Royal Standard (Coromandel) Coromandel Forest Park, North Island, New Zealand
By Gam & co on 14-Jul-12. Waypoint GC3QH18

Wonderful walk, I ended up going for a very short swim in the pool just under the waterfall. It was definitely very short as the temperature was below my liking. Plenty of wetas in both tunnels. The log was too wet to write on. TFTC

This really is a most to do walk and Geocaching, such an amazing place, beautiful track, with many places to stop and rest if the 1 ½ hour walking appears to be to much. Part of my group didn't do the whole track, so I decided to do it anyway, luckily Elviraxx (who didn't know about Geocaching and now is into to it) she decided to do the track with me.
Unfortunately the bridge to access the waterfall was closed, nothing that will be a impediment to search for the cache as the tunnel is just before the bridge.
Logbook is a little bit damp, but you still can sign it.
TFTC

Another cache that has been on the to do list for a few years. Finally today we did it after a kayak in Whangamata. What an excellent track did not expect this and the beautiful bush. - gradual up on the way in and gentle down on the way out . Got to the GZ and luckily Richard was keen to do the honours and disturb a few of the locals Cache all good Walked up to check on falls and bridge but then returned same way back as the loop was closed for Kauri die back maintenance. It was really pleasing to see some great young kauris on the way in. TFTC

A day out with part of the team clearing some new caches in the area before kayaking to Donut Island This cache has been on the watch list for ages. Really loved the walk into this cave, couldn’t get much further due to track being shut off. Great easy, but long walk. All good here and a Fp for the area. Many Thanks for bringing me here.

I 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 cache. Many Thanks for bringing me here. Cheers.

As caching had been pretty scant over the past several months coming out with HKCB for a walk in the sunshine was pretty appealing and a very nice track it was too. An enjoyable walk, easy gradient and an opportunity to really enjoy things and remember the reason why we tramp.
thanks for the placement and the cache

Having had not much time to Geocache in the last few months, I was very keen to get back into nature and stretch the legs again, and find a cache or two.

An early morning start from Hamilton meant we began walking this track about 6.30am and made good time to GZ. We were both very thankful the track was mainly flat as our elevation fitness probably isn't the best. Once at GZ we took in the scenery before heading into the mine. Lots of cave weta here and some of the biggest ones I've seen also. Was a little concerned we were going to have some trouble locating the cache as I didn't see any likely spots, but thankfully Cats&Dragons spotted something which turned out to be the cache.

A great placement and a very cool spot, thanks for the cache.

Enjoyed a little road trip staying the night in Whanga enjoying a great dinner with friends on Saturday. On Sunday I made my way over to K-Gorge for a River Safety Course to lean and cool down in the river. Enjoyed the hike to GZ and exploring the cave. TFTC

If it wasn't for geocaching I would never known this track was here. We had a great adventure here today. Really nice walk. Someone has been clearing the track. The waterfall was awesome and the there was the tunnel. Made my way in. Daughter waited at entrance for me. Couldn't spot anything so decided to see what was at the end. Good length of tunnel. Some good sized cave crickets watching me in here today. Made my way back and spotted the cache hide. I'm not partically tall so had to get my daughter who is much taller than me to make the grab. Lol Cache and logbook were all good. Love the location of this cache. Tftc

Nice muddy walk up the valley today. Met 2 guys on their way to the gold mining drilling site in the area to check on it. An interesting mine to explore.Missed the cache going into the shaft but found it on my wway back back out. New log all in good condition.Tftc

After the report of the cache being lost, and we have not visited the area for a while we decided to go for a walk expecting the track to be really muddy we found it to be not to bad up to ankles at worst the first bridge is closed at the moment it's on a slight lean .The track past the second bridge is a little over grown still easy to navigate .We made it to the mine drive in good time found the cache still in its place the log book was damp so it has been replaced the cache is visible while standing in the tunnel a short way in .It was a good day for a walk all but it being a little chilly Enjoy Gam & Co

Out for the day with the PacknBoots tramping group - up to the Kauri grove for lunch, then on up to the mining site tunnel and back to the track to complete the loop. Very slippery going up to the Royal Standard mining tunnel and quite wet underfoot as there had been a lot of rain recently. We had a good look for the cache, there was indeed a shelf head-high on the left, but it had an empty birds nest on it. No rats, thankfully. Went in about 300m with our good torches, admired the cave wetas, but no sign of the cache, even on the floor. So a reluctant DNF.

