Rocky River (Bay of Plenty) Wairoa, North Island, New Zealand
By zinghill on 29-Jun-13. Waypoint GC4F856

Log with CO permission. It was quite an adventure to get across the river. Togs not required but clothes get wet. Tftc

Pass this area so often and didnt think there was more than a tiny stream here.
Never seen one of these cache boxes before, pretty impressive!
The grass is long here so you might have to push some aside and tug here and there. We almost gave up but reading further through logs gave us a bigger hint.
Replaced log sheet and placed a pencil in.

What fun this cache is. We were traveling down the road and I was looking out for caches and spotted this one on my phone. I wasn't exactly dressed for it but unloaded some of my attire so that I wouldn't be soaked if I fell over! Found some slippery stepping stones and only got wet to mid calf so I can't complain. I spent around 20 minutes wandering around wondering where the jolly cache was, and finally my muggle hubbie got sick of waiting or took pity on me?? and came over and headed straight to the cache! Such a great spot and I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure. An fp from me, TFTC

It's all good, I know my escapades gave the previous finder a laugh so it wasn't totally a wasted exercise. Thanks for that Kevin!! I will be back but won't be until next summer when the creek is warmer just in case I fall in again. The injury mentioned in my previous log has healed thanks to my very persistent physio so I will definitely be fitter and more able to make the find when I do head back. I was probably all but standing on the cache on my last visit and it was just bad luck I didn't see it.
Roll on next summer.

Sorry to hear you had such a negative experience Buttonboo, I checked the cache today and it still is where we originally hid it. The cache is still in a good spot and is safe from any river floods. However, I will change the hint to be much more specific as to prevent any DNFs especially after crossing the river as its a real pain to come this far and leave empty handed!

Epic fail today. I left my ph on one side of the creek to protect it after spotting the likely tree and made my way over the creek. After a lengthy search I spotted another likely spot and looked briefly there too. Still no luck so I gave up and crossed back over the creek. Once there I re checked the ph and realised the second tree is likely to be the spot and since I safely navigated the creek twiceI put my phone in my bra and took a step.
Poor footing and I found myself doing the splits as my foot slipped on the rocks and down I went. Im already carrying an injury and this has not helped! I have a change of clothes for the Event later today but no dry knickers!
Feeling very sorry for myself and quite sore I continued across the river to try and find the hide again. I got to within 2m but couldnt spot it and quite frankly I'd lost interest so back over the creek to my car where I found a towel to sit on. I won't be in a hurry to head back to find this cache.

Find number 4353. I had visited the area once before and enjoyed the stream but not the walking away with out a find. So was passing today so I thought I would stop and have another look. A lot appears to have happened since I was last here. The gate leads to a paddock that was full of cows when I called. So I jumped the fence and followed a newly constructed fence. There was also a lot of new planting in this area as well. Across the stream. My feet did enjoy that. Further work is being done on that side as well. This time I had read all I could on the cache page and thankfully I made a quick find. The log is a not in a good state. Dry enough but disintegrating. Returned it back to it's hide and back to the car. Thank you for the placement

With my uncle (squirrel nutcase) and Gap when we found this cache. TFTC.

With Gap (of Fap and Gap) and nerweed... We are on a mission to complete a few challenges, and to do a general cache tidy up of the landscape...

This cache D/T rating looked far more inviting than the limp, shallow water flowing past ground zone. The coordinates pointed off into the bank. It’s obvious that others have had the same dilemma... I signaled for Gap to give a hand, as he’d found this before... TFTC.

Found 21/11/2016 w 1260SMC

Decided to take the day off work and spend the day Geocaching. Had a plan of attack for the day which was a trip on the ferry to Matakana Island, a few caches around Omokoroa, a trip up to Sentinel Rock and couple of other caches which needed a little bit of time to get.

Last cache for the day and this one is one I've been wanting to find for a while. Crossing the river was a bit of fun, though I think it was following a lot quicker than normal. Took a while to find, and might of given up if it wasn't for the extra clue I found in one of the logs, as the GPS was pointing me elsewhere. Grabbed the TB before replacing the cache, glad to finally find this one, thanks for the fun cache.

Splish! Splash! Rather than "traditional geocache" this should probably be classed as a "VERY traditional geocache"! Only the second of this type I've found but a classic. TFTC. Favourite point from my wet feet.

We were out for a brunch at Nourish on a beautiful anniversary day afternoon and decided to go home via the Minden lookout. Then a further detour around past a couple of caches. This one had been mentioned to me as being a great find. Sure enough it was. The water was lovely and cool getting there and it was a lot of fun searching the area. Found the awesome cache but my pen wouldn't work. Time to substitute a pencil!! I took a photo to log the find. Tftc - really enjoyed this one.

Having travelled all the way from the UK to visit relatives in NZ I find a cache is 160m from the house.
After dinner we had a family expedition down to the river to find it with the dogs. We work out where it would roughly be and all get across the river. The dogs having a fantastic time swimming in the river. Despite having a good look we are just thinking of giving up when one of the dogs half fell down a hole and I saw the rock move. A quick tug of the rock and the cache was revealed- well done Gemma dog!
Much fun was had by all and a first ever cache for the LARKs. They are keen to find more. Have a FP.
Thanks for placing.

