Matakitakiakupe (Wairarapa) Cape Palliser, North Island, New Zealand
By Hurricane Luke on 06-Feb-12. Waypoint GC3ACXM

Not able to get to this location in the allotted time so am opting to archive this.

Have had the hurry up to do something about this cache. Being a remote area it is not the sort of place you can dash off to - getting there is an excursion. I am committed to fixing this cache although it is limited in it's placement by the presence of seals. It may need a new spot.
However, if any cacher is interested in adopting it, please let me know.

This geocacher reported that the cache might be missing.

Time to disable until my next excursion to this amazing coast line.

Starting to get depressing, as we now have 5 DNFs or DNAs today compared to 3 finds. We spent a considerable amount of time searching for this one, and getting eyes and other parts of our bodies poked, but no luck at all. Fortunately we did not run into a seal here, but did at several other locations we visited nearby. CO might want to check on this one, given the long run of DNFs now.

Adding another DNF to the list. Luckily not disturbed by seal guards

Logging a dnf, although to be fair, I could not search the bush in question as a seal was in residence at the time. Thought discretion was the better part of valour here. For some reason I only seem to visit these coastal caches when the seals are in residence.

No luck here after a preliminary sweep. Got distracted by the seals hanging out nearby and enjoyed watching their antics for a long while and talking to fellow travellers. While I was seal-watching, the Seagnoid and his posse rocked up and we had another look for the cache together. Found a seal instead, slap-bang in the middle of the bushes where we were searching. Thanks for the chase anyway!

Could not find the cache, but did find a seal at the same place (perfectly matching the hint). So... there was a cache, now there is a seal. Either:
1) Someone removed the cache and put a seal in its place,
2) the cache was eaten by the seal, or
3) the cache was transmorgrified into a seal.
Are there any other possible explanations?

The plan was to go tramping but the weather report was particularly disappointing. So my sister, my nephew and my self went camping at the Pinnacles instead. Fantastic weekend, great weather, although quite blowy on Sunday. And on our return to Wellington the weather was... particularly disappointing. It was hosing down! I am glad we went for option 2, but I am still in need of tree time.

Hadn't saved for offline use, couldn't read hint. Also a seal was in the way...

Amazing watching the hundreds of seals and their pups!! Never seen so many together before. Again this took a lot of searching - the container isn’t black, but clear! Also needs some TLC. TFTC and have an FP

Utterly magical place! Have a fave. We saw so many seals, including loads of pups suckling from their mothers.

Gefunden auf unserer reise in NZ tftc

I didn't realize that seals hid in bushes here. It's Canterbury Anniversary weekend so JDScout and I organized cheap flights up to Wellington awhile back. We stayed at a friend's house in Greytown and have based ourselves there. Thanks Hurricane Luke for placing this geocache 7943 find for me.

Sadly there was no large event in New Zealand in 2019 but there are a few Mega events planned in Australia. New Zealand will have another large event in 2020 in Auckland. 
======== NZ Mega 2020 ========
Planning for the NZ Mega 2020 event is well underway. It will be held in Auckland over Labour Weekend, 23 to 26 October 2020. Thanks for hiding this geocache.

Three years ago, we intended to come and admire the cape and the sea lions. Unfortunately the weather was really bad and we stopped at Putangirua Pinnacles.
Today, the weather is beautiful and we will enjoy it all day long

We leave the cape to head back to our motel
In passing some stops and some caches on the road.
The weather is always very nice.

---
Thanks anzac61 for the geocache [^]
Greetings from Belgium,
Frank et Muriel travelling in New Zealand

Happy geocaching

Carefully searched for the cache and found it quickly. After logging we went over to see some of the seals. Funny how high they climb. TFTC

Found as a part of a previous group TanjackMüley, now WanderingSparrow. Now I'm continuing on my own. TFTC

Fantastic place with lots of seals and mugglers took a lap before finding the cache. Thanks for the cache.

BFG had his hands on the cache before I'd even reached the area! TFTC.. Loads of seals to admire today.

#7412. Over to the Wairarapa today on a road trip to pick up a few caches down in the Cape Palliser area. I decided to reduce the carbon footprint of the trip by enlisting the help of fellow cachers Infoferret, Barefootguru and Denomynator so we had a full car load. It made for a fun day out and having four sets of eyes certainly makes locating caches a lot easier than the bumbling efforts I normally make. We stopped to grab a few caches needed by different people as we made our way south. I have done most of the caches down to Ngawi.

