Hilly Holiday Heaven Pauanui, North Island, New Zealand
By MillsandLills on 12-Jul-16. Waypoint GC6NC4M

Enjoyed a bike ride of a few kilometres along this trail this morning, picking up a total of 12 caches. Had 2 DNFs, although I suspect one of those was actually missing. Fortunately I spotted this one from the trail. That was easy. Slightly more difficult clambering up to get it! #8129. TFTC.

We push Arthur up to get the cache-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --French version below-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --Short late log but more complete now that we are back home.Our vacation will take us to the other side of the world to the land of the Maoris. After many, many hours of flying, a passage through China on the way there and through the United States of America on the way back, we will finally arrive in Christchurch which will be the starting point of our journey.We will enjoy the beaches of the Pacific Ocean and we will go back towards the North Island via State Highway 1. To combine business with pleasure, we will take regular breaks and small detours according to the caches that seem the most accessible to us.With a little more than 3500 km in 20 days, we will have discovered many facets of this island which is soothing. We will have to come back because there are so many places that we have not done . In broad strokes, the path will go from Christchurch to the Kaikoura Peninsula then towards Picton for the crossing to Wellington.New island, new road, and by State Highway 2 we go towards Hastings and Napier. We will leave the seaside for several days to go to Tongariro and Taupo. We will continue north towards Rotorua and Hamilton (without forgetting a detour via Hobbiton ) A detour to the Coromandel Peninsula and finally the almost north of the island with Whangarei and Waitangi to learn the history of this country.There will only be a few days left to spend towards Auckland and its suburbs before taking the plane back to the grayness of our European autumn.The majority of the boxes will be found, we have abandoned those where our English was lacking and where we could not understand the clue. Thanks to all the owners who brightened up our path, who took us to incredible places (that's also geocaching)In short, we had a great vacation, saw beautiful places that simply ask us to come back. We learned a lot about the history of this country and its traditions, it's a great motivation for our destinations.-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --Petit log en retard mais un peu plus complet maintenant que nous sommes rentrs la maison. Nos vacances vont nous emmener lautre bout du monde au pays des Maoris. Aprs beaucoup, beaucoup dheures davion, un passage par la Chine laller et par les Etats-Unis dAmrique au retour, nous arriverons enfin Christchurch qui sera le point de dpart de notre priple.Nous profiterons des plages du de locan Pacifique et nous remonterons en direction de lile du nord via la State highway 1. Pour joindre lutile et lagrable, nous ferons des pauses rgulires et de petits dtours au gr des caches qui nous semble les plus accessibles. Avec un peu plus de 3500 km en 20 jours, nous aurons dcouverts pleins de facettes de cette ile qui est apaisante. Il nous faudra revenir car il y a tellement dendroit que nous navons pas fait . Dans les grand traits, le chemin ira de Christchurch la pninsule Kaikoura puis direction Picton pour la traverse vers Wellington.Nouvelle ile, nouvelle route, et par la State Highway 2 nous remontrons en direction de Hastings et Napier. Nous laisserons le bord de mer plusieurs jours pour aller au Tongariro et Taupo. Nous continuerons vers le nord en direction de Rotorua et Hamilton (sans oublier un dtour par Hobbiton ). Un crochet pour la pninsule de Coromandel et pour finir le presque nord de lile avec Whangarei et Waitangi pour apprendre lhistoire de ce pays. Il ne restera que quelques jours passer vers Auckland et sa banlieue avant de ne reprendre lavion pour retourner dans la grisaille de notre automne europen.La majorit des boites seront trouves, nous avons dlaisser celles o notre anglais faisait dfaut et ou que nous narrivions pas comprendre lindice. Merci tous les poseurs qui ont gay notre chemin, qui nous ont emmen dans des endroits incroyables (cest aussi cela le geocaching)Bref, nous avons pass de superbes vacances, vu des endroits magnifiques qui demandent simplement que lon revienne. Nous avons appris beaucoup de chose sur lhistoire de ce pays et de ces traditions, cest une grande motivation pour nos destinations.

Logbook is very wet, but still signed it TFTC

Easy find with Cympull. Love the face. TFC

Thanks for your amazing cache MillsandLills. I really appreciate the time you took to set up and maintain your caches. Found with Fisha1288 Earned a favorite from me Cheers, Cympull.

Founds. Bit of a climb up the face!

