The Japanese Gardens of Huntly Huntly, North Island, New Zealand
By RWIMF on 09-Mar-18. Waypoint GC7K9AC

It was Mums (SethRaven) birthday on Friday and today she wanted to spend the morning caching & suggested Huntly . . . . . . Mum had found this one before and we had a good search but no luck for us. This little Kinoko eluded us today and there has been a lot of the tall standing stuff cut away

We searched and searched, but no luck here.Found a hole in the "first one" that could have been holding the cache we saw in the picture of an earlier log...

Found it today on our way home from Taupo and needing a stop. Unfortunately we found the cache but the log is missing at this time and we had nothing to replace it with.

A nice hide. Log is very wet and hard to sign. Thanks for placing the cache

With a bit of effort we got the log out and signed.Lovely garden.

Thank for the cache. We could not get the log out so including photo as proof of find!

Found after some serious looking around! Interesting cache but very nice spot to come look around. Couldnt get the log out so will send photo of cache as dont wont to give away. TFTC.

That was quite entertaining!We had just enough time for one more cache before heading to the camp for another event, so we headed down here. As we approached the junction I spotted a "muggle" close to where the cache was but I thought I'd head there anyway. I was almost there when I heard a voice shout "Grandma, she's here!" and spotted Rustynz head first in the bamboo. We both had a rummage around, she PAF, then we rummaged a bit longer before she found something. She still wasn't convinced it was the cache, although I was sure I could see a log inside it. I tried to get it out but shoved it further in. She tried with a key and flicked water in my face, then she almost hit me with the key. But the log came out, and we dried enough to sign it.Cache was replaced with a stone on top to keep the log a bit drier.

Was challenged here with littleblackbird1Had some assistance from supernannny, eyespyben and the rest of the geo whanau who came to check on us, as flossieteacake and I were getting delayed in getting to the nearby cuppa event.Just before the boys arrived i found the cache. Not all complete, so was not sure it was the cache. But with a bit of wrangling a log was retrieved and it was soon being signed. Who knew Huntly has a Japanese garden A fun and eventful hide. Thanks for the adventure and everyone's assist today. Time for a cuppa

With rustynz looking for the elusive cache.Got extra assist with the searching, but in the end rusty found it.Thanks for the hide, had a lot of fun exploring the gardens

Read recent logs and thought it worth trying again.

I have been meaning to cycle around the lake each and every time I have been here, but time always seemed to slip away on me, but not today, I specifically allowed time to do it and had a fine day to do so, unfortunately the cache didn't want to be found, I googled kinoko and it seemed to only mean mushroom, anyhow I'm sure the cache was no where near that thing on top of the hill that looked it was such a thing, anyhow, no go for me today.

Nobody was around so checked a few spots before spotting the right spot. Great camo. TFTC

This one took quite a bit of searching, but perseverance paid off. Tftc

Didn't spot it

Based ourselves nearby to complete some of the local caches.
Nice area, good place to hide a cache TFTC.

Tftc

Heading up to Hampton Downs so Mr Muggle can tick off his bucket list a ride in a Lamborghini! Decided to stop in here and walk around the lake first and have a go at the caches. My mini cacher loved this little garden and pretended she was a mermaid on the rock bridge while I looked for the cache. Was a little bit confused by the hint but I soon spotted the very cute hide. Deserves a FP for its uniqueness. TFTC

Very nice hide.
TFTC

Cleaver little hide! Thank you for bringing us to a interesting spot

We must have looked for half an hour, but gave in gracefully in the end. No joy. TFTC

Had originally hoped to find this cache yesterday. We had walked the long way around the lake from the camp (for other caches), and hadn't been able to get all the way around due to flooding. So today after doing an Adv. Lab around the sports grounds, I made my way along the track from the other direction.
Took a bit to get the direction pointer to settle, but once I was fairly confident I was looking in the right spot, I soon had cache in hand. Lovely garden, thanks for bringing me here.

Down in Huntly for a day of caching.
Thanks to previous logs this did not take to long to locate.
Very cute cache

**#16,962**
This one we have been to once maybe twice before, we knew we would be passing by again this weekend so made sure to send out some PAF's for a hint to help out.
Lucky Mrs Geckoh was on the ball, see spotted it and Mr Geckoh still couldn't see it, till she took it out, then you couldn't unsee it!
Nicely constructed.

