Zealandia Power Trail Cache #15 Karori, North Island, New Zealand
By taybee on 25-Sep-11. Waypoint GC2ZDF8

An interesting array of anti-pest contraptions in this spot. The log is very wet so tried to dry it out on my clothes, but didnt make much of a difference. Still accepted my ink though, so all good here. Tftc!

Please see note by daughter ,mar1sa, thanks for the cache

We were looking at doing the crossing but weather was not in our favor so had these on the list to do at some stage myself hubby and dad, fantastic walk even if it was blowing a gail, as an added bonus the tunnels were open so we also went through, thabks for the placement and bringing us here.

A nice quick find after my DNF at #14, this one was easier to get to and less prickly! TFTC

Trouve ! / Found it ! Cela faisait un moment que je regardais pour faire cette belle srie qui m'intresse fortement pour ses cotations et ses autres raret. Mais mes comptences en anglais, l'aspect "une par une" et les nombreux DNF de la serie me laisse dubitatif.Jeudi, jour d'event. Je touche deux mots l'organisateur sur mon projet. Il me dit de contacter directement le propritaire, ce que je fais.Vendredi, bonne nouvelle, taybee junior doit faire une maintenance sur la srie et me propose de l'accompagner. Le rendez-vous est pris le lendemain matin.Samedi. Nous parcourons donc la srie ensemble avec taybee nz, remplaant les botes, les logbooks et les indices en fonction de nos dcouvertes. C'est ainsi que toute la srie sera boucle en une journe. Les paysages sont magnifiques, la balade assez intense sur le dbut et plus tranquille pour la suite, les spots sympa et la mto tait chaude mais agrable.Merci l'owner pour sa gentillesse, son fils pour l'accompagnement et tous les geocacheurs locaux forts sympathiques.I've been looking for a while to do this beautiful series which interests me greatly for its prices and other rarities. But my English skills, the "one by one" aspect and the numerous DNFs in the series leave me doubtful.Thursday, event day. I would like to say a few words to the organizer about my project. He tells me to contact the owner directly, which I do.Friday, good news, Taybee Junior has to do maintenance on the series and offers me to accompany him. The appointment is made the next morning.Saturday. So we go through the series together with taybee nz, replacing boxes, logbooks and hint based on our discoveries. This is how the entire series will be completed in one day. The landscapes are magnificent, the ride quite intense at the beginning and quieter for the rest, the spots nice and the weather was hot but pleasant.Thanks to the owner for his kindness, to his son for the support and to all the very friendly local geocachers.4260me cache trouve.Merci taybee pour la cache 4260th cache found.Thank you taybee for the cache

Managed to get to GZ with only a little difficulty. Nice hide!

The container had some water in it which I tipped out, but the new log book was doing well.

Found on a solo walk around the fence on a beautiful spring day

Gosh! A bit of luck on this one (and maybe the Kaka in the tree too!) Container had water in it but matagouri’s new log all good
Many thanks

Found OK, as per hint, but log extremely wet, not signable. Adding a fresh log. Tftc!

I needed to get some training miles in today so drove to Wrights Hill and walked over to this cache which I missed during last years circuit for the Power Trail series The code was not needed to complete the series but it had bugged me to leave it undone So today was the day A quick find in amongst the predator traps Thanks taybee

I've never seen such big cache hidden in this manner! Made for quite a surprising find. The nearby poison stations seem to be working well with some dead rodents lying around. TFTC.

# 1477 Team GST (Gr33nslime, Stardust 718 and TwigNZ) joined forces again today to take on the Zelandia Power Trail.

What a lovely track, a little bit of steepness but mostly just a nice meander around the sanctuary, enjoying the company, the views, and the beautiful song birds. I saw a saddleback, a robin and a kaka, which were all pretty special.

Pretty happy with the condition of the caches, most had some cool toys in them which took me back to my childhood (1995 mcdonalds toys!) and we only had to replace two of the logs. All up 28 of the 30 caches found and 6 hours car to car. Cheers taybee for this adventure..

Another awesome day's caching with Gr33nslime and Stardust718, with all logging signed as either GST or Team GST depending on size of logsheet.

