Sand Dune Saunter- Taupata (Wanganui) Whanganui, North Island, New Zealand
By supasi on 27-Dec-15. Waypoint GC68QK7

Removed , no time to maintain

Oof

Big oof

Ye

Hi

Accurate coords were key to finding this quite quickly. I was just looking around wondering where to start and something caught my eye that looked out of place. Nicely done. It had the potential to be a tricky one. TFTC.

Great hide, we were almost giving up when Arran found it . TFTC

(# 6934) On my way to Whanganui for the famous Rattl Christmas party tomorrow. A day of caching in the river city. A quick find at my second attempt. Thanks for bringing me here.

Gps was out but the junior cacher had it again. She's on a roll today. Great camo. Tftc

A great camouflage and use of spiky botanicals!

Again Miss 13 is geocacher expert!

After finding the first one relatively straightforward, the track mostly disappeared and despite our best bramble fighting we couldn't find this one or number 3

We were needed for some house sitting down this end of the woods. Nice to come out and get some new smileys and points for the summit challenge.
Woohoo. Nicely camoed!! Fp

I am logging using the Cachly app template so please excuse generic logging along the way. It’s just my way of keeping track, but I do genuinely thank each and every one of you cache owners for taking the time and energy to place these caches. Many Thanks for bringing me here. Cheers.

Good look through branches and bushes and could not find.

Shifted broken branches to opposite side of track but still no luck.

Will be back had 2 under 5s over it.

We continued along the overgrown sand dune track from the Karo cache, and spent much less time searching here before finding the nicely hidden cache. Again, for us the cache was about 6 metres NNW of the coordinates, at S39 55.932 E174 58.342. TFTC

We parked at the grass area and walked along the road to find an access into this wilderness. Did not find the cache so proceeded to craw/ saunter along to the far cache. Then back along the road to reenter the wilderness. The hunt was on again, with TS finally tracking this one down. Cheers. Now to continue along this track back to Zara.

Teamed up with The Seagnoid and Zara for the weekend to Taranaki / Wanganui regions. Rattlls BBQ being the main attraction, along with LABS between New Plymouth and Hawera. Another awesome weekend.

After missing the track entrance to the first cache the dragon and I turned in here but we didn't find the cache. Undeterred, we walked, sorry, crawled on to the third cache. Found that, then walked the road back to here. Found the cache this time, and continued along the path Walking this time!

A big day yesterday with Taybeedragon, doing the lab caches between Hawera and New Plymouth. Taybeedragon and I had mopped up that area pretty thoroughly last Christmas so just just a few "ordinary" caches as well along this trip. Now back in Wanganui, Filling in time waiting for Rattll's barbecue event.

Hunted for a long time but no luck.

This series of caches has been on our want-to-do list for a while. Arcane Junior and I decided to come out this evening for a walk and see what we could find.

We were wandering about aimlessly for a bit looking for this cache when I decided to do a little bit of research on the name of the cache. After doing that the log was soon in hand.

TFTC supasai!

Day 1 (With Squirrel Nutcase) of our Whanganui road trip.
Knew this was going to be a long day today. First cache found about 8am and last one found just before midnight.
Mission today Event, A cache starting with the letter U, Several Multi's, Earth Cache, Virtual and anything else we could find.
Achieved all the above.
Thanks to Cache Owners for their placement efforts and sorry about the cut and paste but this was a huge weekend for us. SLTFTC

A pleasant stroll through the Dunes after attending the Event. Spotted something that piqued my interest and the cache was found. TFTC

My favourite native… with a cache under it

With Gap (of Fap and Gap)... On a road trip weekend - We haven’t been on anything like this since Covid Episode One in March. A special Community Event in Whanganui got our attention. So we’re off to the ‘River City’ for a bit of fun...

Day One of our adventure - We intended on caching out some big trails, with the Community Event being the key focus... We met (Mr) boxhill here. After a brief interchange, we spotted this good hide. Thanks supasi and TFTC.

Found whilst wandering around with BFG, Ethness and GSEL today. Again, another member of the group spotted this first. Many of the logs were signed as BIGE (merger of all our caching names) TFTC!

