Road to the Spirit World (Northland) Te Hapua, North Island, New Zealand
By Josh and Bex & h.i.pirate on 15-Jan-15. Waypoint GC5K9Y4

Day 2 of our adventure. I came up to Cape Reinga yesterday with tramyard who was on a mission to place a virtual cache at Cape Reinga. But we're spending 3 days or so exploring new places, staying in out of the way camp sites and off course geocaching here and there. Me and tramyard picked this cache up as we left our camp site at Spirit's Bay. I volunteered to battle with the foliage, it was quite thick, but managed to make/find a path thru it to the pole. Cache all in good order today. Thanks for the hide guys.

A simple park and grab no longer! The park was easy, cache placement was exactly as described, but I had to wade into Manuka and gorse over my head to even get near.! It's grown a bit since you were there! Had two or 3 goes to even fight through as there are no tracks. A bit of blood sacrificed and lots of scratches, but **we got the cache** Cache is all good. TFTC

What a fight to get through some vine growing through the bush. But I persevered and found the cache.
I’m on a roadie north to complete the PWGT and find other interesting caches - oldies, puzzles and ones at interesting places.
Kia ora rawa atu for the cache Josh and Bex.

F

My friend was heading up this way on a maintenance run having just taken over the nalawood caches. I enthusiasticly joined in as I have been meaning to come back up this way for ages. My last visit was in 2018 and there have been quite a lot of caches placed since then.

We were headed out to Te Hapua to grab some caches out there. The island cache at Spirits Bay is definitely on my todo list but the tides weren't suitable today. My friend stopped here but I didn't have a cache on my phone. She gave me the hint and off I headed. A quick find and the cache was in good condition. Thanks for the hide

D

TfTC quick find but another if Bush to scratch through

Have been meaning to grab this one since it was published, but only managed to make it up here now. A bit of a bush bash. TFTC

Day 3 of our trip. Group of Team Seac came up for the weekend. Really enjoyed our day out seeing our beautiful country.

Sorry for the generic logs, but thank you for taking time to put the cache out, and for bringing us here. All logs signed as “SEAC”.

With the mega being postponed a plan was hatched for some of the Team SEAC crew to head north for some fun. Today was day 3 and was a BIG day for a lot of reasons...we set off at 7.30am and got back to our accommodation at 9.00pm but more importantly NZTravellers were going to celebrate their 6000th cache, I was going to hit my 3500th cache and it was 6 years to the day since most of us first met on a caching day out to Rangitoto Island!

After finding the caches at Spirits Bay we were on our way back to head to Cape Reinga....stopped and found this easily as per hint.

Thanks for the cache.

Out with Team SEAC on a long weekend raid of the upper north island. This was day 3 caching in which we cached around the very top of the North Island. This was a quick find following the hint. Signed Team SEAC to save space. TFTC.

With the Mega being postponed we decided to head North with the team SEAC members and see what we could find in the way of caches. We based ourselves at Cable Bay making day trips to the various spots around Northland.

Our ultimate destination today was Spirits Bay and Cape Reinga.

All Logs signed SEAC to save log paper.

TFTC

Day three of our caching adventure to the far north.....with a group from Auckland, venturing up as the Mega Event was postponed due to Covid - 19 and we just had to get caching.

Headed over to this cache, signed in and onto the next....Thanks for bringing us here, a place we might not have otherwise have visited.

Signed in as team 'SEAC' in order to save logbook space.

Thanks for bring us here to somewhere we might otherwise not have visited.

TFTC.

Enjoying a wonderful adventure in the Far North from Kerikeri to Cape Reinga. So long since I have been all the way to the top of NZ so happy it was blue skies all the way. Thankfully Mr PA5KEY was in a good mood so got a few caches in on the way back. Love exploring different places and find geocaching adds to the experience. TFTC.

On our way to cape Reinga we turned off here to search the three caches. This one was an easy find. TFTC

Easy find...

Wow that was some fight through the brush.

Found on my trip north enjoying the caches in the area

A quick stop while on a far north fishing trip

Had a great day up here with the kids. Left kids in the car with mum and made the 30m trek (bash,smash struggle) through stupid vine stuff to get to GZ. Found, signed and replaced. TFTC.

Am heutigen Tag wollen Heckenstürmer und ich etwas oberhalb von Pukenui die Gegend auskundschaften und Cachen. Dabei viele schöne Strände kennen gelernt und einen schönen windigen Spaziergang beim Cape Reinga gemacht. Auch die grossen Sanddünen waren imposant.

Greets from Switzerland

Day 28 in Newzealand. Today we drove from Pukenui to Cape Reinga and back to Rawene.
A very beautiful Country with lovely places. We were able to find nice Caches and See Lots of beautiful places.
Thank you for showing us this place.
Tftc

Uff the dust Bro ! Found as per hint. Spiders everywhere too ....

Scratchy one : tyfc

It just after 1pm and we are back on the road. Stopped at this junction to fight through the prickles and bindweed to snag this one. Cheers

Its day Three - Cape Reinga. We parked Toby at Spirits Bay DOC camp last night before making camp at Tapotupotu DOC site. Today is walking Pandora then exploring Te Hapua and surroundings with Toby. A 5.5 hour walk of Pandora to snag Toby and we are off exploring again.

