The Giant B (King CountryWaikato) Te Mapara, North Island, New Zealand
By Jambocacher on 25-Aug-15. Waypoint GC629B2

Day 45 of our Enzed adventures with Robmc and today there was a parting of the party as some did the Ruakuri tour (1 1/2hours) and some did the Black Abyss (5 hours) so then it was off for a tour of the area for Ruakuri people.The long grass and the rye grass are not my friend and then the gate wouldn't budge. This is where you hope that the Giant B doesn't stand for Giant Bull.Thanks for contributing to an amazing holiday.

Cool cache. Thanks for all these. Makes me feel like a kid again! Left the hound in the car for this one... It wasn't bees watching me!

Nice quick find to break up the drive North.

Nice quick stop on my way home to TaurangaLogged i and when i went to return Container, the wooden lid has fallen victim to weevils and come apart

Damage to Cache Lid caused by critters

Quick find for us. Thanks for the cache

#896Couldn't B-lieve the size of this cache! The treasure trove was jealously guarded by a native cockroach but we managed to convince it to give us access. Thanks for the hide - took nothing and left nothing.

Nice little set up. Handy parking away from the main road too. All good here.

?????

Easy find

Easy

Found it, a lot of six legged friends

Every now and then I review caches that we added an OAR log to When no action has taken place as a result I consider a RAR log as this often has the desired effectHere the container isnt holding out water and the logsheet was sodden - needs attentionddm

Replaced logbook mid Feb. Will check again when going past tomorrow .

Making our way from Hamilton to New Plymouth today - grabbed a few caches on the way. Parked nearby and started searching - then realised we were on the wrong sude- once on the right side we spotted the cache immediately. Sadly the contents were not looking good. The logbook was wet but signable though only the top sheet. Seems others had resorted to signing that one but no one has informed the CO of the issue by adding an OAR TFTCTim and Viv - ddm

This geocacher reported that there is a problem with this cache.

We were looking on the roadside at first, but the we realized it's on the other side of the fence and found it, tftc

Found it on our way to Waitomo. Tftc

Found it easily. Nice to go abit off-road and break up the drive that is Taup to Taranaki.More signing paper is needed.Thank you

Found it

Day 17: Farewell to TaranakiTodays trip was the journey back to Auckland from New Plymouth, along SH 3 and SH 1, picking up whatever caches that was convenient along the very long drive back. There were a few fun finds (especially around Piopio and interesting stops in small towns that we would have other missed on the road back. Thanks for all the fun!(End of the cut and paste bit)Heres the specific log for this cache: Last find of the Piopio stretch and my word, this was a big one. I wasnt sure what to expect here, but when I approached and finally saw the cache as the cows looked on, I figured out what it all was about. Fun find here, thanks for the laugh. TFTC!

I was on a mission today to check out some backroads in the car for the possibility of a motorbike adventure on my newish learners licence, then set out for piopio to do some geocaching. This one challanged my nerves. Head high grass to plough through to get to the gate so i felt like i was tresspassing. Keeping alert with my eyes open in case theres any angry bulls in the paddock. Im relieved to say no fiesty bulls or angry farmers were disturbed in the search for this cache. I then faced a mob of active cockroaches. I hate cockroahes so i dropped a small something in on top of the container to prove ive been there. It got caught in a web just above the box so i had to use a stick to get it to sit on the lid of the box.Goodluck to the person brave enough to put their hands in there. An awesome cache and i appreciated the history lesson on the area. Thankyou for the cache which was also visited by mystery at the museum and The voodoo troll.

TYFTF

Found it! Thank you!
Spontaneous trip to New Plymouth (from Auckland) to visit a good friend this weekend. Needed to keep up my geocache streak this month. Glad I stopped here to find this one

Paddock box

Buzzz

Very cool!

Quick find , so cool

Love it aroha and happy caching

MPLC

TB in

Good spot be careful of the family of cockroaches though!

What a beereleint idea hahaha

**17,196**
Having read the previous finders log, took the correct route the first time. Cache was a clever construction and well worth a favourite point. TFTC

Spent a good while looking along the edge of the road and was wondering why all the logs were saying it was so easy to find.
I eventually read the description and realised I should have been on the other side of the property line.
Fast forward a few moments and yep, there it is!
Would have been really cool in its hey day, but sadly the elements of time have beaten down and is in slight disrepair. But still has a serviceable log book which I signed and replaced.

Thanks for the hide!!

Over visiting family over from the UK!Having a day trip with J's sis LouF71 & hubby.Awesome cache, thanks so much.(Sorry for the very very late Log, between limited Data, some issues with our travel, some personal issues and a build up meaning the ADHD couldn't cope tackling these but finally getting logged Please forgive)

Tftc. On day trip with overseas whanau, geocaching Piopio area.

quick and easy. Nice cache. log book a bit damp but can still write in it. TFTC!

