NPS8: Tornado Alley (Central Plateau) National Park, North Island, New Zealand
By NPSLearners on 30-Jun-20. Waypoint GC8VWVB

at few meters from GZ but ... all is there-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --French version below-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --Short late log but more complete now that we are back home.Our vacation will take us to the other side of the world to the land of the Maoris. After many, many hours of flying, a passage through China on the way there and through the United States of America on the way back, we will finally arrive in Christchurch which will be the starting point of our journey.We will enjoy the beaches of the Pacific Ocean and we will go back towards the North Island via State Highway 1. To combine business with pleasure, we will take regular breaks and small detours according to the caches that seem the most accessible to us.With a little more than 3500 km in 20 days, we will have discovered many facets of this island which is soothing. We will have to come back because there are so many places that we have not done . In broad strokes, the path will go from Christchurch to the Kaikoura Peninsula then towards Picton for the crossing to Wellington.New island, new road, and by State Highway 2 we go towards Hastings and Napier. We will leave the seaside for several days to go to Tongariro and Taupo. We will continue north towards Rotorua and Hamilton (without forgetting a detour via Hobbiton ) A detour to the Coromandel Peninsula and finally the almost north of the island with Whangarei and Waitangi to learn the history of this country.There will only be a few days left to spend towards Auckland and its suburbs before taking the plane back to the grayness of our European autumn.The majority of the boxes will be found, we have abandoned those where our English was lacking and where we could not understand the clue. Thanks to all the owners who brightened up our path, who took us to incredible places (that's also geocaching)In short, we had a great vacation, saw beautiful places that simply ask us to come back. We learned a lot about the history of this country and its traditions, it's a great motivation for our destinations.-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --Petit log en retard mais un peu plus complet maintenant que nous sommes rentrs la maison. Nos vacances vont nous emmener lautre bout du monde au pays des Maoris. Aprs beaucoup, beaucoup dheures davion, un passage par la Chine laller et par les Etats-Unis dAmrique au retour, nous arriverons enfin Christchurch qui sera le point de dpart de notre priple.Nous profiterons des plages du de locan Pacifique et nous remonterons en direction de lile du nord via la State highway 1. Pour joindre lutile et lagrable, nous ferons des pauses rgulires et de petits dtours au gr des caches qui nous semble les plus accessibles. Avec un peu plus de 3500 km en 20 jours, nous aurons dcouverts pleins de facettes de cette ile qui est apaisante. Il nous faudra revenir car il y a tellement dendroit que nous navons pas fait . Dans les grand traits, le chemin ira de Christchurch la pninsule Kaikoura puis direction Picton pour la traverse vers Wellington.Nouvelle ile, nouvelle route, et par la State Highway 2 nous remontrons en direction de Hastings et Napier. Nous laisserons le bord de mer plusieurs jours pour aller au Tongariro et Taupo. Nous continuerons vers le nord en direction de Rotorua et Hamilton (sans oublier un dtour par Hobbiton ). Un crochet pour la pninsule de Coromandel et pour finir le presque nord de lile avec Whangarei et Waitangi pour apprendre lhistoire de ce pays. Il ne restera que quelques jours passer vers Auckland et sa banlieue avant de ne reprendre lavion pour retourner dans la grisaille de notre automne europen.La majorit des boites seront trouves, nous avons dlaisser celles o notre anglais faisait dfaut et ou que nous narrivions pas comprendre lindice. Merci tous les poseurs qui ont gay notre chemin, qui nous ont emmen dans des endroits incroyables (cest aussi cela le geocaching)Bref, nous avons pass de superbes vacances, vu des endroits magnifiques qui demandent simplement que lon revienne. Nous avons appris beaucoup de chose sur lhistoire de ce pays et de ces traditions, cest une grande motivation pour nos destinations.

Took us and the kids a while to find it, was raining quite a bit which didnt help. Thank you! Perfect activity for when the mountain is closed

Ty for the hide

woolwood9 & I returned home via the National Park to visit an old cache ww9 had not found yet.*We picked up some good caches along the way - like this one!* SL *tm/ww NZ*Thanks for adding to our fun geocaching trip.Short search here.

Quick and easy find here while on a trip away with tmann421.Weather getting worse as the morning progressed so only stopped at a few cachesLog signed tm/ww NZTFTC

Found it easy enough ! Thanks for the cache!

