Tawa Loop (Manawatu) Aokautere, North Island, New Zealand
By geodatum on 17-Feb-13. Waypoint GC4665Z

It is with great regret that we archive this, our most favourited cache.
We have carefully considered re-instating it, but whoever took it may well strike again. This is not now a secure place for a cache.
So goodbye little cache. [:X]

Whenever we walk this way we check the cache and we were shocked today to find it has been taken! As it could not have been recognised by any casual observer/muggle it is hard to understand what has happened to it and it is very disappointing.
We need a little time to consider whether to try and remake it, or let this one go. It has been our most favourited cache.

With GPS fluctuating a bit, it took us a while to find this cunning hide - just the sort of cache that makes caching fun. Nice that it was able to be accessed without leaving the path so no trampling of undergrowth required.

FP awarded of course for such a cunning hide in plain sight.

Had a quick look but couldn't locate this on our way down from the Tawa Loop...
Still a great day out and keen to try again another day!!

Spent a whole looking for this and unsuccessful. Read some previous logs and realised it was beside the track. Took a moment to look around and then spotted something. This is out second visit to here. What a fiendish hide. Fav point from us.

It's been quite a caching weekend for me. I was hosting the MGC People's Choice Awards 2018 event here in Palmerston North on Saturday evening, so came up on Friday after work to stay over with friends. They kindly put me up a second night too, which has allowed me to spend today getting out and about to clear up some caches I've not attempted before as part of a very leisurely journey back down south again.

So having hosted the event at which several caches from this loop walk had been nominated for several awards, I thought it would be a great time to go and visit them for myself to see why they had been a popular choice.
I hadn't driven down this road since it was closed to public traffic after the last big slip, so it was interesting to see that you could still park up reasonably close to the start of the loop track.

This was my third cache on the loop, and a nominee for "Best Physical Container". It took me a little while to spot something that looked promising, largely thanks to having encountered a similar cache hide before. This one has been done well, and for that I am giving a FP. I am also a bit surprised that I'm the first to log a find in 2018, but am very happy that I am able to do that.

Thank you for placing this well designed cache, and bringing me to yet another place I haven't been to before.

Congratulations!!
This cache has been nominated in the 'Best Physical Container' category for the Manawatu Geocaching Club's Awards Night 2018 (GC7ZT88).
Thank you for your time and effort in releasing this cache.

My last cache of the walk, clever, great construction!

My Dad was on a mission today to find the remaining caches on the Ashhurst end of the Tawa Loop walk and he found them all!
What a cleverly constructed hide. Without super accurate GPS and hint I don't think I ever would have found this. Tftc.

First to find the new container! Found with Sproggles, Conkycon, and mom. Tnlnsl TFTC!

Mr G went for a walk on the Gorge Track today and has installed the new cache. Please take care not to damage this one. Hopefully it will last long. Happy caching.

We are making progress. We finally have a new cache constructed and ready to be installed. This should happen during the coming week.
We're sorry it's been so problematic. We don't like to have our caches disabled for long!

Mr G checked the cache today. Unfortunately technical issues have developed with the new set-up, so we will have to disable for now and try again. Hopefully it won't take too long to get things sorted.

It has taken a while to source suitable material from which to remake the cache but we have got there. Mr G reinstated the cache today, so all is good to go again. Happy caching.

Unfortunately, the cache is too damaged for a field repair. It will need complete replacement. So we have removed the remains of the cache and will have to consider how best to set one up again here. We will try to get it done very soon.

Found on a walk up to the top with mini-cachers aged 8, 9 11 and 11. After a few moments' search felt something go CRACK under my size 12 tramping boot and there it was, though the outer casing of the camo was cracked (sorry). Reassembled and all in place and will be fine for now. But if someone passes this way with some superglue a quick field repair would make it as good as new. Excellently-crafted hide, gets a favourite from me. Possibly it's in a more exposed location than originally, after some trimming back of trackside growth.

Had nearly used all my time to look for this and then woo hoo had it in hand very clever this another great cache and a fab loop to do TFTC

This had me almost at the point of giving up. Luckily the clever cache was pinpointed even though I had touched it several times beforehead. Kicked myself as I had seen a similar one overseas recently! Another favourite for this area. tftc

Very clever, well done cache! Had to look for something slightly unusual. Tftc!

