HOT & COLD TARANAKI Hawera, North Island, New Zealand
By Rick-a-mortis on 16-Apr-17. Waypoint GC742JY

Such a shame this place is so over grown, so much history. DNF although someone had a trap set for eels!

No luck today. Too n=much bush basing gorse and other fighting weeds today.Next time.......

Think we were wrong side of the river and then put off by fences and enthusiastic vegetation.

Found but very wet inside

Found. Alot of water in it. Maybe needs a new waterproof containers

**17,345**
The area whilst steeped in history, has been poorly maintained, making our way to GZ was quite a chore. Cache container found, but no logsheet inside, but contains toys etc. Attempt to sign a makeshift log, as unfortunately we had no replacement logs on us for the hike here. TFTC

I think I've been here before for the previous TMGT cache. Hopped the fence for this one, avoided the large bull and soon spotted the host. There is no logbook in the container so inked inside of lid, and tipped out the water inside. Needs a little TLC here.

With a preferable weather forecast for the Saturday this weekend, and a little time available for a roadie out Taranaki way I was off out the house at 0600 and back home 12 hours later. My initial (misguided) plan to cache up to Stratford, then back again was adjusted just after lunch and Normanby was the turn-around spot. A good day out and improved my Taranaki stats somewhat with 30-odd real finds and 17 Ad Lab stages (3 completed). Put my big-boy pants on to climb the Hawera water tower (a DNF for the cache though) and a great Earthcache out at Ancient Beaches. Many, many 2 Bulbars caches, thanks Lester, and appreciate the efforts of all COs.

The Cache was out in the open full of water.
I found the lid down by the stream.
No log book. No TB
Needs a replacement Log book
TB missing.

Nice day for a small walk, this was my 1st cache of the day, found fairly quickly, dropped off a tb, thanks for the cache Rick-a-mortis

Found this on a wander through Turuturu Mokai Historic Reserve on my way to the TMGT cache. This looks like it was an awesome and special place in the past so its a bit sad to see its sorry state today. TFTC Rick-a-mortis # 18,241

Was stopping for the geotour cache and grabbed this as well.

Cache is in excellent condition, but it appears to be off of its tether.

Thanks for the cache!

Put anotherlog on the fire, haha TFTC

Up the hill and up the stairs. Oooops, dog house! Luckily empty. Quick and easy find.

TFTC Rick-a-mortis

*** Out on our MEGA Roadtrip with Wilbywarrior. Who says this can only happen when the MEGA is actually held?! Greetings from Dunedin, caching friends
#417 ***

Nice and quick find here.
Malinkaly and I planned a road trip to go to the MEGA but Covid has postponed the event again. We decided to continue on with our planned journey making adjustments as we go with the ever-changing travel restrictions.
Greetings from Dunedin!
Thanks for the cache, Rick-a-mortis
#2662

Nice walk - master 13 has been complaining we don’t let him find the caches his brothers are always too quick - we tried to leave this to him but alas everyone else spotted it first - tftc

#9544. I am travelling north to Taranaki to pick up some of the TMGT geotour caches in this region. I am having a 4 day weekend so there is plenty of time to drive here and take in the scenery and find some geocaches. Spent the first night in Hawera and this morning I was picking up the local Adventure Labs first up. I then headed out to the old pa site after breakfast to get the TMGT cache. I stopped to look for this one on the way. The pa site is getting a bit overgrown with gorse, blackberry and rank grass. Scrambled over the style and through the soaking wet grass to GZ. The cache was quickly spotted. Looks like it has been found by muggles since placement as the log had quite a few messages in it. Sorry didn't notice if the trackables were still there. Signed the logbook and replaced the cache where found. Thanks Ric-a-mortis for hiding a cache here.

Thanks to the kind work of gibbon this cache has been replaced

Dropped Off Two Travel Bugs While Replacing Cache Container For Rick-a-Mortis And Added Some Other Swag As Well.

container is missing and i will make a decision if it will be replaced soon

Found the location, maybe the goat ate it.

Quick walk and grab

Easy find, cool spot

Another smilie closeby. Even had a Goat Muggle watching me. nice walking about this interesting place.

