Secret Beach (Central Plateau) Pukawa, North Island, New Zealand
By helicopter1919 on 19-Jan-15. Waypoint GC5KK9M

Archiving as I will not be able to check on this cache until at least the summer.

Disabling for the time being until I get a chance to check on it.

Not sure if it is still here. Found a bit of wood with a hole in it and that is all.

Already here with the family so we Drove out on a boat then swam to shore nothing came to hand so my uncle put the anchor down and we all search and still no luck . I think this cache needs to be checked by the CO.Anyway, Thanks helicopter1919 for placing this cache.DNF logged at 7/01/24 at 5:16PM

Saw obvious place for cache but could not find unfortunately ??

So sad we could not find it think peopel took it

We found it by going along the lake shore and wearing gumboots. Lovely spot nearby and didn't take too long to search for it!

Continued my wade along the shore. Looked in several places but no joy. A lovely refreshing walk along or should I say in the water. Pity you cannot give faves for dnf's as this was worth it.

Easily found the access to this nice little spot, just followed the track down. Beautiful spot for a swim and we were blessed with sunshine during our short stay in the area.
Found the cache and was wondering what the hole might be for. Something different for sure, glad I had the Sharpie

Fun find, thanks

I've been wanting to get these three secret beach caches for a few years now as they are near where we live. And not owning a boat, this year we now have suitable water craft as Stand up paddle boards were bought for Christmas and got their first use today. This cache was a quick find and we picked up the travel bug that was attached. TFTC

Awesome spot & cache!

What a lovely spot! Though this was a nice place for a trackable that likes being near water to hang out

Found it! Happy new year!

Found it wadding through the water to cache location. TFTC and Happy New year!

Found the sign and where I assume the cache should have been inside the hole but not there. Had a long look all around but could not find container. Suspect it may have become lost.

Coordinates changed from:
S 38° 54.570 E 175° 45.327

Coordinates changed to:
S 38° 54.572 E 175° 45.328

Distance from original: 13.0 feet or 4.0 meters.

Logbook replaced and cache moved to a slightly more secure location.

On another Team BOP road trip heading to clear out some caches around Lake Taupo.
The three Secret Beach caches were on our targeted cache list.
It took a while to find a walk track that leads us the right direction towards the caches.
This was the first cache to tackle and we found a side track leading down to the secluded beach. There really wasnt much of a beach here. I'm not sure if the lake is higher than normal, but it looks like the foreshore has taken a recent pounding.
The cache was found easily and I was surprised to see a blank "log" book to sign.
I thought maybe CO had been through recently and replaced the cache, but no maintenance log, so who knows?
The lake was dead calm and made for some interesting pics - attached.
Thanks for bringing me down to remote area of the lake.
TFTC

These three caches were all a bit of a challenge as we didn't have the recommended mode of travel. The little beaches are very beautiful but some spots are getting overgrown with blackberry and a lot of trees have fallen into the water. It took us a couple of goes to get the right track but once we did It didn't take too long to get down and along to the cache . TFTC

On a road trip with part of Team BOP, Myself, Squirrel Nutcase, Fap n Gap,NZ Flossy & TNXpro, we had a blast, many thanks for the placements and bringing us to this beautiful part of the country, Cheers (apart from the prickles) LOL

The terrain certainly met up to its rating! Didn't bring a marker but a fun find!

This was the first of the Secret Beach caches we tried for and despite the winter weather and cold water we persevered and had success here!!

The unusual yet hardy log was duly signed and replaced as found.

TFTC and the encouragement to get wet helicopter1919!! TNLNSL

New logbook in place, so we are good to go.

I will hopefully be visiting the area in a week or so and I will check in on it then.

I will hopefully be visiting the area in a week or so and I will check in on it then.

If the cache is not there, the listing really should be disabled so that people don't go searching for it

After a lot of bush bashing Etherlord and I arrived here. After a big search we cheked the hint - no, suggests that it should be fairly easy. Check the logs. REALLY?? Please disable caches that have problems! Arrrgh! [:(!] [:(!] [:(!]

Etherlord and the Seagnoid are on a road trip in ZaraBus from Palmerston North to Turangi for the 2016 New Zealand Geocaching Adventure.
...It took us three days to drive 250Km.

We didn't read the description and decided to bush bash our way to it.
We were successful in getting to GZ, but could not find the cache even with resorting to reading the hint. We then resorted to reading logs and soon realised why we couldn't find the cache.

Based on the previous comments it looks as if this cache may not be there. I will however keep this cache activated for the meantime and check on it when I visit in the summer holidays.

Tried again with the help of a man on the phone, no success. Will give it another go next time I am here.

Looked. Think it was the right place, but missed it

Tough GZ and an even tougher find it would seem. No idea where this would be, however after solving Secret Beach 2 I may have an idea on what to be looking for.

4.25pm - After a bit of searching and reading past logs found walk way. The Squirrel decided he was going to walk to this one in the water which he successfully did without getting his shorts wet. OMG another awful cache to find. We searched and searched without success, time was running out for me as I had to be back in Rotorua by a certain time so we resorted to PAF to try and help. Communications took awhile then we received some extra useful information. Bit more searching and we found the offending log but several metres away from Co Ords given. Just as well we had read the info and had the right tool. Arrived home on time as well. SLTFTC

With Gap (of Fap and Gap)... Travelling around the south-western shores of Lake Taupo. Our plan is to clear out as many caches as possible, before the Mega Event turns this area into crazy-land...