I had never been around Zealandia Eco Sanctury before, and hadn't visited this area much apart from briefly visiting the Brooklyn Turbine by car shortly after initial construction almost 25 years ago, so wasn't sure what to expect. But the path was in pretty good condition, with just a few inclines of varying steepness to keep us on our toes. The weather looked like it was going to define our day initially, but in the end it was a beautiful Autumn day with a fresh southerly breeze to remind you that this was Wellington

Today's excursion was a few weeks in the making. With the current Cache Carnival event coming to a close, we had though to ensure that we all would get to the required 500 points, with around 400 available for this walk. A few evenings of puzzle solving in advance meant that most of today was spend simply searching for the caches. In the end we managed to find 28 out of the 30, plus a few others along the way, and we all ended the day having secured all 5 available Souvenirs.

Most of the caches we found after only a brief and straightforward search, although a small number of them proved tricky little blighters to spot! Mostly they were in good or acceptable condition, and we only had to replace 2 of the logsheets (this cache wasn't one of them) due to the existing one being pretty much mush! All in all a great way to spend a Saturday. Great exercise, great company, and great results.

Thank you for creating this series for us to enjoy.

#16 of 34 today

It was great to meet up with the rest of Team GST (Gr33nslime, stardust718 and TwigNZ) for another walk and caching trip. Our aim was to complete the Zealandia Power Trail. We had done a lot of prep work before going out and ended up with 26 of the 30 final co-ordinates pre-loaded. This saved some time on the trail but it still took us 6 hours to complete. 2 DNF's but we managed to complete the rest. Logged as GST.

Thanks to the cache owner who set up this trail and brought us to this location to walk and listen to the bird life. We replaced a few log sheets along the way but most were in good condition. A few very sneaky hides and it was good to have 3 pairs of experienced geocaching eyes searching at times.

#1668

Really dark now. Finding by head torch. It was a great place to watch the sunset from.

A few prickles around here, but got there. tftc

I was on a bit of a mission today, had some time constraints which meant I only had 5 hours to complete as much of the power trail as possible. Got all the way around, had 2 DNF's though, so not fully successful on the series, but good enough for a half-days hike. Not many out on the perimeter today, maybe they were all inside as it was $2 entry fee day... TFTC

My mission today was to complete the whole power trail in one go. Did as much pre-work as possible last week and hit the trail this morning with a muggle friend. Good find. Tftc.

Daylight savings ended last night, and it's a stunning Wellington day on a long weekend. Hoping to finish the Zealandia Power Trail today. TFTC

Went back out with a muggle friend (for her to enjoy the walk) and me to find the caches I missed on Sat because I was running out of time. Nearly lost when I was retuning it to its hiding place, but everything is aok. TFTC

Apologies for the late log.

Sorry for the late log. Thanks.

My "big walk" for my time in Wellington. Arrived about 7:30am and went around clockwise from the Sanctuary carpark. Back to the car just before noon with a good collection of finds. Thanks for the caches and the chance to see Zealandia - plenty of birdlife to observe.

Great walk with local Fellow geocacher RogerW1nz. Nice and plesant find here on Brooklyn Hill and the area.

Finally got back here since my initial visit in August, and replaced the log, nicely dried out, and a new strip added. Nice to revisit the area with tramyard, who now knows where Zealandia is! No one else has visited recently.

#385. Back to the trail after a month "off". Went down the wrong puzzle trail initially, but soon realised where I had gone wrong, and soon had the correct checksum.

Beautiful sunny caching weather today. Decided to head up the hill to retrieve the cache. Nice easy find: the cache was lying in plain sight instead of "hunging" in the tree. Log too wet to sign so have replaced with temporary one, and taken wet one home to dry out & return later. Tftc taybee.

Yeah half way

Solved this from home a couple of years ago, so knew I was on the right track! thanks for the puzzle and the hide.

This puzzle looked to be easy. I've done similar things countless times before. But that was a long time ago and I am stubborn. A phone a friend pointed me right - I was ever so close but using one step too many. Cache itself was no issue cheers.

Quick find, and on to the next

TFTC taybee #550, 6 January 2017

The main plan for today was to tackle the Zealandia trail, plus depending on how the day went a small detour up to Hawkins hill. The day started a bit later than I first planned, and was dropped off at the Zealandia a little after 11am. I couldn't of asked for a better day for it as there wasn't a could in the sky, and the Wellington breeze meant it wasn't overly hot.

