Te Matua Ngahere - Father of the Forest (N'land) Waipoua Forest, North Island, New Zealand
By FaberOptimé on 17-Dec-09. Waypoint GC223BA

I am regretfully archiving this cache since there's been no response from nor action by the cache owner within the time frame requested in the last reviewer note.

Hi FaberOptimé

This geocache was brought to my attention as being in need of an owner maintenance visit.

**It appears that this cache can only be accessed by leaving the track. If this is not the case, then you need to check the cache to make sure it is hidden as intended.** I can see that you have made changes to your listing regarding Kauri Dieback so it is good to see you are aware of the problem. Leaving the track could potentially help spread the disease, so this cache will need to be moved, or archived.

If a month passes without seeing a response, then I'll assume that this listing should be archived

Regards
The Coddiwompler

I visited the Kauri forest on 9th of January and it was fantastic to see these incredibly big and old trees.
I really hate to write this needs archive log, but see no other option.

The cache listing itself says that one should not leave the walkways and that Kauri Dieback is a real problem. Nonetheless the cache is placed in a way that it cannot possibly be reached without leaving the track. It is not even possible with just one foot on the track, you have to leave it with both feet.
Yes, it is close to the track, but close does not mean you don't have to leave the track and there is only one thing that is asked from visitors here: DO NOT LEAVE THE TRACKS. The friendly personnel at the cleaning station specifically told us and many signs also do.
I have attacked a photo of the big stump where the cache is hidden according to the hint. As I did not leave the track I could not verify if the cache is really there - but the coordinates and hint point there, so that people will look exactly there.

If people leave the track here, others may be motivated to do the same in other places. It sets a really bad precedent and can be very harmful due to the Kauri Dieback disease.
As said I am really sorry to write this log - this location deserves a cache. A virtual like with Tane Mahuta might be better - but of course virtuals are not available to everyone for creating.

Photos showing the problem attached.

The Hint was good - a quick find. The muggels were the biggest problem. TFTC

During our stay near ? Forest, we wanted to visit the impressive Kauri trees. First stop was at Tane Mahuta, but we also wanted to visist the Four Sisters (which were closed off unfortunately) and Te Matua Ngahere. This as well as the other Kauris on the way were pretty impressive as well. The cache is a few meters off the track and probably rightly archived now. When being on site, I quickly grabbed the cache since there did not seem to be any Kauris in this spot. TFTC!

After seeing Tane we headed down for a short walk around here.

Shame to see so many tracks closed, but as a resident of the Waitakeres I am well aware of what's going on so made do with what we could today.

Easy find at GZ without any issues (being tall helped for some extra reach). Nice spot - TFTC

Nice quick find

Found it.

On our awesome Tour through this beautiful country we also found this one. TFTC!

It's time for Xmas holidays!
At Munich airport I met Jon Snow and Ari and a couple of muggles. Here we started our common holiday tour.
First we went to Singapore by plane, where we stayed one night and strolled through this beautiful city. It was really amazing!
Then we went on to our real destination: New Zealand!
Within nearly four weeks we first explored the North Island, followed by the South Island in the second half of our journey. We could discover unique landscapes and great nature, we saw many animals (and no, I'm not talking about sand flies here), we met nice people and found also some caches.
Thanks to all the owners for elaborating, hiding and maintaining their caches! Staying and caching in and was a great experience and real fun!
Greetings from "good old Europe", H.N.

Very impressive tree!

Vacation at the original locations of the LotR-films!

Together with Jon Snow and H_Nelson and some friends-of-mine-muggles we went to New Zealand for almost four weeks, collecting many great impressions of both islands, their awesome landscapes, their clinging (and indeed very annoying!) muggles and bushes, their fascinating wildlife (especially the sandflies were very clinging, too), their various locations of my favorite movies (although the guided tours were very overpriced!) and last but not least their nice geocaches!
I fell especially in love with New Zealand's bushes because most of the caches are hidden deep inside. And the good thing is: there are definitely no muggles there!!!
It was a very nice vacation with many great impressions and experiences!

Found it before visiting the father of the forest. Very impressive here in the wood! Cache was easy to find.

TFTC and greetings from Bavaria, Ari

Found during our Christmas and New Year vacation roadtrip around New Zealand.

TFTC #7448 - Greetings from Denmark

The father of the forest. An appropriate name for a tree in this size and age. On the way to GZ we've seen some more Kauris, not as big and old as te matua ngahere, but in a couple of hundred years they will probably have a name they can be proud of it.

