Pongaroa Scenic Reserve (Wairarapa) Pongaroa, North Island, New Zealand
By Skindo on 30-Sep-10. Waypoint GC2G062

Found the tree and the obvious hiding place nut no geocache.

Not found for 15/12. GPS all over the place, no hint items near gz so a wild goose chase for us.

No luck here for me

Bit overgrown but easy find tftc

Heading down to Masterton for a week of work. Decided to skip SH2 and take the scenic route along the coast. Staying the night at Pongaroa Domain nearby. After dinner we stretched our legs to find the two local caches. No problems finding this one but after writing the date our pen gave up. Hence the photo. A favourite from us for showing us this great bush walk. Thanks.

No problems locating the hint object and with it the cache. Nice to do the loop walk and have a bit of a leg stretch. Thanks for placing the cache

Even the Garmin was wandering under this canopy! I found the replacement after we’d searched a fair number of possible locations. Hint object is still standing, added some sticks (SPOS?). TFTC!

Quite hard to identify the correct hint object, but fortunately B made the find after about 10 minutes of searching. TFTC Skindo!

Was a bit of a search for this one, as under cover, and a few dead trees around. But persevered and came up trumps. A lovely bit of native bush we would not have visited if not caching. TFTC

Day 1 of our road trip around parts of the Waiarapa.
Weather patches of rain all day with some heavy down pours and to add to the fun very cold and windy all day.
Some caches we found hadn't been found for some time and very over grown.
Other containers and logs very wet so replaced these ones the best we could with new log sheets.
Some great scenery and some interesting sites visited today.
Both of us have never traveled these roads before with the gravel roads in good condition.
Thanks for the cache placements - SLTFTC

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...

It rained heavily overnight, and we expected more of the same over the weekend. As if on cue, the first day of winter brought biting cold wind and driving rain. Today had the potential to be quite miserable, but we had a caching mission to pursue. As the day wore on, we rearranged our clothing layers to conserve body heat... We started out on the 52 on 52 trail with enthusiasm. We've wanted to do this series for ages... Light rain began to fall as we made an attempt on this one. Our iPhone gps swung all over the place under the tree cover, and there were a few possible hints in the vicinity of ground zone. However, one stood out above the others. We circled and explored every nook and cranny. We were unable to find the cache and were certain we were in the right place. As the rain intensified, a decision was made to leave a replacement at the foot... Thanks Skindo and TFTC.

A lovely walk in the bush after so many hours of enjoyable driving. Good to see the bush so green as I imagine it dries out in summer. TFTC Skindo.

GSEL had already signed this one, but he graciously let EThNZ and I stop and do the short walk to this one. All in good condition. And miracles of miracles, Pongaroa now has Petrol!!!! I remember a nervous drive with EthNZ a few months back - she was confident (and right) that her car had enough in the tank to get to Dannevirke... I wasn't so sure. TFTC. A pleasant little area.

Found today while out with PJMacNZ, Haydn.seek, Etherlord Clan and TwigNZ. Quick easy find. Log signed as "Team PHETT" (PJMacNZ, Haydn.seek, Etherlord, TwigNZ, and myself)

Thanks For The Cache

Today my son (ThatWeirdGuy04) and I were lucky enough to be invited to tag along with PJMacNZ, Haydn.Seek and Etherlord Clan on a day trip around the Wairarapa.
We knew it was going to be a long day, but we were hopeful that we would get to find quite a few caches along the way, especially of the Mystery variety which we decided to concentrate mainly on getting.

The weather was kind to us, meaning we were able to spend time out of the car finding the caches and making running repairs to quite a few of them, mainly due to waterlogged log sheets and damaged plastic bags. Anyone finding these caches next in a good condition have EC and HS to thank for providing the requisite items.

My apologies for the generic log entry here, but the volume of caches found today makes it the best way to get everything done. With a small few exceptions, most of the caches were a relatively straightforward find, and in every case the logsheet was signed as Team PHETT for all 5 of us before the cache was replaced exactly where found.

