The Dice of Giants ( King Country/Waikato) Piopio, North Island, New Zealand
By Jambocacher on 21-Apr-12. Waypoint GC3HHY9

Had a Tiki tour round Taranaki visiting friends and now head back north. Stayed in Piopio last night at Tui park. Woke up early for a cycle ride to collect some local caches. This Giant series is clearly a favourite with people and it didn’t disappoint. Took the direct route without getting too wet. Love the humour in this one. Found the cache about 15m higher up the anticipated or the GPS was getting me to, otherwise all fine. Thanks for the exercise and smiley.

I found the park at the and used the gate into the paddock which I'm sure made it so much easier than parking on the road side and climbing the fence. This took a much longer search and although I could still see the 'three' I couldn't find the cache. After more searching and rethinking I decided to extend the search parameters and finally spotted what I was looking for on a rather precarious perch. Seeing it was one thing, grabbing it was another because the ground was slippery and i didn't want to slip.
Once signed I replaced it the best I could and headed back to car totally saturated from the grass and pleased to be able to tick off another good cache hide.
Deserves a Fav because this series has been fun and although I still have another couple to find I've saved them for another day. Thanks Mike

Higher than we first thought!

Loved the giant dice. Found a parking spot and a post with a strainer nearby to climb over. Great that the farmer lets us cross over not so great the very large bulls in the paddock today fortunately they and us kept our distance. Found the cache after a bit of a search, Thankfully saw the 'blaze' on the tree. Great place to come geocaching. Thanks again Jambocacher for a wonderful days geocaching so glad we came.

Painted 3 x P on posts to indicate possible parking.

Found with our 3 and 6 y.o. Thank you Jambocacher for making us stop here.

.These Giants Dice are awesome. Finding the cache took some doing. Finally got high enough for the hint to work and The seagnoid got this one snagged. Great size cache. Cheers. Fav from me.

Day 16 - Saturday 28 December. Awakino to Taumaranui today. So lets go!!

The Seagnoid, Zara, Toby and I are spending Christmas exploring Taranaki via geocaching. Its been an amazing 3 week adventure. Rattls BBQ was a great event, meeting many other cachers. But also managed to fit in a few more events, especially New Years Day celebrating the start of 2020. Lots of caches - over 500. Lots of cache maintenance. Lots and lots of kilometers. And lots of amazing places visited along our journey. Mt Taranaki remained elusive for much of our travels and the caches on it at the top. Loved Pukekura Park Night Lights Show and the the Wooden Mechanical toy exhibition at NP Info centre.

So weird having caches in private property. Thanks tot he farmer for giving us the permission to use his land. Alas the parking is a bit dodgy, but then visibilty is good and its a back road with hardly any traffic. Finding the right place took a bit of wandering, so many thanks for the hint. (and for it being a hint, rather than an explicit answer!)
Decent sized container, dry logbook, awesome location. Automatic favourite!

Day sixteen of Taybeedragon's and my big 3 week circumnavicaching trip around Mt Taranaki, starting from Palmerston North. Today is New Plymouth to Taumaranui - yep, it's a slow trip!!
Highlights:
* 3 weeks, 536 caches
* Mt Taranaki had been removed for washing, which was a bit of a shame. Even after it had been returned we were only allowed to see it for it was less than half an hour a day.
* High percentage of caches with crappy coordinates
* Amazing Pukekura Park
* AMAZING Pukekura Park light show!
* Pukeiti Gardens
* Lots of cache maintenance!

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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](https://coord.info/GC87777) - you won't want to miss it!

Find number 6338. I was heading in the recommended direction but could not find a safe place to park. At about 250 m I saw a large off road park at the farmer's buildings. Being aware he knew about it I decided to walk from there. No fence to climb as there was a gate to use. A couple of damp spots to cross to get to GZ. Once there I looked around but saw nothing. Read the hint and made my way to the spring. This was well up high in the bush. Still nothing. But as I made my way down I spotted it. After signing I secured it with a stone on top to prevent it from rolling down. Then it was back to the car.
As I arrived back the farmer was going thru the gate. Explained what I had been doing and he was surprised that people were still doing it and he had actually forgotten about it. He says that he had previously seen cars parked on the road in dangerous places. Therefore he would rather cars parked on the turning pad as they were off the road. Also by going thru the gate there is no need to climb a fence.
Thank you for the placement.