Greets from Germany.
Tftc. Danke fürs Dösle

Tramyard and I headed up north on a roadtrip to find the Northland geotour caches. We would have been up this way last weekend if I wasn't completing a half-marathon for charity and tramyard wasn't at a competition.

We stayed near Opononi last night and were heading back to Auckland via the west coast. Today we were targeting high favourite caches and virtuals after completing the geotour caches up north.

It has been over 15 years since I previously visited this area, so it was nice to return. Pity that two of the tracks are now closed, but it is better to take precautionary action then to lose the wonders in this forest. We quickly located the cache before continuing to visit the father of the forest

NLBokkie and I are going on holiday to New Zealand for 3 weeks. In Auckland we rent a camper. We start on the North island and driving to the south to make the crossing to the South island. Here we make a round and then take the boat back to the North Island. A long trip, but a very beautiful one! We do and see a lot on our way.........…

In addition to being a tourist, we are also going to cache along the way. The virtuals and earth caches are often on tourism places. If we have a long day of traveling, we stop for some caches.
It were great weeks!

Berrydehamster and me are travelling in New Zealand for three weeks. We cross the country from north to south and back again by campervan, see a lot, do a lot, visit lots of places and meet a lot of people. It’s nice to be here and we have a great time.

As both of us are geocachers, we find a lot of caches on our travels. This is one of the caches we found. Thanks for your cache, FaberOptimé, that helped give us a wonderful time here.

Ich liebe Bäume und der ist super. Zum Glück nicht viel los.
TFTC

Good walk and a quick find.
Greetings from Wales
TFTC

During our vacation in New Zealand we did some geocaching. We saw a lots of amazing places and say thank you to everyone who shared his geocache with us.

Greetings from Germany!
Rote Teufel

Found on a nice Short walk around in the Woods.
TFTC
twin trapper

TFTC FaberOptimé... after visiting the more generally known Tane Mahuta further down the road, we decided we would complete our community participation trip with our tangata whaiora, by visiting the Kauri Walk.

Always lovely to walk amongst nature. Very sad to see how Kauri dieback is affecting these beautiful trees...and we can only hope we are able to keep them alive in our lifetime, for our future generations to admire.

A nice easy stroll to GZ... the hint made this very easy to spot the location. Was a bit weary of walking even a step off the track, but only needed the one careful step.... a fair reach to attain, but grateful I managed without bringing harm to anything.

Cache was soaked, as was log, so placed a fresh sheet of paper in with a snaplock until maintenance is able to be performed. Also left a bit of homemade SWAG. Plenty room for others to add too.

Thank you for giving that extra motivation to come here today. Love being able to mix geocaching while working!

Definitely worth carrying on the track to see Te Matua o Ngahere in all of its glory! A sense of calmness and wellbeing as you admire the magnificent sight.

Unfortunately the track to the four sisters has been closed and blocked off, as our whaiora seemed to have really enjoyed the bush walks today.

Found together with rramaT whilst traveling around New Zealand. TFTC!

We visited Waipua Forest and these impressive Kauri trees whilst traveling around New Zealand. Unfortunately several of the walkways were closed and we couldn't visit some of the Kauri's that we were hoping to see. After finding this Cache, we met an American Lady who spotted us taking pictures of some of our trackables and wanted to know all about Geocaching. Thanks for the Cache, we had a really nice time here!

I really wanted to see the big kauri trees during our visit to New Zealand. So yesterday we drove from east coast to west coast and today we walked to the kauri trees. What a imposing sight! Thank you for placing a cache here.

Felt bad just taking 2 steps off the path, but caching needs must! Also didn’t like putting my hand into a big, dark, damp hole, but sometimes you’ve just got to do these things! Nice quick find and now on to see Te Matua Ngahere. TFTC

We decided to travel the scenic route heading North for this trip to Coopers Beach. Stopped here and enjoyed the track down, admiring the kauri to be seen on the walk for the latter part of the journey. At GZ cache found and signed but due to its previous placement - upside down- water has soaked the log book. Could benefit from some CO TLC. TFTC

Note: Due to Kauri die back access to the Four Sisters and Yakas is no longer possible. The track to Te Matua Ngahere is still currently open.

Found on my trip north enjoying the caches in the area

Hallo, auf der Rundreise durch Neuseeland auch einige Caches mitgenommen. Toller Wald mit wunderbaren Bäumen.
Danke fürs Verstecken und
TFTC die Krümelmonsters

Following the tourist route meant a stop in here. Such a great experience to witness the tree first hand.

A bit soggy but a solid find.

Found it! TYFC!

