Jungle Loop (Tararua Forest Park) Manakau, North Island, New Zealand
By LeftyNZ on 04-Jan-10. Waypoint GC22PDJ

This was my first visit to this area and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was glad that I decided to leave my car at the first gate and walk in - it's a nice walk and only took 25 minutes. The gravel road is clear until 130m from the end but it's pretty narrow with some steep drop-offs to one side and at least one place which would have taken out the sump of my car.This cache was my last stop and was the main target for me today, having not been found for over 5 years.I managed to find my way onto the loop track and it was clear that I was the first person to come this way for many years. It was very overgrown and the wooden infrastructure (steps, signage) was very rotten. It felt a lot like being in an abandoned fun park.But the orange track markers were still in place and I was able to make my way around the track to GZ with no major dramas. I quickly spotted the hint location and clambered up to be greeted with the sight of the brightly coloured cache.The cache is in pretty grim condition unfortunately. There was no water in it but everything is pretty rank inside.I was able to sign the log though.Thanks very much for a very memorable cache. FP added.

parked at the first gate and walked up to the cache, it really was quite jungle-like, nice little loop, picnic area was very boggy - wonder if it's always like that, nice hiding spot, helpful hint

I've been looking for an excuse to start to attempt some of my local caches that have a harder terrain rating, so having bought some new hiking boots last weekend I thought I'd break them in with a weekend of tramping. Yesterday I manages about 15km, and today I had less time so only managed about 7 or 8km, but managed to get up this little valley to make a start on the 6 caches I still need to find.

So this was the second stop for my day. Even though the weather was good and there had been no major rain for a while, I decided to park up at the end of the road and walk the two and a half kms to the cache, even though I could have driven nearer to GZ along the track. I was a bit surprised to find a bloody great landslip had taken the path away not far short of the start of the Bush loop track. I'm not sure how old it is, but it appears to have happened some time ago.
I clambered over the slip, and continued down to the camping area. The dunny is still there, but the picnic table has gone, and only the concrete remains of the BBQ hearth. I suspect that the area sees little use now because of the slip.

The bush walk itself was nice and easy. The Hint helped me locate the cache quickly although when opened, the container had quite a lot of water inside. Because the log book was kept double bagged, it was merely damp and could still be signed. I replaced the container in it's hiding spot, but upside down which should at least prevent the build up of water inside again. Then it was back to the picnic area to start the search for the next one.

Almost 22 months since this one was last logged, although the last written entry in the logbook is from January 2016!

Thank you for placing your cache, and giving me the opportunity to discover a new location.

Sign at road head says closed. You can walk from there though. Slip is 200m from car park. Fairly big but can be crossed safely. Great spot for cache. Very muddy.

A nice walk in to this one but quite muddy and damp after rain. A good hiding spot but having younger agile people to retrieve it is a good idea

#1562 A good sized slip to cross here. Road is closed to traffic - passable by foot. I had to cross this in order to find what was a lonely cache - 312 days since the last find.

Thanks for another cache on this adventerous day, and halping my smilie count climb.

#6281. A little drive along North Manakau Road into a seldom visited entrance to the Tararua Forest Park. It was interesting to see that we had now travelled from Manawatu-Wanganui back into the Wellington Region. The parking area was empty, so it was all quiet. We did not see the picnic table at the start, and decided to take the bush walk in the clockwise direction. Along the way, we came across a large fallen tree blocking the track, which we managed to negotiate around. The cache was a quick find at GZ. Cache was wet inside, but the triple bagged logs were relatively dry. Took nothing, left nothing, signed log. Thanks for the cache.

(We continued on the track clockwise to return to the start, without encountering any further fallen trees blocking the way.)

Yes, it's a bit of an isolated spot. The drive in is a little rough. We managed in a 2wd vehicle by driving carefully. One rocky patch was a little dicey, but otherwise the road was manageable (just).
Pleasant walk to the cache. Took a few minutes to find. Bit wet inside the container. And it started raining before we got back to the car. Raining quite heavily as we headed off to the other cache in the vicinity. Rather localised because it was sunny back out nearer the coast.
#585. TFTC.

Found with Grandma and Grandad.
TFTC

Found with W.E.K.A.
TFTC

After finding the other caches in the area, and returning to the car, it was a quick walk up to this cache, which was a quick easy find, and again we replaced the soggy wet log with a dry one. TFTC

Bumpy road indeed, in hindsight a long wheel base Hiace with 300kg of sound equipment loaded in the back was a poor choice... However, I have found that there is very little that can't be achieved with brute force and ignorance and thus I made it to the end car park. Well worth the white knuckle drive, although I would suggest that this road SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED I. A 2 WHEEL DRIVE unless you are suicidal or incredibly competent behind the wheel.

After finally getting to the waypoint the cache was an easy find, although it had so much water in it I was unable to sign the log book. As the CO has been offline for several months and is possibly unaware of cache conditions I will come back next week (with 4x4) and replace all log books in this area.

Jeez I see what you mean about a bumpy road,but the ole trusty CRV did good.
Quick find once Id spotted hint.Really muddy today.
Felt really secluded out here like I was away from civilisation.Awesome it was

A good scramble up into the cave and the GPS was spot on.

Hehe, that must be the quickest 30 minute walk I've ever done! And a jungle alright! a very interesting spot. Quick find on this one, a couple of the others up here took a bit longer.

TFTC

Nice find - only short looking for this one.

TFTC - I nice quick loop walk and a great hiding spot! Took a parachute man & left a finger torch.

wouldn't have known of these tracks if it wasn't for geo-caching. Really love this area.
A shorter run than we expected, even with over-shooting GZ & having to double back. GPS kept quiting under the trees, but cache found easily enough with clue. Everything damp, but log book still signable. Left a pet rock - a raccoon. TFTC

First of the day visited, last of the day logged. Lefty thanks for bringing me out this way.