Very cool cache location. Took a good walk from the car park in the gateway.
Found following hint, great rural view, and nice big cache. mr went to Piopio College in the eighties, and knew a few people up this road (school bus route). Thanks for the cache and another smiley

Got more wet than expected as the showers got us. Loved the little stream. GPS a bit out. Head for the trees. TFTC

Well this was a bit of an adventure in itself. Lol. With recent rain creek was running high. Finally found a spot to get over to other side. Dot being tall hops over. Me however I had to take my boots off as my short legs don't let me jump far. Being a cold day my feet were red and numb when we finally got back to my boots. Cache had water in it so drained. But log book was dry. Thanks for another cool spot. Tftc

I found this geocache while leading a group of young men who had chosen to go Geocaching for their end of year school camp. We left Hamilton on Tuesday 4th December and drove to Taranaki after plenty of stops along the way where we stayed and returned on Friday 7th. We went for quality over quantity finds and either went for highly favorited caches (many of which I had already visited on previous trips), caches from trusted CO’s and geocaches in interesting locations. The boys had a really positive geocaching experience despite the less than ideal weather and I hope they decide to keep up with their new hobby over the holidays and beyond. A big thankyou to those who placed the geocaches we found and for maintaining them.

A few boys chose poorly and got we feet on our way to GZ. They enjoyed the Giant Dice and I'd say featured on a fair few instagram photos given how many selfies were being taken. Cache was higher than we expected but easy to find once we were in the right spot.

In the tree line, much higher than the location says so. Nice find though. Thanks

First challenge, find a safe spot to park. Next, get over the fence, not so easy with aging flexibility. Crossing the stream and climbing the hill went smoothly and we had no bull to contend with. But the GPS had us well short of the treeline. We continued up and fortunately the brightly-coloured container stood out like a beacon. All good fun. Thanks Jambocacher.

Didn't see any bulls thank goodness, fence quite a challenge though.
Thanks for a clever cache Jambocacher

Staying in nearby Piopio whilst visiting the Waitomo Caves. We have enjoyed finding 5 of the giant caches so far over the last couple of days. We appreciate the effort and thought that has gone into this series. Todays mission is to collect the remaining 10 before heading homewards.

Kiwiscot & Kiwi headed on over & upwards. Cache took much longer to locate than expected and was hidden higher up than we first anticipated. Got their in the end. Another quirky spot. Thanks for bringing us here
TFTC - 5 down, 5 to go

Found with trayc.g, logging now as I have my own account. This one scared me a little.....I was quite wary of the bulls but they took no notice of us climbing up there. TFTC

Wow, what a mission! Drove past GZ and saw a few massive bulls in the paddock! I didn't come all the way from the Naki to miss this opportunity so I went up to visit the farmer to ask about them. She said you'd have more chance getting your feet wet than those bulls troubling you. And she was right! We now have very soggy feet! Scrambled up and found cache after shooing the bulls away. Cool placement. TFTC

Log replaced. Thinking of placing another cache nearby and calling it The Dice of Giants: sedate retrieval.

Log book is well and truly soaked!

On our little adventure to Hamilton today we thought we would attempt to finish off the rest of the giants.
This was a bit of an adventure! But only advice I can give is to follow instructions!! Took us a while but we finally found it and it felt pretty good! Luckily the stream was low so could pass relatively easy! Very cool scenery! Couldn't write on the log unfortunately it was soaking. Etched it into the paper!
Courtney and Amy

Took a while to locate! Should read more attentively!...Log book VERY wet and needs attention...TFTC

Plans were made with Cats & Dragons to have a leisurely caching Sunday picking up some remote caches in this area. With C&D doing all the driving it was a great opportunity take in the great scenery.
Leaving the Bay of Plenty at 6.00 am we drove through thick fog & icy road to met up with C&D in Hamilton for an 8 am start.
C&D had already found this cache but he was happy to stop to enable us to have a look. There had been heavy rain in the past few day so the paddock was rather boggy and the usual small creek was rather full so we had to locate a suitable place to 'leap' across. This cache took a little while to locate despite trying to follow the hint. Log book was a little damp but we were able to leave our mark. TFTC.