Thank you for placing this cache, and giving us the excuse to have a grand day out.

Cache number 8 of 56 (find number 6 of 50 for me) on a road trip from Palmerston North to Masterton (via Pongaroa) with some like-minded individuals collectively know as Geocachers!

We drove up the Pahiatua Track and ascended into the clouds, and then it was clear for the rest of the trip until we returned back over the Track.

The logbook was saturated, so we replaced it and double-containered it.

Log signed as "Team PHETT" (PJMacNZ, haydn.seek, Etherlord, TwigNZ, and ThatWeirdGuy04)

We left fairly early and headed for skindo land - route 52 -or a part of it - making use of the remaining summer's drier conditions etc . We were amazed at the effects of the storm /flooding just over a week ago on the road and surrounding area and the many wash outs slips etc and we took some photos of this which i will log also. despite leaving early we still had only got as far as the waihi falls for lunch as we detoured a little and went for the lovely walk through the small reserve at mangatoro to see the giant trees there. we replaced several caches and log books that were very wet, with water proof paper.
thank you for this series of caches and the happy faces.

A quick find and a good cache.TFTC!

On the road for our first venture into the North Island with our little caravan to explore this part of the country. It is not a caching expedition but we do manage to stop for one or two . We’ve been on the road now for 12 days since arriving in Wellington. Had a variety of weathers, but mostly ‘good’, and have already seen and discovered lots of interesting things about our country that are new to us. Our travels brought us to your cache – many thanks, Skindo, for bringing us here. We’ve had great fun so far and look forward to finding a couple more caches as we travel on our way. TFTC.

Caching around Palmerston North, collecting a few caches along the way with rustynz and gorby. Thanks for the hides

We 3 (rustynz and Rebel98 and myself) are down from Auckland for 3 days of caching, we regularly fly away together on grab-a-seat deals for 3 day caching trips, and today is our 2nd day of our adventures while in Palmerston North.

Not sure exactly why we came here, I think rusty thought it was on our way to the longest place name in the English speaking world, but to me it seemed a long way from anywhere we needed to be! Nevertheless we came here. rusty decided to come here while I turned the car around for a quick getaway. cache found.

Suggested we make the short detour here to find the cache. Loved the little gate, and made my way to GZ. Searched the wrong one initially, then spread out and soon located the cache!

Thanks Skindo for bringing us to this special place.

Day 2 of our 3 day caching adventure - rustynz, rebel98 and gorby

#5149. Its the longest day of the year and I am planning a big caching day. Spent the night in Hastings at the local holiday park and now doing a few Hastings caches before heading south via Route 52 to Masterton and then back to Wellington. The plan is to find at least 70-80 caches today so I can get my numbers up for the bulk find component of the DGSC challenge (1500 needed in a year). Part of a blitz to try and get an additional 200 caches found by Boxing Day. I have done 82 in past 2 days driving from Auckland to Hawkes Bay. Heading south again and finally onto Route 52. Great to be back into familiar territory and hunting out more skindo caches. Finally reached Pongaroa by 7.15pm. Headed down the side road and parked by the forest walk. The cache took a few minutes to find. It must have been muggled as there were soaked log sheets on the ground and the lid was open. I put in a new log sheet and closed it up and covered it better with natural camo. Thanks for hiding the cache here skindo.

