Rattlling Zoo (Wellington) Wellington, North Island, New Zealand
By 1SportDude, 1Dog & 1 Grunta on 02-Jan-13. Waypoint GC43P2C

I'll admit it took me far too long to find this one. I didn't read the direction on my GPS and followed what looked to be a nice path that I'd put a cache in if the space was available. But then retraced my steps and started again from the entrance and there it was waiting to be found. All in order. I took a goose but left some enamel pins. Thank you!

Had a spare few moments so decided to go for a stroll on this gorgeous Wellington day. Unfortunately my map said I could drive up to the cache. It was WRONG lol. It was a steep path which got my heart rate up. Found the path off the side of the hill easy, no cabbage tree though, and fence was located down the path with fallen logs/trees surrounding it. Then spent some time around the base of all the pine trees getting more and more frustrated that I couldn't find it. I was almost ready to give up because I figured the rains had destroyed it/deforestation happened. But nope, it was indeed hidden in plain sight, about 4m down further, with plenty of rooms for swaps! TFTC. Heart rate successfully elevated!

Today is a regular dot day. So I hunted the map for a regular and picked this one.I trained in from Petone and TwigNZ carred from Upper Hutt and we met at Johnsonville station. Headed up to here.Near gz we walked up down the service road a bit looking for a good way in. The obvious places are problematic, with HUGE logs of sliced tree. Climbing over them is fine, but there might be a nasty drop on the other side. But we soon found a tiny access-way. A geotrail? and there's the cache!I thought Rattling Zoo might refer to Rattll. I have not collected her rocks (by the way, Rattll is a "she"), although I do know some who do. (Who do!! Hoodoo! Okay, it doesn't take much to set me off)Anyhoo, we found the cache. Nice and dry, a bit of a surprise, given that it is a sistema. Dropped off a TB.Another regular dot-day found, 36 to go...

I was wanting to find a cache today, and my flatmate also wanted to find one. We had different size different requirements, but we found 2 different caches close together on the map that suited both our needs so we agreed to meet up after work to get them.It most definitely a case of Deja Vu as I drove towards this one, as this was almost the route I used to take to visit a friend. But soon enough we were parked up and striding towards GZ. I think you'd get some really great views from up here, if stuff didn't grow as well lol.The final access to GZ took a little while to find, given that it was dusk, but we found it and were soon hunting. I found the fence, and tS found the cache. No problems to report here, and we were soon making our way back to the car.Thanks for setting this cache up.

I did think to myself how am I going to get into the bush? Saw a gap from the trail and then found

Thanks team for creating this one. My first find

First cache done! Yay. Don't be put off by the spikey vegetation and fallen logs. Took us approx. 5 minutes but so glad to have found our first one. Thank you!

#299.Came out with RoyalW1979 and Hisluvrr_ on their Ngaio missions and managed to find this one on the dot. Great views of the Wellington Harbour on our way up. TFTC.

There were three rocks left inside, but sorry, I can not recall the animals.Was a bit tricky, but I would say, just follow the fence line.It took a few minutes, and Emantis yielded the goods.Cheers.Sleepy was here!

Went off the track and couldn’t find it

Unfortunately didn't find

Found it.. A very pleasant stroll this morning.
Took a little time for my phone GPS to settle, cache found it coords, very well preserved. Oh for a real gprs...
Noting I'd take reference from the fine historic totara artifact, and follow Sir Buck's lead. TFTC
PS: you won't be able to reach this cache if your standing on the tarmac...

H

TFTC beautiful spot

Good location!

.

Couldn't find it

Pretty quick find with its_smitchell. Nice day to be out

I really like these non muggle caches. Makes hunting more enjoyable. With c_storm.

I looked everywhere around, there are some pines cut down so maybe this has disrupted it

I fonu it

We searched for1 minute

Found it yay

Thanks for replacing the cache - this one has been on my to do list forever and when I finally looked last year it was goneburgers. The cache was very visible, and suggest the CO might want to check out the site again, as some of pines on the corner have been felled very recently, so that you can see the cache from track just around the corner. I covered it up so it was not visible, but hopefully that was the last of the tree work in the area.
TFTC

Glad to see this lovely cache up and running again! It's a fantastic spot for one. Had a nice walk this morning up to the site, and bee-lined to the cache pretty quickly. Some lovely stone beasties in there. Tftc!

New cache looks great! TFTC

Found cache smashed on 4WD road a while back, replaced with a new container and log book. Cache is now more hidden, please make sure you hide well so it doesn't get vandalised again.

Thought it was about time I had a look for this cache. Had no problem spotting all the hint objects, but no cache to be seen anywhere. It looks like there are two most likley spots for the cache to be hidden. Checked further downhill as well in case it had been washed downhill in the recent heavy rains. Not found since March 2021 so looks like needs a check from the CO.
Thanks.

No sign of the cache for the last two searchers - and it should be an easy find. Looks like it is time for a CO visit to check.

