Breath of the Taniwha (Central Plateau, N.I.) Raurimu, North Island, New Zealand
By Clive on 28-Jan-02. Waypoint GC3605

Thanks pinocchio59 for your note.

I have updated the description to reflect the current situation as I understand it.

The cache may be difficult or even impossible to reach while access via the Whakapapa Intake Road is in limbo, but geocachers may still be able to obtain permission from the owners or manager.

In the meantime I will try to find out more.

This cache needs updating or archiving. The road is private and the telephone number written in the description is for “Brian” who left the farm four years ago and didn’t really appreciate being rung although he was polite!
The new manager is “Kirk” but there is no phone number for him so the road is not available now. The phone number on one of the signs is regarding the poison only….

Now this one was really hard, we were looking for ages but we only found the original location, it has been moved to a tight place you need someone little to reach it. Make sure you have Time on your hands as this took an hour. It is no where near its original location. Make sure to look good and carefully.

It is so hard if you don't understand the hint. Don't follow the old ones because you will be looking very like we did. We spent over an hour down there. It is up not down like it says, it is harder because there is no service down there. The thing in it is so cool.

I did ring Bryan earlier in the week so I had the all good to go, but did not get here until now! I have been wondering about the meaning of the title and all but it was all revealed! It's alive and breathing quite loudly and visibly. There was obviously access at some point too, I wonder what happened as the gate does not seem used much nowadays. Very deserted place but the grass seems to get some attention indeed. The T rating works well for someone with longer legs or arms or both, but I had to scramble up to reach it TFTC!!

Thanks very much to GSEL who has replaced the missing cache in a slightly different location. Cache description updated - I will have to make a visit to see if I can find it!

For the record, the old location was nearer to the Taniwha's nostril, at S39° 07.066' E175° 27.998'.

#6375. I am driving north to Auckland but have allowed two days to get there. The family decided to take the train trip north to enjoy the scenery. That means there is plenty of time for me to stop and pick up caches as I head north. Great to be on a road trip again. This cache was on my radar long before the road trip as its an old cache with an intriguing name. I rang Bryan the farm manager before the trip north to get permission to use the access road and check there were no problems. Thanks to IanL1# for the contact details. There were two gates across the road that needed opening and closing. Otherwise the tarsealed road is in good condition. Parked at the upper level carpark and wandered down to the GZ.

The hiding spot was immediately apparent from past logs and the hint. But alas there was no cache. The area had been weed-eated recently and it seems the cache got mowed. Searching through the debris field I found a pen, a small toy, bits of plastic bag and a piece of solid plastic but no trace of the logbook. Looked at the option of putting in a replacement cache at GZ but the whole area is now too exposed and the bank above is greasy clay. So decided to replace the cache but move it to a higher level where it should be more secure. Have left a small container with a logbook. Now accessible from the upper carpark but less than 15m from the original hiding place. New location is S39 07.060 E175 27.994. Will email Clive with new hint. Signed the new logbook and returned to new hiding spot. Thanks Clive for hiding the original cache at this intriguing spot.

Those phone numbers are well out of date now I used 0274033292 to ring Bryan the Manager who gave me the all clear to use the access road Got that number from Google/White Pages under Landcorp Farming Ltd Waikato Region Taurewa Station
Cache is still safe and sound in exactly the place the hint says Outer bag now ripped but log still dry in its double protection This cache is a real legacy at 15 years old Very glad to get it I first came here about 50 years ago Thanks for bringing me back

tftc nice spot

Day 2 of Mega - Geocaching Adventure

Teamed up with HKCB to tackle a few out of the way caches around the mountains, plus a few Lab caches on the way.

An amazing day, a not too early start, already had an event plus the sun is shinning. Perfect caching conditions! After driving to get some information for the Labs we headed back this way to start finding some 'real' caches.

A very cool spot well off the beaten track. Enjoyed the views before starting the search. Looked high and low, and in all the little taniwha holes before expanding the search and realising the hint item has been chopped. Luckily cache is still there and tucked away. The taniwha was roaring loudly when I peered in. Thanks for bringing us here.

Day 2 of Mega 2016!

Todays goal was to head around the mountain to find the Lab caches as well as the caches up the Western side of the mountains, again like yesterday focusing more on the caches a little more off the beaten track than on the side of the road. Again teamed up with 11HPG11 for todays mission!

A very cool place to visit. Had no problems with access to the cache, though finding it took much longer. Started looking at the wrong side, but after expanding the search area and looking for the hint it was eventually found. Although the hint item has since been removed, a little of it still remains. Thanks for the hide.

