NZ Native Trees #2 Rewarewa (Wellington) Upper Hutt, North Island, New Zealand
By BarnabysTravels on 20-Nov-14. Waypoint GC5H0HG

#234 TFTC

Tftc

TFTC

Travelling down to Wellington for a few days and stopped the night here at Kaitoke park. Hadn’t planned to spend long here but there was so much to do that we just stayed on. Did a circular walk up this track then back to the car park. Pretty steep going up. Quick find here and the cache was all good. Thanks for this series.

Nearly at the bottom now, didn't take to long to find, but no fern to be seen, TFTC

Once I worked out the correct kind of tree was a quick find. TFTC

We decided to have a few days in Wellywood. Largely to start knocking off some of the ACoIaF series, but also to enjoy a bit of a break and go camping .
When we did this track a number of years ago, it was getting pretty late by the time we got to here and we were concerned about getting back to the car before the gates shut, so only gave this one a quick look.
It took a bit of searching around GZ but we eventually found it. No sign of a fern anymore though.
Thanks for putting this here for us to find

Search under every fern cant find, was certain I was in the right spot

I had a day in Wellington to go caching, so teamed up with The Seagnoid as we occasionally do to head off somewhere new for both of us. Today's efforts saw us in Kaitoke Regional Park, doing a big loop walk starting from near the Ranger's Office and heading East up into the hills to end up rejoining the road near the Kaitoke Weir. All logging for today was done as T.A.T.S, for TwigNZ and the Seagnoid.

As this day out had been a bit of an impromptu decision, I hadn't really looked ahead to see what I was in for today. The short answer was "inclines" and lots of them. On the basis that what goes up must come down, there was a lot of testing that notion and my legs are a bit grumpy with me this morning (currently Monday 4th) but it's all good prep for a couple of big climbs I have planned for later.

I'm not a great fan of these particular containers being used for caches. Over the years I have encountered a few and without fail water always gets inside. Having encountered my first ever dry one at the previous cache, normal service has been resumed with this wet one. The log is waterproof paper though, so once I had dried it out enough I could add our signing for the day before returning it all back exactly as found.

Thanks for setting up this cache.

Wow a surprisingly quick find thanks to some excellent coordinates. Well, nearly at the bottom of the hill. It has been a tough day but I loved every minute of it. well, most of it. Okay, some of it. That hill is one heck of a climb!! Looking forward to an icecream, but there is still a bit of a walk to the car...

Twig decides he needs to go for a walk and calls me up. A late start as he was busy first thing in the morning, so we didn't get to start on the track till about 11 or 11:30. Phew! What a slog up that track! Especially as we walked more of it than we had to. Thank goodness it was a cool cloudy day, perfect tramping weather. We completed the Fellowship of the Ring series and a few others and ended up with 19 finds for Twig and 18 for me (I already had one) of which 5 were lonely caches. Nice! All logs signed as TATS for TwigNZ and the Seagnoid.

In Petone for a ten pin bowling tournament, lovely day for an afternoon drive up to Rivendell for a adventure lab and some caches in this area. Thanks BarnabysTravels for the cache.

Handy find to make sure on the right track. Was exposed so covered in the usual hard stuff.

Second DNF in last half hour. ️ This one was probably there, but I couldn’t spot it. Even crossed the stream (not sure if I needed to, probably did). Be back another time.

Nestled in was right, but the fern has died so it took me a few minutes searching before I saw the obvious haha TFTC

Snuck in this find despite the rest of the track being closed - not sure why? Will have to come back to find the others. TFTC.

nice quick find here with 2bulbars.tftc

I knew what this tree looked like so just had to get over the stream Out and about today in the area
This is a great park and we love riding the Mt bike around here

Tftc

Fast spotted. TFTC

Spotted the tree fast enough but working out how to get to it was another matter. Haha. Convinced the 4 year old it was too cold for a swim....

3 years on have avenged my DNF! The GPSr was still wavering, but Infoferret spotted the eponymous tree which really helped. TFTC BarnabysTravels

missed this cache on the way up the Norbert Creek loop track so decided to have a quick look for it here on our return to the car, didn't take too long to find it nicely tucked away in its spot, TFTC

Sveppi and I were intending to test out the hammocks on a wild camping trip in the eastern Hutt valley. We are new to the area and didn't know we weren't allowed to camp in the catchment area. We saw the sign at the top of the ridge saying so, and we turned back. Nevermind, we'll call it training!
This was the first cache of the day, I don't know all my trees, but I knew this one ad spotted it from the clearing. Cache found easily at its base.

