RIP Upper Huia Dam Track (Auckland) Waiatarua, North Island, New Zealand
By alligatorsnz on 31-Jan-13. Waypoint GC456FF

With a clear day in the calendar, a plan was hatched to round up some friends and head out to Piha for an adventure. Anytime the Team SEAC crew are together its always an adventure. You can't predict what might happen but always know its going to be a good time. After the recent documentary about the people that have vanished in the area there was a bit of talk about that along the way but who knows what actually happened!! It started out pretty cold but soon warmed up and we enjoyed that pure wild west coast scenery.I headed on in where I thought we were meant to be but came up empty handed. We expanded the search area and Mr HeMaLuDy soon had it in hand. Its not a tiny little cache either so not sure why the last DNF. Its hidden as per hint and all good for finding here. Nice to sign a log that hasn't had a find in a while. Thanks for the cache.

Today a few of the team SEAC crew decided to spend the day at Piha. For some of our crew it was their first time at Piha and Piha put on quite a wild show after yesterdays squally storms blew through. Luckily today was calmer and sunny. We cached into Piha, enjoying the caches along Piha road, including finding a very lonely cache that hadnt been found for a couple of years. A picnic lunch was also had in some shade and then home again for a well deserved wine!Had the wrong tree initially, but Mr Hemaludy expanded the search and success! TFTC!

A message went out a couple of days ago to the Team SEAC crew asking who was keen on a day caching at Piha. We decided to join the fun, and as per usual with a SEAC outing there were many laughs along the way. Out today was Keylev, NZIceman, Cragger, NZT and HeMaLuDy. This was our first visit out this way and the coastline did not disappoint. While the rest of the group were focusing on one tree, Mr HeMaLuDy went to another and made the find. We were happy to find this lonely cache - 17 months since the last find.

Bo luck

I really enjoyed the nearby epiphytes which were certainly flourishing. Maybe leather leaf and hanging spleenwort? I don't think the latter helps your spleen but I suppose healthcare was guesswork back in 27BC when the Greeks were observing some cattle who ate it and some who didn't!
Tftc.

A nice quick find. Thanks for placing your cache.

Ms_KR and I are in Auckland Auckland for a break and we are exploring the region while we are based here. Tday we went over to some of the West Coast beaches. The weather was lovely as were the views of the coast..

Thanks to all CO's for publishing and maintaining their caches. Cheers.

Last cache of the day, wish I had paid more attention to the hint, but I found it in the end!

All good here, thanks!

Last for us today but it shouldn't have been. We tried to look for it on our way down to Piha but there were two cars parked there, not sure what they were doing but I don't think they were caching. We abandoned as they didn't look like ready to go anytime soon. On our way back, we crossed the centreline and parked by GZ. It took us a good five minutes to spot the hide but it is safe and sound. TFTC

Out and about this afternoon for a short walk or two in the Waitekere Ranges. Nice weather for it and the wind keeps you from getting too hot. Heading for home now, but time enough for a few more finds along the way. I parked up and got to searching. It took me a long time to get the correct GZ here; the GPSr was consistently pointing some six metres away. Once in the right spot the cache was quickly detected. All good here. Cheers for the cache placement ANZ and thanks to Rusty for keeping it going!

TB swapped

On my way to Piha to grab new Adventure Lab.
Quick find at posted coordinates.
Good parking spot too.
Picked up TB not logged in this cache.
【T】【F】【T】【C】

Second visit of this site and found with Vanjeans who suggested the likely tree. Good camo! RIP track TFTC

Thanks alligatorsnz for hiding these caches all those years ago, and the adoption

RIP Upper Huia Dam Track (Auckland) was transferred from alligatorsnz to user rustynz

No logs will be accepted - During New Zealand COVID 19 lockdown - level 4 and 3

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The only way we will stop this virus is to stop it moving into new people.
Spare a thought for the essential services who are keeping you alive - infect them and you will have no one to keep you alive.