This was an interesting place to visit, and we didn't encounter any problems using the road. Even the last section seemed safe enough. We could certainly hear the roar of the taniwha, although it was impossible to see anything in the gaping black hole. The cache was a quick easy find. TFTC

This Taniwha was a particularly easy to find for me as I have been down the throat and out the other end for an inspection of tunnel. The tunnel inspection makes for along day with much prior planning and subsequent reporting as well. My eight year son who is the keen geocacher in the family quickly had this cache in hand today once we were in the GZ, while I listened to the roar of the water. Lovely drive across the farm country as well and good to be back here. I'll give this a FP for bringing me back. TFTC

With sveppi on the way back from a day trip up Ruapehu. Didn't realise this cache was so old. Very surprised to see it has survived this long, but now not surprised by the damp and slightly mouldy swaps. Today it looked like a waterfall had just ripped through GZ. Cache definitely has no camo on it now, and nothing around to cover it either...

With fanfan-77 after a lovely day on the mountain. Found the road ok and braved meeting the monster... we could hear (and smell) it but we were fine. Cache however is very wet and quite mouldy. Thanks for the hide.

On a road trip to National Park. Saw the signs but gates all open so we went down. Never saw anyone on the road but lots of nice deer in the paddocks. Got to GZ and could hear the taniwha in the tunnel. Quickly found the cache well covered and before I got to quite where I thought it was going to be. Cache all good TFTC

Visited today and confirmed the cache is in fact still there, and also essentially where it was meant to be.

It has been fairly well camouflaged by the combined effects of of time and nature and perhaps also some extra help also from previous finders.

Added an extra sheet of paper and removed sodden old logbook for drying and restoration (if possible) at home.

Igor pulls the lever, lightning crashes ... it lives again!

Despite not finding it myself on my last visit, I have been reliably informed it is still there, and so along with a request to reinstate it.... here it is again!

Hint will be updated shortly, and I'll also look at moving it slightly the next time I'm down that way....

A maintenance visit has been long overdue. Went there today, and then couldn't find the cache! Doh. Am I not supposed to be able to find my own cache?!

Others have found recently so I presume it is still there, somewhere?

Lots of signs of people climbing up the bank so went up there myself also. Couldn't see anything (and that was also nowhere near the original hiding spot which was somewhere near where the small tree is now).

Got stung a couple of times by stinging nettle halfway up the bank.

The clue was not particularly accurate it would seem (more like northwest or even north rather than west) and the flax bush mentioned is no longer there, if it ever was!

It's an interesting area and there are much better places for the final hide than the spot I originally and lazily chose, but I'm archiving rather than setting again in a different spot.

A weekend road trip of epic proportions. Gap (of Fap and Gap) and I plan to carve our way through the Waikato, Manawatu-Wanganui and Taranaki Regions while collecting an assortment of caches for various challenges we are working on. Should be a fun excursion...

This turned out to be a not so quick find... compounded by the lack of mobile coverage. We found the Taniwha, whose breath was cool and refreshing on a hot Summer's morning. The gps was quite certain, but the hint plants were much higher and profuse. So we searched that area thoroughly. After more than thirty minutes of searching, we decided to leave in the hopes of getting a phone signal. Not far up the road, it happened... And someone magically logged a clue to the caches' whereabouts. Returning to the scene, we poked around for a few more minutes before Gap struck the container which was concealed. Great to collect this oldie. TFTC.

Another weekend caching with Squirrel Nutcase, due to the kilometres we are travelling this time a over night stop in Stratford was needed. Number off D/T Ratings and old caches was our mission.

9.50am - Phoned ahead and got go ahead to drive in. Searched but hint was not helping, some how we lost our saved information and had to return part way out on road. Saved again and back after reading an old log. Bingo cache in hand. Replaced Log sheet. SLTFTC

See prior log

Quite spooky observing the breath of a giant taniwha! But a beautiful spot to discover & enjoyed watching a couple who while checking out the launch site for paddlers. Looks like it'd be a fun trip to Owhango! TFTC really needs maintenance as the logbook is a slimy sodden mess;left a signature path tag in lieu of signing

I could only get the 'distance to cache' down to 9m so I didn't have a definite GZ so I searched based on the hint with no luck.

A quick cache and dash.
TFTC evilC

Taniwha was breathing heavily, but didn't see it. Phoned the office number before I entered. Log book too wet to write in.

Was in the area for the massive MTB event T42. After my ride I proceeded to this cache to log a find. After searching all around where the hint said I almost went home empty handed only to find it in the open under the tree. Log book was very wet and unable to be signed so have taken a pic to show my find. TFTC

Log book is very wet and needs replacing with a new baggie

we went there ignoring the signs, had a quick look there, but quickly went back...