Found with Pprime` ... what a great walking trail

Accio 12:10:13Staying in Pauanui for the middle week of our New Zealand holiday - with T4mmmy - today it was time to walk this trail. An easy 5kms (each way) amble which took just on 3 hours car back to car. Nice area, calm, quiet beautiful.Some extra effort needed here - distracted by the Look Under aspect, we soon readjusted to the Scramble up bit - no worries here.Thanks MillsandLills for entertaining me at this location. *{Overall find #11716}*

Sure was a clamber up here, but worth it after finding cache. Log damp but still managed to sign name. Now for the scramble down. Tftc

Once we got the right spot, quickly found, tftc

Day over from the bach on the Thames coast. We come over for a bike ride and a swim. Interesting bike ride when the tide comes in.

A struggle up, then some careful spiderweb avoidance, led to the cache. TFTC

TaurusSix and I are in New Zealand for a three weeks holiday. We love New Zealand and have had lots of wonderful experiences here previously. This time we have decided to focus our attention on three destinations for one week each, all in the North Island. The Coromandel Peninsula, Waiheke Island and The Bay of Isles. We are very mindful of not focusing all our attention of the holiday on geocaching, however it will still play an important part. We are deliberately focusing on caches that involve some walking, great views, interesting attractions , history and general points of interest. And this will all happen in between exploring, swimming , walking, doing touristy things and relaxing .
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Day 8 - Christmas Day a lovely relaxed day. We took the early morning quite leisurely before heading off to explore a new beach on the Coromandel Peninsula with a picnic Christmas lunch. As we were leaving Pauanui though we decided to collect the last two caches on the The Pauanui/ Tairua cycle way, to get to them we parked at the nearby resort and took the nice short walk to collect both. Then it was on to Opoutere Beach, nice drive to get there collecting a few caches along the way and once there we collected a few more. The main aim of the day though was to chill out at the beach, swim, read and walk along the beach we managed all three.
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This is our second cache find of the day along this wonderful track that we have thoroughly enjoyed it. This is the last cache on this track for us to collect and it was a good one. Now off to the beach. Thanks for the cache MillsandLills

We're staying in Tairua for a few days break and today we traveled over to Pauanui to ride the cycleway and pick up caches. Very enjoyable and the hint says it all, TFTC

As previously noted, the obvious hide was spotted on approach, I re hid the cache slightly out of sight once signed, all good here, cheers

I figured where I needed to be so propped the bike up and went straight up, really hoping no one went past while I was perched oddly up the bank
I'd just clambered down when a couple of runners came around the corner- phew!
Thanks for the challenging cache

No muggles on this track so a nice quick find here. TFTC

**#15,277**
Spotted on approach and made the direct clamber, even in jandals...
Now off to the next one, thanks!

Out this morning for a ride on our bikes.
I could see the container from the track but I wasn’t going to manage the direct route. Found an easier way up to sign the log.
TFTC

TFTF Found with team SEAC. Sent long legs in.

We planned a Team SEAC outing to the Tangitarori Wetlands Walk and the surrounding area to cache and spend a day enjoying the Pauanui area. We joined Uncle Sam, Keylev, Hemaludy, Stick-a-crane, NurseDr and B4Dawn for the day and completed the bike ride in about 3 hours. After a lunch break we then completed a few more caches around the Pauanui and Tairua. A great day with great friends.
Stikacrane did the duties on this one. TFTC!

I had made a call out to team SEAC to see if anyone wanted to wonder to Pauanui for day outing to grab some caches. Ended up with a swamp of us wanted to go! So on the day itself, we packed up the bikes, picnic food and embarked on this great journey! All logs were signed as "SEAC" to save space.

A plan was hatched amongst a few of the Team SEAC crew from south and east Auckland to spend the day in Pauanui and surrounding areas to find some caches. This trail was the first target. Mr and Mrs HeMaLuDy decided to walk the trail while the others biked, so they dropped us off at one end for us to get started and then they went to the other end to get started with their bikes.
Mr HeMaLuDy did the honours scrambling up for this one, and fortunately the cache was the first place he looked.

Out with my geocaching buddies "Team SEAC" for a day of adventures.

I did this trail back in March 2020 before the big C hit us. This was a DNF on my last visit, so was glad to find this one. I don't think I searched wide enough on this one last time.

As luck would have it NZTravellers, B4Dawn and I realised that all our other work and social commitments aligned to give us some free time this week so what better way to put this to use then some afternoon / evening / night caching the WHOLE week!!! After 4 weekdays of very long days (work in the morning, then caching all evening) we took a break on friday to get ready for a bigger Saturday to finish the week off. We had many more Team SEAC keen to join this one which we haven't done in a little while with all the lockdowns etc so it was a great day!

