Miriona (Paekakariki) Paekakariki, North Island, New Zealand
By tmann421 on 19-Jul-18. Waypoint GC7TV5A

This is one of a series of caches I attempted during my solo trip to NZ on 18th-21st October, 2024. This opening (lengthy) paragraph is backstory about the trip; specific stuff about this particular cache, and info about photo/s (if attached) will be in the next paragraph. Several other caches were on a list to get but not found due to time constraints, legs hating me, changed plans; DNF's have not been logged, as most were only a very quick/cursory search before deciding to move on with the trip, and a fairer search may have turned up the desired finds. 30 caches were successfully found in New Zealand, from 15 different cache owners, with a maximum of 8 finds from same cache owner; find furthest from home was ~2,650km away in Taonui; a big thank you to all cache owners who put in the time and effort to place and maintain caches found. Due to busy schedule, logs may be delayed a fair bit before posting; I'm aiming to get through all logs by end of November 2024, noting that any mention of cache conditions are based on when I found them in October, and may no longer be accurate by the time the logs are posted. Day 1 of my trip saw me leaving home at the earliest time I've left home in probably 3 years, driven by partner (lilbassgirl) to Melbourne (Tullamarine) international airport, flying to Wellington (with motion sickness issues on the way due to turbulence), then grabbing some caches on the way to my NZ base at Paekakariki. Day 2 was a caching drive to Feilding and back; I'd intended to do the Paekakariki Escarpment track in the arvo, but given illness and dehydration from previous day, I decided against it, and instead spent more time/got more caches than I'd intended where I drove. Day 3 was taking photographs of a steam train (JA1271; with diesel DA1431 {wearing 345 on the sides} at the other end) run by Steam Incorporated from Paekakariki to Longburn, then driving ahead to Feilding to become a passenger on said train to Whanganui and back, with a few hours of lunch and photography, plus a cache/AdLab walk in Whanganui, and more train photos despite the increasing darkness returning from Feilding to Paekakariki. Day 4 saw me returning rental car to Wellington (with some caching/photography detours on the way), flying back to Melbourne (Tullamarine), luckily without motion sickness that time, and being picked up by my partner (lilbassgirl) again. A brilliant, unforgettable experience, and I can't wait to return to New Zealand again (but hopefully the motion sickness on planes can be avoided on future trips).Now, onto this particular cache:Clever hide; needed a simple tool to assist with retrieval, but otherwise no issues at all with cache. Attached photo showing the Northern Explorer bound for Wellington, with DFB7267, passing JA1271 being shunted around the Steam Incorporated depot in prepartion for the following days' trip, a few short minutes before signing this cache.

Thanks from jahkahn and Finn 2024

Thanks for the quick and easy find!

Nifty hide! Found after getting off the train after completing the Escarpment track on a stunning winter day. TFTC

Needed a cache today to continue my current streak. As we were passing Paekakariki we diverted to this one. It took a few minutes to locate. I actually looked in the spot where it was but didnt see anything. Mrs tbird obviously had a better look than I did because it was she who spotted what needed to be spotted! #7632. TFTC.

Found the lockbox very quickly. I wish I could say the same about the cache. TFTC

Was in the area so checked on this one. Logsheet was pretty good but decided to replace it.

No luck today

So after I'd logged as a DNF Muggle Mrs came along to see what was taking so long. I told her the clue and she was on it in about 10 seconds! Very embarrassing... All good at GZ and TFTC

Nice to grab another tmann cache, my finds by CO has this CO in 40th place and I'm sure some other numbers have been closing the gap to that position. Ding the Ad Lab around town and soon passed by this one. Grabbed the cache and a nice hide it is too, thanks T. All good and CITO'd some recent litter too.I'm taking mrs c to Wellington airport today as she's heading overseas for a few weeks and I was happy to be the driver. Been pretty busy at work lately so a drive out in the Autumn sunshine was welcome. I noted a new listing had come out Waiterere Beach way and had hopes of a FTF, and that was the case, which was nice. A walk along the front by the airport yielded a few more treasures and a return via Paekakariki was also a winner with Kapiti Island sulking gloomily in the distance. Not huge numbers today but enough to keep the wolf from the door.

