Mighty Tawhai (Central Plateau) Whakapapa Village, North Island, New Zealand
By -petey- & MondayNZ on 10-Oct-10. Waypoint GC2GH8A

As this cache has been out of action for too long, I'm archiving it to keep it from continually showing up in search lists, and to prevent it from blocking other cache placements. If you wish to repair/replace the cache sometime in the future, just contact us (by email), and assuming it meets the guidelines, we'll be happy to unarchive it.

Regards,
Growly Bear
Geocaching.com Volunteer Reviewer.

Not sure whats going in here. None of the boards the clues were based on exist, and even with other peoples hints we failed to find thr cache. Needs a serious upgrade.

We ended our day in Tongariro with this pleasant walk to a really beautiful waterfall. It is jnot very tall but so pretty in the middle of lush forest! The cache was easily found in its secluded spot. tftc

Success at last. Two years ago we spent a frustrating time here. This time we used P & P's suggested adjustments, but had some difficulty getting our GPS to settle.
Probably this cache should be archived to free the way for someone to place a more straightforward cache to encourage visits to this lovely spot. Of course the owner also needs to be able to look after the cache. To date there have been numerous DNFs and confusions, and some of the WP info is no longer available. All along there has been no owner response.
If it is not archived we suggest people ignore WP 1-WP 3. They are not necessary. Simply walk straight along the track to WP 4 which is the steps that take you down to the river's edge. When you have completed the WP 4 task you have the co-ords for the final, WP 5. Make the adjustments as P & P suggest, and from the top of the last short set of steps at the bottom go to the right. Hope this helps.

This entry was edited by geodatum on Wednesday, 07 January 2015 at 04:49:58 UTC.

This is the first time I have logged one of these requests. I have looked at this multi for a long time, and left it due to problems with it contents. Over the years I have walked to the waterfall many times. No changes have been made to correct it by CO. See logs below, the last find was in April and over time waypoint clues have been moved or modified by DOC. At the least it needs maintenance by CO with the cache page updated. If not archive it, and free the area for someone else. It is a beautiful place to visit.

Knew this was going to be a challenge as the various waypoints, rails, posts and signs have been modified. Thought outside the box, and tried to find the cache, a bit like a needle in a haystack. Although I did find rubbish and toilet paper, yuck. After slipping on the rocks decided this is a multi, not a puzzle or a treasure hunt with no map. It needs to be fixed, or archived. This walk gets thousands of visitors a year, it deserves better.

Visiting from UK. Hired a sleeper car and travelling round the north island seeing the sights, visiting a few friends over here and hopefully picking up a few caches. Been up north and seen some wonderful sights, done some walking and learnt some information about the country and it's inhabitants. Came back to our friend in Auckland. Went to the Bunker Folk club at Devonport Monday night, excellent. Set off for Gisborn to see more friends and see sights, including the Coromandel. Saw some very interesting places and met some lovely people . From Gisborne to Napier and Lake Taupo. Stayed at Whakapapa last night. very cold and wet. Slightly brighter this morning so stopped off for a couple of caches. As its so cold and wet our maths brains had gone into hibernation and I think the first sign board may have changed. Thanks for bringing us to this spot, its a lovely waterfall TFTC

Out for a stroll last week and re-found cache, still safe n secure ( forgot to log this, 29th so 29th I think?)

Wow that took a bit of searching and working out with the co-ords due to the signs obviously having changed. TFTC

We were staying in Whakapapa for a few days and trying to boost our cache count so just had to search for this one. As others have already noted it seems that changes made by DoC require a little bit of cunning to work out what numbers will actually fit. Even if the coordinates are not quite correct the next set of questions will identify the proper location. Accuracy on my little geko not too good in the bush sections but we got there in the end. TFTC

#5069. Glad that we read previous logs to learn what to expect. Very nice destination and the walkway had been upgraded since we were last here some years ago. It certainly made the walk easier and quicker now. No issues at WP2 and WP3. Quite a bit of GPS wanderings at WP4 and WP5, and so had to widen the search a bit. The Additional Hints were useful. All in all, this multi had become more of a challenging puzzle, but still can be solved / found. TNLNSL. TFTC.