Whakapapa Intake Road is sealed right to the cache and the person in the house 1st on left said it is not a problem if you stay on the road. The no tresspassing refers to Landcorp Holdings'farm both sides of this road where hunters may be tempted to shoot their stock.

The other cachers with me were concerned about the signs, and getting only the manager's answerphone, so for the good of our car's inter-cacher relationship, we chose not to proceed this time! But have since discussed with cache-owner, and feel happy about trying this again soon - I'll arrange access permission beforehand for peace-of-mind.

This entry was edited by NZ Skyliner on Sunday, 29 January 2012 at 07:17:39 UTC.

This entry was edited by NZ Skyliner on Sunday, 29 January 2012 at 07:18:04 UTC.

Quick early morning find TFTC

Found after a nice kayak down the Papamanuka Streem. Log book is still very very wet.

#1804. Left a message on the answer phone when we rang to request access permission. Very interesting area. We heard the Taniwha inside the cage too. The log was still soaked inside the plastic bag, but other contents remained relatively dry in comparison. The log wasn't really signable, but we just managed to scribble our name on the back cover. TNLNSL. TFTC.

Found

great little detour, felt the roar of the taniwha

Not many visitors seem to come to this cache. Interesting area, drove right to cache. Asked farmer who was friendly and said I was welcome to go to the area. Cache was very wet, log book soaked. I dried out contents and log as much as possible, put it in a new bag and put in some silica gel packs. Would be handy if owner of another visitor could replace cache container. SL TFTC

Surprised this hasn't been found in nearly a year. Log is dry. Easy find.

Can it be correct that this hasn't been found since last march? Easy find, tnlnsl

This was a really interesting place to put a cache, managed to drive down to the parking area above GZ, then walked the rest of the way, found cache easily, what a nice place to put a cache really great views, thanks for taking us here, TFTC TNLNSL (634)

One of those amazing places that you would never know about expect for geocaching.
No mist today but plenty of roaring!
TFTC

Forgot our torches, so we didn't catch a sight of the Taniwha, but we could certainly hear the roar and feel its breath. Retrieved the land shark geocoin as we couldn't resist its bright colours. TFTC.

Drove down and parked meters away from GZ. The mist and sounds was amazing. Got the cache and on replacing got stung by a thistle. Hand was tingling for the rest of the day. Other than that great spot. TFTC

Dropped off this geocoin to continue its journey.

13.47
Woohoo breath of the Taniwha is a good name for this cache. The mist coming out the vent was just like I would imagine.

TFTC

As usual I made this more difficult than it was.
Boy you should see where people have been searching-up the bank more.
You dont need to go up there is all Ill say.
Plus I took a risk and the gates were all open !!
Nice area too.
Lots of noise today too from the Taniwha
The difficulty and Terrain are about right so that should give you a good clue.!!

Scary, made our way in and out real quick, thanks for the fun.

TFTC

(1747)
Spotted the cache in the open as we pulled up in the caching mobile. Taniwha was quite angry today, and full of bluster. Signed log and rehid a little better in the same spot.
TNLNSL, TFTC

Taniwha was very much awake today, very loud and quite a rush of air could be felt too.
Enjoyed this one, very nice. TFTC

No breath today. TNLN

Thanks,
Chris & Vera

Easy find in the mud, the Taniwha was asleep today so no noise,
Got my 600th cache at last in just over the year.!!!!

TFTC
60 of 102 for this 5 day trip

Our first cache of the day, and we noticed that the canal was empty as we past over it. The Taniwha was very quiet today.
RadioNut loved returning here.... he was involved in the whole Power scheme project back in the 80s....
Left TB Feep Osaka to continue it's journey from here.

Visit day after a group of us split into sub groups to find several caches in this area on our bikes. Awesome down hills!

Interesting location. Amazing to think that water travels here back to Taupo to feed the dams down the Waikato.

Easy find. Cashe a bit wet. Replaced plastic shopping bag with Mapsport ziplock bag.

Been a long time since I've been to this area. The last time I managed to extract some trout from the pool below.
Very appropiate name for the cache. TFTC

You can sure feal the breath.
TNLNSL.