#3,481: Crowded Smiley!
I came to this one on a loop around here from Whangarei with the family. Very nice to see the trees, and we enjoyed ourselves a lot. Quick find with GeoYoungling #3 at GZ.
SL/TFTC!!

On our way from Waipua Forest to Taihia, D4nielB and me took the time to look for some geocaches on our route.
This one was an easy find - no muggels around when we were there.
Greetings from Hamburg, Germany.
Juliane

Today Jul1ane and me drove from Waipoua Forest to Taihia in the Bay of Islands. On the way we also stopped at this place to visit this aweseome tree. Thanks for leading us here.

Zusammen mit Firze habe ich mich auf den weiten Weg von Deutschland nach Neuseeland gemacht. Während unseres wunderschönen Urlaubs konnten wir nicht nur die Einzigartigkeit dieses wunderschönen Landes genießen, sondern auch diesen schönen Cache finden und loggen.
Vielen dank an den Owner fürs Legen und Pflegen
Grüße aus OWL / Deutschland

Together with Firze I made the long journey from Germany to New Zealand. During our wonderful holiday, we not only enjoyed the uniqueness of this beautiful country, but also found and logged this beautiful cache.
Many thanks to the owner for laying and maintaining
Greetings from OWL / Germany

Zusammen mit Steffi985 habe ich mich auf den weiten Weg von Deutschland nach Neuseeland gemacht. Während unseres wunderschönen Urlaubs konnten wir nicht nur die Einzigartigkeit dieses wunderschönen Landes genießen, sondern auch diesen schönen Cache finden und loggen.
Vielen dank an den Owner fürs Legen und Pflegen
Grüße aus OWL / Deutschland

Together with Steffi985 I made the long journey from Germany to New Zealand. During our wonderful holiday, we not only enjoyed the uniqueness of this beautiful country, but also found and logged this beautiful cache.
Many thanks to the owner for laying and maintaining
Greetings from OWL / Germany

Thanks for that Cache- Merci pour la Cache - Dzięki za Cache - Grazie per questo Cache - Takk for at Cache - Obrigado por isso Cache - Gracias por el Cache - Díky za keš - Ačiū už tą talpyklą - Paldies par šo Cache - Aitäh selle eest Cache - Спасибо за то кэш - Kiitos, että Cache - Tack för att Cache - Tak for denne Cache - Hvala cache - Ευχαριστώ για τη μνήμη cache - 感謝您的高速緩存 - Önbellek için teşekkürler - Köszönjük, hogy a cache - Bedankt voor de cache - Graças para o cache - Dankon pro la kaŝmemoron

Another beautiful walk tyftc

Nach den eindrücklichen vier Schwestern noch diesen schnell geloggt.
TFDC und Grüsse aus old

I'm happy! TB X2
HELLO FROM LATVIA!

Found with JesseJam, thank you.

So nice to find it on our way to the father of the forest.
A bit disappointed as the TB's have disappeared.
Greetings from France.

With Lemmer in New Zealand at amazing caches. Thank you for showing all that beautiful places. flatrate

Great tree. Father named. Thanks

The father of the forest is really huge. We were impressed.
Good to find a cache on the way to this big tree. T4tc

Amazing trees and a cache on our way - perfect!
Mächtige Bäume und ein Cache auf dem Weg - passt!

Today good to find.because of thw hint. The paper is wet

Our first cache in New Zealand tftc

On our way to the amazing Kauris, we stopped here to log this cache.
The logbook is wet and should be replaced sometimes.
TFTC and greetings from Austria

A quick find in the beautiful forest. I like such old trees. Log wet.
TFTC and greetings from Austria

Nadherne stromy. TFTC

Easy find as the bus load of Muggels just walked past beforehand. Thank you

On our 44th day in New Zealand we had to leave Paihia and return to Auckland. This means we're back to square one and will soon have to leave beautiful New Zealand. We took the road along the west coast in order to see the Kauri trees. What an experience this is and well worth the longer drive!
After visiting Tane Mahuta we stopped also here for these Kauri trees and the cache. It was a nice walk and again so many so impressive trees! The cache was a quick find, one can see the item as it is huge and then the box is found quickly. Again, the trees here are incredible and we're so glad we visited them. Leave also for this one here an FP.
TFTC and greetings from Switzerland

Heute fuhren wir die letzte Etappe von Paihia nach Auckland. Wir nahmen den Weg durch den Waipua Forest um die riesigen, alten Kauris nicht zu verpassen.
Die Box war rasch gefunden. TFTC

A good found between nice trees

11176
We visited the Waipoua forest twice. Yesterday evening we were part of a guided tour organized by Footprints Waipoua. The Maori (say 'modi') guide learned us a lot about the Kauri (say 'kodi') trees and their history. Also about how to pronounce the Maori words and the meaning of several words. It was great to experience this all, in the way it should be. These woods mean a lot to the Maori. We listened to his Maori-songs in honour and respect for these old trees.
This afternoon we went back with the two of us, to experience it all over again. We are in awe of the beauty of these forest giants and enjoyed these short strolls a second time.
Now we also logged two caches on our way. Thanks for placing them here!

