Otumoetai Pa Tauranga, North Island, New Zealand
By Philip.Perry on 19-Mar-15. Waypoint GC5PKYW

Great history lesson & a very peaceful place to be. Cache is all good. TFTC

Great cheeky find well done

Kind of hard tiny

Well hidden. Our 2nd attempt. Shouldn't have been so hard

Am staying for a week in the Mount. Decided to head out this way to explore today. Didn't take long to make the find and despite the traffic rushing past it feels like a very calm and peaceful spot. Thanks for the cache.

Tricky find! Great historical place to stop

Tricky find But got ya

Not my luck to find if today. Will come back another day.

Found

Whriki whnau find

We had looked for this one for aaaages!! Thank you so much for the extra hint. We had to go back to the same place we had looked

Finally but soo good

Ok we visited another cache and were driving past this one again. Mr b suddenly had a thought so we stopped in again. Well Mr b's idea was wrong so Mrs P was like this is the only other place let me check again ( was the first place checked when we first arrived last visit but missed it) sneaky little thing was well tucked in!!! But phew we found it and had made it so much harder than it should have been!!Gosh this should have been a quick find. Well we can laugh about how useless we have been here.Thank you Philip.Perry for placing this cache.Log signed as B&PFind number 5109

Visiting from Hawkes bay. We have looked here twice previously..... Way back in 2015We were sure with a lot more caching under our belts we would come back and find it..... nope! So confused as to where it could be

Thanks for your amazing cache Philip. Perry. I really appreciate the time you took to set up and maintain your caches.Looks like a new log is required. Still worth a Favourite from me Cheers, Cympull.

Well if I'm gonna go Geocaching it may as well be for a souvenir. Lucky it's Leap Day 2024, Tryfyns set up an event and the weather is fine. Today marks a roughly 2 year hiatus in Geocaching and even now I don't know what my plan is..... just one more I suppose. Due diligence dictates I maintain my caches especially those important to me. Chucking a new log in this one is the least I can do. My apologies to those forced to deal with the full nano log - I understand the annoyance - but it's up, running and ready to find again. ________ **Early 2015 a group of Tauranga based cachers started a [BOP Geocaching Facebook Page](https://www.facebook.com/groups/GeocachingBOP/).262 cachers currently make up this [Closed](https://www.facebook.com/help/220336891328465#What-are-the-privacy-options-for-groups) group where we organise various geocaching events and excursions as well as share information and friendly banter. Please check us out if you're interested.**

Thanks for the cache. Less sneaky than I expected from all the comments. Very full log so I squished my name next/over an old one

#14,689. Park, walk and grab off Levers Road in Matua, Tauranga. Interesting history here. Fortunately, the GZ was relatively quiet at the time of our visit. Found after a short search. Good hide. The cache itself was in good condition, all nice and dry inside. The logbook was full though, but managed to find a small white space to write our initials. Took nothing, left nothing, signed log.*Thanks for the geocache placement, and for bringing us to this site, and **.T h a n k s. .f o r. .t h e. .c a c h e.**.M a u r u u r u. .k o e. .n u i. .a t u. .h o k i. .t e. .k e t e r o k i.*

This one had alluded us for a bit, the size other caught me out a bit, but glad to have this in hand

After some hunting we finally found it, logged with kre8ive. Tftc!

Came armed with geo tools, which was just as well, as the overfull log was reluctant to face the sunshine. TFTC

Rip will try again another day

Had trouble finding this one , been here a few times to try get this cache but no luck. Is it still here?

Found it after a few minutes of searching. Log tricky to get out. TFTC

Took us ages and we nearly gave up but found it in no time

Haha great spot!!! Keep looking and you’ll find. Tftc

Splendid puriri tree and a wonderful area around it . Very happy but I don't think the ants were! Tftc

A nice quick find thanks. Ms_KR as concermed about all of the ants....

Ms_KR and I are off on a wee tour of the North Island. The weather was mostly fine. I got in some biking and walking, but too many dnf's for my liking. We cruised around Tauranga And we had another great day!

Thanks to all CO's for publishing and maintaining their caches. Cheers.

Sent a go time looking around... Read some post to try get a tip but I couldn't find it.

Looked at one place, went away to check elsewhere...came back again a few times. Yayyy got em! Were sure we knew what to look for but just couldn't find the sucker! Glad we got this one, despite a suspicious muggle watching on from nearby

Have to log this as a DNF after visiting/hunting for a second time this year. Had a thorough search muggle free and couldn’t find any indication that it exists...help!

2nd attempt at this wee baby, the history up here is super super cool, myself and Harpermellow were determined to find this wee thing today.
But it was not an easy start to our day!
GZ took us away form the Cache location to where we thought it was but it wasn't , we reached out to Perry and I had a moment and a groan at myself for asking for help.

Then with one last idea my hands did the looking and not my eyes and boom the excitement off finding it!!!!!!

Thank you Perry this goes to the top of my list of fun finds.

Had to take another look after lunch and low and behold cache was in hand. I am so pleased to tick this one off the list.