Took a few moments to spot this one but it was obvious once I was on the right angle. Nice one. TFTC!!!

Found with Lucy. Fun little hide! Arigatoo.

Arigato!

FMZ and I walking our dog Jäger around the lake on this blustery day while geocaching of course. Nice and easy find, lovely spot. Thank you for the cache.

Well themed. This area has potential but could do with some TLC.

Last year, Team SEAC members went on a road trip down to Cambridge to clear out as many of the caches in that town and its surrounding areas. On the way home from that trip, we stopped off in Huntly to do the night cache. After completing the night cache, we vowed to come back to Huntly and grab as many of the caches in that area as we could. Today was that day.Once again, a lovely themed garden. It is amazing how much effort has been put into making this lake-side a memorable experience for those who visit it, especially for the first time.We started our search for the cache and were rather cautious about what we were looking for after reading the hint. Thankfully, the find was not what we thought it might be, which would have been much more difficult, and we soon had the cache in hand. The fun part was getting it open, which we did after a while.The log was signed as Team SEAC in order to preserve log space.TFTC

In the absence of a MEGA event this Labour Weekend, Keylev had spent some time planning a Mega Mysterious Weekend for members of Team SEAC (a group of cachers from south and east Auckland who often cache together). Today's plan was to head south and find as many caches as we could around the Huntly area. In the group today is HeMaLuDy, Stik-a-Crane, NurseDr, Keylev, UncleSamNZ, Liverkiwi. Logs were sighed SEAC or Team SEAC to save space. It ended up being a long day and a bit - leaving the start point at 9 am and returning home after 1:30 am the following day.We have a bamboolzed cache and therefore had a preconceived idea of what we might find here. Fortunately this CO is a bit kinder in placing the cache than perhaps we were. A reasonably quick find here once we read some previous logs.

Labour Weekend has historically been a minimum 3 day Team SEAC all out adventure so a little while ago I started planning some fun for us. After a walking day yesterday, today was a driving one and more about the numbers and clearing out an area we have had our eyes on for a while. Ended up being a massive day (left home around 8.30am and got home at 1:40am!)....it wasn't called a Mega Mysterious Weekend for nothing. Enjoyed the fun with friends...just like the 'old' times.Very cool little garden here...have really enjoyed our wander around today. Made a quick find after looking at previous logs talking about the bamboo (heart sank a little at that point but need not have). Cool camo but doesn't seem to quite fit there anymore. Thanks for the cache

Day 2 of our Labour weekend caching mission, and also happens to be a significant day for me yearly...... Our group decided to head down Huntly way for a good variety of cache types and then head inland and back up to Auckland.....some of use a little jaded from the impromptu high elevation gain hike yesterday, we eased ourselves into search mode.....

Signed is as SEAC to save logbook space and allowing us more time to enjoy the area which surprised us as to how many scenic places are hiding in Huntly....

Thanks to all the CO's for hiding and maintaining caches here.....and to mother nature for the awesome weather we had......

TFTC.

Read logs to help us find this one.

Loved the garden
-

Out with Team Seac for another day of adventures. We did a full day of caching on the Saturday with a long hike! And decided to head down to Huntly for the day. I really enjoyed my time around here, and would like to come back again. Some us finished at 10pm, some finished at 1amish!

Sorry for the generic logs. Thank you for taking the time to place this cache.

Out with KeyLev, HeMaLuDy, Stik-a-crane, NZTravellers, LiverKiwi, NurseDr. All logs signed “Team Seac” or similar to save log paper.

Out for at day of caching in a long weekend adventure with team SEAC. TFTC

About to give up, but then eventually found.
1. The hint is outdated.
2. Read previous logs
3. Don't get bamboozled.
Tftc

A wet day but still out searching geos. Ignore the hint on this one. It's only adds confusion. Very nice camo. TFTC

This was DNF for me in 2018. Nice to find it today. Waited for GPS to settle and there it was!

