Out With The Old Kopu, North Island, New Zealand
By G-2 on 17-Apr-12. Waypoint GC3H9EH

Fun find. Low tide helps. Tftc

Pretty cool hide, tool a bit of looking, but excellent placement, thank you

Didn't find at first and went back to car then thought no I'm not dnfing. Easily found once I had a good poke around. Love the memories of this old bridge waiting in the car for ages knowing Thames was so close. Tftc

Found - Mrs McMike2012 & I live full-time in our caravan travelling around NZ, visiting the places we want to visit & doing the things we want to do and fitting in a bit of Geocaching here & there currently staying near Ngatea for a few days we had decided that we would drive over to Kopu & grab a couple of caches on the Auckland side of the bridge, before heading for a wander around Thames love the mining history of this place weather wasnt looking that great but we have our water-proof jackets, so went anyway cache was easily found, albeit with a bit of a scramble & having a low-tide helped more than pleased to add this 'smiley face' to the tally TFTC ... TN:LN:LS #5,595 for Us!

Day 1 of our two day adventure doing the Rail Trail with BearCache #2Total found so far: 2Shame you cant go along the bridge any more, thought it would be nice for part of the bike patheither way, took a little hunting to find this cache, but quickly found once getting brave enoughQuick sign, and replace, and onto the next

Thank you for the cache. Out with PomTom44.

Out and about with the shoebs family once again. This one took a bit to find. Good find by Mr Shoebs.TFTC

We searched for a while and eventually we found it right where multiple eyes had been looking. TFTC

Thanks G-2 for another good hide

TFTC, found after some searching and using the hint.Interesting history.

Cool cache thanks!

Watch your head

Back up visiting family for Easter. Brought grandson along to help me find some caches. Took him a little while to find. He passed cache up to me, signed log, and cache placed back. Please to get a smiley for this one. Cheers

Shouldn't have worn jandals for this one but after a bit of searching and neck craning, cache was in hand

Took a while to locate this one.Bridge is very rusty.Finally spotted by UistBlues

Thanks for your amazing cache. I really appreciate the time you took to set up and maintain your caches. It took me a while to find so has earned a favorite from me Cheers, Cympull.

I was hoping to find this cache, but unfortunately I wasn't going to attempt going down the bank as there's lots of rubbish scattered about. I hope it gets cleaned up in due course.

Very good place. Much climb

Nice cache. Good wee hide. Thank you

Tricky spot, but fun to find!

This one took quite a bit of hunting. Nearly went for a slide, but quickly recovered. Tftc

TFTC

Nice easy find. Good place to stretch the legs

Today we are on the way from Whitianga to Auckland. We also visited this tradi, found it, and signed the logbook.



***T4T$ - Many Thanks to G-2 for hiding and maintaining of this cache*** ️

YAY what a cool find for my 200th cache even had to do the limbo on this one

A bit of a clamber and climb but a very cute hide. TFTC

Good concealment

Quick find. Out with monanz and a muggle. Smelly dead bird under bridge. Tftc

Freedom camping in the motorhome up the road near here, and out for a bike ride today. I remember the long queues with the old bridge, but despite the heavy traffic on the new bridge, no one around here today. After a short search, cache in hand, nice hide here, cheers

Have missed this one in the past due to it being muggled. Back today while no one was around & in the first place i looked. Have many memories of waiting at either end of this bridge. It looks so tiny now! TFTC

So much fun looking for this one!

On my way to Coromandal.
Quite a tricky find.

Started heading for the wrong bridge, but soon realized where I needed to be.
The find was straight forward once I carefully maneuvered myself to gz.
Thanks for putting this here

Had a bit of a clamber but made the find without too much hassle. Found with DeadRockFlower on our bike ride, one of many today. Tnlnsl. TFTC!!

Kiwiterm took one for the team.and chambered down. TFTC

Oooo it was a scramble wasn’t it? Lots of fabulous rusty bits. Glad it wasn’t raining. Quite liked sitting there for a bit, feeling a bit like a troll with nothing to complain about. Thanks!

This one was a little bit of a scramble and required some detailed looking but came up with it after some careful looking

Took awhile to find this one. Nicely placed.

Really cool but tricky spot! Enjoyed checking out the old bridge again.

Great hide. Birds wondered what we were doing! TFTC.