Tricky find while traversing the Gorge Walk, coming back via the Tawa Loop. Very ingenious. TFTC

A day on the Gorge Track making some cache finds.
Cache was a straightforward find once a closer inspection was brought into play. All in order; log signed, safely re-hidden.
TFTC found with team cacher Sweet P too
The Turtle strikes again!

I was going to leave Palmy today but had second thoughts and so decided to walk part of the Manawatu Gorge walking track and sign off some caches. This one had me going for a while so I used the PAF card, then it became obvious. Loved the camo job.

Cheers for the cache.

Stopped by on the way back to the carpark from meeting Whatonga, cache is all good

We were fortunate to have with us markhnz who had found the cache previously, otherwise we are not sure we would have found this magnificently crafted cache, despite its being in full view beside the track. Absolutely a favourite. TFTC

Vistra and I had headed down to to Manwatu for the weekend, we both wanted a high number weekend and I was looking forward to meeting some of the locals as well.

Thank you to all the CO's for their placements some nicely placed, clever and tricky hides, so a great variety. WHAT!!! Nice TFTC

**For information on the 2016 New Zealand Geocaching Adventure being held in Turangi, go to...**
[2016 New Zealand Geocaching Adventure](http://www.nzgeocachingadventure.nz)

I traveled down to Palmerston North for a 3 day geocaching weekend to give my numbers a bit of a boost, as I head towards my next caching milestone. I decided to fly there and back and pick up a cheap rental car for the weekend. The weather was perfect and I had a great weekend down there.

I joined up with yorkshirekiwi83 again today for another day of caching, before our flight out this evening. We started the day picking up a few caches around the city, Bunnythorpe and Ashhurst, before spending the afternoon in the gorge. Took a look for this while completing the Tawa Loop track and soon spotted this very nicely made cache at GZ. TFTC - favourite point added!

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**For information on the 2016 New Zealand Geocaching Adventure being held in Turangi, go to...**
[2016 New Zealand Geocaching Adventure](http://www.nzgeocachingadventure.nz)

Found on a pleasant daytrip to the Manawatu just to complete all the caches on the Gorge trail. The weather played ball and the forecast rain did not eventuate, just a pleasant overcast day. I was quite surprised to find how much of the walk was under bush cover, where I had expected it to be more open and exposed to the elements.

Thanks for the excuse to visit this trail. A great day out, with my teen kids and Yeetrees.

TFTC geodatum

#7599. Came to Manawatu for a good day of caching. The main objective of the trip was to join -gonefishing- and Yeetrees to walk the Manawatu Gorge Track. We started from the Ballance entrance and exited from the western end. Both car parks were pretty full, and we met many groups of walkers and runners all along the tracks.

Good to have crossed over to the Aokautere side. GZ was all quiet when we visited. We all searched, and eventually Yeetrees made the find. Very nice hide. The cache was in excellent condition, all nice and dry inside. Took nothing, left nothing, signed log.

.T h a n k s. .f o r. .t h e. .c a c h e.

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**For information on the New Zealand Geocaching Adventure being held in Turangi in October 2016, go to...**
* [New Zealand Geocaching Adventure 2016](http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC63PZN)
* [2016 New Zealand Geocaching Adventure](http://www.nzgeocachingadventure.nz)

Couldnt find this one, mainly because i couldnt find enough time between muggles to get a good look in. Its probably there, i just lost my nerve. Will be back!

I LOVE THESE MOMENTS!!!!....I heard muggles coming up the hill so stopped to let them through while thinking what the hint might mean....yes, I am taking my turn while the muggles disappear but that doesn't seem right. While waiting for them to move out of sight I "tied my shoelace" for the 4th time that morning & spotted something that looked a bit odd...and every cacher knows that anything that looks odd needs to be touched. And what do you know?!! Without even looking I had found it! A little bush dance was in order before signing the log & marveling at the hide. Unfortunately, I don't have any FP left so I'll have to come back. TFTC & the hide.

Grab this one while doing the gorge walk

Woah great camp! Worth sticking about for!

Oh I know we were so close. Used many clues and reset gps often. Just a matter of patience. Will be back for this one!

What a cool find on the last day of the year 2015. Thanks

Wow great camo! Love it. Fave point awarded! Thanks!