We set out today on an expedition to the Wairarapa to focus mainly on collecting a section of the Route 52 series of caches. We left Palmerston North about 9am and headed to Dannevirke and on out to Weber for our first cache. Then it was caching along Route 52, lunch at Pongaroa, more caching to Afredton, Eketahuna and finally back to Palmy, getting there about 5.15pm. It was a fine day for geocaching, but very hot for such a lot of travelling - the air-con was a blessing.
This area and the bush walks offered have good potential, but it is all a bit neglected and overgrown at present. Also there is really nowhere to park here. TFTC

quick detour to pickup this one, TFTC

Quick detour off the 52 on 52 to pick this one up on the way. TFTC

Hubby offered up his day to drive me around these back country roads picking up ones that I had either missed or never made it too in our last trips, I dont have too many left out this way but we enjoyed the gravel roads and how quite it was, stopped in pongaroa for lunch, we didnt find the store so welcoming but the pub was awesome friendly staff and nice food with a great outdoor area, we hit a few spots of rain but mainly just wind, most caches were in great condition and replaced the ones I could, have a few more to clear up out here which means another enjoyable trip out this way sometime. Thanks to all the COs for the placements and the ones who replaced ones we were able to find. Sorry about the copy and paste logs we covered a fair few caches over some lovely views, we were thankful to be the ute as the holden would have been thick with dust today.

Had to look twice, but found it second time.

A good break from the 52 on 52 series and a small chance to stretch the legs. Found easily which was lucky as there were a few that matched the hints. TFTC.

Short stroll in bush. TFTC

Found on a hugely enjoyable cycle trip from Glen Ross down to Akitio and back again. TFTC

Nice bush walk nice to get into the shade tftc

nice hide tftc

Thought this would be a bit tricky, kids took off running! Thanks to eagle eyes it was found!

Hubby found this one. Log book a little damp. Tftc.

A nice day for a walk in the bush. Guessed right and the cache was soon in hand. TFTC

Quick find once the correct tree. Tftc

A great little bush walk with lots of kererus about. TFTC

This entry was edited by Jodiporsche on Monday, 24 August 2015 at 06:26:42 UTC.

Found on a fun road trip with Jodiporsche. What an adventure.
TFTC!
Enjoyed lunch at a pub near here.

Lovely spot. Left a paththag. cheers from casa del hince TFTC

On a geo-caching road trip. Weather much better today.

Enjoying collecting the caches on these shingle roads. A really pretty area.

TFTC

Cache no.37 for the day. T f T c skindo.

Logged as team SHATner - (SpudNZ, Hunterhillson, AtomsNZ, Tommygun9) Spent the day caching out in and around the Mighty Manawatu, the Wild Wairapapa and the Bay of Hawkes, in the hope of clocking up +100 caches. As well as seeing some of the best scenic views rural NZ has to offer, we also came across a few stray sheep, a couple of rabbits, Farmer Joe, the Ram gang, some shifty goats, Farmer Dave, a pie, a cop, Farmer Ned and Farmer Ted, diggers, mud, rain, sun, fog, Farmer Jane and her trusty farm dog.. And even a few caches!

In the wee hours of 20 May 15, Tommygun9, Atomsnz, Hunterhillson and myself formed an elite squad for a daring raid into Skindo land. Our codename; Team SHAT-ner.
We would be operating deep behind enemy lines, often out of contact range from Hotel Quebec, limited supplies and no chance of rescue, should we need one. We were horrendously out numbered. I’ve heard rumours that it was close to 300 to one.
Our mission; covertly kill off as many insurgents as we could and return home alive. We had all set personal goals for the mission; mine was to crack the 120 mark. Although, I had recently learnt that another member of our squad from yesteryear had a tally of 133. Perhaps I need to re-evaluate my goal.
Our insertion point was the North entry to Route 52, where we soon realised that the insurgents were coming thick and fast. We had to fight for every inch down that road. After 10 hrs of battling insurgents at every turn, we eventually reached our Southern most point, the insurgent stronghold of Masterton. It was the “home straight” from here. We blasted our way North as fast we could. Sporadically shooting insurgents from our windows as we went. The road was blocked near Mount Bruce so we had to make a detour back towards Masterton and take some of the back roads. I hope this wasn’t a trap. We eventually made it back over the hill to safety. I don’t think we were followed.
We did notice a few spotters located down the back roads that we didn’t clear. No doubt, they’ll relay any information back to their Supreme Leader and we’ll see reinforcements taking up defensive positions around the country side on the satellite imagery we receive.
Weeks of prior planning and INTEL gathering meant a smooth and successful mission was carried out. Against the odds, we returned home well after dark, safe and sound after a hard days work.