??

Clever little hide, in good order. TFTC tmann421

Out on a geocache trip with Ellen Sch , Team Eika and ingsve on holiday in New Zealand, and today it was this area that was prioritized If nothing else is mentioned, we found the cache at good coordinates and it was fine To save space in the log, we often log in with the nickname N4 Many thanks to CO for laying out and maintaining this Greetings from Norway TFTCUte p en geocache-tur med Ellen Sch,Team Eika og ingsve p ferien i New Zealand og idag var det dette omrdet som ble prioritert Hvis ikke annet er nevnt s fant vi cachen p gode koordinater og den hadde det braFor spare plass i loggen logger vi ofte med nick N4Tusen takk til Til CO for utlegg og vedlikehold av denne Hilsen fra Norge TFTC

EnglishWe are six Norwegians on a trip to Australia and New Zealand. We arrived in Melbourne at the beginning of February and are traveling home after the mega event in Adelaide. We travel by car and Geocaching helps us discover many nice places and often helps to decide where we choose the route between our goals which are: Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Dunedeen, and Adelaide. This is one of the caches we found on the trip and we thank you for showing us this place. We who are on tour have the nicknames: MrVonsr, ingsve, EllenSch and TeamEika. And signs the logs with N4.Great thanks for showing us and doing our tour wonderful NorwegianVi er seks nordmenn p tur i Australia og New Zealand. Vi ankom Melbourne i begynnelsen av Februar og reiser hjem etter Megaventet i Adelaide.Vi reiser med bil og Geocaching hjelper oss oppdage mange fine steder og bidrar ofte til avgjre hvor vi velger ruten mellom mlene vre som er:Sidney, Melbourne, Aukland, Dunedeen, and Adelaide.Dette er en av cachene vi fant p turen og vi takker for at du viste oss dette stedet.Vi som er p tur har nickene: MrVonsr, ingsve, EllenSch og TeamEika. Og signerer loggene med N4.Stor takk for at dere bidrar til gjre turen s flott

As a once in a lifetime holiday, this year we are traveling for 7 weeks to Vietnam, Bali, Australia and New Zealand. In Australia we meet Ellen Sch and MrVon sr and Ingsve to visit these last two countries, so here we cache together. Now we have solved many caches so we have a large number of solved coordinates. But we are interested in all types of caches, so if you receive a log, it means that we have visited your cache. We haven't quite decided where we're going, but we'll probably let the weather decide for us. We want warmth because in Norway it is now freezing. We will stay for about 2 weeks in Australia and 2 weeks in New Zealand and we will end the trip with the Mega event in Adeleide on 29 February. So thank you very much to all of you who make it possible for us to travel around finding caches. On March 6, we set course for Norway again. There are extremely nice people everywhere and we are welcomed, we thank you very much. Thanks to our cache friends for good company on the trip.Som en gang i livets ferie reiser vi i r 7 uker til Vietnam, Bali, Australia og New Zealand. I australia mter vi Ellen Sch og MrVon sr og Ingsve for beske disse to siste landene, s her cacher vi sammen. N har vi lst mange cacher s vi har et stort antall med lste koordinater. Men vi er jo inntressert i alle typer cacher s hvis du mottar en logg s betyr det at vi har beskt cachen din. Vi har ikke bestemt oss helt hvor vi reiser men vi lar nok vret bestemme for oss. Vi nsker oss varme for i Norge er det n kuldegrader. Vi blir ca 2 uker i Australia og 2 uker p New Zealand og vi avslutter turen med Megaeventet i Adeleide den 29 februar. S tusen takk til alle dere som gjr det mulig for oss reise rundt finne cacher. 6 mars setter vi kursen mot Norge igjen. Det er srdeles hyggelige mennesker overalt og vi nskes velkommen, vi takker s mye. Takk til vre cachevenner for godt selskap p turen

