Tarakena Bay (Wellington) Strathmore Park, North Island, New Zealand
By bkj97 on 24-Oct-09. Waypoint GC207B1

Will archive shortly and republish as a traditional. Signage now completely different.

Replaced with a traditional GC7N7YK

May have to rearrange this as a traditional. Will check signage next time I'm in the area.

@1820
Despite the faded sign I collected the required information, but must have miscalculated as I couldn't find a plaque at the next wp.

Unfortunately the sign with most of the critical information at WP1 has faded so some is difficult to read and some totally illegible. I hope none of the target audience needs it urgently!
I suggest the clues be updated using the other signs on the board.
Still enjoyed my visit on a nice afternoon and the time wasn't wasted cache-wise as I picked up a few clues towards the Round the Bays cache.

Must have made a mistake with the maths on the clues, even a recount didn't work. Will try again another day.

not today not to many people around but I think we were in bad need of some food

Visited wp1 while driving in the area today. Quickly got the information then onto wp2 where info was quickly gathered. On to the final and a quick find. Should have no worries with any weather events. All in order. TFTC

Checked after recent bad weather. All Ok

I had a few hours to spare in transit in Wellington on my way to Sydney today so I decided to grab a rental car and try to find a few caches no too far from the airport. Nice multi. I had a little bit of an issue with interpretation of one of the pieces of information at WP1, but once I corrected my thinking I was set for WP2 and then off to the final. Found the cache after a short search. TFTC, Biggles.

Returned to complete this after seeing it had been replaced. Tftc.

Thanks to CO for promptly correcting my interpretation and the cache page for one of the clues. Got a surprise when WP2 turned out to be for someone whose funeral I went to… rest in peace with flowers & laughter. TFTC bkj97.

Clues at WP1 to locate WP2 have been amended for L, M, and N. Happy hunting.

Second visitor today. Had started this cache a couple of years ago getting the details for the first way point. Couple of months ago got around to getting coords for final but missing. Today found in first placed I looked having been here before. No dead rabbit this time though. Thanks for replacing and thanks for the cache.

It seems signage has changed so will need to reconfigure.

Third visit, prompted by a message from the CO that the missing cache had been replaced. No trouble finding it this time (it's really difficult to find things that aren't there!).

It's worth the trip just for the scenery. Today I can see Baring Head in one direction and the snow-capped peaks of the South Island in the other. Up the hill behind me is the Ataturk Memorial, itself worth a visit for the history (and another cache!)

TFTC!

Ready to go again. Container is a small pill container inside a bigger pill container and secured under some loose rocks on the ledge. Hint updated.

B****er. Will check next time in town.

Had done half of this over a year ago but ran out of time to complete. Back in area today and quickly found WP2 and then onto final. Certainly area matches the hint but no sign of any cache. Only now seeing it has a couple of DNFs so maybe missing.Will put on watch list.

My second visit here. I reworked the number and arrived at the same location. Another good luck around various places that might match the hint but no luck. Could the CO check this please?

No luck here. I found my way to a feature that looked a likely place for a hide but although I found several locations there that matched the hint no cache revealed itself. I tried very liberal interpretations of 'west' and 'waist high' but still nothing

A nice walk around the bay. Had to do it quickly as my battery was running low

T4TCSL Missed logging this but have now made amends.

Dropping off family at the airport provided the perfect opportunity to do a spot of caching in the area. Found two caches so signed both! TFTC

Started this one many months ago and now that I finally logged it realised it could have been done very quickly on the first day. A good afternoon on the harbour so quite a lot of activity at the GZ but cache was tucked in and managed to retrieve without creating attention. Cache within a cache, only signed one of the logs. TFTC

Found with TregearP. A couple of "Newbie" errors else we could have logged this several months ago, but good to get there in the end.

TFTC.

First multi done. Sent myself on a wild goose chase at first. Got myself on track and spent 10 mins checking vegetation' turned around and hello, it was spread out on the grass. All looked to be accounted for minus the lid of the larger pot. Have replaced as best I could where I think it was supposed to be...

