
TFTC Carla6
Found during our travel on the North Island. The extent of weeds have simply astonished us and so many areas are very degraded as a result.

I really liked the lake!

The walk through the forrest to the large tree was nice too.

Thanks for hiding!

After a nice little walkway we could found this unusual big tree and seconds later also the geocache. TFTC

Thanks for the cache. It is nice spot.

TFTC. Great spot. Found while on the #greatkiwiroadie

Found quickly. And would you believe in so remote a place. Muggled doh!

What an impressive old tree on our fantastic walkway. Sorry to say but the log is heavily wet. It is almost inpossible to write in. Thank you for hiding the cache and substitutional for all other caches around waikaremoana from the CO one FP.

Looked around for a while, but no luck. Both on our way to Ngamoko summit and back. What a shame Nice spot thou.

Easy find - at least there are 2 of the local gc's still there!.
Dried it a bit and put all in another plastic bag.
And enjoyed the walk to the top of Ngamoko with Wgtn Bot Soc.
TFTC

Found it in the evening time with the last beeeppp of our navi ( of course we didn't hade any spear battery ) TFTC and the tree is awesome

Fantastic tree. Beautiful. And a nice walk. Lelie van Dalen found this one before I could.
CO thanks. Greetings from The Netherlands.

Beautiful tree. And a nice walk. Easy found.
CO thanks. Greetings from The Netherlands.

Late afternoon walk to this one from the camp. Obviously a cool tree! Worth the visit. Didn't need the hint cache was in the first place I looked. Very damp/wet inside but logbook still sort-of dry in its baggie. I have no paper to wipe the cache. I removed the melting stash note and rotten cardboard toy and visiting cards... Could do with some more maintenance though...

Found it after searching from the wrong junction for about 20 minutes!

Easy find. What a great old tree.

A geocoin visit.

It really is a big tree

Found it while on a Gisborne Central School, Camp(2) Kaitawa trip. Introduced a few students to geocaching. Dropped off a Travel Fish geocoin and retrieved a Pathtags 2011 Jandalfan Matariki (missed you by a couple of days Jandalfan). TFTC SiLiRy

A Tom Tit was the welcoming party for this splendid track. It was cathedral quiet on a clear day before 9 am but not as cold as a couple days ago. Have seen lots of birds this trip but most are silent and elusive. Heard then saw a kaka yesterday as we ran down from Waikeriti. Lots of kereru. PINO TFTC

This was a lovely evening walk before a late dinner after coming up from Napier. The rainforest reminds me of my Tasmanian home ... except that we have 2000 year old huon pine (in a few places) instead of this wonderful 1000 year old rata. I used the clue since GPSr reception was down a bit. We're off to do the Great Walk tomorrow.

Found while taking a small school group on a day walk. The students were quite amazed about finding a geocache and some are keen to try it for themselves in the future. A good spot to bring us too, thanks Carla6. We continued up to Ngamoko and out along the track to Rosie bay - an excellent day in this beautiful area.

Found this one on the way back to Wairoa. Nice loop track. The tree looks really nice! Good place for a cache, wouldn't have known about this special tree otherwise!

TFTC!

The day after we finished the Great Walk we did a few short walks on our way back. This was the first one. Enjoyed the loopwalk and thought the tree was quite amazing!

TFTC!!

Lady Pinguin

on way back from rosies bay on bike to get this, if after a quick find go straight up hill not around loop track. Nice platform- cheers jumboz

Beautiful thanks for bringing us here
Lookout platform looking good

For some reason i thought this walk was going to take me awhile so i got dropped off with instructions to pick up in an hour. Well had the cache in hand after 10mins so carried on walking up the hill for awhile then headed back for pickup.
Yes they are STILL building the veiwing platform - lovely walk and great tree.
TFTC - was a little damp

Cool walk. were determined to find without clue and eventually did so, very well hidden. Thanks for the fun! Amazing tree took photos

Found easily with clue. Thanks, awesome tree

First time back at the lake since I was 15. Loved it and the kids got used to no computers and got into the bush walking eventually.

Lovely cool early evening walk after hot gravelly drive to motorcamp. Fantastic tree, lot of building work going on to make viewing platform but still impressive. Thanks for bringing us here.

After a day of mostly rain, me and the kids decided to do this one in the evening. Ended up doing the loop walk and found the Rata just as it was getting dark... Lots of strange whirring beetles flying about our ears - WELL creepy! Will come back to visit the tree in proper daylight!
- magnifying glass + beady person. Lovely spot, TFTC

Another nice walk on another lovely day. Cool tree.

TFTC,TNLN

A great old tree. TFTC MacBanger

12.25pm. Beautiful bush - some grand old specimens. Completed the loop track after the find and found a recent fallen giant. Mrs.JF had no difficulty with the find. Added a magnifying glass and a TB. TNSL.
TFTC - its in a beautiful area. Not to be missed.
[8d] M&P.

had a little trouble finding it but got there in the end....wow, well worth it. TFTC

A great walk near the Motor Camp. TFTC

Lovely spot easy find. bit drizzly and also tree taped off as work being done for platform.

The Freezer Mice strike again!!!
Have been coming up to Waikaremoana for years now, but its been a long time since I have been up this track.
Tree was as impressive as I always remembered it being.
TNLNSL, TFTC.

Well worth the walk. An amazing old tree.

A nice walk and an impressive tree.
Found the cache quickly (using the hint).
When I got back to my car I discovered that my car keys must have had some water inside the battery compartment, caused by falling in the river while returning from the Moa Egg cache.
My car wouldn't start because the wet keys were not deactivating the immobiliser. I thought that I was going to be stuck here, in the middle of nowhere, with no cell phone coverage.
I didn't have a screwdriver to open the keys and try to dry them out, so I tried sucking the water out.
After that the car started ok. Phew.
Enjoyed the cache.
Thanks.

A joint FTF with OmaGosh. After an initially disappointing DNF on 2 potential FTF's, followed by the tricky caves cache, we were expecting another epic. However this was a welcome very easy find thanks! Gosh that Rata is huge - not much left of the old Rimu tree now! Definately well worth the short walk up through this beautiful bush. Many thanks Carla!

Found with GuanoGerbil. OmaGosh, over and out..

Published