It turned out to be a very challenging day, with the hills, the tricky hides and the solving as you go, and with a little bit of luck all bar one of the caches attempted were found. I only got as far as #27 when I decided to call it a day about 7pm and come back in the morning once I had had a crack at the final puzzles back at the accommodation. At the end of the day the GPS read about 18kms traveled. A big thanks to Taybee for setting up such a great trail, and all the other CO's for their placements as well.

I thought I had this one solved before I had come down to Wellington, but I quickly realised I had made an area when I loaded up the cache on the GPS. Sat down and had lunch and tried to resolve it but without any luck, however I read a few logs and stumbled across something that might help the search without the solve, and with that and a bit of cachers logic, and a massive bit of luck the cache was found without to much drama. Really glad this one worked out for me.

It is primary school inter zone athletics day at Newtown Park. My daughter is competing. She wanted to come up and do a few of these on the way in.

Cache is as described in previous logs. A bit damp but we were able to record our visit.

Thank you

Cherrys Rule

I set off today on my bike to get a decent number of these ticked off, however when I got to where I left off last time, I realised I'd left my code sheet at home!
Luckily I'd solved this one before I left, and it looks like I'll be able to find 16 as well!
The cache was saturated, so I drained a lot of the water out. Still managed to sign the log though.
Thanks for the cache!

Found this even though we (me and The Wandering Dragons) were in the clouds. Hope this isn't a spoiler, but the predator trap thing had a lethal look about it. Might be safe, but I kept well clear of it anyway.

Cache # 3,340 - a lovely morning for a walk, and finally tried the entrance from the wind turbine. Fortunately the gate was open at the base of the turbine road so I didn't have the extra couple of kilometres to walk. Still had to do more than 3 km round trip, but it was nice to see this side of the Sanctuary. Needed a bit of help on this puzzle, and I learned something I did not know before. Cache was a quick find. Didn't quite understand why it did not match the hint until I read the previous log just now. Logbook is damp but usable, but could benefit from a replacement (and the internal bag as well) when CO checks this one out. Not needing maintenance, just encouraged. TNLNSL. TFTC!

Consecutive caching day # 1,223

Third of four today. I've been here before, but was put off by the pink ribbons and bait stations everywhere. Encouraged by a recent log by SJT_NZ and TregearP I pressed on and located the cache, not as described in the hint, but at ground level some 2 metres down the slope. There were some loose cable ties resting on a branch - I think the cache has been disturbed somehow.

That said, the cache was in good order, so I signed the log and tucked the cable ties inside the cache box before placing it at ground level behind the tree.

TFTC

Nibbled this one and found the solution. A dead rat and a possum around the GZ meant the formalities were not quite so enticing as they should have been around midday whilst clear, still and sunny.

All in good order and a quick log for a Dot-Day. TFTC.

We attempted to solve this in loco but took a little bit more searching, SJT_NZ eventually recognised the trick which delivered some potential coords. Funnily enough we had a quick look at this location in the weekend thinking it was an obvious spot but the success of the bait traps on a hot day put us off. A quick find for a dot day. TFTC

This was another quick find of a nicely hidden container.

#2260 Out on a mission to collect the Zealandia Power Trail today with bijouxtoo and Paua Rangers. Picked the perfect day for it and we knocked them all off as well as a couple of traditionals for good measure. Thanks for all your efforts Taybee, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Half way there! Woo! Feeling this hill at this point.

The half way mark. At this point I was saying no way is this trail only 9km...! TFTC!

Half way round. Gets a favorite just because.

Another quick find. This section of the circuit we made good time compared to the climb up from Zealandia to Wrights Hill! tftc

Bait traps surround this tree but I don't think the trappers knew of the cache. TFTC

Another one's gone, another one's gone, another one bites the dust.

Out for a long caching weekend with KiwiExplorer and JoshThePirate We did a lot of good caches, odd caches and some of them were just caches
But most important, we had a lot of fun and the weather was brilliant all the time! [^] Thanks for all the caches

Today we did the Zealandia Trail and KE did all the pre-work. I was just the Waterboy and motivator The in field stuff was not as hard as expected, well beside the buring sun We managed to get all caches and all needed information to complete the trail - thanks for the fun day

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**+-++-++-++-++-++-++-+ TNLNBFP +-++-++-++-++-++-++-+**
Cache.Mike

I have been meaning to have a go at this trail for a while and Cache.Mike and I may have attempted it last May if not for the rain that was forecast then. I expected the trail to be a challenge and potentially frustrating so came mentally prepared. Today was a beautiful Wellington day perfect for a walk with a gentle breeze and overcast start but eventually lots of sun.