What a great road in, and so cool to have some caches in here. Found this to be bit of a tricky one though - thought we weren't going to have any luck and then my muggle hubbie came up with it - as he usually does!! Unfortunately it's really soaked so my hubbie put it slightly to the side so that it wouldn't get so wet. It's impossible to write on the log - even with a pencil - but I have photos of the area here if proof is required. Sorry I didn't have anything with me to dry it all out.... TFTC

5.10pm - Yeah name is right. To find this cache you must follow all instructions. Had to pick our way across to get to this cache. Co Ords seemed to move about a lot. SLTFTC

With Gap (of Fap and Gap)... A cache-hunting road trip into the King Country. The day started out bright and sunny, but the dark clouds rolled in as soon as we crossed over the hills on Highway 41...

Someone has a great sense of humor... These rock forms are unusually angular. The iPhone gps really struggled under the shadow of the bush and hills behind, One minute, the pointer was almost at zero, then it would swing wildly out. It was probably best to use cacher's instinct on this one, as it seemed a lot higher up than expected. Got it... TFTC.

Well this was quite a task. But I conquered.
Thanks the Neals for a walk over your farm.
Cheers

After spying three bulls in the paddock, we decided not to dice with death and reluctantly drove on.

Parked precariously. Climbed over the zappy fence, jumped the creek, negotiated the swampy ground up the hill. Hunted all around, but not for me today. Should've taken my GPSr instead of my phone, but after all the Indiana Jones' activities I didn't feel inclined to returning with the Garmin on this occasion. I now reckon I didn't climb high enough. No matter... Another time. TFTOpportunity.

The stream was up a bit and to keep the feet dry I managed to find a way to the GZ without having to cross the creek.

Cheers for the cache.

Love the dice. Thanks.

Love the dice. Thanks.

Found with chocolate_bar01. Climbed like a goat. TFTC

Know this place well. Worked on this particular farm for 15 years. Managed to jump across the creek without getting wet. Puffed my way up the hill and found cache. SL TFTC

Day #1 of a 3 day road trip to the Taranaki.

No dice here today for me unfortunately, I searched about with no luck and had to keep moving on.

Nonetheless however thanks for bringing me to this neat random location!

Wat a cool find... just a few more 2 do

so cool

Tricky water crossing after so much rain. Mr W/s managed a good leap without getting wet feet. Took a while to find, probably because Mrs W/s had the GPS on the other side of the creek, but got there eventually

Got a nice workout finding it..

Parked the campervan on the corner and put the gumboots on and away everything was a bit wet after recent rain but waded across the stream and up the hill to gz. took some finding as I wasn't high enough and got confused by the hint. was it left of the spring as you looked up or was it left as you looked down but found it after 15 minutes at least worth a FP

after a quick chat with a worker as we pulled up we all headed off in search of the cache, after about 15mins looking the muggle came up with the goods, the coords about 10m out but we still got the cache, always nice to convert a muggle into our game, tftc
ps, the 3rd wire wasn't turned on today which was good

Here with Nufrat on the spyder for a ride.
This find has a bit of a story.
We pulled up by the fence line and this nice chap was there doing some contract weed spaying on the property. I wondered initially if he was the owner so spilled the beans as to what we were doing.
He came up with the hill with us and was looking. Guess what he actually found the cache about 10 mtrs where the co -ords said but the clue fitted.
We may have a new geocacher here as he seemed very very interested in it.
He had sharp eyes and found the suspect container

Quiet day on the road today... Used to live only a few hundred meters from here... Thanks for bringing me back

Had to roll the dice on this one finally came up with the high score TFTC

Took a little while to find it as we were too low down. Eventually came up with a double six. tftc

Wow great use of the rocks here. Very clever. A bit of huffing and puffing but we soon got up the hill and signed the log

Out and about with Nova, HKCB, and HPG picking up caches in the area

After much clambering about how made my way back to where I had left my pack and jacket and found myself within a couple of metres of the cache. Signed log and left a Footrot Flats book. Thanks for the cache.

