HRT Memorial bridge (Hauraki) Matatoki, North Island, New Zealand
By vectis on 11-Dec-13. Waypoint GC4VA4X

TFTC

TFTC !!Tried to find this cache previously but was unable to. It was nice to see that the cache had been replaced. Thanks again.

Great hide on this one! tftc

We passed some kids fishing for eels a little further back on the trail, this looks like a good spot to try too. Great cache, thanks for placing it!

Cache CheckAll ok

Found - Mrs McMike2012 & I live full-time in our caravan travelling around NZ, visiting the places we want to visit & doing the things we want to do and fitting in a bit of Geocaching here & there currently staying near Ngatea for a few days we had decided that we would drive over to Kopu & then get the bikes out & bike some of the Kopu to Paeroa Section of the Hauraki Rail Trail (HRT) weather wasnt looking that great but we went anyway cache was easily found, as our Geocaching Smarts kicked in as we got to GZ & there it was, just like that! more than pleased to add this 'smiley face' to the tally TFTC ... TN:LN:LS #5,584 for Us!

HRT Memorial bridge (Hauraki) was transferred from vectis to user pomtom44

Had someone to help me so replaced the container. All good to go again.

DNFWe had a good look for the cache, but unfortunately, we were unable to find the geocache. The geocache needs some maintenance. Thanks anyway.

DNFI think it is missing

Found the fishline it was meant to be attached to suspect container has fallen into long grass below

Container missing

Day 1 of our two day adventure doing the Rail Trail with BearCache #5Total found so far: 4Found where we think it was supposed to be, but no cache attachedAs others have said, think its gone

DNf today. Never mind we will be back another day.Thanks anyway

We found the place where the cache had probably been attached but no cache. We suggest that the owners check

Think I found the tie

Pulled the nylon up - empty️

Very clever spot!! Lovely sunny evening for a bike ride/cache misson

TaurusSix and I are in New Zealand for a three weeks holiday. We love New Zealand and have had lots of wonderful experiences here previously. This time we have decided to focus our attention on three destinations for one week each, all in the North Island. The Coromandel Peninsula, Waiheke Island and The Bay of Isles. We are very mindful of not focusing all our attention of the holiday on geocaching, however it will still play an important part. We are deliberately focusing on caches that involve some walking, great views, interesting attractions , history and general points of interest. And this will all happen in between exploring, swimming , walking, doing touristy things and relaxing .
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Day 1 - We picked up our hire car from Auckland Airport and headed immediately South then East in the general direction of the Coromandel Peninsula collecting caches at intervals along the way. Before we did though we picked up the virtual cache in the International Arrivals Terminal. We particularly liked elements of the Hauraki Rail Trail , Thames and the drive across to the far side of the Peninsula.

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This was our fifth cache find of the day. We had walked back to the car after our last cache and then drove and parked up again to obtain this one. Clever hide and a wonderful bridge structure . Thanks for the cache vectis

New container and log in place.

This one was so entangled on a reinforcing rod i had to walk away to find a long stick. That found, i then spent a while leaning over the rail to disentangle the birds nest. Quite pleased i actually got it free in the end & while no muggles passed by. Signed the log & kept on walking. TFTC

Enjoyed this one, very clever!!! A favourite from us TFTC

This was a cool one. Was having a real good look around when I suddenly spotted it out of nowhere... A little 'fishing' was required and had it safely. Found with DeadRockFlower on our bike ride, one of many today. Tnlnsl. TFTC!!

Found while cycling HRT with Kiwiterm. Very clever. Took a while as we had to avoid cycling muggles! TFTC

This was to be our 3rd cache of the day. We arrived at the bridge, and Mr L was having no luck - and then Mrs L came to the rescue - 'I think I've spotted something' she says. But that turned out to be the easy bit.

We think that bad weather a while back caused quite a lot of disturbance - resulting in a bit of a tangle, all out of reach. There was no way that Mr L was going to be allowed to clamber over for retrieval, so perhaps a nice long stick would do the trick. Patience and good co-ordination were needed, and then success, Mr L had set the cache free, well done! we could at last sign the log. Quite an adventure indeed, making for a very memorable retrieval. Great location too; thank you.