More "hunging" around looking for trees and boxes and and dodging thorns. Or not dodging as the case was here. Ouch.
Thanks taybee for the cache.

#9931

1585 This evening mission was to have a final trip to Zealandia and get the 2 remaining caches. So I walk up from my accommodation in the Terrace. Arrived at GZ 20 to a light rain. On to 15 then and get that first. Had looked here last time and not sure how I missed it. Signed log and replaced and by then rain had stopped. Great now for number 20. The last for me.

A lovely Sunday so decided to walk around Zealandia. Decided to do some of the caches at the same time. A quick find. All good. TFTC

A quick find, once I went to the right hint object. TFTC

Day 3 of the Power trail- had some bad weather so had to waiting for another weekend before we could get back out. Came in from the Brooklyn side this time rather than from Karori

It took a little while to work out this puzzle. I was instantly on the right track but not quite right. The cache was a quick find however. It was exciting to be back on the zealandia trail today.

Mrs B and I walked the entire Power Trail loop today, starting at 10:00 a.m. down at Zealandia and getting back around 4:20, in time for a cup of tea at the café. We met up with agcnz an hour after the start (still at cache #2) and he accompanied us for the rest of the journey.

I found this one within seconds, then we all settled on the grassy bank nearby, in the sun, and Mrs B and I ate our sandwiches for lunch. By now we'd been going for nearly 4 hours, but we DID have a very slow start. TFTC

#818. Out on the Zealandia Power Trail today to see how far I get. Actually gave it a good shot, finding all the caches between #4 to #24 plus two other caches en route. Then had to head for Highbury before dark, thanks to Mrs GSEL for the drop-off and pick-up. Been a fantastic day with a great variety of birdlife seen and heard, and fine cloudless skies. Each cache presented their own different challenges though I was always happy to see any hint that referred to a post.

Onward and upward again. Soon saw a useful trail and following it lead me to the cache. Was surprised to find the container was half full of water and most contents were wet. But the logbook was still dry. This puzzle took a bit of solving. I guessed what it might be about but had to hunt on line to find the right website to decode the numbers. TFTC

Quick find while doing this power trail - TFTC!

#219. The puzzle had me stumped for a while, as my code translation wasn't giving me anything resembling decent coordinates. However, a bit more googling and I lucked upon the solution tool. I'm learning a lot about decoding puzzles! Cache itself found fairly quickly. Again, no pen, so photo proof attached. Tftc!

Finally managed to arrange a work trip to Wellington that was more than a fly-in/fly-out … with a spare day up my sleeve, I was really keen to tackle this power trail but needed the weather to play nice … thankfully it did. I did as much pre-homework as possible, knowing I'd be alone and trying to complete the full trail. And threw in extra spare batteries plus hard copies of all the puzzles as back up, lest my muddled brain meant I was out here for hours on end. All the pre-work paid off thankfully, the weather was better than I expected, the trail was great and the scenery and the bird-life were fantastic. The route was considerably more sociable than I was expecting too: met quite a few dog-walkers & runners but the chattiest by far were the sanctuary volunteers clearing undergrowth along sections of the fence line. I learnt heaps about the area, the flora, the fauna, from them: each group I came upon seemed really keen for a chat (or at least a short break!) Sadly I live too far away to take up their offer of joining their ranks All in all, a great day out.

The geotrail helped lead me to it, nicely secured cache; only problem was being preoccupied with the numbers & tripping over the wire fence on the way out. mmmm, more haste, less speed. Onto the next! TFTC

#1154 Good puzzle TFTC

Second of the day. It was left to me to brave the prickly vegetation - much squealing and amateur dramatics ensued. Tftc! With Yosser9

