Scientific Reserve 3. Only accessable southbound. Taupiri, North Island, New Zealand
By eyespyben on 13-Mar-20. Waypoint GC8MQ6C

Nice find took a few min so very happy

Having dropped Mrs Msc20 at the airport, I meandered my way back to the Tron picking off a number of nearby caches en route.I've driven past here many times in the past couple of years but never had the opportunity or taken the time to stop.Well, I put that right today.Trial and error here. I guess I got lucky!Thanks eyespyben#5488

A wet day around Taupiri saw rattll and I head to this reserve next to the expressway. A bit of a hunt around GZ, before finding the cache randomly. All well. Signed and returned as found. Tftc!

After attending the MCC's farewell event, we thought we'd do this little trail. It's one we've meant to stop for many times but just hadn't gotten around to it until today. The rain started just as we arrived, so we enjoyed a coffee in the van while waiting for it to pass. Once the skies brightened, we headed out.I was standing there thinking this one could take a while, when matagouri announced he'd found it. Thanks for setting this up

Found it

Found it

Found it, thanks such a pretty spot

Tftc

Night adventure with Bear2024Cache #10 for the nightQuickly found as was easily seen the moment you stepped in the right placeTFTC

Easy

Rocky

Third find of this collection. Thanks for making this a fun rest stop!

Found on a family trip away with trayc.g & MrMuggle. TFTC

We came to this spot and looked at each other in horror! Its turning out to be a hot day and we forgot our sunscreen back at the car and thought this hunt could take awhileI stood there for a second said I reckon its under this one! And blimmin guess what!?! It was! Gosh we laughed! Log is full but managed to squeeze our names on. TFTC

plenty of skinks among these rocks [8]

I wanted to make a stop on the way home from Auckland today, and figured 5 caches would be a good excuse to finally stop at the reserve that I've driven past however many times. I'm pretty sure I walked right over this one and looked in every single spot before the right one, thankfully it wasn't long before I had the cache in hand. TFTC

Third find of the day here, I spoke this find into existence when I noted that I'd probably already stepped on it - I was right! TFTC

While on my way to pick up my daughter's in Hamilton I came across this nice grouping of caches which I thought I had time to pick up. A perfect opportunity to park up and have a quick walk. This cache was only found because of the excellent hint, otherwise it could have been very daunting or if not frustrating. Tftc

We have often driven past here and thought about stopping to collect these caches. Today we decided to drive and try them out. The motorway had been pretty busy and its a hot day so we were more than happy to get out of the car. Our third find in the reserve. No problems finding this one.

Stands out. Could do with anew log

Quick find TFTC. Good hint too

Very nice stroll on a lovely day. Managed to find a wee spot to squeeze our initials in, but log really needs replacing. thank you

Nice stroll, quick find, log virtually full, tftc

A nice easy find as it wasnt very well hidden. Log strip is nearly full. Thanks for the cache eyespyben.

No trouble this time was easily visible. I put a lid on top, so it is now more obscured from sight. Look for one that has some white on it.

I was a bit worried heading towards gz since a lot of people found it hard to find or didn’t find it at all but I stubble upon it straight away. TFTC

Finally got around to doing the caches in this reserve today! This was a fairly quick find thanks to the good old 'stumbled over it' trick and it was different to what we thought we might be looking for. We were not very hopeful, as so many cachers have posted a DNF. So maybe to help you out without giving it away, we can say that it was closer to the plants than the fence and our GPS read the GZ as accurate to within 2m. Cache is all good. TFTC

Looked around but no luck on this hide. Will try again next time when I am next through the area.

Unfortunately data was spotty, will have to come back sometime

I’ll try again next time

Took us a while but we found it - mostly by accident haha. It’s where we initially tonight! My 8 year old stumbled across it!

No luck. Had to move on.

What a lovely little spot. Found nice and quickly. I am having to go a little faster now you try and beat the rain that looks like it's threatening. That'll teach me to always remember a raincoat no matter what it looks like when you set out. TFTC

I'm on a week's annual leave, choosing to spend time traveling north to visit and reconnect with a few friends up here, and naturally that also gives me an opportunity to do some caching up this way again. But all good things must come to an end, and so today is day 7 which is the big drive back south again.

I've stopped close by here before but never taken the time to go much further into this reserve. But this morning the sun was shining and I had time so thought "why not?"
I did find all the other caches available, but not this one. Reading previous logs didn't help me, for whilst they tell you where not to look, they don't tell you much else. So I spent about 15 minutes poring through bushes etc before coming away empty handed.

Looked in all the obvious plants but couldn’t find it.

Usually we are on a mission to reach a southern destination, as we drive passed this Scientific Reserve, but today we had time to stop and explore the reserve and locate the caches.
Had read the previous log, and realised the cache was nowhere near the broken barrier or the lake, so set about looking in another place and soon had this one in hand. TFTC

Finally wasn't in a rush to get home today so pulled off here to explore this area and pick up a few caches.
This cache was different than expected. Maybe it has been replaced by someone?
Cache not near the outlet to the lake so don't go near the busted barrier.
Tftc

Having dropped daughter of at Auckland airport it was time to head south to Wellington. A few points of interest stops on the way and this was one of them. Got to game zone and thought "Oh No", but surprised myself by looking in the right place on the first attempt. Thanks for the cache.

