Graves of the SS Wairarapa (Great Barrier Island) Motairehe, North Island, New Zealand
By funkymunkyzone on 05-Oct-10. Waypoint GC2DNDV

Very sombre place having read the story. Thanks for bringing us here. The log was drenched so we couldnt write on the log

Had a nice afternoon at the beach. Found my second cache in NZ. Hope to find some more on the main land. Log was very wet so I had problems signing it. Thank you for introducing the place

This was a lovely stop, very isolated but worth the windy road to get here. Cache was water logged so we did not sign the the log, tried to dry as bet we could. Does need a dry log. T.F.T.F


Our trip - 3 day trip planned a couple months out for birthday celebrations. We flew in with Barrier air, rented a car to help explore the island.... 3 days after Cyclone Gabrielle we were coming if they allowed us on the island to help clean up or holiday. Road access and tracks we used were open and clear - only access to Tryphena wharf - CLOSED. We did help some locals cleaning up seaweed at Okupu bay whilst the tide was out.

This geocacher reported that there is a problem with this cache.

This cache was listed as one of our 'must dos' when the trip to GB wad planned. A very enjoyable walk along the beach to a very interesting spot. Unfortunately the cache is not in good shape. Full of water with everything saturated. Thanks for the cache and the teaching about the Wairarapa.

[1575]

Good find after a nice wander along this lovely beach. Very interesting history. Thanks for all the cache and all information.

Found with SoStephOh.
Sooo glad we ventured out here
For the cache
For the story of the shipwreck & hospitality shown by the tangata whenua
For the amazing beach & nap.
Thnx for taking us out there.
Cache in fine shape: dry & tidy

Just up from a beautiful isolated beach

Found. Thank you for all the information about the wreck. A beautiful site, worth a visit.

It was recommended to us to check out Whangapoua beach, so we drove to the end of the sealed road and the end of the gravel road before walking along the beach to gz.
We followed the footsteps of a muggle couple ahead of us along this beautiful beach. Once at the graves we stopped to read the history of the area. We then waited until we had the place to ourselves before zooming in for a quick find.

Found. Awesome spot, awesome. TFTC

Our first cache in nearly a year. Thanks for all the information! What a beautiful spot.

Once we realised which fence (how can it NOT be near the graves?!) it was a nice easy find. Sad sad story though. Must’ve been so very terrifying. Beautiful beach though. SL TNLN TFTC

Visiting my motherland from Oz again this January. It’s always so good to be back in NZ....NZ is a place I come to reconnect with my identity and memories, see my parents & sister, have microadventures and eat copious quantities of Frujus, anything feijoa flavoured, Puhoi Valley Columbian Iced Coffee, Poppa Jacks and Mallowpuffs. Ohhhh how I miss those things in Australia!!

Mum and Dad are spending a couple of months this summer volunteering as DOC camp wardens at Harataonga Bay on GBI, so I jumped at the chance to come over and visit, since it may be my one and only chance.

Today, on our sightseeing tour of places north of Harataonga Bay, we targeted Windy Canyon, Port FitzRoy and Whangapoua Beach.

The 500m walk along the beach here feels more like a couple of kilometres, especially in the afternoon heat when there’s not a breath of wind. But it was a fascinating walk. The northern end of the beach looked like a scene from a whale harpooning documentary...the waves and water were dark brownish-red. I’ve never seen anything like it before!! It was apparent, from the drying weed mounds on the beach, that the water was filled with a dark seaweed....maybe....hopefully!!

The cache was found quickly in a beautiful spot. The views down the beach through the Pohutukawa tree were magnificent. Thanks to funkymunkyzone for this cache placement.

Found with mumandme and Madcow2. An interesting place to visit. Nice easy find. TFTC

Nice and easy

Quick find - tftc

Found with the aid of Muggle, Merediths keen eyesight.
We found the cache very respectfully placed away from the graves and a great perspective on the graves with ocean the background.

A fantastic beach and great walk.
TFTC

Nice walk up this beautiful beach to get to this cache. Soon located exactly as per the description.

Stunning beach, sad story of the wreck.

Interesting place.
Nice afternoon.
Beach to ourselves and enjoyed the surf ! Thanks

Visited the Barrier for the first time ever early last year, to catch up on the family ( Claris ) history, but that was before I got hooked on this crazy lark 11 months ago.

I had thought of a return trip to look for the caches, but because there were only 8, it hardly seemed worthwhile. A little while ago though, quite a few new caches were placed and that piqued my interest somewhat. A check a couple of weeks ago indicated that most were still available for FTFs, so a plan was formulated for a two day trip to try and turn the island as yellow as possible. I just hoped the weather would co-operate and amazingly, it did.