I can't count how many times we use to stop here when I was a kid and wait for our turn to cross this bridge when we headed to the family bach at Whangamata. This one took a few minutes to find as I was looking low for some silly reason. And no muddy feet either!

Roadtrip time, day 5.
I have used the Easter weekend combined with taking 4 days leave this week to get in a 9-day driving tour, hoping to get as far north as 90 mile beach in order to seek the recently published PWGT caches throughout Northland, as well as catch up with 4 different sets of friends.

Today marks the start of the proper Geocaching side to this road trip. I am traveling from Auckland over to the Coromandel before heading back up north again over the next few days.

I think I only ever went over this old bridge once, back in the early 90's. Nice to see that they didn't just demolish it like they've done to a replaced bridge nearer to my own home. It took me about 10 minutes of careful searching before I spotted this one, but finding no issues with either the cache or the log, it was replaced as found after signing.

Thanks for placing this cache.

Found this one on the way to Thames. First I thought its going to be a straightforward once I crawl under the bridge, but then actually I had to look for it he he. Had no trouble in finding though. TFTC.

Lucky it was low tide but the mud was a bit messy on my shoes but it might of been from the high tide the other day

Out for a bike ride from Pipiroa to Thames and back on a hot 30 degrees sunny day. We were glad for the excuse to stop for a break and collect caches as there was not much shade along the trail. Glad we had our cycle helmets on as we headed under to find this cache. No problems finding this one, and we were once again back on our bikes heading over the new bridge.

Have examined this bridge twice now. Came up with find, and a sore head.

Got this cache at least it was low tide.

Moggyval did the hard work here.Thanks for the hide.

Looked for this one unsuccessfully once before, so was determined to complete the mission this time. Bit of a scramble, but succeeded, TFTC

We are on our summer holiday, we usually take a few weeks and travel around the South Island, but this year we are heading around the North Island. Heading up the West coast and back down the East coast. Finding only a select few caches along the way, we are mostly targeting some challenges we have qualified for, some large size caches, some that fill gaps in our date placed grid, a few D/T combinations, some with lots of favourite points, letterboxes and anything else that grabs our fancy.

I had a fall on day two of our holiday, while out geocaching which has resulted in a fractured bone in my leg and I am in a moon boot and with crutches and I was told to keep weight off my leg. So I am only limited use when it comes to our trip now. I tend to stay in the campervan and just hand out suggestions of when and where GK should search.

We had talked about the old bridge, I remember it from the last time we were in the area, which was many years ago, long before we were geocachers. So as we approached and saw the lovely new bridge we decided to call in for a cup of tea.

Gk was on a mission to get this one as the description sounded unlikely that I could do it. He soon returned with another successful mission. It only seemed right that if we found this one by the old bridge that we cross over and look for the cache by the new bridge.

Thanks for placing this cache and thank you for the smiley.

Found this one after returning to our cars following a bike ride along part of the Hauraki Rail Trail today, a very pleasant summer’s day. I’d had a quick look before we took off on the bikes but didn’t spot it. One of my fellow travellers ducked under the bridge on our return, while I was still parking my bike, and located it with no difficulty! At least I got to see its tricky hiding spot (not)! #3584. TFTC.

Sitting under here listening to the water lapping! Now for the climb back to the car!

#notasyoungasithinkiam!

Thanks G2

Found with toby84

Quick and easy park and find. T4tc. Found with Reny90

INteresting to see how recently this bridge was installed. Kinda amazed that it took so long given that I have heard about traffic woes into Coromandel ever since I was a zygote. Nice to see the old bridge had a life as a fot/cycle bridge, but even that seems to be over now.

Taybeedragon and I went on a tour of the Coromandel - one of the few places of New Zealand, especially of Te ika a Maui, that I have yet to explore throughly, and from there along the coast to Opotiki to see one of my many, many sisters. From 18 December to 5 January we found over 400 caches, including 12 adventure labs (60 caches), 20 or so TMGTs and a host of virtuals and earthcaches. And I hosted an event to see the sun come up on New Year's day - surprisingly popular given that it was at 5am. We climbed a lot of hills, saw some amazing beaches that were quite popular despite (or because of) the insane access to them, walk a lot of bush, entered and explored 8 gold mines and generally had an awesome time. However I am glad to be back, but now is the hard part, and I fear it will take just as long - logging!