Last summer the idea was born to visit [Green]'New Zealand'[/Green], together with [url=http://coord.info/PR3NXJG][red]'MimiNemo'[/red][/url]
After some important decisions regarding the beginning of our trip, the flights, the general route and the car were made, the most important question was still unanswered: which caches can we visit during our tour [?]
To get an answer for this topic I was fetching almost every cache from both islands [8)][:X]
[url=http://coord.info/PR3NXJG][red]'MimiNemo'[/red][/url] and I love [Teal]'Geo-Arts'[/Teal]...so we added all these cache series to our wish list
After this decision was made this list was more than 300 puzzle caches long...unsolved puzzle caches
Two weeks before Christmas it was getting time to start solving all these mystery caches
Even with the different language I could find almost every solution
In the case I was not so successful I was contacting some of the CO's...and was always getting help from them...many thanks for this support [:X]

During the following weeks our cache list was growing and growing...meanwhile more than 1000 caches long...too long for a simple bookmark list from GC
Time to get our route and caches in sync...time to save the PQ's to our Garmins...time to start this holiday:

Chapter 15: [red]Picton[/red] to [green]Wellington[/green]
This was a awful day for me with a happy end with the caches from this terrific [navy]Zealandia Power Trail[/navy] [:X]
My disaster: a really turbulent sea during our ferry trip
That was not my cup of tea
After the vessel finally landed at [green]Wellington[/green] harbor I was thanking god...this horror trip was over [8)]

Unfortunately the ferry arrived more than 2 hours too late
Therefore we were not sure if we can manage the caches of this series in the remaining 7hours
But in the end we could find all the 30 caches in less then 6hours

Solving the riddles and to estimate the missing values of the worksheet was really fun
Finally we had all the final coordinates...before we started our walk [:X]
So we could concentrate in searching for the caches and for this wonderful, but exhausting walk around Zealandia
With the given hints it was almost possible to find the caches within minutes

I would like to thank 'taybee' for this great cache series and for showing us this wonderful trail ,
Dev46

Together with [url=http://coord.info/PR3BC8B][red]'Dev46'[/navy][/url][/red] I was on a 'sightseeing-tour' through lovely [Green]'New Zealand'[/Green]
During our great time we could see a lot of beautiful places and we also could find 'some' caches in the area...this was one them [:X]

Many thanks to all CO's for all these nice caches
Dev46

A quick find with DjaliDjinn on this well thought out series of caches.

"Today was the ""official Zealandia-day"" during my caching-tour through lovely NZ...
Solved the cool puzzles (as far as possible) at homebase (about 18.000 km West) ...
On the event yesterday I met the passionate owner taybee - and so was sure that the day was going to be good!
Hiked all around - up and down the fence - this took 7 hours including 4 other caches on the way. [:o)]
Had great fun and was happy to find them all!
This is how it should be on a trail [^]:
All caches in good condition [^]. All coords very good. [^] All hides very fair. All hints short, precise and helpfull [^].
This made my day! - Thanks & Chapeau, taybee! [:X] [:X]
Cheers from your raving German fan!
#15: Half way through Puzzle is for freaks (great I know some [^]) - and a very nicely hidden box

Had the day off today after working the weekend. Another stunning Wellington day so thought I would tackle Taybee’s Zealandia Power Trail. Twenty six found today (had found #1 a few months ago). One did not find, largely through my mistake and two did not look. Also one cache that had not been found since January. In addition three Boxhill caches found on way round and one TB. Plenty of birds all the way round with Tui, Bellbird, silver eye, Kereru, Quail, Blackbirds and sparrows. Had to wait to cache #27 before the first sighting of Kaka. Was in the expected spot as I approached GZ. Nice hide. Number 13 find of power trail today. Thanks for the series and TFTC.

Couldnt work out the puzzle but thankfully had master mind with me

We (myself and Capperz) set out from Palmy at 0530 to carry out this cool circle of caches. The weather was, as predicted, pretty awful however it actually made the going quite pleasant as we walked through cloud. Only a couple of times were we subjected to the strong gusts and driving drizzle. As we got to approx cache 25 the rain let up and out came Mr Sun to heat things up, only by cache 29 was I regretting not removing my jacket but witht the end in sight I wasn't stopping for anything!
All in all this is a very enjoyable and somewhat tough loop. Thanks for creating it taybee.

I should've had this given that I have three Ones and Zeros puzzle caches myself but I just couldn't get this. Capperz figured it out and told me what it was and then I realized I'd heavily over thought it!

This was our half way stop for some snacks, water and to see no reception on the phone.

