The Flax Garden (Eastern Bay of Plenty) Kawerau, North Island, New Zealand
By Murray'n'Janet on 21-Jun-11. Waypoint GC2RX2Y

Such a neat idea the!

Kimbathelion solved this one the other day... had the cache quickly in hand today. The hint made sense when we got there

Solved this before coming down here. We weren't sure what the hint meant until we saw it. No one here today. Tftc

#9663. Making our way up north to a conference over Queens Birthday weekend. Stayed overnight in Rotorua and today we are picking up a few caches in Rotorua then driving to Whakatane to get the TMGT caches before heading up to Maketu and then onto Thames. I had solved this puzzle a few days before driving north so decided to divert into Kawerau to pick it up. The grass and shrubbery were heavy with dew but made it to GZ and found the hint object. But no sign of the cache. We checked up and down the area and were close to giving up when my muggle friend found the film cannister with logsheet lying in the garden about 10m from the hint object. Suspect it had been picked up my gardeners and tossed there. Signed the logbook and replaced at the location indicated by the hint. Thanks Murray'n'Janet for the cache.

An interesting puzzle and walk.
I am on a North Island Figure of Eight your. For the first 4 days I spend time in the Bay of Plenty with my husband JDScout. We are basing ourselves in Rotorua during this time.
Thanks Murray'n'Janet for creating this hide. It was find 8914 for me.

======== NZ Mega 2021 ========
Planning for the NZ Mega 2021 event is well underway. It will be held in Auckland over Labour Weekend, October 2021

I found while exploring Kawerau with my wife.

Overcomplicating this as usual (didn't help that I'd left my reading glasses in the car...) until MRStryfyn pointed out something far more straightforward and the cache was soon in hand. Good to turn a blue face yellow. TFTC.

Good to be back looking for this one as it was previously missing. Arrived to find we had lost the solved coordinates so had to redo. Enjoyed the final location and pleased to see several flax from the East coast were we live. Happy to finally change that sad face into a smiley. A favourite from us. Thanks

As our plan change again for today We decided to head to Whakatane Thanks to CO for a great day Solved this puzzle some time ago so it was good to pick up the final

tftc nice wee hide found with abcdf4

Being in the area and loving puzzle caches I had a look at this one - initially I thought it might be a bit hit and miss with getting the right answers but this morning over a leisurely breakfast in Whakatane I was lucky enough to spot everything I needed and got the tick first time, Yay!

Today we were in a nearby area to get a different cache and this was not so far away so parking up and wandering across we soon saw where we needed to be looking. An unfortunate accident involving a flax bush, a rainy day and bad luck has left me with a permanent eye disability (the flower stalk of a flax bush tore up my cornea when I fell into it) so I was vary wary here, still I was hoping the hint meant something in paricular and lucky for me it really did and it turned out to be a mercifully quick find. Thanks for the cache all is fine here.

Our for afternoon with 7 year old caching decided to come to Kawerau for the new caches and a few old caches we haven't got.
Tftc

I'd had an itch to head this way for a while now so I contacted my mid week caching partner Mc Jandals and proposed a nice little clean up of the area. We had quite the adventure today caching from dawn till dusk finding some really neat caches in some beautiful areas. I managed to walk away with 23 caches with the highlights being the Tarawera Falls and our checky virtual FTF.

My wife and I raced through this puzzle last night - I came second.... not sure why I hadn't gotten to this puzzle sooner as it was kinda fun. This area looked a little unloved but really interesting as I had no idea there were so many species of flax. The cache was in much better condition then I was expecting and it was a straight forward find thanks to a great hint. Cheers Murray'n'Janet - appreciate your work

On a trip with Philip.Perry trying to get this area cleared . II am logging using the Cachly app template so please excuse generic logging along the way. It’s just my way of keeping track, but I do genuinely thank each and every one of you cache owners for taking the time and energy to place these caches. Many Thanks for bringing us back here. Cheers

On our Easter holidays in the motorhome, so had to painstakingly recreate the puzzle on some paper! A few false starts with our vowels, but got there in the end. Thought we had to delve into the bush but Dad soon sussed the way! TFTC