Found the first hint, then the second, and located what I'd call a brace of the final hint. Saw some likely locations, what seemed like obvious covering, but nothing seemed to match the description of the hide... another day, perhaps.

Out caching in Johnsonville. Only saw the cabbage tree once I'd gone past it, didn't see fence post until returning to path! All good in cache, tftc!

Mum is helping me log all my caches that I haven't logged yet.Found with Mum (LL113) and Dad (GNARwhal).

Awesome wee cache. Found a teeny tiny rat in a cache in Masterton a month or two ago. Was randomly looking at caches last night and came across the wee ones home. Decided to come for a look and met many of his mates. Miss 8 picked a zebra to come home and hang out with our little guy. We didn’t have any animal themed rocks but left a Geocache themed rock in its place.

Cache is not waterproof, had to pour some water out. Log book, which is in a bag in a bag in the cache, is quite damp but still writable.

Found with Lissyloo113 and UnicornLex

I was looking for a child-friendly cache today to do with my youngest son and this one appealed to us as we've seen some of rattl's painted rocks before and admired them. The cache was a quick find in an area we hadn't visited before. The log book is a bit damp but signable. Not as many rocks in the cache as we were expecting (it's been a while since the cache was first placed) so we didn't do any swaps. Continued up to the reservoir afterwards where we spotted a lot of grasshoppers, and we also spied a track leading into the bush which we ended up following down to another cache. TFTC

Having done a fair amount of 'out of town' caching lately, it was time to show Welly some love today. The plan was a bunch of caches that had been on my radar for a while. This was one of them. Having recently found a couple of related caches up in the Wanganui area I thought it only right to finally make my way up here today. No problem locating thanks to the hint. Log book was a bit damp, but not bad and still signable. TFTC.

At first didn’t read hint and found the reservoir but then back tracked a bit followed very clear hint and an easy find. Thanks

The rocks are so cute!
Have a very tired, happy geodoggo

Perfect for the kids! Swapped swag. TFTC .

TFTC .

Missed the obvious first hint object by not looking in the right direction, but second hint object eventually got me to search in the right area, cache was easily seen when in the right place. Cache still full of magical wee items to swap. Got some great photos of large orange spotted toadstools growing nearby - straight out of childrens fairytale book look. TFTC

Lovely sunny day - found pretty quickly - all rocks present plus some extra items!

Found it

Perhaps I should have looked at the “driving directions” before attempting this one. I assumed it was accessible from Truscott Park, and maybe it is! After all, there’s a sign there pointing to a reservoir.

Not being familiar with the whereabouts of the reservoir, I started up the hill and wondered when I was going to see a sign pointing to it off to the right somewhere. At the closest point my coords indicated the reservoir was around 250m away.

Continued up the hill and turned right into the Skyline Walkway. I still didn’t know whether I was on the correct track or not. Was slightly perturbed as the distance to the cache kept increasing, eventually telling me I was more than 400m away. At that point I left the track and continued across country up a rather steep hill, but with the distance to the cache continually decreasing.

At the top of the hill I spotted the reservoir, with the cache being a mere 170m away. The only problem was the gorse and seemingly dense bush between me and the reservoir. I managed to locate a track through the vegetation and made it to the reservoir. Still 70m to the cache but at least with a roadway leading away from the reservoir I knew that my return route would be a whole lot easier.

Located the cache with little difficulty and followed the roadway back to civilisation and to my car parked at Truscott Park. If I had parked in Meadowcroft Grove at the outset, I expect I would have been able to have knocked this one off in not more than 15 minutes, instead of the 40 minutes it took me! Never mind, it was a good walk on a pleasant day and one more dot day dealt to! #2482. TFTC.

Thanks mate - awesome cache.

Early morning find with Miss 5!

Thanks cool cache - contents and log book were a bit wet/damp though

Tftc

Nice cache. Nice to be outside with all the nice weather. Found after searching for a bit. Also found two Weta chillin on a tree.

Nice walk an scramble to find. All good here made sure Camo was in place. TFTC

Not sure I came the quickest way - but got there!

Loved this little find. Tftc. Traded a rattl pig for a bird I collected near cow creek love the smell of pine.

Cool wee walk, my 2 young girls loved hunting through the bushes

After attending the event not to far from here, we thought it was about time we checked out this zoo. After all it is for our pet rocks, & a visit is well overdue!
The weather wasn't the greatest, but it was only a little drizzly when we arrived, so with our raincoats on, off we went.
We got as close as we could to GZ before the distance started to climb again, and then looked for a way in. No problems finding the cache once under the cover of the tree's - although there were no muggles about today to worry us.
I'd grabbed a handful of "pets" with the intention of adding a different one from what was already in there, but there was such a good selection I only had the same one's, so added another, larger swan.
Thanks for setting up this awesome cache, for our pet rocks. We love it - It's a great idea! There's even been another zoo opened in Hamilton since yours & a tribute cache in Wanganui. Of course it gets a fav from us!