I've given this one an FP for the series also.

came up so today's trip was only attended by the resolute tommy gun 9 and capperz and a weather bomb was looming but no worry, the caching must go on. Leaving Palmy at 0 5 3 0 was the plan to avoid any heavy Welly traffic and the ploy was wise. It was quite difficult to ignore all those unfound caches between Palmy and Welly but needs must when a power trail and some decent terrain is involved. At the end of the day we'd stayed mostly dry and no mis haps to report, so a succesful trip all rond with good company.
The intrepid team of two tackled the mission in a (typically) logical way. One would do the finding and signing whilst the other (t g 9) would do the maths stuff. So the logs are a combilnation of capperz and either tommy gun 9 and/or T G 9 and/or incoherent scribble, depending on how finely balanced I was whilst wearing my non slip, banana soled jandals (might as well have been wearing!)
All the puzzles worked out well and even I contributed a couple before we arrived to get into it. All of the co ordibnates were accurate too which is essential and the hints helped on a couple of occasions.
A day that ranged from strong wind, to fine mist up in the clouds, a lunch break of a fish cake sandwich at half past trail (cache #15) finishing strongly in warm afternoon sun shine.
All up this trail took 5 hours or so and was thoroughly satisfying. Many thanks to the C O for the entire thing, nicely done.
T F T C taybee

Nice easy puzzle after solving another mystery cache in the wellington region. easy find too, a few drops of water in the base of the container but log nice and dry. TFTC!

Finished work today and it was a case of what to do now to stretch the legs, how a walk around another part of the Zealandia Track. While I won't finish it today a big chunk of it will be completed along with gathering the requisite of information for future finding.
Very nicely positioned off trail and good to sit down after a bit of an uphill climb
TFTC

Find #1796. Second attempt at the ZPCT this time with some help. A blustery partly cloudy day with the wind building as the day advanced so we were eventually battling wind and dust storms on the trail. Managed to complete the circuit finding all but two caches in the seven hours, which included back tracking a couple of times, a spell for lunch at the Brooklyn Turbine and a kaka rescue (young bird was battling the wind outside the Sanctuary fence at the southern end – he looked injured. Rang through to Zealandia and they sent a ranger up to find him and return to the Sanctuary. Thankfully he wasn’t injured, just a bit blown about!). An enjoyable day and I’ll be glad to see a circle of smileys on the map. Thanks taybee for setting up the trail.
Had this one worked out before we left home so quickly found.

Day 10 of the puzzle challenge and now qualify to make the find on that cache. Parked in the Blades carpark and strolled along the fence line as far as this cache. Another great afternoon with plenty of sun and a cooling southerly breeze keeping things pleasant. Cache had a bit of moisture in it and a temp log on a scrap of paper from a previous finder was quite soaked. Spent some time with the temp log in the sun trying to dry it out. Would have taken more time than I had, so packed everything up and returned back along the track. TFTC

The second "power trail" for KiwiFruitsNZ and Vamber on their epic journey through Wellington collecting caches. We knew we were investing a day to complete this challenging, but scenic, walk known as Zealandia. We had one aim - to secure all caches, no DNFs, have a few laughs in between hill climbs and survive the track! Pleased to say, that we succeeded on all four criteria - completing the track in circa 7 hours.

This cache formed part of the aforementioned epic journey!

#2245

Day Four of our big Wellington Geo-cation with KiwifruitsNZ saw us complete the Zealandia Power Trail. When this road trip was first mentioned, we soon knew that this trail would be part of this adventure! Having done most of the prep work back in Auckland, we were mostly prepared for this mentally and psychically demanding journey! We are happy to report that we managed to complete this whole journey in just over 7 hours (including a lunch stop at the Brooklyn Wind Turbine), and it was nowhere near as daunting as we imagined it to be! Thanks Taybee for a great trail, we thoroughly enjoyed it! Also a bonus is today's 100% find rate!

This cache was quickly secured - onto the next!

Back on the trail - day 5 or 6? Can't remember. Nice and sunny and calm after a downpour earlier in the day. Straight forward find. TFTC.

I had posted a note a few days ago to see if anyone else wanted to join me on the trail and was very pleased when Taybee contacted me to say he wanted to do a maintenance run to replace all the logbooks.