We failed to find this on a previous visit six years ago, when it was missing, but today it was a fairly quick find, once we reached the correct area, although the hint was vital. There has been a lot of growth in those six years. TFTC

Yes at last..found one. Solved this way back...today was collect day..pleased to add a smilie to it thanks Murray &Janet for the mice puzzle cache

Finally got here to find this. I went one way and macwatt the other. Before I could push through the flaps, macwatt had found this cache. Just in time as we were muggled just after it was replaced. Mmmmm not sure what they were up to, but it wasn't to enjoy the garden!! Thanjs for the puzzle and cache murray'n'Janet

Enjoyed the solve of this neat puzzle. So was lovely to stop in today and sign it off. Interesting Flax Garden to wonder thx.

Solved this puzzle a couple of months ago but didn't get over here until today. What an interesting place for a cache. There were lots of muggles next door... think they may have been having a fund raiser or working bee?? The coordinates led us straight to where we needed to be and the helpful hint had us with cache in hand super fast. Thanks

We left home Friday night headed to Wanganui to visit our daughter then Saturday morning headed to wards Rotorua and grabbing a cache or two along the way. Today we got up early and decided on the route we were going to take starting at 8.05am, no sleep in for me today. Found the cache signed the log and placed it back exactly where we found it. such a nice area to visit thank you for placing a cache here made us visit the area and enjoy the sits and the stunning scenory. TFTC we had a nice walk around it was quiet here today. lovely flaxs and plenty of them

Finally found it after hoping to cut across from the stone carving one - big mistake - all sorted now. The hint does not lie! Tftc & happy new year!

It is there for sure...remember the clue.

Had a good search at GZ but no sign of a cache. CO please check.

Mrs S is a "Cracker" at these puzzles. She solved this one about three years ago, but never told Mr S, or organised a day party to find it. Today was a concentrated effort to improve our smilie faces in Kawerau, so today is a good day.

After searching GZ for some time, we thought we might have to give up. But Mr S persisted and came up with the goods.

Thanks M&J.

looked everywhere

Don't take long to complete puzzle and have Co ords confirmed so off we set for an evening stroll/drive. Couldn't pin point co-ords on my trusty Samsung, S and E were miles away from each other.. Gave up frustrated, grumpy with the juniors and confirming to myself why I am not fond of mystery or multi cache.... and this is the first mystery I have attempted to find. Argh!!!! Might snazzle the fisho's Garmin and try again... any tips on mysterys gratefully received!!

Replacement cache back in place. We had to do the puzzle again to be sure the co-ordinates are correct. Have fun.

Sorry, the cache has disappeared...will replace very shortly.

Solved the puzzle and had correct coordinates for cache, but no find. Seems like the last log entry was a did not find as well.

Didnt find it. We got to the flax sign but co ords tk us to th other side of the hill on Fenton mill rd. No idea wea cache is

After what had been a full week and the disappointment of not heading to White Island on Saturday and then it being once again cancelled late last night Alpenmilch80 and I decieded to head over this way and see what we could find before possibly making it back to the event in Rotorua later in the day.

After the disappointment of not going away this could not have been a nicer day to spend caching with a very good friend. This was our first cache of the day here in Kawerau and as previously had had trouble with muggled caches so was unsure how our luck would hold out but were just happy to grab what we could.
Had solved this some time ago but then had never had the time to stop by. It took only a moment to locate the cache in a nice little park that we had never visited before, soon had the cache in hand retruned to its spot and we were on our way once again. Today we signed most of the caches as "ACDC".

Thanks for the puzzle and the fun contained therein

Plans were made to head to White Island this weekend with Cats&Dragons but weather forecasted some gale warnings and the operator cancelled on us twice. Being already down in Hamilton we decided for Sunday to make a full day out to collect 50 smiles. And that’s what we indeed did. .
Beside the weather warning it turned out to be a great day with a lot of laughter and awesome company. Signed the logs as "ACDC" \m/. SOooo many flaxes. TFTC

We regularly do this type of puzzle, and solved this one quickly. Today we went for a walk through the Flax Garden admiring the many different varieties. At GZ we looked in the obvious spot before noticing the cache lying open a short distance away. The logsheet was wet so we replaced it with the only paper we had on us - a shopping receipt. Returned the cache to its most probable hiding spot. TFTC.

