Opotiki or San Francisco? (EBOP) Opotiki, North Island, New Zealand
By Geckoh on 20-May-12. Waypoint GC3KRM6

#96. Annual camping holiday at Tirohanga. We've been here for the last five years but this is the first time as a caching family! Cycled into Opotiki along the Motu bike trail. A quick find while other members of the group jumped from the bridge into the river below. Tftc!

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# 992 one of 100+ and we also placed 5 caches in NZ this trip as a thank you to the NZ Cachers that made this trip so enjoyable.

We are over the ditch for 18 days, with the goal of achieving our 1000 milestone at East Cape, (Less than 10 to go) which will give us our Most Easterly Find as well, 4* east of our current one.

Sorry about the delay in logging, no access to a computer, had to wait until we are home in Qld.

On our way from Onemana to the East Cape

An easy Sorry to see this one achieved
All with the cache.
TFTC Geckoh

[green] Home for Christmas. Well, sort of. Home is actually Palmerston North, the rest of the family are in Rotorua, and now I am off to Opotiki with mum to catch up with the rest of the family who left for the beach a few days ago, staying at the Tirohanga Campground. I haven't swum in the ocean for years!! Got here yesterday after caching most of the way up from Rotorua, with the exception of Kawerau to Whakatane. The wind slammed the car door shut on mum's hand, and so we had to get it checked out. no bones broken, luckily, but plenty of other crush injuries. Time will fix them easily enough.
Boxing Day! I am up at my usual time, about 5am, before dawn, so off for a walk along the motu cycleway- may as well fill in some time with my favourite hobby! This time I knew the signs were wrong, there is a bridge across the Tirohanga Stream so walked all the way into Opotiki from the campground to get the San Francisco cache. Saw rabbits, weka, pukeku, horses. Do the kids still ride horses to school? White island steaming away gently in the distance. Actually, it must be steaming away furiously - that's a lot of cloud it is generating!
Find the cache, it was fairly obvious where it must be. And while signing the log a runner went past. never saw me. no surprise there! Walked back home. I was gone just over 2 hours, and still the rest of the crew were still in bed!
Thanks for the cache, and Merry Christmas from the Seagnoid!

Passing through on a bike ride around the East Cape; finding some geocaches along the way. No luck here.

this was an impromptu vist as came across bridge and reconised as a geocach site.... got with 0.9m of this one but people waiting in car... great photos and lots of muggles biking....

Initially found the counter monitor and thought it to be the cache. Found the cache soon after though.
Found with karibarba65.
TFTC

found with findmoose nice one

After a two day trip around East Cape and a full on weekend convention in Gisborne we are on our way home to Rotorua through the gorge. Lots of caches to pick up on the way.

What a cool bridge, very much a miniature version of the San Fran bridge which we have also walked across.
The other difference is this one moves a lot more. We had done a cache on our way to Gisborne that was on the Motu Trail so it was interesting to see the beginning of the trail. We have just brought ourselves bikes and we might do some of this trail, not up through those hills though. Might just stick with the Dunes stretch.

Finally found the cache after accidentally finding the "Tracking Device". We guessed it's tracking the number of bikes that travel along the trail. Expensive piece of equipment to count bikes. lol. The trail looks interesting and it's great to see these trails being built for people to use and get out there and enjoy our magnificent country.

Thanks Geckoh. Another smilie on our trip home.

Together with Pepona12 and NightOwl90 found we.... the tracking box.
After a while found we the Cache too. Thanks for hiding the Cache at this nice Place.

Greetings, Spanxx.

In the first instance we thought "we found it" but No, only was a counter monitor... we continued with the catch, finally we found it!

First cash over seas

Found the tracking device that monitors the traffic but not the cache.

A great place to stretch your legs after the Gorge. Sun shining, snack in hand we strolled around to where we thought it would be... and there it was! Thanks for bringing us to this beautiful bridge!

loverly location well hidden and fun cache. (had to see the other logs to make sure we got the right thing) TFTC

Yay

After a wee bit of searching we thought we had found the cache all wrapped up but it turned out to be the traffic counter. Another quick search and the cache was finally in hand. TFTC.

Overnight stop on the way to Gisborne was the perfect opportunity for a quick cache. As others have said, it's obvious where the cache is, it's simply finding where it's hidden - and it's hidden well! Easy searching as hidden from muggles. Took about 20 mins & credit goes to the Mr who eventually found it. Traded swappables, the toddler was stoked with his wee toy that we took for him. All in all, a fun family find.

Couldn't find it found the famous black counter box but no luck with the cach

Looked for this one at the start of riding the Motu trail loop. Two of us looking (banging cycle helmets on the wood) but just couldn't spot it, and needed to get on with our ride. Had the chance to look again four days later. All very quiet as the last wind and rain of cyclone Lusi was still in effect. It took quite a hunt again (finding the people counter first - nice hide ) but thankfully Mr E spotted it, phew. Took TB. This is a great location for a cache, another favorite added, thanks Geckoh.