Its another epic 4 week geocaching adventure with The Seagnoid, Zara and Toby to Northland. What an amazing place to explore. Lots of walks, gravel roads and sand. Lots of amazing trees, beaches and interesting POIs. Lots of kilometers traveled by vehicle and foot. Vehicle breakdowns. Snagged a couple of FTF's, lots of lonely caches and the odd event along the way. Lots of cache maintenance and replaced caches on this trip. But what an incredible adventure thanks to all the CO's who have made this trip so memorable..

After walking to Spirits Bay from Tapotupotu (we have two cars - nice), we still have half a day, so plenty of time to get all the rest of the local caches. So this is the first stip - Road FROM the Spirit World. A lot of pushing through viney weed. Thankfully it was not gorse. The dragon let the heffalump Seagnoid go first t beat down a trail. I should have been slower arriving!

Day three of an awesome, tiring, long, four week holiday geocaching with Taybeedragon in the upper north. Spent the day mucking about Cape Reinga. The whole trip comprised of hours of walking on sand, sliding down sand dunes, hundreds of kilometres of unsealed roads, car breakdowns, paddling out to islands, dolphins, goats, events, FTFs, weird boulders. You name it, we saw it. Lots of bisons, lots of cache maintenance, lots of sunscreen. A month is enough. I am glad to be back home. Except that now I have to write up my trip. We averaged just 20 caches per day, but that is still a lot of logging!

A bit of bush bash to get to the GZ. Found immediately oce I got there with a few of the vines still rapped arund me. TFTC

As we spend the night at spirits bay, we searched for this cache on our way. The most difficult part was to find the correct path without beeing totaly scratched. Thanks for hiding!

On our way to Spirits Bay we made a short stop to stretch our legs and look for this Cache.

The trickiest bit was finding the best way to approach the GZ without getting scratched by all the prickly bushes. Im the second attempt a way was discovered and the box was quickly unearthed.

Thanks for this Cache!

# 2014

TFTC

I took the Monday off to create a nice long weekend for myself, and managed to grab some cheap seats to travel up to Auckland. Then it was just a matter of talking tunfisk into travelling up north for a few days, and we were off! We decided to take a drive up to Cape Reinga for the day and find some caches along the way. After visiting the Cape, we wanted to spend some time in Spirits Bay before heading back south, and find a few caches in the area. Such a lovely relaxing place to be! Quick find here once I made it through the (very!) prickly vegetation attached to each other with very stubborn vines - and I am not sure the way out was any better! Unlikely to be muggle lol! TFTC!!

After a fantastic stay on the camp site Sirit Bay we picked up this one on the gravel road. Tftc!

FOUND

Easy find once you can get through all the spikey bush it's painful but we got there.TFTC.

Spiky Bush makes for an uncomfortable find. But a find is a find so yay !! Recommend wearing long, preferably thick clothes

TB in and out

Hard find through the vine!

Well, that was quick.

The travelling fox is happy =^,^=

Quick stop and grab. Thanks.

Quick stop in the junction before leaving the land of Spirits. Was raining when found this cache but all in good condition. TFTC

Another quick found for us on our tour arround Newzealand. Tftc Greetings from Switzerland.

3.25pm - DAY 2 of 3. Today was our second real day of caching on our north trip, starting in Kaitaia and heading to the Cape.
With lots of stops, detours and back on only 1 road that we had missed caches from the previous night.
This part of the North Island is amazing with great views, history and lots of hidden bays and Campers parked in all sorts of places.
The roads were good but couldn't get over the number of one lane bridges, twists and turns. Told the guys that it would be great to bring Mrs Fap up this way but she hates driving on these road types.
Amazed at the number of tourist at the Cape, cameras posed waiting for the sunset.
Returned to Kaitaia for night stopover. SLTFTC

With Gap (of Fap and Gap) and Mr Davidson (of Davidson clan). Signed most finds as BGH.

Visiting Northland for Easter... The plan for today was to cache our way to Cape Reinga. If conditions were favourable, then we wanted to return along Ninety Mile Beach... We really hope to make a big dent into several challenges we are working on...

Attacked this one with bare legs... The gorse was not so much the problem. There is a funny ground cover plant with odd runners that wrap around your legs. Spooky! TFTC.

Up North for the Easter long weekend with Squirrel nutcase and Gap from FapandGap.
Today's mission was Cape Reinga and as many caches we could get on way up and back.
This cache was in hand quickly log signed BGH .
Tftc

easy find just dont go for it with bare legs like me lol aroha and happy caching

Came out looking like I had been dragged through a gorse bush backwards.. haha which was nearly true. Staying at nearby Paua so having a look around the area . TFTC.

#1570 10:55

Found with no problem, very nice surroundings. Finally some cache after no succes in Te Hapua

Thank you for the cache and greetings from two Czechs!

Quick easy find. TFTC.

