Golden Circle Series St Isaacs (Northland) Opononi, North Island, New Zealand
By butchie bum on 16-Mar-12. Waypoint GC3ENH5

Another quick find. Great being driven around in car. Difficult for two motorhomes. With Kaz53

Found it while enjoying the lovely area

Quick find by big sister. Tftc

On a trip up northWe wonder what this was Meet up with the Co and she told us this is a nunnery.

In this area on our way to Cape Reinga With Jag50 and Net61. We left Auckland really early ...and did a few caches on our way to Opononi.After a yummy Thai lunch, we did these two....Came prepared with replacement container as previous seekers could not locate the cache.Tucked under some loose bark at base of the tree.Many thanks!

On a caching journey up to the north with Supernannny and Net61 to find some caches. Many kilometres were driven over a few days and many caches were found. Thanks to all the cache owners for the placements. We parked in the driveway to grab this cache. As we began our search a car pulled into the driveway. The driver of the vehicle stopped to ask us if we were ok. After the driver had gone out of sight up the drive, we searched for the cache. We couldnt find it so replaced it with a large pill bottle with grey tape with permission of the CO. TFTC

Another blue face for us ..... no luck with this one either

tftc

A nice leisurely day around Opononi with evilC, geocaching and enjoying the area.

No luck for us with this series, as we couldn't find any of the four Caches we tried. Some harder than others, but no find and no use of tweezer for us today. Thanks for placing this along the way!

Found it level needs some work as it is not 1.5 but was ok

Not exactly easy and not sure how anybody could find this in the dark. Needed Daddypig123 to cross the ditch and climb the bank and then rummage around underneath the tree in the weeds.
The end of the cache was missing, even though the screw top was still on the other end. Daddypig123 thought it might at some point have been fastened to a tree. The log was screwed up and had obviously been soaked through and then dried out. We couldn't unfold it, so using the "Super Emergency Geoaching Box" we put a new paper log in, and then put it back where we had found it.

Wouldn't call it a 1.5 terrain and the cache could do with replacing as it is broken but we found it nevertheless.

Found today

Found in the dark - nearly lost my pen but found that as well. The school holidays are here and NosyNel and I are on a road trip north - to the far north. GraciesGPSfun has joined us. TFTC. Signed NNESGGF.

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* 20 years of geocaching worldwide.
* 20 years since New Zealand had the very first geocache hidden outside of USA.
* And it's 2020 - all the 20s!

Talk to your geo-friends and start planning to be part of [this event](http://nzmega.com) - you won't want to miss it!

Day seven of our 11 day binge trip we are signing as NNES. We are up North visiting our friend Gracie's GPS fun. We are having a wee road trip to the kauri trees together. Last one tonight.

Yay school holidays! Time for a road trip with my friend Ethness. I flew from Christchurch to Wellington. The idea is to drive up to the top of the North Island and back. We planned the trip ages ago.

Thanks butchie bum for placing this geocache 7821 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.

I found this cache during my Irish summer holidays. Thanks for the Cache .

Found on my trip around Northland TFTC!

Staying near Opononi. Return visit in Hokianga. Great time to find few extra caches. Rusty holder and broken container here. TFTC

In the area doing a little caching and driving some of the back roads of the Hokianga. Was not sure what was up the drive, so did not venture up there. Soon had the cache located and the log signed. TFTC

We wanted more finds for today's calendar date, so we planned a trip to Opononi to find some of the Golden Circle Series. Rain was forecast but it mostly held off until our last few finds, though the very strong winds were challenging at times! Some of the finds had us hunting for a while, but we had no DNFs until the last cache on our list.
This should have been an easier find, but the GPS led us away from what we had initially thought looked the likely spot (and which did turn out to be GZ), and towards another possible spot. When no cache was found here, we returned to our original instinct and located the cache. Thanks.

Tftc,log very wet but still could write on it nice valley road

Easiest find of the day. Love the replacement log

This was a little challenging because I cut my knee on rock oysters this morning and now have 3 stitches in place making thus location a nightmare. Signed the log then dropped it stretching to place it back and was unable to find it again. I replaced the log and screwed shut the container.

Easy park and grab, all good. Thanks for this cache, St Isaac!

Another quick find from Miss 10...she just needed that little boost from mama tftc

Snagged and tagged. Cheers
Its Sunday - day nine -Kaikohe - Hokianga - area with The Seagnoid and Zara today. Toby and William at Motor Doctors again!

Its another epic 3+ week geocaching adventure with The Seagnoid, Zara, Toby and Willam to the Far North. What an amazing place to explore. Lots of walks, gravel roads and sand. Lots of amazing trees, beaches and interesting POIs. Lots of kilometers traveled by vehicle and foot. Vehicle breakdowns, making new friends and catching up with old friends and family. Snagged a couple of FTF's, lots of lonely caches and the odd event along the way. Lots of cache maintenance and replaced caches on this trip. But what an incredible adventure!!. Thanks to all the CO's who have made this trip so memorable..