Glad to finally get here & no one was around. Cache exactly where I thought. The ants weren't happy about being disturbed. Tftc

What a beautiful spot with awesome history. It was very busy today so couldn't get to where I thought the cache was so will have to come back.

Passing through Tauranga and stayed nearby. Collecting some local caches. This one was quicker then we anticipated which was nice as the next was a long DNF. Great view from the top of the Pa. Thanks for bringing us here.

A beautiful spot for a cache. Was expecting it to take longer than it did. Thanks for the hide

After a night spend in our campervan nearby we decided to find some caches. We enjoyed this one since it was a challenge and we could learn some history. Thank you! K&J

Woohoo - nailed it!! I’ve looked for this elusive cache several times so I had great satisfaction in putting my hand straight onto it today. A fp from me TFTC

Found it finally! Really good hide

Will come back and try again

Our caching journey with AF-Bee, GeoWench78 and 6ftzp&1/2zip continues as our time in NZ is coming to a close. Starting to get dark so last cache for the day . Thanks for bring us out of towners to this special site.

Found with AF BEE, 6ftzpr&1/2zip, and ondago while on a geocaching vacation. Thanks for placing this cache.

Went out for a few caches after checking in at our motel...nice hide...thanks for sharing some interesting local history!

Found it with TBU1BIKESU.TFTC

Oh. How awesome the hide!

We are cruising around New Zealand by ship, from Brisbane, stopping at 6 Ports. This is our 5th stop. Beautiful sunny day.

Tftc

We drew on recent experience of similar hides and shortly we had the cache!! A peaceful place on this breezy sunny morning. TFTC

Having a large item ruled out as a host, means (as others have pointed out) that there is only one other possible host. We know the design of these items intimately having struggled to find a cache on the other side of Tauranga in a similar construction, so this time we were much quicker. Luckily muggle-free as well. Splendid day, and a lovely historic Pa site too.

Our third attempt with this one, but we finally found it! A tip from the CO definitely helped us, but we must have missed the cache by the finest of margins last time! We signed the log as a nearby muggle flew his drone. Very glad to have this one in hand! TFTC

Nice to know where it wasn't, so there was only one other possible. Cleverly hidden little hide, but we found it. Thanks

#17376. Thanks for the interesting historical info in the cache page. The wee blighter didn't take too long to track down. TFTC.

Found with StreetWalker on a 4 day long weekend in Tauranga.
Day 1 Christchurch to Tauranga. We picked up the rental then headed west towards Otumoetai and Matua.
We wouldn't have known about this historic place without this multi, so thanks for bringing us here. Took a couple of looks to spot the cache. All quiet here on a week day but I expect it would be busier during the weekend. Lovely location, TFTC.

Been here a while...very clever I imagine...will be back another time .....

Woo hoo....went and got some lunch and came back....
Plus was given some intel....
All good this time!!!!!
Thanks.
Beautiful historical place...and perfect for your first cache.
Thanks for all the info...I had a good walk all up the back and read the info boards too...
Cheers...

What a magnificent spot - both the view and the cache! Stubbornness set in even in the face of so many dnf’s - it had to be found. Back to the original spot and voila, finally!!

The CO is the king of sneaky hides. Out and about with CeeVee, we must have spent about 20 minutes looking for this cache before CeeVee asked the CO for a clue. It was in the most obvious place, and a place we both had looked and felt in 3 or 4 times. Thank you for the cache

This is the third time I've searched for this sneaky cache. With the help of camcat1 we both searched for at least 20 minutes without the find. Time to message the owner. Reply came through quickly, even with the hint it still took a few minutes and and three or four times searching in the same place before cache was in hand. FP from me for this cleaver / sneaky hide. Cheers

After 2 attempts.. we still didn't find.

After 3 visits here and after making contact with the CO we finally found this sneaky cache! Thought we had thoroughly searched the hiding place before but there it was all along! Thanks for a great hunt!

Checked on this one as I do when ever I find myself on this side of town. All good and where it should be - I've also added half a star because 32 DNFs is far higher then I thought it should be.

Mr Northwood took one of the junior Northwoods to Mount Maunganui for a sports tournament and some geocaching. Tauranga and the Mount are where Northwood senior grew up.

This site had not been developed like this when I was younger. And I didn't make a find today. Too sneaky for me!

I had previously had some couple of attempts at this very cool cache but had no luck in finding it.

I didn't want to log this one as a DNF so quickly as by reading the logs the CO regularly checks it and I had a really good idea it was just me not able to find it.

After I contacted the CO and armed with the information on where to look and that it should be there I headed back this morning and I was soon able to have the cache in hand.

This for me was one of those ones that after, what I thought was a really good look at an area I then didn't look there again as I was sure it wasn't there so didn't think it was worth spending any more time on that spot (silly me lol.)

What got me the most confused was the fact that in the small area of this cache location there are so many awesome posable cache hiding places that I was looking everywhere but where I should have been so that makes it a favourite for me due to the entertaining frustration this cache provided.

I have to thank the CO for the awesome history lesson the cache description provided and bringing me here to a spot so many people just pass without stopping and learning an important part of our local history.

The cache is in good condition.
SL TFTC
Cheers Flippaduck

No giving up. Will be back

Just a quick check while passing by - all good here.