gave up initially at WP1. The cache listing appears so out of date with the actual signage here. Dividing evens into odds don't work! Also 3 different signs in immediate area nmatching do nots....
But decided to walk to the falls anyway, as we needed some exercise!
Got to a location that seemed to match answers required for WP2, and check sum matched.
Continued on.... Wp3, and WP 4... got final location, but GPS reception very patchy. A little bit of lagic and wide area searching and we came up trumps.
Great view of the falls from alongside and below.

We were soon completely confused by the calculations but continued with the walk anyway, and with the help of a few educated guesses, the cache was found! This was a really lovely little walk, a nice piece of the park to enjoy on a cold and foggy day when the peaks were completely obscured.

Tried to find with JaffaJ and geo kids. Too confusing! Wonderful falls well worth the brief walk.

Didn't read the logs before I started so by the time I had worked out some of the errors in the description the geokids had had enough and I had to abandon. I think it was asking them to count things that then weren't (but should have been) used.

Our 2nd kiwi find but not without difficulty as some of the clues are not written in the correct sequence. However we applied a bit of logic and managed to find it after a while and it was worth it for the view of the falls themselves. Tftc. The Whittlesey Wanderers

Walked down from the village via the Whakapapanui River/bush track (and about 1km on the road)
Then sat down to re-work the 1st part of the "puzzle". Came well armed this time, dressed for rain or snow,with plenty time, plenty of paper to do the calculations, spare batteries,reading glasses, snacks, and P&P's helpful notes for adjustments & typo corrections... the only thing missing was an extra cuppa to keep the brain caffeinated/going! Brrr, it seemed much colder down here than up at the village! it did take quite a while, using quite a bit of that paper to finally finally work it all out- only to arrive exactly where I did last time. GZ sure looked familiar & I swear I checked there before! perhaps there are some Tawhai sprites having some fun?...
It's a beautiful place & a nice easy walk, so didn't mind visiting again but am glad I can finally tick this one off the list. TFTC
oops, edit date...

Found it on 2nd run with Mr Chillipips using altered info as per Punga and Cashew log previously. We ask kindly that you PLEASE alter actual cache page info to correct errors as a clever high difficulty cache is one thing, a challenge and a joy to overcome, but one with faulty info and wrong readings and obscure hints is another leading to a frustrating and non-enjoyable experience! Glad to have knocked this one off anyway at last. TNLN TFTC cheers
Shellnz

*bumping up P&P's notes to aid solving this one*
CACHE CHECK and MINOR CORRECTIONS:
To assist the cache owner we have just done a cache check. Maintenance is not needed as everything is dry and hidden correctly, and can be seen easily if you're in the right spot.
However, the cache page notes do need a little adjustment as there are some small errors. We cannot do this ourselves but will attempt to make corrections here, without giving too much away. The calculations are clearly written and are really not difficult, each waypoint has a 4 line calculation, the first 2 lines are both the same (just written differently) and the last 2 lines are the same (written differently, for easier understanding). There are also important clues in the additional hints to make sure you have the correct numbers to start each calculation with.
CORRECTIONS:
1. At WP.1. the 2nd two lines of calculation should both = BB
2. At WP.2. the 2nd two lines of calculation should be (s) not r….158 minus s.
3. The WP.4. co-ords are a bit out. After you have calculated WP.4, make a minor adjustment: South EE minus 28, East FF minus 2. This will then take you close to WP.4.
4. After calculating the final WP.5, make this final adjustment, South GG plus 6, East HH minus 1.

We hope this is clear enough to understand. This is not an easy GPS terrain and co-ords may be out a little but hopefully you will be able to use the Hint provided on the cache page and find the Cache. DO NOT GO NEAR THE WATER.