Never been down here despite a lifetime roaming around the plateau. Boy that Taniwha has stinky kuri-breath. TK signed the log while XenaCommander played on an icy puddle and played with the frozen waterfall ... reliving frosty morning fun as a kid
Off to brunch now at Anita's place...Ketetahi Cafe.
TFTC TN left visiting cards

Found this with TechnoKitten on our way down from the mountain heading back to Auckland...
Whey Taniwhas do have bad breath... ick..
Found easily enough... the cache had two things I wouldn't do with a cache...
1. Put it in an icecream container...
2. Put it in a plastic bag..
both are not waterproof..
Cache was wet.. shook water out and replaced as found but recommend upgrade.
TNLNSL... left calling cards
TFTC

Nice spot and quick find on a very frosty morning.
Last section of road quite icy but drivable.
THLN
Thanks

Another of our favourite places. Went straight to the cache, no troubles. Cold clear frosty day, ice patches on the ground. Taniwha was breathing heavily!
Out Sprong laces
In ordinary shoe laces.

Brought Punk Zippy to see a real live Taniwha, he wasn't too impressed, was more interested in kayaking down to Owhango.

Quick visit by Punk Zippy TB.

What a great spot - love the name! Cows recently on road left behind lots of stuff to fly up all over the car!!

Brought Frodo to have a look for any Orc's - No glow on the sword though.

Took: Nothing
Left: Nothing

Thanks

Nice easy find, tried yelling at the Taniwha through the grills but only got my echo.

In. Smilly face

Out.Polished stone

Nice unexpected place at the end of the road, not far from our lodge. And quite a scary place the Taniwha lives in. Thanks for the cache!

TNLNSL

Hadn't been down here for many many years, looks a lot better than it did in 1975 with all the logs jammed in it. 4th for the day, easy find. TNLN

3.30pm - Umbrella for this cache! An easy find, cache damp but filled in log in vehicle and gave it quick wipe out. Mad dash to put cache back, brrr freezing! Thanks Clive
TNLN

Drove past the gate with permission of landowners. Freezing & raining today. We waited 20 minutes in the car before getting out to brave the rain. This one is definitely worth the detour/stop. You can smell mist from the tunnell and hear the rushing of the water. TFTC TNLNSL.

had to do a wee gigle,,, the road signs are interesting,,, on the map it shows John Mc Donald road,,, but there are now no sign posts from the road,,, it also used to be posted as Whakapapa intake road,, these signs are now all gone too,,, felt a wee bit weird wandering about on a place that was marked as private property,,, we had actually come out here a week or so ago without a GPS,, and assumed we had got it wrong,,, just as well it didnt have teeth,,,

after a wee bit of rumaging in the flax bushes further up the hill,, the GPS was a wee bit off,, I managed to trip over it on the way back to the car..

Took golf ball
left shell and naturally adventurous label

In the area for some caving, so popped down to log the cache. Easy find if you ignore the farm "no entry" signs. This is start of the great syphon off of the Whanganui river catchment from the 1960's to the great "electric power God"
Took nothing left a wee fish.
Thanks Clive

Was obviously a bit more law-abiding than Mardonosaurus . Saw the sign, read the logs and decided to come back another day when we had contacted the land owner.

Brings back memories as I delivered icecream and frozen foods to Codelfa Codefar's cookhouse here while the Italian tunnelers and the Ministry of Works constructed this power scheme. Cache easy to find -- a bit damp but the pen worked.
In dinosaur
Out keyring
Thanks

Thought I'd better head back to this tranquil spot. Stopped in here a few weeks ago thinking about placing a cache here. Seems I should have checked the computer first.
SL
Left 2 polished stones
Took- 2 para-troopers

On the way home after an evening of caching. Beautiful summers night, easy find.
Scary cold bad breath!!!!
-NZ coins
+ Ceramic sheep
rebnda

The "Taniwha" was at his best today, really blowing!
- Pen Pac.
+ "Kiwi" car key ring.
Bayraider

Grabbed the two travel bugs and off to far away places

Found on a wet and cold day in the National Park. My wife was not happy that I 1. ignored the 'Private No Trespassing' sign at the access point and 2. ignored the 'Unstable road ahead' as we approched the cache site in a 2.5 tonne campervan

TNLN except a couple of travel bugs we brought all the way from the USA!

TFTC,

pajr777 (Paul & Sophie)

Cache container had quite a lot of water in it so drained it and dried out the contents in the sun while having some lunch. Log book was only slightly damp so should be OK. Also put the container in a plastic bag.
Would love to be able to get past the metal bars to get closer to the Taniwha but I'm sure they are there for a good reason.
Out: Fossilised shell
In: $4 (sorry left goodies back at the camp)

found it
never would have come here without a cache being here, but was an intesting spot. the breath of the taniwha really impressed the kids!

Cool cache

But the Taniwha's breath is cold!!

Cahe was very wet inside, but the plastic bags seem to be doing there job
Pen did not work though!