Reach up, but don't touch the leaves. Awesome cache.

Looking at previous logs helped us find this one. Fun little find, thank you!

Second time searching for this cache. It eludes is again.

Very clever find! Navigator was a bit off but after some time of using hands instead of eyes we found it!! Lots of fun to kill the time

Had endeavoured to find this in early July, without success, when I was up this way from Wellington. Celebrating Christmas nearby and decided with my sister, also in the area for Christmas, to have another go at this today. She’d previously logged a DNF too.

We spent 15 minutes or so looking late afternoon without success. Messaged the CO for a further clue. Heard back with detailed information(!) and, armed with that, went back and located it with no difficulty! It is a miniature specimen and is certainly there to be found! #2115. TFTC.

Haven't geocache for a while. So it was nice to get back into today. Came here checking out something else when I said to Dot there was a cache here. Sure enough it was one I had hunted before but came up empty. Seeing it was here had another hunt. Stood back thought about it then the aha moment came. Lol. Nicely hidden. Tftc

After seeing so many DNF’s I almost bypassed this one completely, but I’m so glad I didn’t as I found it in the first place I looked. Cache is in great condition thanks!

When I see someone with 17k finds log a DNF I take it a little more seriously so I made sure to take a look after work. I was pleased to find the cache exactly as I'd placed it but I'm a little sad this has proven so difficult to find. But I've given the difficulty 2 stars because well... it is a little sneaky

Sadly I join the list of People who failed on this one. It was of course helpful knowing not to search the tree but knowing where to search would have been great. Ruled out the bench and fence and everywhere in between. In the end I had to give up and accept the first of 11 DNFs today.

YESSSS.. this made for find 10/10 today... what a way to end the day on a high after a long stint of no caching... have failed at this one in the past so was stoked to make the find today. TFTC!!!

The only thing I found was a small painted rock on the seat, from "love- rocks. Org"

School holiday trip to Auckland/Coromandel with the family. After a couple nights at Hot Water beach time for a few days in and around Tauranga. Staying in Matua...and MrsTG out for a morning run. She found this one without any problems.....a cool historic spot. Cheers.

Couldn't find anything

I went over the seat with a fine tooth comb, I checked the wooden fence reasonably thoroughly (or so I thought), and I avoided the tree. Not too many other places to look. But no luck with this one for me today. Obviously it’s there somewhere, but it seems to stump quite a few who do try to find it. Hope to give it a go another time, with a better outcome!

Very nice hide,quick find with EyeSpyBen in Tauranga for the wet weekend thanks Philip

A quick park and grab excellent hide found with abcdf4

Had another fruitless hunt no smiley yet for me

Another dnf for today! Looked everywhere but didn’t find anything

couldn’t find it at the coordinates in the short time we were there

Being rather close to our local friends, we had to stop on the way home to search. It took a while, but got it eventually. A clever hide, thanks.

Up from Hastings, looked for awhile and came up empty handed, one to find next time I'm up. Cheers

Glad to find this one as we had tried before but it was missing. Not to busy here today TFTC

In the area for an event so figured I'd check on this again - pleased to confirm.... still there waiting to be found

Maybe not lucky enough! Thanks

Definitely still there. Luckily..... I don't have many more of these containers left

I had a good look around, but no luck for me either today. I'll be back for another look but probably not for a while...

No joy here, my caching skills have deserted me, but I will be back to try again

All sorted

Same container in the same spot - enjoy. (the area not the hide )

Checked this morning and it has gone for a wander. I'll try to replace this ASAP thanks for letting me know.

Had four of us looking with no luck.

Needs checking no cache even with a few sets of eyes here. Nice to meet you squirrel nutcase and friend. Good luck on the rest of your finds tonight

nice hide. tftc

I'd been meaning to stop and look for this one several times when passing here but there always seemed to be someone else about. Not so today while out on a geocaching mission with SB20. Took us some time but we eventually located it. Tftc.

Tricky hide, took us a wee while and we were very happy to make the find. Like most others we made the initial search in the obvious place, then looked elsewhere, then went back and found it after a second hunt. This was number 20 of around 30 caches that KathyKaches and I found around Tauranga today. I have a love/hate relationship with these type of caches

Tonight was another adventure crewed by kiwis69, 11HPG11 & HKCB to see what we could find along this part of Tauranga as together and separately we had spent a lot of time clearing out other areas but not this one so it was a bit of a mystery as to what we would in turn find.
Generally we signed as HOAC or some variant of that (depending on how tired we were or whom for that matter signed the Log). We left Hamilton at 6pm collecting cachers as we went and made it home in time for breakfast (some slept on the way home - lucky buggers). Had some great walks in the evening, lots of laughs and some curses as am sure that many of these caches are easier to locate in daylight rather than the middle of the night. Not a bad night to be out and all in all about 40 caches collected, which should in turn put a hole in the map. Thanks to all the Co's who enable us to have fun.

This was the twenty eighth of the evening and many kilometers that we actualy walked tonight. A short walk to GZ and it was in hand

Thanks for the placement, Thanks for the cache