Did not find it though searched area over two hours with Mr Chillipips - had 1st three waypoints in under 15 min including realising that s was to be substituted for r! The rest was so vague but with many errors that was unacceptable! Was eventually able to get 3G cover and see more past logs but even adjusting for those given by other generous cachers do not lead us to it. Have used logic and all cache senses to thoroughly search every likely place but with GPS wander on 4 different devices we still could not locate it. If it was a clever sneaky one we could be happy to declare defeat, but when info and calculations are incorrect, it is simply frustrating waste of two hours of our time! Something definitely needs to be done ON THE CACHE PAGE ITSELF to correct this information - it is unacceptable to have to search logs for correct info! Definitely not a favourite!

Great cache! The rain held off nicely. We had a fun time with 5 children in tow; they worked out the answers to the questions, and searched crazily for the cache. One of our WP's was way off (probably due to our bad calculations) but we got to WP5 okay. We took about 20mins searching for the cache, the hint is a bit random, I think I only found it by chance having another more detailed look. GZ was at least 10m off on our gps. Also found eggshells lying around near the cache. Thank you - it’s so satisfying finding a cache after a big search! TFTC!

CONFUSING to say the least. Giving this one a favourite though, even though I did not find it, as the track was my highlight of the day. A great place to sit and watch the world go by. Had lunch down at the falls. YOU SHOULD VISIT HERE. Perhaps the cache should be changed from a multi to a single find. One shouldn't have to read the notes of others in their logs to solve.

Had a look around today, but gps drifted too much to pin point the location and the clue didnt help us. The calculations need to be updated with the corrections.

Well this one was certainly one of the more frustrating ones )
If possible, please public your corrections in the cache description, we found them just because
we hoped to get a hint from one of the logs and had a look at them )

Nice walk, beautiful scenery and definitively worth a cache, so:

Thanks for the cache,
best regards
Blackpearl_Oberberg

A lot of footwork this morning and during the search for the final I got injured on my hand as I slipped of the rocks... But finally found it!

The coords of the target should be adjusted as more injury can be avoided...

Thanks for the cache,

Blacksheep1977.

Thanks to punga and paua for the corrections although we still had trouble at the final but eventually found the cache nicely high and dry.
Thanks for the fun.

In view of the continued problems (see logs below) needs checking by cache owner. Thanks.

CACHE CHECK and MINOR CORRECTIONS:
To assist the cache owner we have just done a cache check. Maintenance is not needed as everything is dry and hidden correctly, and can be seen easily if you're in the right spot.
However, the cache page notes do need a little adjustment as there are some small errors. We cannot do this ourselves but will attempt to make corrections here, without giving too much away. The calculations are clearly written and are really not difficult, each waypoint has a 4 line calculation, the first 2 lines are both the same (just written differently) and the last 2 lines are the same (written differently, for easier understanding). There are also important clues in the additional hints to make sure you have the correct numbers to start each calculation with.
CORRECTIONS:
1. At WP.1. the 2nd two lines of calculation should both = BB
2. At WP.2. the 2nd two lines of calculation should be (s) not r….158 minus s.
3. The WP.4. co-ords are a bit out. After you have calculated WP.4, make a minor adjustment: South EE minus 28, East FF minus 2. This will then take you close to WP.4.
4. After calculating the final WP.5, make this final adjustment, South GG plus 6, East HH minus 1.

We hope this is clear enough to understand. This is not an easy GPS terrain and co-ords may be out a little but hopefully you will be able to use the Hint provided on the cache page and find the Cache. DO NOT GO NEAR THE WATER.

XC and TK had a go at this on on this rainy day..l I must say it is one of the most confusing caches I have done for a while... The calculations although repeated were confusing and I still believe the calculation to get to the last waypoint was wrong... And the final coordinates pointed to a spot that didn't fit...? We looked for much longer than usual as we didn't want to come back... But it looks like we will have to after we see that the owner has done some maintenance on cache page to clarify calculations...
DNF but nice place to come to.
XC

We worked out the co-ords too - although, as in another log, they pointed us across the river! We spent a long time rechecking waypoints and searching where we thought was most likely. In the end our suggestion would be if you want a nice walk to the Falls (and it is lovely) don't bother to attempt this frustrating cache. As other logs indicate, aspects are confusing/unclear. You may fluke it, but the cache owner needs to do a careful check to see that all instructions are absolutely clear and the resulting co-ords are correct.
Notwithstanding the problems, the walk is well worthwhile and we're glad we did it.