We parked in at the reserve by the seal colony. The cache name is a bit of a tongue twister! It was a busy place today with lots of tourists wandering around photographing the seals. Most of the smaller pups and teenagers were friendly enough but a grumpy adult in the dense taupata had me back pedaling at speed. Luckily it was all clear at GZ and after suggesting we should start searching at that location BFG put his hands on the cache seconds later. Signed the logbook and replaced the cache as found. This is a great place to visit with the wild seas pounding in nearby and the large numbers of fur seals hauled out all over the headland. Thanks Hurricane Luke for placing the cache here.

Seals were indeed nearby! We were careful not to disturb them, although they looked quite spaced out in the sun. No problems with the find. TFTC Hurricane Luke!

We took a good (careful) wander to admire & photograph the seals — thankfully I found the cache under the bush devoid of their presence. Thanks Hurricane Luke!

This nice cache was searched and found together with my dad "Tango-Addi"!
Many thanks for showing this place!

TFTC from Tango-Junior

P.S. sorry for the late log!

Today we went to Cape Palliser for enjoying this amazing spot!
We watched the seals next by.
What a wonderful view all over this area!
Amazing what was created by nature and real amazing to see these animals in reality!

Many thanks for showing us this amazing place!

TFTC says Tango-Addi!

I pulled up and spotted a few seals, including a pup by itself, so tried going around in a wide berth, but there were quite a few near to where I figured the cache would be, so decided to give this a miss. Will be back some other day.

The logbook is extremly wet and it is nearly impossible to sign it.

One very soggy log. Can’t sign. But taking photo if required. An abundance of seals which we are trying to avoid disturbing

Today is day 16 of our drive to the south island. After we spent the night at the freecamp in Ngawi we started to drive towards the lighthouse we stopped here to walk along the rocks to view the seals. The seals where a bit futher away today which allowed me to make a quick find before continueing our walk. Lots of seals resting on the rocks futher down with some playing in the water. Tftc.

The seals were in residence, redants got barked at for getting too close to an inocent looking bush, decided to call off the search before someone lost some fingers.

Today we drove from Wellington to Masterton and visited Cape Palliser on the way. A few caches were of course not missing. Thanks a lot for hiding

# 1458

Third of the evening, phone was in and out (mostly out) of reception so I only had the GPS, no map, logs or clues. Eventually put my hand on the prize. Was behind some crumpled up paper with bible verses on it, weird... Thanks for the smilie!

Found with my daughter Carø and Granddaughter SS3J they were Jess & Caro at the time. TFTC.

Found this with Mum as 'Jess & Caro'. She is now Carø and I now have my own geocaching profile so we are sorting my logs for caches we found together. TFTC!

OMG how cute are these sea puppies!!!!

We pulled in and a campervan was parked nearish to GZ so I made my way around the bushes, hoping to access GZ from behind and out of view of the camper but it was about 3m away, dammit! I decided to take a short cut and head over to the seal colony... ooops got stuck. Made my way back the way I'd come and saw the van pulling out and leaving. Woot! So I headed back to GZ and the cache was found nice and quick. Logging duties completed, I set off the easy way to the seal play area.

Well my goodness these pups playing here are the cutest things! G_O_Nan and ourselves spent ages here just watching them. My favourite moment was when one pup tried chasing a seagull on the sand... talk about cute!

Thanks for placing this cache here, Hurricane Luke, and for ensuring we didn't miss this magical experience!

My GPS kept leading me in circles, never quite settling down to a specified spot. In the end I just searched everywhere with a 10 metre radius and it was a simple find.

The 50 or so seal pups playing in the nearby pool made up for it

Quick and easy cache. On a beautiful day, we saw a lot of seals and seagulls
Thank you!

Greetings from Germany
Panda 007

A quick one, said hi to the seals

Found the cache after a stroll arounf the GZ. Sitting in a puddle from the recent rain and totally socked, Got the water out, signed the recently added logsheet and returned on the right side of the rock where it looked a lot drier. Plenty of seals round here, lots of small ones in and out of the water. TFTC

Found with 12YO while younger kids rested with Mum. We loved watching all the seals lazing about and playing in the water. We couldnt leave without finding this cache, of course. It was my 12yo who got hands on it first after spending 5-10min hunting. TFTC!

Wow!!! So many seals, even baby seals, what a great place to stop!
Huge thank you for placing a cache here.
Log was very wet, so I added another paper in a bag, hope it will stay dry.
TFTC
We stayed for quite a while enjoying the seals - with the appropriate distance of course

So many baby seals!! Tftc

Found it during a holiday on the beautiful New Zealand.
TFTC and Greetings from Czech rep.