After landing on the early flight in and picking up the rental car, I headed northwards up to Windy Canyon and the Mt Hobson track. After a 4 hour trek up and back and successfully finding all those caches, I carried on north to this one at Whangapoua. There must have been a school camp at the beach near Mabey's farm, with all the kids on the beach, but there was nobody at all at the grave site, so no problems looking for the cache which was soon found in the described location.

Collected the geocoin to move on and left another in it's place for the next cacher. TFTC

Enjoying a long weekend stay on the island in the company of the CO, Gorby and mikemiss. After a long walk yesterday we were targeting a couple of shorter walks today. This was our first walk of the day. We had a pleasant view as we made our way up the beach, into a headwind. At GZ mikemiss soon came up with the goods. Cache still in excellent condition after all this time. An interesting bit of history here, thanks for bringing it to our attention. Cheers for the cache placement!

A weekend away to the Barrier with the CO, gorby and Lostcourse. It was a very blustery walk along this beautiful beach to the grave site. Once there, the cache was quickly found tucked away in very good condition. We signed the log and dropped in a geocoin for the next visitors. Thanks for pointing out this location, the history associated and also TFTC!

Our first actual cache today, myself, FMZ, mike-miss and Lostcourse. It was great walking out to this cache, it was blustery and chilly but not raining at least! Quite a sombre moment looking at the grave sites and once home it is even more harrowing to read the description of the wreck. The cache was found by one of us and signed in as such. Cheers Chris for finding this piece of history.

This is my favourite type of cache. A real adventure to get here. Stunning walk to get close and a grand celebration once the cache is found. This one had its favourite point already as I stepped onto the epic beach. By the time I finished it would be hard to imagine another cache overtaking it for budokans cache of the year award. Thanks fmz for the adventure. Tftc

A lovely spot on a deserted beach. Took longer to find than it should have; as is often the case, didn't look hard enough in the first place searched. TFTC.

It took a bit of wandering around before finally locating the right spot. TFTC

We loved this one especially the walk along the beach - great spot with sad history TFTC

We had amazing weather to walk along this incredible beach (certainly one of the best in the country) to find the cache. We were last on the island in 2014 after a big storm with road closures preventing access between the northern and southern ends so we were keen to finally be able to reach this one. Interesting to read about the tragedy and great to be at such a scenic location. TFTC!!

Found on Day 3 of a 5 day kayaking trip around the island. Stopped for lunch here - lovely beach and good to learn about this great boating tragedy. A very special place.

Beautiful beach. Stopped for lunch here while kayaking around GB Island. First visit to NZ's 4th biggest island. Cache found without difficulty.

#5 on the Xmas trip to Great Barrier. Another of the NZ tragedies that are slowly being forgotten until we are reminded by people like the CO who have induced us to visit. That it must be one of the best beaches in the country probably shouldn't be spread too far! TFTC

Our efforts to walk the length of the beach in blustery inclement weather pales into insignificance compared to the marathon effort by FMZ in compiling the text for this cache.

It was an emotional experience to sit by the site of the original graves and ponder the absolute horror and despair of those who perished that awful night.

Collected a lonely travel bug who will head off to pastures green

Found en route to a fishing trip. Stayed at the shearers shed nearby; very cosy

This entry was edited by Yorkspuds on Sunday, 12 April 2015 at 09:28:14 UTC.

Nice evening for a walk. Interesting history too. Tftc

Captivating spot and interesting history. Arrived at the island early this afternoon, beautiful weather. Not a soul to be seen anywhere around gz... (pun not intended Found ok, cache in good order. This cache was the ultimate goal for the day...picking up two other nice caches along the route. Was well worth persuading the muggles to engage in a 70km return trip from island base..saw a family of blue teal ducks, variable oystercatchers and a dotteral couple. Along the route to the other caches saw lots of monsta trees..and many little island abodes. Thanks!

great beach I loved it thanks for bringing me here a must visit great to read and feel the history

2nd find on our first day at GBI. Beautiful day to go caching and beautiful spot to take in the views. TFTC

Found while circumnavigating the island by sea kayak. This nice corner tucked in behind the Point has the least surf! T4TC - M@

Nice walk to get to this cachs and interesting history behind the spot

Beautiful day to spend on this gorgeous beach. Didn't take any swaps but saw there is only one jandal now.

Quick and easy find. Such an interesting but incredibly sad story. At least some of the poor souls ended up in a beautiful resting place. TFTC and sharing this piece of history

Came out to Great Barrier with my cache car to explore the island and get some of the caches. This one was my first one to get. Enjoyed the great beach and history. Took TB back with me to Auckland. TFTC

Found it while on a family holiday. Trackable still there and will need to review photo to get number so I can log it- awesome beach!!!!