Tftc

FITW ivss_xx
Found this one on the way back from spirits bay. Gorse force attacked us in all possible way.. but managed to sign the log and place it back. tftc.

15:57
FITW harisree
Didn't stop on the way to Spirits Bay to be sure to catch the low tide for the cache there, so stopped on the way back
The roads are sure interesting, especially the perfectly asphalted stretch in the middle of gravel road.

Rum The Third - **Earl** of Spirits Bay [:o)]

Thanks for the cache!
#4117

Tftc,watch out for gorse

This one was a bit of a prickly situation. Cache was in the obvious location.

Logging trackables

Auf dem Rückweg von Spirits Bay hier kurz einen Stop eingelegt. Viele Grüße aus Deutschland vom Team Schlaue Pfote

#10883. It's quite a side trip to Spirit Bay, and this is the only drive by along the way, so it's a must do. TFTC.

One of the must do items on our to do list was a trip to Cape Reinga as neither of us had been to this part of Northland. Despite a long day traveling yesterday, we decided to go there today as the weather forecast for the next few days wasn't looking so flash.
A side trip to Spirit Bay was also on the list as we wanted to find the 2 most northerly caches in NZ for a Chch challenge cache. This cache was a bonus, and the GPSr took us straight to it, though had to be careful about the gorse en route. TFTC.

We had a wonderful visit to the Spirit Bay, and on the way back we stopped to find this cache. It was a quick find.

TFTC!

Up enjoying a Long weekend with the 4x4 club. Nice wee stop and grab while heading to beautiful Spirits bay.

quick found. nice place. tftc
in: tb
out: coin

It was time to vist the Far North seeing that the last time I was up this way was back in 1978. A few things have changed in the last 37 years.

Had to wait for a shower to pass before locating the cache and signing it off.

Cheers for the cache.

TB drop.

On our tour through New Zealand we visited many inspiring places, enjoyed delicious meals, met friendly locals and tourist AND found some Caches.

So this Cache was one on our trip. Thanks a lot for hiding and maintaining.

On a mission this weekend with Cats&Dragons, with a the main goals of reaching Cape Reinga to find the Virtual caches up there and the 35 and 36 degree South challenges, plus with anything else in between. We had a great time touring around Northland, and it is a pretty spectacular place. Being from Southern Northland, it has reminded me that I need to visit this place more.

The initial plan was to head up the west coast and on to Ninety Mile Beach (which was a huge highlight of the trip) and then down the east coast, but the plan was flexible depending on progress. We mostly achieved our ambitious plan, but due to time restraints had to cut back a bit from the planned list. If we had another day I think we would of achieved most of what we had planned.

Some of the figures for the trip were, 1600km's travelled in a 48 hour period, 37 hours of caching, 4 hours of sleep, and 7 hours driving up from Hamilton and back, with a total of 176 caches found!!

Thanks to all the CO's for placing these caches and showing us around Northland.

Quick park and grab here, got a few spikes from the gorse as I headed over to GZ.

This weekends little adventure was in the company of HKCB (as we'd both been given leave passes by our respective partners) so off we set.
The primary goals this weekend were to collect as many of the earthcaches as time would allow, the two virtuals, and complete both the requirements for the S35 & S36 challenges. Mind you this did not stop us working to collect anything else that we could find as time allowed.
It was a great trip with the weather playing its part so that we saw a great variety of countryside between caches and far too little sleep.

The result was 1600kms (over 48 hours), 189 caches (35 hours caching) & 4 hours sleep, not bad for a couple of beginners. Thanks to all the CO's and those that maintain the caches for us to collect on our too brief tour of the north.

Having finished our morning adventure up the beach and to the lighthouse it was now time to travel back down the Tombolo to see what we could grab. daylight has faded so its back to the old night caching once again, I wonder how long we will go tonight

Thanks for the placement

Great views from here. Found on the way back from Spirits Bay. TFTC

Found this about ten days ago. Nice easy find. Thank you

I am unashamadley after numbers at the moment so a trip to Northland with Vistra was planned, Saturday up to the Cape staying in Kaitaia then heading to Paihia for a late lunch event.

Found this in the dark and our last cache for the day, not heading back to the hostel for the evening. TFTC

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

I teamed up with yorkshirekiwi83 for a weekend of caching around Northland. After meeting early in Whangarei and driving up to Kaitaia via Kaikohe, we then made our way North to Cape Reinga. After visiting the Cape, we then headed out to Spirits Bay. After a great evening at Spirits Bay, we stopped to locate this cache in the dark before driving back to Kaitaia. A quick find here. TFTC!

[red] 2016 NZ Mega Event in Turangi... http://www.nzmega2016.nz

Found it during my trip from south of South Island to north of South Island.
Thanks for this cache!:)
Greetings from Czech

A good break on our way back from the one to the next spiritual world.
Easily found and greetings to Josh and Bex, again from Austria, we left a personal AWC,
TFTC,
Team ERw2 - Eva and Robert F. - We 2 (2512)

Found together with gpsylvi on our amazing, one month is way to short, camper tour! TFTC and greetings from Austria

Found. Log later.

Published