Karikari Esplanade (Northland) Karikari Peninsula, North Island, New Zealand
By Just Floundering on 22-Apr-11. Waypoint GC2TNGW

Found - Mrs McMike2012 & I now live full-time in our caravan & travel the country visiting places we want to visit & doing the things that we want to do we were visiting the Maitai Bay area & decided to go for a walk and get this cache we walked in from the beach access point by the entrance to the DoC Campsite,, upo the road a bit, followed by a 2km walk along the beach, then a short walk in after crossing the small creek flowing here, & yep!, we got wet feet this cache ended up being an easy find by Mrs McMike2012, the log was signed & cache easily replaced all up a 9.5km walk pleased to add another 'smiley face' to the tally TFTC ... TN:LN:SL ... #4,969 for us!

Located with Ricardinho

Please refer to his log

TFTC

It was a one hour return trip to here, and in the end we couldn’t access the beach without a bit of a walk. So got the cache and left.
It’s a bit fragile, as plastic gets when exposed to the elements. No problems signing though. TFTC

Day 12 of our Northland trip and today is Whatuwhiwhi.
I have to be honest and say I had not checked out exactly where the Top 10 park was before heading up here. I thought it would be a lot closer to Kaitaia.
But its in a wonderful place, so this is no bad thing - except I had not looked at the geoart that dominates the landscape up here.
So a couple of days back I took an hour or so to solve them. Thankfully they were all pretty straight-forward, although slightly different.
So with those all solved and under our belt, today is collection day.
An early start and a few walks.
Up to the top of Mt Puheke was the first one; then later a one hour return trip to Karikari beach; then a 40 minute or so return walk along Maitai Bay.
After that we relaxed for the afternoon, did some chores and planned the next couple of days. And logged caches
Thanks all for placing and maintaining.

Wow just wow great walk in be very carefull of the wildlife, very nice hide and stunning spot. Next 2 caches over can't get as beach us closed so will have to come back. Hello from chch

Good hide

(170)
Great location, absolutely beautiful part of the country.
Don’t need cammo on this one, even with such a large cache. Very mindful of the bird life. Be careful of nests.
TFTC

Once I got the right location easily found. Anyone doing this track, after the previous cache when you get to an unsealed track, take it. You will then soon see a sign that says beach access. TFTC

This was quite a walk from my car but I enjoyed it. I hunted at the wrong tree at first but when I realised I was looking for a regular sized cache I changed trees and made a fast find. I headed off to a friend's afterwards for a cuppa and chat about all things geocaching. It was a lovely day out, TFTC

With the mega being postponed a plan was hatched for some of the Team SEAC crew to head north for some fun. Today was day 2 and the Karikari Peninsula was eyed up as the target area.

The walk continued onto the beach and the awesome views came into sight. No trouble finding the cache, completed the formalities and we were on our way.

Thanks for the cache.

The beach looks amazing. Cache was quick to find.

Great day out with friends from Auckland for the long weekend. Day 2 of our trip. Sorry for logs been generic. All logs signed as SEAC.

Day two of our team SEAC labour weekend raid of the north trip! Today we decided to explore the Karikari peninsula and with the puzzle solutions for the fish geoart already prepped, lots of sunscreen applied, lunch and drinks packed we headed out to explore.
WE found lots of wonderful beaches, took lots of photos and of course enjoyed all of the caches in the area.

Approached this cache from the paper road that linked up with the walkway and the first glimpse of the beach was stunning. Thanks for bringing us here, not another soul here and lots of birds. TFTC!

Out with Team SEAC on a long weekend raid of the upper north island. This was an easy walk for most of the way. An easy find once at GZ. TB dropped. Nice view from the nearby dunes. TFTC

Day two of our visit the the Far North ...... a group of cachers from Auckland, signing in as Team 'SEAC' to save logbook space......

Caching reasonably local today as we were based in Cable Bay.....headed up the peninsula in search of new territory and caches none of us had ventured to before....

Thanks to the CO's for bringing us to these stunning locations we would probably not visit.