Is this actually a church? Or just the name of the people who live there? I went up and had a look. It sorta has the look of a church, and it totally doesn't have the look of a church. 50% fail rate on this road.

Day nine of an awesome, tiring, long, three week holiday geocaching with Taybeedragon in the upper north. Opononi to Cooper's Beech. The whole trip comprised of hours of walking on sand, sliding down sand dunes, hundreds of kilometres of unsealed roads, car breakdowns, paddling out to islands, dolphins, goats, events, FTFs, weird boulders. You name it, we saw it. Lots of bisons, lots of cache maintenance, lots of sunscreen. A month is enough. I am glad to be back home. Except that now I have to write up my trip. We averaged just 20 caches per day, but that is still a lot of logging!

Merry Christmas from the Seagnoid!

Northland Day 2: Drove up from Hokianga to Cape Reinga and back down to Doubtless Bay to stay the night. Today’s drive is a really, really long one, and I am glad for these caches that break the monotony of the drive. Many park and grabs today due to the lack of time, would have really liked to do some of the better ones. That being said, many nice ECs along the way and a lot of amazing views and sights seen today.

The following is the specific log for each cache:
First cache of the day, as there was some time to spare before catching the Rawene ferry. As promised, a fairly easy Park and Grab, though the terrain is a little more than a 1.5 here. TFTC!

Hard

824 St Issacs found

Out on a mission today, to collect as many caches as possible toward the Hidden Creatures souvenirs. With very few unfound local caches, a decent journey was required. Left at dawn and covered over 300km through the winding gravel back roads of Northland, passing through Twin Bridges, Donnelley's Crossing, Waipoua forest, Omapere, Opononi and Taheke, before the heavy rain finally set in. This heavy rain, combined with the sunset, put a halt to further searching, so had to settle in the end for 29 finds and 7 DNFs for the day.

Leaving the Opononi area now, but this one looked like it should be a quick find and not too far off the main road, so detoured up here. Felt a bit awkward parking in a well used driveway, but luckily I wasn't there long as the cache was soon found in the expected location. One day I will have to continue further on up the valley for the others in the series. TFTC

Easy find

Quick find.TFTC.

What an awesome drive tftc

A quick grab here & back on the road to Auckland.

all great here with new log. waiting to be found .

My turning around point.
The cache log is just a soggy mess and not able to be written on. Sorry I did not have a replacement for this log
Cheers

Our journey today bring us from Paihia along the west coast to Auckland.
By the way we found some caches. Thank you for showing this place and hidding the box.
Greetings from Germany!!!

I asked Mr P to find the cache as I was dealing with my cut hand from the last cache... ouch. He achieved his mission and we continued on. T4tc

First find of this new day. And a fairly quick one too. TFTC

Had not long started on our drive up north and there was a cache! Tftc

Kaikohe to Opononi
We spent a delightful day driving through the rolling country side to the ocean. Finishing with a Golden Circle Tour.
A great variety of locations & hides were found.
Thanks for placing this cache butchie bum

Tftc

In Hokianga for Valentines Day and decided to pick up a few caches before a "romantic dinner" on the bay!

A quick find after a windy drive!

#5287

Quick cache after the walk. TFTC

#2147 Out for a wee drive and found a couple of caches. Haven't been over to Opo for quite awhile and have been itching to complete the series and turn the Hokianga into smilies. Hadn't been up this end of the road before. Nice quick find here. TFTC!

Isaac bensemann part of 3nzboyz and was proud to have a nice little cache named in my name thanks for the hide nice and easy

TFTC. Never been up that way before. Definitely of the beaten track.

Thanks for this series Butchie Bum. This one wasn't so interesting but it was what lured us closer to some really interesting spots that we would otherwise have missed.tftc

Saw someone herding their cattle along the road on the way to this cache today.
Lovely quiet Charolais animals. Said Hi to the friendly farmer who was moving her animals from the very steep hills to a flat area for calving. Stepped into the mud at GZ and got a very mucky shoe. Easily found the cache, thanks

First find for the day. Quick grab. Watch out for the muddy ditch. It was a shame we didn't have more time to check out the church. TFTC

#17 quite a bit of rain here and the are has been washed out a bit, made getting to GZ a bit tricky but got there successfully.

Tis a bit mucky under foot, quick find after carefully making way to GZ. TFTC

Coordinates changed from:
S 35° 30.439 E 173° 25.573

Coordinates changed to:
S 35° 30.442 E 173° 25.578

Distance from original: 30.7 feet or 9.3 meters.
Lovely to stop by while passing today. As this cache appears to have been muggled . I have moved and replaced with a new container / Log. Cache is now at south 35 30-442' east 173 25-578. also have changed the hint if needed. happy caching. as I forgot to put in number for challenge it is B=0 ,

Looked at the base of all sorts of things but only found this piece of camo wrap
Maybe it's put me off mentally
Gutted because I'm doing the 20 cache challenge, this would be number 5
Met a resident of St Issac's who said its a retreat for Ministers Priests Nuns Monks of all religions, they have daily prayer morning and night and communion on Wednesday

#430 Quick find once GPS stopped pointing backwards. TFT(church??)C.