Loved this place. No signposts to suggest that the park is even here. A tranquil spot with the river and birdsong in the background.

As mentioned the cache is a bit wet, but the log book is only damp.

TNLN
TFTC

Went for a quick walk around the loop track after finding the other nearby caches, and popping up to Mt Thompson. Reception was poor under the trees, but once we were in the right spot there was no doubt about where to look, thanks to the hint. Thanks for the cache.

Easy find with @Kaikawaka on a lovely day TFTC

Got to the carpark no problems and set off round the loop. Always like finding these places that you wouldn't otherwise necessarily know about. Track slippery. Found cache no problem. Yes has been wet inside, but luckily contents still dry. Great area. TFTC

The cache container had water in it and wasnt quite sure how this happened, may need owner to check as the container doesnt look very watertight, replaced the bags for logbook and placed it into 2 lockbags to try and keep the logbook dry.

After doing Mt Thompson day tripper, we decided that since we were in the area it would be a good opportunity to clean out a few caches in this area. Arriving at the carpark after our nice driver agcnz and our loyal gate opener -gonefishing- got me there safely, we saw a local hunter just finishing off his hunt for the day. After finding the picnic table we then decided to have a quick bite before setting out to find this cache, after leading the group out after the cache, I kind off missed the turnoff and started heading off at a different path and the terrain rating was getting a bit higher than it should, so we decided to retrace our path and realised that I missed the turnoff and sent agcnz to guild us to the cache, I must be blind, actually I was as I wasnt wearing my glasses. After a quick walk we finally arrived at GZ, and agcnz climbed the last few metres to the cache and handed it down to us, after opening the cache I realised that there was a geocoin in the cache and decided that I had better rescue it from it's jail as it has being here long enough. Thanks for bringing me to this lovely spot, now which way is out, oh yeah down, that right, or is it left, TFTC LNSL (3380)

Came here on a day's walking in the area with -gonefishing- and Yeetrees to deal to some unfound caches. Great company and a really enjoyable walk - this was the first of four in this group after returning from Mt Thompson. Cache was an instant find in the obvious place. Signed log, TFTC!

Out and about with agcnz and yeetrees, picking up all the caches in the area. Visited this one straight after Mt Thompson. agcnz spotted this one pretty quickly as we arrived at GZ. A nice little loop, but surprisingly short given the signposted time! The only obstacle we had to negotiate was the hunter skinning his pig at the bottom of the track.
TFTC.

Found pretty quickly despite my GPS telling me I was still 30 metres away. Saw a likely spot, and sure enough there was the cache. The last few metres were very slippery. Quite a lot of water in the container which was a bit of a surprise, log book was a little damp but signed ok. TNLN SL TFTC

Wasn't expecting to reach the GZ so quickly so had the GPSr in my pocket and when I did pull it out it was well behind me! Finished the loop then popped back up again for a quick find. A really nice little loop and great spot for a cache, TFTC!

This entry was edited by ctredpath on Sunday, 20 March 2011 at 10:49:15 UTC.

A nice little walk and didn't take long to find.
+geocoin
Thanks

Found the track by going cross country to begin. Once on track, an easy find

TFTC very pleasant walk and easy find.

# 304 T4TC Nice spot for a cache. Great day for caching

found once we got the gps working in the jungle
- car
- neclace
+key ring
+ empty bullet shell
TFTC

A nice walk. Pretty wet though. Been a few good rock falls on the road.
Needless to say Mrs Spider-Bite wasn't too impressed when we arrived home with her car covered in mud !!
TFTC

One hike, four caches - great! we really enjoyed the tour in this amazing landscape.

Cheers
Dschuko

Quick easy find. Only took a few minutes to run around the loop, quite wet and muddy in areas. First find of the day. TNLN. TFTC.

Once I got on the right track this was an easy find TFTC

Great walk, and an easy find when we trusted the GPS. TFTC

Found with the Emvy_us clan on a pleasant afternoon's caching. TFTC, would never have come this way otherwise.

Geodatum and I had been eyeing up this cluster of caches put out by LeftyNZ. It was a pleasant Sunday afternoon outing and nice and cool in the bush. We did not drive the 2WD car in all the way, and stopped about 500m short of the car park. Actually apart from one rocky bit where we backed up and parked, the road was not too bad. We walked in to this one from the top track and "jungle" is an apt description - picking our way slowly downhill through the supplejack. However GZ was spot on and an excellent hiding spot. We then walked out the easy track down to the car park and headed on to claim our next one in the series. Thanks for the fun.

Found this with Edvern. We took the "high road" and had to "bushbash" from the track down the steep slope to the cache which we hit spot on. TFTC. Geodatum.

haha now that was fun. definitley a wild adventure but quite simple...King loved it (especially the mud which we washed off in the river on such a beautiful day)...Obvious..Heck Yeah!!!! Loved it!!!

A quick find. Did the loop track, not very long at all. An enjoyable walk and a good place for a cache. Off to find the others in the area. .
TNLNSL. TFTC.

A quick loop of the track. Was surprised It wasn't at the very top. Got within a couple metres and knew where to look.
TNLNSL TFTC

Just 2TF after all this time! First of the four, Boogie-O 1 and 2 on a wedding anniversary hike. Quick find, no swaps. TFTC.

FTF Found on my second try. Went to do this one first, before other nearby caches. Was still quite dark with all the bush. Didn't bring my torch with me. Went and came back about 7-40am when it was a bit lighter. Cache then found with short search. SL -GC TFTC

Published

Dropped off a coin.