AMJC09 Surrounded By City (Auckland) Meadowbank, North Island, New Zealand
By funkymunkyzone on 25-Oct-09. Waypoint GC20871

"An easy traditional cache in the Kepa Bush Reserve..."

"Use your geocacher's eye to spot this obvious hidey hole."

I have been geocaching for quite some time and I assure you there is nothing about this cache that is easy or obvious. If the bush walk off the trail and down a steep hill covered in fallen leaves, rotten trees, and broken glass wasn't difficult enough, it was soon followed by an exhaustive search through dozens of "obvious hidey holes" and mountains of debris. The GPS was bouncing all over the place so it was impossible to get a good read. We searched for a good 45 minutes before we decided this cache wasn't worth a broken ankle or a rotten tree branch falling on our heads. Of course, as usually happens, as soon as we gave up and were headed back up the treacherous hill, there was the cache. Granted, it was hidden in an obvious hidey hole but it was indistinguishable from the dozens of other dead and broken trees that would have served as an obvious hidey hole. The terrain level on this one should definitely be elevated.

.

Happy to find this one after a thorough foray into the forest.

Out geocaching with div and desi. We spread out once in the general area and div was the lucky finder.

Took a while for 3 of us to find it, spread out once you get in general area of GPS co-ordinate

Took a while. Wear shoes

No need to photograph the puzzle pieces anymore....
http://coord.info/GC48ZRZ

I looked round on my own for so long, in so many rotten trees cos my GPS was really flicking around. I finally decided to give up and then it caught my eye and the cache was found! In the nick of time! Really nice to explore more of this bush reserve that I have walked through so many times but never ventured off the path

Puzzle pieces have run out so I photographed it

Did some bush waking, took me a few minutes to find the cache.

Beautiful day to do a walk in the bush.

Watch out for broken glasses on the ground.

the terrain difficulty should be raised as there are broken glass bottles and shattered glass everywhere, also 1/2 the trees in this region are rotting away like crazy, it is like walking through a minefield (exclude the mines) a very nasty place to find an "inside" cache...
there was only 1 copy of the jig puzzle so we took a photo of it instead

Tftc

Wow! Did not expect the deep bush walk! or more like the jungle GPS bounced a lot, we literally searched through all the "inside", finally the cache revealed itself. Cache a little bit wet. The ziplock bag of the logbook got torn and makes the logbook a bit damp. Lucky we brought extra bag, so able to change it to a new one . TFTC!

Doing some caching while visiting our Son and Family. TFTC The Canadians DNCBURRHEAD

Reperio at 1415 with Albida33 and Sol de lune.

After attending the mega event this morning, we decided to head out for a few caches this afternoon. This was a beautiful little spot, and after parking at the top and following the trail down, we fanned out and eventually found the cache.

Gratias funkymunkyzone.

New Zealand 2103 trip for the Auckland Mega at Albany. Day 16, In Auckland Region, Northshore. NZ Mega Auckland Day 1 then caching with Sol de Lune and Marcus Vitruvius. We headed down the hill and started looking for this. It was a but difficult in the tree cover, but with three of us and a bit of persistence we were happy to make the find after a good look round. Thanks.

12589.544 TNLN
Visited: World Traveling Gold GC A#6 & 10000 Finds A#252

Albida

Nice to grab one by the Mega man........

After a morning around the Mega site, Marcus Vitruvius, Albida33 and myself headed out this way to grab a few caches. No problems with this one and all was good.

Thanks for showing some visiting Aussies the area and for the cache....

Bush bashed and looked in the area for half an hour before finding it in a nice hideyhole!

Oh my, finding the obvious hidey hole for this cache wasn't so obvious as the GPSr was bouncing about all over the place! Thought we would never find it, but the hole eventually revealed itself. TFTC

Came to this from Balloon Branch. GPS kept pointing us into the bush. Dad thought (hoped) the track would double back and save us some bush bashing but no such luck. Off we went into the bush and through a fair bit of rubbish (mostly beer bottles and paint cans!). Once again GPS was not very helpful...we narrowed GZ down to an area of about 40 sq m and started looking at likely spots. After a few minutes Dad had the cache in hand.

