Pureora Views (Cenral Plateau) Mangakino, North Island, New Zealand
By fanfan-77 on 10-Aug-11. Waypoint GC300QH

Thank you for the cache, I was looking for it for a while but the hint helped me.

Stunning TFTC

Well worth the walk

I climbed up to the top for the cache and stayed for the view tftc

Found it! bit of a grey day but still plenty of views, lots of stairs!

Found, and very glad to after a gruelling climb up the steep and muddy track. The day is clear and perfect and views are magnificent to be sure. This GC definitely deserves a FP for it’s location. TFTC

Spending Labour week end in Pureora with the PackNBoots tramping club from Tauranga. We have had the BEST weather and we so enjoyed the amazing views at the summit today. Such a great place for a cache and what a fabulous one. Earns a fave from us. Lots of SWAG in the cache and a TB which had not yet been registered as dropped off - it has come from Switzerland it seems. So we have 'grabbed' the TB for some NZ adventures. TFTC.

Enjoying the weekend camping in the area with some amazing folks... nice climb to the top. Signed as Team Nibbles.

Found with Matcra, nice hunt. TFTC

Nice easy find, cool location. TFTC

There's no views at all today, so glad to find this easily, as a consolation prize! It says it was a new container in February 21, inside is completely dry and full of swaps .

Couldn't locate...didn't bush bash much....great view from the top tho!

Looked everywhere in the grass and had the dogs sniff out the area. The sign has been removed:( not getting any luck on the area

Our 200th cache! Amazing views from up here, you really could see for miles and miles on this great day. So glad there was a cache up here as it made the climb up so much more enjoyable. Then after all the wonderful views the cache was a “traditional” traditional! Loved the container, definitely a fav point from us, thanks for encouraging us to come up here ))) TFTC

I now live near Wellington, but I had to come to Rotorua for some life admin. So took a few days off and made sure we came past this place to give it some maintenance. This is my most remote and exposed cache and it's now gone through 2 systema containers.

This time I brought an ammo can. Also replaced logbook and swaps.

The walk up was faster than I remembered. Started early as it was going to be a hot day! Nice views as always although the heat haze didn't allow to see as far as Taranaki. Best time to come here is on a crisp, clear winter's day!

This cache will be 10 years old in August this year. The new setup should last at least that. See you in 2031

We had a good hike with the kids to the summit of Pureora and collected this cache along with another one on the way up. The container contents were wet and the logbook is sodden. Mold hadn't set in so we were able to sign the wet logbook. It will be good if the next geocacher brings a rag and new logbook to give it a 1-minute tidy-up. A big ziplock bag for the trades would be good too. Great views and well worth the hike. TFTC

Absolutely stunning views worth the walk up thanks for the smiles

Walking the Te Araroa and now the timber trail wow .with a trip up here to bag this one .As we made our way to the start before daylight and made our way along the trail with a spectacular sun rise i nab a cache or two .A quick search soon had the goods in hand. Now on with the trail see how far we can go today before we camp .Looking forward to the rest of the trail. A great addition to the timber trail. Living life one foot steep at a time as i walk from cape reinga to bluff and caching my way home as I walk the Te Araroa and discover the hidden treasures new Zealand has to offer.From the beach of the north to the forest and lakes of the south Blff here i come ????????????????????????????Getting out and about in to the out doors is my happy place so any excuse to go caching. As if I need an excuse aahhh nop I will go rain hail or snow so let's goooo and have as much fun and adventures as possible tomorrow may never come. ????????????????????????????Life is short. Live life one foot step at a time.Never say" I'm gonna "- Just do it!! Tomorrow may never come just grab Life by the horns Thanks for the hide ??tftc

Found. Beautiful stunning views

Wow

Wow

Back again taking some Tb for a walk

Great!

Nice views. Thanks

Found it ! Shame we didnt get a view though... Sky cleared a couple of hours after we got there...

Found in good condition. Biking/walking the first half of the Timber Trail with PruneC. No view from the top today while we were there. The track up was very boggy in places. Glad to get out of the cold wind once we left the top. Tftc.

This is just part of what turns out to be an epic adventure for me.
A work mate of mine had made noises about attacking the mighty Timber Trail and I was super keen to come along too. At the time he mentioned it some weeks ago, I was unfit and didn't own a decent bike, but I was still keen.
As luck will have it, I found a really good bike for sale and I bought it immediately.
Now for my fitness. I had to start riding it now, to familiarise myself with a full suspension bike. A handful of rides later and here we are, at the start of what will be the longest and most spectacular rides of my lifetime.
With accommodation and shuttle booked only a few days earlier (apparently we were very lucky getting some at late notice), we left Tauranga at 4 am to allow for any unforeseen mishaps along the way. Turns out we had none, so we arrived an hour early for our shuttle ride to the far end or the start of the trail.