After two days of miserable weather in Wellington the weather today couldn’t have been better. Blue sky, a nice mild temperature and light winds. Met up with Taybee, Mrs Taybee and Jr Taybee in the carpark and off we went. Mrs Taybee soon left us behind as she just wanted some exercise and she did the full loop in only 2.5 hours compared to 7 hours for the rest of us due to stops to find caches and do the calculations. It was quite helpful to have a personal geochecker standing next to me after completing each calc

Had a wonderful time on this trail. It is a perfect balance of mental (puzzles and calculations), physical (9 km walk including some challenging uphill sections), incredible views (360 degrees around Wellington + the snowy Kaikoura ranges in the South Island) and the birdlife (so many Tui’s and you don’t see Kaka’s flying around in the wild in many places). I loved seeing Jr Taybee’s youthful enthusiasm. He is one keen geocacher and has an amazing sense of where caches might be hidden. He hadn’t done the trail before except for the very first section but was finding the caches when I was still trying to dial up the hint on the GPS!

To cap off a perfect day we arrived back at the Taybee house to find hot scones and toasted sandwiches waiting for us. Thanks so much to the Taybee family for creating a great caching experience and making me feel so welcome!

The only negative part of the day was finding that some scoundrel had stolen the film canisters from approximately half of the caches. This compromises the weather proofness of the log. It was clearly a geocacher as the code number stickers had been peeled off the film canisters and restuck onto the inside lid of each cache. Most of them have been replaced now but he shouldn’t have had to.
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Half way to home. We had a short rest here while Taybee undertook some running repairs to the cache.
Many thanks

Today was the day we chose to launch our assault on the Zealandia Power Trail. Having previously dipped our toes in the water - finding #1 and #2 as an exploratory study, #15 became the thirteenth find for the day.
Find was straightforward, just as indicated in the hint.
Noted that we were following Zorgon - and we never caught up to him either.
A very pleasant day to be walking the fence. Our first experience of this trail.
Cache in order, log signed; safely re-hidden, just as found.
TFTC found with team cacher Sweet P too
The Turtle strikes again!
Now on to #16!

Did a full Maintenance run today Team up with Zorgon for the day and Jr Taybee Start at 7.30pm and finish at 2.30 pm

Fix lid Found Miss Film canister for log book replace for log book

Out Caching with Zorgon and a big thanks Zorgon for the walk and the Caches TFTC

Taybee had to Replace the Film canister witch have been stolen from the cache

This one was pretty quick. The hint was clear.

A quick find for us but the best bit was knowing we had now completed half the trail, and it appeared we had done most of the uphill stuff.

The crack in the container lid is letting in water, and the original log was sodden. Added a slip of paper to the log with my signature, but I suspect this will also become unusable before long.

TFTC. Second of the day. Liked the puzzle for this one, a slight twist on what I expected.

I decided about a week ago attempt this series in one go. I had a Wednesday off work and the weather forecast looked good. So I went about doing all the 'prep'. I managed to solve all the puzzles except #28. It appears I am not the only one to struggle with it. The big day arrived and the weather was bad - cold, wet and windy. I decided to go out anyway.



The weather made things pretty unpleasant. Everything got wet. I had the foresight to print off three copies of the worksheet and even with three they all ended up a soaked, tatty mess. At some points my hands were so cold I could barely open the cache containers, let alone write in the log books or enter the next coordinates into my phone.



Despite this, I managed to get to #28 with only 3 DNFs (#14, #18 & #25). At this point, the battery in my primary phone finally died. My secondary phone is much more difficult to use and the GPS isn't anywhere near as good. I knew from the previous logs that #28 could be found without the coordinates, but it would likely take some time. After about nine hours, I was too tired and had had enough so I skipped the last three. I will be back for them though. Overall, 24 finds + one extra traditional in one day is pretty good haul and certainly my best so far. Next I try something like this, I will wait for nicer weather! Many thanks to Taybee for putting this together - it must have taken a huge effort.

Yipee. We've finally finished the trail. This certainly wasn't here on our last visit. Made the quick find. Unfortunately I was unable to sign the log as it was totally saturated. Managed to dry out the bag and gave the paper a good airing but had to leave it still damp damp to make my pen work.

Great series. We enjoy this part of Wellington, especially the part inside the fence.
TFTC

A nice quick find, halfway there! Yay!

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Being down in Wellington a few times a year on Saturdays for church meetings I'd become quite familiar with the caches for this trail on the map. I finally made myself the opportunity to do the trail having taken the day off work and heading down a day early. Watched the first America's Cup race for the day in town (unfortunately NZ was not successful) and took my chances on the second being cancelled and grabbed a taxi to Zealandia to begin!

