Whakapapa Fishing (Central Plateau) Kakahi, North Island, New Zealand
By stairman1 & goldielover on 19-Nov-11. Waypoint GC380BP

Was in the ball park but this area is being used as a toilet all over the place. It is simply for me too unhealthy to pick anything up and look under anything without gloves.

Cache seems to be missing. Muggles do not seem to know how to clean up after themselves. So sad. This is a beautiful area.

Coords seemed to head to a likely tree but couldn't find the hint objects. Plenty of used toilet paper around though......

No luck here today. Interesting spot though, loved the drive in.

10/1 Log to follow

Visiting the local area with the cache owners I just had to grab this one being so close. Picture perfect stream nearby made me wish I had time to do some fishing. TFTC

Staying close by for summer hols so had to grab this one. Nice walk from Bach to get this will have to come back for glow worms and lost dog ball. TFTC.

A quick easy find between showers, in a pleasant area. TFTC

I was one of a group of motivated Hamiltonian Geocachers (Cats&Dragons, HKCB & 11hpg11) who decided to head to Mount Ruapehu to complete the LOTR series of caches, along with some other geocaches in the area. This big day necessitated leaving Hamilton at 4am. We had prearranged to meet Tufty at 7am who we met up with in one of the lower car parks. Having two vehicles was fantastic and meant we didn’t have to keep backtracking and always seemed to be walking downhill. We signed the logs today WOAC which I think was decided was for Waikato Old Age Geocachers.

Even though the weather was pretty poor with steady rain for the first half of the day we still had a great time. I really enjoyed the walks which were varied and showed off the uniqueness of this part of the country. The company was great, it was my first time out with Tufty and really enjoyed getting to know him. There were certainly plenty of spots which reminded me of scenes from the Lord of the Ring’s films. A big thank you to the cache owners for taking the time to place all the geocaches we found today. We rarely had to look long before making a find thanks to accurate coordinates, sensible hides and descriptive hints.

Not sure how we ended up here on the drive home-a 'little detour' turned into mini mission of its own. Certainly a spot I probably would never have got to enjoy had there not been a Geocache here to find. Looks like a great holiday and fishing spot. TFTC.

This was the start of a great day caching with friends.

Up at 3.30am leaving home at 4.00 for a great drive down here, 70 caches for the day on the mountain. So in the company iammrwalker, HKCB & 11HPG11 (members of HOAC) we set off to the mountain. It was with great interest that we had been keeping a very close eye on the weather for the past week but of all days I think we could have looked at this appeared about the best.

Although the weather may not have been the best, being keen trampers we were decked out appropriately for just about every eventuality that the conditions may throw at us. Having access to the two vehicles defiantly made the task all that much easier (ferrying of parties between start and end of tracks). So for the day we managed to cover 460 kms (approx 23 kms tramping) and locate approximately 70 caches. A great way to being the weekend and still made it home by 7.30 pm.

Having completed the upper part of the Bruce Road and the LOTR series we collected these on the way out and before we headed back north and Home.

Thanks for the cache, Thanks for the placement

This one had been on my radar for a wee while now, been in the area a few times over the last few months but haven't had the time to attack these trails. When a plan was hatched with some other Hamilton cachers to get them all done in one day, I was a little apprehensive but I still said yes! So today our team consisted of Cats&Dragons, Iammrwalker, HKCB and Tufty and we signed the logs as WOAC to save room.

I almost missed today altogether when my alarm decided not to wake me at 3.20am for a 4am departure but luckily I got a phone call to awaken me from my slumber and it was off on the road toward the mountain. Good to catch up and hear the latest caching tales. The weather wasn't looking the greatest but nothing to put us off, just meant a few more layers of clothing. It was great to see Tufty at 7am at the trail ready to go, not put off by the rain. Having two vehicles also made it a lot easier and cut a few kms off the days total.

All in all another fantastic day out with friends, a few caches collected, a fair few kms walked and home by 7.30pm... and I think I was asleep by 8pm! Many thanks to all the cache owners who tempted us out into the wild!

An interesting little spot that felt like we were well and truely off the beaten track. Soon found were we needed to be.

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Lovely spot to visit and a nice quick find. TFTC

Visited with Ngarara1 at twilight prior to walking back up the gap to view the glow worms. TFTC

Visited with goldielover today. Just to check up on things. All is well here. Although it is a pity some campers have been here at some time.

What a great spot! Love the last couple of hundred meters of road as well. Going to have to video it.

Lovely find in this beautiful area. Someone sadly decided to use this exact spot (under the two rocks) as a toilet!

TB visit

Visiting today and checked out the cache. A little wet and will rectify the problem.
Will be all good again in the next day or so

What a lovely spot by the river, and quite a cut through the land for the vehicle track. We did a bit of fishing and managed to land a lovely 4-lb hen rainbow. Thanks for the cleverly placed cache and bringing us to this location.

Was planning on finding this one on the way down to National park, but ran out of time as we needed to get to our accommodation. Enjoyed the drive off the main road to the cache, especially the last long straight bit. Another car was parked up near the cache site, but looked like they were packing up, so chilled out and checked out the river while waiting for them to leave. Once we had the place to ourselves I set off to find the cache. No problems there and the cache still in good shape.

TFTC.

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... Day 2 and the long ride homeward.

After taking a network of roads, it felt like we'd travelled a huge distance just to get across town. We drove through a narrow section of road (the tunnel) and came out by the river. Gap parked as close to ground zone as possible and the cache was quickly discovered. On the way out, we gave way to two slow-moving vehicles. They were coming through to find the glow worm tunnel. 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.