Endelig har jeg og MrVon sr kommet oss ned til Australia og New Zealand, -en gammel drm er gtt i oppfyllelse. Team Eika og Ingsve har ogs reist i flge med oss p denne turen.Vi har reist p kryss og tvers i en mned, og mlet er ende opp i Adeleide og megaevent p skuddrsdagen. Vi har spesielt sett etter gamle cacher, for fylle jasmern, for et par stykker, og for oss to andre som har begynt tenke p gjennomgang to.De aller fleste dukket greit frem p plassene sine,noen ganger mtte vi lete litt, men var som regel heldige tilslutt. Noen DNFer ogs ble det ogs.Vi har for det meste logget med fellesnicket N4 (ingsve,Von sr. TeamEika og Ellen Sch) men ogs egne nicknavn er brukt.En stor takk til alle dere COer for utlegg og vedlikehold av cachene deres. Uten deres arbeid, hadde vi aldri kunnet kost oss med denne hobbyen.Alltid hyggelig med et nytt smilefjes p kartet.Cachehilsen fra Ellen Sch, NorgeMe and MrV sr have come down to Australia and New Zealand, -an old dream has finally come to an end. Team Eika and Ingsve have also traveled with us on this trip.We have been traveling cross-country for a month, and the goal is to end up in Adeleide and mega-event on the leap year. We have especially looked for old caches, to fill jasmer'n, for a couple of pieces, and for the other two of us who have started to think about reviewing more.The vast majority of them showed up at their places, sometimes we had to search a bit, but we were usually lucky in the end. There were also some DNFs.We have mostly logged in with the common nickname N4 (ingsve, Von sr. TeamEika and Ellen Sch), but our own nicknames are also used.A big thank you to all you CO's for laying out and maintaining your caches. Without their work, we would never have been able to make a living with this hobby.Always nice to have a new smiley face on the map.Cache greetings from Ellen Sch, Norway

**taybee** is caching again with **taybee nz** for the dayQuick find here today All in good order, sign log book as **taybee** or **TB's** *joint sign* ) TFTC Cache was found at **05/02/2024 @ 11:18:00**

Found with partner on way back to palmy.

Always driven past and been curious about the railway station museum this cache gave us a chance to stop and have a proper look. Tftc

**19,822**A nice quick find of this cleverly concealed cache hide. TFTC

On our way towards the ferry that will take us to the South Island, we stopped here and I was able to find a couple of caches. My find no. 8.168. The cache is dry and in good condition.

Beautiful artwork here, FP for leading us to this place. Nicely crafted to avoid it getting lost, too. FP from us. Tftc Apologies for the late log. It appears that we are nearly as bad as armchair loggers??. We actually DO go out and find the caches but because we plan to write up longer and nicer logs at home we also can (read: often do) forget to do so. We could blame the teen and toddler, but travelling the world then moving into a new country unexpectedly (NZ) means we were always busy and now have 500logs to catch up on ?? they are all from drafts so the date of the log will be when we actually visited (not today) which will align with the physical paper log but not CO receiving this email.

Trouve ! / Found it ! 4397me cache trouve.Merci tmann421 pour la cache 4397th cache found.Thank you tmann421 for the cache

Looked high and low until I spotted something that looked cache. Good hide. TFTC

Quick find after escarpment run. Tftc

Nicely done. Tftc

A nifty cache. I was glad I came at a quiet time of day TFTC

Glad we were not here at a busy time!! Took us a couple of mins to figure out where it could be. Clever cache concept.
Thank you tmann421 for placing this cache.

Log signed as B&P
Find number 4818

There was a very specific reason i was here.

February 2001.

This cache and several others along my geo journey just happened to be in the immediate path of my intentions.

This was the first one I came across after riding the train north from the big smoke.
A quick look here and a poke or prod there quickly saw me signing a logbook.

I like the extraction tool provided.
Thanks tman421 for the geocache!

This one took longer than it should have. Nicely hidden. TFTC!!

South Australia is the place be for GCA1DNA - MEGA - February 29th, 2024 in Adelaide! Hope to see you at The Great Leap Forward!

Stopped for lunch in Paekakariki on the way home from the airport, thought I would try my luck in the middle of a weekday without commuters around. Quick find after a browse of previous posts.