After a super intense climb up the side of Mt Pureora I was glad to have a break from the pedaling. That is some climb and I was glad to know
Although we were already in the misty clouds while on trail, we opted to take the track to the summit with the hope of witnessing the spectacular view we were told about by the time we got there.
This was not the case. As we climbed up the rough track, it got colder and wetter and when we arrived at the trig, it was near white-out conditions.
A quick stop for the compulsory Trig photo to say we've done it and onto business. The cache.
My GPS had me spinning in all directions and eventually it settled to an area that matched the description. My muggle work mate made the find and actually sounded quite excited to find his first cache (not sure I converted him yet!) We signed the log and were glad to quickly descend the track back to a slightly more comfortable temperature away from the bitterly cold wind.
Thanks for bringing me here. Fav point for so many reasons!
TFTC
P.S. The ride was spectacular.

Amazing views on top of hill! Found during hiking Te Araroa trail. Thank you for a nice cache

Down in this part of the country to do the timber trail with the Mrs....her idea too! A very brief time away from the kids - they're still in school and we're taking full advantage! A hard warm up as we pedalled uphill and then got off our bikes at the 11km stage to carry on on foot. Speaking of which, definitely a bit wet, in places, under those feet! It was a quick find on the summit and we were heading back down out of the wind and back into the saddle for another 30kms.

Great views and well worth the stroll up

TFTC

The views up here are fantastic. 360 views. We are so glad we detours off our timber trail cycle. Cache found fairly easily and surprised by tge size. Tool a rather large tv remove tb. Left our own one to travel the world. Fav point.

Dropped off travel bug

Took me longer than it should've to locate the cache after figuring out the hint object. Log is a little damp but still useable. Great views from here, only took me 45 minutes to get to the top from Link Rd. 10/10 would recommend.

Find number 3812. I wanted to try and keep my monthly FTF streak going (now up to 21) but was not sure of my caching plans for the rest of the month. As I had keeping an eye on a nearby cache I decided to go and collect today therefore taking the pressure off for March. So I left Hamilton at 7 am and arrived and parked on Link Road (I was walking). Once I had turned off SH30 my petrol warning light came on. Bugger I hope I can get back to civilization when I am done.
Boots on and set off at 9 am. Turned the GPS on and it took a while to warm up and when it did I found that these caches were not in it. Bugger again. So as I walked along I checked the phone and manually inputted it into the GPS. Once at the top I decided to go down the old track which is no longer maintained by doc. It was not too bad but in parts there were deep water cuts and some mud. But it was only 500 m before I joined the Timber Trail. Then it was a nice easy walk of 300 m to GZ for the FTF.
As it was only 10.45 am I decided to walk the Trail around and back up to the summit from there. Much easier but a lot longer. Arrived back at summit at 12 to find 4 people there. As I had a bite to eat and a chat with them I found out that a son of one of the couples had done some geocaching. So we set off to find this one. It was eventually found and taken back to the trig to show the others. Signed and returned. Cache all good. Then on the way down I found the other cache on the track.
Now for the car. I freewheeled when I could and got back to Bennydale only to find they only serve 91. Like me, the car only runs on Super. So I nursed it all the back to Te Kuiti (I had traveled over 80 km with the light on) and filled up. One relieved cacher. The pump stopped at just over 65 litres.
Thank you for the adventure. It has been a while since I have been in this forest and had forgotten how great it was.

TFTC
On the TA
Beautiful sights

Fantastic views today but man the wind is freezing! Wish we could've stayed longer...TFTC

Yay

Came up the second summit track from timber trail... rainy day, was wet so thought a small hike would warm us up. Old path and steps starting to get washed away... some dodging bog holes... got to top... led us straight to cache, quick find... took two tb's think they have been there a while! 360° views of cloud... and tried not to get blown off the top. Cache still nice and dry.... tftc

While cycling the Timber Trail, we got off the bikes to walk up to the summit. Cold and windy at the top, we searched for around 15 minutes around some long grass and some astelias but only ended up with finding a green painted stone (?). Decided to head back down and get out of the chilly wind so had to DNF this one.