Bit muddy today but nice walk. Used hint but to no avail. Got to the short side passage and nothing except a rat's nest in the wall, gave me a bit of a fright as I investigated a potential cache hidey hole and out jumped a small rat, his fat pregnant partner not far behind. Too fast for me to jump on. GC was on the ground and wet. Signed and reinstated then finished loop back to the car. Mrs pbslost fitbit said we did about 20,000 steps, I just know I enjoyed the walk.

It was wet and boggy but that made the tunnels even more exciting. Me and thescoobydoo kids had fun running the last bit to the cache. TFTC

No school today so it was a great idea of thescoobydoos to do this mission, along with carrollfamilynz. With six kids joining us we managed to double the time of previous finders. We had a great time, even the two 5 year olds enjoyed the 10 km walk. They stayed at the clearing while at least one representative of each family pushed on for the 'final ascent'.

The last little bit was pretty exciting for the older kids. Especially the tunnels!

Plenty of cave wetas about, they weren't as scary as I expected. The cache was quickly found, on the floor of the tunnel. So after signing in the middle of the sodden logbook we returned it to the spot that matched the hint.

All in all, a great adventure. Thanks for inspiring us to come here! Tftc

No school today for the juniors, combined with lovely weather, it seemed like ideal opportunity for a caching adventure.

So, Mrs Scoobydoo, Mrs Yodabeach and Mrs Carroll family set off with 6 juniors (all aged between 5 -9). Needless to say, it took us somewhat longer than the sign-posted time.

The adventure was added to when we discovered that the first bridge was closed due to structural fault, so a river crossing and wet feet were required. The water was cold, but not too deep, so we were soon back on track.

When we reached the clearing at the junction, we stopped for lunch. And then those that didn't have 'tired legs', continued on the path (right) for the final stint to the cache. I offered to be the supervising adult and stay with the tired ones, as I wasn't feeling 100%, while my two junior scoobydoos continued on to gz.

A great walking track, in an interesting area. Will have to return and complete the loop with the rest of the family some time.

Thanks for providing the motivation for this adventure! And even though we haven't had much rain in a while, there was still plenty of mud to be found.

Mrs carrollfamily and two of the crew, in company of Yodabeach and The Scooby Doo had a day off so set off on the adventure. A great walk was enjoyed by all. Cache was a bit soggy and found on floor of cave. Replaced in obvious spot.

Woo hoo! Almost a DNF, so all the sweeter to be able to say we found it!

Spending Easter in whanga with plans to explore this track if the weather cleared. Thankfully perfect today! The recent heavy storms however meant that there was water galore along here today - great for waterfalls, not so great for an already muddy track lol. Some initial efforts to circumvent the worst mud patches but then we finally gave in & just squelched through: turned out none of it was much worse than top of boot/ankle deep, just lots & lots of it!

Opted for the right hand branch of the loop on our way up, although almost baulked at the first tunnel when we saw its heavily flooded entrance. Closer inspection proved it was just a large pool so we waded through and carried on. Arrived at GZ & began to explore the side tunnel. Lots of wetas, no cache. Checked the hint & previous logs, looked again. A couple of very likely spots but no cache. Decided to DNF & carry on but, while Mrk69 was taking pics at the waterfall, I couldn't resist popping back for one last look. Pure luck, my torch caught a glimpse of something on the ground - looked closer & found a small black container buried in the wet mud. Yep, the cache. Big grin!!!! Amazingly, the contents are in great condition despite the container being almost buried in mud and water. Signed the log & replaced in what seemed to be the appropriate, hopefully correct spot, as per the hint. Tried to wedge it in, so that it stays put. Off to complete the loop and then a well-earned shower! A lot of fun today: all up, 12km and ~ 3 hrs (although we're reasonably fit, would need longer with kids). Thanks heaps for the cache placement & the incentive to explore a new-to-us track - we loved the history & the scenery & had a fantastic time despite the mud lol!

