Clarke Memorial Domain (Wairarapa) Mauriceville, North Island, New Zealand
By Skindo on 12-Sep-10. Waypoint GC2F19N

Nice to find a fry log. Thanks.

What a nice place we would never have come to if not for geocaching.

This is a lovely place to stop. Cache soon found by hubby.

This morning I had my restricted test and passed so this afternoon I decided to go for a drive on my own for the first time and pick up a few geocaches. This is one of the geocaches I decided to find. TFTC, it was a great experience.

Quick find then had to stand around admiring the stream while a muggle unlocked the gate and drove past. Cheers skindo!

Found it, took a while. Tftc

TFTC

We found the cache easily. Great hint.
After finding the cache we kept walking to a lovely flat grassy area with picnic tables. Toilets and kitchen locked. Would be great for camping except for the sheep dung.

Our first day of Skindo back country gravel roads plus a few other caches on the way. Managed to find 49 caches and 2 DNF. Particularly enjoyed the area around Mauriceville with lots of history and old buildings. Cache nicely wedged in place here.

With Gap (of Fap and Gap)...

We have been planning for Queen's Birthday weekend for some time - routes and caches were identified and mapped, and Gap solved a whole lot of puzzles in readiness for this adventure. We scoured many online logs and took note of the condition of the caches and their logbooks. We determined to replace any containers and logbooks where there was a dire need - This is not usually our habit and is quite time consuming; but we are enthusiastic cachers and believe in doing our bit for the wider caching community...

After overnight rain, the early morning was quite dark and gloomy. However, as the morning wore on, the sun came out, and it was quite warm if one could find a sheltered spot out of the wind... We set off with the intention of caching our way to Masterton and zipping in and out of any side roads as well. The proliferation of caches in this area would definitely keep us busy today... We gave our driver some incorrect directions and ended up in Mauriceville. Let’s make light of the situation and pick up some local caches... A secluded setting and quick find. Thanks Skindo and TFTC.

Day 2 of our Road Trip
Early start today, weather fine but very cold.
Heading south we detoured up side roads, some sealed some gravel.
Caches like yesterday that needed log sheets replacing as they were so wet we couldn't sign them. Just as well we bought new log sheets and bags with us.
The huge numbers of caches in this area we know that we will have to return on another trip.
Always great to visit new areas. Thanks for the cache placements. SLTFTC

Today was a numbers run over to the Wairarapa to mainly boost my finds for May, as they've been sorely lacking. I had a couple of missions I wanted to achieve - finding the remaining 250 finds in a month caches (even the ones I haven't yet qualified for), and to attempt to get Skindo's 1000th. I also wanted to visit some locations in the Wairarapa that I've never been to before (even before geocaching). In 12 hours I managed to find 53 caches, including 25 traditionals, 24 puzzles and 2 multis. I also signed 5 challenges, pending future qualification.

Parked up and wandered down the driveway. Took a while to locate the cache, but got there in the end. All good here. TFTC

Took a while to find this one - well hidden

After a day cycling to the east of Eketahuna we headed south for Mauriceville and then SH2. We stayed for two nights in the very comfortable Eketahuna Inn which has great meals. The countryside is very attractive and the hills manageable. TFTC

A nice and quick find. What a huge flat area up the driveway! Cheers.

Today we spent biking around Masterton, and a drive to Eketahuna and back on roads less well travelled.

Thanks to all of the COs for placing and maintaining their caches. Cheers.

#4918. I have had a full on week at work - full of meetings and briefings, reviewing documents as well as chairing another meeting all day Saturday. Of course Wellington was having its hottest and driest spell of weather on record while I was deskbound. So was hanging out for a geocaching expedition today. I love caching in the Wairarapa so decided it was time for another full day visit. The weather started off a bit miserable with the first rain in Wellington in 4 weeks and the showers only stopped once I hit Featherston. After that it was cloudy and warm but mostly dry all day. Managed to get 53 caches found on my ambitious list of 80 with just 4 DNF's. Pretty sure this is my first visit to the Mauriceville region. The cache was soon found nicely tucked away. Signed the log and replaced the cache as found. Thanks for the cache skindo.