Ended being watched all the way to the cache by a goat as I was walking around its territory. TFTC

Enjoyed our few minutes at this cache. FP for the new friend we made. TFTC

Had to jump the gate to get in as it was all locked up but no one was about and it takes me a lot to be deterred from finding a cache....jumped a stile or two and met the local resident...who was on a very long chain...oh god I hope it doesn’t charge us....well it took no notice of us....until I unscrewed the lid of the container and it jumped straight up and walked over and stuck it’s head right in either looking for food or finally having a look in this strange object that it’s been staring at for weeks on end...we giggled hard...then it wanted cuddles so of course we gave it huge cuddles...I’ve never had such a friendly encounter with this type of creature before and fell in love instantly and wanted to take it home really...was very sad to leave. A pic of our encounter is attached

Teamed up with Cats&Dragons, for an overnight mission down the West Coast focusing in and around Hawera. It's been awhile since we've done a trip like this and it was great to be out finding caches again. We left Hamilton at 7pm Friday night and returned midnight Saturday, with only a few hours of sleep needed we managed 116 finds for the trip. A big thanks to all the cache owners for their placements.

No problems here, thanks for showing us the area.

This was an interesting location that I expect I would never have visited were it not for geocaching. The cache was been guarded carefully but the sentry seemed happy enough for me to approach it once it decided I was not a threat.

Find it to easy

First find today too easy

too easy

A really cool spot. Photo contains spoilers. Had some kids mucking about around on the bridge so hopefully the container stays where it is..

**Found on our way home from a February - March tour around the South Island. Logging back home in Auckland in Lockdown isolation**

After staying the night nearby, our first stop of the day was to Turuturu Mokai Historic Reserve to find the GeoTour cache here. We noticed this trad on the way, and decided to look for it on our walk back. Not the best idea, as the access wasn't so obvious from that direction. After a false start we continued on and soon found the correct path. Once at GZ the container was quickly spotted - and bigger than we had been expecting. Now we understand the title! TFTC

Our initial attempt to get to this cache failed, so we carried on to TMGT Turuturu Mokai. On the way back out, we found the route to this cache, which was then a quick easy find. TFTC

A nice quick find, nice area. There was a family trying to catch eels in the creek nearby, spoke to the mother on the way back, they'd just hooked one but it got a way which she said they were all secretly pleased about. The kids were having a great time. Thanks Rick-a-mortis

***[======== NZ Mega 2020 ========](http://nzmega.com)***

Planning for the [NZ Mega 2020](http://nzmega.com) 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](http://nzmega.com) - you won't want to miss it!

#9474

Turning a two hour drive into a whole day affair from Wanganui to New Plymouth! Entrance way looks a bit sad. TFTC!!

Tftc beware. the goat

(# 5704). A flying visit to Taranaki primarily to get the TMGT geotour caches. Day 2 was to drive from New Plymouth to Hawera then back on home directly. The place was all quiet. Took the harder option of going to the cache included going around the electric fence. Took the better exit out. Everything in order. TFTC

Always a shame there is so little evidence of the existence of these sites apart from a few holes or hills. Always interesting though.

#11,631. Good to return to Hawera to explore a bit more of Turuturu Mokai Historic Reserve. Eventually found the route to GZ without having to cross over the fences. The place was all quiet at the time of the visit. Quick find once at GZ. The cache was in good condition, all nice and dry inside.

Took The Seagnoid's 10,000 finds pathtag
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.

OK so NOW we find the entrance into this reserve. Another Pa site to explore and snag this cache along the way. Cheers. More tall wet grass here to keep us wet.

Day 4- Tuesday 17 December. Hawera district today.
Running around the Hawera district today in Toby, while Zara rests up. Checked Manawapou viaduct and Nowells Lakes.