Dropped a coin there after visiting these gigantic trees. We went also to Tane Mahuta afterwards.
BTW The Yakas Walk is currently closed due to the Kauri dieback disease (until further notice).
TFTC

Oh great place and hide. Wonderful trees. TFTC FP awarded.

A quick and easy find between two groups of muggles. The Kauri trees walk was very nice and it's great to see so many Kauri trees as one spot. Thanks for the cache.

Today we made a daytrip to the unbelievable kauri trees. It was so amazing to see this great trees which we don’t have in Europe. Thanks for the cache

On the way to the south - direction Coromandel, we stop and log this cache.
TFTC
schmerzbefreit

It is soaked but so is everything Else in this wonderful Forest. TFTC

#3839 Still very wet, but I logged in. A amazing trees! We visited four sisters and Tana Mahuta. Thanks for the cache, greetings from Czech Republic.

Kauri Froest - amazing. Visited the 4 sisters now on to here. Quick find. Cheers and a fav.

Its Friday - day Seven -Kaitaia area with The Seagnoid and Zara today. Toby and William at Motor Doctors again!

Its another epic 4 week geocaching adventure with The Seagnoid, Zara, Toby and Willam to the Far North. What an amazing place to explore. Lots of walks, gravel roads and sand. Lots of amazing trees, beaches and interesting POIs. Lots of kilometers traveled by vehicle and foot. Vehicle breakdowns, making new friends and catching up with old friends and family. Snagged a couple of FTF's, lots of lonely caches and the odd event along the way. Lots of cache maintenance and replaced caches on this trip. But what an incredible adventure!!. Thanks to all the CO's who have made this trip so memorable..

Big tree time.There is a gentle rain, but it is enough that we need raincoats, and it has made everything pretty - I love how everything is washed clean and the leaves glisten. On the way to Dad we were wonder where all the young kauri were. On the way back we saw them everywhere! Removed the wet log from the cache to keep the current log dry. Added a favourite

Logtime: 13:35 #6568
Heute: 5. Cache von total 5 Caches.

Die mächtigen Kauribäume beeindrucken sehr. Den Cache haben wir gut gefunden. Leider ist das Logbuch nass.

Google translate:
The mighty Kauri trees are very impressive. We found the cache good. Unfortunately the logbook is wet.

Danke und Gruss
simeat und Frau
Switzerland.

Today we visited the beautiful kauri trees and searched for some caches, including this one. Very nice location! Many thanks for bringing us here and hiding the cache. Greetings from Germany !
#493

Kurz nach der Besichtigung der vier Schwestern gesucht und gefunden. T4TC from Germany

Northland Day 1: We drove up from Auckland to Hokianga today, passing through the Hibiscus Coast before heading across to Kaipara District and then into the Hokianga Harbour. Stopped by various beautiful regions along the way to take in the views, and of course, there was always room a few cache finds... well, not a few Thanks to all the COs along the way for showing us the lovelier parts of the Northland!

The following is the specific log for each cache:
The Waipoua Forest was amazing and lived up to my expectations! What beautiful trees and a lovely walk. I was really worried that the cache might be in a spot that would harm the trees, but, as it turns out, it shouldn’t hurt the poor trees. Please don’t go wandering off any deeper than a few steps in! Anyway, cache was found, the damp logbook was signed to the best of my abilities, and so, TFTC!

Remarkable tree in a magnificent wood.

Bisschen Skrupel gehabt, weil man ja nicht vom Weg abweichen soll. In einem günstigen Moment hat mein Mann dann vorsichtig nachgeschaut und die Dose geborgen.

We had a nice walk here to see the beautiful Kauri trees. At the cache location we had to wait a littlebit until some muggles had disappeared but then it was a quick find.

Thanks for the cache says
mevo

Logbook very wet

This is a Pre-Log, a detailed text will follow!

I went to NZ for a 5 week long roadtrip. The nature was just stunning! This geocache showed us again a very nice place. TFTC!

Found it during a holiday on the beautiful New Zealand.
TFTC and Greetings from Czech rep.

