Rarotonga No 1 B Avarua District, Cook Islands
By Grandalf on 08-Jan-10. Waypoint GC22T4R

Found today on our visit to the market. Lots of beautiful clothing, dancing and food. Dropped off a trackable from the Netherlands that would like to travel around from cache to cache. PS. You need to ask at GZ for the cache. The proprieters are "in the know".

Nice beeing on the market on Saturday, certainly a MUST on Rarotonga. Got the box in the cafe they knew about it. Though no TB in as said in the listing.

LOVE THE COOK ISLANDS AND EXPLORING WITH THE KIDS. ALSO FOUND THIS ON 3/17/11 BUT DID NOT LOG IT.

First GC at the Cook Islands! Many Thanks, regards from Germany

What a nice idea!
thank you for this nice cache!

We are on a trip around the world. We visit Rarotonga Cook Islands. What a nice island and so friendly people. And so we can say the cache find us! Thank you for the cache. Logtime 09:30. #2058.
Tina and Walter from Germany
In: Geocoin
Out: nice memory

Travelling with Bluefirebird. He chatted it up while I browsed and looked but he was first to come up with the cache. We are having a great time on the island. A really nice laid back vacation. We are doing lots of snorkelling and loving it. TFTC

Sat and chatted with the "overseers" - they knew very little, cared less, and appeared somewhat amused by the whole idea of Geocaching. Anyway, there was only one TB. I now have it in North America - it has never travelled here previously. Does the owner know what happened to all the other recorded TB'S??
Lovely place. We visited on a slow day - quiet, no muggles. We really enjoyed ourselves on Rara.. awesome holiday. Cheers Mate.

Saturday early on the market. Followed the hint and stopped with my friendly local muggle for a drink waiting for the owner to appear since the staff had no clue of t he game.
Eventually the owner turned up and we had a nice chat with him.
Got the box which is huge, nice and clean.
Dropped a TB found in Canuck cache and signed the log.
TFTC, cheers
nzkeko

The cache should be ready to go.

Unarchived.

We took the antclockwise bus from Fruits of Rarotonga in to Avaroa to do some shopping. Of course also to visit this cache as we have seen from previous logs that there is indeed a box to find. We found it in perfect condition guarded by the owner of a small take-away/cafe.
Thanks for the cache and greetings from two Swedish cachers

Hey, cool, there is a new box out there, no longer just 1 physical at this island. TFTC

Please contact me if the cache is replaced; the listing can be unarchived if it meets the current guidelines. Please do not continue to log finds on the missing cache. Thanks.

Found the cafe, if that is indeed the right spot. Spoke to the owner (Diane) who said they have the best fish and chips on the island. Didn't get a chance to try them as we'd already eaten at the market. Great food and entertainment. Diane has heard about the cache, but doesn't know where it is currently. She's happy to hold it or have it hidden somewhere around the cafe. If someone coming through has a suitable container and notebook etc, please chat to Diane about an appropriate place to put it.

This entry was edited by Rattlingdags on Thursday, 10 October 2013 at 10:09:29 UTC.

Photographic evidence to be emailled soon. Talking with La Vista, the cafe is back up and running but has no knowledge of caching, yet. Thanks for the hide Grandalf. So completes my 366 days of caching. ie no more dot days.

After reading previous logs when we knew we would be in Cook Islands for a holiday, we contacted CO to see if there was anything we could do to help keep this cache alive &/or move Tbugs should we be able to contact the cafe owners. However with no further news of what we could do, we visited the area where this cache was located - Surprise .....! Cafe looked as if it was there were people working in & on the property but no signs to say it was open for business. However, in typical friendly Cook Island hospitality we had a long chit chat with Captain Junior, who is now the new owner of the cafe. He had only just purchased it that week & was getting ready to open it up as a cafe specialising in fresh fish that he catches daily, yum yum. We explained what geocaching was, showed him our GPS & description of this geocache & that the previous owner would probably still have the the container & would know where it should be located. Hopefully the physical cache will be available soon.