Thanks for your amazing cache
Experience shone through

this is my third visit to try and get this cache
first 2 times it was missing. after ready that it has recently been found made a trip back.
walked straight to it
thanks finally to tick this one off.

Out for a bike ride exploring the HRT on a hot 30 degrees sunny day. We were glad for the excuse to stop for a break and collect caches as there was not much shade along the trail. It didn't take long to spot this one, but the retrieval of it was more difficult as it was tangled over part of the bridge structure. One of us had to climb over to untangle the cache making the difficulty more like a T4. We made sure to return the cache to what should be its original position.

No luck for us

??

Restrictions have been lifted so all good to go.

The Hauraki Rail Trail is closed while the Covid 19 rahui is in place. Anyone geocaching during this time is putting themselves and others at risk by handling the containers, stash and logs. So this cache is disabled until this present emergency ends. I reserve the right to disable any logs dated after the lockdown started.

After getting back from a day of touring the coromandel and Mr rattll and young rattll enjoying a couple of dives, we still had a couple of hours of daylight, so Mrs rattll decided to make a start on the bike trail ( which turn into about 18ks, since it was a perfect evening for a bike ride).
This took a little while to spot but got it eventually.
Thanks for putting this here for me to find

Very sneaky hide, and very glad to get after 20 minutes of searching.
Now to head back a bit

TftC

Found this one on the way north towards Kopu - very few muggles about as it is so hot today. Was about to give p on this one so was contemplating what to do next when I suddenly spotted it. TFTC

This took a while & ended up getting it on the way back. Looked & looked with no luck then was thinking I better give up & then I saw it. Without giving too much away it came into view. Tftc

Found it whilst out for a Boxing Day walk

Out and about with family. Always good to in the fresh air. T4tc

Nice to get out and about and pick up some caches, many thanks for this one.

This took a little while then we spotted it. Well done thanks for placing this series.

Phone GPS spot on. Sneaky little bugger as previous log said. Eagle eye required. Good choice Vectis

Sneaky little bugger but a nice quick find. TFTC

Found it on my first trip on HRT from Kopu to Paeroa. 55km bike journey on Easter Sunday! Thanks for bringing me here, for great joy , for great hides.
My GPS was all over the shop on the way to Paeroa so has difficulties here.
On the way back to Kopu decided to have one more proper look.
Was not that busy by the end of the day and had plenty of time for a search.
GPS device was much better condition and pointed me to GZ.
While at GZ had good look and spotted hide support!
Then got the hide! Nice one!
FP awarded for HRT trail and for hide here!
Thanks !

Today was a cycle tour from Thames to Pareroa and enjoyed it really. Quite a few caches on the trail, too many to remember. Thanks for placing and maintaining them. Found all but one, so a great day. TFTC

T ftc found at last

Quite an impressive bridge, we stopped to admire it before looking for the cache.
We had an idea as to how the cache would be hidden but it still took a few minutes to spot.
Nicely placed. TFTC.

9.10am. At last I have been back to finish the rail trail series. This may be the fourth visit!! And finally a find - quite quick too as I knew what to expect. Once I missed it and the other time it had gone AWOL. Had to come to Thames to renew my driver licence so made sure I did the
1 km walk. This has to warrant a favourite point for I've made the walk a few times.
Thank you. David.

Couldn't find this one much to the kids disappointment

Today's mission was to redo part of the HRT and pick up all the caches we missed on our previous cycle. We've tried to improve locating where we need to stop. Much more success today on an enjoyable 20km return. Will be nice to see all the smileys on the map. This one was tricky until a brainwave struck and then it was soon spotted. Great hide deserves the favs and we are giving it one to. SL. TFTC.

I had much pleasure in picking up this cache today as it was a previous DNF in January 2017, and I haven't managed to get back to it. It had actually gone missing then but was replaced. Today I laughed when I saw it - what a fun cache! Scores a favourite from me, TFTC

tftc for the nice day found with abcdf4 good to get out and kill a few more caches.

Nice hide good to finish this trail off

Took more care with this one and was able to sign and return safely and dry.