When I got to GZ+9 I was unsure whether I needed to nagivate a path in the direction the GPS was indicating or if the GPS was still getting its act together. I checked the terrain rating and figured it must be easier than it looks. I found a bit of an opening and dived in and suddently it all made sense. The cache is quite difficult to hide under the available material so it was easily spotted from some distance. Being well hidden from the track that doesn't appear to be a problem. I didn't fully absorb what I read in the description and wondered why there were a bunch of stones in the cache but now it's clear! Great idea for a cache. Thanks for the cache and the minor navigation challenge.

A sweet little cache. Loved the animals.

Found it

A nice quiet spot worth the reasonable effort required to get here All in good nick It's worth the further effort to carry on up to the water reservoir and then via the obvious track to the open pasture on the skyline If you're keen you can take the track from there up to Mt Kaukau TFTC

Fun find in the dark - TFTC!

Needed an easy find tonight, thanks guys!

Found Cutest lil zoo! TFTC

really cool. found it with 2hoff

Cool cache! Nice day for a little walk. Did with KateNahu!
TFTC

One sunny morning we ventured up a path and round a corner or two where the cabbage and pine trees met saw some number 8 fencing and followed it! awesome find my little one loved the treasure.

Found it - thanks

Great day for a hike. Thanks from Prague =D

I love the little stone animals. Too bad my geoteens are too old to be interested in something like that. Thanks for the cache

A bit of a walk but soon had cache in hand thanks

Getting to the cache was more of a hike than we expected- but a fun cache once we got there.tftc

Bit more of a hike than we expected, but worth the effort. Thanks for the exercise! tftc

Quite a hike up the road before heading off into the bush for the quick find. TFTC

Tick

This one is a very cool cache!
Found this one today. All in good order.

Thanks for the cache

Quick find by the little bear who loved the contents. What a great cache, a favourite point from us. Tftc

Great adventure over the weekend and lovely walk! Thanks

So cool

TFTC found with wlgref-nz

Nice walk on a fine evening out with Claireyc tftc

What a great cache and lovely little walk for the three year old. Thanks!

Cool rocks! Kids love it. Thanks.

Quite a collection of zoo animals, TFTC

I couldn't find it at first . It's too many pines and too many posts. I had to come back to the road and start again carefully follow the direction and find the cache in 1 min. Great zoo. My favorites are a swan and a squirrel. I come across few rattll butterflies in the caches I got on the way to Tutuwai Hutt this year.i didn't know then what are they. TFTC

#1614 Despite the low cloud and drizzle I was determined to pick up a few caches before the sun went down. Had the path to myself and made the walk up the hill and spotted where the cache was going to be. Had to check several hint object first as I overlooked the real GZ. When I saw it, it was very obvious where the cache was and I took an easier trail back out to the path. TFTC- a great collection! I've seen quite a few rattl animals on my travels.

#585. The only rattling going on was my dags as I raced up the hill to get here before dark. Too late, it was black under the trees so out with the torch. Only then did I spy not one but about 4 or 5 hint combos. So checked around each and everyone one but still no cache. So turned off torch and noticed another silhouette downslope. Headed for it and yes there was the cache, now with a bit of camo over the container. A great selection of swag inside so swapped a few items and signed the log. Then off back down the path and home. TFTC

Quick find after getting the heart rate up. TFTC

A great cache to discover with pattismith jr aged 3. Lots to count and examine. TFTC

Cute rocks - they didn't mind the thought of the rain that was about to fall. Tftc

A fairly quick find once I disregarded the terrain rating and followed the GPS and hint- this is a T2. Also I would be careful with younger kids round here with a few slopes and steep drops not far away.

Cache was not fully covered over but fortunately it is in a place where muggles aren't likely to spot it hopefully it is now fully covered.

TFTC.

Yay...first one! My kids were thrilled

Kids loved this one spotted by little miss 5 TFTC

This entry was edited by Awesome4sumnz on Sunday, 18 January 2015 at 07:20:40 UTC.

Cache nicely tucked away. TFTC Cheers!

Whoop!

We must have first heard about this one when it was new. Rattll rocks are quite often found in the Waikato as they have family up that way. We gave been rounding them up, with the help of our caching friends, Iammrwalker, and now we are finally getting to visit the zoo.

Perhaps my Christmas dress and shoes (luckily just ballet flats) were not the usual caching attire, but no one was around to notice.

Steed got there first. We left our bakers dozen, as below, then took three special ones to move on to other places. A great idea for a cache, I'm wondering if we need a Hamilton branch. I enjoy the swag part of caching, although I usually just add, don't take much. This one gets a fav from us.

#169 and a quick detour on the way home to keep the streak going.

A quick find, all clean, dry and in good order.

Tftc.

Took the opportunity to swing by and grab this one after dropping off a work colleague not to far away. TFTC, #6796

Found it after making things too hard for myself looking everywhere ecept the most obvious one. Contents nice & dry and interesting and recovered lightly. TFTC

Awesome idea! TFTC enjoyed the walk too

Found it