A great day was rewarded with some geocaching in this area. TFTC

Last one for the day, found pretty quick.

Wanted 2 and 2.5 terrain caches for geo-licence, with both in this bush and being far enough away from home, to be able to do more that 1 a day, I spent the afternoon over this way.
Continues on from Balloon Branch but should have followed mike-Miss's tactic's, but when I got to 50m away a continued on along the main path in the hope that I might get closer. Unfortunately not, ended up 10m further away when I had to start into bush.]
Got to 12m away (from where GPSr was pointing) when I passed interesting spot, that I thought would have been a good place for a cache, had a glance in not expecting to find anything, but was pleasantly surprised that the CO had thought it was a good place for a cache too.
I'm sure that if I hadn't happened across GZ on my way in, I would have been searching in the wrong places for a long time.
Having track logs turned on, meant that I could take the shorter way back to the track (Definitely wouldn't have passed GZ if I'd come in that way, so in the end I'm glad the extra walk saved a lot of time (and frustration). TFTC

Got to committed to the catche

Carrying on from Balloon Branch, i made my way over to this cache. The track got me as close as 50m to the cache, so decided to bush bash my way through to GZ. On arrival, i spotted something that looked promising but further inspection yielded no cache. GPS wasn't behaving so i had a look around and spotted something else that needed investigating. Yep, cache found and nicely tucked away too!
Another step closer in finishing this series which ill need to do pretty quickly by the looks of things! The puzzle pieces are very wet and stuck together in their bag but was able to peel one away. TFTC FMZ!

Headed off piste in search of this one, searched for a while, checking every obvious nook and cranny....eventually I shouted the "found it" and this one was finally in the bag. Puzzle pieces were very damp, but managed to peel one off, and it dried pretty quickly in the sun on the way to the next cache, tftc

Been after this one several times and never could quite home in on it. But finally this time I simply walked straight up to it and there it was. Maybe it was because gps seemed to be more settled this time, or I opened my eyes for a change.

Out with evilno9 tidying up a few caches out this way, and decided to hit this track as our final activity for the day. Wandered down the track and then decided we were going to need to head of the track to get this one. So bashed through a bit, and was surprised to find someone sitting on the ground not too far away. Turns out if GP5. Nice to meet you, and made the find a little bit easier! Had a wee chat, and then headed off back down the hill. TFTC, and nice to meet you GP5.

Got as close as I could via the track then a wee bush-bash to GZ. GPS reception was not too good under the tree cover so this one took some time to find. Was just returning the cache to its hiding place when I heard someone approaching through the bush. It was Evilno9. Nice to meet you both. TFTC.

Wrapping up our afternoon caches and decided to finish up in the reserve here and try our luck. Was all quiet when we left the track to head towards GZ and it wasn't until I was getting close that I happened to look up and see someone else there which was not expected. Figured he could only (hopefully) have been geocaching and so it was that I got to meet GP5 for the first time. Even better he'd done all the hard work in locating the cache so we were in and out in no time. Good stuff! TFTC

TFTC! Very cool hidey hole. Puzzle pieces are SATURATED and logbook a bit damp but the cache in good condition other than that. Left some swag to trade.

Was planning to get some other caches but as I saw the traffic, parking and muggle situation along Tamaki Drive I aborted, pulled a u-turn and headed to Kepa Bush Reserve to get this instead.

Headed along the bath before turning into the bush about 70m from GZ. When I was about 15m from GZ according to my GPS I spotted something that looked rather like a cache and it was. An easy find which could have been much worse due to the tree cover. Some tuis nearby provided some entertainment for the ears. After signing bush bashed my way up to the reserve entrance.

Thanks!

This entry was edited by slieschke on Monday, 28 January 2013 at 13:34:17 UTC.

Although our GPS showed us a path nearby we had to do a decent bushwalk.
We found the cache in the third loacation we searched. But eventually we did it. Thanks.