With a coupe of TMGT's under our belt, we are back in Thames to see what we can find. Scrambled under to get this one snagged and tagged. Cheers .

Day 5 - Tuesday 22 December -Paritu Bay, Coromandel, Thames and back to Coromandel by dark Left Zara resting in Coromandel while we went exploring with Toby. Loved Driving Creek Railway today.

The Seagnoid, Zara, Toby and I are off on another geocaching escape over Xmas, this time to the mighty Coromandel, then over to Opotiki and stop off at Rotorua to return home on 5 January. Had an fabulous time exploring many wonders of our country. Rounding up over 400 caches along the way, with a few LABS, 20 odd TMGTs, virtuals and lots of interesting earth caches to keep the mind busy. Watching the sun come up on New Years Day at Mt Maunganui was spectacular. Lots of walking and even more driving. But had an awesome time. Thanks to all COs who made this adventure so special.

Coming through on the way to Hahei. Nice quick find where the hint said it was! TFTC. Forgot to bring pen so took photo for proof of find

Heading up to Northland to meet the kids for the Christmas holidays. Detoured for an ice cream in Kopu as it was such a hot day. Parked up and walked to 4 nearby caches. Took me surprisingly long to find this as I wasn’t expecting it to be so exposed. Note others write about going across the bridge but today it was definitely closed. Nice views of the two bridges. Thanks for the smiley.

Just discovered I hadn't logged this cache.
Jude_E, NosyNel, Thedbees, GraciesGPSFun, Lis’s Crew and I are on the ‘Mega that wasn’t’ trip in Auckland the weekend. We’re collecting the ‘Tour’ caches, plus others, plus seeing the scenery, plus having a good old time -as usual ????. TFTC.

Out and about at the Mega that wasn't with a group of five crazy kiwi caching chicks, Ethness, Jude_E, Nosynel, GracieGPSfun and me. We were collecting TMGT and collecting other caches on the way. TFTC.

We walked under and found it.
This is supposed to be a Mega trip. Jude_E and I flew up from Christchurch. Ethness flew up from Wellington. The DBees and Gracie's GPS fun drove down from Northland.
Thanks G_2 for creating this hide. It was find 9198 for me.

======== NZ Mega 2021 ========
Planning for the NZ Mega 2021 event is well underway. It will be held in Auckland over Labour Weekend, October 2021

In Auckland for the mega that isn't! We decided still to come and find a few caches, especially the TMGT ones. Enjoyed stopping to walk across the old bridge while looking at the new. Tftc
#6362

That's cool

Sinautus & Evil-Eva enjoyed the find next time with Wolf....thanks

Had to use the hint but found it!

Awesome find. 11yo son and I are out hunting as an adventure day. So much fun!

??

Out for a bit of cycling along the HRT trail. The Kopu to Waitakaruru leg, kindly arranged by Keylev, joined also by NZTravellers, and HeMaLuDy, Purply, and Darthcacher1.
Signed in as 'SEAC' to save logbook space. Stopped in for lunch at Pipiroa, and then back on the trail, before the rain came....not quite...got a little damp towards the end. (luckily it's not too cold today)

So many places to hide here....

A great day, and a great group of people.

TFTC.

An adventure was planned with some of the Team SEAC crew to explore a part of the country that we had not visited before now that lockdown has lifted and we are allowed to travel a little further from home.

There were laughs, groans and muscle pains but it was, as always, heaps of fun.

Took a few moments to locate the right spot here but got there in the end. Unfortunately the old was closed (although I do recall driving over this many years ago) so we took the new route.

Thanks for the cache.

Thanks to Keylev for organising our outing today we tackled the HRT from Waitakaruru to Kopu collecting caches along the way with Keylev, NZTravellers and Stik-a-crane. This was the first time the HeMaLuDy's had been on their bikes in over 2 years, and it showed today - a couple of the team opted to enjoy the hospitality of the cafe halfway along the journey and wait for the fitter members of the team to complete the trail. This was an obvious cache to add on to the end of the trail before thinking about heading home. Happy to make a successful find here

It’s been a while since I’ve had to stop at this bridge but this time the wait wasn’t to let traffic pass. Found after the second pass! Tftc

Out and about for a few days for a bit of a road trip around the Coromandel area. Day Five of my road trip. I started my travels in Tairua and ended my day in Nelson via Auckland on my way home for four weeks of pandemic lockdown Had to cut my trip short after the recent developments so this could be my last chance for some caching for a while. I parked my car on the other side of the river and walked across the new walkway to here. The old bridge is closed for repairs at the moment but that didn't prevent access to this cache. TFTC, Biggles.