#8296. Up to Whanganui today to attend the nearby Community Celebration Event. We were handed a sheet of paper and told to go for a wander to take in some local points of interest, answer a few questions and grab any geocaches that we happened to wander past. This was on a walk with Infoferret, Ethness and barefootguru (Team BIGE for the caches signed today). After checking out the Air Chathams plane now residing in suburban Whanganui we headed into the nearby path and then out again to the road and found the next access point in to the cache. It was at this stage someone read the cache description and we realised there was a parallel track to the road. Once again my contribution here was the botany. I pointed out which trees were taupata so we could look around those for the cache. There are quite a few of those trees here. BFG homed in on the correct one and soon had the cache in hand. He signed everyone in and it was off to the next one on the trail. Thanks supasi for hiding it here.

We decided to find this cache too as we were in the area. TFTC

Another weekend visit to Wanganui, and other few caches found. Took some time to find this nicely hidden cache. All good here. TFTC.

Nicely crafted hide.

I was born and bred (and buttered?) in the River City until I left for Uni in 2001, and still visit a few times a year to see my folks, and for them to get their Grandkid fix. I've done a lot of the caches here during my visits (especially at playgrounds and in their suburb), but there are always new ones that pop up and my map shows a few blue frowning faces.
When @TwigNZ put a call out on the local BookFace group for anyone who wanted to join in on his Saturday assault on WangaVegas, I was keen for a kid-free trip with him and anyone else who signed up. Having secured a hall pass from @WonderfulWifey, the plans fell in to place with @PGCNZ booking his seat as well.

We parked on the sand track, at the accessway to the airplane that has been grounded, and then walked to the track for the series.
Being a big fulla, I had to think skinny thoughts at some points along the track, but we got there without much fuss.

I found this one without too much fuss. The host looked "The same but not the same" which led to a quick retrieval.

I seldom get up to Wanganui in general, but the pull of Geocaching has given me impetus to pay more attention to it in recent years. With the vast majority of my plans for 2020 having been blown out of the water due to events beyond my control, I decided that a good long day caching up here was exactly what I needed, especially if I was to be able to do it in good company as was the case today.

My callout for company earlier this week was ably answered by Etherlord Clan and pgcnz, and all our logs today were signed either individually or else as Team PET as space on each logsheet allowed.

One of my favourite aspects of Geocaching is the sudden discovery of something unexpected. That was certainly the case as we drove towards getting these 3 Sand Dune Saunter caches. I really wasn't expecting to encounter a plane, but there it was. Even better was the sheets of information pinned to the fence allowing the public to know the story behind it all. So after a bit of a read and a few photos, it was onto the caches...

Walking along the track, I felt I needed to be about 2 feet shorter! I was hoping for a quick find simply to be able to find some open air to stretch my body erect again lol! So I was very glad when Etherlord made the find here. Once the log was signed, everything was replaced as found and we were on our way again.

Thanks for placing this cache.

We located 16 caches today on a bike ride from our motel in town out to Castlecliff, mostly on a shared pathway. However this wasn’t one of them. Spent 15-20 minutes looking, and there seemed to be a lot of possible hiding places. Couldn’t make any sense of the hint, so unfortunately that didn’t help! It really did seem like looking for a needle in a haystack and, sadly, I have only limited endurance in such situations! So on to the next one .....

After dropping kids off we decided stroll along along the beach and a few caches was in order. This "nice" little track needs bonus points for difficult terrain...lots of tight spots with prickles on both trimmed branches underfoot, and low branches close to the track. This one had us going in circles for a while eventually finding the hiding spot about 6m from where the gps was pointing. Tftc

A nice hide along this track. Good log is waterproof paper as it's quite wet. TFTC

Lovely sunny day to head out to the beach and collect some smileys. Second visit to this one having checked up on the title although it was the hint that got us there. Fortunate to spot something that was out of place. TFTC

This is my first full day in Wanganui staying at a nearby Holiday Park. I went for this string to get them out of the way. TFTC.

======== NZ Mega 2020 ========

Be sure to join the Facebook page: NZ Mega 2020.