- Glow sticks
+ Tree and a new pen

A very easy find....

a nice spot that I would probably never seen without the cache being there

swapped nil

Had been on a visit to National Park and the GPS started to swing so we decided to investigate. Didn't find the Taniwha but felt his cool breathe and heard his roar TNLN

I thought I was stumped when Ifound a very new looking gate across the road a kilometre or so in from SH47. However they opened it up a few minutes later. (T.hey close the road to move deer across it)

The drizzling rain eased enough for me to grab this easy find and enter the log before it got too wet.
Out.......The upmarket Snoopy.
In........A never tie shoe lace

I did not see the Taniwhabut definitely heard him roaring.

Ok, Kaimaikid and I had a bit of fun yesterday. Traditionally, the first decent predictable dumping of snow that I can get down to I go and visit the mountain. There's nothing more beautiful than a mountain covered in fresh snow whilst it's snowing.

Trouble is.. Road closures.

The weather I found dissapointing this year, only light snow whilst we were at the Chateau Whakapapa with only about 8 inches of fresh powder on the golf course. We started returning home at about 3pm and detoured towards Breath of the Taniwha as Stoney hadn't found it. Whoa, new gates etc as previously described. Quick phone call, and permission granted best to keep the station manager happy. Call the manager, Grant Ludkin on 07-8922733 at Landcorp Taurewa Station. All you need to tell him is you are going down to the river to look at and take photo's of the hydro system, he shouldn't deny you access, also he will most likely warn you about the road, there's been a serious washout on the last section of the road.

Well, we never made it down to the cache, as I didn't take the slow diesel 4WD Van, I took the quicker front wheel drive petrol car, I abandoned the attempt due to concern about the rapidly closing weather, and the sludge and snow covered road. Now the trouble was, the cache area is about 150m lower than the high point of the road, and we were close to the cache when I abandoned the approach. When I backed up (Better traction in reverse) and turned at a higher altitude, we were in a blizzard.

Well the upshot was, we got out ok, and had an interesting day with all the highways in the central north island closed due to heavy snow, most we used closed immediately behind us. The army had to rescue quite a number of people (100-120 vehicles & 2 buses I recall), who got to spend a cold night in Waiouru. Pictures say a thousand words and I might go down again today .

[last edit: 7/5/2003 1:49:36 PM PST]

Despite the rain, the Taniwha isn't breathing today.
In: Snoopy
Out: Tiki
Cheers, M@

After going down a gravel road, we re read the instructions and found the sealed road.
Easy find once you are there.
Put in Big tiki took out little tiki.
Thanks.

An easy find, The kids got real spooked from the roar and mist. Left 3D card and Fossil from Vertical Limit, Took Magnifying Glass

Hmmmm.... We may have it wrong? but

The Taurewa farm road that we assume takes you to the cache now has a BIG no trespassers sign - entry on farm business only.

It might still be accessed by walking down the river I guess?

[last edit: 1/26/2003 11:44:19 AM PST]

Willbuild

Found it , very easy
Thanks Clive
Took Toy car and left Tic tac and rubbers

The access road had been gated by Lancorp - didn't know if ok to ignore this, so didn't proceed.

Well the Taniwha was in full roar today and very scary, can't say I liked standing anywhere near that grill. Managed to do this at the end of the day and had also managed to do a day of geocaching without getting rained on! Plenty of rain driving from cache to cache so I guess thats why the taniwha was so verbal!
Left batteries and took nothing. Thanks.

This was an easy find, the easiest of the day. And I even got to go up to Whakapapa afterwards to eat sausages at the barbeque and watch the fireworks, a most enjoyable end to a good days geocaching. Took nothing but photo's, left a glowstick & log entry. Thanks

So pleased to be able to drive to this one. The rain was pelting down and we Pam and I were getting nervous about all the warning signs about the rapidly changing river. Found the cache to be in good condition. We left a Co2 canister for your life jacket. (never know what the river might do)

Made a visit to check the condition of the cache and see if there were any unlogged visits - there were none since ags (below).

The contents of the cache were slightly damp so I removed and ate the toffees that were starting to dissolve. No ill effects on my health so far...

The Taniwha was not doing much - not enough rain recently I guess.

[last edit: 4/20/2002 5:16:19 PM PST]

Just noting an unrecorded find.

I left the cache notes for this one at National Park, and some friends visited the cache about April 2002. Didn't leave a note since they thought they'd cheated (No GPS, and using my notes).

I've visited this lovely scenic locality several times. The fairly large manmade structures don't detract from the surrounds. Great place for a cache

The cache was an easy find. You can even drive to within about 5 metres of the cache.

Noted a large clump of stinging nettles in scrub nearby. Unless you're really well offtrack they shouldn't affect you.