A quick find up the driveway. TFTC

18:11. Dogs nearby madly barking, cache quickly found by EthNz, and signed as ICE. TFTC

On a road trip to collect mainly puzzle caches to help get to 250 for August to collect another puzzle cache. Like usual we got sidetracked on nearby traditionals. We do this ALL the time lol. Heading home and we find ourselves on this road.
We meant to duck up the side road directly before this cache but overshot it. Stopped and parked up. Immediately the neighbouring dogs furiously barked and kicked up a right din! Undid the wire holding the gate shut and quickly went in, located the cache (easy find) and signed, replaced and retreated. TFTC.

We were heading north a bit later than we'd expected, so made this find at dusk. Thankfully the hint was helpful, as the flashlight in the car turned out to be in the garage! As we approached the hint item I went clockwise, Mr3Prettys went the other way, so was first to get his hands on the cache.
TNLNSL, TFTC!

We really upset the neighbouring digs at this port and they made a very great noise although we didn't actually see them
WE set sail fairly early in the morning although i did have to circumnavigate a bit for the port of call as i lost my way but oonce there we set the sails in a bigger ship and made good time down to our first post of call. I had visited this port a while ago when the dead sheep still rather s5tank!( but is now a dried skull and a woollen fleece) I searched where i thought i had found it and else where but absolutely no luck so we replaced it with a fairly obvious small mustard tin. ready for next to solve the mystery! From here we sailed into fair weather and into the 'port of call' next to the QE park Located other caches around this area including this one which i didn't have a smiley face on! before heading to the west side of Masterton and then over to the eastern side of the SH2 and visited Mauriceville and the little collection of Caches around this area. before heading back to the SH and headed for home with a "Bottle of Rum" _Coffee- stop at Eketahuna. We had a very sucessful 'see' journey finding booty at each port of call so we were all very pleased with our days sailing around the skindo country where we also managed to replace soaking wet logs and even replaced three containers for other pirates to find. It was a great day out and considering the rough and stormy weather we have had lately we were very lucky to have a fine day despite being rather wet and muddy at some places. Thank you cache owners we took nothing and left nothing at any of the caches. I took some photos of odd places which i will log later.

Perfect day out cleaning up some caches for some reason or another I had not found or tried and had no luck in the past, knowing the App that I use will not longer be of any use I wanted to clear out some of the saved puzzles and off line lists I had saved before I lost the data.
got up at 6am some how managed to not leave the house until 7.30 after much fluffing around, I always enjoy the back roads this way and the views that we are lucky to have, bearing in mind I got very sunburnt from last weekends caching I was careful to not bake in it, weather was lovely and finished up about 4.30pmish would have liked to have made more of a dent but family is calling so will leave it for another weekend.
thanks for taking the time to put out the placement, mostly all caches were in good order and placed our calling cards in the caches that had logs to wet to sign, I managed to replace a couple but didnt pack enough, sorry about the copy and paste log I know it gets boring to read after the first one. - some motorcycle get together there this weekend, while hunting for the cache we heard the talking over the loud speaker, after finding the cache we went down to have a nosey didnt get far they had the driveway blocked with some people at the table so turned around but noticed some nice looking bikes and now explains why we saw so many bikes one the road out here

Found. Nice hide in a sedate location.

Found. Nice hide in a sedate location.

After spending most of my Christmas break in the diy, it was time to dedicate a full day to caching. The weather was looking prefect for a trip to Greytown so I headed off bright and early to try and collect as many as I could.

After spending the afternoon on the back roads between Greytown and Carterton for the afternoon. Now time to start heading for home. It time for a few more caches on the way. Was planning on just driving straight up the highway, but decided at the last minute to head this route for some more caches. Walked down to the gz where the cache was quickly in hand. TFTC

Short little walk and there it was. Just exactly fits

Found at 12:06 - #6598

TFTC

Lovely spot - TFTC

On a caching road trip collecting unfound caches around Mauriceville and enjoying previously unexplored rural scenery.
As with many of the caches we located today, this one added another thread of local history.
This cache was undoubtedly the one with the best natural camouflage that we found today. After locating the cache, I meandered further along the path to see just what there was in the way of a domain and was pleasantly surprised to see that the whole area looks very nicely maintained. The big sign on the roadside advertises the annual Mauriceville Xmas Fair in the first Saturday (or was it Sunday?) of December so we'll have to make a point of checking it out later in the year.
A worthy placement that earns it a FP; TFTC Skindo.