Found while out exploring this area again at the weekend. Cool little walks here. TFTC

Descending the track I was trying to spot the Rewarewa and once down on firmer ground...aha! Still the cache was well hidden, glad I was sure of my trees to know I was looking in the right spot. Funny how these bright containers can hide so well! Last one of the loop for me, thanks for the hide?

I was in the area doing a different trail and popped over to have another look for this. This time I read the description more carefully and identified the tree this time instead of doing a pure GPS search like last time. However the tree was one of two I spent all my time at anyway. And yet knowing it was around this tree somewhere I found it quite quickly. I even remember looking in the place where the cache is but it was hidden a little better than I was anticipating and clearly I was not very thorough at all before. Nice to find it on the second go. TFTC.

No find for me today even though the GPS seemed to settle pretty well.

Found by Junior Spider-Bite while out with CanuckNZ. TFTC

3rd for the day with Spider-bite. Thanks

All good in here Nice tree TFTC

Found with PB Hurricanes while attending the WENZ Mega event. TFTC

1 tree 2 tree. 1 rock 2 rock. SL TFTC with firewoof

Today we found NZ Native Trees #2 – Rewarewa (Wellington) on our travels. I’ve seen the juveniles of these trees around while we’ve been visiting NZ and have always thought what an interestingly architectural plant.....I want one.....but now I know how tall they grow and I may need to rethink that....although it would give my neighbour & their 40 palm trees on a suburban block around their pool (let’s block all your sunshine) a run for their money! Some people need to research their plant choices! This was a wonderful tree, in a magical environment I might add!

Thanks BarnabysTravels for being part of our geocaching fun.

New waterproof log book

After heading up to collect the information for the Kaitoke Weir multi-cache, I swung by this area to grab this one - the only one I'm aiming for on the Norbett loop today. GPS was pointing me in a certain direction, and seeing that I needed to cross the creek decided to put my gumboots back on, having only just swapped them after the tree-planting CITO.

Having gone through all that, I just headed for the most suitable object, rather than following the GPS. The specimen in this case really does poke itself above the rest of the canopy so it was a straight-forward hunt, and I soon had the cache in hand. TFTC

Found on a club day walk over to the Hutt Forks. Reasonable weather and lovely bush. TFTC

As I had been working all week I decided enough was enough and decided to go for a walk in the Kaitoke Regional Park. The road up the hill was not to bad with plenty of caching stops. Taking the smaller path down the northern end was another story with plenty of very steep parts. Pleased there were no mishaps and that I took the route I did. Grabbed some more caches while walking along the road back to my car which was parked in the ranger station. Altogether a good walk but the legs feel it a bit. A quick find by a nice looking stream. Everything in order. TFTC

(find # 4259)

An easy find at the start of this track. I took a look at the steep track up the hill side and realised I wasn't equipped for more today

TFTC

Found it. No pen

My GPSR doesn't show the last part of the long cache names, so I didn't know what tree I was looking for, and I was initially looking in the wrong place. Then I figured it out, got the right tree, and it was an easy find. TFTC!

Walked past the one then back-tracked to get it. Container was upside done and log totally saturated so replaced with a "write in the rain" log in a new bag to save the CO the trouble.

Out for a tramp around the Norbett Loop with taiko33. Nice cool calm winters day.
No problems with this one.
TFTC TNLN

Decided to try this end of the trail today and after crossing the stream hunted high and low for the cache. Eventually finding it in good condition about 10m from GZ. Luckily the day was very nice and the water was cool and not too deep to cross. Thanks for the cache.

Did with Crystal Fairy.

Found whilst running the track. TFTC

The GPS was all over the place, so I asked dr. Google to show me a Rewarewa and used a photo to search for this tree. After 20minutes I found one 30m off

*French*
Aujourd'hui, visite de Rivendell et les environs. Nous ferons également quelques randos dans le secteur dont le Norbert Creek Track
Le GPS nous balade bien ici!, Ne pas hésiter à traverser la rivière pour trouver la cache

BarnabysTravels, thanks for the geocache
Frank et Muriel
#10115
Belgique
Log with GSAK

GPS really wandering. Gave up after 15.

