Lake Side Wonder (Auckland) Waioneke, North Island, New Zealand
By KiwiGary and KiwiTulip on 05-Aug-09. Waypoint GC1VHJ9

Gave up. There are so many massive trees down here, both in the water and in the bush area. We had no idea what was ground and what might be holes full of water, and couldn't see the hint item from solid ground so decided that it was safer to give up.

Had to locate this one whilst a few muggles were around as it was such a hot day....luckily they were more interested in trying to keep cool than what we were up to.....In the area today as we thought these caches looked a little lonely, and we had a carer for junior cacher .....it was time we got into some sunshine as we had been renovating a bedroom, taking up any spare hours....Left home at 8am (the wrong time as schools had just gone back after the anniversary weekend, and we hit traffic extending the trip to the park by half an hour.The cache is in good health...TFTC.

#13,942. I am a bit late catching up with my logs. I have been away in Northland on an island for the past 10 days with no electricity for powering a laptop. I headed up this road on the way north to get this westernmost cache in the Auckland region. Needed for the shredded wheat challenge. On arriving at the carpark I saw there were quite a few cars present and hoped none would be near GZ. But it was not to be. There was a family there with a small tent, others with picnics laid out and lots in swimming on this hot summer day.. I said hello, watched for a bit then walked up the track before going into the shrubbery. It is very overgrown and full of tree falls. Not the brightest of ideas but got around the back and found the post and cache. Signed the logbook and replaced everything as found. The headed out past the muggles (who barely gave me a look) on a much easier path! Thanks KiwiGary for hiding it here.

A solo excursion for Mr Coblet.After a walk around the nearby Te Rau Puriri Regional Park I stopped off here before heading home.When I arrived I was pleased to see that the carpark was empty but just as I was walking away from the car a van packed full of muggles arrived.I realised that their presence would make searching difficult so knew that I had just a few of minutes to head down the track and find the cache before they got there. So I walked quickly hoping that I could locate the cache in time.Once near GZ I tried to look for the item referred to in the hint but couldn't see it so just followed the coordinates with my fingers crossed.Today was my lucky day as I spotted the cache almost immediately despite it being nicely camouflaged and tucked away.I quickly opened the container, signed the log and returned it to its hiding spot and was pleased that the muggles had yet to appear. I even had time to walk down to the side of the lake and enjoy the view in peace.I then headed back up the trail and passed the muggles on the way, such perfect timing.Thanks KiwiGary for bringing me to this beautiful location and for a great cache. It's always nice to find one that has been around for a while, especially one in such great condition.

Found it no problem. While I was sitting watching the little fish and writing the log met max and his owner. Here for Max's weekly bath.

Wasnt expecting people to be lakeside, argh. So after discussing ins & outs of swimming, i left the area & took another track a bit around the lake. Finally the swimmers took the plunge, so i headed back to GZ. Took forever to find this with bouncy GPS signal. Sighed relief when i found it. Great lake to visit. TFTC

Today I was on a mission as part of Team G0LD to Te Rau Puriri Regional Park on South Kaipara Head, to hopefully clear all the caches there and as many more as possible on the peninsula.

With the Te Rau Puriri mission successfully completed, it was on to the rest of the local caches and we certainly weren't going to be leaving this one, despite a short walk in the heat required.

Once at GZ, it was a relatively quick find of this old cache. Really glad for the aircon in the cache mobile though. TFTC

Out with team Gold today (0B80B8 and LisCrew) collecting a few caches in the area. What a beautiful spot. Should have bought our togs. TFTC

Team G0LD (Geocachers: 0B80B8, Lis's crew and DaffyNZ) were on a mission today. The primary target was the cache rich Te Rau Puriri Regional Park at South Head. We were aiming to get our final mountain souvenir all done and dusted as well as filling an entire area on our maps with yellow smiles.

We couldn't resist a few quick grabs on the roadside on the way to and from the park. A lovely little area here. A family were enjoying swimming but we managed to find this big cache easily.