Quick find once in the spot. Scratched back but will carry on. Tftc

Found it! The hint makes sense once you find it!

Had to crawl underneath with the spiders buy eventually found it. TFTC

I decided to come over to Kopu to do a bit of bike riding along the new addition to the Hauraki Rail Trail but befre I do there are a couple of other caches that need to be got out of the way.

I remember this bridge having travelled over several times a year for work.

Cheers for the cache.

Out and about with McJandals today. Cleaned up the Paeroa end of the trail before lunch so decided to come over to Thames to do a few. Should have left my bike helmet on, as I whacked my head on one of the beams.
Cheers

On a trip with Dee trying to get this part of the trail done and dusted. A bit chilly biking this morning but great places to be brought to. II am logging using the Cachly app template so please excuse generic logging along the way. It’s just my way of keeping track, but I do genuinely thank each and every one of you cache owners for taking the time and energy to place these caches. Many Thanks for bringing us back here. Cheers

Tricky little bugger but got there in the end. TFTC

A little tricky to find - at least from a contortion point of view for my old bones, not wanting to get messy that is... but another good one. I certainly have "fond" memories of massive traffic jams caused by this old bridge. TFTC!!!

***[======== NZ Mega 2020 ========](http://nzmega.com)***

Planning for the [NZ Mega 2020](http://nzmega.com) event is well underway. It will be held in Auckland over Labour Weekend, 23 to 26 October 2020. It's going to be a massive celebration of geocaching:

* 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!

1:17am
Sweet!
TFTC

Out geocaching on our way home from Thames. Had a look at both the old and new bridges. Thanks.

Looked harder than i needed too

This is where I started today my HRT leg 1 journey. Took a while to locate this sneaky hide. I don`t want to imagine how traffic was like when this bridge was in use and there was no new one! TFTC

I'm from Switzerland and spend 4 months in New Zealand on vacation. Found this cache after a few minutes search, thanks.

I liked the old bridge so coulorful even better then the new one but the figures are special to look at by the new bridge We Swiss guys did not have much information on the vcaches along our journey as my mobile did not give us all the details. But the the hint came up ..I went to look but oversaw the cache ..my Swiss mate had a second look and got it.I was very angry with myself !!!!We searched for ages by the way !!! thanks !!

This was a classic example of not looking properly in the first place we looked and then spending too long looking elsewhere only to find it on our second, more thorough, sweep.
Mrs Coblet grew up in the area but has not been back since the new bridge was opened so really enjoyed having a look at how much things have changed.
We used to regularly have to wait to cross the old bridge and now things flow so smoothly.
But it's nice to see the old bridge is still standing and we look forward to walking on it when it is reopened to the public.TFTC.

didnt really enjoy the scramble while hubby waited "patiently" on the bridge above.
We travelled north and are holidaying in and around the Coromandel staying in motels, with friends and in our tent while getting out each day to see the sights, swim in the beautiful beaches or go for walks etc as well as locating a few geocaches, of course. We have had good weather the whole time with just a few showers at night and some wind while at hahei.
Thank you for this cache to all the Cache owners and another smiley face.

Made doc get this one tyftc

Found...good hiding spot

Yay found it

Quick easy find, while in the area. TFTC

Replaced

Need to check

Couldn’t find

No success here

On a mission with Dee+ME today. Please excuse my cut and paste logs in advance. A great series to get knocked off. Many thanks for setting up the trails we really appreciate it. A great winters day today, beautiful sunshine after a brisk cold start to our day. We have left vehicle in Paeroa for the night and booked motel in Thames. Unfortunately we have been unable to locate this. Looked several places on way and on way back. Bugga!!!

Looked and looked. Returned and looked and looked again Might return in morning for another look

We took a long Time and inspected every
Cavity. No find.

Long walk from parking spot. Nice easy find though got covered in a spider's web.