Planning for the NZ Mega 2020 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 - you won't want to miss it!

TFTC, tricky find

Great morning walk, brought the other half this time. GPS was more accurate today, glad to make it a find. TFTC

Oh dear my gps is really struggling down here. Another dnf.

Thanks for the cache, en.joyed the walk

Auch heute wollte noch ein Cache gefunden werden und so ging es an den Strand bei Castlecliff. Dort bin ich noch in einen kleinen Sandsturm geraten, welcher sich aber hübsch zu betrachten zeigte. Wie ein ocker farbener Schleier, schwebte der feine Sand über den Strand ins Meer...
Hui, hier musste ich doch etwas länger suchen und habe mich ein paar mal an den Ästen gestossen.

This was our second but took more searching. Tim's gps proved better here and he made the find.
Tftc
Tim and Viv - ddm

Carrying on back towards the campsite we stopped here. The hint made no sense to me, and in the dense bush I thought this micro would be like a needle in a haystack. We paced up and down for a bit trying to figure this one out. We are not fans or good at hunting micros and were just about to give up when I asked myself the old question "where would I put it?"
Had one more look in a possible spot and noticed something that didn't look quite right... got it! Thanks.
That was our last cache of the evening, we were so caught up in our conversation that we walked right past the last one on this track.

Walking off the fish and chips we made it to GZ then mmmm a micro eh. Chanting the hint till it made sense the hiding place was spotted. Ahhh penny drop moment!! TFTC

Another still sunny morning out in Castle cliff and another opportunity to nip back and log a cache that I located over the previous weekend to complete another empty day in my calendar of finds. On track for finishing by Christmas .

Log was damp but this posed no problem with the water proof paper.

Thanks for the placement.

On the way to GZ I read the previous logs and saw the mention of a wet log so had a new one ready to go when I got there. No need to replace it as its waterproof. TFTC supasi

#8327

Found. Log wet

I have set myself a goal to get the requirements for the mystery cache The well-rounded cacher challenge (Manawatu) This requires me to get 25 badges 5 of which need to be gemstone badges. So each time I now go out caching weather it is by myself or with fellow cacher I will try to get a least one cache that will get me closer to my goal

Been saving this one for a dot day on a day when I don't have time to go further afield It took a bit longer to find than I would have liked but with a little perseverance I found the cache

Thanks for the cache

All hope was lost until I the misses skier it

Thursday was going to be a nice fine day and so we planned a trip to Wanganui, needing just 4 caches to complete our 250 June Challenge, and to make a start on the Hidden Creatures Challenge. We aimed for a modest 14 caches, but only managed to locate 10.
Things didn't go so well before we even left Palmy - Mr G's hospital appointment delayed us over an hour, when previous times we'd been in and out quickly (it would be today, of course). Then, as we approached Wanganui the forecast fine day turned into a wet one, and a lot of our caching was done in drizzle and very wet underfoot. To add to that the first two caches were fails for us!
As our focus for today was on Castlecliff, we had intended to take a saunter right along here, but the inclement weather put us off that, so we drove along the unsealed track and found the little side tracks in to each cache. The track was sand covered, but fortunately quite firm and we had no problem travelling here and turning to come back. We had the place all to ourselves too.
Mr G knew what to look for to help locate this one and consequently soon found the nicely hidden cache. TFTC

I took the time to find the this little track and walk along it. I parked at the beginning of the beach access road and walked along here. I cant say i really liked the track as i was by myself but it was easy to follow and i discovered other access points which i used on my way back to the car. i had to spend a little time thinking out which little mini track i needed to go up the sand dune but it was soon discovered. All was well with the cache. thanks for the cache and another smiley face.

Interesting container. Quick find. TFTC

Cool hidey spot! Log a bit wet but dried off best we could. TFTC

Found GZ quick enough, but it wasn't until we were looking from another angle that we saw cache spot. TFTC

Das war was. Alles sieht gleich aus aber dann doch nicht

Wir hatten das richtige in der Hand!

Found while out and about with tmann421, just getting around to logging this now

Found it really fast yay tftc

Very clever hide, took us a little as the rubbish all around confused us.