6.30pm - Another one of those out of the way caches only to be held up by 2 vehicles on our way out who were looking for "Glow Worms in daylight. SLTFTC

We decided to visit Kakahi after hearing of the awesome general store and delightful owner. The tunnel was the next surprise, I will have to come back at night for the glow worms, and the cache was a bonus, thank you.

As with ozzawazza, a delightful visit to Kakahi & general store leading to a conversation about a big photo on the wall there & a drive through the tunnel to the river & cache. Love these GC's that take one to places otherwise hidden/unknown to many

When we drove through the "tunnel" it led us to this great spot. Thanks for sharing TFTC.

Lovely peaceful spot, no one around today and cache found quickly.
TFTC

Well what a spot, it was such a peaceful little area and loved the drive down to it, especially the "Tunnel" Thanks for brining us to this little place of magic. TFTC.

This cache is definitely an example of how caching brings you to amazing new areas you would otherwise never know existed. We loved the "tunnel" down to this peaceful little spot and the river outlook reminded me of Arrowtown in the South Island. Thanks for sharing this beautiful little spot with us, it was one of the memorable caches of our day.

#5062. Interesting going through the "tunnel". Nice spot. Well hidden. TNLNSL. TFTC.

Another good cache find while heading to the Auckland MEGA event.

Cool location!
SL TFTC

A late log,found this and others in the GPS
Found on a windy damp winters day.
Great drive in to great river views.
Signed the log after a bit of trouble getting a good fix.
TFTC

A nice little detour on the long drive home from Ruapehu with the surprise of such a lovely view of the Mt from here on this beautiful spring day. Compared to the open windswept plains, this little oasis nearly felt tropical! Time to peel off a few layers... Loved the green "tunnel" and must return to see it at night & also to do a spot of fishing sometime. Nice to meet the old shopkeeper & check out the cool carvings next door too. TFTC!
-turtle TB

Found it easily with my 5yr old son doing the honours of getting it from its hidey spot. TFTC

Should return to see the glow worms, bet they are amazing. Loved the tunnel!

I arrived in New Zealand for the first time two days ago. For a crazy 3 days of caching with the CO of this cache.
I loved the 'tunnel' to this cache. He tells me there is glowworms at night through here.
Love the countryside.
Thanks for the cache.

TFTC

Well worth the diversion down to this peaceful spot by the river. TFTC.

Staying at Kakahi with parents and did the glow worm visit last night. These were very spectacular and probably the best display we have ever seen. A very popular spot given the traffic jam down the "green mile". Found GZ the next morning, but a tent was pitched right beside. Thankfully there was nobody home as I needed a little time to retrieve the container from its hideyhole. I discovered that I needed to take the lid of before it would fit through the gap. Signed the log and went down to the river for a paddle. A beautiful day and the water was not as cold as expected. Didn't see any trout, but as we were about to leave a wood pigeon flew in to feed 3 meters above our head. Wasn't particularly disturbed by our presence, so we took lots of photos. A great spot with the bonus of a cache at the end. TFTC

This entry was edited by tparty on Saturday, 12 January 2013 at 09:49:44 UTC.

TheWonderStuff you guys are making me envious. Sitting over here in Brisbane I remember the countless hours I used to spend swimming and fishing around here. Would not have been happy with the small trout.

We took the campervan down here. an easy find many thanks as we never knew this lovly spot was here.

Lovely spot, found while looking at river for a fishing spot, caught a little rainbow that I released back- see photo

Tftc

With aksn

Detoured from our planned route today especially for this cache. Thoroughly enjoyed the experience of travelling along the old tram route. Noticed the level kept true by going into the cutting many call the "green tunnel". So much history here. And to think how long ago this tramway was built, without modern machinery and levelling appartus!
Cache found, Jeep dropped off. Then a chance to return through the tramline again... but blocked by a large campervan... so backed up and waited and waited and waited. Maybe they backed up... so went forward again to spy them gingerly creeping through still..... backed up again and waited. Friendly wave and a shout of thanks. Another attempt and..... yes, another campervan coming through. backed up and a much shorter wait. Third time lucky! And off to the next job south,.

#447, found during my kiwi traveling. Log in may, because I was without net. TFTC

What a beut spot. Just staying with my daughter up the rd at Piriaka a few days. Cache easy to find thanks. Some young folk coming out of the river with their kayaks

Easy find after the crowd left.We used to drive over an old logging bridge here to Whakapapa Island then up over another log bridge over the Wanganui river to Hohotaka road then on to Turangi.TN left measuring tape and pencil. Thanks for the reminders of the old days. Cheers

Hahaha had to finaly upgrade to the Premium membership today (argh)to be able to come find this one with Size 13 and my twins it's so close to my home co-ordinates i couldnt resist..few locals down here today (including the horse!) 5 yr old twin girl found the cache, she was tickled pink Oh and I have got to mention about "The green tunnel" photo..This tunnel is hugely popular at night time with locals from near and far..when it is dark this "tunnel" turns into a glowing mass, it is full of glow worms on both sides it's absolutely awesome..turn your headlights off and drive slowly through, the glow worms will guide the way for you..took sewing kit, left keyring Thanks heaps for the cache

FTF!! A quick detour for our oldest cacher on his way to work. Quick find. Thanks for the gift!

Found it but not too many will, it doesn't show up in our latest North Is listings! It was a good excuse to check out another fishing area that we hadn't been down to before. Nice approach road through the 'tunnel' to a lovely grassy area. But not sure about the local who drove down to check us and the only other vehicle out, in his unregistered blue jeep. Might not be too keen on leaving our vehicle unattended here for too long. Fortunately cache is a quick find although very obvious, we could see the container so camoed it a little before covering. The guardian horse kept watching us but wasn't keen to make friends. Must come back again with the rods now we know this spot is here. TFTC.

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