++TRACK CLOSED++ Weta's Paradise (Auckland) Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
By alligatorsnz on 25-Apr-14. Waypoint GC53KPM

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***

Awesome spot. We've done this walk before but I don't remember this spot. Always nice when you discover something new

Nice quick find, we are getting tired now after 5 hrs of muddy tramping! TFTC

With our heads down watching the path (part of it had washed away) we nearly walked past this little diversion. I was in front, and thought hmm. Onawe yelled out cool! so we were over to have a look. Realising we were getting closer to GZ, I red the clue and the cache was quickly in hand. Log and cache in good condition.

Onawe and I are enjoying this walk this fine long weekend! We brought two cars leaving one at the end of the Upper Nihotapu dam car park, and then driving the other 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!) Left just before 10am, we finally made it back to the car at 4pm.

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

With Merlot58, Pazzabella & Geocchi.
Not being known for my outstanding bravery when it comes to wetas, I was only too happy to stand back and let Geocchi do the honours here. A very cool spot!

I was feeling pretty enraged having seen a hunter coming back up the trail with his 2 dogs he'd left in the bush to go hunting [:(!] He obviously did this regularly because he had a special dog gps tracker on one of them. Kiwi have no chance here but the wetas have a palacial hotel. Tftc

My GPS was bouncing around here but Geocchi went to look in the obvious place and found the cache, no wetas for us today

Funny story! well not quite, but I took the diversion, looked into the old mine/railway tunnel? and then started following the GPS out onto the track, only for me to realise after looking at the hint, that I had just been standing next to GZ. I am guessing the GPS did not like the tree cover, and high sided cutting. So I made my way back to the cave entrance and quickly retrieved the cache. Thanks for the hide

Nice quick find.
Interesting hiding hole

Will have to research this one

What a great little cave. Had a quick hunt but couldnt spot any critters. TFTC

A great spot to think about the history of this area. I believe this tunnel is part of a quarry and tramline used to get rock material to help build the Upper Huia Dam. Cache all good.Tftc

Thought it was a nice day for a walk in the Waitakere's today.
Nice place, thanks for showing.
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. Wow, this is really what caching is about. Taking me to amazing places like this that I never would have visited without the lure of a little box and another smiley. TFTC, Biggles.

Quick find cool spot cool to see all the big weta's here. Tftc

Tiny little buggers but definitely still worth the visit.
Fresh paper and second to sign.

Nice and dark inside and saw the creepy crawlies

passing through on a waterproof log adding trip, cache all in order..

Never knew this tunnel was here, thanks for the diversion to look at it. TFTC

Pity no gold In here just creepy crawlies. Tftc!

Tftc

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.

A bit of searching around, we soon had the cache in hand. A very impressive cave, indeed! A few wetas about today, but only one of us was brave enough to have a look! Thanks for the hide.

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. Not keen on Weta's but this week im not on my own, and in actual fact the cache wasnt really anywhere near any. Quick find 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.
Tim went in search of weta's whilst the girls found and signed the log, tftc

Enjoyed the walk from Piha Road to the Upper Huia Dam and back again. Unfortunately it started raining an hour into the walk which made the fairly rough tramping track even rougher with the slippery exposed tree roots and rocks. Even after adjusting for geocaching time, the return trip took me a lot longer than the suggested 3 hours. Using the hint, the cache was quickly spotted. Had my head torch with me but didn't spot any weta's. TFTC.

Looked hard for the Weta's in the cave and were rewarded with seeing a number of young and old, as well as small and large group, and able to photograph approximately 10 weta's of various ages and sizes.

This entry was edited by Jag50 on Tuesday, 06 January 2015 at 06:23:15 UTC.

Glad I had a torch with me. No wetas home today. TFTC.

I think this was the only cache we actually found on the way into the bush. The hint was a dead giveaway and the cache was quickly ours. A nice spot for a rest, which I think we both wanted.

I love this cache, was out caching with CO and Natoratia. This cache made me laugh, scream, and was just the most beautiful place and home for the friends of the forest..thanks, gets a well deserved favourite point

out for a stroll in the real mud, introduced geo mates to the location(none had it loaded, so was able to obtain a couple of screams before handing out the clue.., cluing them in to dark hole to see if the "life" would help me get some screams.. one looked up and saw a "friend" and when a rain drop fell upon her she gave the required scream... reward the clue for the cache ... ( no body had it loaded )

cache present and correct

We tried to make it harder by searching without a torch at first...that was...interesting. good laugh and loud scream... good size wetas...love it

Great spot. Interested to know a little more about the site

Out tramping the tracks of the Waitakeres with Tufty seeking geocaches. Glad we had remembered to bring torches with us. This made finding the cache real easy. Didn't spot any wetas though. Thanks for the cache. Once around the corner afterwards we wondered where the far portal of this tunnel was.

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.

We didn't going looking for wetas here as we were on a mission.

Cheers for the cache.

No weta's to be seen today, I looked for them in case they looked for me! I wonder where the other end of this feature comes out, didn't see it as I traveled down to dam, what an awesome walk

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. Doing the loop anticlockwise today. This is a gem of a place with a selection of nice big weta to check out. Well worth a visit. Signed in with the rest as "Tinkerbell and Friends". Cheers for the cache.

Awesome little spot to stop in and look for a cache. The cache itself was found in no time but we took a while to enjoy the quality of the local inhabitants and it seemed as we found more and more, they got bigger and bigger.

Another fun one done - TFTC

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".

The GPSr was insisting GZ was a tall one on the track, but the second one seemed to far away. The obvious feature of the area seemed worth checking out and as I approached the aha moment.

TFTC

Another find on our group outing today - slieschke (aka tinkerbell aka special tool - it's a long story), greenblat, stretch.kerr, alpenmilch80, evilno9, lemski, paultaps and myself. This was a great spot, and man, the size of some of those wetas (although not as big as the grand-daddy of them all that we spotted in the tram tunnel down past the dam). 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.
I described it as animal cruelty as the group had fun teasing the Wata’s
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.

These handsome insects are sensitive to a breeze, so if you blow on them they JUMP

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".

Some MASSIVE wetas here!

Thanks!

At 8am we began our walk down the Upper Huia Dam track from Piha Road to the dam, hoping for 9 FTFs this morning. By 9.40am we had reached Weta's Paradise - a picturesque spot, and a great place for a cache. We made a quick find here with the hint, and signed FTF for the 4th time today . 'She' was thankful we saw no wetas here today - though she didn't look too carefully.
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!) Spotted a few cave weta's inside this feature - a cool spot - favourite point added for this one!