Favo for the serial. TFTC

After a nice weekend and a camp on the beach we are making our way homeish... time for a cache or two on the way. Lots of seals... watched from a distance. TFTC

Sveppi and I have recently moved to Wellington from Rotorua. After a few months getting settled into new jobs, new house and new routine, it's time we start exploring our new environment. An invide from friends of friends to go camping in the DOC land east of Cape Palliser this weekend was finally my excuse to see what the land South of Featherston looked like. Yesterday we visited the lighthouse then drove beyond the gate for a bit before abandoning the car and walking the rest of the 5km to the DOC land beyond with packs and tent for a very enjoyable evening in almost perfect weather. On the way back home on Sunday we grab a few caches. I really enjoyed the flora along this stretch of coastline, a lot of the shore plants were flowering which was quite spectacular. Of course we spent a lot of time watching the seals too, around here we perched on a high rock to get a good overview of the whole scene. Cache very damp inside but waterproof paper comes in handy for singing.

Enjoying a short break at Ngawi, this was the first stop on the way out to the lighthouse on day 2. There were seals everywhere and although most were youngsters, they were more afraid of us than we were of them. In fact there was a young seal quite close to the cache hide and it toddled away as I slowly approached.
I suspect the taupata cover has spread since this cache was placed - it is looking very healthy in spite of the exposed site. As a result, there was a relatively large area to search, being careful to check for sleeping seals between the rocks and under each clump of taupata.
No seals were harmed, and only 2 or 3 were even disturbed in the course of my search. A good secure hiding site - thanks for the cache, Luke.

This cache was quickly found by Pratchettfan, while I was still taking pictures.

We headed to Cape Palliser to find the Southernmost Cache. On the way we spotted many cars here so we stopped to see what was up. We spotted dozens of fur seals! While Feeeeeee was taking pictures I headed into the bushes to look for this Cache, which I found after a quick search.

Thanks for this Cache!

# 2090

PS: edit to correct the log, because I confused two Caches

After the 2018 WENZ Mega event
mr and mrs went on a Wairarapa tiki tour, and... stopped by to explore some and found this cache - logged as MM78
Tftc - we also collected jellybean TB from here

MEGA TRIP 2018.

As usual with the annual MEGA event, we partook in our annual MEGA Trip. However this year was a little different from others, with much more sleep and a little less time caching than usual, but just as much fun being had along the way.
The general goal for the trip was to focus on all the new Virtual caches published over the last year, visiting Cape Palliser (for the Southern most cache in the NI), and Castle Point, along with spending time at the MEGA Event. With this in mind hiring a campervan from Hamilton and seemed like the best way to tackle this goal, plus sleeping in a car with four people, would just be too cramped!
The trip was a great success, and our goals were achieved. A big thanks to all CO's for there hides.

LEG 3: Mega, Cape Palliser and Castle Point: Todays plan was to spend some time this morning at the Mega Event before heading off to Cape Palliser and then working our way North to Castle Point. Two places that have been on the to visit list for a while now.

On the way back from visiting Cape Palliser Lighthouse, so decided to find the caches along the road. A quick find here.

Well it's the WENZ Mega Weekend and a plan was hatched to motorhome (as we thought it would make a difference from sleeping in a car which is our normal accommodation method) down here in the company of HKCB, 11HPG11 & Alpenmilch80 and head for a few caches along the way.
As time was of the essence and we had planned to spend bugger all time at the actual mega but rather head for specific caches that we would otherwise not collect.
The record keeping for this trip was a total of 1750kms, (fuel = $450) and less than 100 caches, plenty of Beer & Wine and I still call it a complete success as we got what we came for.
Following about an hour at the WENZ Mega we headed for Cape Palliser (as this was a targeted area) before heading north again. What an amazing drive down here and a variety of sceanery along the coast. This was truly a highlight for us and many photos were taken.
We cached our way back up towards the Waiarapa and onwards to Castlepoint
thanks for the placement

During lunch time on Friday I flew into Wellington from Auckland to meet up with some crazy Hamilton’s (11HPG11, Cats&Dragons & HKCB) to spend some time at the 2018 WENZ Mega and then driving the huge campervan back to the Tron.
After the night spend with a hearty meal and good drinks we refreshed ourselves before moving in the direction of the mega. Afterwards we left the Hut to drive out to Cape Palliser. This find was collected on our way back. TFTC

It's Mega time! This year we decided to hire a motorhome and travel down in relative luxury, very different to the last few years. Our team this year consisted of Cats&Dragons, HKCB and later on Alpenmilch80, and myself, logs were signed as MEGAHOAC. We went on a bit of a whirlwind trip round the lower half of the north island, chasing virtuals, earthcaches and anything a little bit different.

After exploring further round the coast at Cape Palliser, it was time to head back toward civilization. We enjoyed the scenic drive round the coast, and lots of photos were taken at every cache stop. Thanks for the hide!