The cafe was opened the following day ( very quick Island time !) & we returned here a couple of times on our Raro visit to have fish & salad lunch & fruit smoothies prepared by his Kiwi wife. This was a terrific caching experience - meeting local people, sun, surf, food - a memorable favourite geocache ! The market is really busy with all huts open for business on Saturday mornings, with only a handful of food places open for lunch during the week.

Found where the cache should be but no one was home

Beautiful spot and a great day to wander the markets. I have emailed a photo of the spot and hopefully the cafe may open again. Loving our first trip to Rarotonga TFTC

It's a great little market place and the cafe looks a beauty, pity it's closed.

The cafe was closed when we visited.

The cafe was still closed when we visited in early August.

Unfortunately the cafe is still closed. I'm trying to reach the real estate agent nearby who may have the cache but I've been busy with work in Raro this week. I'm going to the market tomorrow so I'll try again then.

In the meantime, I'm logging this with the owner's permission.

Checked everyday to see if any movement at the cafe, also noticed on market day someone looking into the real estate windows but no such luck to help with retrieving the cache!

Mal spent some time in Raro on a NZ Teams Sailing Coaching trip, Spent a day at the market and took a walk to see if the cafe was open, unfortunately no luck, so just took a photo as evidence

The owner was still away last week when we visited.

Stopped by three times during our 5 day visit to the island but the cafe was closed each time. The sign on the window said "Back in a week" but it didn't say when the week ended so our timing was obviously bad. Rather disappointing. Even peered through the windows but couldn't spot the cache.
Edit 6/6/13: The cache owner has kindly offered permission to log this as a find so have just changed the DNF to a found log.

This entry was edited by Zorgon on Wednesday, 05 June 2013 at 23:41:01 UTC.

Wonderful location with one of the best smoothies on the island. Unfortunately, the friendly cache keeper was very busy today (good for her) and so the chatting had to be reduced to a minimum. But it is definitely one of the warmest and friendliest places on the island. The pancakes are superb.
Thanks for sharing this with us!

By the way: #1 for us on the Cook Islands.

Elcato 17/5/13 after days of searching because our compass was not working, we stumbled across the right cafe. The owner us beautiful and we had a lovely tropical smoothie. We took one travel bug, and left 2 path tags as well as some other little swaps. Thank you for the cache, we are elevator from Tasmania and are an Aussie and Nz combo

Beautiful day for a walk along the beach front. Stopped for a ice cold smoothie and to get the cache. Dropped off TB.

Beautiful day for a walk along the beach front. Stopped for a ice cold smoothie and to get the cache. Dropped off TB.

We knew where to go but it was shut so we headed back on another day to have nice chat and awesome smoothie!!!!
Rarotonga is an awesome place with awesome people. Loved every day (11 days) we were there. Had some awesome food and very hot days.

We knew where to go... got a beautiful smile and plenty of chattiness by the caches keeper... this is what makes Rarotonga so special to visit...its all about the people (and the beaut sunsets )

Visiting Rarotonga as part of a 35-day South Pacific cruise on board HAL Westerdam. Unfortunately, as this was a Sunday, the town was deserted!

Well... Easy to find when someone's yelling "looking for the cache? Here you are!" and handing it over to you from behind the counter

Cache condition: good

So long and thanks for all the cache! - 9:31 - koem

Thx for the Cache

Quick find while touring Rarotonga, will writer more I get back home. Grabbed TB. TFTC

The cache moved next door to the yellow building. The nice keeper of the cache owns both buildings but she moved the cafe to the yellow building. She was very nice and excited to see us. The cache was the most convenient one for us visiting on a cruise ship. Earlier in the day we took a wonderfulsnorkle, swim, lunch tour that we had arranged online before the crui se, Koka Lagoon Tours--much less costly and every bit as good as those arranged buy the cruise lines. The island and water were spectacular and the weather was wonderful. today.

Great cache. We had Ika Mata and iced coffee and a good chat with the cafe owner. Tftc.