The Seagnoid, Zara, Toby and I are spending Christmas exploring Taranaki via geocaching. Its been an amazing 3 week adventure. Rattls BBQ was a great event, meeting many other cachers. But also managed to fit in a few more events, especially New Years Day celebrating the start of 2020. Lots of caches - over 500. Lots of cache maintenance. Lots and lots of kilometers. And lots of amazing places visited along our journey. Mt Taranaki remained elusive for much of our travels and the caches on it at the top. Loved Pukekura Park Night Lights Show and the the Wooden Mechanical toy exhibition at NP Info centre.

having found the correct entrance into this farmed reserve, you'd thing things would be easier. but no, this grass has been left to grow and is now waist high. And of course, it was raining last night. We are all quite wet. Nice big cache here, dropped in a path tag. The site needs more info boards telling of it's history.

Day four of Taybeedragon's and my big 3 week circumnavicaching trip around Mt Taranaki, starting from Palmerston North. Today is Hawera - it's going to be a slow trip!!
Highlights:
* 3 weeks, 536 caches
* Mt Taranaki had been removed for washing, which was a bit of a shame. Even after it had been returned we were only allowed to see it for it was less than half an hour a day.
* High percentage of caches with crappy coordinates
* Amazing Pukekura Park
* AMAZING Pukekura Park light show!
* Pukeiti Gardens
* Lots of cache maintenance!

***[======== NZ Mega 2020 ========](http://nzmega.com)***

Planning for the [NZ Mega 2020](http://nzmega.com) 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](https://coord.info/GC87777) - you won't want to miss it!

15 December 2019 6:48 PM. made this one way harder than I needed to (it's been a long day!) All in good condition. Tftc

Find number 6447. After spending a night at the camping ground in town I was heading north towards home. I wanted to collect the nearby TMGT cache so stopped for this one on the way to it. Over the fence and tru the long grass. Cache easily spotted and then signed. Interesting residence nearby. Thank you for the placement.

On a TMGT trip, this cache was close by so had to get ...the grass is long ...soon located the novel hide ...I have seen and used a few of these in my time lol Thanks Rick-a-Mortis

I waded through the very long grass and thought "great cup a tea time" but no such luck. Thanks for bringing us here Rick-a-mortis

Found 1pm
Day 2 of Squirrel Nutcase and my road trip south, now from Whanganui back to Rotorua.
Mission completed with collecting TMGT caches, and as to day 1, great history.
Will have to come back at some stage as there are so many caches in area.
Thanks to cache owners for the cache placements. SLTFTC

With Gap (of Fap and Gap)... This weekend’s mission was about completing the North Island leg of the TMGT. It involved a fairly extensive road trip through the Wellington, Manawatu/Whanganui, and Taranaki regions. We also made a plan to pick up other caches along our driving route...

A trudge through very long grass - thank goodness it was dry. On arrival, the cache was very reminiscent of others hidden by this CO in the Bay of Plenty. A good repurposed hide. Thanks Rick-a-mortis and TFTC.

The main focus of todays trip was the Geo Tour caches, but I did stop to look for the odd other one or two along the way. I was here to look for the one at the top of the Pa. Nabbed this one on the way back down. TFTC

Spending a few days around the region and finding a few caches along the way. Stopped by this interesting little reserve and enjoyed a walk around.
TFTC Rick-a-mortis

I wasn't expecting such a big cache here. Should read the cache page better.

Replaced the log with a new waterproff one.

Cheers for the cache.

Tramyard had arranged a camper relocation and asked me if I wanted to join him and locate some of the geotour caches on the way back from Christchurch to Auckland. I readily agreed and took Friday off work, so we could spend 4 days travelling over 1600kms from Christchurch to Greymouth to Kaikoura, Blenheim and Picton, across the ferry to Wellington, up through Taranaki back to Auckland finding over 80 caches, 43 of which were part of the geotour.

We stayed the night in Belmont Regional Park for the night. Our original plan was to travel back to Auckland via SH1, stopping in Taupo. However, Tramyard decided we could return via Taranaki, even though he was only there last week. This meant we had an early start if we wanted to find all the geotour caches along the way (and a few virtuals too!).

We came to this reserve to locate the geotour cache. We decided to walk around the entire loop to stretch our legs after the long journey. This was the first of three and I couldn't miss the cache even if I'd tripped over it. Wasn't expecting something this large. Managed to squeeze my name on the log.