Some numbers for the mission:
620 km’s covered,
16.5 hrs of driving,
132 insurgents killed; of which 118 blindly follow Supreme Leader Skindo.
116 were killed on site
16 were questioned before being put in front of the firing squad.
7 evaded us.

For acts of bravery above and beyond the call of duty. In which I successfully carried out a raid into enemy territory and killed 120 hostiles or more, I am awarded the Ruby Badge. I also received various other badge upgrades as well.

A quick find made by the team here. Signed as Team SHAT-ner
Thanks for the cache and the smiley.

found while down in the area for a caching week.
Am enjoying finding all the caches

TFTC

Had to find this one with no gps after looking at the clue due to lack of cell coverage. But it was a nice quick find.

Road trip from Eketahuna to Dannevirke trying to get our numbers up. Perfect weather for the 1st of January 2015 to go caching. TFTC - left calling card instead of signing log to speed the day up a bit.

I always enjoy caches that have the words "Scenic Reserve" as part of their title. Pongoroa was the first caching stop for Netty and me as we made our way north. It took me a few minutes for my GPSr to lead me to the correct hint item to allow us to complete this mission.

Operation 997.
After our recent mission to the November snow I realized I was now within 47 caches of 1000. The idea was then conceived to get three under 1000 (997) in order to get cache 1000 in Rarotonga at the end of November or early December. To get these last 44 we headed to Wairarapa (AKA Skindo Land) to pick up mostly park and grabs. The planned route had 49 to allow for DNFs, of which we used four. The mission took longer than expected but it was an interesting day - from getting stuck behind cows and then sheep through to an awesome lunch in Pongaroa - all in nice weather.

Noting this was close to the parking I quickly ran in and then checked the close tree, nope, tried another tree, nope, tried the tree by the second tree, nope, tried these three trees again, nope, noted that although GPS accuracy was down it was consistantly pointing to one tree so tried that again and bingo!
T F T C Skindo.

As said in Tommygun9's log below we embarked on a mission to collect 44 caches before our holiday/ honeymoon to Rarotonga. I had a lot of Skindo puzzles sitting solved so I searched out a route to collect the required number of caches- and didn't end up going past a single puzzle cache! (Oh well, looks like another mission will be needed).
Not really anywhere to park here so I pulled over to the side and hoped noone would come along the road. TFTC

Sunday and tackling one of these interminable backcountry routes. This time, Waipuk to Porangahau to Pirongia to Eketahuna.
This being #34 after departing Waipuk.
Gee lonely cache this one.
Cache find was straightforward; log signed, safely re-hidden.
TFTC found with team cacher Sweet P too
The Turtle strikes again!

A day caching with the Seagnoid and Bright_Jun after Pongaroa Picnic Event at Four Mile Bush Reserve in Skindoland. Quick find. Thanks for the cache.

[Green] Popmac rings me up, wanting to do a raid on Skindoland. We bring in super-new cacher Bright_Jun and sneak in under the cover of darkness. We left Palmy at 6am, attacked the natives of Skindoland with a relentless assault lasting 15 hours (including an hour off for tea and crumpets at the Pongaroa Picnic Event), travelling over 450km. We even had spare petrol in the boot, because there were no shops where we went. We defeated over 90 of the little blighters, not even a decimation. I bet the lords of Skindoland won't even notice.

Man I love the gate! The bush is alright, and I found the cache while the others will still turning the car around (nice and quick), even though I was using the cellphone and not the GPS. This cache gets a fav for the gate, and a photo.

Found on a walk around Pongaroa after parking up for the night.

Nice reserve, associated walks well worth it. Some truly impressive trees in here TFTC.