, ! ! . !This is mu first time tonuse this app. I like it. Anyway the logbook is wet now, it would be better change the plastic bag. Thank you

Had to use a photo clue for this one!!! Updated with a new photo.

(# 8660) As it is a long weekend in Wellington I took a caching jaunt up to the Waikato and Bay of Plenty with TwigNZ, NZ_B and Itchyfeet2020. Stayed in Tokoroa which was the centre of the caching universe for this weekend. Today we are heading back home to Wellington. Stopped off in National Park. I love the idea of using caching for education.Logs were either signed MINT (being our initials) or Mr-Mcgoo.Thanks Beauty & The Beast for bringing me here.

Having taken Friday off as leave, and with Monday being Wellington Anniversary, I am making the most of a 4-day weekend by spending it with friends in the Waikato in order to try to target a few specific caches up here and otherwise boost my numbers for January. Our crew consists of Mr-Mcgoo, Itchyfeet2020, NZ_B and myself TwigNZ, and so to save space on logs we simply signed our finds today with either MINT or Team MINT depending on log size.Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and today it's the big drive home. NZ_B is making her own way home, so it's just the 3 of us in my car today.The route home is quite a convoluted one in order to stop for a very specific cache after which we meandered our way through King Country and then to rejoin SH1 at Waiouru. As has been the theme of this whole trip, a great deal of driving has taken us to a lot of beautiful places which make me want to come back and spend a lot more time at. One of the joys of geocaching for me is that I get to see places that I wouldn't have thought to visit otherwise, but often you just get a 'taste' of a place because you're rushing off to get another cache somewhere.I don't get to visit National Park often. The last time I was here was about 3 years ago, when Yeetrees and I pretty much cached the place out. However, I had this 1 lingering DNF from that trip so I was keen to stop and hopefully get my revenge.I don't know if the co-ords have changed in the last 3 years, but today my phone brought me to a spot about 20m from where I'd been hunting on that previous trip, and this time the cache only took a couple of minutes to find. No issues to report here and we soon had our names entered before the whole thing was replaced where found.Thanks for setting this one up. Great to turn the blue frown into a yellow smile.

Team MINT (Mr-Mcgoo, Itchyfeet2020, NZ_B & TwigNZ) were up in the central north exploring, targeting oldies and fun caches. Today, Wellington Anniversary is the day for heading home with the McGoo Machine and Twig-a-nator, choosing the western side of the lake. It's a hot day, but caching does not stop for anyone. This was previously a DNF for TwigNZ, so he bought some extra eyes along only to find it himself, reasonably quickly. TFTC.

No luck for me today. There are too many flax bushes and the COs in the middle of the road.

Awesome little spot. Love the little info notes about the area in the Cache. Nice work NPS!

Found 3rd Oct

Thanks

Thanks!

Didn’t take long to find once we started looking at correct hint item. Tftc

Which is larger? Got there eventually. Great day out.

at my Auntys lodge!

This one took almost too long to find, in fact I was just about to log a DNF, when I turned around for one last poke around the location. Voila, container was in hand and log book signed. I have topped up some trade items. Now I was able to keep my mini caching streak alive and this is day 11. Almost at my all time record of 13 days. Thanks for the cache.

Greetings from BC, Canada.

We are a family of 5 on vacation in New Zealand. Cachers in the family include BeesKnees34, SOB_4M, AlexBN16 and me. We have been enjoying the beautiful landscape and visiting some awesome locations.

Stopping along the way to grab some cool caches. We targeted high favourite, old caches, different cache types and some other caches along our routes.

After some searching my muggle son found the cache.

Thanks Beauty & The Beast for the fun cache!

Wouldn’t be a trip away from home without finding at least one geocache! Like many others I was looking around the wrong flax but find the right one in the end. Tftc!

TFTC!!!
Petra from Otze, Germany

Looking around the wrong flax for a good while but once I checked the others it was a quick find

Thanks for placing these caches. We have walked two of the tracks today and really enjoyed ourselves. Cache is all good. TFTC

Not the first flax I checked. SL TFTC.

On the way from the todays Teararoa track we found this Cache. Thanks for that.

After the shuttle for the Tongariro Alpine Crossing was canceled due to expected very strong gusts of wind, I took a very short walk to this cache. I couldn't motivate myself to do more gravel roads.