Again, this beach is no longer a secret... A fairly well established path leads down from the main lake walkway. We emerged onto the beach and I decided to wade around to ground zone. This was probably not the best idea. because I had no shoes when I arrived.

The search zone was another location where you could hide a pod of whales. We had no idea what to look for and the gps was swinging all over the place. As for the hint, that was as helpful as the proverbial on a bull... 'A little bit up' indeed... This led to much more frustration, so we sent out a PAF. After much searching, we conceded and began to pull out. Just as we were preparing to leave, our call for help was answered and we got some clues about the final... Upon the return, the cache was discovered within a minute... And yes, nowhere near where we searched... Fantastic! TFTC.

After a good 20 minutes or so in fading light I called it a day.
Maybe next time

Lovely find!! Managed to get there without getting too wet but was a bit of a detour through bush to get there. Love this little place

TB visit

Well - this cache turned out to be a handful. We parked on Kamahi Tce and took the track down - got to the kayaks but the water was way to cold to wade around so time for a little bush bashing. We managed to find a trappers trail? I dunno but the pink ribbons took us most of the way. My phone GPS was rubbish here so we spent a long time searching. After an hour and a couple of red herrings we were on the verge of a DNF. I checked my phone one last time an miraculously it showed a 2m proximity!!! Finally cache in hand and I was a bit lucky here too as it was well buried under the leaf litter.


So condition - very water logged - logs not very clear - definitely identifiable as a cache though. We also etched ourselves onto the log. Cheers helicopter1919 for the work out.

Rather a challenging one! Luckily Tara Ted and Juty Bug were on hand. Only managed an initial, then slogged out. Nice place. TFTC

Parked the bike near the lake and took a 'short cut' through the bush. Marker pen failed to work on the very wet 'log' as it had run out, so etched the first initial 'T'on it! The lake edge proved an easier route back. Certainly a more secluded little beach. tftc

Found it the hard way made better progress getting out TFTC

Cool spot for a cache.

A wonderful Good Friday to have a walk to this new cache. The Easter eggs we intended to leave couldn't fit unfortunately. Little kids took the remaining prize. Tftc

Great Cache idea. Took a while to find. Had to wade in the water.

Yay found it (:

On arrival at Kuratau I went for a walk to investigate this cache.I arrived at the location without any trouble..searched about for a little while and then discovered the hide..well done,very innovative.I signed the log and re-concealed in exact same place.One of the children's prizes is close by too,but sorry..unable to take pic this time.Thanks for bringing me here to this spot and TFTC!

Found on our 2nd attempt. The male folk tried this morning during a fishing trip but gave up when it became tricky to hold the boat off the rocks. We all returned this afternoon via a short bush walk. Found by the 14 yr old visitor in our team who is chuffed with his caching success this trip. Also found one of the little hidden treats but left for teams with smaller kids. Love the cache. We couldn't find a marker pen at the bach so etched our find with a door key. We've never been in top three to find before. Good times! Thanks for a cool cache.

2TF about 3:45pm (only 15 mins too late!!) - Had arrived in Turangi late the previous evening, and only around lunchtime did I consider checking for any "new" caches in the area - lo & behold a recent publication. As we had lunch guests it was a late kick off to get to GZ, and not being a local meant we were doubly unsure about access to GZ. Approached from Pukawa, and probably got up to mid-thigh in the water, but with a bit of care could have been shallower - still the water was lovely, so that was all good! Just about on top of GZ when I spotted a couple with 'heads-down-bums-up' (a sure sign of geocachers!) Got that passing feeling of disappointment, but that's life - great to finally meet Punga & Paua, and have a bit of a chat . Had missed the FTF by a good 15 mins.

Great location for a cache - great fun.

TFTC!

Had to wait for Punga to finish work, then spent some time sussing out how we would reach the cache, even visited the local Marine shop to see if we could borrow anything that floats. Just as well they had nothing as we didn't need it anyway. We headed for GZ to see how close we could get depending on how accurate the attributes were, boats, wading, swimming, difficult climbing??? We ventured into Tui Territory and wasn't long until we reached the cache, taking the dry way and hardly got wet. Wish we'd known it would be this easy, only a 2 terrain rating in our opinion. But definitely gets a fav point for the location and cache itself! Not such a secret place today though, seems quite a few people know this spot and keep their boats here. We had a quick search for the FTFs and only spotted one but left it in place for the geokiddies, the other one remains a mystery.
Thanks for a lovely outing, we enjoyed the adventure and the FTF, loved the cache and give it a fav point. TFTC.
Almost ready to leave when someone suddenly appeared before our eyes, must have emerged from the depths of the lake having taken the wet route. It could only be another geocacher!!......nice to meet you and have a chat. Then we were off, back up the hill, the dry way.

This entry was edited by Punga and Paua on Thursday, 22 January 2015 at 08:34:38 UTC.

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