Back for another go a year later with SethRaven. Found whoop whoop. TFTC

Came down this way with Fencarrows as she hunts for Signal . . . . . we read some of the previous logs . . . . . . we were sure we had the GZ . . . . . . so I sat for a think . . . . . . and got a little lower and there it was . . . . . . very clever camo this one . . . . . . . gets a fav from me . . . . . . TFTC

??

Back for a second look, the weather a 100 times better than lst time. When we finsally found the cache we realised we had been looking in the wrong place/for the wrong thing the last time and again for some of the time here today. Nice hide RWIME!

Wow! Great camo. No wonder we were searching for a bit! TFTC

Visiting the area with family
Short walk after lunch to find them
Small hunt around but no luck, finally lay down to have a good look and it jumped out at me
Sign and replace and on our way
TFTC

I was looking in the right area last night but not with enough conviction. ABCDF4 confirmed my suspicion =so I was back here after the event for another and voila, fav point from me, TFTC

Haha this was a neat one! Found with xx_karen_xx and friends. TFTC

Stayed the night in Huntly at the campground on Lake Hakanoa. A delightful place with lots of caches around for us to look for. Walked round the lake this morning before it gets too hot! Mrs Rubbishparty missed this one so later I went back for a search. Felt fortunate to spot something that I then realised fitted the hint. I was determined that this one wouldn’t bamboozle me. Thanks for the smiley.

Not sure what the hint meant, and a quick Google added confusion. So only a superficial look.

Our fair share of good luck had run out right here and now, did a good sweep first without knowing the Japanese hint, then went back to google the meaning, couple of interpretations but none of which came up with the goods.....

Out for the afternoon with family and friends and the dogs. Great cache, tricky find.

Had GAR with me when I got here (he'd come to pick me up after dismal attempt at a Working Dog trial and conditions are so bad that he didn't continue - fail one aspect and you fail the whole thing anyway). We understood the hint we thought but still didn't come up with the god so suspect we were not looking for the right thing at all. Another time hopefully.

Not today.

This was on a return visit, since I couldn't find it last time, but with a good hint, I soon spotted the cache today, TFTC

Woots! Thanks to a second hint from the CO, left Akl at the crack of dawn and had a successful hunt in the fog
Beautiful garden, will keep popping back to see how it develops.

Hunted for about 30 minutes, then got a bit dark to see. Will be back in daylight!

Loved this find. Definitely a favourite!

What an amazing cache! Tftc

A DNF for me here.

I didn't know what a kinoko is so Googled and found it is a mushroom. Didn't see one of those.

Was difficult to find but was a good find. Very clever. Tftc

#12,260. Enjoyed the short walk to the Japanese Gardens of Huntly. Fortunately, GZ was all quiet at the time of our visit. Found after a bit of a search. The cache was in good condition, all nice and dry inside. Took nothing, left nothing, signed log.

Appreciated the uniquely Japanese きのこ.

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.

Sorry could not find... spent half an hour but cool Japanese rock garden

Day 30 of my TA adventure..
Heading out of town but not before having another crack at a few I missed yesterday.. needed a nudge with this one but after dropping my pack to start searching I was about to give up again when I spotted it ...right next to my pack tftc

Found it very easy as my one year old was the one who found it while we were just sitting eating icecream

Not sure about this one. Found something that could ‘be been a good camo but not sure as could t see a way to open. Geopooch getting restless so will continue walk and leave for another day.

Loved this one tftc

Took a while but worked it out in the end.

No luck for me today.

Came here by accident. Saw a cache was metres away. You just have to do it. Hunt began found nothing. Dot was like Huntly doesn't like us today. Lol. He disappeared in another area while I continued. Then I stop. Google. Well that helped lol not. Stood for a moment more and Ta da. Hint makes sense now. Well done on a good cache and hide. Tftc

Out for a walk around the lake, as were here thought we'd do the new caches around it. Good hide

Found while on a trip north with tmann421.
Enjoying discovering the areas and finding some caches.
Signed the log tm/ww NZ
TFTC

Short trip away with woolwood9.
Nice find for us today.
*Thanks for giving us a reason to visit!*
Signed log: **tm/ww NZ** (may be a black smudge on plastic logs)

Found it finally - haha

TFTC

Been here a couple of times unsuccessfully...brought some fresh eyes and found immediately!...TFTC

I had DNF here before as cache was missing. Today ended up with another DNF for collection but then I had nice time with Local CO and he gave me a extra hint for this cache. So returned to GZ for last check and found it! Did not get the hint ... well maybe part of it. GPS bang on at the end. It is just sneaky hide and hard to see. T4TC!