Overall it was a very hot day with temps 28-30°C. We only copped a few brief spats of rain and I found 49 caches. My souvenir well and truly achieved. Certainly a pretty lot of smiles too. Thanks for your cache today

The lake here was heaving with people today swimming and enjoying the nice weather. The cache was a bit of a bush bash but we got it

Tramyard and I made a quick stop at the lake on our way back down South Head. I really like this spot and will definitely be back someday to have a swim in the lake, as a couple of muggles were doing today. A reasonably easy find of the cache. It always makes me happy to see an original logbook in an older cache, especially this one that's been going for 11 years. Awesome! TFTC!

I had the day off work today, so I decided to get out for a walk in Te Rau Puriri Regional Park... an area that I've never visited before! After exploring the park, I headed over to this take and found there cache here... a beautiful spot that I've never been to before. TFTC!

Pazza asked me if I wanted to go on a road trip with them so having never been up here before I jumped at the chance. What a wonderful spot! After finding the cache we wandered down to the lake edge to check it out.

A beautiful spot to bring the kayak and the paddle board. Unfortunately idiots have brought their dogs as well because I could see dog prints along the shore which would put venerable wetland birds at terrible risk here. We saw a lovely young family enjoying a picnic here.

Lovely day out. Quick stop here for afternoon tea.

We arrived at the carpark and headed down the path towards the lake. The path to reach gz was very overgrown and the hint item was hidden in long grass, but it wasn't long before we found the cache. The camo on the lid is no longer attached but other than that the cache is in good condition. A quick stroll down to the lake to admire it before heading back up the hill to the car.

A hidden gem of a place, shame the walkway doesn't go around, but then again that's one of the bonuses too.

Last day of the weekends aims and a trip out to South Head was on the agenda, and a welcome option too. We were off at a decent time and welcomed the quieter roads after the busy-ness out at Bethells and Wainamu yesterday, A nice drive out with plenty of great views and noted a few cache placement options for next time we head out too. A bonus side-track lake at Ototoa/Rototoa was another of those wouldn't have known if not for Geocaching moments, nice.

It's been a pretty uninspiring week at work this week so I was hankering for a weekend of stimulation. So I took Friday off as annual leave and had a hope for 3 days of exploring and getting out (and a few caches thrown in for good measure).
Great day with awesome weather, which was the theme for the weekend and had a great time.

I'm busy driving along and I dont feel like I've been here before and the Kaipara Harbor is to my right so I cant work out why. I had turned my ph off to charge while I was driving and kept driving but was getting more and more confused. Finally I stopped and turned my ph back on and s$&?, I should have turned right at Helensville not left and I'm fast on the track to a dead.end! Now it's making sense.
A quick check showed I was.close to rhe last cache on this road so I kept going until I reached the car park. Lovely lake.
Deserves a Fav because I'm such a doofus!

I needed to get this cache as part of a Challenge cache I'm doing. So a planned was hatched to make the trip after work before the sunset. The place really is a hidden gem! I found the cache pretty easily and it's in good condition seeing as it hasn't been found in over a year.

After returning the cache I walked down to the lake edge and dipped my feet in the water. There were tiny fish they started nibbling at my feet It was the weirdest sensation! TFTC!

I was able to spend several hours out and about tracking down hides today. Not to forget the matter of enjoying a drive in rural west Auckland. While the day started off with clouds and a bit of drizzle it is starting to heat up now. This was my last caching stop for the day. Anyway, I parked up in the car park, had a read of the information signs, then headed down the track towards the water edge and GZ. After taking in the view it was a matter of spending a few minutes on finding the actual hide. Which I did. With the formalities comleted I decided to explore the informal track that heads west along the lake edge for awhile (mentioned on the info board). Snapped a couple of pics from alternative views to share. As you can see the water was a deep blue today. A great spot well worth the drive. Cheers for the cache placement!

When 2 very outdoorsy people break themselves and can't go mountain biking you go for a drive. Been a rainy day there was nobody around so it was easy to follow the giant geotrail to the cache.

I hadn't been here for almost 20yrs so thought today was a good chance to revisit and have a swim. Still a nice place. Tftc

Advantage to find this cache in summer time is .... That you can have swim in the lake! So I had! Thanks for bringing me here. TFTC FP

Quite a hunt strangely, pretty buried in ground foliage, cache all good... TFTC

Found the surprise lake!!! Unfortunately there were lots of other people there on a Sunday to swim and kayak and the GPS signal was very variable. Found the thing mentioned in the hint but it was obviously not the correct one as it was nearly sitting in the water!