This cache is no longer hidden under the building. The owner now keeps it behind the counter of her cafe. If the red building is shut up go next door to the right. It belongs to the same lady and that's where I found the cache today. She handed it to me when I asked. I think the cache description needs to be changed to reflect this as she wasn't nuts about people snooping around outside her building which is in the public market. She is a lovely lady and happy to keep the cache behind her counter. I enjoyed the ika mata (raw fish salad) as I went through the contents of the cache and it was SO DELICIOUS. Highly recommended. I took the BookCrossing book (Maeve Binchy) and left my calling card.

First cache in Raro, went to the wrong cafe at first but was eventually pointed in the right direction by friendly locals. Cafe owner was lovely and helpful. Dropped off a backpack trackable I brought over from NZ. TFTC!

A couple of visits and a lot of Muggles later the owner of the building handed me the cache. Best Island for a quiet holiday.

Easy to get, had a nice little chat with the owner of the cafe and a coffee while logging the cache. TFTC/ No trade

My first Rarotongan cache. Nice and easy in the hide. Fairly new logbook. Went by the public bus from our hotel. The bus stops where you like to get off and picks you up where you are. That's service. T4TC

what a good one..
we have had a nice chat with the lady, she makes very good iced coffee drinks.
thank you for hiding.
(i am unshure with the date must be around the 13 th) but i wrote a huge log
happy hunting

found this one... they friendly bar owner handed this nice box over and we got an unforgettable ice coffee!! THX! this one was different than all the others and we learned a bunch of stories out of the history of this box

I found this with a bit of luck.
I didn't know that the cache had moved, but I found out that the owner of the red café has moved to the building just next to: a yellow café with a surf board outside, it's called 'Hut 56', she told me.

This is a bit unusual cache, since you don't search for it, you have to ask the owner of the café, because she keeps it inside the building, and NOT under the building, so don't waste your time searching for it as I did. Make sure to come during the day (not Sunday, as I'm pretty sure they're closed Sunday) when the café is actually open.

I managed to find it, and I'm sure it's safe to leave a TB in it.
Thanks for the cache

P.S. The only TB I saw in the cache was "Tiki wants to travel": 36MGVZ, not sure if that means the others are missing??

...

With Lytteltonwitch who knew about the change of location so the owners of the yellow hut cafe quickly handed it over, so TB's now safe to leave.

I went to the market with my brother and sister-in-law and the cache has been moved from the red hut to the yellow hut next door. I didn't have my GPS on me to take a reading plus it was pouring with rain. I am really hoping that the rain will clear up as my son is getting married at 3pm.

The shop was just closing up but they let me sign the logbook. I didn't leave my TBs in the cache

Found the cabin/shop, had a nice smoothie, they didnt know what I was talking about. I had the feeling the two on duty were there on the owners day off!

Found it together with my grandson "Professor23". The cache is alright so far, beside the mess inside. The shop keeper is taking care of it, because it was stolen many times. I´m going to make a stocktaking and will update the inventory list very soon!

The shop keeper is taking care of this cache and keep it inside the house, because it was muggled and stolen many times. 17 travelbugs are missing!
But beside this the shop is offering very tasty food, smoothies and other drinks!

From recent logs, it appears the cache has been moved into the building. Not much chance of finding it if you don't have that info. Explains why we couldn't find it as per clue.

Loved this cache! The lady in the shop was nice enough to take care of the cache because it got muggled all the time! Thanks for that! She's got some very interesting stories to tell! Speak to her about the olympics

Cheers from NZ
Mahupeka!

Looked for cache when cafe was closed and DNF but returned when cafe was open and the owner has the original cache (lg plastic jar with lid) inside as apparently she got tired of it going missing all the time so decided to keep it inside lots of TBs safe & sound signed original log and returned to cafe owner as she seemed reluctant to part with it!! Not sure what happens now...

Coordinates changed from:
S 21° 12.265 W 159° 46.912

Coordinates changed to:
S 21° 12.274 W 159° 46.901

Distance from original: 83.1 feet or 25.3 meters.