While I did spot a single seal on the way in, there were none close to GZ.. I have been 'jumped' by seals before, so I had eyes in every direction =)

Found at 10:07 - #7844 - on a 5 week trip in New Zealand

TFTC

I was busy signing the log and heard the unmistakable sound of a seal coughing, one step to the left and there it was we eyed each other up and it posed for a couple of photos before lying down again. TFTC Hurricane Luke

#8008

With lucypear on the journey to Cape Palliser.

Found in the first place we looked after a long search and looking out for potential seals.. We could smell seals. Lucy sighted this but couldn't grab the cache as it was so deep into the trees. Looked like the cache had been thrown back. Luckily I had long arms to pull it out. Replaced behind the giant rock.

We were just about to give up on this one when I spotted it. Had been put quite far back so had to enlist Kyb3rs long arms as well as a stick to retrieve it. Have made it a bit easier to reach for the next finder.

Out enjoying a gorgeous sunny day driving in the Wairarapa. All good here. TFTC

Found after a wee hunt. Praise the lord for waterproof paper!

No luck finding the cache, but didn’t want to try too hard as we didn’t want to disturb the seals

A bit scarey as there were seals everywhere. Tftc

Wow that was so cool. Seals everywhere, even little baby ones. Not worried about us at all. Highlight of a cold wet day! TFTC

Was scrabbling around not knowing there was a seal right next to me found eventually the seals shouldn’t be in this place. But they are close by

Okay, a little guy was very near the container and scared the s.... almost out of me. Find in the end and lots of photos captured of the seals. TFTC!

It was getting a bit dark on our way to Cape Palliser, but we made it! Watched the sun set and my friend almost got attacked by a seal. Be careful! They blend into the rocks. Very cool to see them up close. TFTC

A nice spot, not many people about but plenty of seals. Big seals and little seals all lounging about. TFTC

Flew down to Wellington with some very keen Westies (Rebel98 and rustynz) from West Auckland. We 3 regularly go away for 3 days for caching adventures on very cheap grab-a-seat deals. We hire a car and stay in cheap accommodation. Met up with our caching mate yesterday, ivss_xx who was staying in Wellington. Now today our goal is the lighthouse multi and later White Rock.

But in the mean time we came here, what attracted us here the most were the abundance of seals! I have never seen so many in one spot, we initially thought we were seeing 6 or so, then Rebel spotted at least 20 more further over. Mainly pups I would say. Then other visitors said more were over 'there'. OMG, what a sealed deal...

But when I attempted to find the cache after awhile looking at the seals, I was almost scared off by a seal that happened to be close by which I never saw but rusty yelled out to me he was there!!!! He wasn't scared by me one bit and let me know in no uncertain terms this was his property and I was the guest! That didn't deter me one bit, but I did pause to let him have his say and I got the cache anyway while keeping an eye upon him and asking rusty to let me know if he was coming for me. hah hah hah, what a lot of fun this was, a FP from me for the adventure.

With a group of Westies hunting for some caches, thanks for the hide!

On a 3 day caching adventure with a group of Westies: rustynz, rebel98 and gorby

This was our fun stop for the day! so many seals, lots! and a cache guardian (seal) resting near GZ. Was not expecting them to be hiding in there! so a quick retreat. Rebel98 and I acted as lookout, whilst gorby continued to search. Eventually the cache came into view. Thanks for the hide, and bringing us to this amazing place!

Log later

A nice wee drive down from base at the DOC camp. Mrs ToT was soon on to this one. Then it was off to check the foreshore for seals. TFTC!!!

I didn't quite have the place to myself; muggles not seals. However, my search was not hampered and I was able to soon locate the nicely concealed cache.

We arrived at the same time as 15 car loads of school children. Watched the seals till they dispersed and we were able to find the cache.

TFTC

We were returning from the lighthouse and this was one of only a few along the coast we picked up. Parking our motorhome near some of them just didn’t seem safe. Glad we stopped here though as there were loads of seals and pups lazing around and a group of pups playing in a shallow sheltered pool. Unfortunately there was also a dead pup on the beach. We approached the cache from the wrong side and nearly fell over a sleeping adult before heading in the right direction. Went straight to the correct spot but didn’t see it until I’d searched several other places first. Well hidden! Thanks.

Too many rocks, not enough patience

Oh well, next time

I found this cache together with my partner Pityulino during our holiday in New Zealand. Today we visited Cape Palliser and searched for geocaches at and nearby the cape. We found a total of 5 geocaches during the day, this was the third of them. Our search lasted for quite some time, but following the third attemt at the same place, we eventually found it. TFTC!