Spent so long searching....but GPS was so sporadic

Found on a pleasant daytrip around Kaitoke. The weather mostly played ball and the forecast rain was just a few passing showers. It doesn't seem all that long ago that I had found all the caches in this area, but they seem to keep springing up by the minute these days. The CITO was a good excuse to come to the area and clean up a few caches at the same time.

Thanks for the excuse to visit this trail. A great day out with Yeetrees.

TFTC BarnabysTravels

While the family was still asleep I decided to come up here and collect a few local caches, while at the same time seeing some of new Zealand's finest up close. Great to see so many people camping here this weekend. *TFTC BarnabysTravels, #8676*

All in good order at the GZ, thanks!

Yay TFTC!

Found with TregearP and Jojo&Dobby during a loop walk and an opportunity to grab a number of caches in the area.

All quickly found (less one puzzle where we need to recheck the reference material) and in good order.

Thanks to the CO's for motivating us to come here and enjoy some climbing and the bush.

TNLNSL, TFTC.

Quick find TFTC

One of seven caches in Kaitokhe area today. Great place for a swim and a walk on a warm summer’s afternoon like this one. Didn't realise this little picnic spot, adjacent to the cache, was there. Not too difficult to locate. #1011. TFTC.

Day trip to visit friends camping. Very drizzly but went for a walk with our toddler in a buggy to have a nap. Took nothing left pet rock. Thanks for the cache

Found on a very rainy day.
TFTC

found this cache as we were parked so close to it while spending the afternoon at this neat park. TFTC

We tried to work out a plan to find all caches around this circuit without having to do too much doubling back. We decided we would do the loop in a clockwise direction starting from the carpark near "NZ Native Trees 2" as we prefer steep uphills to steep downhills. However, before setting off on the circuit decided to go up the 4WD track to find the first few caches which were needed for some of the multi & puzzle caches (Merry, Pippin, Sam & Frodo). All in all a very long day, but had a lot of fun and found all 18 caches we set out to find.

And now to start on our circuit proper. The gps was jumping all over the place here - one moment it said 5 metres then worked its way up to 50m whilst still standing in the same spot, so disregarded the gps and started looking for suitable trees. Took longer than it should have but gound it and now time to head uphill. tftc

One tree I can recognise although here it was more a case of what's the tallest tree here. Probably the easiest cache of the day.

Final grab of the day on the way home from Nature.

TFTC.

Rewarewa is one of my favourites; a beautiful specimen tree that is a real picture when in full flower and one of the natives that produces an excellent dark and strong-flavoured honey.
There are some fabulous stands of rewarewa in the bush on Mt Maunganamu near Tokaanu.
Cache tree was easily identified from a distance - no need for the GPSr here really. On to the next lesson ... [^]

took me longer than it should have on this one! also very happy that my caching boots are waterproof

Last find in Barnaby's tree series for the day -didn't have time to get them all, but enjoyed the searching and the learning -a great series, a fave from me -TFTc's!

Found with Wafflekitties and Geodogs! TFTC

Found after a minute or so and once we were on the right side of the river TFTC

Managed dry feet today. Quick find with Wbond-Jnr.

Last one for the morning - have to go home and do some jobs

Thanks for another smilie

Found with wbond1116. Dry feet today

We do like this series, and they are all lovely examples. On our way up the track on a day tramp. TFTC

The raging torrent wasn't too bad today - but we decided to come back in dryer weather and with better footwear to grab the others! TFTC

Found it

#872. Decided to head up this track today to locate all the caches. This was the first one attempted. Luckily I am very familiar with rewarewa so it made for a quick find. The cache was fairly dry, just a touch of dampness but logbook was OK. Nice setting near the stream. Thanks for the informative accounts about these trees. TFTC

A lovely sunny day to be out rounding up the natives, and what better way to celebrate Signal's birthday than with a little bit of geocaching. A nice little picnic area.