And I thought a flax was just a flax...now I know differently! An amazing place to visit even if choose not to do the puzzle. I had the puzzle solved last night and out early this morning for a wander. This one deserves 2 favourite points (not sure if that is allowed!!) one for the puzzle & the other for the loction - well done & thanks.

Solved some time ago and passing through today so was able to complete the paperwork. TFTC, #5477

Pretty sure we had located the GZ, but GPS was misbehaving again. Without a clear GPS location, it seemed to be becoming a search for a needle in a haystack so gave up the search. Maybe we'll have better luck some other time.

Corresponded with GO last night and GC was reinstated and ready to be completed when I returned to town this morning. Many thanks Murray & Janet.

In preparation for our holidays in NZ I solved the puzzle in the Aussie outback, where we live, months ago. After lunch with parents I then went with my Dad, the John Brierley referred to in the Description, and we headed off to bag this cache finally. However, after a lot of hunting we finally gave up, looks like the GC has been muggled (perhaps). Shame after having waited so long to do this.

So sorry we had forgotten to fix this. It is now all go, and the flax is looking great, all neatly trimmed.

Although the puzzle was straightforward, and the resulting coordinates took us to a location consistent with the hint, we were unable to find either the cache, which the cache description implies should be there, nor further information as previous logs suggest should be there. It was interesting to become aware of the variety of flaxes.

Enjoyed solving the local puzzles before coming over for the event. Hadn't realised there were so many types of flax. What a good idea to set this up! Found both the waypoint and the final.
Many thanks

Got some help to work out the first part. Lots of kids playing near the final so glad I had a large van to park to block the kids view of the cache.

Solved the puzzle about a month ago. Found the cache and the little off-set final easily. A fitting way to end a pleasant afternoon. TFTC.

enjoyed this find

Good one Murry & Janet, The first direction may have been shifted along to where we had found it.
TFTC

SLTFTC

05/02/12 @ 12.05pm - Solved puzzle sometime ago and found today easily with nosh
123. SLTFTC

Turned out to be a multi as well. Got to GZ & found a note redirecting us somewhere else (not to far away) because cache was to close to another one. Final was a little tricky to grab because of muggles, but got there in the end. TFTC

As we were coming here today, sat up late doing the puzzle, and enjoyed it a lot, and it got the grey matter working - lovely spot - my Mum did a three year course at age 70 on Flax weaving, so I should bring her here to have a look

Loved the puzzle - and very nice little walk around all the flax TFTC

Sorry, Lionfish that this final cache was missing..glad you enjoyed flax garden, though. It is a highly muggly area.
We have replaced it today in a slightly different postion so let's hope this works.

This entry was edited by Murray'n'Janet on Sunday, 17 July 2011 at 04:27:00 UTC.

Great puzzle ... many thanks for replacing the missing cache. We're looking forward to our next geocaching excursion to your area .. keep up the good work, loving your cache pages too!

A fun puzzle, that we solved last month. We did enjoy our walk through the flaxes, and easily found the waypoint with further instructions.

From there we proceeded to "GZ", and found a likely hidey spot, but it was empty. Maybe it's gone, but we're not sure, so will try again another time.

Nice easy find. Thanks

FTF FTF FTF .... and all before breakfast! [^] [^]

Thank you Murray and Janet for show-casing a special part of Kawerau and its unique flax plantaion for the local weavers.

2TF, 1.5 hrs later,I shouldn't have had breakfast before heading out...did wonder if the 3rd green was another of the locals,seen if I'm not mistaken in the listing photo...cheers for puzzle and cache

Published

[black]Woohoo,

I knew all those Eastern Bay News puzzle pages solved during many lunch breaks would come in handy, cracked the puzzle and looks like a good spot.

Thanks Murray and Janet for the evening entertainment.