..The Sword Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
By KirsTim on 08-Apr-15. Waypoint GC5R161

Hard

No luck here.Searched around for a while.

No luck here.Searched around for a while.

The track leading to the cache is currently closed while they are building a new footpath (looks massive...). Because it wasn't Kauri dieback and because it was the weekend and I came specially to look for this cache I couldn't find a year and a half ago, I decided to do the naughty thing and follow the track anyway. The area has changed a lot following the mini cyclone we had a month ago. Surprisingly I found the cache in the first place I looked. Nice hide. TFTC

Thank you. Hard find but worth it

That was quick. We had waited to let some runners pass then doubled back through the bush straight to the cache. I'm still in shock that we managed to walk straight here.

No luck with this one..though we did find some sunglasses from a previous cacher maybe?

Was getting too dark. Will come back another day.

I'd found the first cache on this track along from the Bush Road end last year and today entered uncharted territory. Headed off the track and upwards and soon eyed the host and cache. All good here and after signing replaced as found. T F T C KirsTim

Out for a bit of a stroll over lunch time so headed over to this track which I've visited previously (just over a year ago now) from each end, but not for any of the middle part. Was keen to being my ascent to Mt Kilimanjaro via Base camp, but not in any hurry to make the peak so just the four caches today. I did also make a find of the fist stage of the nearby Fruit Bowl Multi, so that was useful for future visits. Thanks to the COs for their hides today.

In line with the NZ Geocache Reviewers guidance on what Covid Level 3, Part 1 looks like, geocaching IS permitted, but there are not to be any events or any new listings. It seems the NZ Covid website has failed to maintain pace with Lockdown level amendments and changes and is still lumping Geocaching in with Orienteering and other gathering type activities. Link from Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/NZGeocachingReviewers/ for further details.
Update - Level 3.2 due to be applied in Auckland region at 2359 09 Nov 21 will be allowing new listings to be published, still no Events though.

Searched and searched but couldn’t find

This one was a charter member of my Nemesis list. With a recent find (now four months ago), I decided to try once again.

I took the distance the last finder mentioned to heart and made a sweep at that distance. I was about to swing back when I saw one last tree to check, and there was the cache. TFTC.

At first we overshot GZ as our GPS had us higher up from the Track. As we gave up & headed back to the track there it was...about 15m out for us. TFTC

All good here, always interesting when you struggle to find your own cache

Looked for quite some time but not today

The bush trail was a little slippery today, but this did not stop us heading off the trail to find this cache. Once our GPS settled under the tree cover, we soon spotted something of interest and sure enough this was the cache. Returning back down the hill, we had to be careful not to trip up on the supplejack in the area. Cache is in great condition!

Tough find. Eventually spotted something different

Three quarters of our little bubble came for a walk along this trail this afternoon. We spent some time hunting around the area for the sword, but my girls got bored and insisted we leave it for another day.

I was out for some specific caches to some challenges. This one was on my list, even seen that the last two experienced cachers DNF it I decided to give it a go, took around twoo hours to finally spot the well desired sword. It was very hard to find the GZ, with the GPS jumping around all the time, it took me many metres away from where the thing was, had to come back many times to some places, and read the description and previous logs again. Actually I didn't find the GZ, but got close to it. When I was about to give up I finally found it, such a relief. At this stage my cellphone's battery was only 3%, my stomach 0% and my water bottle 5%. Had some fun in the beginning but towards the end it wasn't fun anymore. Anyway
TFTC. Mission accomplished.
The coordinates that worked for me was S 036° 44.242' E 174° 42.071

Went up in the forrest, but did not find the cache. It was very difficult with so many trees.

My GPSr had me all tangled in the vines. Next time, I will bring secateurs. TFTC.

Uff what a lovely area! Picked up few caches in South Albany before Event organized by G2. This one was one of them. Did few circles in the area. GZ pretty much bang on when steady. Not an easy to get good fix but got the hide! Nice container!
TFTC

Been meaning to do this one for ages - today was the day - finally spotted it as i climbed through the vines. A good cache

TFTC

The brother stumbled across the sword in the vine jungle while I was attacked by mozzies! I don't recommend jumping the stream to shorten the trip home, my day ended with one wet foot!

Had fun playing in the jungle gym. then a good laugh with clairemcsk nearly falling in the creak.

Did not find. Too wet and muddy 4 me.

Made the slight detour up the hill to go in search of this one and soon noticed that stopping for more than a few seconds was all the invitation that the mozzies needed so I had all the incentive I needed to keep moving.

Nothing initially stood oout on first approach, but didn't take too long to spot an area worth searching and the cache was soon in hand after that. Back to the main track to avoid the bugs and I was back on my way. Nicely done - TFTC

Hadn't been back to this general area since during the mega in October of 2013. Today we needed to pick up a Trademe purchase close by, so spent the afternoon in the general area cleaning up these unfound caches in the 5 years since our last visit.
We parked on Bush Rd and along the track. Initially overshot the mark when the compass pointed backwards but then noted the easier route upward. GPS was saying 10m away with 12m accuracy so couldn't get a good fix under the tree cover. Spent a good 20 mins going around in circles, clambering over the supplejack and roots before spotting something. Awesome! cache was spotted and it didn't take long to find the log. Took the quicker but a little slippery route back to the car across the stream. Nice idea, TFTC!

Out with Bertie Blowfish, pazzabella and Merlot58. Seems while I was busy warming my hands the group found this little gem that I had strolled right on by.

