LOTR24 - Lorien Tongariro National Park, North Island, New Zealand
By yorkshirekiwi83 on 05-Jun-16. Waypoint GC6K6ZW

Not able to maintain them, freeing them up for other cachers to use the space, cache has been removed.

No longer able to maintain, pulling series out to make room for other people

March has been such a busy month, but not so much with getting out and about to indulge in finding some caches for myself. So what better way to remedy this than have a few days away in an area not previously cached out?
Cue a weekend of touring around the Tongariro National Park in good company. Exactly what I needed, and a weekend that would see me find over a hundred caches, including getting my 4000th.

I knew this would be a long day, both starting and finishing in the dark, but I hadn't quite expected to be out caching for 16 hours straight lol. But it was a very productive and interesting day, so it was all worth it in the end.

This LOTR series of caches has been on my radar to do for years, but I don't get up this way all that often. So today my mate seemed happy to let me get some (he's already done them all) whilst he just enjoyed a stroll in the trees. I enjoyed the bush walk itself, which was pretty quiet too so I had no issue with trying to avoid Muggles.

Another nice easy find as per the Hint once my GPS had settled down. Encountering no issues with the container or the contents, the log was signed and the whole thing replaced as found before moving onto the next.

Thanks for setting up this cache.

Tftf aroha and happy caching

With the sun beating down it was a pleasant way to keep a little cooler. The caches were handily placed throughout this section. With the car at the lower cache it took around two hours to walk up, caching as I went to LOTR #20 - then walking back down to the car through the bush. Thanks for the placement.

Team G!!

Nice easy find tftc

Very nice walk following the series up to the village. No issues with any thanks to good hints. TFTC!!

A stop over night at F&B Lodge up the road on the way back to AKL at the end of our S.Island trip. Dinner or geocaching at 6pm? Kids opted for caching so off we set only to realise we hadnt managed to download any offline cache info for this area other than locations and titles, and no 2degrees coverage here. Was not an issue as it turns out. This series was a MASSIVE hit with all of us. The hides, the trail and nature, the muggle-freeness.... and by coincidence the kids got to watch one LOTR movie at the Wellington hotel the night before so this was perfect! Geokid 9 seemed to have a sixth sense as to where these caches would be - finding them literally 5 seconds after we told him 'around here somewhere'- the rest of us took much longer when he did give us a chance! Turned around half way as growling stomachs were being heard. Thanks for a great cache series!

Puzzled for a moment until I read previous log. Upright it is no more! TFTC.

Looks like the hint may need updating as the dead upright is not so upright anymore but a quick find nonetheless. TFTC.

Drizzle getting strong so head back. Will do rest tomorrow.

Really enjoyed this walk on Sunday. Thought I logged them as I went but they're not showing up. Beautiful walk on damp Sunday afternoon. Thanks for the caches! Would really recommend this trail!

Tftc

A pretty nice walking tour.
TFTCs

Located Lorien, kiwitrecker1 laughed as she told me she’d found it but being hooded in the rainy conditions I didn’t hear for a while and so I kept searching.... quite funny apparently!

Found with kiwi_adventurer tftc lovely walk

Sorry for the late logging - brain fade! Another step on the way TFTC again.

We came up for the weekend to walk the Tongariro Crossing now that we have nationally made it to Level 1. Sadly the weather didn't cooperate and we spent the first day 'confined to quarters'. However, the conditions improved enough that we managed to do some local walks on Saturday and what else could I do but grab a bunch of caches along the way, ending up with 30 out of 31 searches for the afternoon. (Which explains the cut-&-paste logs I hope). TFTC

Double layer caches are great in these conditions.

??

I dont usually do generic logs but there were so many in this series that it was difficult to describe each find separately. Great series and nice and quick to find with good coords and in a nice area. Thanks for the effort putting them in.

