NZ Native Trees #16 Tawhai (Upper Hutt) Upper Hutt, North Island, New Zealand
By BarnabysTravels on 14-Oct-15. Waypoint GC657Y7

Great spot, thank you for this delightful spot!

Tftc, log pretty wet.

Found it. The log is rather wet. Lost my pen on the way, so no log, sorry.

Many thanks! Great spot. Heading back over to the lakes and glad we are nearly at the top of the ridge. Weather turning a bit yuck
Loving the adventure!

Quick find; CO’s garden must look amazing from the photos on these cache pages. TFTC BT!

Onward and upwards.

Another nice quick find while heading up the trail, TFTC

Had been meaning to get back to walk the rest of the ridge track that I hadn't done before (started from the Te Marua end last time, over a year ago) and I had the extra incentive of picking up a number of caches to earn points for the latest souvenir promotion. I really loved this track, and maybe I appreciated it even more after being cooped up for weeks over lockdown! I'm not too great with tree identification but the cache was a nice quick find, in the first place checked. Hopefully I'll retain some of the information from this series! TFTC

OK L2D is here and we can get out and about again. I walked up from the carpark on a rather dank spring morning. Not that that bothered me much, it was great to be able to enjoy the freshness of the bush. It took me a while to track down the cache. I spent some time looking in the wrong spot before searching somewhere else and making a quick find. Cheers and TFTC

Apologies to the CO.I found this cache a while ago but stopped caching for a while due to the pandemic, and this find was left as a draft on my app.TFTC

Out for an early evening hill climb with a friend before tea and found this on the way back down as the GPS was giving me grief on the walk up. TFTC.

I did the west (Te Marua) half of the ridge track a couple of years ago - but I turned around before getting to the Pakuratahi (Forks) side. Today I completed the remaining six caches. There was a gale-force northerly blowing - it sounded scary but it was reasonably calm down at ground level.

By far the trickiest of my finds today! I think I took the hint too literally and didn't consider that most of the hides in this series are at the specimen...! And I was well and truly muggled while signing the log; the only person I saw on the whole trip - but they said hi and didn't give me a second glance.

About five to go in this series (or perhaps four as one has been recently archived).

# 2776

Finally got one up the wife. She totally missed this big red cache looking up at here.

GPS was jumping around a bit so tried a few options before finding the right one - tftc

Did a bit of a loop around with the GPS to get to GZ here. Clue didn't really seem to match but I definitely had the right cache and the tree. Bit damp inside but the waterproof paper was usable after a quick wipe. TFTC

Find #3169. Had to make the most of the fine Saturday and headed to Kaitoke to do the Ridge Line walk, not having done it for some time. Started out fine and breezy, ended 5h 30m later fine and windy!
Love the forest up here, very pretty with the verdant green of the ferns and mosses and the dappled light through the leaves of the Tawhai. SL TFTC

Tftc!

The ridge track has been on my radar for a long time, and the opportunity finally came today. Teamed up with allepousse and Borrowers_Again to complete the walk. Really enjoyed the beech forest and makuka stands along the ridge.
TFTC BarnabysTravels

Nice thanks

Bit of a discussion on what kind of tree a Tawhai is at GZ but the cache page explains all. TFTC

Funny, I'd actually never learned the name Tawhai. When sveppi found the cache I said "that's a silver beech!" hehe, ok, dumb one, it's a Tawhai too
Cache totally wet inside (these containers are not very good...), but waterproof paper allowing to write in.

The GPS gave me the runaround here and when I ended up back on the track to start again with a different approach I found the cache in an unexpected place. I checked the hint and it did not seem to agree with where I found it but, hey, the log says I found what I was looking for. TFTC.

Decided I had a few hours to do some caching so headed over to the Ridge Track. Parked at te wrong co-ords so added another 500m to the walk. Passed some trampers on the way up who told me it was only another 20 minutes to the lookout (which I didn't find) and was well longer than 20 mins to the top. What a slog up the hill. But once at the top was great views, lovely forest apart from the occasional mud puddle (from the rescue the previous night). Struggled to find the cache until I read the logs and then found the cache in a spot I had already looked (but not carefully enough). Thanks for the cache and walk

Found on a great day on the Ridge Track A bit of condensation in here but log all good thanks TFTC

Found on a club day walk along the Ridge Track. Just a wonderful place to wander along made even more special with a fine sunny day. This one took us a while and it wasnt until we put the data on our phone and were able to download the photos that we made some progress. As well, thanks greatly for the botanic description. TFTC

The log might have been dry when Jodanz found the cache, but when I checked it today it was soaking wet. Dried everything out and replaced the log with one made from waterproof paper.