Worked out coordinates and got to GZ but couldn't find the actual cache. Not to worry though as we had a nice little stroll to the falls and got some good photos on the way.

TFTC

http://www.aber-cachers.co.uk

A few mistakes on this one, but assumed you meant 's' for the calculation for WP3 and the others were just a matter of using common sense and wider search area as the coordinates were out. Finally found it though and the waterfall was pretty which made up for it!

Ouch. WP4 was pointing us in/across the river and WP5 was 20m out. Still, a nice walk and beautiful falls!

The coordinates for WP5 were a little off for us. We would like to say that you do not need to cross the river for this cache. Otherwise it was a fun little exercise. TFTC!

Uff, that was quite difficult. Coordinates as last two waypoints were a little bit off and the final cache was hidden somewhere completely elsewhere... Math is not a problem, maybe just a reception around this area.

Thanks to our enthusiasm, we found the cache about 20m off the coordinates:)

Great falls

Reported as good!

We have just been up to check on the cache. The cache is still there, safe and dry, looking as good as new. It has been found by someone on the 4.1.12 who has not logged online yet. So there is no problem with the cache.

Great place to visit and if it wasn't for the cache would have gone past. I would suggest that the maths be made a lot easier or the diferculty upped a bit.

The cache appears to be in need of owner intervention. I'm temporarily disabling it, to give the owner an opportunity to check on the cache, and take whatever action is necessary. Please respond to this situation in a timely manner (i.e., within 21 days) to prevent the cache from being archived for non-responsiveness.

Is it there?

Has this cache had a maintenance check since the last find?
The Mighty Tawhai was impressive indeed, so thanks for bring me here.
Add me to the list of those who found the calculations difficult; not the math so much- but the description of items was confusing, though finally using the checksums did clarify things.
Sheer stubborness, hope on a fresh day, plenty of coffee to keep alert, and the fact I had time to kill while my board was geting repairs had me return to give the maths another try. I was very persistent & thorough, but I came up with what seems to be the same result as Zorgon- & also suspecting the puzzle has a flaw.
Never the less, it is a great place to stop & worth the short walk, so TFTC anyway hope I can find it later!

I think there are faults in listing so did not find.... We tried to find a cache but we were not successfull.

Saw that this one hadn't had a find since Oct 2010 and so was attracted by the challenge. Weather not the best with cold drizzly rain.
It was looking good to start with getting to WP2 OK. The checksum I was getting for WP3 was one out but got me close enough to an object at WP3 that made sense. The coordinates calulated for WP4 were clearly not right as there was no structure nearby and I suspect there is an error in the cache page. Based on the checksum for WP5 I made an intelligent guess as to the stucture and came up with a reasonable looking final location. Hunted around for 10 min in the rain getting curious stares from muggle tourists before calling it a day.
Well worth a visit to the falls and great location for a cache but IMHO perhaps more suited to a trad rather than a multi cache.
Thanks anyway for the fun

Could not find, sorry it's just too long to try and do when you are doing a daytrip with little kids and have many caches to do in one area in one day..thanks anyway

Had a go at this but must have got the calculations wrong somehow and couldn't pick it back up. Maybe another time...

Lost track of the calcs had a scout around and luckily found when about to give up. Had a refreshing splash in the stream

Early morning hunt to avoid the predicted change in the weather. The place was deserted with a howling cold wind ripping through the trees. Freezing, and too cold to take too long so followed a hunch and shortened the chase.
Nice scenic spot, can remember coming here in winter, many years ago, and finding huge icicles. Wonder if they still kayak over the Falls?
We timed it right and missed the rain, it was just starting to spit as we left. TFTC and FTF.

Published

Here is a GTO bug for the FTF

Happy Caching