On a mission with Dee+ME today. Please excuse my cut and paste logs in advance. A great series to get knocked off. Many thanks for setting up the trails we really appreciate it. A great winters day today, beautiful sunshine after a brisk cold start to our day. We have left vehicle in Paeroa for the night and booked motel in Thames. This was one of our favourite for the day and a fp awarded. Cheers.

Thiught we knew what we where looking for, but still took a while to spot.
Cheers

Thanks for the replacement, signed the nice new log, cheers

This one was, indeed, missing so have replaced it.

An early start with another day trip with NZPatoto in her motorhome, with bikes on the back to complete HRT caches. Started in Thames and headed to Paeroa. Had a head wind so biking was tougher as well as cooler today. Set out to find 15 smiles. Achieved 13 and 2 DNF. #3 of 15 DNF We look on our way out and on the way back. Spent quite a while but still did not find. TFTC

Nahkins and I set off early with our bikes and headed to Thames to finish the HRT geocaches. It seemed tougher biking today. First time we have struck a head wind. We had 14 HRT caches and 1 other to find. Got 13 smiles and 2 DNF. The DNF were HRT caches. It was much cooler today. #3. First of DNF. We were looking all over the place. We were expecting to haul in but couldn't find anything. We looked again on our way back but still no luck. TFTC.

Had a good idea what I would be looking for here and I was right.
Signed the log and replaced as found
TYFTC

Updating my new geo account with my old finds. Geokid has grown out of the geo adventures, but I'm still keen! Found as thebrownehornet but not logged, with keylev and Team SEAC and finally logging 02 04 2024 as NurseDr.

sorry for taking so long to log. Found with Keylev TFTC

A group of us arranged to ride this leg (Kopu to Pearoa) of the HRT as it was the only leg not done by our group, but we see another leg was opening today....soooo maybe some more caches will be hidden along that route....

Located this one swiftly and without any muggle issues as they were all on the newly opened trail.

Signed in as SEAC17 to save log book space.

TFTC.

This leg of the Hauraki Rail trail from Kopu to Paeroa was the last leg that we needed to complete the whole series. Mrs Keylev suggested that we do this and it just happened to be her birthday. This coincided with the opening of another section of the trail from Kopu to Miranda! There were lots of cyclists there for this but we basically had the section from Kopu to Paeroa to ourselves.

A well maintained series with only ONE DNF!!

We signed the log as SEAC17 to save log paper.

We stopped for lunch at the Convenient Cow where we all seized up and getting back on the bikes afterwards was a mission. Total 30 Ks biked and even the younger cachers did the whole lot. An awesome day!

When is the Kopu to Miranda leg going to be populated Vectis


TFTC

The SEAC (South East Auckland Crew) started this set of trails around 2 years ago. Life got in the way and this was the only one we had not yet done so we decided to finally do something about it.

We had not realised a new section of the track was opening today so the start of the trail was really busy at Kopu but then other then only a couple of muggles we pretty much had the trail to ourselves.

It was a great day, aside from the very strong wind, sore legs and sunburn.

Ha ha a few of the crew arrived before the others and were struggling to find the prize but I soon spotted the tell tale sign of what I knew was the cache...log in hand, signed and then returned and we were on our way.

Thanks for the cache.

Out with Team SEAC. Thanks for the cache.

Out with Team SEAC. Thanks for the cache.

An impressive structure and a clever hide. Luckily, I've seen ones like this before and knew to look for the tell-tale. The bridge just sways very slightly and that's enough to start one towards thoughts of seasickness. TFTC and thanks for the trail. FP.

Too clever a hide for us. Searched for quite some time.

I had started at the Kopu end as had previously completed some of the caches from the Paeroa end this is a great bridge ....just to carry cyclist and walkers seem s that a lot of money was spent here ...the cache took a bit to zero in on as the it was one of those spots that the GPS has a mind of its own ...finally spotted the clever Vectis hide and to my surprise there was no log in it ...you have these days out of the four or five I have done today. 3 had bad or no logs ....great cache great bridge thanks Vectis

Took a bit of toing and froing before I spotted this sneaky cache. Was surprised to find no log in it. Put in waterproof log. Good hide though. Thanks vectis.