Found on my 2nd attempt. Much better in the daylight, in fact not recommended after dark at all. Now... How to get out of here before the rain gets any heavier. TFTC.

Glad to find this cache in this wee reserve with Ric and my sister Joanne !

Nice to locate after a time since last find.
Well spotted Nanny. All OK. TFTC

Failed to find this last time. Still took quite some searching; the tree cover means the gps coordinates are a bit dodgy. I ended up trying some other coordinates mentioned in the log, which had me walking in the right direction.

Woot!  One more down.  That's five AMJC caches in three days.  I had looked for this one before without success.  With the rain coming in for the next couple of days I wanted to give this one another try.  It was mostly sunny today do I was hoping that would hold up.  Of course it didn't really start raining until I got to GZ.  How ironic!   After 15 minutes of searching I decided to try an alternate set of coordinates from a previous log.  They turned out to be no more accurate with the tree cover but they did take me through an area that I hadn't looked before and voila!  There is really no issue with the coords, its just all those trees and possible hiding spots that make it difficult.  Glad to knock this one off the list and that leaves just one more to go!   TFTC!

Wandered around the track for a bit longer than I should have until I found the trail that led to the cache. Poked a prodded a few possibles until the right one was found. TFTC, Biggles.

What happened to the track shown on google maps

This one is a bit damp but still salvageable. I dried it out as best I could and rehid it. The coordinates I got for this one are 174 49.695 E, 36 51.773 S.

The coordinates here were averaged for more than 10 minutes at GZ. Remember that wandering around under tree cover, your GPS might not be quite as accurate.

gps wouldn't get within 9m with a 12m or accuracy so no surprise i couldn't find it, but of a mess getting to it, maybe there is a path but i took the direct root.

Well as I was close to the brave world, I thought I would have another go at it. The street was full so ended leaving the car back at Eastridge and walked.
Using the montana this time still didn't help me find it. This was the second time back as the first time it was too muddy to get. Found many possible spots but no go. Mozzies seemed to be out as I was getting bitten.
Maybe 3rd time lucky.

After the trouble waith a DNF with the Oregon my new Montana 600 went right to it.

Go some co-ords that may be better.

S 36.51.776
E 174.49.696.

Puzzle is very wet but the log book is OK with the inclosed Gel Pen.

T4TC

So, I've been wanting to do this series for AGES but the caches are just too spread over Auckland! So... perfect opportunity now! With the car I brought yesterday!

I had decided this was the way I would head today, as I didn't really feel ready for motorways, and so I got this cache! I almost thought I wouldn't find it actually!!

So... despite seeing a bit of a trail, I decided I could cut down time for myself with the bush bash... not a good idea... esp not in jandals.

I was heading down straight for the cache, when I kinda stood on some logs/sticks/twigs. I was like meh, hurt a bit, but she'll be right! Looked down at my foot again, as it hurt pretty bad. And would ya look at that. A twig was poking out of the side of my foot. How the heck did it manage to get there?! It had dug in a whole cm! And just bled a wee bit though. Hurt, but it was only a small wound. So continued.

GPS was pointing towards a pretty set spot, which appeared as described in the hint. But no luck. Pretty much did these circles, each one with a larger radius than the last, expanding my search area. And just as I was about to give up, would you look at that!!

But yeah, the cache is pretty soaked. Managed to take a puzzle piece, but pretty soon the lot of them will be pulp. Tried to dry the whole cache out as good as possible, but it didn't really work.

Found a couple more caches, and then after arriving home, I think the adrenaline wore off... I actually can't properly stand on the foot, and the whole area where the stick was has swollen up to MASSIVE size! And is all red...I may take it down to the doctors tomorrow... Haha! All in a days geocaching!!

TFTC!!

Cache is soaked, logbook is pretty damp, and the puzzle pieces will soon be pulp unfortunately.

Wow never thought we would find this as iPhone was not at all accurate!!! Just persevered and found eventually! Nice little hidey hole TFTC

A bit of bush crashing required but worth it says the 9 yr old!!