We had a very pleasant walk along here late morning. It had been drizzling earlier in the morning and then cleared up but was still cloudy and cool. Great morning for a walk - if dressed warmly - and these caches are all well placed. The hints are great and the co-ordinates are accurate. Thanks for the series yorkshirekiwi83, TFTC

Zusammen mit Panne Koppa und Mini_JayJay gerne die LOTR Caches angegangen in dieser schönen Gegend. Als Herr der Ringe Fan ein Highlight in der Nähe des Schicksalsbergs zu cachen... Nach einer schönen ersten Runde hier mit Bonus noch gerne einige mehr gemacht. Kurz vor Sonnenuntergang waren wir dann wieder am Campingplatz. Gutes Training für den morgigen Tag da geht es zum Tongariro Crossing - da kommen wir dem Schicksalsberg ganz nahe!

T4TC
#19073

Making good progress Lorien calling me made the find and on ward thanks yorkshirekiwi TFTC

Sneaky on a lovely walk. TFTC

Thank you very much for the nice walk we did today. Most caches were easy, we found 16, there there were also 5 DNF.

One log for all caches in the Whakapapanui track. Really nice walk. All caches easy to find except one. But found this one easy. TFTC!

Trouvée facilement ! Le temps s’améliore ! On continue !

The dead upright is now lying on the ground but the cash is still easy to find.sl. TFTC.

Thanks yorkshirekiwi83 for placing this cache

Quick find using the hint.
Signed and returned, all good for the next cacher

Submitted via Garmin Live Geocaching

Quick find on a short walk

Great walk thanks for placing these caches many thanks

Brilliant series and nice length walk.

T4TC

Together with TEMBO! I had a really interesting geocaching-trip today. We could find some geocaches, met some locals and had a great talk to them.
Concerning this geocache I want to say thanks because we had much fun in searching and finding this geocache! The cache made our trip even more interesting!
TFTC!

A cloudy and very windy morning with very heavy rain predicted (correctly) for the afternoon so took this Whakapapanui walk. Enjoyed all the caches, a quick walk down and slow caching trip back up the track.
TFTC Dead tree is down

Found on a delightful November day while wasting a day around Whakapapa. I put my hand in some dark places while doing this series, thank goodness there are no nasty venomous things in NZ. Thanks for the cache Yorshirekiwi83

A little quieter today, we will do this walk at the end of the day. No worries about finding the caches.

---
Thanks yorkshirekiwi83 for the geocache [^]
Greetings from Belgium,
Frank et Muriel travelling in New Zealand

Happy geocaching

Another found on this beautiful walk. TFTC.

Greetings from Germany.

Es dankt und grüßt DasPonymädchen.

N1

Thanks

Greetings from Germany

Hebel90

Found as a part of a previous group TanjackMüley, aka WanderingSparrow. Now I'm continuing on my own. TFTC

This was a little more difficult and the hint made more sense as we arrived at the the gz. Look a little searching before finding. tftc.

Nice find despite the dead upright now being horizontal.

9th
beautiful track.
Almost the end

Yay yoohoo

Out on a LOTR mission today with Tramper Ted. Not the nicest of days, but no rain, and the occasional spot of sun made for a pleasant temperature and day to do these. Sorry they are too much of a blur for individual logs but will add a few comments here and there.

TFTC

On downstream through the lovely beech forest. Hides were quite easy to find, except for a couple of tricky ones. Doing the trail with Sp8s today. TFTC

Today we make an other walk...LOTR. This is a really nice one. Thank you dear Owner for the top conditions.

On a road trip north, enjoying the day and pic up some caches. TFTC

Greetings from 2 Austrians  
Die_Asseln

Ste found quickly here. Nice sound of the river here
Tftc.

Another find en route to Mt Doom today! TFTC

Day 12 of our NZ trip. Doing this series was one of the first things on our "must do" list. And we were not disappointed.

What a wonderful wander through the park trails on this treasure hunt! Passing through many different types of terrain, and learning about the plants, animals and geology along the way made for a great experience.

We were able to find LOTR 1-33 with the exception of the mystery cache for which we missed 4 of the clues. Thank you do much for putting out this series and maintaining it for our enjoyment (most of the log sheets were new today). The caches were all simple finds. Sorry that this will be a repeat log for the series. Greetings from

Great afternoon to be out walking and caching.

