Kaituna Fork (Wairarapa) Kaituna, North Island, New Zealand
By Graeme.N and Masterton IcoNZ on 01-Nov-10. Waypoint GC2HGKQ

I am regretfully archiving this cache since there's been no response from nor action by the cache owner within the time frame requested in a prior reviewer note.

Cache seems to have gone AWOL. I'm convinced it's not where it's supposed to be, and I've yet to find it anywhere else.

I have messaged the 2 most recent finders - I've yet to hear from pix0wastaken, but Kahutiaterangi has replied and gave me a clue as to its location, but that didn't work out when I went back for another attempt. I've contacted Kahutiaterangi again for further help.

I've also been in contact with NZ_B (as a result of re-enabling GC243Y1) and so I may seek further help from them if things don't work out with pix0wastaken and Kahutiaterangi.

Messages and recent logs definitely point towards locations where it shouldn't be - this is a terrain 4 cache, not terrain 2 - 3.

Good hide

dead animal nearby very stinky

Spent over half an hour searching for this one, we tried leaning over the top, scrambling along and through, climbing up from the bottom, but nothing found. Has been some slip activity, and hasn’t been found for 20 months. Maybe the slips have covered it?

Get in! This has been on the DNF find for literally years. Returned today with renewed vigour. Thanks to the previous finds. After some dodgy climbing, slipping and sliding i finally found it. All in order but the log is soaked. TFTC!

Finally found this. It has been on the try again list for years. After searching a while back, and logging a DNF, I saw people had found it recently. So armed with fresh determination, I went hunting again while I should have been "working" from home. It's still there although the log is soaking. TFTC.

No luck today

Log was drenched and may need replacing tftc

-dab

The terrain rating and hint were somewhat concerning, and Tufty's DNF wasn't encouraging, but we adopted the same attitude as Isis58 and Sidewaze, that having come so far, we might as well at least check it out. We soon found ourselves needing to walk over a cliff to reach the coordinates, so an alternative approach was called for. Coming in from below we soon spotted the cache, and although it was bit of a struggle for a couple of geriatrics, managed to reach it. Unfortunately the logbook was sodden, so we just signed the cover. We don't dispute the terrain rating! TFTC

No luck for me here. Heard later that it wasn't where I was looking.

Funny story - we arrived, we looked, we read previous logs. One of us said "Let's flag it!" The other said, " we have come X kms up here so at least lets have a look!" The rest is history - we spied what we thought was probably the large cache from the top so walked to a sensible entry point and made the way to the cache egged on by the cattle. Formalities completed soon after without any additional dramas with the fence or the very muddy and slippery terrain. Took the straight up option back to the car. Then the local farmer stopped and asked if we were looking for pine cones and told us where we could easily get a haul. Isn't that nice? Easy choice today as we are after the plastic and tins hidden all over the place round here. Great sense of achievement to get the smilie here thanks you two. TFTC # 12,743

We looked at the terrain rating, looked at the description, looked at some previous logs. Eek I thought! Well, you can probably predict what happened next, Isis went and sussed out the situation - - - chose the slightly less challenging approach and before long, the log was being signed. It was great to complete the challenge, great to find a terrain 4 cache, and great to find another large cache, making only my 33rd large cache after 7027 finds. Oh no! It's not large - - - are you sure????
Thanks for the cache .

Based on the recent log of a bunch of intrepid cachers, I'm re-enabling this cache.

Thank you Infoferret, huhugrub (and Mrs Huhugrub), Ethnz, barefootguru, GSEL, and MrMcgoo.

#5628. Ah Kaituna Fork. I tried for this one back in 2016 and almost fell on a crumbling ledge that was slipping out under my weight (a few days after the major 7.8 Mag Kaikoura earthquake). Wondered at the time if the cache had been shaken to a lower level but a short look from below did not reveal the cache so gave up. Huhugrub suggested after our successful attempt on Flood Proof back in Masterton that we should try for this one as a team and bring along MrMcgoo (the last finder). Well the GZ has got quite overgrown in the past few years and MrMcgoo's memory is as bad as mine. So we scrambled around the steeper slopes climbing from below. Ethnz decided to test out the electric fence on the paddock and after a loud yelp slid face first down the wet grassy bank and became trapped in the paddock. Meanwhile Mrs huhugrub looked on from above (sensibly) while her husband plunged into the dense thicket below the ledge that I almost tumbled off two years ago. Suddenly there was a cry of found it and a large polypail was pulled from the dense undergrowth by Mr hg. Sweet. All converged (except the paddock entrapped cacher) and the log was duly signed and cache replaced in a similar spot. A 1000 day cache gone begging for those that needed it. Thanks Graeme .N for the cache.