Wouw Gam & Co.......I believe this is the first cache from you that I have found.....(oh no, just found out the second)
Great walk.....And thank novolightning for your story....as this made us go for this cache hahaha.
At the clearing we turned left, to go to the tunnel (this time without water) and up to the cache. With a bit of search found it. Went over the swingbridge to have a break down at the water. Doggies could be cooling of and we had a drink and a snack. We also went the full loop, hoping it was a real loop. Going right at the end of the bridge and went up and up...hmmm and went down again. Eventually came out at the same clearing. It hasn't been raining for about 8 weeks now and the sun was burning....We try to imagine how this trip to this cache would be when this isn't the case. My gosh I don't think the 3-star terrain is doing justice to this cache...
We were wondering over and over again, where all this mud is coming from (after so long no rain). Every where on the track you will be confronted with some kind of mud... There are very steep area's, so watch your children if you do this track with kids.
Thanks Gam & Co. for this great hide

It was 26degrees but flat all the way on a good track and in the shade tftc

Day 3 of the Christmas holiday and it was time to head off on another adventure. This time it was one that the wife was able to tag along.

We organised ourselves the night before so when we woke up we could leave straight away. The body is getting into holiday mode as we didn't leave Whangamata till 8am. It was a short drive to Quarry rd and by 8.30 we were ready to start the walk. The DOC sign said the whole loop would take us 3hr 30min so we were ready for a descant stroll, what we were not prepared for was the mud. This is only Chelsea's second hike so she was still in the 'try and dodge the mud' state of mind.

Seeing the new bridge made us both grateful as after the recent weather the river was a little high. If we had to use the ford we would had gotten very wet.

There was a lot of cool sights to see with cuttings for the old trains still clear and every now and again sections of rail tracks still visible. The glimpse of the stream and boulders kept us interested wondering what it must have been like working here back in 1890's.

We eventually came to a clearing that had another DOC sign - 10min to the battery and 30min each way to the waterfall. We decided to take the 10min direction as we thought the cache might be that close. Turns out it was at the waterfall so had to make the full 30min walk anyway. Glad we did however as there was so much to see. A fun tunnel to walk through, making our shoes wet through, mines to search, swing bridge to walk and waterfall to view.

Clearly collecting the cache here was high on the priority list and I searched the whole length of the tunnel, finding many cave wetas before eventually finding it only 3m from the entrance.

With the cache found and a snack had we decided to complete the loop track. We left the tunnel and crossed the swing bridge. turning right we headed up the hill and begun to wonder if we were on the right track. It kept going further from the car and climbing. Thankfully it eventually turned and headed back down stream, and by down I mean down. It was a very slippery slope down and I was impressed that the wife stayed on her feet.

Glad we completed the loop as it was a pleasant walk and we were back at the car at 12 so it took us about 3hr total. A real fun day out and well worth the walk. Now heading back to Whangamata for lunch and a swim.

Thinking of getting this one over christmas. Is there an estimated time that it will take me

Damn! Someone beat me too it being the first one to place a cache down here.

Look forward to finding this one next time im up there.

Another FTF for us after a 5.7km walk to have lunch at the waterfall, the track was not very wet today.
We have done this walk many times, thanks to Gam & co for a new cache to find. I suggest to take
something to get the log out of the container it is a good fit and in a bit.

Coordinates changed from:
S 37° 17.724 E 175° 49.262

Coordinates changed to:
S 37° 17.731 E 175° 49.240

Distance from original: 114.5 feet or 34.9 meters.

FTF goes to Grandad8 .Thanks for the updated Coords S37 17.731 E175 49.240

Published