Made ultra hard work of this # 399 cache. Spent forever looking everywhere, GPS everywhere but GZ. Finally found it just as I was about to abandon all hope. Why are these caches always in the last place you look? Came away with more camoflage on me than on a cache container having slipped and slid my way around the terrain. TFTC and more puzzle pieces.

Not so easy using an iPhone
Got there in the end
Cache is wet, dried out best as I could, but puzzle sheets are wet
Nice place to come to, there should be more hides in this bush I think
Thanks !!!

Another comparison test between the Garmin Nuvi and the Orgeon. The former would not settle flip flopping around whilst the Oregon was as steady as a rock and right on the button. t4tc

After finding AMJC11a we got interested in the master cache from the master. So, we parked the car somewhere along Tamaki Drive and jumped on the bike and found AMJC13 and then AMJC05 and then this one. Needed 2ndis this time, because I could not find it at first, but she found the puzzle pieces OK. It had started raining at that stage, so that was it for the day. Look forward to the rest.Thanks for the cache.

Coords were a bit off for us. Extended the search area and the found quite quickly thanks to the clue. TFTC.

Final cache of the day...Awesome place but I had to admire it on my own, my companion was too tired to walk on any terrain other than flat track.. As soon as I got this found on my gps, the battery died

Followed my natural instincts to get back on the proper track but it was not too hard.

TFTC

Great spot, nice walk, easy find. TFTC

This cache is located on a very special place. TFTC

Finally found on our 3rd attempt, can't believe be didn't find it earlier but nearly at the end of our puzzle quest. TFTC

Well we found it very easily but suspect we were rather lucky. TFTC

Back in Kepa Reserve this evening. Had hoped to do all three last evening but the failing light and the prospect of an off-track walk but stay to those plans. This time I was a little earlier in the evening, and bought the torch just in case. The GPS lead me to a pretty likely GZ, but no cache. I then let the GPS led me on a merry little dance around the bush. Like another finder I found the Jar of Vaseline. While a bit disgusted I was rather pleased that I was in the right area. After being led around in circles for a couple more times I was pointed back to the original likely spot, but from this perspective was able to see the cache sitting in actual GZ. Cache was a bit wet so I dried it out a bit. Contents remained dry in there bags. Signed the log, grabbed the TB and my first puzzle piece! Returned the cache with approprite natural cover-up as requested.

Didn't find a way leading me to the cache. Just went through the woods. Found the cache quickly and dropped a bug for the next cachers.
Thank you sais bobbele85 from Germany

Erratic gps and tired wee legs meant we got timed out. Maybe another day

Bit of a tricky one with GPS signal wandering around a bit. Initially found a small jar in a tree and thought aha! But alas, it turned out to be a jar of vaseline, very strange.
TFTC

The fifteenth of 21 on what proved to be a very tough day. I think that I walked at least 30 km today. TFTC

Got it ths time - nearly gave up.

TFTC

Off to a slow start today. Last night while at McDonalds (at 6-10pm) my campervan was broken into and laptop, phone, camera, money, compass and back-up GPS was stolen. Had to replace early this morning. Cache was found after a short search. SL left GC TFTC

Took off the afternoon and headed out with the whole Barkingmadnz family to line up our 100th cache find with two Jigsaw caches on the menu for 99 and 100. After doing the other two kepa bush caches we headed over to try this one to find it was hmmm just a little off track. With Big Mrs and little Ms 3yr and 4yr olds Barkingmadnz firmly saying no-way to bushbash today I was left to try and find the place myself. Hit the probable GZ with help of GPS and after reading the other logs, though GPS was jumping all over the shop, and gave it a fair old hunt - so many hiding spots! Boo hoo, without my 3 other sets of eyes the cache went unfound. Here's hoping we can piece together the jigsaw without this one..we shall wait and see.

