Tidal Stairs (BOP) Tauranga, North Island, New Zealand
By nzkites on 04-Jan-17. Waypoint GC6YX03

We went down today with a bag full of bits and pieces and the intention of hiding a new cache here. Unfortunately the new water park is right in front of where we were going to hide it! Looks like fun to play on but no good for finding a cache. Especially as there is a security guard situated there 24hrs until April to make sure no one goes on without paying for it.

Archiving as this is no longer a good spot for a cache, as per our maintenance log.

We looked today to find a new place for this hide. Will replace shortly.

The development of this area has (almost) finished, and the cache has gone along with the fence. We will disable until we can find a new spot for this one.

Very quiet this afternoon so a quick grab was made TFTC

Woohoo a new cache! Collected while on a Starbucks date with my mama! Unfortunately the cache was lying on the ground in a vulnerable state, so I reattached it where I suspected it belongs?? Thanks for the cache!

We had to come into town this afternoon to do a couple of errands ... the perfect opportunity to pick up 'Tidal Stairs' - thanks for another straight-forward placement, not far from home .

5.10pm - The Squirrel and I had another cacher on board with us today and goal today was to collect as many caches in the Tauranga area as we could, including an event latter this afternoon. SLTFTC

Anthony (new cacher and nephew) and I are meeting up with SolarNZ and Gap (of Fap and Gap)... We have an interesting mission today which should result in a much needed clear out of recent Tauranga cache placements.

This will be an interesting area once things are fully constructed... We were looking for something in the vicinity capable of carrying a cache... We hardly expected to find it where we did. TFTC.

Stopped to see the Hairy McClarey sculpture- so very cool. Kept wandering enjoying the area. This is going to be amazing when all finished. Thanks for sharing with us

Long way from Prague. 2 days off in New Zealand... TFTC

Decided to celebrate this lovely sunny summers day by doing a few local caches. Loved wandering around this area, so much going on. However, luckily, the cache area was completely free, invisible from the playground behind a fence, giving us good time to locate and sign the log in leisure. Cache is all good. Happy families. happy cachers. TFTC

Great project, looking forward to see it when it's finished. Tftc

Hopefully it will be finished soon!
Looks nice
Ps.: I like these cats and dogs close to the cache
Tftc

Love it

Interesting place to put them! High muggle area even at night. TFTC

#636 - Had a child free day.. so came out today with a friend to do some caching.
Was a nice, quick easy find thanks, will be really nice once its all finished. TFTC

Found this out and about with my buddy Katbowersnz. Great find, very easy but watch the muggles.
Thanks for the find.

Nice quick one. TFTC.

Finally found it as I was having network issues.
TFTC.

Nice hide, found while the kids were at the playground. Had to wait for the muggles all leaving the worksite before grabbing the cache to sign at a discreet spot before stealthily replacing. Tftc

TFTC

Found this with Gran'ma and Um'pa -- we had to crowd around a bit while Gran'ma re-tied our shoe-laces !! Then we went off to play with Hairy Maclary and his friends and forgot to log this on the day.
Thank you

It was a middle of the day visit or nothing, so undeterred we headed into it. Fortunately we had little Dominic and Aidan with us, so they were our camouflage amongst all the muggles. Once we guessed where it was we all gathered around for a quick grab and sign as we "sorted out" the children's shoes --- and no one took any notice of these two OAPs with their grandchildren .
All a bit of fun ---- looking forward to the finished waterfront.
TFTC

I was really surprised to see a cache placed here, but what a great way of publicising the proposed tidal stairs. I was also interested in the historical photos of the area. I can remember a big wharf being here, and then pull down for no apparent reason. The cache was spotted peeking out, but the area was teeming with muggles so retrieval took some time. I hope this remains for some time to come as it is a great area - especially the Hairy MacLary statues. Thanks NZKites for another interesting cache.

What a brave hide in such a public ..busy area ...took a few attempts to retrieve it as there seem to be a steady cue to the WC ...I played the waiting game and soon had the cache in hand ....amazing how these things move ....it's almost like they have legs .....a quick sign and replaced thanks NZ kites for an interesting cache......these steps would have to be right up there with regard to expense 3.8 million you would expect a few more steps haha or maybe it's the most expensive place to hide a cache

Our last night in the BOP, so after a lovely meal at Macau, we headed back to our car via this cache nearby. No one in sight, we ducked down and made a nice quick find. The pics of the development looks very much like the recently developed Wynyard Quarter in Auckland CBD. Thanks for placing this one

Cool cache ... found with some friends we want to introduce to caching

I've been making an effort to save some local caches for evening forays later in the year but this one, by its nature, is temporary so it makes a great cache for a dot day. Went for a pint and snacks at Brew, checking out the cache on the way. I specialise in smoke and mirrors but it was the shadow that gave this away. A quick shoe adjustment and cache in hand. Now to return it. TFTC.

A lil stroll down here today after getting co ords for a multi near by. Had a little feel to no avail, peeked from a different angle and could see where to retrieve. Many thanks. Cheers.

Yip locals slow, obviously still in festive holiday mode - we were out kayaking for a cache yesterday so we were kept busy having a great time. Came past here today getting supplies to go home and watch the cricket. We were lucky to park very close with one of us sitting in the car. I had trouble to start as GPS kept bouncing around and there are a few options hintwise. Richard spotted something from the other side and we soon had it stealthily in hand.. It will be interesting watching this construction and the seeing the end product Congrats Aiden29 on FTF TFTC

What a daring cache in such an interesting area...and we were 2nd to find!
Thanks so much for bringing us to see what is going on here. It will be a beautiful community spot...I have always felt it was a pity to be so near the water but have no access to it here. (I just remembered there was a cache on the edge of the path by the water a few years back.)
Anyway, we puzzled for a bit before deciding on 'tying shoelaces' in the right spot. It probably looked a wee bit strange trying to tie shoelaces in my jandals, and even stranger for the 5 year old grandson who entered into the spirit it of it tying shoelaces in his bare feet, hehe.
The old photos were also very interesting...a few changes over the years. Thanks very much for the cache.

Decided to tag-along with my parents on a roadtrip from Auckland to Tauranga, as they had to bring 2 dogs down to have their hips and elbows x-rayed. Knowing we'd have a couple of hours to kill, I managed to convince my parents to let me find a few caches, in particular the webcam at the end of the port.

We had dropped the dogs off at the vet up the road and had stopped to have breakfast, and meet up with a friend of mum's who lived in the area, at Palmers in Bethlehem. The friend we were meeting was running late, and me being impatient as I usually am, decided to go off and find the closest geocaches while they waited. Found the nearest two and returned to them still chatting. I went to wait patiently (or not so) in the car and was seeing if there were any other caches nearby. I saw that there was a cache in Tauranga that was not saved for off-line, so checked why. Saw that this had just been published, so I told my parents that I wanted to go try for FTF. They had already made plans to go to a dog park with the friend and her dog, so we drove away from Tauranga getting further away as the minutes ticked by. Dropped them off at the park and then turned around and headed into the city.
I had to park more than 200 metres from the cache, as I didn't know the area and didn't want to risk driving around to find a closer park. Paid for parking and rushed to GZ. It took me a bit to figure out where the cache could be, but once I zero'd in on the location a quick find was made. I pretended to tie my laces while retrieving the cache, signing the log and returning. FTF at 12:18pm, when I truly expected to be beaten by a local.

[FTF] #18 and first outside of Auckland

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