Bugger. Have to score a DNF for this one after a special trip this morning. The hint meant nothing to me as I couldn't see any grass on the summit, couldn't see much of anything on the ground really. Too much SNOW. The photos are of the final set of steps up near the summit.
Spectacular views but a bitterly southerly wind blowing.
I'll be back, hopefully with reinforcements.

A good walk but the top was in the clouds. Took GeoCoin.

Nice walk. Up in the clouds today, will have to come back for the views. Dropped off Traveling Wilbury (TB). Hope the views are better when the TB moves on.

Had planned to come up here since the "full of water" log, but had a few things going. Then the DNF reminded me to come up sooner rather than later. I'm finding it hard to believe that it's almost been 5 years since I was last here placing the cache! Glad to return and greeted with the same amazing view, albeit a bit misty so The Mountains were a bit hard to see.
Cache was found after a short search: it had migrated about 4m to a similar hint object. The container was a bit damp inside but no running water found and trade items, although sparse, were in good condition. Aired the logbook while having lunch in the sunshine out of the wind. Replaced the container, will take the old one home for a clean and put silicone in the seal. Also added some new swaps and a TB.

Found this cache way back in 2014 but revisiting today with fanfan-77 to do some maintenance. First time I found it it was easy (hint and coords spot on) but today took a little searching as the cache had suffered some cache creep. Had a nice lunch at the top - great views for all but 1hour walk up here. As fanfan-77 replaced the container and added a few other things I dropped off a Parisii 2008 Geocoin.

I'm pretty sure we had the right spot, but we did not find any cache!

The views somewhat made up for the sad face, but after the climb I really wanted a find!

On Search and rescue Training so we walked from Link Road over the top and then back to DOC HQ, 16kms in all and got 2 caches on the way. Both full of water. tftc and traing with a gps

Views somewhat limited today by cloud but did get glimpse of Lake Taupo. TFTC

One of the many caches we found on our campervan journey from Lower Hutt to Tauranga. A mighty and enjoyable journey through many great and iconic parts of the north island. Many thanks to the many CO's for the great cache placements and for bringing us to new places. Sorry for the generic log.

Easy find. Cache needs a new pen. Thanks

Always wanted to climb this peak so now I had another reason. Lovely forest and alpibe plants at the top. Orchids even flowering. Tftc log damp so given a new bag.

Found while cycling the Timber Trail. The track up may have been when first made, really great but it is now washed out in several places. The views from the top however are magnificent. TFTC

I've been wanting to explore this area for a while but never had the time or excuse to get down this way. CB has been working on a project nearby since the begining of the year but the timing to come visit hasn't been there. Found out about another trip down here last week and for once I hadn't booked up my weekend with other Geocaching missions, so I could finally come down and explore this place.

A slightly later start than I had initially planned but didn't quite expect the highway of a track to GZ, so made up for the late start. Had planned for about a 3 hour hike to get to the summit and back and the sign at the bottom agreed with me, though the 1.5km distance seemed a bit odd so I thought the track might be a bit rough. Nope boardwalks and gravel paths all the way to the summit, so I barely got the boots dirty. Got to the summit in 35mins and after taking a few photos of white, I thought I'd better go find the cache before I was blown of the summit. Didn't take to long to find but initially looked in the wrong grass.

Gutted I missed the views from the summit, so going to have to put this on the need to return list. Thanks for bringing to a great spot.

Found it with "FrenchSuperTrampNiko" on our walking Te Araroa trail
TFTC!

Marvelous view! A bit windy but lovely. Thanks

BIT DAMP. The next person going up could leave a better pen.
I was walking up the mountain often for about 30 years until June 2013.
It got boring so I stopped until I saw a cache had been place up there.
Thanks for getting me moving again.

Clambered up from timber trail. Pouring rain and low cloud track was more like a stream. Quick log into cache and scramble back to the bike to continue on my way TFTC

Phew! The was a bit of a 40 min haul up from the bike trail but loved the views. Didn't realise Lake Taupo was so close. Very disappointed to find another 20 min track just a few hundred meters up the bike ride TFTC

In the past 10 days holiday we had one day where cloud came in mid morning, and disappeared late afternoon. It was the day I grabbed this cache.... so the only views were of the inside of a cloud! TFTC

There was a group of around 839 muggles all around the area today so no chance for me

Found while walking Te Araroa walkway from Cape Reinga to Wellington. Took TB

A lovely day walk with the grandkids up to the summit. Quite strong winds and views were not quite clear, but they had a great day out. TFTC

A lovely early morning climb up the mountain. Found cache as we waited for the cloud to burn off so the magnificent views we had heard could be admired. Dropped off a TB. First find for 2015- Happy New Year

TFTC . Cloudy up here today so wouldn't photograph well, but impressive nonetheless. Cache was an esay find with the hint.