First find! full log to follow

Wheeee what a fun adventure! I didn't read the description properly so didn't realise until I jumped the fence that I would need to cross the river. Fun! I took a while deciding where to cross and took my shoes off and rolled up my jeans. Then I noticed the cows that had snuck up behind me and were making some angry sounds in my direction eeekk! Quickly crossed the river and started my search. This has got to be my absolute favorite cache ever. It was actually like finding treasure it was so exciting! loved it and definitely gets a favourite! Signed and returned then waited patiently for the cows to get bored of me and move away before I crossed again. Thanks so much for the cache and the fun adventure!

This was a bit different! Geo-pup was not too sure about the river so I carried him across. Luckily the water level was pretty low, and I was wearing shorts so only got wet shoes. At GZ I read the description and hint so looked at the right spot but then wondered briefly how to extract the cache. It ended up not being as complicated as I'd thought - I replaced as found. Very cool (literally too!) cache, I enjoyed the wee mission. Thanks

Todays adventures started here. Sussed out the easiest crossing point and waded in with shoes on. Followed to where phone gps told me to go. Discovered a huge wasp nest there so quickly retreated. I gingerly hunted elsewhere before looking at the clue which led me straight to it. Very cleverly hidden in a natural environment. Signed and on to the next challenge. Thanks for making me get out there. A fav from me.

Followed the GPS and a useful place to cross the stream .......bit different when I got into the water lucky it was flowing or I think it may been solid ha ha it was a tad frosty....any way safely across and after a short search found it ....great decieptive hiding place considering the enviroment ....thanks Zinghill for a great little adventure and a fav from me

Great hide, took quite some time to locate...certainly a fav from me!

Found on 28 November 2015 whilst with my nan and forgot to log this. I really loved this one and took a while to find. I loved the container.

A BIG FAVE from me. Yay my 400. Found today with Broozer. A great adventure, a beaut day to cross the river, little gdaughter was on muggle alert under the shade of a tree on the other side. We searched obvious place first, then broadened out search, got a bit scratched, then had another look over first place, and YES!!! Many thanks for this hide and the container, Ive always wanted to find one of these. All was good with it. Left my Jandal, and another with an xmas scratchy.

Wondering if this has taken a swim down stream. River looks like it's been high. Especially over winter. Is it still here?

#400 Wanted something special for our 400th find - and this certainly fit the bill. After dodging the various cowpats, the next problem was where to cross. The best I could do was water still up to mid-thigh. Got to the other side and struggled to find this. Had left any phone etc back on the other side, so just had to use common sense. Looked all over the place, and manage to get tangled in both gorse and in the thorn trees.

Eventually decided I was beaten and began to walk back to the crossing point. Then thought - it could be there - and voila - found just at the last minute. Great spot. Worth a favorite.

Gutted - the bank is full of live stock and the smell is over-powering. However the show must go on. Dodged the fresh 'pats' down to the river leaving our shoes on the bank. A successful crossing lead to an inevitable conclusion - why had we not brought our shoes?.. We are now dodging gorse in bare feet all the way to GZ which lead to a quick find - thankfully. It was only in this moment, that we took a second to reflect. Beautiful spot, odd really - but beautiful all the same.
Cache was in surprisingly good condition considering it's placement relative to changing river levels.
Cheers zinghill for an interesting placement, quality container and a funny story for future caching events

TFTC! found quickly in good condition

Awesome hiding spot, the container is dry but lacking goodies. Seems very empty for its size. Not complaining but wondering if it has been muggledor plundered.

If I get some extra goodies I will stop in as I pass here almost ever day

Thanks

Very nice spot. Carefully crossed the river as it was really slippery. Good hiding spot!

On a mission around Tauranga to collect some of the caches with a high terrain rating.
After finding another T4 cache at the Mt we arrived to find this one. Parked up within 150m of GZ and
made our way over to the rivers edge... now to walk across to the other side. A short walk through the water then we're there. Once on the other side we soon located where the cache was hiding

A nice sized cache + hiding spot
Took TB + GeoKrety

SLTFTC

We thoroughly enjoyed the hunt for the cache ... and the water wasn't too cold either, most enjoyable thank you . Left TB: 'Bring Me Home'. Also left: the 'Fox' (Geokrety.org)

Great adventure for the family. It hadn't rained in a while so the river was fairly placid but we still had to pick our crossing spot carefully. Once over, we managed to disturb a poor bird nesting on her six eggs before quickly locating the cache. We took the TB to move along. TFTC. #300

Thanks for the adventure. We enjoyed getting to the other side and then the GPS sent us in circles and we couldn't find the cache near any tree. Finally we PAF and they didn't answer so we kept looking and found the well hidden cache in good condition thanks. On the way back to the car the young man decided to throw his hat over the river but it didn't make it and floated away. We had to make a quick dive down stream to retrieve it!!

Found with nzkites. I enjoyed playing in the water - until I lost my hat!! but was pleased to get it back again. I liked the cache. TFTC!