This entry was edited by knees'n'things on Sunday, 10 November 2013 at 05:20:01 UTC.

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

took a bit of searching to locate
SL TFTC

Thos dices are funny. We saw a lot of sheep muggles. It was slippery because of the rain.
Thank you for the cache !
Greetings from France !
(C+S)

Was curious when I read the cache description at what I'll find at GZ. Very clever!

Cache to a bit of searching as GPS was reading about 20m out. Used the clue which lead me to the GZ and eventually the cache.

i foung it

cool

Easy find.

Last find for me of a lovely afternoon/early evening caching around Te Kuiti/Piopio. Love the dice lol! Cache was rather a bit further than expected, and 13m away from where my GPS said GZ was, but the excellent clue made total sense when the cache was eventually spotted! TFTC!

Had trouble rolling the dice... no surprises there...

Left Island Hopper Coin, having Island Hopped it!

Don't panic, the bulls are benign!

Capt C
Hypermarket Gun

Found while in the company of TeamChaos.
TNLN.

Thanks

This entry was edited by 47tuc on Tuesday, 05 March 2013 at 00:42:20 UTC.

Nice find, was further to go than I expected but the cache was in excellent condition.

TFTC

I think I was still laughing as I threaded my way back to the car through cows hit and cattle. A geocaching classic. TFTC

Decided we didn't have time to explore 'Slippery Rock' today but this looked like it should be a fairly quick stop. But not as quick as we thought! Had just reached GZ when I realised someone was watching me from the fence. Back down for a nice long chat with the farmer's wife (who thought the placement was much closer to the road) before heading back up to look for the cache - pleased to keep my feet dry & pleased to know that the resident bull is 'sort-of' friendly!! TFTC & thanks to the lovely locals for their access permission

What a nice spot for a cache. Decided to make this one. Parked the campervan a bit of the route, afterwards I think it was the best route to go to the cache.
Ohoh those cows really looked angry...and they boohoo with every step we came closer to the cache. Finally we made it and we were happy when we were back at the campervan.

Thanks to the farmer

Found it today with my cousins, mum and aunt. Quite an easy find.
Definitely bring gumboots if you're visiting after rain.
TFTC, TNLN.

An enjoyable cache hunt. Some rural elements that city folk might not normally encounter like electric fences, optional stream crossing and bull dodging. Great fun! Loved the dice too!
Many thanks

Not a great cache in winter..yep i fell in, that's all i can say argh

Hmmm, not easy on a winter day. For safety reasons maybe this cache would be better sited near the road fence where photos could be taken of the dice and not have the worry of the giant appearing and stomping on one's head. The dice are definately worth including in the local "Giant" theme. TNLN

Had trouble crossing the small creek after last nights rain. Haven't done a running long jump since school days, ended on my knees so only wet trousers and not wet feet. Enjoyed the farmers sense of humour putting 2 bulls in the paddock... but there were well behaved. A great fun cache.Thanks

Having already discovered these unusual rocks on a previous visit to the Slippery Rock cache further along the road, we were keen to get a close up look and toss the dice. We timed it right for a bit of added excitement, it started to steadily rain just as we arrived at the scene! So clad in leaky gumboots and armed with trekking poles we took the direct route, our theory was that if we were quick enough our boots wouldn’t have time to leak! We were across the paddock in a jiffy and up the hill in record time despite the long wet grass and slippery slope, it’s steeper than it looks. Hindered a little by the fluctuating GPS we soon found the cache with the helpful hint. And it still had an empty logbook after all this time. Back down again, a quick roll of the dice for luck and back to the car, only to find our theory didn’t work…. too much splashing and our socks were soaking wet but who cares, it was great fun and we really enjoyed it. Thanks for a great cache. TFTC.

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