If it wasn't on a back road, this would have felt like a numbers cache.
TFTC

Only in Oponini for the one night (somehow we managed to find "Ryan's Retreat" great place to stay) so it was up at 5:45 for me to attempt the Golden Cirlce while the rest of the family got up whenever and had a leisurely breakfast. Managed to get to the final bonus and back in time to leave at ten - snuck in a Kauri Grove and Hollow on the way too.

Another in the series.TFTC

tftc

Took a wee drive after a few DNF's , only to find cache still just waiting to be found. Even out in the open. So added another wee log and rehid at the base of a ----?. Happy caching. All good to go.

Watch out for the blackberry bush. ouch! TFTC

DNF... No luck @ St Isaacs, even with an extra hint from the CO, TFTCSF.

Decided to take a bit of time off from the hum and drum of work and go for a trip up the winter-less north and see if I could get a bit of a tan before the winter blues set in when I go back South to the winter-less Wellington[B)][}:)

After doing a few caches this morning this was the next cache that was on my list of unfound caches, arriving near GZ we managed to find a carpark not too far from GZ and it was a short walk to the GZ.

Arriving at GZ and having a quick look the first time, and after taking to the CO and we realised that we were looking at the wrong location, decided to go back and have another look on our way north, but still no luck at GZ, must be totally blind or maybe I need to clean my glasses

Really nice catching up with you butchie bum, and will be back with a bit of warning as I really want to do some fishing and kayaking around this lovely area.

Oh well give me something to come back to the next time I get around to coming back up to this wonderful part of you country and I really want to come back here with Mrs Yeetrees to have another good look around here.

Another interesting and great spot for a cache, thanks for placing it here and maybe I will have better luck next time.

I didn't find this one either.

Out blackberrying today and picked up a few caches. We all hunted but could not locate this one today.I just noticed that the missing word had 4 letters. I did not pick this up at the time but I can guess now where it may be.

Blackberries were VERY sweet today.

While driving passed, stopped in to replace log. All good and waiting to be found happy caching

A nice easy find after dinner

Tftc

Looked in all the wrong places before finally locating the cache TFTC.

This entry was edited by rosmar on Monday, 03 June 2013 at 11:33:08 UTC.

GPS bang on for us here and a good clue. Dont clean the car before this one. TFTC

15th

#15 was another quick find

Today is the day to travel from Ohaeawai to Opononi to do the Golden Circle series and any other caches nearby.

My GPS had this one 10m away.

Cheers for the cache.

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

We were visiting family in Whangarei, together with HOLE-IN-ONE2 from the UK. Decided to go for a day trip up North and arrived near the "Golden Circle" series towards the end of the day, so we made a start on it. Didn't have time to complete the series before the stomach started grumbling and was satisfied with a Hokianga Burger at the Opononi Takeaways! Will have to come back another time. A nice quick find, thanks for the cache!

We were visiting family in Whangarei, together with HOLE-IN-ONE2 from the UK. Decided to go for a day trip up North and arrived near the "Golden Circle" series towards the end of the day, so we made a start on it. Didn't have time to complete the series before the stomach started grumbling and was satisfied with a Hokianga Burger at the Opononi Takeaways! Will have to come back another time. A nice quick find, thanks for the cache!

Hi butchie bum

Getting close to finishing the series now. Still seem to be missing a lot of clues for the final though.

TFTC

Nice drive by with phasevisitor trying to pick up as many as possible before returning to uk dont think will do the 20 as too late in the day TFTC

What better way to find some caches than have the cache owner accompany me on a maintenance run. Excellent company and after a bit of a circuit I managed to find most of these. This was the only one that required maintenance as the lid had broken, log book was nice and dry though. Excellent series which was well worth the trip up north. Many thanks

Greets from Germany

TFTC LordFisch

Great little drive in the mist.

Wished we'd hasd more time to go up past the gates and have a look TFTC.

ok so once again MIG wins out. Ig has the GPS and still couldn't find it. Well done MIG!!!!

We love driving backroads. A little murky and wet underfoot but very enjoyable all the same. Thanks for the cache.

This entry was edited by twingley on Sunday, 24 June 2012 at 20:49:22 UTC.

Quick find while doing the set of caches in the area.

Our 2nd in the 'circle' - and what a nice place for a 'nunnery' retreat. TFTC

On a caching day with Flowernz touring the north enjoying the sunshine after weeks of rain.
nice quick find TFTC

GPS did a bit of jumping around because of trees, but got there eventually. TFTC

Yay! Cache number 15! Now to work out the Bonus Co-ords.... Hummm 2 missing. We'll give it a go anyway! Thanks!

Another nice hide on the Golden Circle, and a quick find. Spirits up, hoping to find all the caches through the gorge on the first go, to save a second trip! Maybe St Isaac will help... FTF #1059 TFTC!!!

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