A great spot. With history.
Left pathtags. Picked up TB.

Thanks for placing these . Easy find

Decided to walk up to the wetlands this afternoon, nice quick find here, left a TB, TFTC

thank you for the interesting story about the tornado. today we road the Martin sash and door track. it was very sunny. I found this cache before returning to our accommodation. now for a walk around your other cache locations.

Google the family out for a bit of exercise

Found with bkj97 on a wet and miserable day. Rain paused long enough to grab this one. Interesting history kids. Thanks for placing these caches.

Another one of the series ticked off. Good to see EOTC is still happening for kids. Tftcsl

Great Cache ! Hint is spot on.
Travel bug retrieved !

Was a great find and first in years, thanks for a great hide.

A nice quick easy find, grab sign and flee.
TFTC

Great hide
Hint was spot on thanks
Thanks for your placements

Picked up with ABCDF4 whilst in the area. TFTC.

Nah no idea

Sneaky extra Flax bush had us searching longer!!tftc!!

Checked on cache today and updated hint. Should make for an easier find now.

Had been here before for a look (can't remember if I logged a DNF back then or not) but this time it was a quick find! The sign is long gone, which might be way we struggled last time, but it was spotted straight away this time. TFTC

** PLEASE EDIT THE HINT. The Sign has gone as everyone has already said. Use the photo gallery to help your search!
This is our second visit, this time with FMZ and J'smum and Paua spotted it straight away this time, A very quick find, thanks to photos. Interesting story about the tornado. This cache brings back so many awesome memories of another cache we found along this road Fishers Track GC208A5 where we were FTF way back in 2009 after a long enjoyable bike ride. That is why we were keen to return for a second look for this Tornado Alley cache and it was good to be able to log this find.... BUT PLEASE edit the useless hint as there is NO SIGN.

Spur of the moment decision to pop over to National Park to find this cache that punga and paua wanted to find. Lovely day out today finding some caches in the area. thanks for the cache!

The sign referred to is not here but we used our geocaching noses to sniff it out. Found with Kauriforest. The rest of the GCs up the track will need to wait for when we return with bikes to cycle the Fishers Track. Breaking news! The geodog has mutinied. She has sat down and given the look that says “that’s the last one of these I am doing today. There is no food in any of these so what’s the point?” (Geodog doesn’t understand that there is more to life than eating). The NPS collection of geocaches is an amazing effort and deserves A favourite point. Thanks kids, a fine job!

Interesting facts about the tornado. I'd like to bike this someday

Found the cache, but the sign is no longer there.

Perhaps some slips along the bank have buried it.

GPS was dancing back and forth a bit today which resulted in me scouring the area for a while. Perseverance paid off in the end though and the cache was eventually located and log signed. Thanks so much for placing this cache and for providing your perspective / stories of the tornado event. Must have been scary!

A nice addition to our ride along Fishers Track on a crisp mountain day. Thanks National Park School for the hide.

Tftc. Cold crisp day. Nice addition to our adventure on fishers track.

I was in Nation Park Village today and thought I'd grab a couple of caches while I was here. This one took me longer than it should but I got there in the end. So the log book has been signed and the cache is nicely back in its place all ready for the next geo-hunter. Thanks heaps for taking the time to set up this cache. I really appreciate your efforts in doing so. A stunning view of the mountains today! TFTC

Another fun cache to find, I had to take careful note of the surroundings to find the cache but once in the right place it was all east. +TB

NPS8: Tornado Alley (Central Plateau) was transferred from NPSLearners to user Beauty & The Beast

Great community work for your school and a good way for us to learn about National Park. After doing this cache, we understand why we saw so many trees uprooted in our bush walk this afternoon. It must have been terrifying. TFTC

Bugger

Cache remains in place.

My 10,000th cache milestone is coming up and I decided to tag along with rustynz, on a big trip down south to Mnt Ruapehu to land the milestone on the virtual cache ‘Virtually Stunning’ up on that mountain. Later we’re planning to head to Waiohine gorge to do the old T-2 cache and stay a night in Totara hut. So much is happening.

So after all the e-bike riding was done (with rusty) in the bush and stoney roads, it was time to return the bikes to my van and carry on. Rusty has done this cache and so with recent DNF's (one has been taken down) we thought we could have a good chance of finding this one. I did find it, but while the reference sign has gone, the co-ords were good as far as I'm concerned. It took several minutes but there it is. So no longer does the C.O have to visit or have the cache archived.