I was at the front of the pack at this time so came across GZ first and pulled up just past where I suspected it would be. As I walked back to join the others who had now stopped, Mr Stik-a-Crane hopped up and before he could get to GZ Mrs NZT had spotted the cache and therefore he was directed straight to it.

Thanks for the cache.

B4Dawn posted in our group chat of a trip down this way, a beautiful part of the country, to locate some of the local caches....some of us had found some but the majority were unfound by the group....

Thanks to the CO's for placing and maintaining the caches, with the majority in good condition and dry...

On our bikes for this stretch of caches, with 2 of the group walking...

Signed in as "SEAC" to save logbook space.

TFTC.

Clambered up and looked at rather than under! Took 2016 PathTag will log and send on its way again soon.

We found this one as we cycled from Pauanui towards the end of the trail and back again. Not too many muggles on the trail today. While MrJAG stayed with the bikes, MrsJAG clambered up the bank and after a short search found what we were searching for. Home now and can LOG this find! TFTC

I managed to find an easy clamber off and made my way along and found the cache in the first place I checked

Anniversary weekend for Vamber and we decided to stay in a Yurt in Pauanui with the geopup. Lovely early morning walk. TFTC.

Sent dear daughter to find but could not! Clambered up behind the log there, but didn’t see anything under it and couldn’t figure out where else it could be.

Find number 5 of the day, Phil of PhilBirdBoys successfully clambered up and found. Tftc.

Sent Phil up for this one as it was his turn to find! Nice and easy (ish) SL TNLN TFTC

Came back a few years later and sent the littlest eyretle up again despite us all having suitable footwear this time!

Auckland anniversary long weekend in Coromandel! It is great to be allowed to travel.... Anyway! I
I had DNF here before...
But it was.... Long time ago.
TFTC

Left our calling card here on our way past. Cheers.

Day 10 - Sunday 27 December - Tairua - up to Whenuakite and back and Pauanui power trail today. What will we find today?.

The Seagnoid, Zara, Toby and I are off on another geocaching escape over Xmas, this time to the mighty Coromandel, then over to Opotiki and stop off at Rotorua to return home on 5 January. Had an fabulous time exploring many wonders of our country. Rounding up over 400 caches along the way, with a few LABS, 20 odd TMGTs, virtuals and lots of interesting earth caches to keep the mind busy. Watching the sun come up on New Years Day at Mt Maunganui was spectacular. Lots of walking and even more driving. But had an awesome time. Thanks to all COs who made this adventure so special.

Nice to see a decent sized cache. Dropped in a path tag.

Taybeedragon and I went on a tour of the Coromandel - one of the few places of New Zealand, especially of Te ika a Maui, that I have yet to explore throughly, and from there along the coast to Opotiki to see one of my many, many sisters. From 18 December to 5 January we found over 400 caches, including 12 adventure labs (60 caches), 20 or so TMGTs and a host of virtuals and earthcaches. And I hosted an event to see the sun come up on New Year's day - surprisingly popular given that it was at 5am. We climbed a lot of hills, saw some amazing beaches that were quite popular despite (or because of) the insane access to them, walk a lot of bush, entered and explored 8 gold mines and generally had an awesome time. However I am glad to be back, but now is the hard part, and I fear it will take just as long - logging!

TFTC

Easy trail walk with ABCDF4,
quick easy find.

Lovely walk
nice easy find
Thanks to the CO for the day

Sent the child bride up the hill on a wee trek. Easily found once on location. Tftc

I thunk my clambering days are over, so I took a longer route around to GZ. TFTC.

Container has been updated. Lookout for a blue lid!

Out and about for a few days for a bit of a road trip around the Coromandel area. Day Four of my road trip. I started my travels in Coromandel Town and ended my day in Tairua. One of the objectives of my trip today was to try to find as many caches along this trail as I could. It would have been nice to have my bike with me but I had to make do with walking the trail on foot which was just fine by me. Apologies for the cut and paste logs. I'll note anything that stood out for me. I left this cache for my return walk as it sounded like it would be a bit of a challenge. I got up where I needed to be and found the cache after a short search. The container is looking a bit fragile and worse for wear but the log was in good condition. TFTC, Biggles.

Long search...gave up...more caches to find.

No joy today.