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

Most Christmas holidays involve a road trip of some description and this year is no exception. Today we left Napier and headed to Wellington, taking Route 52 and picking up the caches along the way. TFTC!

Most Christmas holidays involve a road trip of some description and this year is no exception. Today we left Napier and headed to Wellington, taking Route 52 and picking up the caches along the way. TFTC!

Lovely drive in the country picking up caches, thanks for all the fun

TFTC

pretty spot

(Visit GC3B1ZB to see rules for the game Skindo Paper, Scissors, Rock)

Some debate if this was a stump even if it was 7m high. I lost my case, 1-1 now in the Skindo PSR game.

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.

I love taking the back road like this. A day like today with magnificent weather was made for geocaching. First half I did some time ago and today the other half from Weber to Masterton was done. TFTC!

Another short diversion from the 52 on 52 trail. A very short walk in the bush to GZ and a quick find for the cache. TFTC, Biggles.

TFTC
J-N

THIS TOOK A LITTLE TIME TO COME UP WITH, BUT HOORAH!!!! 200th UP.TFTC.

Day 5 of the trip home to Christchurch, Napier-Martinborough. Came down via route 52, a great way to see some back country roads. A very quiet road and some small communities. Thanks Skindo for bringing us this way. 50/52 for the trail. Plus some extras!

#4619. Muggle factor was low before 9 on New Years morning. I got back to the car after replacing the cache and wondered where Troodles was. Dunno how she manage to get lost when GZ was so close to the road; pretty good effort that. TFTC.

I dropped StreetWalker at the entrance to the reserve, then drove on to find a turning point and a park. He had found the cache by the time I got to GZ, and I had to admire the well camoed weta that he found near the cache.
I then walked back to the carto drive it back to the entrance, at least I thought that's where I thought I was going but managed to overshoot the path, and got myself very lost and disorientated (and I only walked about 40m!). StreetWalker in the meantime was waiting by the entrance wondering where I was. Fortunately I was able to follow his voice back to the right path. Now I know how easy it is to get lost in the bush.
TFTC.

Got a bit confused figuring out where the track started but once I found the right side of the river it was a quick find in a fairly nice area, TFTC

Took us a little while to find this one, TFTC

Decided to take the scenic route back to Wellington and collect those in the series that I didn't already have. Enjoyed the beautiful scenery and the picturesque local settlements - I always enjoy coming through Pongaroa, thanks for bringing me back.

Found at 12:21:00 PM. Slowly making our way South for the Mega in Dunedin we decided to take the road less travelled today after noticing the number of caches along Route 52 and we are glad that we did.

Another bonus cache while chasing 52 on 52.

Thanks skindo

A nice little bush walk. Did the loop track for a bit of exercise.

Cheers for the cache.

Took a bit of a detour for this one. Nice little walk, searched for this one a while before finally finding it. TFTC

#3012. Nice little bush walk. Took a couple of parses to find. TNLNSL. TFTC.

Decided to walk to GZ while hubby got the coffee. Unfortunately went the wrong side of the river to start with, so took a little longer than it should have. GPS was pretty unsettled under the trees, but found it after a short search.
Left a pet rock - a frog.

Loved the totara slab gate. Someone has been caring for this reserve we reckon. TFTC

No 26 of 60 caches for the day on Route 52 Road Trip.
1343hrs/87.2km.
It's a pity we were a bit leisurely in the morning session as I'm sure this would have been a nice little bush walk. As with the farmland around here, the bush looks really lush. But alas, a more suitable lunch stop beckoned. Also, when we saw the sign at the turnoff into this road, we weren't convinced that the name of this cache wasn't a euphemism for the facility further up the road.
TFTC.