TFTC

A beautiful day to be visiting in the Kaitoke area. Happy to have the native trees series as an excuse for a day's caching, plus some others that we wanted to visit. A great day in Rivendell!
Another fine example of this particular native. And in a picture perfect setting too.
Cache find was straightforward. Everything in order here; log signed, cache safely re-hidden.
It was off up the hill after this one!
TFTC found with team cacher Sweet P too
The Turtle strikes again!

#6432. The rain had stopped upon reaching Kaitoke Regional Park. Both the Rivendell car park and the area around GZ were quiet. Entered Norbett Creek Route. No problem crossing the creek. Quick find. The cache was in excellent condition.
+ RED K
Took nothing, signed log. Thanks for the botanical lesson and cache.

2 for the day tftc

Nice hide tftc

Enjoyed the walk through the trees tftc

A place I've always enjoyed visiting going back to childhood days some 45 years ago. Very pleasant here, this afternoon despite the odd passing shower. A good series, I've enjoyed reading the web pages and finding the caches. Kept my feet dry and made a quick find. Cheers and TFTC

I had hoped to find this cache the previous Sunday but there were muggles close to ground zero that appeared to have just finished a hike and were in no hurry to move on. However, I was able to take the opportunity to identify the likely cache hiding place, or so I thought.

I returned today to again be thwarted by muggles. I continued with the other reason for me to be here today; to check the well being of two of my caches and the validity of claimed finds of those caches.

When I got back, my GPSr took me to the site I had previously identified but I could not find a cache. I then noticed my GPSr was now telling me I was some considerable distance away which was not that surprising considering my previous experiences at this location. Rather than rush off to the suggested site like I normally do, I took the opportunity to re-read the cache description and noticed a couple of pieces of information that were extremely helpful. I re-located and after a search that I would best describe as a little longer than short, I found preeciioouus and was signing the logsheet. TFTC.

up here getting a FTF on another cache so picked this one up at the same time. then up the track to collect another one on the sweet little mystery series.

On a road trip with tmann421 and Princess-Emily. Great weather and another fun weekend collecting a few of the local caches.

Princess-Emily and I searched one area and tmann searched another, then we swapped and tmann soon had the cache in had. Damn I don't know how we missed that bright container!

TFTC

Short search required before finding this one.

Nice series. SL TFTC

On a geocaching adventure with Just-Lookin & tmann421

TFTC

Cache # 2,322 - Took me much longer than I expected to track this one down. GPS bounced all over the place. Finally found the right combination of tree and fern. Cache in good shape. TNLNSL. TFTC!

TFTC.

Not a good area for GPS signal. However when you look around the cache site is pretty obvious. TFTC.

A quick find once I read the hint correctly replaced as found

We're getting good at identifying native trees now The pictures helped as the tree was further back from the park than we thought (not that far though!)

Pic was very helpful

Find #2261. Needed a decent walk so chose an area with a few caches to find. Great day but very dry on the hills - the kidney ferns are curled to a crisp. Managed to walk the entire ridge line and back in three hours with Hurricane Luke. Found this after getting back. SL TFTC

Found with with Jax479, while on end of year scout tramp/camp. TFTC

GPS was a bit all over the place but the description came in very handy. Checked out the foliage pics, and there was the likely candidate. Voila! Cache in hand. With metal-art.

Called here on the way back from the Wairarapa this afternoon. I know this species well as I have a big specimen on my own property; however I suspect that the species in the photo showing juvenile foliage may be in fact Pseudopanax crassifolius (horoeka, or lancewood). I have lots of little rewarewas that self-seed (I normally pull them out) and the juvenile rewarewa leaf, though similar to the lancewood, is not as long as those in the photo on the cache page. The cache was an instant find in the first place checked. Signed log, TFTC!

Quick find while out with a group of boys from school

** FTF **

Wahoo - first-to-find on a sunny morning stroll. Nice theme - and this just happens to be my favourite native tree, so no trouble finding it. Kaitoke has some absolutely fantastic native tree specimens, and we're very lucky to have it on our back door-step.
It was a late start for me this morning, as I was having the day off work - checked the e-mails and found a pile of newly published caches - just had time to race off for a quick whizz around to collect these before sprucing myself up for Xmas party festivities at the Races.

TFTC barnabystravels!

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