TFTC.

Got it after testing several other possibilities. Beautiful beach and stream etc. Picked up the penguin travel bug.

What a glorious beach. Took a rock and left a Penguin tb.

First find of the day, after 2 dnf on the way in

After many days of searching through the long grasses in the flood plans, we have finally managed to catch a glimpse of the mysterious seagnoid.

Thanks for the awesome cache and thanks for the path tag

Seen biggest spider in NZ just beside GZ. TFTC

Yes you needed incentive to traverse this track but finally made it to this amazing beach. Quick snag and tag here. Cheers

Its Thursday - day Six -Kaitaia area with The Seagnoid and Zara today. Toby and William at Motor Doctors!

Its another epic 4 week geocaching adventure with The Seagnoid, Zara, Toby and Willam to the Far North. What an amazing place to explore. Lots of walks, gravel roads and sand. Lots of amazing trees, beaches and interesting POIs. Lots of kilometers traveled by vehicle and foot. Vehicle breakdowns, making new friends and catching up with old friends and family. Snagged a couple of FTF's, lots of lonely caches and the odd event along the way. Lots of cache maintenance and replaced caches on this trip. But what an incredible adventure!!. Thanks to all the CO's who have made this trip so memorable..

Interesting that this place is called an esplanade. I always thought that was not much different from a promenade. Quick look up... I am correct. I think this is a bit remote to be an adequate esplanade - the signs here are a bit misleading.
Cache page isn't, though. Nice easy find.

Day six of an awesome, tiring, long, three week holiday geocaching with Taybeedragon in the upper north. Caching the Karikari Peninsula. The whole trip comprised of hours of walking on sand, sliding down sand dunes, hundreds of kilometres of unsealed roads, car breakdowns, paddling out to islands, dolphins, goats, events, FTFs, weird boulders. You name it, we saw it. Lots of bisons, lots of cache maintenance, lots of sunscreen. A month is enough. I am glad to be back home. Except that now I have to write up my trip. We averaged just 20 caches per day, but that is still a lot of logging!

Merry Christmas from the Seagnoid!

Bit of a yomp to reach this, but such a lovely place! The cache was quickly found. TFTC has

Amazing beach!!

Didn’t spot the track going down by the creek so went the long way down the beach. Marvellous walk. White sand, sun and a beach to ourselves for several skinny dips.

So quiet and lovely beach. I like watched sea birds. TFTC !

The second cache in Kerikeri Peninsula area. Clear river, white sandy beach and no body around. TFTC

Second cache of the day. Long walk along the beach to get to the river. Lovely winter day. Thank you.

I have set myself a challenge for this year to have at least the same number of caches on each day of my calender as the number of years I have been caching.

I decided to have a go at this series of caches. Luckily I had the forethought of putting knee-length gaiters on over my hiking boots. This is definitely NOT a trip for the family as the easement track is overgrown with up to chest-high gorse in places and head-high grass. You definitely need to don your body armour to do this series of caches.

To do the two caches on the beach you can remove your body armour, but you will need it for your return trip.

Cheers for the cache.

The shortest way is not always the easiest! Stayed dry!

Nice and easy once you find the right tree. TFTC.

Tftc,very dry good walk

Finally made it to a beach we have been meaning to visit for the last few years. Well..... almost. Decided against making the crossing over to the beach. Kept nice and dry and enjoyed the views. Lots of Dotterels and Oyster Catchers to see. Nice quick find once we waded through the tall reeds to gz. TFTC

Tftc tricky ground easy find.

It's thanks to caching that we are able to see these amazing areas. TFTC

we found it, we found it . lovely sundy stroll to such a nice beach. thx

15:35
Nice and easy stroll to the beach.
Log needs maintenance ... see photo.
TFNC
C&M

A bit off the path. Zeke went in to get this one! Tftc

Tftc

Staying at the DOC camp nearby enjoying the beaches and walks around the area. Beach is in sight and the dunes proving a bit of a challenge to avoid the plants but manged to find a path to GZ. Cache soon found. Didnt look for the next one along as time was running out and we still had a long trek up the beach but thanks for the placement of the caches along the walk...we will be back for the other one next time.