Wandering through the Scientific Reserve late on a very wintery winter's afternoon. We were pleased to make a quick find here and keep moving. Thanks.

Dragged the two muggles with me along the track whilst the rain was stopped - enjoyed the walk around thanks

Heading south to meet Maplerose for some caching and catching up. Very quiet here on a very chilly morning.
Walked along to GZ and could spot nothing that satisfied the hint. Looked at the rocks in dismay, and a bit worried knowing my ability to fall into streams/slip off rocks. Luckily something caught my eye and I found the cache.

Started regretting our decision to do at night as we got to gz. Started with the hint but turned to random searching and it showed itself. Thanks

Well the hint had me thinking something else. Couldn't spot it and decided to go through it all. Got lucky and there it was. Tftc

Find #103. Nice walk and great caching. Ttfc

Easy find. Out with the family to cross this off my list

Heading to Morrinsville and stopped to see how many of these caches we could pick up. Managed to do them all. We left this one till last. A bit of a lottery as to how quickly anyone finds this one. We didn’t win the lottery. It took us several minutes! I’m not sure how the word ‘same’ in the hint applies. Didn’t seem to be the ‘same’ in any way! At least we did find it! #4718. TFTC.

Thankfully gos was spot on as was not what I was expecting

After a wee bit of searching, soon had this in hand.

Crikey this had me baffled. Looked in all the wrong places before finally finding it. TFTC

Great to turn a blue face into a yellow smiley. A dnf here on a previous occasion with geocaching friends but today it was straight up to it for my muggle hubbie! Must have had a case of severe caching blindness. Thanks TFTC

**14,971**
A nice little walk to this one and a quick easy find once at GZ. TFTC

Not what I expected but it did match the hint. TFTC

Done maintenance today all good

Pick this one up on the way to Hamilton
For our Reach the Peak Challenge souvenir

Located this one safe a well. Really enjoying the walk and the views. TFTC!!

It has been a long time since Team SEAC did a numbers day, so we jumped on the chance to join when Keylev initiated this day. We started at 8 am and got home around 11 pm, and attempted most caches in Cambridge, Te Awamutu and finishing with a night cache in Huntly.
As we headed South, Mrs HeMaLuDy remembered this series of caches that have been on our radar for a while. We had previously found the cache in the carpark, but the rain was too heavy to carry on that day. Today we decided to stop, and wander to grab the other caches here. This was a nice easy find with so many pairs of eyes searching, despite the previous DNF's. Time to head along the track to the next one.

Quick easy find with our team

My first full day with Team SEAC! Very excited and a little intimidated! Very fun

Keylev nailed this in 3 seconds after approaching the area. Keen eye this one! Tftc

Like the Willy Nelson song, Team SEAC were On The Road Again. It had been quite a while since we had gathered to go on a road trip, so a trip to Cambridge was organised to clear out that town. All logs signed as S.E.A.C to preserve log space.

Feeling encouraged from our first find of the day at the previous cache in this reserve, we approached this one with a little trepidation when we saw where GZ was. So, we use a divide and conquer plan to cover as much area as quickly as we could. It only took seconds for the "found it" cry to go up.

TFTC

A number of Team SEAC banded together for a road trip day out targeting Cambridge and surrounds and ending up with a night cache. As per usual there were laughs, dramas, cache finding and a generally fun day!

We had noted the previous DNFs so were a little worried but actually this was a quick easy find! Walked straight up and hit gold - yay!

Thanks for the cache.

It had been quite a while since Team SEAC had been on a caching road trip together so a plan was hatched for a day trip to clear out Cambridge. It was a long but fun day, as we cleared out Te Awamutu as well, with the promise of not leaving it so long before our next roadie. All caches were signed SEAC to save space.

As we were driving Southbound it made sense to stop at the Scientific Reserve to grab the short series. This was find #3 for the day. Even though there had been DNFs, Keylev walked straight up to GZ and found the cache immediately! TFTC!

Had some spare time when heading past here today so I thought I'd better stop and give these caches a go. Headed to the end and cached back to the car, managed to avoid the rain also so a bonus there.
Noticed a few DNF's on this one as I read a few logs as I headed to GZ. Gave myself a time limit to search for this one when I got to GZ. Had pretty much used all the allowable time before one last rummage around I located the container. Not quite what I was expecting here with the hint however. Thanks for the hide.

Unable to locate this one even after an extensive search. Maybe another day…

After looking twice in this location we came up unsuccessful for this cache.

Out for the afternoon with a friend and my daughter and the dog to collect a few caches. Lovely walk managed to dodge the rain. Unfortunately we couldn’t locate this cache. Thanks

Miss Eight and I had a scout around for this one, but no luck.