Stopped at the top of the climb while cycling the timber trail. DOC sign said 20 mins, and the weather looked clear, so we thought why not.
Well it turned out the track has been badly washed out, and when we finally made it to the top it was completely covered in cloud (see gallery). Was a 1 hour 45 round trip including a stop to find this cache.
Anyway we still enjoyed the walk and finding the cache helped to make it feel worthwhile.
As you'd expect an hour further down the cycle trail we looked back and the peak was clear again - some days just go like that!

The men of the team are on a bit of a tiki tour and were staying in Bog Hut (apparently it was pouring down at the time of the find) TFTC

Came up the “stairmaster” way (Link Road Track). Nice walk to the top and great views, perfect place for a cache

Left the bikes on the trail to walk up to the top with 5wheels. TFTC!!

After a side trip up the unmaintained path, with nearly untouched scenery, we had lunch with 360 degree views. We found the cache with the hensleyfamily and left on the timber trail.

Found after a good walk on a beautiful day. The view wasn't too great when I first got up there, as a rather large and rotund muggle was sunbathing in the nude at the top.
He hastily donned some trousers, and I was then able to enjoy the rest of he view before sneaking down to find the cache. I haven't been up here for years, the track is much improved, and makes the walk a lot easier. I think it was very patriotic of DOC to put in one step for every man woman and child in New Zealand.

TFTC

Found easily- well placed. Replaced dodgy pen. Tftc

Lovely view.surprising this is not logged more often

A great walk. Unfortunately no views. TFTC

Beautiful 45 min walk up the excellently maintained track, and rewarded with fantastic views! Great cache

What a great walk - excellent track thanks DOC - took us about 45 mins to get to the top and 35 down. The bush is lovely in this area - at the top we were greeted with cloud and wind but every now and then we got a glimpse of the awesome views. All good and I'm sure we will be back again one day. TFTC

Found it. Out with our Friday trampers group for the day. Nice climb to the top of the hill, and wonderful weather and views

Walked up the Pureora Track today, and it took us 45mins. It was a beautiful day, and this time we had great views. We were surprised to see another couple up the summit.

Awesome walk up on a hot sunny day, With Gregolas!

Nice walk up the hill with Shane&Nette, awesome day up here. TFTC.

Decided to get a bit of exercise today. Was raining lightly as we drove to Bog Inn Rd entrance. One of the kids decided he was too tired to do the walk so I returned to the car with him. The rest of the family did the return trip in 3 hours. I only had to wait 2 hours for them! The only view from the summit was of clouds. It was so windy they were able to lean into the wind without falling over. Cache was nice easy find. I will return another time but walk up from Link Rd. Unfortunately we got a flat tire when we reached the sealed road. TFTC

Amazing view today! Thanx for showing this Spot!

Greetings from hamburg!

Lovely sweeping views. A true highlight. Thanks fanfan77!

A Quick find after starting out early this morning with my father for a spot of mountain biking from Pureora Village to the "Centre of the North Island" then climb to Mt Pureora for great "Pureora Views" then return by MTB, do this cache then cycle out to "The Buried Forest".

Legs were starting to get a little tired towards the top, but then i suppose that with the MTB'ing that was to be expected. We arrived at the top to spectacular views, and a very cold wind. There were a group to Tihoi students (from St Pauls Collegiate) when we arrived so hhunkered down out of the wind, had some lunch and waited for them to depart.

Once they had left the cache was quickly found all safe and snug, TFTC and thanks for the memories of being up here as it had been about 30years since the last time.

oh we had muggles sitting on the cache, could see they were going to be there awhile. We managed to sign the log after a short discussion with muggles about what we were doing. Thanks for bring us here.

Found this one with mickl-missa and wogtog, nice veiws today, dropped off geo coin to carry on its jounery!!

No view today. The close grey murk was the same colour as at the car park below! Cache is in good order, thank you.

Logging through our FTF coin.

Alouette: You'll have to come back then to find the cache! If you hurry a bit you might even get FTF, as the locals seem a bit slow!!

A message from Québec, Canada for my daughter FanFan-77 ...

We were there on april 7th 2010

Published

Days off are marvelous, even an injured ankle didn't stop me from getting out geocaching and placing this cache. Dropped TB. We hope you enjoy the forest.