A posse of Desperadoes headed out to see if this long lost cache could be found... Parking up at the top, we heeded the warnings, and decided to walk in from the bottom, and see whether we could locate it.

EthNZ found out the hard way that, despite there being no livestock in the paddock, the electric fence was on... so we made our way slowly to where we thought the likely search area could be.

The first pass revealed nothing, and different devices were suggesting several possible locations. In an attempt to jog our memories (one of us had found it before), I started to read out the potentially useful bits from previous finder's logs.

I was just beginning to think, I wonder where it could have moved to, and was just about to suggest a location, when Huhugrub let out a cry of triumph and held the prize aloft! After tipping out the water, we were able to add our names to the list of finders and ensure this cache is lonely no more, and we made our way back up the hill to our vehicles happy, to begin the long drive home. TFTC, placed so long ago - you must be relieved to know it is still there.

#10,091. It was just over four years since our DNF in March 2014. After attending the T5 Island/Lake CITO event in Masterton today, we and a group of other attendees decided to come to Kaituna to check it out again. A number of us had previously DNF’ed this one before, but we also brought with us a previous finder to give us some moral support, even though the last find was over 1,000 days ago (in fact it was 1,055 days). Since then, there had been at least five other DNFs and the cache owner had temporarily disabled the listing as a result. But we thought the cache might still be there hiding somewhere … and so we set off.

Did a quick survey of the lie of the land after arriving at the GZ area. We noted the previous access route we made last time was no longer available. So we decided to take the longer route … but beware of the fence wire, which despite not having any warning signs, was indeed live! Having arrived at the search area, thankfully without any serious incident, the group fanned out to search for this large cache. No joy after the initial passes. Then after some more searching … bingo … there was the cache in some thick undergrowth. It was indeed a “large” container (not quite the “regular” size listed), and well camouflaged. The cache was in a fair condition … although there was some water inside and the log book a bit damp, it was still all good to write on. Took nothing, left nothing, signed log.

Replaced the cache in a slightly more visible location. It would be safer to climb up, rather than down or across … but again beware of the electric fence wire.

Thanks for the placement and for bringing us to this site again, and …

.T h a n k s. .f o r. .t h e. .c a c h e.
.M a u r u u r u. .k o e. .n u i. .a t u. .h o k i. .t e. .k e t e r o k i.

*****
Did you know that planning is well under way for a major Event in Wellington during Labour Day weekend in October 2018? Check out the details on the [GC78NMQ WENZ Event 2018 (Wellington)](https://coord.info/GC78NMQ) cache listing, [WENZ2018 website](https://sites.google.com/site/wenzgeo2018/home) or visit the event's page on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/groups/590545297801072/). If you plan to come, please remember to log a “Will Attend” on the [Event Log](https://www.geocaching.com/play/geocache/gc78nmq/log).
*****

Yes, well, there always has to be ‘one’ in the group and this time it was ME! Walking on the bottom of the bank alongside the fence I managed to touch the electrified top wire with my hip which caused me to yelp and jump. On landing on the wet and slippery grass I slid under the bottom wire of the fence much, to my amusement and that of the other cachers in the posse. Thankfully, no one recorded this and there weren’t any cowpats near me nor cows/bulls in the paddock. However, my new position in relation to where Mr Magoo had found the cache last time gave me an idea where it would be, just as Huhugrub found it. While the others climbed up the bank, I decided not to chance another electrical shock and headed off to the gate to exit the paddock. Many TFTC and lovely photos on the cache page.

Went ape on a team effort to recover this lost cache. CO will prob still want to relocate to more official and obvious location. Lid was tight but cm of water inside and damp log. Thanks Graeme.N and group members!

I think this cache needs checking hence the lists of did not finds here.

I had intended to check on this cache today, but forgot to.
Disabling cache until I can check on it - hopefully soon.

I have looked multiple times for this and failed every time.

No luck here today

Had a really good crack at this one - did not find. I'm either overthinking the terrain rating, blind, or it's moved. We have had some fairly horrific wind and rain the past couple of days so hopefully it's not my fault... interesting to see snow on the ranges in mid-late Jan though

I am keen to get a few T4 caches but this one eluded me. Stopped here on the way to Barra and on the way back out. Had a good look in every place that seemed safe to look and from some decidedly dodgy vantage points with crumbling ledges. Nothing seen. Not sure if the recent quakes have dislodged it or I am just too blind to see a 15 Litre container. Another time...

Didn't find today too chicken to lean out.