Took two of us a while here...then found the correct tree finally...lovely tree too!
All good here!

The biggest tree hint was not much help as all of the trees are big!!! Quite far from the actual track starting point.

Found it pretty quickly. Sad to see all the closures in the area but I guess it’s for a good reason. TFTC

There is a controlled area closure in place in the Waitakere Ranges. Please obey all closure notice's. This cache and track are still open: https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/environment/plants-animals/pests-weeds/Pages/protect-our-kauri-trees.aspx

Found after determining the right tree.

Coordinates changed from:
S 36° 56.619 E 174° 31.991

Coordinates changed to:
S 36° 56.624 E 174° 31.949

Distance from original: 206.4 feet or 62.9 meters.

location tweaked a bit - seems the original is a popular dumping spot

repaired and good to be found

yep sure is some gravelly goings on at GZ, unfortunately by the time i got to this one today i had a dead line.. and it was clear i might need a metal detector and or a shovel... have to come back with the required tools... couldn't find any trace with a quick looks..

Fresh load of gravel dumped at GZ. Maybe buried box? Thanks anyway from Richland WA USA.

Returning from hiking around Karekare with Gorby and merlot58. Merlot called out and said there was a cache right here, just as Gorby was driving past the pulloff. Not to worry, though as Gorby pulled a 'Gorby manoeuvre' and reversed on the wrong side of the road back into the parking spot! Eventually found the cache with some guidance from the previous finders .

You tend to go bush when the Geocaching app is giving you an accuracy of 20m down what looked like a small geo trail. WARNING DO NOT ENGAGE THE GORSE. I got into a nasty fight with some gorse trying to get what I thought it might be but ended up just being a old Lion Red can. Quick find when you actually read what the instructions say. Cache Nice and dry as well TFTC

#11725. Took us a wee while to track this one down. TFTC.

Tomorrow we leave Auckland for Mt Maunganui, so it was our last chance to head out to Piha, a first visit for me and a second after many years for StreetWalker. We thought a weekday would be a quieter option than a weekend day, and so it was. What a beautiful part of the country. Many thanks to the COs for taking us to some interesting places.
This took a wee while to find as the hint object was a little hard to see. TFTC.

Had just done the mercer bay climb and was heading home. Had 4 of us, so to save space we signed the log as "SEAC" (South & East Auckland Crew)

We were coming the wrong way, so had to make a u turn and I nearly lost my front bumper as I ran into a pile of dirt on the side of the road.

Didn't take us long to find this cache.

Having just completed an event at Mercer Bay a group of us were picking up a few caches on our way home and signing the log 'Team SEAC' to save space.

This one was 'spotted' pretty quickly which was lucky as I'm sure all the passing cars were wondering what we were doing rummaging in the bushes, TFTC!

15:33
FITW Gorbygorbachov, rustynz, harisree (Mrs.)
This took some while to get spotted. Mostly, because Groby sent us into the woods by yelling that we should look deeper in

Thanks for the cache!
#3642

564
after the mercer bay, little lion rock, lion rock and few other caches here and there energy was running out a bit. we simply did some bush bashing and found the cache some where out. tftc ANZ.

Came across this one on our way home after a planned visit to Mercey Bay, and found a safe pull off.... four of us had a quick search before the find was made, log signed and returned, then onto the next roadside cache.

Signed as SEAC to save log book space.

TFTC.

Heading home from the Mercer Bay climb with UncleSamNZ, dragon.griffin and Stik-a-crane. We decided that since we were out this way, in an area where none of us come to often, we may as well grab a few caches while we were here.

UncleSam must be one of those "nutters" described in this cache description, because due to some pretty spectacular driving (lol) pulling up to the cache, he just about mangled his bumper, while his passengers held on for dear life! We exited the vehicle on trembling legs and luckily found the cache quite quickly, exactly as described on the cache page.

Log signed as "SEAC" (South East Auckland Crew) to save time and log space.