Coordinates updated

[A very quick note from the Raro airport on my way out. Couldn't find the cache, nor the owner of the business. I did go into the supermarket and obtain a sistema container and notebook and replaced the cache in an obvious location. I would assume that all trackables have gone missing, and I wouldn't encourage this cache as being anything other than logbook only as it is too muggly with the Saturday markets. Took some averaged coords for front of said location. Cheers Gav. Hint follows ->]red building, under back left corner, when looking at ocean

The logs were not looking promising for this cache, and I suspect that there are a great many DNFs going unposted. I had a fairly good poke around and wasn't able to find it. The owner wasn't around either. In the end, I assumed it was missing, and performed some cache maintenance for Grandalf I popped down to the nearby CITC Supermarket who conveniently had Sistema containers on special! I added a logbook, and then placed the new container in the obvious location - see my other note for all the details. I would recommend that as this is a very muggly area, that trackables and possibly even swaps are not used here. It is possible local kids to the markets are aware of its existence. We'll find out soon depending on whether this one stays! Cheers Gav [11944]

I just read the logs here and it looks like a lot of the trackables have gone missing.
Maybe someone could please let me know if my Bedolla Bear is still there?
i'd like to mark it missing if it's gone and I'd be very grateful for a note some time.

Cheers
bristracker barb on the Gold Coast in Queensland

Hello everyone. I trying to get the owner of the cafe where this cache is hidden to check the logbook for me - but she can't find it.
Could the next cacher who finds it please make contact with the cafe owner.
Cheers and thanks from Grandalf

Found this but it is just a few TBs in the location and not even in a container of any kind. It is at high risk. If it wasn't at night with me flying out soon I could easily have rebuilt this with a box from the hardware store. The next oerson to visit here, please get a box and a note book for this good cache.

Took two tries, as the first time there were too many people about. Much better at 8am the following day. coordinates had us looking on the wrong side of the wrong hut, We made the cordiinates S 21 12.273, W 159 46.902.

In view of recent muggling did not leave a TB. TFTC

Visiting Rarotonga for a family wedding. Nice find by Mr Wizard on a slow Friday. Cache is dry at present but the container is broken - sorry we didn't have a replacement. Maybe the next visitor can put it into a replacement one. Left an anchor, took nothing. TFTC

Our GPS read 21 12. 280 S
159 46.901 W

It's usually pretty accurate.

took a week for this cache to be muggle free found 25 meters away from gps cords container is brakeing down with lots of cracks and holes had nothing to replace it with + empty bullet shells x2 -coin TFTC

Our first ever Geocache find! Found out about Geocaching at home in New Zealand just before our trip to Rarotonga & thought we would try some out over there. We didn't have a GPS but found this easily thanks to clues & pics in previous logs. This is great fun!

#1,017: Rarocafe!


I took the bus from the backpackers where I was staying (Vara’s), and got off near this one, on my way to doing the Cross Island Walk. I had to hunt around a bit, but the cache description sure helped! I had a nice chat with the owner as I sipped my Flat White. She said someone had been by the previous day to hunt for the cache, and that I should hide it in a slightly different place, as the neighbors were getting a little suspicious. I obliged, but the hint is still valid, so no worries! All in good shape. My first Raro find! Left a TB. Happy Trails!


SL/TFTC!

Had to wait for a Sunday as there were too many people at the the other eatery next door. The container is worse for wear and needs to be replaced. I didn't have anything suitable sorry. All of the TB's and GC's need to be marked as lost as there is nothing left here. TFTC

Found it after a short search @ 2012_02_08; 12:30 pm
Thanks for the Cache.
Greets_derft
out: TB Libra and TB Gunner

==> no other TBs inside!!!

This entry was edited by derft on Sunday, 12 February 2012 at 04:35:39 UTC.

This entry was edited by derft on Sunday, 12 February 2012 at 04:39:23 UTC.

This entry was edited by derft on Tuesday, 14 February 2012 at 11:29:05 UTC.

TFTC nice find on a hot day

Fortunately there was not much going on at the location, when we were looking for the cache. It took us a while to find it. Thanks for hiding a cache on this wonderful island.

Searched everywhere for this in the heavy rain. All shops were closed around here, probably because of the Christmas break. Shame.

put TB Gunner the Yellow Lab in here. Please take him to Europe or the UK.

TFTC!!

Thanks to the hints!