The family went for a lovely Sunday walk up here and enjoyed finding all three caches on the Tawa Loop track. Thanks for placing memorable caches in the great outdoors geodatum!
This one was not what I was expecting, but eventually the penny dropped when I started looking more closely at GZ . We were very impressed with the camp. I took the cache to the nearby seats to dry out the logs in the sun while enjoying the views, then signed and returned it gently to its secure hiding place. +FP!

Now that's brilliant! Great hide, cool clue. Love this walk.

Wow, that was quite some hide. Had been here in the dark before, now I see why I didn't find it then. Found a few days ago, just logging now Tftc

What an amazing hide..well executed..gets a fave from me!! TFTC!

Excellent camo. Looked past it several times, stepped back to ponder the meaning of the universe and found my self looking straight at it.

Finally found on my second visit just before giving up. TFTC

TFTC, finally found it. We were just about to give up as we had been looking for a while when our muggle friend tried one last place and the clue suddenly made sense!

I actually touched * that * a couple of times before the aha! moment. What a great hide, so well executed. Thanks for the hunt!

First ever cache! Wandered up and down the track for a while. Great hide!

Great cache loved it took a while tftc

What a clever hide! GPS was leading us a merry dance and there seemed to be so many possibilities... We sent the kids ahead to sit on the bench while we doubled back to have a really careful look around. We needed the hint for this one and it still took at least 15 mins to find. Luckily the track was quieter than when we started out, so we could hunt in peace. TFTC Very cool!

Great walk on a Good Friday

tricky

This entry was edited by Smithy6 on Monday, 16 February 2015 at 01:31:21 UTC.

Out on another Wednesday mission with TG9 and Spud nz. Once at the location I treked off down the beaten geocahing path in pursuit of this cache, but to no avail. Got a hint from the others who had both already found this cache and were waiting back on the path. After a quick search in the 'right' area I managed to stumble across the cache. TFT C!

Excellent! What an awesome hide! And a fabulous introduction to geocaching for some friends of mine! Felt chuffed when we found this.

This is one of my favourite finds to date.Thanks.

Seeing as the kids are away with their grandparents, we decided to go out with anv1l after an early dinner and find some gorge caches. It turned out to be a bit more of a hike than we were expecting and we are a lot more unfit than we realised! ! So it was good to get to the top of all those stairs and have a rest and look at the fantastic view. Then on to find the cache once we got our breath back - we took quite a while to get ourselves to the right spot and work out the clue but finally Mr A found it. This is a really great hide, we were very impressed and give it a definite FP. TNLNSL TFTC

We were out for a nice evening gorge walk with Z1mbos child free , well what can we say but did not this it would be like this , fp tftc

100% get a fav from us, it came down to having a good look around more than anything, but very sneaky loved it tftc

Found this during the return trip of the Tawa Loop. A very clever hide. TFTC

I didn't have this cache on my agenda today but I found myself walking past it. I am glad I took some time to look for it as it's a real beauty.

Gah........ next time!

Wow! Wonderful hide! TFTC

On the return leg back to the carpark, just under an hour so far, quite like this downhill stuff!
Great hide at GZ, good co-ords and a high value capperz FP for your troubles
TFTC geodatum

Nice hide,
I wish I had favourite points!!
TFTC

A bit of a wet day but great fun with 2 families out for a stroll. Heaps of little orange fungi growing on dead trunks.
Really enjoyed logging this cache, thanks.

Wow cool thanks to the logs though a quick find. Greetings from germany

Would still be searching if not for Spudnz locating it. Very cool hide. Found with Tommygun9, Spudnz & Stardust718. TFTC

We slightly overshot this one before the GPS turned us around. Once on the mark, I noticed something a bit odd. Turns out it was the cache. Clever hide. TFTC found with Tommygun9, Stardust 718 and Atoms7

Among the best hides I've seen!
Found with Atoms7, Spudnz & Stardust718.

We have enjoyed our walk across the gorge - about 5 hours in total collecting all the caches along the way and stopping for lunch. This was a very interesting cache and extremely well done. No tool required. All in good condition. TFTC. Found with Tommygun9, Spudnz & Atoms7 and 3 month old baby stardust718.