Saw this series of caches when they were published and really haven't had the opportunity to ever look at coming up here to attempt them. When the opportunity arose that this series was up for adoption, I decided to contact the CO and sent yorkshirekiwi83 an email saying that we were happy to adopt them as we didnt want to see them being archived. Yorkshirekiwi83 was happy and willing to let me adopt them, decided that we should go and find the caches before adopting this series of caches .

A plan was to come out here and spend the weekend near the start of the track, so a plan was hatched on Christmas Day 2018, we checked out the accommodation and Mrs Yeetrees said that she had always wanted to stay at the Chateau Tongariro, as her family was a legacy visitor, but that is another story.

After the accommodation was all booked it was just a matter of planning the trip, and saving the funds [xx(], well a plan was set in motion..... and the start of the journey from there and back again.

We meet up with bkj97 and The Little Blue Hen while we out and about and had mentioned that we were going to go up the mountain attempt this series, they said that they were happy to come along as well if we didn’t mind the company, well twos company more are cachers, why not as two eyes are better than mine as I am know to be blind, so the plan was amended for a team effort [^].

Today was the day one of our two day visit on this lovely mountain and we decided that we would attempt the LOTR series, having made our way up here last night with bkj97 being our most gracious chauffeur who go us to our accommodation safely last night [^].

After finding GC6K6ZR - LOTR23 - The Mines of Moria, this was the next cache we had to find as we were making our way along the Lower Taranaki Falls Track back towards the Skotel as we continue on our journey on the LOTR series. As we were making our way towards GZ, we decided to check the hint, and as we neared GZ, it only took bkj97 a few seconds to spot the hiding spot of the cache, and we soon found the cache.

Managed to retrieve the cache, signed and then we replaced the cache with a new logbook and cache container before replacing the cache back where I found it. Thanks yorkshirekiwi83 for placing this cache series here and for bringing me to this spot, TFTC TNLNSL (14344).

Now it is time to make our way to the next cache in the series, the adventure and journey continues ....

Information:
Lothlórien was both a forest and Elven realm located next to the lower Misty Mountains. It was first settled by Nandorin elves, but later enriched by Ñoldor and Sindar, under Celeborn of Doriath and Galadriel, daughter of Finarfin. It was located on the River Celebrant, southeast of Khazad-dûm, and was the only place where the golden Mallorn trees grew.

Galadriel's magic, later revealed as the power of her ring Nenya, enriched the land and made it a magic forest into which evil could not enter without difficulty. The only way that Lothlórien could have been conquered by the armies of Mordor is if Sauron had come there himself.

Although Sauron's recovery of the One Ring was the great threat to Lórien, if Frodo were to destroy the Ring the power of Nenya would fade and Lothlórien would cease to be a magical realm, but that was preferable to the enslavement of the Elves that would result if Sauron were victorious.

Disclaimer:
This disclaimer informs readers that the views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author.

Otherwise, what one says may be construed as being what the entire one believes, thinks or condones, and this may be very inaccurate and damaging, or just complete fiction......

I'm always keen to get my step count average up and this weekend with yeetrees and bkj97 was an opportunity to do so. It's been a few years (about 30) since I was in the area doing a mountain marathon so I was keen to see how the area had changed. Certainly the tracks are far more tourist friendly. Great day out and 50 caches scored. Really enjoyed the challenge so thanks for making it possible by placing the series. T4tcsl. At least this linear track was downhill and the end was in sight for our mission to complete the series today. My apologies for the generic logs.

Decided to leave this downhill part of the LOR series to last having completed #1 to #18 and #34 to #49 earlier in the day. Knowing that once we completed it would be shower time and a meal at the chateau it spurred us on. Tftcsl

Our last day in Turangi so having a drive into the National Park, decided to some of the LOTR trail. Chose the linear walk and parked up, completed the walk and then walked back to the car along the road. We thoroughly enjoyed the walk as it wasn’t too hot today. We found all the caches easily and stamped and returned as we had found them. Greetings to Yorkshire kiwi from Geocachers from Yorkshire. Please forgive this generic log. TFTC

Back home in Denmark again from my 4th visit to New Zealand.
Luckily I had some time for geocaching when there, so now it is time to log my findes.
Took up this trail again from last year.
This cache was found, and the logbook was signed.
TFTC

Sorry for the duplicate logs but after doing the Tussock traverse yesterday I only had limited time this morning to get some caching in so I ran down the road to the first cache (mt doom) from the chateau and then ran the track back to the village and managed 17 caches with no dnf’s
Thanks for all the placements, can’t wait to come back and get the rest.