What a great location for a cache and so carefull hidden. I am pretty sure that previous cacher went to a total different spot, as it is not matching the location of this cache.

We parked our campervan just a bit down the road at the busstation and over to the paddock. To find out that there was a big bull staring at us...hmmm what now. After he had noticed us, he wandered off.
So I went for a run with doggies to the river and found a spot that you could walk to the other side with only your feet wet.
So took of the shoes, wandered to other side, put shoes back on and walked to the cache. After some intensive searching did find the cleverly hidden cache. In great condition and almost empty logbook....so needed to add mine with proud to made it.
Have added it to my favourites

Left pirates curse TB, (but forgot to take the code). Please next cacher if you can give me the code I can log the TB in this cache...Thanks

Found cache on my second attempt. Last time I was here I was looking round the wrong ponga. Needs logbook didnt sign. Smart person who added the tin container inside the rats have chewed through the plastic one. Tftc

1.10pm - Shoes off, pants pulled up, and socks still on, over the river, couldn't believe when I got to GZ that the cache was so dry. Cache all good so back over the river, OMG then it hailed, absouletly drenched by the time I got back to car. Took TB. SLTFTC

Very cleaver this one had me in circles for a short time then got it . Great camo I've got the same cache container hidden for one of my caches . Second one in Bare feet for the day Gota live it lol

What a gorgeous place. Kids had a whale of a time playing at the swimming hole. Thanks for brining us to a near place we never knew existed. Had a scout around looking for the cache and eventually found (well the boy did) very clever placement and nice and dry. Dropped off geo coin so hoping this cache gets lots more visits to send it on its way again,

Great spot for a picnic, we were a little worried about bully the bull but he was with his 3 wives so he was happy

We found a good spot to park and followed where the GPS pointed to upstream. We searched around all over the place for ages, trying to figure out which tree the clue may be referring to but no luck. It was time for a rest in the shade and sure enough I managed to loose my footing and instead of gracefully sitting on the rock I tripped and fell... straight on top of the cache - just like I was intending to!! - That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Good hide, awesome spot. We stuck around and had a swim afterwards, despite the nosey eels hanging around. TFTC - a favourite for us, left behind cache critters geocoin.

After a big day out with Mrs Dragon we were into the tail end of it before heading home. Once again today I find myself in the water which seems to be the story of the day. After walking around in circles, giving this and that a nudge I took a closer look and came up with a nice dry cache.
Walked back up stream just to make the most of the cool water on a hot day.

Thanks for bringing me to this place I would have otherwise have passed on by

TFTC

Having to be careful and plan caches to finish a challenge has led to a lapse in finds recently. This cache has been on my radar since it came out and with the 2 younger members of the team performing in a ballet show Charlie and I decided a quick trip out was in order....we came out without hats or sunscreen so after a couple of minutes we had to head home and slip slop slap and a quick paf to confirm co-ords and we returned. Always had planned to get wet feet so the crossing wasn't hard and we quickly had the good sized container in hand. Now to get the last few points for my 100/100

TFTC

This entry was edited by ccrichie on Tuesday, 17 December 2013 at 07:27:26 UTC.

Went for a drive to get this one, haven't been out here for quite awhile. Lovely spot and would not have known it was public reserve. Didn't manage to keep the boots dry but it wasn't too bad - soon arrived at the GZ and not too long before I had the cache in hand. This would be a great spot in the summer and on the way back to car which was parked near the bridge, I saw the swimming hole which would be very inviting in the summer!! TFTC

Was not quite sure what I was getting into with this journey into the wild frontier. All sorts of scenarios were running through my head, such as exactly how much water since the rain yesterday is filling the stream I have to cross? What gymnastic feat will I need to perform once I get to GZ? Will I need my headlight as the hours of darkness loom and I still haven't found this tricky placement? In fact it was none of the above. Got wet feet in the finding but that was all. Had a good sized cache in hand in lickity-split time. A nice hide but not what I was expecting. Found a beautiful geocoin inside and swapped it over with something a little less spectacular. Thanks for your efforts. Now to return back to safety...I really don't want to fall in now...the sun has disappeared. TFTC

This entry was edited by tparty on Thursday, 04 July 2013 at 08:01:23 UTC.

This entry was edited by tparty on Friday, 01 November 2013 at 07:40:45 UTC.

Congradulations to tparty !! You are the first to find the cache. I was really tempted to do an underwater cache. You are right we are full of bluster and it is not to hard.

For those that are thinking of given it a go you will be introduced to a lovely area that not too many people know about. There is a large swimming hole 100 meters down the stream from the cache, which is ideal in summer.

Published

Going to keep an eye on this - just got to find time to pop out to it......saw that it took 12 years for the FTF on a 4.5/4.5 in the US that included a 6 day kayak trip in......going to take some 'gear' with me just in case, not sure what!!!

We may have over sold this one in terms of hardness (have reduced the rating). This one you will get your feet wet - definitely will not need your kayak or your Bear Gryll's survival skills.

This entry was edited by zinghill on Monday, 01 July 2013 at 20:48:59 UTC.