#20 No issues with the right side of the river. Boggy underfoot but a quick find. Now time for lunch coffee from the hotel here was great! TFTC

Found as part of an an epic adventure in skindoland which resulted 131 finds. Unfortunately I only had a short walk in this nice reserve as time didn't allow for further exploration. Like others before me I started out on the wrong side of the river before noticing my error. TFTC

Completing our road trip down Route 52 from north to south....no trouble with the little side-road BUT suddenly there were road works signs all over the place and a couple of men were working on the bridge with a full platoon of orange cones parading along the middle and both sides of the small bridge. They immediately proceeded to move them all so we could cross. Rather embarrassing, we felt like royalty. Drove to GZ only a very short distance further on and then debated how long would be a suitable time to wait before returning down the road again. Punga had quickly found the cache and we felt terrible making the poor roadman move all his cones AGAIN after such a short time! Smiled, waved and moved along quickly. TFTC.

The saga continues -

Out and about with agcnz and Hurricane Luke doing a few caches that were on Route 52, and I was wondering to myself 52 caches on 52, saw this cache as it was the next one on our list of caches to do on our way on our north on Route 52. Arriving back at Pongaroa after doing a few caches out at Owahanga, we nearly back on Route 52 but we had to take a small detour to Pongaroa Scenic Reserve, but when we pulled over and parked at the entrance that seemed to be the correct location and started walking towards GZ we realised quickly that there was a river between us and the cache. Decided to go back to the car and drove around to the other side of the river and then quickly found the entrance to this walkway. Once we arrived at GZ it really didn’t take too long to narrow down GZ as there was a tree that had definitely had better days. Another great spot for a cache, we quickly signed and replaced and we were on our way again, thanks for placing a cache here and for bringing us to this spot, TFTC TNLNSL (3950)

– And the saga continues…

Find #1059. Find #33 for the day - back from our short coastal detour from Pongaroa, we arrived back to search out the only other (active) cache remaining in the settlement. The weather had cleared, almost to the extent that it was blue sky and clouds, but the wind had certainly picked up.

We initially headed down the wrong track, a steep one, on the opposite side of the river, once we realized this mistake we were forced to walk back up and correct our error, whilst this occurred we were buffeted with strong winds a handful of times!

It wasn't long before we arrived in the actual cache location, a short walk took us straight to GZ, and the hint pinpointed the cache. Said 'dying' tree is now in fact a 'dead' tree. An enjoyable cache! SL TFTC.

Had a most enjoyable day with Hurricane Luke and Yeetrees driving up route 52 to clean up an area that was pristine caching territory for me. Cache was a quick find thanks to the explicit hint - signed log, TFTC!

Drove up the narrow road to the Pongaroa Scenic Reserve, but another car was parked at the only spot available. One of us set off to find the cache while the other found somewhere to turn the camper around, and parked back at the main road. Had to use the hint to pin down the cache. Thanks.

# 4381

Found on bit of a Wairarapa cache clean up tour. I parked up next to the start of the track, thinking nobody would come down this funny little road. Blow me down if no fewer than 5 cars didn't go past in the short time I was in the reserve!
TFTC.

A delightful spot, with kowhais in full flower along the roadside. Needed the hint as the GPS was rather unsettled, then took a short stroll further in.

Easy find.

It was pretty wet here this morning and the tracks were little streams of water, Found quickly thanks to the hint. TNLN SL TFTC

7227 Quick find, too late in the day for us to explore this reserve more fully, TFTC.

Enjoyed the history lesson! TFTC

Took a while to find but eventually found in plain sight! TFTC

Pity we didn't have time to go for a walk. Next time. TFTC

Nice quick find TFTC

will come back and try again - tired 5 yr old...

Quick find but possibly shouldn't have done the walk in sandals. a well marked track for a reserve so well hidden. TFTC

Quick find and then went for a walk around the "red" track. TFTC

Found today with my Son on a caching trip East of Palmerston North. 9th of 14 finds. Quickly found while i parked in the middle of the road. Signed log. TFTC

I seem to remember this reserve from a previous trip when I was probably lost.Found cache ok.Thanks.