Pretty easy find !!

...

Nice and big

Found it during doing campervan relocation. TFTC

On a road trip from New Plymouth to Wellington today, collecting as many Geo Tour caches as I can find.
I had to walk past this cache to get to the TMGT so I jumped the fence and made the find.
Good sized container.
TFTC

Great thanks

nice find in the sun shine for once -oh and no sign of Billy de Goat he musta gone on holiday

Nice and easy find

Beautiful find xx

??

# 1290 Yay, this weekend it was time for a roadie from the Hutt Valley up to Taranaki, with the prime mission being a summit of Mt Taranaki, and the secondary mission being 2bullbars smiley trail. There were a few other caches added for good measure too. Team GST as we named ourselves consisted of Gr33nslime, stardust718 and twigNZ. All up we found 51 caches and only two DNF so that is a pretty good hit rate. Sorry for the bulk log here. Thank you very much to all of the cache owners for placing and maintaining the caches that we had the pleasure of finding on this trip.

This was a rather random spot to come to and it would be interesting to know the historic significance here. I had jandles on so i just watched the rest of the team from about 10 m away on the road and finding the large size cache. There was a local pottering around nearby. I kept my eye on her, but she didnt even look our way once... very strange.

This weekend adventure had been 2 months in the making. An off the cuff comment made at a geocahing event late last year led to the planning and execution of a weekend in the Taranaki including summiting Mount Taranaki. I had a great time roadtripping and climbing with Gr33nslime and TwigNZ. We only collected 50 caches in total but had an amazing experience and saw some very unique hides. We logged our finds as team GST.

2 of 2
Our 4th stop of the day on our way up to Mt Taranaki. It felt a bit weird driving in here and there was a farmer fixing a fence nearby. He seemed to ignore us and leave us be as we ventured cross-country in search of a cache. TwigNZ spotted the hint object quickly and soon after located the great size container. Thanks for the cache.

This cache was one I wanted to target as I was driving past as I needed it to help me qualify for a Challenge Cache down in Wellington. A relatively easy park n grab, once you got over the idea that all the fencing etc was not really there to keep you out but to keep animals in.
Spotted the Hint object quickly, after which the nicely sized cache was an immediate find. A quick sign of the log and then I was back on my way again.

Thanks for placing this cache.

Was making my way to New Plymouth for work and was picking up a few caches as I making my way North if time allowed. Have seen this cache a few times as I have driven pass here and have being looking at attempting it a few times but was always limited on the amount of time I had free.

Arriving at the park entrance, I managed to find a safe parking spot not too far from the entrance and then it was time to make my way to GZ, was quite impressed with the area and the walk to near GZ really didnt take too long and then it was just a matter of making my way over the stile.

Arriving at GZ it really didnt take too long before I soon found the hiding spot for this cache and soon spotted the cache container in the most obvious spot.

Managed to retrieve the cache, signed and replaced the cache back where I found it. Thanks Rick-a-mortis for placing this cache here and for bringing me to this spot TFTC TNLNSL (13917). Glad it wasnt too hot of a walk to GZ and back.

Now it is time to go back to the car and continue on my way North, I will be back another day for the other cache that is in this reserve but not for today.

Disclaimer: The above log may be based on true or actual events.

Neat hide!

Thanks for the cache, brought back memories

Logbook replaced . Further maintenance needed to secure container . Other than that it is in good condition

Finished up today in Hawera with half an hour of daylight to spare so I thought I'd grab a couple of caches.

Not sure about this one. I see it has been found lately by others but I encountered what appeared to be a locked gate so I moved on.

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 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

Back again in the Hawera are collecting caches between the rain and trying to stay dry, luckily each time that I was out of the car looking for a cache there was shelter nearby or if I was driving to the next cache and it started to rain I would move on to the next cache hoping by the time I got there it had stopped raining with the plan to come back a bit later.