Back up and running.

Coordinates changed from:
S 37° 11.711 E 175° 34.659

Coordinates changed to:
S 37° 11.714 E 175° 34.660

Distance from original: 19.0 feet or 5.8 meters.

New spot

Looks like this has gone. I will replace it next time I am up that way.

this cache is not too be found.
visited with a previous finder who also had no luck.
i believe cacher who logged that they had found it on the 17th of march has logged as found in error.
they have posted the same comment on caches on this trail.
perhaps owner might like to check as there are now several dnfs
fapandgap

Back for my third attempt and still a DNF. Looks as this one has gone AWOL.

Nope but gernita definitely found the line that should have had the cache attached to it

Found fishing line but whatever was tied to it is long gone.

Did not find this one even after reading previous logs spent a good 15 minutes here

The only DNF on the rail trail is still a DNF. Looked for over 30 minutes without success. Yet others are finding it? Perhaps I'm getting old.

Nice greets from Dresden in Germany. Tftc

We were out with Agazo biking the HRT from Kopu to Paeroa. A great bike ride and legs were jelly by the end of the day

Only DNF for us on this leg of the trail

What a shame to end the trail with a DNF - especially as most of the others were quick finds. Never mind, at least it will be a brief walk in another day to find it. I'll be back....

Hopefully on my last leg to complete the trail.
It has been a very enjoyable effort and a great series.
Certainly an attraction to the area.
Tftc

I have been thinking of cycling the Hauraki Rail Trail for some time. Finally made it on a sunny day.

Didn't take a pen. Untangled cache and put 2 privet leaves in to show we had found cache

Found by maria and the kids

We thought, me, supernanny and harisree that we might walk to this one instead of getting the bikes off so soon. We crossed the farmers property but nobody seemed to mind. Someone was working the tractor and they never minded either. Got to the bridge and after a brief search one of the girls found the cache! Wasn't what I had in mind though.

So great to start our cycling trip on the Thames to Paeroa leg with Gorby and harisree today !
Perfect weather for it !
So grateful that we have all these caches along the trail ! Thank you Vectis !

FITW Supernannny and Gorby

We walked to this one, through a private property. we supposed ourselves as invisible so, no one bothered us. This hide was bit trickier than I thought and I made the find here. tftc vectis.

A group of us met to tackle the HRT Thames to Paeroa leg of caches, including ourselves, yorkshirekiwi83, KirsTim, Tikitour and Vistra. We signed as the EasterBs (bunnies, or bikers? We couldn't decide). The ride took us longer than anticipated, but it still made for a great day of caching with some fantastic company.

A quick find here. Thanks to everyone who has placed all the caches along the trail today. We really appreciate all your hard work!

Earlier in the year, tikitour and I decided we would team up and cycle the whole Hauraki Rail Trail over the long Easter weekend and look for all the caches along the way. On Good Friday we did the Thames to Paeroa leg and we were joined by yorkshirekiwi83, vamber and kirstim. The weather was overcast today and luckily the rain held off until the end of the day - we had a great day out! This cache was soon found along the way. TFTC!

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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)

Headed down south for a long weekend of cycling, walking and of course caching. Teamed up with Vistra for the three days and were joined by 6 others on the Friday. Started here from Thames heading down to Paeroa on day one of the HRT. There are a group of 8 of us so we have signed the log as a group the Easter B's to save log room. Thanks for the cache. (sorry about the same logs for the track)....

Joined up with Vamber, Yorkshirekiwi83, Vistra & Tikitour to hit the HRT Thames to Paeroa bike ride. A long but successful trip, with all but 1 cache signed. Weather held off with only a few spits of rain, thanks for laying all these caches.

A group of us met to combat the HRT Thames to Paeroa section, there was myself, Vamber, KirsTim, Tikitour and Vistra and we signed as the EasterB's. Took us longer than we expected but had a great ride, fabulous company and was a great day overall.

Nice quick find, thank you to all who laid caches out along the trail 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)

Nice hide and our first cache today on the HRT

An enjoyable ride with some of the EU Crew, dodging showers and looking around the countryside. TFTC