Hadn't been home for a few years now and was surprised to see this new bridge! Beautiful place! Also, dropped our very first TB here after a day of horse sports and a night in the tent. Welcome to the east coast Crystals Travels. All the best!

What a beautiful spot! I came to Opotiki to support friends competing in the regional horse sports event and had a TB with us... We decided as this cache was only about 100 metres from where the event was we would let the TB ride in the pocket of a rider and then get placed in this lovely cache with its 360° views and waves crashing in the distance... Thank you for this lovely WELL HIDDEN cache... We were all under the bridge hunting and heard a muggle and its dog walking over us lol don't even think they knew we were there or just figured we were crazy lol either way cache and now TB tucked safe n sound on this lovely hill

Cool, I have now walked across both! Luckily not too many DNF's today to be considering doing the jumping off thing, although probably a safer option to be doing that on the Opotiki one Same experience as others in finding the people counter first, and a sneaky little hide that is, then the cache. Took a bit of looking though.

TF the visit and TC

Yeah, was excited to find it but it was just a people counter, had to look a bit harder

Great spot! Haven't been that way since the bridge was built so it was great to get out there. My brother initially found what he thought was the cache (and was very excited that he'd beaten everybody to it) but it was some sort of counter thing that looked a wee bit like a bomb at first. Must of been to count the times that the bridge was used. TFTC.

Attractive bridge but not San Francisco

Nice bridge but we did not find the people counter!

So many possible places here.... paced from outer area.... got the people counter first - it was a bit more obvious.
Finally after many checks, we got the cache.

we too found the electronic monitoring box, I thought, 'Wow, what a beautiful hide.' then realised what it was and quickly returned it to its safe place. Mr P suggested a possible hiding place and I found it in the second place I looked. t4tc

Just like the goden gate. Tflc

Family camping trip down to Opotiki and an abandoned attempt on the Tauranga bridge walk due to extreme heat and tired, grumpy children meant we were in town looking for ice cream and cold drinks...a quick drive and here we were, an impressive bridge and a great little hiding spot! SIgned with Gracermr and Poppymjr.

TNLNSL

Driving from tauranga to gisborne decided to stop for lunch and a cache. Found the people counter first and had to put it back together after taking it apart to look for a log book!! Thanks

Nice easy find and a great area to explore. TFTC

Had a good search, thought we found it, only to discover it was an electronic traffic counter, so no cache for us!

It was quite clear where the box should be. Just a question of time to find the right of dozens of places. GC out. Thx

(724) Went for a walk after a day of mountain biking in the area to pick this one up. Found the bridge people counting electronic box before finding the cache. The cache is way better hidden. TFTC

looked every where for this but it ran away.

Took the kids after a game of rugby for a look, we looked high and low and could not find.

Hey, woof... JC Cache Dawg here...

I'm loading all my finds from my Alpha Males (aka GenCuster) logs, where he deigned to remember that I was with him... As if he could forget...20/07/13 17:40 GC & I found during a dusk-walk prior to overnighting up the road.

Second time lucky very cool cache TFTC Cheers SiLiRy

20/07/13 17:40 Found a similar counter at Hamurana Springs recently. JC Cache Dawg & I found during a dusk-walk prior to overnighting up the road.

Apologies for delay in logging, blame post concussion and limited internet access and well, I forgot...

Cheers, GC

Our first find!

Early start for a cache challenge today. After realising the pedestrian counter with flashing lights was not the cache another quick search and the real cache was soon in hand TFTC.

This entry was edited by rosmar on Saturday, 06 July 2013 at 22:29:29 UTC.

12.15pm - Can say I have been over both bridges, found pedestrian counter first. Good hide. SLTFTC

Aunty Robbie found it, luv the swing bridge

Quite a structure also found the traffic couter

A nice bridge, even in the dark and soon located the cache. Would be a much harder find in the middle of summer with all the cycling muggles around

TFTC

Found a good looking hidey hole but no cache.
Love the bridge and the bike ride!!

Found on 2nd Try. Across the river from an apparantly popular Rugby ground, so there were lots of Muggles around. Walked the 4ish KM to the Next Cache , then picked this one up on the return after the match was over.

TFTC!

Was here together with zkvid. Needed a woman's eyes to spot this one! Great, great hide! Sure this one won't get muggled easy!

good hide, cool

While we wait for the kiwi season to kick off we go geocaching!!

third time i have been there to look for this, still no joy, brought some friends with me to multiply my chances.. hmmm

tftf

Finally found it on our second visit. Magnificent bridge/location, loved the Dunes Trail ride, highly recommended outing. TFTC.