TFTC!!

Some slick driving from Gorby got us safely to GZ. We seem to following the SEAC group and AGAZO. Maybe it was the GPS, or the instructions, but we went in too deep! made it way harder than it needed to be, and eventually when on the right track a sneaky hide. Thanks for the hide

I had 3 still keen cachers with me, harisree, rustynz and ivss_xx. We and many others had ascended the path to Mercer Bay, no mean feat!! So we were a little buggered after also climbing Lion Rock. But I thought to do a few caches heading home. This one I have done off course. So I sat in the car yelling to them: No, over that way... deeper in... they went every which way but still not finding the cache! So in desperation, I had to get out of my car and help them, otherwise I would have been there ALL flamin' day!! So when I couldn't find it I resorted to the hint, I see it has changed, so then realising that I soon found it in seconds, whew, I almost looked like an idiot there! The others were pleased it was found.

I was going to look for this one, but when I emerged from the trail, I spotted a police vehicle parked in the 'slow vehicle pullout' just waiting to spot cars racing along Piha Rd. As I looked at my GPSr to see what was next, the cop raced away to add more money to their coffers. Now that I had the place to myself, I could look for this cache. I assumed the hinted at position and looked at several places before I spotted the cache. TFTC.

Out for a walk with my brothers who are new to caching. One of them has a natural geosense and picked it up. Everything's in good condition. Nice to breath in the fresh rainforest air. Thanks

Out and about with Team Welsh to grab the SD series (and any other cache that we passed) along Scenic Drive. A dose of the flu meant that the plan was to do the drivebys and leave the walking for another day. Started at the end and went to the beginning. Thanks.

Had arranged to met up with Trout-fly today to pick up as many drive by caches as we could. Had a great time finding 35/35 for the day, I think this was out turn around point to get back to Scenic Drive. TFTC

Got it - tftc

My mission for today was to walk the dam to dam track and find as many caches as I could along the way. It took me about 5.5 hours car park to car park. I was trudging back to my car along the road when a very kind Brazilian couple stopped and gave me a lift the last couple of kilometres which really helped to save my legs at the end. I parked here at about 7.30am and went to look for this cache. Didn't take too long to spot it. TFTC, Biggles.

GZ was nice and empty today so it didn't take too long to get this one spotted and the log signed before continuing on to Piha

No smurfin about with this one. Awesomeness in this part of wood!! Travel bug travelling.

popped in ahead of todays tramp in the area.. to drop in a TB;-) few changes at gz.. but cache still where it should be..

With 2 previous dnf for this cache I wasnt sure about a third try, but then noticed an improved hint so gave it another go since I was passing. Success was found quickly after stabbing my foot with some gorse! Tftc

Nice quick grab at the carpark where we have parked & will head down for some more caches.

new waterproof log and info card installed. Please be careful with the cover it breaks easy and then the cache has no were to hide;-(

Cache was a little wet but managed to scrawl my name in the log book

TFTC

Not too sure how I missed this one on the first visit, but never mind I have found it this time. The end of the 12 km or so hike to wear in the boots, now the 2 km walk back to the car. I enjoyed my hike around here today, and will have to return as there is the one cache that i missed!! Never mind, there are worse areas to go!! TFTC and the adventure.

Quick find. Discovered some gorse along the way haha

Couldn't find the cache here today.

Found it! Nice cache!

Found it!

A trip into town for mrs capperz so a couple of trips in and around the city. Some yee-ha at Piha and being domain man at the Domain were the side orders for today and ended up at Mission Bay for fish and chips aside the beach. 10 caches today, all crackers and all appreciated. Some new stuff seen, as always and an appreciation of the beauty of someone elses play ground.
One of two South 36 degrees 56 minutes reasons to stop today
Nice and easy find here. Glad my best jeans were saved from a crawl around under thanks to the hint
T F T C alligatorsnz

Easy find as uncovered. Still not sure what GL is, but attached well to the skinny. Left some smurfs.