3rd time looking couldn't find it at all so may just leave this one all together

What an amazing walkway around the lake with such a diverse range of gardens and scenery.
The Japanese garden was definitely a highlight and we enjoyed taking a break and enjoying the serenity as there were no muggles in sight.
The cache took a while to locate and were were getting close to giving up but we spotted something on our final check which, upon further investigation, turned out to be the very clever and well concealed cache.
Thanks RWIMF, a favourite point for sure.

Heading south today with Team Gold ( 0B80B8, Lis's Crew & DaffyNZ ), from Northland to do a weekend caching trip in the Waikato, with the main objective being the Hakarimata Trail. Stopped off here on the way down to do a walk around the lake. Neat gardens here and cache didn't take too long before Lis came up with the find. TFTC

I'm heading down from Paihia to the Hamilton area for a geocaching weekend with team G0LD: Geocachers: 0B80B8, Lis's crew & DaffyNZ. They're going to walk the Hakarimata track. I got shin splints training for the walk so unfortunately I can't join them.

We're just picking up a few caches today on the way down. I was pleased with my weekend tally: Fri 26, Sat 27, Sun 26. The cache here was a fairly quick find despite not knowing what a kinoko was. A cool hide, thanks

Just as well we had four pairs of eyes! Out with team Gold.

Well this was second time around for us, and after some head scratching and a lot of looking we were almost ready to surrender yet again ... but, we had a re-consider and a re-think, and what do you know, there it was!! Great hide, great cache, gets a favourite from me, so glad we came back for it. Lucky there were very few people about today. TFTC

A definite favourite for me as we were about to give up when Moggy Val zoned in and made the find. Great cache and great challenge. Thanks

The hint wasn't very helpful until the cache was found - and after that it was no help at all. However, it's a lot easier to find when it's there. Thanks for replacing. TFTC.

Made a nice quick stop, walk and find here, nicely placed cache which posed no problems. TFTC

I was just beginning a seven day trip down to Wanganui, so I had to stop to get this one. The last time I was here it was missing. Thanks for replacing the cache. TFTC.

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Taking a walk around the lake hoping we will make it before it gets dark.Stopped off to admire this lovely garden and look for the cache.Good job we had the area to ourselves.Looked in lots of different places googled the hint and still didn’t get it.Looked again and spotted it.Great hide fav container a favourite from us.

What a cool cache! Scores a favourite from me - TFTC

After looking around a bit, our daughter found the cheeky hiding place. No log inside so added a scrap of paper.

2nd time here and 2nd fail, one day it will be here the same time i am

Out for our first caching trip of the year wtih 1 half of vamber, Kirsten & Yorkshirekiwi83 after a short walk up the Hakarimata track we ventured into Huntly for a few more.
Second to last cache of the day and not a a cache in hand. The rain started to set in and we had to call it the only DNF of the day.

Out in Huntly with yorkshirekiwi83 and Vamber for a day's caching, were disappointed not to find this. Googled the hint but couldn't match it to anything. Rain started so we set off for the car

Nice quick find on a pleasant early morning walk. Love the camo.

Day 2 On a road trip with Mcjandals- lots of fun with great walks and caches. Stayed at the camp in Huntly by the lake with some excellent hosts. Travelled back home today collecting more caches as we went We were lucky to have perfect weather and I am looking forward to coming back. Thanks to all the COs for their cool caches TFTC

Too knackered to look properly

No luck today

Had a good look here and had a good idea of what to look for, but couldn't convert that into a find, so the gardens will remain incomplete for me until next time.

It had indeed gone missing, have replaced. And shifted location by about 50cm so hopefully less obvious

Another DNF for collection here.

DnF for me today.

No luck here today! Looked in all the possible places. Maybe we are blind!

Didn’t find this one both me and storm0511 and my daughter couldn’t find it