The upright is now a lay down.
Never the less soon had cache in hand. TFTC

One morning I had until my departure to Wellington. So I was able to complete the third of the three laps in the footsteps of the LOTR. This time I could find all but one. Thanks also for this idea and the great view of Mt. Doom. Greetings from Germany.

TFTC says Fawkes.de

We got up early in order to finish this LOTR series in order to head to Hobbiton. We got all the caches and it took us 3.5 hours for the remaining caches that we hadn't time for yesterday. We apologise for the same log for all the caches but there were simply too many. Thank you for the caches.

Mr 3 found this one with a huge grin on his face.

Out for a morning walk again from the other end of the Whakapapanui Track.
The dead upright in the clue is no longer upright; otherwise all good.
Thanks for the cache.

See log for LOTR 1, TFTC

Beautiful walk up.
TFTC

Today we made the second part of all the LOTR caches. Also a nice location and a beautiful hike with not so difficult caches.... and here we found each . Many thanks for bringing us here and for hiding!! Greetings from Germany !
#551

Für drei Nächte sind wir in Turangi. Zusammen mit "apaspa" besuchten wir heute den Tongariro Nationalpark National Park, um ein wenig zu wandern und cachen.
Auf dem Whakapapanui Walk fanden wir alle sehr rasch. Alle (#1-3, #20-33) waren fair versteckt. Danke für das Auslegen und Betreuen der Serie.

On our 29th day in New Zealand we visited the National Park area. We left Turangi in the morning on drove up to Whakapapa Village. On the route we were looking for some caches. One main aim was to get the Te Maari Earth Cache. We were here three years ago and there the weather was so bad, we couldn't see even one of the mountains. So this morning when sun came up we headed straight to this area. And it was a wonderful day well worth the visit. We did some smaller hiking trails and searched for a number of caches. With many of them the logs were damp to wet, they all suffered a bit from the bad weather these last days. We then did this trail with the many caches. It was really a great trail, we felt like being in another world through the woods with all the ferns. Due to the many caches we found here we write just one log for all of them. Sorry for that, but can also not remember everything in detail anymore. We found the quite well, no bush bashing needed as with other NZ caches and most important very exact coordinates. Like that geocaching is really a lot of fun. Only with number 28 and 32 we had to search a little longer but we found them all well. We also leave an FP with #28 but this is standing also for the entire series.
TFTC and greetings from Switzerland

Enjoying the weekend in Whakapapa Village to get some hiking training in for my upcoming big hike of the Green Gully Track in OZ. Great weather today to be out in the area to enjoy the scenery. TFTC

Heute im Nationalpark angekommen und dabei diesen Cache Reihe mitgenommen! Schöne Runde obwohl alles etwas machig war. Die Logs sind ein bisschen durchweicht vom Regen. The log books might require some maintenance as they good pretty wet! Thanks for the round!

Today was focused on hiking in the wunderful Whakapapa area. The weather was nearly good, only interrupted by some rainfalls. The boxes were almost easy to find, as it should be on a long powertrail.

Thanks for the caches!

Ha ha, the dead up-right has sucumbed to gravity and is now horizontal, but hint still helps! Thanks yorkshirekiwi

Very impressed with the co ords accuracy....this allowed fast finds and sings ...thanks YK83

Today we had our third day in National Park Whakapapa and made a trip around the wonderful walks here. Special emphasis had we on the vulcanic mountains around us. On this trip we searched, found and logged many caches, too. The weather was bad in the morning, not sunny, but it got better and worse all day long, including raining from time to time. Only sometimes then there was some sun to be seen.
Almost no muggels observed us as they had better things to do than observing two geocachers.