Four geocachers and 5 geodogs decided to walk this track today. I had previously looked for this one nearly a year ago but walked away knowing it was there but wasn't for me that day. Today with 4 pairs of eyes and a hint from a previous finder it was a little easier and Pazzabella found the cache a lot further away than my first search zone had been. Nice to finally get a smiley here

The hint helped a lot here because it was much easier to find the natural track that leads to the sword than climb the steeper direct approach. Found sword just a meter or two further from where small track appeared to end. Cache was dry, amazingly considering Aucklands's wet summer and wetter start to winter. Tftc

Pazzabella was more on to it here than I was, that's for sure. I was still clambering my way up to GZ when she triumphantly called out "got it".
So from my point of view "a quick find" tftc

Well, this was a tricky one! GPS was all over the place, jumping from 5m to 20m then back again, the direction arrow was no more helpful. Eventually used a couple of previous logs to provide clues, and an inspired look by Edvern came up with the prize. Whew!

Found with Boogie-O - a stroll in the bush after doing some orienteering training for the World Masters at the Albany campus nearby. This took some time and we had to widen our search. Pleased to spot it, well protected by supplejack. Something different! Thanks KirsTim.

Good hide. Next time we will bring a bottle of mosquito spray because we got bitten about 20 times! Good catche!! TFTC

Searched here for quite a while, kept saying to myself I must check over there, but the route to get there kept putting me off till finally I made the effort and were rewarded with the cache.

TFTC

Sooo happy to finally find this one !
Really tricky KirsTim ...
Was over an hour first time....
Planned to come back in summer and this was the day !
The river is certainly different this time ....very low and can be walked over...last time it was deep and like rapids !
Found the track up...and the supplejack...and thanks to a big nudge from a previous finder this time I walked straight to it !
Favourite for cool camo and the frustation and lovely bushy stroll here....

I took the advice to head past the co-ords and then head up the hill. I could see areas of where people have walked and I could see all that damn supplejack. I ended up going around in circles, the GPS bounced around like anything under all this tree cover. I searched a heap of places and eventually contacted a friendly geocacher who gave me a clue, not that that helped any! I was about to give up and was working my way down hill and the very last tree I checked, there it was sitting at GL. I couldn't believe it, I was here for just on an hour, I know some people found it straight away, lucky them! I took a foto too of where it was.

It's Labour weekend and I should be at the Mega in Turangi, but instead I'm in Auckland collecting caches before having to work tomorrow, well thats life.
So with a few things planned for the day, it was a chance to work my way around the city and see what I would be able to collect.
Had worked out an approach from good old google and for a moment thought that I was going to have to rethink, however soon found a likely approach which enabled me access to the cache. Somehow I managed to avoid the Supplejack for a nice and easy approach and departure from GZ
Nicely themed cache
Thanks for the cache, Thanks for the placement

Ever since I upgraded to premium I have been chasing around old ground finding even more dastardly hidden caches than I had found before in the same areas.
This one should have been hard, yer but no, quick find and log TFTC

Hmm, no luck for me here today.

Oh dear....was so intrigued, excited and committed to finding " The Sword " ....it sounds amazing.....was here for 2 hours slipping and sliding on the steep foresty hill ....and getting all tangled up in supplejack...
Nearly slipping right downhill into the raging brown river and rapids !
Investigated a lot scabbards many times to no avail ! Totally covered in mud for school pick up at St Cuths !!!!

Out and about for a spot of caching this morning. This cache looked interesting so I determined to have a look. Parked up on Bush rd and took the track through the native forest. I wasn't sure this wad the best approach, but it was the one I remembered. Worked out fine as it took me to roughly GZ. But that is when the path ended and the supple jack started. Initially I circled in, but ended up too high. Tried to come in from the bottom and managed to spot the aptly named hide. Took a bit of effort to tick this one off. No problems completing the formalities. Managed a creek crossing and took the field way back to Bush rd. Cheers for the exercise and the cache placement!

Been after this one for ages and never seemed to get the time until today. I could have done with a sword in here. Man that supplejack is nasty. Nicely hidden.

No excuse not to find this one as it is on a track that I frequently walk along. Brought the 64s with me this time to make it easier to locate. Managed to find it reasonably quickly after doing battle with all the supplejack in the area. Signed the log, back down to the track and off to finish the circuit. TFTC.

As usual my GPS struggled so I widened the search area and soon had the weapon in hand. Nice work TFTC

Accidently set my GPS to the cache further along the track before I realised I'd walked past this one.

Never seen a cache like this one before. Interesting. TFTC

Definitely a first for us

Fairly easy find due to good coordinates, but quite hard to get to
Unusual cache.

Haha-haven't seen one like that before-fading light didn't help-def a fav point from us

What a great cache! Had all the elements of one, off into the bush, uncertainty about exact location, good little twist but got there in the end in the failing light whilst having half an eye on my bike left back on the other side of the creek. All good, thanks!

The rain had finally stopped and we had a bit of time before dusk, so we decided to head to Bush Rd, then into the bush in search of The Sword. Made our way along the track and up towards GZ. Under the cloud and tree cover our GPS was giving us quite a wide search area, but eventually we spotted what we had come for. Had a think about what came next, and then we were able to sign the log. Very nicely done cache, gets a favourite point from us. Thanks.

Really enjoyed this cache. Had a great walk to GZ and soon located the item in question. After thinking of a very famous quote from years gone by the log book was soon in hand. Loved this cache and a fav from us. Thanks

Published

Only discovered this publication after an hour, but took our chances and packed the kids into the car. KiwiScott were there searching already and we put our heads together for a true joint FTF. Great hide with a super twist. Thanks Kirstim!

With Kiwi at football, Kiwiscot & Scotty spent Sunday afternoon chasing a 1st FTF (previous 2 found solo by Kiwi). Shortly after arriving at GZ we were joined by Geomatt123 & kids. Combined resources and soon came up with sword in hand. A joint (FTF). Great to meet other geocaches. Gets a favourite from us and very happy to get this without any nudges from the CO (re: 2 Little Ducks ). TFTC