Had a plan of action. Looked down and saw something of interest then sussed out how I going to retrieve the container. Lucky to get it right first time. A nice hide. TFTC

Looked and looked but did not find

TFTC!

good!

Biked out on a fine Sunday morning. Took a little to sus out where I should be. Tftc

In the area for the long weekend to tidy up some out of the way caches, we had some good fun cruising around the countryside

Tftc

Went to check on this one today ... it appears that there has been some slippage of the bank here. As a result, the spot that the cache had been nestled in was gone ... and the cache was about 10 feet down the slope from where it had been, with the basic camo doing a very good job - I almost didn't see it.

Moved the cache back up to about where it had been - should be more visible and accessible now.

Sorry to repprt can't find it

Went this way and that way. Homed in on GZ, but alas we didn't find it, despite a hint from the CO. (Think we went to right spot.)

Unsure how I could miss a 15 litre plastic gib stop pail hiding in the bush, but 2 pairs of eyes managed. DNF

DNF

I arrived at this cache with all7ofusnz in the dark and without having looked at the terrain rating.
Upon seeing the terrain, I thought it was probably not a good cache to be doing in the dark.
But after a bit of looking around I spotted the cache and after a bit more shining our torches around we spotted a not so steep route to the cache.
Nice hide.
Thanks.

Out and about on a night caching mission to the Wairarapa with markhnz we arrived at the given coordinates on a dark, moon-less evening with only our torches to guide us (not recommended for this cache ). A search of GZ proved fruitless before markhnz decided to refer back to the description and noted the size of the container and terrain difficulty. We widened the search area and markhnz spotted the cache in his torch beam, but no obvious way to get there. Took the longish way round and were soon signing the logbook. TFTC.

Oh yes a big container - yay. Spotted whilst peering about the likely locations and soon accessed. Interesting country. TFTC

After approaching from the obvious place, we decided we'd better read the cache description a bit better. Aaah! It's there! StreetWalker was then sent in to retrieve this nice big cache.
TFTC.

#5093. I read some logs while we were driving to GZ, and got a pretty good idea of the type of hide. Once we arrived it didn't take long to realise where the cache was. The large container was easy to spot even with a camo paint job. TFTC.

Of all the caches we have done in the Wairarapa over the past week this one was the most challenging. We nearly gave up but I had an aha moment and a short while later came up with the goods. Thankfully the cache was in the opposite direction to a pile of rotting fish heads and skeletons. Why ever someone would dump them there was beyond us. The dozen or so RTD cans we cleaned up may have had something to do with it as well. The cache itself was worth the perseverance and we took away the TB for a trip further south. TFTC

Nearly came away empty-handed here because there are a lot of heaped tree prunings where the GPS was trying to tell me GZ was. Fortunately I recalled the reason for a previous failed mission at the Queensgate car parking building in Lower Hutt and with the lateral thinking that failed me then, it wasn't too long before I had the cache in hand. On spotting it, it made me smile out loud. While logging this find, I took a look at the link to the picture from the Muppet movie, and that made me laugh out loud [^].
You have to love caches like this - a favourite point from me.
Farewelled Bangee Adios TB. TFTC

This entry was edited by cartertonic on Sunday, 20 January 2013 at 00:37:17 UTC.

eek...oops but soon in hand...so was the pine that gave me wicked as hay fever..great to see a large stash container. First one we have seen for ages. TFTC

I always enjoy searching for caches of this nature. I took a safe but long winded route to GZ and then spotted the safe but short route to return by.

Nice big cache. TNLN

Found this cache with Kiwi Explorer on a most enjoyable and productive three day caching raid in the Wairarapa. Apologies in advance for the rather template state of this log. We found over 200 caches in our visit which has left me with rather vague and blurred memories of some of them. Anything that really stood out will get a special mention. This one wasn't on our 'to do' list because of the terrain rating but after a brief survey from above it looked achievable. Neighbour's dog went off alerting neighbour who checked us out and left us in peace when we turned out to be harmless cachers and not vandals. TFTC, Biggles.

Found while touring the district with Biggles. Almost didn't attempt this one when we saw the T rating but got to gz in my sneakers without any problem. Got muggled at gz by the guy from across the road. Told him we were geocachers and not rubbish dumpers and he was quite happy with us being there. TFTC a fun one.

Hunted around for a bit before deciding to search where the cache ended up being. Weliked the size.
+GC

Our first instruction was "Park near the Fork in the Road." After that we made our way carefully to GZ where we soon spotted the cache! In our first 4500 finds there have only been a handful of this size. A big thanks for this one!