Nice place. The area near the water was already taken by an overseas family. We didnt want to intrude so went down one of the side tracks and got some amazing photos. Came back and had a little search round GZ before finally finding the hint object, cache found quickly after that. tftc.

We wanted to find 3 caches today to add to our tally on this date, but one of us has work. There happen to be 3 caches that we haven't found up towards South Kaipara Head, so the other went for a drive. Arrived at the carpark and wandered down towards the lake. The hint item was almost hidden in long grass, but once I realised where I needed to go, the cache was quickly found. Thanks for bringing me here.

I made the trip here to get this cache. As luck would have it, the Geocaching App acted up by not displaying the map and the list of caches was from 30km back. I had to backtrack to Parakai to get a cell signal and then used Chrome to get the GC code and then I could search for the cache page in the App. This all worked, so I was able to get to the parking coords and then the cache.
Now All I need to do is see if I have all four caches for the NESW callenge. TFTC.

Animal pest control shooting in progress in this area until 30 April 2018. Do not enter signs abound.

We were on a mission today to find the last 2 caches we needed to complete the NSEW Auckland challenge cache. We completed 377 kms today over 10 hours. After finding the most northern cache near Te Arai point we headed across here to make a find. We got to the parking waypoint as a few young people came out through the gate and they had obviously been for a swim in the lake, and as we returned to the car another group of young people were heading in through the gate to go for a swim too, but fortunately our time at GZ was muggle free. We had forgotten to save the cache on the phone and discovered we had minimal reception here so we relied on our memory of the cache page, the hint and took advantage of a geotrail we spotted to make a successful find. Found with darthcacher1 and purply.

On a caching mission with Keylev today, this was our target cache for a certain challenge we were wanting to qualify for. It was a glorious day on the road and when we arrived here the lake was quiet and beautiful so the search for the cache was uninterrupted and easy. After signing the log we decided to have our picnic lunch at the waters edge and then a family arrived for a swim and some kayaks appeared on the lake - good thing we found the cache already as it suddenly got very busy! Left the family to their dive bombs and paddling and carried on to collect more caches. Great little spot, thanks for bringing us here! TFTC!

Mrs NZT and I set out north on a day trip to grab a few caches in peace. After a slightly delayed start due to a quick trip to the doctor after laval fell off a bouncy castle and hit his head very hard we were free to go and had a great day.

This was our target cache of the day as we are working on the NSEW challenge cache. We parked up and made the short walk to the cache. The geo-trail took us to where we needed to be and we made the find nice and quick. We then sat down to eat our lunch and enjoy the view. Thankfully we had found it on arrival because shortly after we sat down 2 other families arrived and another family on kayaks turned up to leave the lake. We left them to it and continued on our caching journey.

Thanks for the cache...this is a lovely peaceful spot.

A nice large cache, and a quick find, TFTC

Came north today to get this since it's now the most westerly cache in Auckland. What a beautiful spot, so lovely and a popular spot today in the heat and humidity of the weekend. The carpark was full so we knew it was going to be busy and it sure was, heaps of the young 'uns swimming and lounging around the water cooling off. More than one kayak out on the water too.

Fortunately GZ is away from the lakeside loungers and once we found the hint item we were all good. Cache is in great condition, all good here. Removed the american dime that had got stuck to one of the clips and was stopping the cache snapping closed properly so should be a bit better now. Great cache thanks.

Easy find with the kids

Supernannny, Gorby and I visited this absolutely beautiful spot, after a quick find of the cache we sat contemplated the view, went for a paddle and just enjoyed this beautiful, peaceful spot.

Have been really keen to visit Lake Ototoa for years...and this was my chance....and what could be better....but two willing equally keen companions !
Had no idea of the size and scope of this huge natural pristine lake.
Need to return and see if there are any tracks around..
Was the perfect place to sit quietly and have my muesli and yoghurt !

Came by this way with supernanny and urbangypsynz. Urban had this cache in mind and a few others planned for our adventure today. I was happy to tag along so to speak.

What a fabulous spot to visit, can't say enough about this gorgeous lake. After finding the cache and signing ourselves in, we had to sit down and admire what lay before us. Supernanny got out her breakfast cereal and munched on that, I took fotos of the area. Must come back with my parents to show them. A FP for the area and the cache.