At the start of my geocaching "career", GabyKiwi and I collected all the required information but, for some long-forgotten reason, never went to look for the final. Then we lost the coordinates. But I hadn't forgotten that I needed to knock this one off so, seeing as I was meeting (muggle) friends this morning for a crack at a GSEL cache in the area, I set off early to photograph the relevant points of interest. Many hours later, after an unsuccessful attempt at the puzzle cache GZ, a fortifying brunch, a second (more rewarding) assault on the puzzle, and a long dog walk up to Palmer Head Fortress and In Plane Sight, I still had energy so I sat in the car, worked out the final coordinates, and set off with the geo-pups. It was a quick find at GZ. Actually, it was a double find! There are two containers, both with log books, so I put the smaller one inside the other. TFTC! One of the signs mentioned a shipwreck in the bay but I haven't been able to find any further information, so perhaps I misread that bit. Still, I found the cache and had a super day on the South Coast! Tftm

This was another satisfying multi by bkj97 which didn't take too long. The walks from the car park were short and interesting. A sea lion was resting on the beach while we were there. I had noted in other logs that J had caused some confusion, and yes I nearly slipped up too until noticing another possibility upon inspecting the signaage more carefully. No problems at the final, except that there were two containers with logbooks - one a honey pot size, the other pill bottle size. Thanks bkj97

Confused my co-ords on WP2 and Final, that and took the wrong trail. Much more of a hike than I was expecting. Good dog walking area.

#669. I stopped to photograph the display board back in Dec. So before heading out tonight I had the WP2 coordinates worked out. It was lucky I did this first and read some of the logs as question J has a twist to it that would have sent me on a wild goose chase. Headed off late at night to pick up my nephew at the airport and so came here first. Soon had WP2 located and the information gathered. After that it was a short drive to the final and a quick search revealed the cache in its nicely tucked away hiding spot. Nice multi. TFTC

Took a while as I only did one waypoint per visit (and it took me two visits to get the first waypoint).

First cache type of my seven cache types in a day challenge. TFTC

First multi cache!! Went on a slight detour after getting the J clue wrong, (it has more than one letter as it turns out). But then recessed, headed back and was back on course. Very beautiful views around this area!!! Tftc. Found with Bartys44

That was fun! Got 1 answer a bit wrong and ended up in some walkway ages away! After reassessing we were on the right track. Thanks!

Couldn't find it! Couldn't wrap my head around the clue!

Got wp1 info ok except 1 co-ord. Hared off and realized wrong. Tried poss and decided 1 worth a look and was wp2. Off to final. However working off Selesi's old 2013 printout so had wrong hint. However managed to find old cache and puzzled why not showing recent loggings! However cache was repl and new hint! Doh! Tftc

Using old info (printed 2009!) and using an old hint we found a cache with goodies and log book last signed in 2012 UlmusLynx took a photo. Things were a bit damp but logbook was dry TFTC

Find #2201. A day on the bike in a blustery Wellington N'wester, catching up on some of the puzzle caches solved many weeks ago. Stopped to do this one on my way around the peninsula, nice easy questions and quick to double back on the bike. Searched a bit in the wrong place before finding. SL TFTC

Had a little trouble with one of the answers last time I was here, and ended up quite a distance away with no plaque to look at.
1Bumblebee spotted my mistake today and the rest was easy.
TFTC

Mr Sharpe had a go and his cords were all wrong so Mrs Sharpe gave it a go and cache was found. Had lots of fun exploring the rock pools. Lots of crabs and sea snails and other exciting things.

This entry was edited by TwoSharpe on Tuesday, 30 September 2014 at 05:34:19 UTC.

Searched around the DOC sign for ages but never found this one

Today being the perfect opportunity for an excursion to the peninsula and southern regions thereupon.
Enjoyed a bit of a romp around the bay.
Cache was a straightforward find; all in order, log signed, and re-hidden safely, just as found.
TFTC found with team cacher Sweet P too
The Turtle strikes again!

Nice little adventure and found someone elses hidden treasure on top of the cache!!! Tftc

Cache # 1,642 - A beautiful day for a quick trip to the coast for this one. Grabbed the numbers at WP1, but they didn't look right. Looked again and found two different answers on the 2 signs to one of the questions. Plugging in the second number made much more sense. Nice spot at WP2 and a reasonably quick find at the final. Cache in good shape. Thanks for bringing me to a beautiful spot!

Second time lucky? Cache was AWOL when I came here last. Quick find today.

This entry was edited by Renard & Co on Monday, 26 August 2013 at 01:07:46 UTC.

TFTC. A fabulous day to explore the area. Tipped some water out of the container but the logbook was dry.

I was out there on Tuesday night but found myself with old information. Got it tonight with the correct hint.. TFTM

Back in action after recent storms.

Recent storm damage has taken its toll. Cache site compromised and container AWOL. Will wait till weather settles and replace.

We enjoyed finding the coordinates but couldnt find the cache at all very disappointing

I gathered the required information a few days back but the area around gz was swarming with muggles so I abandoned the pursuit. It was significantly quieter here today so no problems with the find and replace. TFTC

Found it with Wellington East Rangers

Found with MSPPhoenix, who persuaded us to pick up skaterchick TB ...