Quick find. Nice little spot. Tftc.

Nice quick find on way heading back to the Hawkes Bay

A nice quick find while on a trip over the Wairarapa. TFTC

Another fun find. TFTC

Nice quick find tftc

I've had cause to visit Mauricevillenumerous times however this is the first time I've ventured down to the domain. TFTC

I was sent to Wellington for work on Friday and as it was Friday decided to take the weekend to drive home to Auckland.

Got to GZ and parked in the gateway, ignoring the padlock on the gate I jumped over the fence and quickly made my way to the hint item, cache was found supper quick and I made my way back to the car double quick not really sure if i was sussposed to be in there anymore or not.


[u][Teal]2016 Mega Event Labour weekend in Turangi visit [url=http://www.nzmega2016.nz/]New Zealand Mega 2016[/Url] [/Teal][u]

still on my way around this area on my caching trip
Enjoying find all the caches
TFTC

What huge trees and such a gem of a park. A real surprise if you just walk along the driveway.

Mildy concerned with your counting. Regarding hint, it looked more like #4. Or if you count the clumped ones, then #6. It's #7 if you count the stump as well. But pretty sure #4 is where it's at.

TFTC here. I have lived round here 40+ years & never been into the domain before.

The gate was closed so I hopped over and quickly made my way to GZ. The gps wanted me to go over the bank and into the water. Not too keen on this I referred to the hint and then it was a quick find.

TFTC

Joy of joys, we get to enjoy another day of geocaching in Wairarapa. Even better, mild weather, a balmy Sunday almost, and no rain. Good for early May.
Phew, some big trees here. Leapt the gate and made for GZ.
A straightforward find, which pleased us, given the previous cacher's log; cache in order, log signed, safely re-hidden.
TFTC, found with team cacher Sweet P too
The Turtle strikes again!

No luck here, nice little spot for the cache to be hidden but empty.

nice in shade

another find

Another great place thanks skindo

Nice looking entrance - but didn't go all the way in - TFTC !

Looks like a nice reserve with well established trees, all good TFTC.

Quick find. Thanks for the cache.

Seems a nice spot - pity entry is limited. TFTC

A MEGA Adventure

Both Nova Lightning and myself had set ourselves caching targets that we were hoping to meet in time for the NZMEGA in a few weeks. So with a plan in progress and fuel in the tank away we set.
Departed home at 6pm Friday, returned home 3.30pm Monday, 7 hours sleep approx 470 caches and a great adventure.

Thanks to all those that have placed caches especially Skindo as I think we gave his caches a bit of a nudge

Thanks for a great weekend of Caching and Bull.

Mega Weekend

It all started about a month ago when Cats&Dragons brought up the idea of heading down the line to collect 350+ caches. We both had targets that we wanted to meet before attending the NZ Mega. Plans and locations were drawn up and puzzles were begun to be solved. It took me a while to get my head around a few of the puzzles and with the help of a cacher I was soon on a roll.

The weekend finally came and we departed Hamilton at 6pm on a Friday night. 3days, 2,000km, & 11hrs sleep, later 472 caches collected. Thanks to all those who's caches I found especially Skindo with a huge number laid.

See taybee log TFTC log By GSAk

Easy found by jr taybee today had to jump the gate on this one TFTC log by Gsak

cache #37 (for me) of day one of Etherlord and the Seagnoid's almost-100-cache-"Attack on Skindo's Puzzles" weekend in the Wairarapa.
Skindo: 30
Others: 7

Parked at the gates and had to jump the fence.
Quick find once I stopped searching the stump and looked at the tree

Out in the Wairarapa with Etherlord on an Attack on Skindo's Translation Puzzles weekend. had to leap the gate - was wondering it was private ground at first. Then spent way to long looking in the wrong places. Was forced to use the hint, then it was obvious.

Gate was tied shut so had to jump the fence. Easy find

Easy find, Have a look at the pattern in the bark of a pine tree further along the row possibly caused by insects? TFTC.

Cruising the roads on my way up to Palmy for my flight home.

TFTC - enjoyed the drive

TFTC. At the entrance to this isolated park some people proudly told me they were Clarke's nd related to the founder. Thanks for keeping me away from the drop.

Dad jumped the fence for a quick find.
Left a pet rock - a panda. TFTC

A nice little interlude where I was able to exercise the lower limbs.