Found it this cache with Cic,
TFTC!

Thought this one had me beat but I finally found it!

On holiday in the Wairarapa.
By this time of the day KrystalKath & I have visited the Putangirua Pinnacles, climbed up to the lighthouse (and DNF'd that cache), now on our way to somewhere on Cape Palliser to camp for the night. A quick find on the way. TFTC

A nice quick find with junior Spider-Bite. TFTC

Today I want to visit the lighthouse of Cape Palliser and also the southernmost cache of the North Island .
Nearby this cache I could see a lot of seals.
It was a nice day with fine weather.
Thanks for the cache and many greetings from Germany.

Parked next to it. No one was none the wiser next to me. SL TFTC

Thanks Hurricane Luke....
Was an unexpected find for me. ..Was out with a walking group down from Auckland.
Just stopped to look at seals and rock formations....and we had parked about 8 km from a cache !
All good here !

Out visiting Cape Palliser today, picking up a few caches en route. Another one which took a while, this time due some muggles parking right next to the cache location. When they finally moved I swarmed in and found it. Tftc!

Thanks for the cache. We had a nice day cycling to the cache from Ngawai

Found while staying at the bach just opposite. Possibly the most conveniently-located cache I've found for a while. Left a kiwi stamp, took nothing.

**taybee** is caching again with **taybee nz**
easy abd quick find here today GPS was spot on
All in good order, sign log book as **taybee** or **tb ** TFTC Log by Gsak
Cache was find at **2017-10-06 12:58:00**

TFTC
Quick find here today see **taybee log**
[?] Found with ***taybee*** [?] Sign log book

A nice easy find on the way home from Cape Palliser. Plenty of seals around, resting, swimming, growling at passers-by, etc.

TFTC

CZECH
asi by keška neměla být umístěna v místě, kde se můžou vyskytovat tuleni, ale o kus dál
prohledat jsem všechny kameny okolo, ale gps ukazovala přímo tam, kde jeden aly odpočíval

I have a full day meeting in Wellington starting early on Monday morning, so I decided to take a leisurely route to it, via a two day tour of the Wairarapa. Booked me a cute little Airbnb cottage in Masterton and planned a route to an area that I have never been before. Left the Manawatu in the pre-dawn light to make the most of the day and it has been an awesome day, with springlike weather, and full of lighthouses, seals and of course, braces, powerpoles and caches.

Found myself distracted by the multitude of seals enjoying a sunbath. Watched them for a while, and then got back to business. Quick find of the cache. Watched the seals a bit more, then it was back to the road. TFTC

what a hidden gem of a place, I could have spent hours here watching them all there were so many baby seals everywhere and much bigger one closer to the cache, we found the cache which was wet dried it out and replaced the log and bag, I wish i could give this more than 1 fp thanks for bringing us to this place.

Cracker of a day so plenty of seals taking advantage of the warm respite. Plenty of barking, hissing, chatter, farting and general socializing; and the seals were quite active too!
Found the cache as described but was surprised by a seal hiding under the under growth next to the container. It hissed and made it's intentions clear so I grabbed and ran.
The log is a sodden lump of papier mache, so thanks to the cacher who left the paper, though it too is beginning to suffer. If I'd been more prepared I would have replaced it myself. However the problem is likely a faulty seal (no reflection on the local wildlife).
TFTC great spot

Got there just as the baby seals were taking a pre dinner dip. Tftc

Even though we didn't find this cache, this was my most favourite spot of the day. We watched the 100s of seals swimming and playing for ages and almost forgot to look for the cache. We remembered as we were leaving but there we so many baby seals in the bushes we decided not to look any further. Thanks for bringing us here. Stunning.

I've been notified that the log book for this one needs replacing but it will be sometime before I can make it there. So if some kind geocacher visiting the cache can put in some new paper, I'd be most grateful.

Found this one last weekend under what looked to be a long dead seal :/
Log book was too soggy to write on.

Des isch Easy xi drum bin i do xi. Bin auf Tour mit meiner Liebesmuggelin zum 60ger in NZ um nebenbei diese tollen Dosen zu erhaschen. Geocaching isch so Gsund do wirsch nümma rund! TFTC ! Danke fürs legen und pflegen dieser genialen Dosen..

Doing a couple of days geocaching in Wairarapa. After arriving decided to go as far south as possible and collect caches on the way back. The whole trip to Cape Palliser was fantastic the weather was great and the sea looked big, but may actually have been calm for this coast. Lots of seals here. Gets favourite for being such a great location. TFTC.

Plenty of baby seals here, sheltering from the rough sea.
TFTC