** TRACK CLOSED ** Spiders Lair (Auckland) Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
By alligatorsnz on 25-Apr-14. Waypoint GC53F6W

Geocache removed with permission from CO to assist with Kauri Dieback control

Track officially closed to help combat Kauri Die back, cache removed with assistance of Ranger.

Cache pending removal - Kauri die back track closed, ( My favorite track;-( ) All cache information and the clue has been removed - please do not enter this track, we will not accept any new logs.

***This track has been closed due to Kauri Die back control measures.
You may not access this cache - any new logs added after Dec 9 2017 will be deleted until the track is officially re opened***

We fluffed around for ages here looking in all sorts of places. We were feeling a bit tired and looking forward to a nice hot shower and cold drink by this point. We nearly gave up but i'm glad we looked just that little bit longer to get the smiley. Thanks alligatorsnz for putting out all these caches, it was a fun day

This took way longer than it should have but we got it in the end! TFTC

"Let's go for a walk" I had suggested. Onawe was upfor it while some of our othe caching friends had plans in other parts of the country. So taking two cars we left one at the end of the Upper Nihotapu dam car park, and then drove down to the Upper Huia Dam track so we could do the loop (figured we couldn't go wrong if it was left turns all the way!) LEaving just before 10am, we finally made it back to the car at 4pm.

This cache proved the hardest of all the caches on the track. We searched high and low sticking our hands into unmentionable places and scaring the odd weta!

Found myself diving into a few lairs and eventually found the cache after broadening the search a little. Cache all ok and enjoyed signing the new log. Track is just as gnarley as when I last went through a few years back. TFTC!!

needed a bit of fresh air, so we decided that this was the place to come.. and we werent dissapointed.. we even got real rain to stir up the mud for our splashing. New log container and log installed.. cache fine:-)

Found with Pazzabella Merlot58 and Bertie Blowfish tfts

I've had this loop walk on my 'to do list' all summer, so after last weekends record rainfall in the west I realised it had better be soon! This weekend's weather couldn't have suited better for this "experienced trampers only" trail (according to the warning sign). Well, I came with good company, ie Merlot58, Bertie Blowfish and Geocchi. This was the first of our caches and we were glad to have gone anticlockwise with this loop (ie the trickier side). Tftc Anz!

Joined up with Merlot58, Pazza & Geocchi for a "wee" bush walk (as Merlot put it!)
We left a car at the other end of the loop ...and started here mid morning.
This being our first of the day, we were very bright and chirpy ....and our boots still dry. Tftc

Pazzabella suggested a bush walk and I was keen so we decided to leave a car at the other end and hopefully complete the loop. This was our first cache of the day and after focusing in totally the wrong place for too long, Pazza looked elsewhere and quickly found the cache.

Out on a loop walk to the two dams. This was my first stop, GPS bounced around a bit, but with the help of the hint, I soon had the cache. Certainly a "trampers track" this one, with lots of roots, debris and mud

A wet day for a hike with muddy ground and slippery roots.

Thanks for bringing me out here as it's brilliant, listening to the tui's while walking in nature.

Hiking boots a must

Tftc

Enjoyed the walk in, though on a wet day like today the roots were slippery and the mud was thick! Found the cache after trying a few other options nearby. TFTC

Thank you for this lovely cache found on a cloudy muddy sunday with my "Borders Beyond" team
TFTC!

No spiders guarding this cache today. Quickly signed the log before it returned.Tftc

I was only doing one in this series which was located closest to Piha Rd. The trail didn't look too bad, so I didn't change into my hiking boots. This turned out to be a big mistake. The track was blocked a few places by fallen trees and was very muddy in other places. Did I mention it was very, very muddy? It was. Anyways, I found the cache and made it back to my car, a little bit more muddy for the adventure. TFTC.

Thought it was a nice day for a walk in the Waitakere's today.
Last one for today on the loop.
Took me just over 5 hours including the walk back along the road to the other car park.
TFTC

Second find for the day. We combed GZ for sometime before my phone put us right ontop of the cache. Found a nice souvenir for the mancave. Cache and log in great shape. Brothers were a little shocked that i managed to find the cache after a bit of false 'I found it' banter. 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. Well , this is quite a rugged track isn't it. Quite different to what I'm used to round Nelson - very muddy and rooty but all good fun in the end. My GPS wasn't much good here. I checked the hint but still managed to overshoot GZ by a few metres and had to backtrack a bit. It still took me a couple of goes to put my hand on the cache. Whew. TFTC, Biggles.

Found super duper quick with first logger on a fresh piece of paper, so everything dry, and looking a.ok.
Tripped here for a hike with the cool cats from Weekday Tramping and accomplice cachers. Wooh

Very muddy intrepid adventure with some fantastic people today!

popped in on a waterproof log replacing mission, cache in plain sight,although at least the container camo seemed to keep it save from other than the knowing eyes... seems the natural camo that was infront has been removed .. found a portable bit to place back in - please do so your self.

Off to a good start grabbing the first one on the way to the dam. TFTC

Had planned doing as many caches on this track as we could in the 2 hours we had, but the track is VERY muddy & slippery, even for us seasoned trampers, so unfortunately this is as far as we got.
Nice hide here after a few different places to look we got it.
We will be back...in the Summer.

First find of our multi dam journey!! Tftc!

Tftc

Awesome track TFTC

Tftc, nice morning walk cool track.

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.

Not too many fans of spiders amongst the group, so we sent the one brave man of the group in to find this one. Luckily none of our eight legged friends were about today. Thanks for the cache!