(1334) Decided to do the walk to Karikari beach and pick up some caches on the way. Great weather and nice walk to the beach. TFTC

I found this one myself, with TeamLazic and LinaireNz
MY FiRST FIND!!

A

Easy, close to track but 10m of long grass and spider nests! Long pants and closed shoes recommended.

#1822, Enjoyed the walk, TFTC

A great walk with the family, many thanks. Found with one of FieldsWhg. Dropped off GC ... Winter over in one of the most beautiful beaches in NZ. TFTC.

Last one. Great walk thanks

Lovely dpot

Good spot

Make sure you wear shoes (not jandals), there's heaps of gorse!

Lovely 2km walk along this unfrequented beach - had it all to ourselves with only a couple of fishermen at the end. Will come back here! TFTC

Love this area and the impressive sand dunes, enjoying our walk with Yeetrees, many thanks for showing us such a pristine and picturesque location.

Searched the wrong tree while the my dad searched the right one. Typical

Took the Lego travel bug to continue his journey.

cool wee spot. Left TB

Enjoyable walk today to get rid of some lethargy from christmas. A good workout doing all four caches in this area. No probs here.

After sorting out which tree another great site many thanks

Had to wade through the vegetation to this one. Content is a little damp...

together with egika

Amazing dunes!

Awesome location. Takes your breath away. Stunning.

Looking lovely in the evening light. T4TC - M@

TFTC Was foaming at the mouth by the time i got to this cache. worth the effort though

This one proved to be fairly challenging due to the patchy phone reception - we almost gave up but the long walk in and decision to have one more search produced the result. However being on the unspoilt, pristine beach was worth every minute. TFTC

Tip - after walking along the grassed pathway alongside the river, turn right and follow the farmtrack to the beach in the direction of the river - don't continue along the pathway as it will save lots of walking through the dunes.

Bit of a long walk for New Year's day, but managed to despite the sun. It's a lovely walk out there.
TNLNSL T4TC

Called by to check on the cache while setting up a couple of extra caches in the area. Cache dry and in good shape. No problems.
M&P.

10.42am. Thought it about time we did the whole walk again. Had been here when the cache was being placed but left it for another day.
Always a great walk out to this beach, and don't believe the sign at the gate it's all BS.
TNLNSL
TFTC
Cheers M+S [:O)] (2186)

Although its a long walk along the beach, we could not get to location due to a river too deep due to high tide.But discovered the place has history.We saw the remains of a wharf built of tree logs.I wonder what went on here many years ago.

We had great 5 hours on the beach. In all this hours we haven't seen anybody. Awesome! TFTC

The shade of the tree was a welcome spot for lunch after the walk down. Thanks for showing us this new spot in our own backyard. TNLN

What a walk! It was extremely hot in the full sun and the trees were most welcome. t4tc

Topped off a nice little run up the beach, took the wandering weta....left 50c

Good Spot. Beware of nesting dotterels. Their nest is a small depression in the sand and hard to see.

We got confused about where to approach this cache . Instead we had a lovely stroll from the Doc carpark at Karikari just past the Matai Bay turnoff. Obviously we were then on the wrong side of the estuary. Fortunately we got back and away before the hillside suddenly caught fire and destroyed acres of manuka and filled the bay at Matai with black smoke for most of the evening.
For other confused hunters, the entry for the track is on the 'western' side of the little bridge.

It was starting to get hot and muggy on the track. A breeze from the beach helped. Nice spot, fairly pristine and totally isolated. I'm glad not too many people will actually attempt this cache, as the ecosystem is pretty fragile on the dunes... Cache smells of chlorine but is healthy.

Memorable indeed! Going out for a lovely bike ride. Decided to check if any caches around. When I saw this and that no one had found it the bike was dumped and off we went! That's for the fortuitous ftf!

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