Failed on the way up and on the return trip found it within seconds where we had already looked! Based on the hint and the photo there was only one likely spot about 1 m off the track. Found the ubiquitous red container with the ubiquitous water inside but log still dry in its bag.

#5335. After attending the Australia event in the city, I headed back home and we had an early lunch and then headed out to Kaitoke. The aim was to pick up a series of caches along the Ridgeline Track, mainly traditional caches but a few mystery finals as well. Mrs GSEL and daughter No.1 brought books and a blanket so they could relax for a few hours at Rivendell awaiting our arrival. Very warm weather again today (high 20s) and light winds made for a very hot climb up the hill. The track was very dry today. My 9-year-old daughter surprised me by deciding to join me on the hike. We stopped early to grab a feed of blackberries. The bushes on the lower slopes are groaning with ripe fruit at present. Anyone local should be up there now.

Well BarnabysTravels, I was starting to doubt you on this one. Having walked from the Te Marua end the beech trees had been mainly hard beech and some black beech. Had not seen any silver beech at all up to now. Normally they are found on the higher altitude ridges in this region closer to the bush line (the typical goblin forest trees). So approaching GZ I was wondering how a silver beech could be here. Then I saw the silvery bark and small double notched leaves and I knew you were correct. Amazing to have this one in a large hard beech forest. Finding the cache did take a while as I missed it in the obvious spot on the first sweep so widened the search. Miss L then said that looks like the hint. I looked again and was pleasantly surprised to pluck the cache from its lair. Signed the log and replaced the cache as found. Thanks BarnabysTravels for the cache and informative descriptions in the series.

A quick find on the track from Te Marua to Kaitoke with Yeetrees. A lovely day for a walk in the park. All in order. TFTC


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#9198. A good walk in Pakuratahi on a clear day. Could hear the fresh breeze overhead, but it was all calm under all the trees. The track and GZ were all quiet during the visit. Did not see anybody else until arrived back in Rivendell. After finding nothing at where the GPS was leading, widened the area a little and with the help of the photo, found it after a further short search. Well hidden. The cache was in good condition. The log sheet was slightly damp, but still all right to write on. Took nothing, left nothing, signed log.

Thanks for the 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.

A quick find signed log and replaced as found while on an afternoons walk over the interesting ridge track. T.F.T.C

Also found this one took bit longer.TFTC.Sherlock Hood and Squirrel.

Found whilst running the track. TFTC

TFTC and nice bit of information about the Tawhai

TFTC. Group find

Tftc

Another group find with the Tararua Tramping Club. Was found in short order with a number of eyeballs on the hunt. TFTC

Found with ten other members of Tararua Tramping Club on a 'learn about geocaching' tramp. Traversed the ridge track, picked up nine caches, and enthused some new cachers. Lucky to have the expertise of Bruzie on the day and TheFerrett as co-leader of the trip. TFTC

Nice tree. Tftc.

Tftc. Easy find D

My experience at this site was similar to that described by WaffleKitties. I reckon my height was a disadvantage here as I am sure I would have sighted it earlier had I been shorter.

Nice walk

Found with Wafflekitties TFTC

This one took far too long! We actually gave up and continued along the walk, deciding we would have another look on the way back. Searched for another long time before finally coming across it in what now seems like an obvious place. The coordinates were within a meter or two and the hint made sense once we found it TFTC

Now I know what a tawhai is! Ended up too far from where I needed to be, checking the wrong spot and got caught up in a spiny viney thing. When I finally found it I couldn't believe how easy it should have been! TFTC!

Went for a walk this afternoon to find this one, a pleasant 20 minutes up the hill from the carpark to help make up for my lack of exercise the previous day... No problems finding the cache, the coordinates were dead accurate. Signed log, thanks for bringing me on yet another enjoyable walk up here!

Happy days. My first {FTF} since arriving home a little over a week ago.

I saw the notification several hours ago while at work and knew time was against me. Once I finished for the day it was a slow train ride home, quick change and another log check - still mine. I even checked another cacher to see if he had been out.

Maybe time was on my side.

I spent a little over quarter of an hour with a wavering GPS searching far too far from the tree. A birdie poked my ear and I continued my search in the right location.

Once I checked the logsheet and found it empty I was happy and forgot how cold it was up here. Time to head down to the car and heater - when you stop moving during these hill runs you cool down fast.

Thanks Barnaby's Travels for another shot at an FTF and a smilie.

#1202 for me.

This entry was edited by wb1116 on Tuesday, 27 October 2015 at 06:22:17 UTC.

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