Nice Camo! tftc!

After an early start for the ANZAC dawn service, we set off with Vamber & yorkshirekiwi83 to gather all the caches on the Huia Dam & Christies tracks (hopefully). The 'track closed' sign was a bit concerning as it wasn't dated and we couldn't work out whether it was on 'our' track or not. Boots cleaned and we set off for the first cache....only to end up back in the car park again...doh! Hopefully our geo-sense improves, TFTC

This entry was edited by KirsTim on Sunday, 26 April 2015 at 06:32:08 UTC.

With the weather not having been *too* wet this week, ANZAC Day seemed like a great day to meet up with KirsTim and yorkshirekiwi83 to tackle the loop of caches along the Upper Huia Dam and the Christies Track, before finally finishing at the carpark of the Upper Nihotupu Walk. Luckily no large slips came in the way of our plans, and all the tracks were still accessible. A great day with some good terrain and fun company, along with some fun caching to boot.

This was the first find by us all as a group, perhaps we were still warming up and fine-tuning our caching senses for the day, because finding this from the carpark might have been slightly easier! Thanks for the hide.

Originally found with my partner Witchegurl.
Re-logging as speedhog62 so username is not in physical log.

Cool camo, left Purple Heart

Spotted it took a few mins but got it tftc Lokky 1 7 March 2015 11:41

Another fantastic cache!
All good, on the way to Piha for maintaining mine.

I might have been spotted walking towards the cache, but unfortunately failed to spot it this time round

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17826 km from home we found this Cache while our holidays.
First we followed the small path but afterwards it was a quick found. Thank you very much for hiding and greetings from Dresden, Germany!

Took forever for us to find! Mainly because we were searching at the wrong end of the carpark. The clue didn't help us beginners at all... But happy we did

Found this one quite quickly after dropping off a group of trampers doing the Hillary Trail.

Did not find

Found this cache safe and sound while on way to Karekare ....
Thanks for the cache !

No success. Might have a look around on my way back. Cheers!

Parked my brother's bus and searched the requisite foliage. TFTC

Zissas helped find this one as I was blind.

Passing by on the way to a tramp.. called in and found the cache exactly where it was supposed to be......a pleasant suprise, given the reports...
Swapped the container, as the old container was "mark one " camo and desperately in need of a refresh. Cache now around 500ml in size.. still plenty of room however.

this was the last one for today. I had a look at a spot I thought it should be, but was not going to dig around too much today. I will try again once others have found it

Just had a quick look while passing but no luck. Someones dumping heaps of garden clippings where cache might have been but didnt have time to forage much. Will try again another time.

A nice easy find while hunting a few geocaches in the area. Quite a paradox having the tranquility of the bush on one side and speeding loonies on the other. TFTC.

passing by stopped to check the cache.. ops is wandered away again..amazing how that happens - perhaps people want their own cache to place?... so wandered it back to where it should be and dropped a couple of TB's

This entry was edited by alligatorsnz on Wednesday, 11 June 2014 at 07:11:29 UTC.

Found at on great walk and caching trip with friends, glad we werent put off by the weather last night as it was perfect today, grabbed TB, thanks

last one for the day...that was an awesome walk after the storm... all the rivers were flowing high... such a beautiful forest... thanks Lochnessmonster and Alligatornz and the one patient muggle for a great walk

Found on the start of a trip down to the dams. Perfect day for walking!

Thanks. Left a donkey trackable.

This entry was edited by nsallis on Saturday, 31 May 2014 at 03:57:51 UTC.

After a 2km walk along the road from the Upper Nihopotu Dam car park, Tufty and I would have overshot this cache but for my gps's proximity alarm. Thank you Garmin. Wow, what a nice big cache! These are so rare these days. Good camo too. Thanks for the cache. Now we are heading into the wilds of the Waitakeres on a planned 17km loop. TFTC.