An enjoyable and reasonably flat multi on an overcast but still day. Fun find with sarahjane20. Tftc

After starting (unsuccessfully) over a year ago we decided a trip back herewould be in need. Corrected one mistake from last time, the cache was soon in hand. TFTC
+ Skater chick TB
- Travel turtle

Cold but sunny day on the South Coast today, no boats out from this bay when we arrived but one arrived soon after we started getting info for first WP. First WP found and off to final which we quickly had in hand (while Redants went climbing rocks). SL TFTC.

great spot, loved the small journey this cache took us on. felt very lucky that I stumbled across the final cache quite quickly! TFTC

Found it after a failed attempt last week where we went for a bit of a trek up the hill (even though i knew it couldnt be right!). TFTC

There were already several cars with empty boat trailers in the car park when we got there before 10am, so looks like people were making the most of the very calm conditions today.
Soon had some likely co-ords for both WP2 and then the final, which StreetWalker had already found before I had time to look up the cache details.
A perfect day to be out and about on this part of the coast.
TFTC.

#3396. Another South Coast cache we hadn't got round to doing before today. Nice little bay. Seemed like a good place to leave the turtle TB. TFTC.

We really enjoyed this multi for the variety of information and interesting sign boards. Nice day for a walk about, and excellent final hiding place. TFTC

Found with nzlats, starshine78 and virtual allie. Good fun, TYFTC

Found with a 7-person night-time adventuring party, including phillsie, virtualallie and nzlats. Fun little outing after a post-work BBQ. Thanks

Found with Virtual Allie, Phillsie, Starshine78 and some friends. TFTC

Hoorah! Came this morning to find this but clearly it was too early, my eyes were still asleep and it was rather unsuccessful. Rounded up the troops (namely starshine78, NZLats, phillsie + a couple of friends who were wondering what this geocaching lark was about)., returned under a cloak of darkness (but with many moons of torches) and one of our learner catchers had it in hand within a couple of minutes. Glad to get the smiley for this one. TFTC

Ge whizz, the south coast was magical today. Not a breath of wind and calm seas. Got my head around the WP1 questions with a little help from the owner and it was palin sailing after that. Plenty of Christmas muggles about enjoying the weather but luckily none within site of the final.
TFTC

Made this one much harder than it should have been. My first attempt was foiled by me getting one of the answers in WP1 wrong and ending up on top of the hill! Corrected this but an error on my part at the next WP meant another back track before working out what I had done wrong and unearthing the cache eventually. Big swell this evening meant some impressive waves and much washed up seaweed. TNLN. TFTC.

Returned this evening as the sun was setting to track down the cache. A pity about the vandalism, particularly as one of the plaques was commemorating a young man who drowned. Cache was within a few metres of a very noisy bird - I noticed as I was leaving that there was a nest close by. TFTC

Have removed two wps due to vandalism.(stolen plaques)[:(!] Hopefully all is OK to go again.

Checked waypoints today.The vandals have indeed been stealing the brass plaques from the seats [:(!][:(!][:(!]so will rework this one asap. On a positive note some loonies were doing wheelies in the carpark at WP1 as I drove past and it was nice to see a bit of a loss of traction resulting in a bank encounter of the bang crash type.Fortunately the missed the signboard at wp1.

I collected the data from WPs 1, 2 and 3 a few weeks ago in the middle of the night, abandoned my search when another car arrived at WP1 and looked like they were settling in. Returned today and the whole atmosphere couldn't have been more different. Night is beautiful but lends a creepy air... Anyway, I noticed that WP2's plaque had been crowbarred off since I was there. Thought I had a promising lead for GZ but no luck!

Will check it out next week. Until then off line.

Had a problem with Waypoint 3. We were sure we were in the right area for GZ but clearly not close enough.

Finally got this one. Being thinking about it for a long time. TFTC.

Nice way to spend a fine winter Sunday afternoon. First missing sign made it a bit tough. Cache owner might want to post the answer to that part online until sign is replaced.

Managed to solve even though one of the signs on the first way point is missing.
TFTC

Great fun on a sunny Sunday morning, most enjoyable, thank you. Left Sheep TB.

Thanks to Yeetrees for his heads up on the vandalism.[:(!] Will check site out next time in town with time on hands.Extra hint (temporary) If the sign doesn't get you to next waypoints wander along the bay foreshore looking for the plaques and it should all become clear to you. This entry will be deleted once signage is repaired or I have had time to alter the information.