Out from WLG for the MARFORPAC Band performance at St Peter’s Hall today. Had looked twice at the right spot before putting my hand on it. TFTC

Quite a quick find as area was clear. Great mural. Tftc

Muggles mum quickly spotted this neat little cache, lol. Had to pause the process as cars started parking up next to us to give rides to Wellington commuters arriving by train. The murals and info signs made for a good distraction until all was clear.
Great wee area to have a hide, a fave point from me. TFTC

I had to unexpectedly travel to Wellington today for a medical appointment. Fortunately my son was happy to do the driving and we did manage to squeeze in a little bit of very select caching. And between caches we managed some of the AdLab Paekakarili Walking Tour/Unbored.
So having just been to the station we continued on over here. What an attractive lot of murals these are, each depicting its own story. We located the cache pretty quickly, would have been even quicker it we'd matched things up a little better. it's a clever little hide. We’ll give a fav point and TFTC tmann421

I’ve been wanting to grab this one for ages, but the timing is never right - too many people about, or impatient children are not keen to wait.
Today was the day, on my own and between commuter trains. Quick find, clever hide in such a public spot.
Thanks for the smiley face

I quickly found this one thanks to one of the photos. TFTC

Had a quick stop here to check out the steam trains. Thanks for the cache!

Amazing day out at Steam Incorporated open house. We had a picnic and then off to find this just around the corner. Thank you!

An easy find though something small has to grab your attention first. Tftc!

Found this on my way home to Rotorua, needed a ToTT to get it as it had been pushed far out of reach.
Thanks for this one, cool spot.

Camping in the Holiday Park for the night on our way to Wellington. Quick find. TFTC!

Down in Paekakariki today picking up a couple of local caches. Spotted this online so headed to GZ for a nice simple find. Just as we had cache in hand a train load of young school kids arrived so we had to admire the sights while the crowds dispersed.
TNLNSL TFTC

cache count for the day #19

Lovely calm day out caching with Greml1n tftc

So unique.

TFTC
Nice find
- NZBartletts

Waiting for my partner in crime to turn up, but she is very late, so I decided to look for this one while waiting. Didn’t take too long. Nice, clever hide

With trinity nz

Another great hide thanks Tman. Didn’t bring a pen so added photo of log. Loved it.

Quick find

Found ourselves in Paekakariki with 10 minutes to burn, so hoofed it here. Quickish find but just as we’d signed the log, a whole swag of muggles showed up to pick up others from an approaching train. Had a wee study of some artwork whilst we waited. Nice hide.
Thanks!

I won't admit how long this one took to find, but it was enjoyable once we did. Thanks for the cache

Found with the bestest person ever Miss KTG. TFTC

Another clever tmann hide, found with . TFTC.

Was out for a bike ride on Saturday afternoon, and just realised I've forgotten to log this cache. Nice quick find here, TFTC

Had a geocaching hiatus recently. I'm not sure why whatsForTea didn't want to bag any more caches. But took her home today, said hello to my family and decided to visit the little hamlets on my wauback home. 1st find! Tftc

Tftc took me longer then it should have now I know what I was looking for haha

Miriona...

Easy find for EJ

We were meeting up with our youngest daughter today to celebrate mother's day together (weather forecast was a bit dodgy so we decided to meet a day early) but headed off as early as we could, to nab a couple of lab cache series and other caches before hand.
This one was conveniently placed near a lab cache point so how could we say no to looking for it as well. We were a little confused by the clue but the cache was soon spotted as the co ords are very good.
Many thanks for putting this here for us to find

A public holiday is a good day to find this as the carpark is almost empty. Nicely hidden. Thanks for the placement tmann421

Nice tidy hide ..
Picked up while doing some other caches in the area.
Thanjs for bringing me to this area

Quick find based on the cache name. We were a little confused by the hint.....maybe you have to be a local?

Nice quick find. Thankfully the train was gone.

Stopped off here with TaybeeNZ while on the way to Palmerston North for some Pi Day celebrations. We are early, especially to plan in some caching time. We came in here to to do an adventure lab and to check out a vintage train being prepped for a run today. After that we came around to this end of the platform for the cache, just as the train was driving off. Found a trackable squashed in the cache. It took a bit of effort to remove. Anyway, many thanks for the cache and the break in the driving.

