Kiwiisms... A Sunday drive to the wops (Taranaki) Matemateaonga, North Island, New Zealand
By Phronimos on 23-Apr-17. Waypoint GC74H92

After abandoning the tyre swing as it was full of water we came to help with Operation LID In the end though we had to sign a replacement log and then Dad backed the Ute down the boat ramp and we ate our picnic lunch on the tail gate. TFTC

Haven't been out these ways for years. Found a whole lot of black leaf litter inside the cache so I wonder how long its been out in the elements for without its lid. All good now. TFTC

In true Kiwi fashion we loaded everyone up into the Ute and went for a good ole Sunday drive out to the wops to show the kids where to drop the boat into the top end of Lake Rotorangi if the occasion ever arises for them.ha of course the main reason was to sign off this cache for aTrad dot day but a boat lesson thrown into the mix never hurt anyone. Almost got to GZ unscathed after all the bad weather but 30m from the boat ramp we came across a big slip that was across the whole road..see pic..luckily we had the ute!!! No one camping today so we had the whole place to ourselves. While the kids ran off to the tyre swing we got to work. MM found it instantlymuggled!!..see pic.. no lid or log. As I saw before we left home that it hasnt been found for almost 4 years I thought to bring some supplies along just incase. But after a big search for the lid to try and repurpose the original I had to retreat to the car for a replacement container to leave in its place. Have put it back in place with lots of leaf litter over it. Streak day 309 Nice quiet spot, thanks.

Container lid and fresh log replaced by trayc.g family. A good swap for finding the 1266 days lonely cache I reckon.Nearly as good as a FTF eh?! Thanks guys. Really do appreciate it. (Interesting to note the slip is **still** there, or another in the same place.) I had the shovel and slasher on board to dig out a stuck boat trailer my last visit.

After Mowing Me Hay Paddock (lawn) And Bailing Me Three Bails Of Hay I Got Bord So Decided To Go Bush And What A Drive It Was For This Cache,Could Not Have Picked A Better Day Hot And Plenty Of Sun.A Lot Of Cars On The Road Heading Back To Town But At Gz No One Dead Queit Had The Place All To Meself Oh And The Birds.Also Took Some Photos On Way Home.

Didn’t have to look too hard to find this geocache. Wow I can’t believe this hasn’t been found since 2017!!! I’m in town for holiday as I now live in Christchurch and wanted to get out and about and this cache certainly did that!

We came, we cached,We conquered
Nice easy grab
Location is spot On!!!
Thank you for bringing us here

Encountered valley fog, especially along the Patea River on this trip, not unusual for the Mangamingi area. Children used to come to the local school that you pass to get to this cache, some in the local daily rural delivery vehicle in the 1970s, and some by foot or even a horse, as well as by cars. At the Rotorangi Landing the nearby Glenui children came daily too.
Very quiet at GZ today with at least one resident here, but did not appproach. tftc Phronimos.

Such a neat place to visit with the clear day and the Autumn colour. A chance to slip down the hill to the spot meet some one who had camped for the week and had a yarn to tell Thank Phronimos bringing me here TFTC

My wife was off visiting with two of her sisters so I took advantage of having a day to myself and went for a nice ride, not rushing, just cruising along and enjoying the views. A nice sunny day in between cyclones and nearly no-one else on the road.

There was but one camper right in the middle of the ground but he was sitting reading and as I wandered around getting closer to Ground Zero his vehicle blocked the view and I was able to retrieve and sign the cache unobserved.

It is indeed a lovely spot. Thanks for the cache.

After getting a few chores done on such a nice fine day we decided to get our bikes out and go for a FTF as it was still waiting to be found after sitting in place for over a week
We camped here about 6 years ago and took the kayak down to the water for a bit of exercise
an Australian couple turned up in the afternoon and set up camp as well and we joined them around a campfire. One of them said I really want to see a morepork. I said you will hear one but I don't think you will see one and just after that we heard this odd noise and as we looked up to the tree a morepork came out of a hollow branch just above us and this Australia guy was excited to see it
Many thanks for placing this here and getting us out here on our bikes over those big hills a FP FROM us

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