Our old friend Percy Verance was invaluable in our search for to locate the cache. Our patience paid off. SL. TFTC.

Quite a lot of bush bashing to reach this one. As others have commented the container is now very fragile and is not waterproof. Thanks for the challenge.

Container lid is totally buggered, cache wont last past the next decent rain.

TFTC

Looks like rats tried to log too. Box has some missing edges. Fast found. TFTC

It was a bit of a challenge getting to GZ but our efforts were rewarded with a quick find.
However a passing muggle must have thought we were out of our minds as she came around the corner just as we were awkwardly diving down from the top of the bank to the trail so we tried to cover up our behaviour by commenting to each other about the history of the area based upon the lines of shells in the bank . Not sure if she bought it or not but it was better than having her trying to guess what else we may have been up to.
The container is a bit broken so may need some maintenance but the contents seemed dry.
Great place for a hide. TFTC.

We came to Pauanui for a great cycle and geocaching session and we had a really great time. The trail was SO busy with many families out on their bikes too. Loved it! Cache is all good. TFTC

Went further down the trail and found a easier way up - while I was logging some people walk passed and commented on the fact there was a bike all on its own lol

TFTC

Cache probably under that big log, but it's late in the day and I'm in jandals and I sure can't be bothered doing any climbing. Another day.

Was up this way for the Leadfoot Festival of Speed and noticed I had a couple more caches this way to clear the area again.
Coords well out and container broken. Time for some maintenance.
Thanks for bringing me here.
TFTC

Another 7m out approx.

Container damaged.

Left a buggle.

http://www.stellography.com

A bit of a tricky clamber at first but quickly found. Lid of the cache is getting quite brittle. TFTC

This was a last minute planned trip for just the morning to try and get a few numbers for the latest bl**dy souviner challange by Groundspeak. So as it had been a while since I had been over here I thought that starting along this area and working my way south was an option (also would tidy up the map).

I arrived earlier than anticipated so collected the five at the end of the trail were collected as the light was changing and then went and got the opposing end before heading South.
Thank you for placing these along here and giving me a reason to stop on by. Next time I come over it will be to shoot up the hill

Thanks for the placement, Thanks for the cache

Day 2 of our Whangamata holiday and on the quest for more caches and some fun winter beach time. Decided today we would head to Pauanui to tackle the cycle trail and a few others.

I clambered up to this one and soon spotted the cache. Sharkboy decided to follow me up and learnt an important lesson on why not to grab onto cutty grass.

Time to revisit Pauanui. Last time I was here was in the 70's. Also wanted to give my new e-bike another run.

The lid is in a bad state.

Cheers for the cache.

Great hide easy find

Beautiful walk. Tftc

Managed to get up ok and even found the cache without much trouble. Lid on the cache has cracked but log is still nice and dry in plastic bag. Really loved the walk and think the locals and visitors are very lucky to have it. Thanks for the caches TFTC

This was the last cache we found on our walk today. Also cyclone Hola Senf a lot of rain we enjoyed this trail. Thanks for showing this places. Mercy

Having walked up Mt Pauanui this morning and wanting to stay local to Pauanui today I decided on this trail which I’d been eyeing since arriving on Saturday.
Unlike the last visitor I had better weather to attempt this. I discounted the most direct route as few hand/foot placements. I moved to the right a bit and with the assistance of a very sturdy tuffet of grass I made it up and down without incident for which I am grateful!
Thanks for placing and greetings from the .

No hope during lashing rain ...

Great cache but container broken

Sent up the smallest Eyretle to find this one as the rest of us are wearing jandals (totally unsuitable for caching!)

Great one to send the mini cacher for!

A double trouble challenge hete In addition to tougher terrsin, I met first other people on the trail. Just when I should have focused how to get to the cache least painfully. Nothing too bad and it was easy to find after having gotten close enough

In quite an exposed spot but invisible from the track. TFTC

Quick find.

Quick easy find, while on holiday for a few days thought May as well do a few caches. Weather is holding off at the moment since its been raining most of.our trip from tauranga. Tftc

2.30pm. Walking from the town end of the trail finding all the active caches on the way. Soon had this in hand after a short scramble.
Thank you. David & Noeline with Andrea & Natalia.

Mister e took the challenge. Dropped by dad when he jumped back down. Whoops!

Sorry... I grabbed a rock for support and ants scurried out... Ran away screaming... Not for me today!