Spotted from a distance no longer tether to stump as mention in past logs it needs a new log book and very little in the way of swag

Thanks For the cache

This was a great one to find. Nice sized container. However, the log seems to have gone and people are logging there visits on a small square of paper which is now full. I took the last spot. I didn't have any paper with me so hopefully the next finder will have something to put in there for logging

Time to stop and stretch my legs on my to New Plymouth for a ten pin bowling Tournament. Good to see another good size cache. Thanks Rick-a-mortis for the cache.

This cache was full of surprises. The first surprise was that I couldn't drive into the reserve i.e. there was no car park, second surprise was how unkept the reserve was, third surprise was the cow pats that littered all over the historic site, and the final surprise was the cache just sitting out in the open - no search required!

TFTC

Quick find. TFTC.

This was our first stop on our "planetary mission" today.
This is an interesting, although poorly looked after little area. Having said that, there was a muggle near GZ who appeared to be doing some maintenance. Fortunately he was out of sight of us.
We soon found the cache, and signed the "odd" little log sheet.
We left a pet rock - a panda.
Thanks for showing us this little spot Rick-a-mortis

Once we found the right track found easy many thanks

Not the greatest terrain for jandals... found it after a few wrong turns, mind the prickles

Watch out for the gorse, on your way to this find. Thx

Visiting from the UK after a break of four years.

A morning to myself as the girls go shopping and I attempt to grab a few drive by caches.


T4tC Rick-a-mortis

Civv'nr & MissTreadlightly (UK)

Out on a drive and a chance to grab a couple of caches. Almost feels like you are trespassing here...lots of long grass and fences stating they are electric. Found a place to cross the Fence and then after making a path through the grass the cache was soon in hand. Tftc

Found with GPetone on a most enjoyable HVTC day cycle ride exploring Hawera. As GPetone noted it is a interesting historic site and really needs some clearing and new interpretation panels. TFTC

Found while on PatandJohn's HVTC cycle and tramping Xmas trip while cycling around Hawera. Found with PatandJohn.
It is sad about the lack of maintenance of this historic place.
TFTC

Great cache, although jandels not the best footwear in grass as tall as me! Tftc

Nice long grass but good cache

Cool container nice view big stump.

Easy find make sure you have good footwear or you might lose your shoes in the grass lol. No proper log book but there was a bit of paper sticker pad thing

Easy find. Massive container. Bring something to.write with

Left a pen for people who forget

Awesome find

Another interesting area we have visited today we are getting to know Hawera today, if it wasn't for caching we would never of come here. It was a quick find at ground zero no log to be found we signed a game card which was inside unfortunately we had no logs on us like we usually do otherwise we would of put a new log in Sorry. Cache was out in the open it is better hidden now. Thank you for placing a cache here a very interesting area lots of history to be discovered. TFTC

What an interesting spot! Didn't get a chance to have a good look around as the weather isn't the best, but we will return!

The rain had finally stopped so out for some fresh air and a walk. This was a quick find and when I saw the cache, the title made perfect sense. Signed log - TNLN.

What a great place but sadly looking a little neglected. Thanks for the placement at this interesting spot Rick-a-mortis.

beautiful horse who came up to say hello too

On a day trip out with Shelbells so time to pick up a few caches on the way to Hawera, looked at this a while ago but now get to find GZ log signed BB. Good to see a nice sized cache. Mission accomplished, this one is a wrap. Thanks for the cache from Blenheim Bear!
This cache posted with CacheSense for Android.

Overshot the GZ a few steps, as JutyBug reminisced about youthful mishaps of the watery kind. Quickly corrected, and found the cache very securely in place. TFTC

I used to come here when I was knee high to a grasshopper and swim in the pool that was here. so it was good to revisit the site and see the changes the cache was hot and cold well done TFTC

Another good find with jackeesback on a road trip today.
*Nice quick stop* - strange place with all the fences.
SL TFTC

Interesting cache thanks

Travelling through to New Plymouth to do final details organization for Mum in laws 90th birthday in August and had to locate a t least few caches en route. This is an interesting area and it is a shame that the notice board has been removed explaining , no doubt, more about the area. I retrieved a TB from it and will move it onto Aussie in a couple of weeks when i go to sydney. I was disappointed that i could not locate the entrance into the forgotten momument cache nearby.
Thank you for this new cache and another smiley face .