The bridge is bigger than the one we built

Took a while to find, well hidden. Took 2 TB,s to move on.
TFTC

Cache hunting in the Eastern Bay today. Its been a while since I ventured out this way. In my absence, there seems to have been a mini run of new caches...

Arrived at the bridge to find the paddocks in use. There were horses and riders everywhere. While not particularly interested in the sport when shown on television; it's quite different watching it live. I sat and watched one young rider do his thing... He and his horse were quite good.

On the other side of the river, it was less chaotic. Had to contend with three cyclists during the entire search and log mission. Fortunately, a quick find here. TFTC. Left two TBs.

Love the bridge too. An interesting piece of architecture.

Bad day to try this one with a fare on at the nearby A&P grounds. Kids hanging around on the bridge and locals trying it out for the hell of it. Had a real quick look but having had to park so far away, needed to leave to meet Mrs Sp8 at the pre-arranged time.

Awesome bridge, was not here last time I was.
Left a wally woodpigeon, #6

10339…
Last cache before retiring for the night, a really cool Golden Gate Bridge in Opotiki, at least it’s not shrouded in fog like the one in San Fran. Will have to ride the Motu Trails one day, TFTC.

Cache on the ground. replaced best as poss but easy to see.

Amusing theme to this cache, yes it does bear some resemblance to the Golden Gate. Didn't take too long to find this one after making the other guys pose with flowers in their hair! TFTC!!!

Out with FMZ, GreenblAt and mike-miss after our epic 4WD adventure up the Kereu River and Waiti River.

Nice easy cache before breakfast.
Looks a bit like that one on the otherside of the Pacific maybe they shoul paint this one red too.

Bike trail looks great.

TFTC

After filling up with fuel and coffee we headed over here for another cache. Quickly found but nicely tucked away. Cycleway looks good, next time i come back here ill need to bring the mountain bike. TFTC!

Found together with FunkyMunkyZone Mike-miss & KiwiLeon.
All across the nation such a strange vibration, People in motion
There's a whole generation with a new garmin oregon
T4TC

Great spot for a cache, and really enjoyed the dunes trail. TFTC

Easy find by sharp eyed Brd! Fantastic bridge - thanks for bringing us here; we'll be back with our bikes next time. TFTC!

Picked up TB TSWABC. Neat place.

Great Cache! Bit hard to find but got it! Found with steveshunting using a Garmin Oregon 550.

What a great new bridge. Will need to bring my MTB back with me on a future summer holiday to explore more. The last 2 cachers had not found this, but we did after not too much searching. Well obscured from a visual find, it needed some searching by feel to locate. I placed back in a similar place, but hopefully in a way that will make it easier for future GCers to locate.

Took a TB and left a TB.

Didn't find it - the whole family searched and searched.

Probably removed ...

It' sa pitty
for the last day of the year,
not found it !!!

But a beautiful place

31:01:2012

ktzee ghent
belgium

A awesome bridge to walk onTFTC

Very nice new structure, found with tmann421 TFTC

Certainly a well made bridge. I searched for a while without a find, TuisReturn was a little behind me and found it almost right away. SL TFTC

This cache has been sitting there for a long time waiting for us to visit .... so we thought today was the day as we did the trip around Ohiwa. Saturday afternoon wasn't the best day choice with all the sport going on, but we were able to wander nonchantly across and grab it while everyone was at the other end!
Amazing bridge and a really inviting start to the Motu Bike Trail --- almost (but not quite) wished we had brought our bikes with it to try it out!!

TFTC

what a nice bridge

Nice easy find. First time I've come to this bridge. Thanks

Finally got back here with my GPS to find this.
Day 1 of a 6 day Mt bike ride along the Dunes, thru the Motu rd and other back roads to Waikaremoana and back to Waimana via the Six Foot Track. Beautiful day to start but weather went downhill over the week. Left a Geocoin i picked up in Switzerland
tftc

Damn Wingnut Rocks and Teeny Tina got this one.....

Thanks!

ok Wingnut rocks bet me too it again !!!! but we found it. Beautiful weekend.

found it along with wingnut rock, teeny tina and teleri.

I got this one as Teeny Tina was looking for it as well....She was a wee bit off....LOL

Took some fellow muggles and introduced them to geocaching. Easy find, TFTC.

Cool bridge and loved the analogy as I have seen the Golden Gate.
Thank you for placing the second cache in Opotiki at such a great place.
It is funny the two only caches in Opotiki town are with bridges.
TNLN SL
TFTC
Cheers
nzkeko

TFTC Thx!
Cheers

Got it while waiting for fellow latvians to finish work in a kiwi packhouse.

First on the list of a great day's caching. The Dunes section of the Trail is great. TFTC

Very cool bridge

FTF
Not quite ready to test the leg out on a bike yet but got this one before Keko heads back this way. An impressive bridge to begin the Bike ride or walk. TFTC

Lol - was at the opening on Sunday checking out a spot. Should have looked a bit harder !

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