Thanks to yorkshirekiwi83 for showing us this location and for the fun we had at LOTR24 - Lorien. The search we had here today didn't take too much time.

Greetings from Germany and hope to see you soon in the forest.

TFTC says H_M_A @ 30. Oktober 2018 @ 08:05 Uhr @ [#12229](https://coord.info/GC6K6ZW)

Bei einer Wanderung durch wilde Natur am Fuße der drei aktiven Vulkane Neuseelands habe ich mich auf die Spuren des Herrn der Ringe begeben.

After skiing this morning and noon, I allowed myself a short walking tour in the late afternoon. Also this track was again a lot of caches, which I could find good.

Tftc

Note dead upright has fallen over.
Dad, mum and newborn out enjoying our awesome country. thanks for placing caches

No other sound apart from the rushing river below tftc

Tftc. Had to get on my knees here.

Found with our 2 and 5 y.o. T4TC. This is our first geocaching trail!!!

During our stay in Chateau Tongariro we did some walking and had time to look for some caches. This is one of them. We logged as team EIN. TftC! Greetings from Germany! - Willow

On our Route through New Zealand we found this nice Place. Thank you for showing us!
We logged as Team EIN
Yours Slashgirl

Staying in Turangi all week so a great opportunity to do this and maybe another series here if I can get away with it! Started at the bottom and walked back down the road...Thanks for setting this and the others up...TFTC

After doing the LOTR caches on the Taranaki Falls Track, headed down the road to collect caches on this track back up to the village. TFTC

9.54am. Enjoying the walk. Quick find.
Thank you. David.

Quick find. TFTC.

Quick find. TFTC.

No elves around here but I did meet a delightful young Japanese boy and his mother who were out for a walk on their second visit to NZ. Having established that I was indeed a genuine Kiwi, they asked to take a photo with me so I gues my image is now leaving Lorien for far away isles. Again I found the cache easily so off I go again.

Found with family/Team Stockley

Plz replace log

Team Stockley thanks for geocache

Plesant find among a lot of other well placed and maintained caches in Whakapapa area. We had lovely weekend here. Found many caches and enjoyed all of them. Accurate coordinates and helpful hints does the job! TFTC

on our journey through neeseeland we visited many beautiful places,
Here, too, we were able to log into the logbook. Thank you for the lay and the many greetings from Germany from the team stierwade

Another that took longer to find than it should have . TFTC.

Find number 3754. I had a plan today to collect a First to Find in Owhango, Complete the LOTR series and end up in Taurmarunui to have dinner with my brother. So it was out of bed at 5 am and straight on the road. I arrived at Owhango at 7.40 and achieved the First to Find. Stage 1 completed. Then arrived at Whakapapa about 8 and decided to shout myself a big breakfast before starting. I did the 3 loops in numerical order 1-19 then 20-33 and finally 34-49. I managed to find all the caches (Stage 2 completed) and a few others as well. In the end I achieved a total of 56 finds with only 1 not found and that was "Naki Splash" (too many muggles round). Total walking time was 8 hours. And still made it to dinner by 6 pm. (Stage 3 completed). Thank you for all the placements.
I must have been walking too fast as my GPS took a while to catch up. By the time it did I had the cache in hand. The hint was spot on and the cache well hidden

A great walk in the beautiful forest next to rushing water. It was harder than I thought it would be in the upper part with ups and downs and many steps. The first part from the bottom was was an easy walk but it did get harder. Caches in good condition and finds are straightforward to find with excellent hints. A great trail to do with children as plenty of interest. A map from DOC would help
TFTC

We decided to leave home at lunch time and head to the famour Timber Trail and stay a few nights at PiraPira campsite what a lovely spot, we did one half of the ride on Saturday and then did some of the other on Sunday. the just relaxed and enjoyed refreshments and good conversation with our friends. Then unfortunately it was time to move on so off to the national Park area. well its with great delight we get to get a smilie today as we didn't find this cache back in July. don't know why maybe it was the gps or just my eye site, but never mind today was the day for a FOUND IT. Thank you for placing this trail here its a great walk and so worth while the trip. TFTC