Despite the overcast weather and often being in the clouds it was a great day - the clouds did clear and I got some nice views on the second half. It must have been quite an effort to build such an animal proof fence and hopefully I'll get a chance another day to visit the other side of the it! The trail was great too (well, once I got into the groove); it was a good mix of exercise, searching and application of some brain power!

Thanks for very useful worksheet, my copy was nearly in tatters by the end of the day, and of course, thanks for the great trail!

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

Knowing that we were heading to Wellington to spend the weekend with family, we added a couple of extra days to the start of the weekend with the idea of completing the Zealandia Power Trail on one of those days. With a couple of storms in the weeks leading up to our weekend in Wellington, we were hoping that the weather would be in our favour for our hike around the Zealandia perimeter fence and thankfully it was - we had stunning weather for the entire walk!

Another quick find at this location, TFTC!

Knowing that we were heading to Wellington to spend the weekend with family, we added a couple of extra days to the start of the weekend with the idea of completing the Zealandia Power Trail on one of those days. With a couple of storms in the weeks leading up to our weekend in Wellington, we were hoping that the weather would be in our favour for our hike around the Zealandia perimeter fence and thankfully it was - we had stunning weather for the entire walk!

Another quick find at this location, TFTC!

Was rather pleased to solve the puzzle for this one on my own. I must be getting more practiced with this type. GZ was a bit windy and I had to make sure I didn't lose the worksheet (which has proved invaluable) in a gust of wind. TFTC

Thanks Taybee!
Today, we hunt #1 to #20. We didn't found the #7 and #14, but 18 GC in a day, it's our best shoot!

I found this cache at 2:06pm. Another solved at home puzzle so we could just walk down the path to this one. My hip was starting to get sore by this point, but we were half way and I was determined to make it. Neil assisted me with another example of valet caching. We noted this cache has a cracked lid.

When I found out I was coming to visit the North Island of New Zealand, I started looking around for good caches to do whilst here. I noticed this series, as it does stick out on the map somewhat. I had a fairly quiet time at work leading up to my break, so I did as much work on solving the parts that I could and setting myself up a worksheet (in my own style) to assist us on the day. As we got closer and closer to attempting the series, my hip started to get sorer and sorer (I usually refer to myself as 'team cripple' for a reason). In the end I decided to give it a go, thankfully with the support of my very patient other half, who came along the long walk with me.

Thanks for the cache and the series taybee!! LouiseAnn - visiting from Melbourne

A quick find, TFTC

Half way, 3 hours 15 mins. Expecting to take 7 hours so we're on track

Definitely needed to solve this one before hand - accurate coordinates from puzzle meant the cache was soon to hand once the GPS settled. Half way around, our five hour estimate has been revised upwards after a couple of refreshment breaks and the extra exertion required for #7! TFTC

Missing #13 made number #14 difficult. We didn't find that one but got back on track with #15. TFTC.

Don't know why this still has the maintenance flag - cache was exactly where worked out from the puzzle. Nice to be back on the finds after a couple of misses. TFTC.

Pleased to find this cache after the last 2 that are missing. SL TFTC

TFTC

TFTC

My cache-fetcher failed again, so I had to go and grab it myself.
Happy to get back on track after missing the last two.
TFTC

Another "chug" up another hill. Legs are struggling a bit now! But, Yay - half way!
Quick find. TFTC

#1,061: Cachelandia #15


Came up from Christchurch for a couple of days of Wellington caching. Got two sunny days in a row, and so was all smiles as I made my way solo around this beautiful area. Found all the caches in the series, and then some. Everything in good shape! I solved this one back home before my trip. I was a little uneasy accessing the obvious place for GZ, as it required crossing a fence, and as others have noted, there was barbed wire there. But press on I did, and found the prize. Also found the skull of a small mammal (see pic) laying on the ground. Hmmm. The lid of the container is cracked, and the whole thing is not very securely attached to the hint object. Half way to the end, and I'm running behind on time. I must be slow, but I am enjoying the day very much!


SL/TFTC!

TFTC. This cache had fallen out of the tree and was strewn all over the floor. So hopefully retrieved everything that was supposed to be in it!