Vamber organised a tramp out in the Waitakeres and was kind enough to invite me along with them KirsTim attended as well and we signed as VKY. As it was ANZAC day we had a couple of restrictions in that we had to start after the morning services and be back in time for my CITO event. Bearing this in mind this walk seemed to fit the bill and worked towards goals Vamber were aiming for.

We started along the track and this was the first one for me today, we pretty much were concentrating on not slipping on the tree roots, so the gps didnt get a lot of concentration until we got to GZ, spotted a likely hiding hole, had a little poke around before finding the cache. TFTC


[u][Teal]2016 Mega Event Labour weekend in Turangi visit [url=http://www.nzmega2016.nz/]New Zealand Mega 2016[/Url] [/Teal][u]

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.
eeek, when we read the title it was the man who was sent to the front, tftc

Saw many spiders lairs but fortunately not too many spiders.

starting a nice day of tramping with this find, with CO, almost converted teen son, and two friendly muggles. nice hiding place, thankfully no tarantulas came visiting
After this we happily took on the mud, the ups and the downs, the river crossing that resulted in me being face down...and the big guy not far from the entrance. Even a awesome cave complete with wetas along the track!

The giant teddy bear on the track was a surprise. TFTC.

What the hell was I thinking!?!?!? second rainy day in a row I decided to go running to get some caches. This side of the circle of caches is a lot less running friendly so my running speed was a lot slower! I managed to convince my muggle brother to come along as well.

I can across an interesting creature in the bush, not far in, which at first I thought was a muggle, but then realised he had a GPS. (I tried to upload a photo but i don't know why it would not do it... It was a giant green teddy bear, leaning against a tree!!)

I did not find this cache on the way in, but I only had a quick look, knowing I would be coming back and would need a rest then!

Quick find by my brother on the way back. This time the GPS was a bit more settled and had a in a slightly different spot.

Quickly found the 'spotted' cache at the car parking area, then decided to go for this one as it was only about 350 metres away. Was not expecting to do any bush walking so only had my gym shoes on. Thought if I was careful I could find this one without trashing my footwear. Bad mistake. By the time I returned, I was covered in mud up to my ankles and had to stop off on my way to the gym to change. Gym shoes are now sitting in a bucket of warm water ready to be washed and will probably take a week to dry. Note to self...next time put tramping boots in back of car. Great fun nevertheless. TFTC.

Relatively quick pick up once we got the gps working

Typical bush walk - mud, slippery roots and rocks. Great! Tufty & I soon overcame those obstacles, and the spiders, and soon left our impressions in the log book. That's 3 smilies earned so far. 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.

A nicely hidden cache.

Cheers for the cache.

I just love this walk down to the dam, I have done it many times over the years, I'd do it even without the geocaching... well, maybe not now. Geocaching gives you an added incentive to do the walking, whatever, but the first of several of these new caches, cheers ANZ for all the effort in placing them, I had great fun today.

Found it with the rest of the gang of 8--a good group of folks to be out with spending the day in the woods. What's with that strange green bear guarding the track--perhaps to eat the fallen hiker? Doing the loop anticlockwise today. Signed in with the rest as "Tinkerbell and Friends". 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".

Took the chance today to head out with slieschke (newly christened "Tinkerbell"), alpenmilch80, funkymunkyzone, Greenblat, Lemski, Paultaps and stretch.kerr to hit the trail and look to pick up these new caches.

Bit of a false start with our dear leader leaving some vital equipment at the other car park but once that was resolved we could get stuck in proper.

Quick find here and a good omen for the remainder of the walk - TFTC

The track has very recently been cleared which meant faily easy going, though with a ton of slippery root and rocks foot placement had to be carefully considered. Add a good dollop of mud and it was an enjoyable day out.

TFTC

The first cache find on a bit of a group outing today - slieschke (aka tinkerbell aka special tool - it's a long story), greenblat, stretch.kerr, alpenmilch80, evilno9, lemski, paultaps and myself. Our GPS units were all over the place here, but it didn't take long before one of us spotted it. The group signed in as "tinkerbell and friends". TFTC!!!

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 ?.
After a weird sighting of a huge fluffy green beer on the trail we made it to this find.
The logs were signed with the group name "Tinkerbell & friends". TFTC!!!

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

Didn't see any spiders but participated in a shared hallucinatory experince where a large green bear sitting quietly on the side of the track wished us a pleasant morning as strode past

T4TC and thanks to the crew for a great day out

Found out caching between the two upper dams with alpenmilch80, evilno9, funkymunkyzone, Greenblat, Lemski, Paultaps and stretch.kerr. A great Saturday's caching with great company, a great walk and some caches to find as icing on the top! Caches were signed as "Tinkerbell and Friends". Thanks!

Nine FTFs up for grabs were enough to convince us that we were "experienced trampers". We parked on Piha Road and headed off down the track at 8am. The track was wet and slippery, but we took it carefully and managed to negotiate it there and back with no problems. After finding the blank logsheet in the first cache, the Spiders Lair, we knew we had a good chance of achieving 9 FTFs today . We liked this nicely themed hide and the way the cache was tethered.
The co-ords for this cache were spot on, but we noticed on our return up the valley that on this section of the track the GPS lagged at least 40m behind until we hit the carpark again.
Kiwicouple's First To Find coin visited
(FTF)

Published

I was there on placement with both of the alligatorsnz on a fun Anzac day hike! (Therefore not an FTF - well done to kiwicouple for that honour!) The spiders weren't anywhere near as scary as the giant green drop bear lurking near the start of the track - a really unusual sight in the Waitakeres, I wonder how long he will last?