I had convinced BaldEd when he arrived to stay a few days ago to go on a nice walk in the Waitakeres. He didn't need much convincing so here we are.

After walking the 2 odd kilometres from the carpark to here it was nice to be able to get off the road though there was not a lot of traffic in the morning. It was great to see this fantastically huge container. It was a pity that I had no trackables to put in it.

Cheers for the cache.

My first decent caching adventure in a long time. Great company, with FMZ, slieschke, greenblat, stretch.kerr, evilno9, lemski & paultaps. My first time around this loop. Thoroughly enjoyed it, although my personal cache finding skills were a bit rubbish today. Logbook collectively signed "tinkerbell & friends".

Today’s hiking trip included FMZ, slieschke, greenblat, stretch.kerr, evilno9, lemski & paultaps. We started at Upper Huia Dam Track and connected via the two dams via the Christies Track. We returned to the Upper Nihotupu Walk to collect some of the cars. I enjoyed the tunnels, dams and laughter along the way. Another great day out ?.
For some of the team members this was the first cache to find today. Luckily Tinkerbell left us enough time as he added a return trip to collect the GPS he forgot on the car roof.
The logs were signed with the group name "Tinkerbell & friends". TFTC!!!

Out today with Tinkerbell and his many fine friends, it was a nice sunny autumn day to walk the two dams loop and pick up a bunch of new caches.

Very conveniently located cache and a nice size. good start to the day.

T4TC and thanks to the crew for a great day out

Having just walked down the Upper Huia Dam track from Piha Road to the dam and beyond for the 9 new alligatorsnz caches we couldn't leave without finding the cache in the carpark. However after walking for almost 7 hours over a distance of more than11 kms including some difficult terrain, the 30 meters to the Spotted? cache was almost the last straw! After pausing at our car to check the hint we made a slow beeline for the obvious hide. Thanks!

A plan was hatched last night to make an attempt on "Holey Mercey" cache in Piha with Nova and HPG, so we turned it into a day adventure and found some caches on our way up and on the way home.

First cache for the day, cache was found and signed without any troubles. Do watch as you enter the turning lane thou as your heading to Piha as there is a bit of a pot hole right at the start, which unfortunately we hit. No damage thou.

Was up in Auckland to collect the cache, holey mercy. We were collecting caches in the area and on the way home. It was a long day but always glad to add another smilie to the list

Out on a caching mission with Novalightning and HKCB to knock off Holy Mercy. Of course we couldn't ignore the other caches in the area so we left Hamilton early to get in a full days caching.

This was one of the first on our way out to Piha and we made a quick find of it. TFTC

Soon spotted the clue and signed.
Found with my grandaughter on the way to a Hike in the area. TFTC.

Reading the hint meant little to me, but once on the ground, as usual - all is clear ! 2nd find of an adventure day to Apollos pool and Bivouac falls with Nzkeko. TFTC

Easy find by the skinny one, love the hint.
On our way to Apollos and Bivouac Falls caches.
Cheers
nzkeko

A quick find whilst passing by. Good advice regarding the traffic!! TFTC

Big enough cache, you can't miss it! I parked up here late at night after 7 other caches I had done, getting cold now, kept turning my head torch on and off inbetween the zooming traffic (so I wouldn't be spotted) and after 5 mins I found it.

We have been planning our number 200 for this weekend. Unfortunately the plans did not work out so we grabbed this drive-by on the way home from life saving at Karekare. We were definitely spotted a few times as there wasn't any shelter from the road, despite the quick find. A great, big cache but just made it look very empty as there was only a notebook and a pencil inside. We left a TB but wish we had more tradeables to leave behind. TFTC

Another quick stop and grab on a beautiful afternoon. +TB t4tc

Couldn't miss this one-love these big fellas-tftc

Was on my way to Piha, staying as a parent helper at my sons school camp. Noticed a gap in my calender so this filled the spot. Didn't take long to spot this one. Nice large container. TFTC