2090 Nice area, gps reception alittle off but got there without too much of a search. TFTC

Once gps settled all found with the fantails and tuis
Great spot with lots of birds following us

http://www.t4tc.co.nz/

I sure did enjoyed this cache most of all had a good chat with a fantail that followed us all the way to and from the cache before Leaving us as with the two Tui's.

[11:40] (-12h) #1144

CacheTour: New Zealand with foobert
Day: 21 of 23
Previously found geocaches of the day: 2

easily found

TFTC

TYFTC

Nice spot. Took us a while thou. TFTC!

the resident fantail seemed to delight that we were flitting around as much as it was - we seemed at risk of putting our hands on it as often as we were at risk of putting our feet on very scary broken glass. We were very glad to eventually find it and be able to move on. At least the search was unlikely to be viewed by muggles.

Phew! I found it, talk about red herrings! TFTC!

Round and around she goes... where is GZ? nobody knows.

Found it eventually, just before getting dizzy & giving up.

I think the satelites were playing games with me.

Out and about "road testing" the new Oregon. No worries with the GPS lock or the find. The new toy took me straight to it. Thanks.

This 'easy' cache proved to be a bit of a challenge. Combination of 'flaky' GPS data and preponderance of possible 'hidey-holes' made this somewhat a lottery for us. No way would we have attempted this one had it been located in Australia.
Never mind we got there in the end.

Getting closer to the final now......

Nice reserve.

TFTC

DNF, all we found were mozzies, cockroaches and spiders, no cache

Really nice hide - a bit off the beaten track. The GPSr was all over the place, but we eventually found the cache.

Nice hiding spot - was a bit fooled by a similar one nearby
T4TC

Couldnt find my way to GZ

Glad to find this one on second attempt.....'needle in a hay stack' comes to mine ...AMJC hunt....piece number 12....TFTC

Had a DNF on this one last time but had it in hand within 20 seconds today. It must have been the ONLY spot I didn't search on the previous visit.
Many thanks

This one is s real challenge as GPS very random. We didn't stop looking but were just about to give up when bingo...found it. Great fun.

No joy with this one today. Very poor reception under the tree cover ( around 12m). Clue was of little use due the many hidey holes about the place. Others try to avoid the broken glass.

Also these HTML graphics on the log page play merry hell with Oregon when you send it via the Send to GPS option. [:(!] [xx(]

Went for an afternoon stroll through the bush and got half way down the path thinking "It can't be off the path surely?" so did a bit of bush trekking to the GZ. Easy find and found Gadget-tron's glasses which were almost trampled by the Sasquatch . Looks like they've been roosting with the local natives as a few animal deposits on the lens' . TFTC Took a puzzle piece.

On an AMJC mission today. The goal is to complete the series today having only done one 13 days ago.

This was ninth on the list and was soon done with. I stabbed myself with a branch and leaked a little of the red stuff. Not serious though, should be able to cache the rest of the day out.

Cheers for the cache.

Second time here and success this time. Was close the first time but GPS really does not like this tree cover. TFTC

Somehow we made this one harder than it needed to be. Took a wrong track or two before we decided to just follow the arrow. GZ co-ords all over the place, but sorted it out eventually. TFTC

Darn - had a good hunt around and could see typical geocaching sign around the area but no luck for us. Will have another go when next in town.

Lots of likely places to look in. T4TC - M@

Starting our "FMZ: Addicted?" geocoin...

Took a while, GPSr all over the place and so many obvious spots. I had a very short time constraint on this one as I had to pick up the wife from work, but with one minute remaining of my search time she rang to say she would be late finishing. Needed a good 5 minutes more to finally track down the elusive cache.

TFTC

Found while back in the city with friends

Well we finally made it to this one. Had the chance for a dawn raid all the way from Paihia but bed was too comfortable and maybe we are not quite as mad as kiwicouple At least we got a 3TF so not too bad and also another two puzzle pieces T4TC.

Boy this one had me going for a while, took ages for the GPS to settle, and even then it didn’t help much. Found eventually. TFTC

Our 100th FTF. Kiwicouple's First to Find Geocoin visiting.