Was at first waypoint today and noticed that the signboard has being damaged, there is a piece on the ground and hopefully it wont upset this multi

Great hunt for this one a B-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l day - thanks for bringing us here. tftc Felix!

Great multi - messed up the first WP clues and managed to walk over the final GZ rocks almost an hour before we walked back to where we knew it should be. Great multi and an awesomly sunny day to be meandering along this coast and these wee parks we had no idea they were here. Thanks

Jr taybee has this own account how am logging this old find under his new Username (Jr taybee) was log as part of taybee team

easy find after working out the waypoints had to come back 3 time to do this one cache is in good order TFTC #0702

A nice wander, so many plaques in this area.
TFTC

I started this search in February. Muggles near GZ led me to abandon quest then. I returned today to discover a well placed cache that I probably would have been able to look for on my previous visit anyhow. A good fun multi.

Bad luck and bad weather followed me here ... Completed the first two stages quickly enough but struggled at GZ. Returned today, again in driving rain and a howling gale but without my aged geodog Cola, and soon found the cache. Had been overthinking it as per usual. Thanks a lot, bkj97

Looks like the boat safety checklist is missing at WP1, couldn't see it and there is a blank space where some notice has been ripped off. Luckily not a significant digit so took a guess and it got me to the next stage OK.
All good and an invigorating one to do in the tail of a southerly storm like today.
TFTC

Had all sorts of problems finding WP2, even though we thought ours answers were correct, barring one which we couldn't find the answer to. Anyway we applied some Geocachers intuition and were soon on our way again. Really enjoying stopping and exploring a great spot we normally would only drive through! TFTC, another fine multi from BKJ97. Added Travelcoin

Took us ages to get this one sorted - not much data coverage around there. But we still had fun! +washable felt pen +SJME stone

Last cache for the day, although it was raining it wasn’t too hard, just enough to keep the muggles at bay, nice multi, no major issues once I got my head around it, found final quickly even the weather was a bit kind to me today, NOT heavy rain, TFTC TNLNSL (1613)

TNLNSL TFTC Lovely area with some great views of the coast

A nice multi. TFTC MacBanger

Took a pleasant stroll to complete this multi today. Although, IMHO WP2 and WP3 would be better in the reverse order. Found the final after widening my search a bit. Visiting GZ was a trip down memory lane. When I first started scuba diving, this area was undeveloped and we used to dive here. In fact we called it "the supermarket" because you were guaranteed to get as many huge crays as you wanted every time. It was bit of a secret spot.
TFTC.

All the numbers worked out first time which made for a couple of short walks broken up by a trip to the memorial above. Mrs KE found the cache in the first logical spot that I had already checked; she sometimes makes a habit of doing that - grrr. TFTC. (no pencil in the cache)

Found as part of my three week caching trip from Wellington to Auckland - # 11. All worked nice and quickly. Thanks.

Quick and straghtforward solution to the puzzles, and a quick find at GZ. Was very pleasant there at lunchtime today, sunny and sheltered from the northerly wind. Although there were people fishing and even having a barbeque on the beach, my cache hunting went unnoticed. Took Taurus geocoin. Signed log, TFTC.

All quiet here this morning, just me, a campervan, and a guy cleaning the rubbish out of his car into the nearby litter bin. No trouble getting to WP2, but my answers for WP3 had me all at sea (most likely my workings as other finders have had no trouble ). Used a bit of lateral thinking to find what I felt was a likely spot and worked out the cords for GZ which were bang on the money. A short search and I had a “posi-tive†result. TNLN SL 0710hr TFTC

1TF - Very, very happy with that. Found with Barri-Ster and Hugo the dog. Only noticed this one listed Sunday morning and assumed it would have been published Saturday night. Thought it would have been found already, as was late morning before we arrived, but as was going to Wellington to a travel expo, thought a visit was required. No problem with any of the questions and WP's found easily. Final found after a short search. Still a clean logbook!! Very pleased to be first to log the visit. Wellington put on a wonderful sunny day. SL TN left a GC

#849. 2TF (or was it 3TF?) after tmann421 and Barri-Ster had the joint FTF. No problem with the WPs, but took a little while at the final as the GPS was wandering a bit. Spotted it in the end.
- Laura's Golden Dog GC
+ Taurus Traveling Zodiac Geocoin
+ huhugrub pebble
TFTC.

Found 1st equal with tmann421 and Hugo the dog. Yes it was a great day in Wellington - even saw a couple of people in the ocean somewhere along the way! Enjoyable multi-cache and tmann421 had a big smile on his face when he opened the log book and saw it empty! SL, TNLN, TFTC.