Tftc easy find

Very lovely little hide here, somewhere I would never normally stop either

Thanks tmann421 for placing this cache

It was a nice cool Southerly blowing me to Paekakariki today... This was a peaceful location to pause and look at the murals and find a cache.

TNLNSL TFTC and +FP for the simple yet effective hide.

Took me longer to find than I’d like to admit!

Good quick find, straight off the train. All good, tftc!

Well camoed it had me fooled

Great hide! Simply and effective.
In the area collecting Adventure Lab stages.

TFTC

Out for a walk from the camping ground to do the AdLab. I passed this on the way to the signal tower. Nice hide and I enjoyed the art work too.
TFTC

We very nearly went next door after reading the hint. Kicking myself when I eventually saw it after finding the cache. Nice simple construction too. FP.

All most there two more days and I will findh the north island leg of my Te Araroa adventure.
Today we walk the track above the motor way and on south so looking forward to.
Not a breath of wind and the rain has stopped so it going to be a great day.

Living life one foot steep at a time as i walk from cape reinga to bluff and caching my way home as I walk the
Te Araroa and discover the hidden treasures new Zealand has to offer.
From the beach of the north to the forest and lakes of the south
Blùff here i come
Thanks for the hide

tftc

I'm not entirely sure why I never came to find this on the several previous occasions I've been to Paekakariki. This had the potential to be tricky with the wrong timing and because buses are replacing trains yet again there were muggles congregating nearby. But it wasn't too long before most of them got whisked away which a couple remaining facing the away from GZ. Given that I had time to think about where the cache might be hidden while sitting in the car I went straight to the correct place and fished out the prize. TFTC.

Great hide. Room for about 3 more signatures. TFTC.

Youngest son has a teachers only day today and we were visiting Paekakariki to check up on one of my caches, play at the new playground, feed some eels and have a walk on the beach. He asked if there were any geocaches to find in Paekakariki so we came to see if we could find this one. I sat down on the grass nearby to remove a stone from my shoe and he had his hands on the cache in about 30 seconds! Nicely hidden. There is now only one spot left on the log sheet so it will need replacing very soon. TFTC

Stopped off on the way past and left a fresh logsheet.

I decided to do the Adventure Lab Cache here and while getting the required info stopped off here to find this cache. It took me a while to narrow down the location but once I had I realized I had seen the cache earlier but not noticed it.

I was heading south for my other hobby and naturally decided to get a few caches on the way. Only one DNF otherwise I managed 11 finds.
T F T C tmann421.

Fun find! Thanks

Quick find today. TFTC

Nice hide. SL TFTC

Another cache that Miss 5 bet me to! TFTC

Neat idea for retrieving the cache. TFTC

Stopped by here today for a quick find of this clever wee hide. TFTC

A quick stop as the BFG and I were looking for that lab caches. TFTC

The start of an adventure to Whanganui with Ethness. We were collecting clues for the Adventure and nabbed this along the way… wasn’t sure what pic the hint referred to, but quick find, thanks tmann421!

Yeetrees and I are walking the Escarpment track today so at this stage we're dropping off my vehicle for later.
Handy as no one about at this early hour on a Sunday morning.
I like the murals and these are great. TFTC

Awesome find, thanks!

Quick find before jumping on the train to do the escarpment track today. TFTC

Driving north to Waikanae with the kids for a few days out there, stopped here to grab this cache. Looking in the wrong place didn't help, but the cache was tucked away nice and neatly. Steam Incorporated have their open day today and tomorrow and so got to see some awesome steam engines whilst doing this cache..

Did with Crystal Fairy.

Argh, couldn't find this one

took a second or two to twig. Must be rusty with the lockdown. Thanks

A long day at work had made me slow!! A couple of minutes to find, tftc

Located this one during a cache raid of Wellington chasing TMTG caches. No problem with the find but must confess I took the long way to GZ as I parked in the wrong car park. TFTC.

Tolle und interessante Maorikunst. Danke fürs Zeigen.

Nice to get a cache on palindrome day 02022020! Great way to hide the cache there. TFTC.

Standing right beside checking gps, when miss 11 turned to speak to me she spotted it.