Decided that since it was such a nice day that we would go for a walk. Asked hubby where he wanted to go and he suggested the gorge walk. Knowing there where caches there I was keen LOL. Found a baby sitter for little miss setucurst and off we went. IT was a bit hard for me walking up hill (I have to broken knees) but made it to the GZ after a few stops and started hunting. What an awesome hide. Hubby found this one and it actually didn't take him to long. TFTC and making the walk up worthwhile!!

Sneaky hide. Would have stormed off in big huff if Morgan Ed wasn`t there with her eagle eyes. TFTC

well done enjoyed this hide, nearly missed it but then spotted something that didnt seem quite right will add to my favourites

Tried and tried, but no luck. I was with another geocacher when we TRIED but failed to find this one.

Mr geodatum did some maintenance on the hide today. Has been firmly reattached. A good idea to bring an extraction tool for the log.

This is another one I am back for the second time, again GPS had me looking 4 metres down from GZ. Very clever hide. Thanks for the cache.

Our first time walking this delightful bush loop track - lots of bird songs and we even heard a kaka. The nikau palms are certainly flourishing too. Had to patrol up and down the track for a couple of minutes before spotting this clever hide. In spite of being waterproof paper the logbook was wet and somewhat fragile, so replaced with a fresh page of waterproof paper. Thanks for bringing us here geodatum, another favourite added. A very satisfying finale for finding a cache each day in August!

Our 2nd cache of the day. A nice walk and a good break from park and cache caches. GZ was found easily and the cache spotting quickly. A very clever hide. We had difficulty putting it back in however, hopefully the next cacher will have more luck. Log book is wet. TFTC.

Arrived at the carpark to find 35 cars there and quite a large group just heading off on the walk. Had a quick bite to eat before leaving and decided to head up the Tawa Loop first rather than the main track (hoping everyone else will have gone the other way) and it worked. During our whole time on the Tawa Track not one person went by (which was most helpful as we did spend quite a bit of time at gz). Found in the end - fantastic camo. TFTC

Took a while to spot this but did in the end. TFTC

Excellent container. Love it! TFTC

Nice hide, geodatum! Found with chucky3 and C&B on a Sunday afternoon through trip of the Gorge. Thanks for the cache.

Sweet hide!

Walk with team of other cachers. Nice hide.

Found with Fiz & Tas, Etherlord three of all7ofus, Will677 and Markhnz on a Gorge walk caching expedition. Took one heck of a lot of hunting. Definately worth a Fav!

meggeo, that is an amazing hide!
There was 10 cachers searching and it still took us ~15 minutes to find the exceptionally camo'ed cache!
definite FP material

Descended upon the cache coordinates with a virtual horde of keen cachers on an outing over the Manawatu Gorge track. The cache didn't stand a chance - well at least in theory. In fact, despite the numbers, the cache stayed cleverly hidden for several minutes. Finally spotted the well camouflaged cache on a more careful sweep of the area, what a great hide. Co-found with Etherlord, the Seagnoid, markhnz, wil677, Fiz & Taz, and EnjayNZ. TFTC and a definite favourite.

This entry was edited by all7ofusnz on Saturday, 23 March 2013 at 09:39:30 UTC.

Great hide. Luckily there was a large group of us to search for the cache because it was very tricky to find.
It was the first time I have seen this new loop. It is quite a nice piece of track.
Ramble #5 for the Rambler's Reward Challenge for me.
Thanks.

a clever little hide but exactly as the hint says. well done Reminisence of Milverton Park!

When we got to the car park there were about 30 cars even though it was reasonably early so we thought muggles could be a problem but as it was they weren't. It took us a while to locate this cache as near GZ the GPS was all over the place so Cleo suggested Possum go back to the place where we got a good fix and then march out the correct number of metres. Wow this worked perfectly! What a great camo - we love geodatum's camos. Keep them up!

Good find very creative!

Was muggleinterrupted again,went up track for second try,didn't strike it...will try another day.

Great, another excuse to ditch work & go for a run on the gorge track.
This is the first time we've seen the newly formed track, & exra finishing touches to the Ashhurst entrance, signage etc. A fantastic track made even better.
There were lots of muggles enjoying the track today too, so had to be watchful.
Didn't take long to get to GZ, but pinpointing the well camo'd cache took quite a bit of time. GPS was all over the place. It was only after ditching the GPS & thinking about the clue, that we found it.
A well made cache in a fantastic area. Definitely a favourite for us. TFTC & the FTF

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