Cool find again. So much fun

We’re in Piopio for a couple of days, went for a drive, and stopped to pick this up on the way back. Tftc

So many bugsss! It was a really good find though, LOVE IT

Had a Tiki tour round Taranaki visiting friends and now head back north. Stayed in Piopio last night at Tui park. Woke up early for a cycle ride to collect some local caches. This Giant series is clearly a favourite with people and it didn’t disappoint. Hirt walk to a great cache. Just makes you smile when you spot it and it all makes sense. Cache and log all fine. Thanks for the smiley.

Very cool cache, kids were very impressed, thanks

Kids got a great surprise in this box

Easy find, tftc!

Funny Bee
Clever! Cool cache , creative

A fun find with an iconic nz buzzy bee and a friendly fan tail.

That’s the biggest cache I’ve seen. Great spot. Thanks

Awesome cache. Found with lucypear

Hanging out with jgirl1880 - on our way to the waterfalls when we noticed this cache location. Parked by the school sign and made the short walk to GZ. What a cool themed cache!

Quick easy find between showers. TFTC

I initially was looking too low but soon expanded my search and headed up to the GZ, nice execution here had me buzzing with excitement.

Onto the second phase of todays caching and good to extend beyond my usual turn off SH and head to Piopio. These Giant caches are popular and today I was able to understand why.
Today's the last day of us living in Auckland having taking possession of our new home in Rangitikei on Friday after a few weeks of will we/won't we. I headed up from our home on Sunday morning and had the remains of the day to clean the rental a little bit more before handover today. Was back there this morning for a quick last hour and all was well and I was on the road just after 10. I had a few possible targets as I transited South and a pleasing haul of 18 caches and back home in good time. I grabbed a few in Huntley then pushed on through to Piopio for the FP hungry 'Giant' caches there and the weather was great as was the scenery. It was a good day today, thanks to all COs for their efforts.

Quick easy find.

TFTC

In the paddock

Favouriting this one. Such a cool cache, exactly as described TYFTC

Great cache, we set the roaches free lol

nice find ,bit worryed about the bees but grandad went diving in to find the log for me quick sign and on to next cache.

nice quick stop an grab with grandad on the way home

Continuing south today, and this was the first cache of the day. Parked over opposite by the gravel pit, and walked on up the road. A bit of interesting history, and a cool hide here. Dropped off a TB as well, TFTC

That's a fav. Nothing to swap.
TFTC

Found the Big Bee!

TFTC, Found with Riser5

Pulled over to check directions.... wait... checks map... CACHE!
FANTASTIC

What a great cache! Plenty of room for trackables here! After reading the description carefully we figured out where we should Bee! TFTC

My mission today was to drive from Auckland to Wellington via Taranaki. My two objectives were to find enough caches to crack 18,000 finds and to find enough caches in Taranaki to knock off another district towards a challenge cache in Nelson. Nice one! After I worked out how to get to the cache it was an easy find. TFTC, Biggles.

on the way home from rotorua, nice cache spot and good to stretch legs in the paddock. tftc

Quick find, on the road Nth.No pen in cache, so took a photo.

Nice find. Sadly the bee doesn't float up anymore.

What a great cache!! Poor bee looking alittle glum

After a 12 hour day tramping the Pouakai Crossing, the group disbanded and went their own ways home, and we decided to stay local for just one more......cache......but the CO's were making some awesome hides here, we just had to keep on going.....

TFTC.

Team SEAC had conquered the Pouakai Crossing around Mt Egmont.

On the was home we decided to attempt a few caches and as we had already passed this one on the way down we had to make the stop to get it on the way home.

A brief walk and we found the cache. Yes it IS GIANT!!!!!!!!

FAV point awarded.

TFTC

Very cool cache. Loved the little surprise in it.

Gets a fav point from me.

Really fun cache! Left a trackable

Another great cache for the day. Love this cache even if it made us jump Great idea Jambocacher excellent hide.

Once I reread discription cache was in the bag better than walking in circuls

We were a little confused how to approach this one until we fully read the write up and realized we had permission to enter the farm property. After that it was a quick find.
Thanks for putting this nicely created hide here

Parked by the gate and fought my way into the field. Found the hive in tact though the bee looks a bit worse for wear. Enjoyed the cache and the find.

We are on our summer holiday, we usually take a few weeks and travel around the South Island, but this year we are heading around the North Island. Heading up the West coast and back down the East coast. Finding only a select few caches along the way, we are mostly targeting some challenges we have qualified for, some large size caches, some that fill gaps in our date placed grid, a few D/T combinations, some with lots of favourite points, letterboxes and anything else that grabs our fancy.

I had a fall earlier in the week so I was now pretty much out of action with a very sore and swelling ankle, so I am only going to help find the nearby caches and gk is going to find any of the caches that require more of a walk.

We are just stopping at the caches with the most favourites as I am really keen to make sure we get right to the top of the North Island, bur next time we are passing we will be finishing this series as all of the ones we have found today are really good. This one included, hence another favourite point is dished our, the log was signed and it was returned as we found it.

Thanks for placing this cache and thank you for the smiley

Had to stop here as the car was making a funny noise. So opportunity knocked. Another great cache. Tftc

North Island Campervan trip Day 2

After the fantastic holiday I had a few months ago traveling around the South Island, making the most of one of those incredibly cheap campervan deals available at the time, I figured it was worth taking a week off work before the stresses of the usual holiday period to enjoy some of the delights to be found around the top of the North Island.