Day to drive, walk and (try) do some caches from Omapere to Piha.

This logbook it's very wet and is impossible to write in.

I love this walk in Nature and those trees over here.

Walking past this one so I had to do it, a short search and the container was located BUT the logbook was saturated my pen wouldn’t write on it just put a hole in the paper - so I have taken a pix as proof kingfisherau 12:00 pm 21/10/18 and replaced all as found,
FaberOptimé - TFTC.

Thanks for the cache.

Faund on our trip too New Zealand

Found this cache on our walk through Waipoua forest. It was an amazing trip. The Kauri trees are awesome. TFTC

Found this one while visiting the Forest and the Kauri trees.

Dieser Geocacher hat gemeldet, dass es ein Problem mit diesem Cache gibt.

Found it today during our wonderful Kauri walk. Enjoyed these fascinating huge and majestic and yet so peaceful and strong trees. TFTC

Ps only logbook could be found in the container, logbook was wet although container looked intact.

After talking with a DOC Ranger and being assured that this track was ok to walk on as it is gravel and board walked we set off, coming from Waitakere the prevention of Kauri dieback is paramount. This cache is not anywhere near Kauri and is less than 1 metre off the gravel road. We had the track and the majestic Kauri to ourselves today. Good to see a new Kauri dieback station in place.

I loved this walk today with Granny, took lots of photos of our beautiful Kauri.

Out on a mission today, to collect as many caches as possible toward the Hidden Creatures souvenirs. With very few unfound local caches, a decent journey was required. Left at dawn and covered over 300km through the winding gravel back roads of Northland, passing through Twin Bridges, Donnelley's Crossing, Waipoua forest, Omapere, Opononi and Taheke, before the heavy rain finally set in. This heavy rain, combined with the sunset, put a halt to further searching, so had to settle in the end for 29 finds and 7 DNFs for the day.

Next stop for the day was here to go for a walk along the tracks to see some more of these magnificent trees. Kauris are one of my favourite trees and there are certainly lots of nice specimens on the drive to get here. Unfortunately, there were also a few skeletons from dead ones as well, so hope it's not from the dieback disease spreading.

there were a few muggles on the track today, so I tried to outpace them, to give myself a few minutes uninterrupted at GZ. This sort of worked, but I wasted the time at the wrong stump as the GPS wasn't giving me a good fix. Whilst waiting for the next groups to pass through, I detoured to the four sisters and once back from them found the correct location quickly and was able to (just) sign the wet log and replace, before another group arrived. TFTC

This story in stuff mentions geocaching and doesn't give it a favourable rap.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/105302459/kauri-dieback-the-battle-against-the-biological-bulldozer

It may be worth considering making all the caches going into the larger kauri forests either temporarily unavailable or archiving as there is no cure in sight for this disease and geocachers need to be responsible here to avoid damaging the reputation of the sport. These iconic trees need our help.

Worth the walk. Photos can not do the beauty of this forest justice.

Found today during our kauri walk. Absolutely impressed by these massive trees but very sad that this forrest is almost the last raims of kauris. TFTC

We found this cache today - but the log is very wet- could not write in the book

Beautiful area - saw the four sisters.
TFTC

Wow, now that is a huge tree. Saw the 4 sisters as well, which only look like 2 from certain angles. Beautiful forest. The cache was a quick find, but the log book is damp. Thank-you FaberOptimé for placing this cache for our enjoyment. Out caching with Will of the Wisp on our “Round the World in 80 Days” trip to celebrate retirement. Signing logs with our names or initials depending on space. Greetings from England, TFTC.

Found in our holidays to New Zealand.
Greetings from Germany and

TFTC,

JuStMeMi

What a great place. We saw so many interesting Things during our walk.

TFTC
cassandra07

Very lovely walk to this hide. Unfortunately log is soaked and writing on it is a mission. TFTC FaberOptimé. Found 27/3/18 4:08 pm. Cache 1486 for us.
~~~~~
Found and logged using the brilliant Cachly app for iPhone. Easy to use and with many great features for cachers of all levels.

A big giant with sensitive roots. Nice walk. TFTC

Found during our road trip. Around 14:04 we signed the log.

We love these awesome trees!
On the return nobody has seen us logging.
Tftc
Greetings from Germany.
b hats gefunden

Found this one during our Holiday in New Zealand.

Quick find.

TFTC

Ordentlicher Regen im Regenwald, auf dem Hinweg sind wir vorbeigelaufen und auf dem Rückweg, beeindruckt vom Vater, dann gehoben. TFTC