Found on holiday from NZ.TFTC

Co-ords were quite off but found in the end. It was wet in the container from all the rain they've had in Raro but the log was dry in it's bag.No sign of the TBs that are supposed to be here. TFTC

Found, no problem, but mostly thanks to the log that told us what color the building was. Was here on Saturday during the market, but hundreds of muggles about, so came back today to make the find. Its so much more fun to go on holidays now, knowing that we will be able to cache as well. Thanks for placing one here.

Fast Drive in! TFTC

This entry was edited by Pumuckl13 on Sunday, 13 November 2011 at 01:38:40 UTC.

Found quickly with almost noone around (coffee shop closed). Coordinates accurate enough (especially when using hint . Read previous log just now, so didn't check trackables. TFTC!

First cache found for us in Raro. Glad to have found it on a Sunday when it wasn't so busy. Funny thing was that I bought a cold can of drink here the day before without knowing it was where one of the caches we planned to visit was!
Added a whole lot of little bits because the cache was looking a bit bare - added 2xball, an eraser and a clip. Also took TB Aimless Wanderer with the mission of moving it on to New Zealand. I notice now that there should be more TB items here, I'm not sure that there was... interestingly enough I see that one of them is my Dad's! Coincidence! Next person to this cache might want to check the status of the trackables that should be in there... TFTC!

Found while holidaying in Raratonga. Beautiful island, really enjoyed our stay.
TFTC TNLN

Nice easy find. Coffee shop closed when we were there. Will email the co-ordinates we recorded. TNLN. TFTC.

We thanked our lucky stars that we didn't look for this one on Saturday (Market Day) as the place was swarming with people then. Found at 9.30am on Sunday 4th Sept. The cache was in plain view front right of the building but intact and dry. We pushed it back a bit further out of sight. Took Geoff's Soccer Player TB and will move on in NZ. TFTC!!!

was sitting in said gps location, during the busiest part of the busiest day and wondering whether to have a furtive look, when I became involved with 4 small boys who were trying to catch a chicken (apparently if you can catch one, you can keep it...). After a while and a bit of bribery in terms of some crumbs, the chicken was found, caught and popped into a box. I suggested that it didnt sound very happy, and maybe it should go back to it's mum, and eventually they agreed. They then asked what I was doing, so I said I was watching for a whale (true) and looking for treasure (also true!) at which point one little boy said "I know where there is treasure", ran off and came back with the cache! So I am not sure if it counts that I actually FOUND it, but I certainly signed it, and returned it, then told them why it was important that they didnt take it out when anyone was watching, or take anything out. On my departure, the older of the boys said "well thank you for that information, and for all your help!!" we parted the best of friends, so, if you go and look and it isnt there, I shall know where it has gone! At least they knew before I went looking, so it wasnt my fault..! took a tb and a coin to move along. TFTC

Quick easy find for us to drop off a trackable from Perth (soccer player) and pick up another. TFTC

My girlfriend and i made some holidays on Rarotonga. Of course we had to find the geocaches on the island. We started with this one. We drove around the island by mountain bike and we made a stop here for a very refreshing ice coffee. We found this cache after we had the courage to look for it. During logging, a very big crab climbed over our feet and the box. That was funny! Thanks for this geocache!

No Trade

Co-ords are off. Should be S21 12.27 W159 46.901 for a Lazy find.
None of the 3 TB's listed were there.
Last Log book entry was March'11.
Dropped in a few TB's with sun, water and treasure themes,hopefully they don't go missing.
Pick a quiest time away from Market Day (Saturday) to make the grab.
TFTC

found this one wasnt at right location but with a lil find we did
-a patch coin
+Tb

Had actually visited this location earlier in the trip without realising its caching significance, met the owner who was just closing up but kind enough to feed us in a time of need. On this visit left a travel bug who will be much missed by Briar and Emily. Took an eraser with picture of Kiwi on it. TFTC!!!
(Just a word on Buzz, sorry for keeping him out of action for so long, we had an unexpected sojourn from caching. Have also done a few running repairs to attach the identity tag after the original chain link broke,..Good Luck Buzz!)

This entry was edited by wng637 on Monday, 25 July 2011 at 23:51:03 UTC.