This is cache number 3302. I parked up and walked down to here. By the time I got here the rain had started so was glad I put my coat on. Once I had clambered up to GZ I checked for any residents but there was no one was home. I stepped carefully over and saw that they had left me a cache. I signed and returned it to it's spot. Thank you for the placement.

Clambered up in my borrowed tramping boots to give them a test. Got up ok and spotted what I thought was someone's discarded lunch. Thankfully it was the cache. Thanks for bringing us here Millsandlills.

There has been a fair amount of money spent along this trail ....it's certainally a great asset and judging by the number of joggers and cyclists passing me by..it's well used ...a good hide with a bit of energy to grab and sign ....good as it warms me up thanks MillsandLills for the cache

#246. 3.53 p.m. My seventh of the day, still heading for 10 to create a new daily record for me (yes, pathetic, I know!), and still plenty of daylight! This one was a tad tricky to climb up to (I am not as young as I used to be!) but with encouragement from Mrs W1nz (GB Leader), I made it an quickly located the cache. To Mills&Lills: tftc.

We finished the last few caches along here with kiwis69 and sons who we bumped into further back along the trail. A fairly quick find here although we do recommend the terrain rating is pushed up a little. TFTC! .

Continued this nice walk today, some great finds and did not try the caches not found 2 days ago. Some are quite challenging and would question the terrain rating. TFTC

Could've been one of our first finds of the day but too many muggles when we started along the trail , so instead found on our way back to the carpark. Easy with various hands/eyes looking, def a higher terrain rating than currently though. TFTC

Climbing up for fortune

I am not a mountain goat, although I am called Nana at times. Don't know how l would walk back to the camper with a broken leg

On a geocaching trip around the area, enjoying the good caches on the way.
Nice fairly quick find here - short search before spotting it.
Thanks for the fun! SL

Tough one, but found at least.

Thanks
-Mic333
#2586, 11.02.2017 um 13:40

11.10am - Large amounts of caching have been on the back burner since the Squirrel had his eye surgery. Cleared to go we have been looking at the Pauanui area for some time now and noted a lot of new caches have been added in the area recently.
Plan made and off we went. Day turned out to be very hot and with lots of water on board we will be okay. Decided to start on the new trail first then look at the others afterwards.
Caches didn't pose to many problems with some easier than others, scrambled up banks, read previous cachers comments to help us find. Then the good camoes etc. We seemed to be the only walkers on track apart from a few cyclist. SLTFTC

With Gap (of Fap and Gap) on a hot, Auckland Anniversary holiday... I am recovering from eye surgery, and haven't been out caching in a while... Today's efforts are going to be testing...

We arrived at the roadside and could already see a group of cyclists. This set the scene for the entire length of track. We were never really alone for any great periods of time; and to make it more challenging, groups would pass us twice travelling in either direction. The most positive aspect really, were the views along the waterway... just beautiful on a sunny, blue sky day. We liked this track and look forward to exploring its extension in the near future.

It was a bit nerve wracking climbing up onto the bank, but we managed to carefully arrive in one piece. It took a moment and a bit of scanning to work out where this one might be, and we spotted the outter cover soon enough. We understand the container type here as one of those urgent holiday placements. TFTC.

The final day of our mini break to the Coromandels. One of us clambered up and found the cache, then felt a bit conspicuous as a group of cyclists rode by. TFTC.

Out caching, had a fun time on the trail today

Terrrain level needs to be higher for this one

After finding the cache it was finding a safe way down! one stop I nearly left my sunglasses at, woops, thankfully I was still at the top, when I went looking for them, only to return to the cache, and see them sitting there. Thanks for the hide, lovely walk along this trail today, a little hot, but lots of rest stops with these wooden seats.

Nice trail
All ok, signed in blood
Thanks!

Odd container not typically suitable as a geocache but we'll see how it goes. Tricky find but once I got up there it didn't take too long. Cheers again MillsandLills

Went into the bush too soon, so got more twigs than needed. Mr P like to sensible chap he is walked around and provided instructions as I found the cache and then tried to get down again. T4tc

Attending a 2 day meeting in Pauanui so out of the classroom to get some caches tftc

Found while doing the walk with Carrollfamily . Busy area .

Found while in adventure with willbuild

We've been here before - it's a nice walk. So I was happy to have an excuse (caches) to come here again. The kids, dogs and I continued along the track for a km or so before strolling back. We all had a great time. Tftc

We have walked this track many times so it was good to do it again and be rewarded with a First to find TFTC