My mission today was to drive from Auckland to Wellington via Taranaki. My two objectives were to find enough caches to crack 18,000 finds and to find enough caches in Taranaki to knock off another district towards a challenge cache in Nelson. Hmm, it's probably there but I couldn't find it.

YAY 2 for 2. Had walked this track before and had logged 2 dnfs. Today I was able to make good on those 2 as I was a little early for my appointment in Hamilton.

Made a quick find noting that a temp container had been used.

Thanks for maintaining this cache allowing to make this series all smilies now!!!

This would have been a difficult find if I hadn't been with some previous finders who told be I didn't need to go too far down but to focus on the top. Even so it took a bit of time to locate the cache which wasn't anything like I expected, I think it might be missing it's outer camo

This was totally exposed so returned to hiding. What a beautiful spot, with all the flowers. Tftc

214
Dropped off the child to Grandparents on the return journey it is just me and my dog. Perfect I can stop wherever I want. I have had my eye on this walk for some time now, Every time we go past we are on a mission to get back home.

Because I couldn't get my location going on the phone I just guessed that this would be a good spot for a cache had a quick search for something different and bingo got it! Because it was spur of the moment I didn't have a pen so I took a pic of the log.

Was not like the rest. We were looking for something real technical and nope but once we got on hands and knees for safety BINGO!!

Took me and SassyM awhile to find. But with a bit of a side view we spotted it finally

I have had a quick look for this on a previous occasion but the light was fading and I was pressed for time. This time it was a quick find. The same but not. TFTC.

Driving south and decided to stop here for a break and a walk. Lovely walk. Did not find on the first attempt but on the return we did a bit more of a search and located it. Thanks for the cache.

No luck here today second DNF for us today in this area...

Great incentive to keep following the path & give the legs a decent stretch. Most muggles don’t venture past the canoes ! Wondering what makes a reserve “scientific”.... TFTC!

Found on a afternoon 26/9/20
Tftc

I tried to find this one on two previous occasions. It wasn't until I saw GeoRick's video (the second one) that I was able to find where the cache was hidden. TFTC.

Took a while but got there in the end

A good place to stop and enjoy a walk.

Well this was a problem also! As which one? After quite sometime we had to give up and continued on our way where we were fruitful. On the way back we decided to try one more time and an almost instant success

#676 Mr and Mrs Northwood had not driven the Huntly bypass yet and spotted the new group of caches in this area so decided to spend the morning making the drive and finding some caches.

Very interesting place, did a bit of reading on the development and wildlife that is coming back when we got home. Not sure the hint was much use here, I stood back and tried to use that, but had no luck. Had to carefully search under a lot of things that .. well were all the same!

TFTH

Catching up on a few new ones...for me anyway.... last for the day, found this time!...TFTC

I looked for some time and missed it. If only I had waited for GeoRick to show up.

Looked on the way along the path, sadly not finding it. Continued the series and on the way back had another look, going straight to it. Thanks for the temporary cache.

Cache appears to have been muggled, Temp Cache installed
so happy hunting, go get it.

Logging with permission of CO after 30 or so minutes of digging ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
【T】【F】【T】【C】

I love these types of hides...NOT

Whoop whoop after 5 tries I finally got this one haha I hate rocks I really do I placed back where I found it now on to the next one had to pretend to take photos with my camera as there was a family with kids running around

done a check smorning and all good still sitting there waiting to be found

Nice to change a blue to yellow. Thanks for the placement and hint.

We had read the logs for this one prior to visiting here today and were prepared for a bit of a search. These types of hides can be a mixture of observation and luck and we have had a mix of good and bad experiences with them. We were hoping for the former today.
Our phone and GPS were each telling us to look in slightly different spots but we relied on the GPS and began a systematic search, helped by the fact we were pretty sure we knew what we were looking for.
It took us a bit longer than expected but we were still pleased to find it where our GPS was pointing and also were pleased that we had been correct in our assumption as to what it would look like.
Very pleased to gain a smiley for this one. Thanks eyespyben for bringing us to this amazing place.

Another careful look today, and it it jumped out at me, how could I have missed it last time. Tftc.

Another good hide! Lucky it was spottable! TFTC!

Met up with some of the team for a Waikato caching trip.
No real plan set out so we attached the cache we thought would take the longest.
Sure enough a couple of hours later we had completed our history lesson for the day. SLTFTC

With Gap (of Fap and Gap), the nieces, and the dog - Another drive into the Waikato to round up whatever hides we can within the timeframe we have to work with...

A delayed start, but at least the journey was pleasant... After circling through the Ohinewai Interchange, we switched back onto the Waikato Expressway... This new road is amazing!

This hide gave us some momentary grief as we tried to apply the hint. There were more than just a few hints that could easily fit the bill. We decided to rely on the coordinates, and they were pretty good for us. We found what was ‘same‘ and ‘different’. Thanks eyespyben and TFTC.

Good spotting by supernannny soon found

Could have been a nightmare...but soon spotted....

Nice and dry still rocking around and heaps of papper still