Cheers for the cache.

Picked up tg

I had no trouble finding this one. It had been a while since I had been out this way.

A pity the gate was tied up so we couldn't drive in to have a look - just climbed the fence instead.

what a fantastic camping ground 7/23

#3083. Arrived to find the entrance gate closed and all tied up. Not too difficult to climb over the nearby fences to gain access. Quick find at a nice spot. But the log book was labelled "Why Is This Here? (GC25N9T)". Indeed.
+ Cow Cocky and the Dog TB
TNSL. TFTC.

A quick find in a nice location. Thanks for bringing me here. TFTC

Nice Spot TFTC

Interesting cache and a quick find
TFTC

#3262. Found pretty easily once we scaled the gate. TFTC.

Wondered why the only access to the domain was a locked gate, surely a domain is for all to enjoy, not just those able to scale the gate?
TFTC.

The gates to the Clarke Memorial Domain were tied firmly shut, so one of us jumped over to retrieve the cache. A quick find using the hint, thanks.

# 4454

Found on a day out caching in the region with Cadhakla & Emvy_us - no problems finding it at the new co-ordinates. TFTC

Another find on our successful "Wairarapa hundy cache tour" - one hundred cache finds in a day - with Waiiti20 and cadhakla. TFTC

Enjoyed being a part of our successful "Wairarapa Hundy Tour" with Waiiti-20 & Emvy_Us. TFTC 3/4's of the way to my "hundy"

A quick find while on a caching expedition in the area today. Signed log, TFTC!

Coordinates changed from:
S 40° 47.076 E 175° 41.867

Coordinates changed to:
S 40° 47.073 E 175° 41.894

Distance from original: 125.6 feet or 38.3 meters.

Moved to a safer spot

Also found minus its screw-top plastic tube. TFTC

A nice quick find - as with others it was just a logbook in a ziplock bag though. Still seemed to be holding up ok and the logbook in good condition, TFTC!

easy find. The cache was just in a plastic bag though?

Great domain. Mrs Sigoli was/is a Clarke with family from the area. Enjoyed the walk and found the longdrops hehe

7267 Cool sign… found logbook in plastic bag tucked behind the sign… no sign of weather proof outer container, TFTC.

Found the cachelog in a plastic bag for Why is There Here here so signed it and replaced it where I had found and left feeling mildly confused. TFTC

Easy find. TFTC.

Find #415. One of only two (!) finds on this short but sweet Wairarapa trip. We have essentially exhausted all the easily accessible caches, and the closest traditional to where we are staying in Masterton is "Taumataraia" 11.50 kilometres away! We didn't have much time to cache, with all the time taken up with kayaking, remote control plane flying, and various chores.

We were coming up this way to place a cache and check on another, so we made the most of it by stopping here for a second time. We found it instantly today... It definitely wasn't there last time when we visited. Oh well, we have the smiley now. A very 'unique' container design which we have not seen before and remarked about... a very good spot Skindo. Cheers SL TFTC.

Nice domain, son has stayed here for a scout camp. TFTC

Found this cache while over in the Wairarapa cleaning up a few caches and checking on my caches as well. Found this cache quickly today, BUT was a bit hard to get out of its hiding spot, once that was done I managed to sign the logbook. Have being pass this spot a few time so was not surprised that there was a cache hidden in this spot. Thanks for bringing me here again, TFTC TNLNSL (2656)

A Quick find amongst a lot of truck taffic today. TFTC

Didn't need any signs from above to find this one, having previously been here in early 2010 for the Mauriceville School fair.

Found after a short search - hint very useful! SL TFTC

This one nearly beat me. I retreated to the car to read some past logs and saw it had been found recently, so on last look - bingo! A cunningly simple hide, just damned hard to spot!
TFTC.

We searched and searched, and searched! But nothing... and we searched the ground as well!

Found the cache container on the ground, replaced in line with the hint. SL TFTC

Found just before heading home after a weekend guide camp. Thanks.

Found during our Guide Camp at the Domain. TFTC

Cache was lying on the ground, so guessed at's intended home - Driving Lesson #2, TFTC

A quick easy find on our way home from Masterton. TFTC

A sneaky little hide.
Last cache on the way home.
Thanks.

A nice looking well hidden spot, drove right past without noticing until I rechecked my GPSr.
TFTC