After seeing some ill-considered archiving of heaps of caches up the coast, this one was looking a little alone and lost so I came here this morning to put a smile on its face. Nice quick find at the GZ and a peaceful location. TFTC

Lovely lake! It's a great spot to have a cache. Well hidden as well, it took a while for us to locate it correctly. Tftc!

Found after an orienteering event further down the road here. A wonderful location and we even had a swim in a private lake, with permission. Thanks for this placement. The coordinates and hint were spot on and all is well with the cache.

I've wanted to head up the South head of the Kaipara harbour for a while now, so made the plan to head up and find the caches while I was up this way visiting family. Having spent a fair amount of time fishing on the Kaipara harbour when I was younger I had viewed the South head from afar but never explored it. The old man tagged along for the trip also.

Headed for the top end of the South head first and to this cache. A great spot for a cache, spotted a bit of a geotrail pointing to where the GPS was pointing, so followed it and soon spotted the hint item and the cache soon after. Grabed the TB before heading on our way, thanks for bringing us here.

I was running early to meet someone further up the coast so took the time in the early morning to duck in and find this one. Fortunately being so early I didn't have to worry about muggles as I wandered back and forth - trusting the accuracy of the co-ordinates put me right on the spot. TFTC - Lovely morning to be here!

Had me wandering around a bit....TNLN. HOTA

2.58pm success after just a bit of searching for the post. Left pathtag and a TB. A new spot for us - didn't know of lake before this visit. A great spot. Tftc M&P

Logging the visit of our ghost coin & drop off of TB.

We were up this way today for a look around at Shelly Beach. After some lunch, we headed up to the lakes for a look around. We parked up, and headed down the track towards GZ. At GZ, we looked around for the hint item and then figured it was actually off track a little. A short scramble over and the cache was in hand.

Thanks for showing us the lake, we will be back im sure with our togs next time! A lovely place to cool off on a hot summers day! TFTC!

#258 Was on a rare visit out this way to have a meeting with a client. Spent a little extra time during picking up some caches that are usually out of normal reach. Quick find near a nice spot to swim, though not dressed for that today.
TFTC

This entry was edited by The-Seers on Wednesday, 14 October 2015 at 03:44:12 UTC.

A lovely spot that we would never have found if it weren't for this cache. Pity the weather wasn't playing ball. TFTC

Beautiful spot. My gps on my phone was playing up so searched a few old posts til I got the correct one. Tftc!

I was trying to reach Muriwai beach from this area... but no way ! I was stopped by private properties, hunters, closed gates and defence areas... Maybe in summer time it's possible but this was definitely not the day for this !
It's pretty far from Auckland, so I enjoyed discovering the surroundings as I was there !
This cache was the first of the day, and I liked the nice blue/green deep color of the lake.
I'll head step by step down, up to the Waitekere Ranges and to Te Huia area.

Thanks for the cache.

Decided to take my 4WD out today for a drive and came by this geocache. Would love to come back to GZ during summer time TFTC

Mmmm have been here before with a fellow cacher and am so sure i had picked up the only cache in the area but at a different location ?? was it achieved.. is this a new one?? weird.. ah well problem solved with this one found too... Tb rescue performed:-) ( bit far off the beaten track for a TB id have thought?)

This entry was edited by alligatorsnz on Sunday, 26 April 2015 at 06:50:35 UTC.

Was up here for a multisport race and couldn't resist looking for the cache afterwards. A very picturesque and idyllic spot. Wasn't quite warm enough for a swim though!
Dropped off Penelope the Pig Travel Tag.

Excellent place to visit. I hear the fly fishing is OK here. Probably as far north as trout will happily live in NZ. I'll have to come back and give it a go. Cheers for the cache.

enjoyed looking for this, thanks

Plan to come again with kayak. Thanks for bringing us here.

Out and about exploring with the family. Great to finally get to this spot. My gosh what a difference with the grassy entrance and even a loo. Wasn't like that 25yrs ago, it was bush bashing just about to get down to the lake. Anyway enjoyed the stroll and seeing the improvements to the area. SL. TFTC.

As it dawned a great day I decided to pick off the caches up the Peninsula past Parakai onto South Head of the Kaipara Harbour.

This cache is at a beautiful place. It gets a favourite from me.