So seeing as I have to get to Auckland to pick the camper up it seemed like a great opportunity to break my drive up there up by going via the Taranaki, to seek out some targeted caches there such as the TMGT ones as well as some that would help me with my Jasmer grid, missing minutes (for a couple of challenge caches I'm working on) and any other caches that caught my eye.

Today was simply the drive up to Auckland from New Plymouth. This was an opportunity to go caching in an area I don't often get to and in fact haven't been to at all since I started caching.

This was effectively a park n grab for me today. The co-ords are accurate and once I figured the proper access point then it was a quick and easy find. There were no issues at all with this cache or the log, which was signed and replaced before I was back on my way again.

Thanks for setting this cache up.

Very neat - I let Mr P do the honours as he is allergic to Bees. I told him to get a grip.

Neat themed hide. I am on a North Island Figure of Eight tour. For the first 4 days I spend time in the Bay of Plenty with my husband JDScout in Rotorua. Now I am on part two of the eight loop going over to New Plymouth. This part is being done with my good friends Ethness and Jude_E.
Thanks Jambocacher for creating this hide. It was find 9034 for me.

======== NZ Mega 2021 ========
Planning for the NZ Mega 2021 event is well underway. It will be held in Auckland over Labour Weekend, October 2021

On the way to New Plymouth today with Nosynel and Ethness. Our goal is to find all the TMGT caches in a big figure 8 across the centre of the North Island. Buzzy was out of his hive. Perhapsd the cows toppled his hive. He is safe again now. Thanks for the beaut hide.
#6165

Cute .

Jude_E, NosyNel and I are continuing on our figure of 8 tour of the North Island collecting the ‘Tour’ caches, plus others, plus seeing the scenery, plus having a good old time. TFTC.

Enjoying all the giant series of trads. Such awesome hides. fav point for sure.

Maya is still watching the box. TFTC

Found it

Great hiding spot. Found on my way home to New Plymouth

What a frwat cache

Very cool giant B. Nice little snack of blackberries before continuing on our road trip to New Plymouth. Thanks for the hide

We just comment it with a big WOW and put another well deserved favorite to the rest. Thanks!

I headed off to have some R&R in the Motorhome at Seaview Holiday Park near Mokau. I had 8 geocaches planned to find. I drove past one so will have to do another time. #1. This an easy find but I was a bit dubious about a queen but no buzzing so had a look. OMG it is a super king. Fabulous. Signed log and left in peace. TFTC.

Great find

No queen but plenty of rain just as we found the cache today so quick scribble in the log book and on we went. TFTC. Log book is full.

A nice quick park and grab while in the area. Fortunately no bees near gz today as one of us is allergic to them.

A nice quick find today.

It's time to start the trek home. This time down the NOrth Island west coast to catch a few more of the TMTG series.

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

Found a queen on the way in but she was a wasp at the gate. Good place to be, in autumn when the blackberries ripen. Tftc

.No bees here today - live ones anyway. Got this one tagged. Cheers

Day 16 - Saturday 28 December. Awakino to Taumaranui today. So lets go!!

The Seagnoid, Zara, Toby and I are spending Christmas exploring Taranaki via geocaching. Its been an amazing 3 week adventure. Rattls BBQ was a great event, meeting many other cachers. But also managed to fit in a few more events, especially New Years Day celebrating the start of 2020. Lots of caches - over 500. Lots of cache maintenance. Lots and lots of kilometers. And lots of amazing places visited along our journey. Mt Taranaki remained elusive for much of our travels and the caches on it at the top. Loved Pukekura Park Night Lights Show and the the Wooden Mechanical toy exhibition at NP Info centre.

Sad there there is so little left of the hive of activity that used to be here. The sign mentioned a *phonetic learning school" what is that? and it only lasted 10 years.
Love the cache. Gets a favourite.

Day sixteen of Taybeedragon's and my big 3 week circumnavicaching trip around Mt Taranaki, starting from Palmerston North. Today is New Plymouth to Taumaranui - yep, it's a slow trip!!
Highlights:
* 3 weeks, 536 caches
* Mt Taranaki had been removed for washing, which was a bit of a shame. Even after it had been returned we were only allowed to see it for it was less than half an hour a day.
* High percentage of caches with crappy coordinates
* Amazing Pukekura Park
* AMAZING Pukekura Park light show!
* Pukeiti Gardens
* Lots of cache maintenance!

***[======== NZ Mega 2020 ========](http://nzmega.com)***

Planning for the [NZ Mega 2020](http://nzmega.com) event is well underway. It will be held in Auckland over Labour Weekend, 23 to 26 October 2020. It's going to be a massive celebration of geocaching:

* 20 years of geocaching worldwide.
* 20 years since New Zealand had the very first geocache hidden outside of USA.
* And it's 2020 - all the 20s!

Talk to your geo-friends and start planning to be part of [this event](https://coord.info/GC87777) - you won't want to miss it!

Last cache find on the big North Island TMGT roadtrip with harisree and FMZ. This was a fun one, thanks!