# 4530

Found on bit of a clean up tour of the Wairarapa. I stopped here a while ago, but there were sheep grazing under the trees. Once the dog across the road started barking, the owner came out to see what was up, so I gave up. This time I had a better idea where to start looking, and quickly sighted the cache. Nice to see another "traditional" container! Still wondering when the fork will be erected in the road?
Thanks Graeme.

Was in the Wairarapa cleaning up a few new caches that were published yesterday and decided that it would be a great idea since I was in this area that I would pick up a few traditional caches that were in the area that I was passing as it really made economical sense. Arriving near GZ, I was able to find a car-park not too far from GZ and from there it was trying to find the walkway to the final GZ, reading the previous logs it really didnt take too long before I was able to figure out where GZ was and I soon found my way to the correct location of GZ and found the cache safe and well in it lovely little hiding spot, what an interesting spot to hide the cache thanks for placing a cache here and bringing me to this interesting spot. Decided to rescue the trackables The Chain Gang #4 Cache of the Titans - Medusa Geocoin and move them on to a new home. TFTC LNSL (3833)

So I was blind after all! It turns out that on my previous visit I had stood directly above the cache and looked down but not spotted it. Came back today armed with a bit more info and went lower, found it very quickly. Met up with skindo who was passing and stopped when he saw me, good to chat again! After having lots of finds on his caches today, I see he has now placed a few more to bring me back again! . Signed log, TFTC and good to get this one off the unfound list!

Checked on this cache while out in the Kaituna valley for another IcoNZ outing ... and it was still there - saw it while I was still a few metres away from it.

Try again agcnz!

Not sure how I could miss finding a container of this size! - I must be either blind or stupid . Went over the bank and looked where I could, prodded and poked but no luck. But seriously, a large load of tree prunings has been dumped at the edge and over the bank right where the GPSr indicates the cache should be, I'm wondering if it has been buried? Might be worth an owner check...

7291 Great hide… tipped out a bit of water, logbook nice and dry in its baggie. Nice to find another large cache.
IN: Cache of the Titans - Medusa Geocoin
IN: The Chain Gang #4
OUT: NIL, TFTC.

Spotted from a few metres away but then had to find the best approach - not too bad after all. Quickly signed the log before the rain approached. T4TC.

Took a while in the rain, but got it in the end.Took TB for the ride. Left car for Kermit and Fossie (just in case) they have trouble moving along! .SL. Thanks for a great cash.Botsky and sidekick.

Popped in and got this one on the way back from dropping off the tramper of the family further up the road. Easy got, well tis when you sent the youngest of the family in. TFTC

Took a bit of an effort to get this one but got there in the end. TFTC

Easy to find but you quickly learn why its got a 4 star terrain rating when you retrieve it.Managed without falling down.Thanks.

A very pleasant spot indeed. Bit of head scratching initially on this one but manged to work it out. Good to see a decent sized cache for a change.
TFTC

Quite interesting to stand on the edge and look at the GPS tell you its 5m away in thin air. Took the right approach and spotted the cache from a distance.A short scamble and the cache was in hand. quite diificult to open without loosing your balance lol. Nice cache ,certainly plenty of room for swaps. TNLN SL TFTC

#203 - We decided to set off at 1pm and head for this cache, which is only a few hundred meters from our own "Hot Rock Outcrop" (despite the fact that it is seperated by a large river! ). Arrived at GZ, and the GPS led us to the middle of the road - ascertained it's correct location via the hint.

We found a much easier access way that definitely wasn't a terrain 4, we think we know the terrain 4 path. However, someone has set up an electric fence on the grass and is keeping sheep in the fenced off area, which included the terrain 4 access, so you can't get to the 'cliff' described in the hint.

Didn't have time for swaps so TNLN, and SL. TFTC!

Easily our biggest cache ever!!! Cheers!

Nice area for the cache - took a little while to find the cache hide. Good to see one of my travel bugs in the cache. SL TFTC

Coordinates changed from:
S 40° 53.596 E 175° 32.596

Coordinates changed to:
S 40° 53.605 E 175° 32.594

Distance from original: 55.5 feet or 16.9 meters.

Obtained co-ords using a high-sensitivity GPSr and a program using waypoint averaging (readings (30+) taken from directly above the cache as reception is better there than at the cache itself).

A treacherous little spot, lucky this duck is nimble of foot! The biggest cache we have found. This must be a difficult little number, only second to find. Bested by Skindo once again though! Picked up the little SA dog TB for further travels. TFTC

YIPPEE!! FTF Glad I didn't attempt this one in the dark, quick find TFTC

Published

TB drop.