Cheers for the cache.

A secret, stunning location with great views, forest walks and lake access for kayaks. After thoroughly searching every post we could find due to no phone coverage we were about to leave until, voilá, there it was. TFTC

Beautiful and peaceful location and once we realised we had been searching along the wrong fenceline, we quickly retrieved the cache. Neither Telecom or Vodafone have coverage here so relying on a smartphone GPS can be challenging.

Found by Lizzie10 and Roger from the UK over visiting sister and brother-in-law fellow cachers ChrisnDust.What a beautiful little spot,the light on the water was stunning.Cache soon in hand.TFTC.

Found on a fine autumn day. Awesome location.

Found at 10:06 AM on 7/04/2012.

Deserted spot this morning.

TFTC KiwiGary

What a nice post, even in the rain. t4tc

Nice camo! Cheers

My first ever geocache thanks!

Very cleverly hidden. Left smurf tb to continue his travels.
TVMFTC SL

(11:07:30 AM/fwgb) TFTC TNLN. Lovely camo on top of the cache

2nd find

What a great little spot!

We brought a newbie cacher here (Sandipants) and he did this one as one of his first - and what a fantastic example of my favourite type of cache - those that exist primarily to bring cachers to beautiful locations like this one - that are normally known only to the locals!

What a great day for it too - the sun was warm, and felt like summer - I actually wish I'd brought my shorts (like a more forward thinking member of our party!)

TNLN visited a few TBs

TFTC

What lovely place, thanks for bringing us here. TFTC

We had the Lake all to ourselves. TFTC

A lovely wee spot on a winters day

TFTC

Easy find, nice bit of camo, T4TC

Car park was full as it looked like there was a family gathering happening. Made our way down the path for an easy find. Cache full of goodies but managed to close it tight. Thanks for sharing this place T4TC.

Found it after a beautiful morning out kayaking on the lake. Great spot

Well we had never been to the lake, so we though to check it out..... Nice sceanic little spot. TFTC.

After spending the afternoon out at South Head we thought we better pick this one up on our way out. Cool little area for the camera.

Unfortunatly no dogs allowed. Bit surprising to find other with dogs. But he...... the heat was irresistable to let them swim.
We left them in the car and hoped for another place for them to swim.

This entry was edited by MarMis on Wednesday, 05 January 2011 at 11:26:42.

No one was around and it was very peaceful and quiet.
Lovely place we had no idea existed.
TFTC

What a lovely little lake. Some kayaks out and about today, enjoyed the visit. TFTC

Great little lake that I had to myself today, Quick find, TFTC

Nice easy find in a nice quite spot. No one here during our visit, so we were able to retrieve the cache without any drama. TFTC

Easy find - beautiful spot. Thanks

Glad to report this cache was nice and dry and in good condition. Found after attending a nearby orienteering event so thought we should use our observational powers in a different way and this was the closet cache. Thanks

found it!!, nice lake

3987 Decided to tackle this one after missing out on parking for the Marawhara Memories cache in Piha... the place was pumping due to a free concert.

An enjoyable drive out to Lake Ototoa... what a nice spot indeed. There were quite a few muggles here, but they were all well away from the cache. Note the camo has detached itself from the lid. Many thanks for bringing us here Gary.

Lovely spot and several people enjoying a swim, so had to be a bit descrete. The camo has become detached from the box.

TFTC

This would be one of my favourite lakes to kayak. Access is difficult for anything other than portable boats so no power boats, jet skis, etc - marvellously quiet. I brought my WW kayak with me so went for a jaunt after finding the cache. The water was warm and the swim was very refreshing.
T4TC - M@

Had been up at South Head for an Adventure Race for the day and this was an easy find on the way home. Very nice spot for a cache. TFTC

Great spot, nice hide TFTC
In: canny recycler fridge magnet Out: green whistle thingy

It is indeed a really beautiful spot. Turned up and there was a muggle sitting by the water but he soon left and the cache (and FTF) was ours. Nice cammo, think I have seen something like this before . TFTC!!!

Hey this will be a cool cache. I used to go canoing on this lake years ago when I lived nearby. Totally awesome spot. Pity I'm laid up with broken leg & ankle otherwise we'd be zooming up the highway to try and claim a FTF. Will look forward to seeing who is first to this one.

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