Visted both grave sites today,interesting bit of history. Picked up TB, drop off TB.

Note for those using a phone: no cell phone coverage in this spot. TFTC!

Thank you for bringing us here. Beautiful spot.

Beautiful spot. Dropped off TB (Yellow Jandal) to keep the other yellow jandal (a non TB) company. Both are left feet. Have been on the Island for quite a while and not been able to log this find. We hope those who visited it after us, took the TB and logged it.

Found originally as part of rebel98 team, now created own account, re-logging as rustynz

See rebel98 log below, flown in for the weekend. Have a rental car, so exploring all these cool places. Lovely walk along the beach. Sad about the history of the location. Thanks again for the hide.

Nice beach walk sad history lovily spot to visit

Catching up on forgotten logs - found with nzkeko on 'man-trip' away from home Was good to visit this memorial though the story quite sobering, but have enjoyed the good company of nzkeko on the island. Had a fabulous time caching together and seeing the place top to bottom TNLN
Cheers
Mr Chillipips

Fabulous place, sad story though, but good to have the memorial there.
Thanks for bringing us there. Found with my good friend Mr Chilipips on our second day on GBI.
Took the Lady bug TB to move it along.
LN SL
Cheers
nzkeko

Beautiful spot for cach.

Found orginally as part of phasevisitor team, now created own account, re-logging as yorkshirekiwi83.

Spent a few days on Great Barrier Island. Our first visit here - a beautiful place!

Due to the forecast weather bomb for Saturday, we crammed in as much as possible on Friday, so headed up to the top of the Island to visit Whangapoua beach and the SS Wairarapa graves.

Another lovely beach on the Island and a nice spot for the graves.

We were the only people on the beach, apart from a group of brown teal who ventured down onto the beach in the evening.

TFTC

Smurf TB Out, Ladybird TB in.

Spent a few days on Great Barrier Island. Our first visit here - a beautiful place!

Due to the forecast weather bomb for Saturday, we crammed in as much as possible on Friday, so headed up to the top of the Island to visit Whangapoua beach and the SS Wairarapa graves.

Another lovely beach on the Island and a nice spot for the graves.

We were the only people on the beach, apart from a group of brown teal who ventured down onto the beach in the evening.

TFTC

Smurf TB Out, Ladybird TB in.

Found it!!! Went with a group of people that had never done Geocaching before - had a good time

Quick easy find on a spectacular day. Had the beach to ourselves. Had a snorkel which was great and left behind Geodiver Smurf TB. TFTC

Dipped TB

spent a lovely week on the island although evacuated from DOC site due to Cyclone Wilma! Note the Name!!!!!
This beach was beautiful! unspoilt and lovely to swim in Thanks.

Had a wonderfull day surf kayaking and found the cache during our break.
Greetings from Germany and TFTC
Adleraugeimsumpf

No trade

Our first cache in New Zealand! Stunning beach. We came here to do some surf kayaking and went for a walk when we needed a break. Didn't bring the GPS but were able to find the box nonetheless. Thanks for the stash at this lovely and yet dramatic site!

Greetings from Germany, Den Haag & Adleraugeimsumpf

No trade

Pinball Wizard sailed from Tryphena in beautiful weather. What a beautiful spot. Left a yacht charm and a keyring jandal. TFTC

beautiful spot to spend eternity...

cache out in open but all intact, placed back a little more securely

TFTC!

Must have past Karwave on the road out - we saw the footprints in the sand and couldn't belive anyone else would be out here - amazing resting place.
We had a lovely walk along the beach picking up shells on the way back once the caching urge was gone
3 caches in our group so bit of a busy day for 'Graves of the SS Wairarapa" - tftc and all the intersting info.

Beautiful weekend on GBI. Added this cache to our list of things to do not realizing it hadn't been found. We were very surprised to open it and find an empty log book. The FTF prize was a welcome surprise. Our 3 year-old found it with some help. She wore the compass around her neck for the rest of the weekend on GBI. We were extremely delinquent in our lack of contribution to the cache. We didn't realize our poor preparedness until after locating the cache. We'll make it up on our next find. Sorry to leave the cache with less than we found in it.

Was second to find this cache. It had been found earlier in the day. Was a little disappointed to be second but glad it was found by a family with young children. The children would have been wrapped to have been the first.
I was over for the weekend, going tramping with the Manukau tramping club so thought I would take a detour to find this cache. It was a pleasant walk along the beach just before dawn. It also was interesting to know about the history of the SS Wairarapa. In: Bouncy Ball, Out: nothing. TFTC

Cache contains an orienteering compass as an FTF prize.

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