Good hide here and hint helped a lot - logsheet soaked but is plastic so ok, Pen worked well enough to leave name fairly clearly.

Grabbed all these caches along here and enjoyed the off the beaten track effect, I guess not many peple venture along these tracks? All co-ordinates good, and useful hints

Having got back from our big day walking, and driving, along one bank of the river and finding caches there was still a fair bit of daylight left so I suggested a trip to the beach for a walk in the dunes, and a chance for a few more caches.
A new day dawns in a town where I haven't cached for ages, plenty of scope for a successful day, plus we have to stay out of the house as daughters partner is sleeping off nights. That can mean only 1 thing, a caching day or as my daughter called it a visit as a tourist in her own town. Grabbed a few today, some goodies yet again and Wanganui continues to set the bar high for cache construction and innovation, nice one you lot.T F T C supasi

This is a nice one. Thanks for placing. We found it quite quick. Unfortunately there is a lot of rubbish in the bush. The log sheet is still wet.
TFNC! C&M alias DRQN

Another quick find, haven't seen anyone on the track so thats a good thing.
Paper was soaked but bonus is water proof dried it off sign out name and off we go. Thanks for the placement

Took a fair bit of searching and was about to give up thinking we had lost our touch! Suddenly spotted something and there was the cache TFTC

we headed off late this morning to Whanganui to get a few caches we got this one near the end of the day. number 18 for he day. It was a lovely walk along the tracks to this cache good tracks to walk to no way of getting lost. It was a quick find by Mr watcache he signed the log and placed cache back exactlly where he found it. Thank you for placing a cache here in this beautiful environment. We never knew there were tracks along here sneaky. Now off to get number 19 cache of the day. TFTC get two more caches for the day then head for home.

We continued along the track enjoying the early afternoon sun & almost quiet - apart from a motorbike zipping up and down further along.
We found the cache without any trouble, & signed our name. Not sure how long it will stay there though as the waterproof paper was wet and all the other names on the log sheet had all but disappeared.
Thanks for setting this little trail up.

Weil find-tftc

Nice morning walk while over for Meet the Flying Dutch "men" Event in the afternoon. Thanks for the cache.

Loved this cache a little different to the others we have seen. Was a bit wet inside so little one had a hanky and yes it was clean and we dried it out? #lovingit

Down in wanga for the day and its a nice fine day
many thanks for the placement all good and good hint

Found all 4 on this awesome trail.

DNF, but had an impatient 3 year old. Will try again soon.

Great cache! Awesome little trail and great camo Unfortunately there is a bit of trash around this one, i took a couple of bits but didnt have a bag for the rest cache was a little wet but doesnt really matter! TFTC

Well done, nice hide. HINT/GPS = GOOD. CACHE GETTING WET.
Found on a Sunny Sunday.

This was a nice little walk

TFTC

Found on a walk with geo hubby.
He took the hard rough way but I found the path entrance. A great little saunter through the trees. It certainly helps to know your trees as gps wanders and cell ph coverage is not great. He found this great camo .GPS wandered quite a bit and going into open ground helped to centre it. TFTC

Picked this one up on the way back after not finding it. A very good concealment. tftc

Spent a little time here looking for the wrong clue go there in the end. On the trek found some cactus through I was in the desert TFTC

Continuing my saunter, track a little rough in places but clearly defined, thanks for another one.

SL, TFTC

I'm really enjoying my saunter on this cool lil track. Co ords spot on for a quick find. Well done on the neat camo.

TFTC +FP

Hyjynx went out with youngest again and they chose this as the area to explore.
Took a bit of a look about, son said it was cool camo. he is enjoying getting the sand dune series.
Cache/ log / camo all in good nick as it should be.
Cheers for the placement supasi
~G

Again took us slightly longer than it should have - biddy bids covered my top fun removing them teach me for not looking in the right spot - tftc

Published

First to find with LGLNZ! Good camo

What a great day to be out caching - Took vickiandjosh out on a cache learning experience. Not sure we sauntered along the track but followed the GPSr which took us right to the spot where the cache was quickly found. Liked the camo on this one - Thanks for the series and the shared FTF supasi.