Now off to Ohakune to have dinner and stay the night before our walk tomorrow on Mnt Ruapehu.

While carrying out maintenance we were unable to find the cache. We will replace it after the school holidays.

Stopped off here on the way back from doing a short walk nearby with the family. Cache easily spotted once at GZ, thanks for the hide.

A weekend trip was planned awhile ago to venture up to national park with watcache and xsaveya and hopefully up the mountain to have a play in the snow. Having such a fun weekend and caching as well tops the weekend.
log signed and replaced as found TFTC

A weekend trip was planned awhile ago to venture up to national park and hopefully up the mountain to have a play in the snow.
log signed and replaced as found.

Nice quick find here as we are staying nearby.
Great day up the mountain on the sky Waka.
Found with xsaveya and emilyah.

Cool find

Got the day off work so heading up to National Park. Lots of new caches here since we last visited which is great. Could find the sign but cache all fine. Thanks National Park School for the smiley.

Well now I know what the mountain to sea sign looks like. I followed the phone and hint to the caches hiding place.

Happy to be signing the log. Thanks again for the hide and history of the tornado that damaged National Park village

Nice to have an excuse to walk up the road, nice and peaceful out here and a bit more sheltered from the wind today! Thought this was going to take ages to find when approaching but easy in the end! TFTC

Found with not too much trouble. Nice walking track, could be good to return in the summer months. TFTC!

i couldn't see the sign that the hint mentions but i was soon able to work out where this was hidden, enjoying reading the things in each cache, tftc

Cool

**13,721**
Having managed to locate the two newly published caches in the area, we thought we would also find this one before we stopped for the night. Gosh, what an interesting story behind where the cache is placed. We found it by torchlight easily and the cache was in good condition. TFTC

Staying in the area and so neat to have a wonder about this morning. Really lovely caches and interesting hides. cute wee painted rocks in containers too. well done .

March has been such a busy month, but not so much with getting out and about to indulge in finding some caches for myself. So what better way to remedy this than have a few days away in an area not previously cached out?
Cue a weekend of touring around the Tongariro National Park in good company. Exactly what I needed, and a weekend that would see me find over a hundred caches, including getting my 4000th.

I knew this would be a long day, both starting and finishing in the dark, but I hadn't quite expected to be out caching for 16 hours straight lol. But it was a very productive and interesting day, so it was all worth it in the end.

This one ended up being the only DNF for me today. As others have mentioned, there is no sign anymore although a rusty metal pole in the ground would seem to be the most likely place for where it was. Regardless, we spent about half an hour thoroughly searching the whole bank (high and low) for about 10m either side of the rusty pole and even using a PAF option didn't result in a find for us.

One to try again in the future hopefully.

Team SEAC had decided a few months ago to attempt the Tongariro Crossing. Not JUST because there were caches here but to get us all out and about.

Yesterday we Conquered the crossing. Today was dedicated to caching in the National Park and surrounding area.

All logs signed with Team SEAC to save log paper.

TFTC

A few of the Team SEAC crew were in town to complete the Tongariro Alpine crossing which we successfully managed yesterday - woop woop. The plan for today was to get out and stretch a little and of course find some caches.

Wow the devastation that this tornado caused was really felt here. It was extra thoughtful for you to put in the comments from yourselves and really made it quite real for us readers.

Unfortunately the sign alluded to in the hint is no longer there but the cache most certainly is. Look more along the road side of the bank down quite low rather than the driveway side and you will find it.

Thanks for the cache.

In town with my good friends from Team Seac to do the Tongariro Crossing. We did the crossing on the Friday, so to relax the following day we went caching of course. So we explored the local areas. Sorry for generic logs. Log was signed Team Seac or Seac to save room on the logs.

The day after our group from Auckland had completed the Tongariro Crossing, and were on a bit of a high, decided to take a look around the area at some local caches, not knowing local would extend to Taumarunui....needed to be back in National Park to sort out food for dinner, so off we went....

Signed in as SEAC to save log book space...

TFTC.

Mr HeMaLuDy and Purply completed the Tongariro Crossing yesterday as part of a group from Team SEAC. Unfortunately Mrs. HeMaLuDy and Darthcacher1 were unable to do the crossing but plan on attempting it at a later date. Today was booked as a reserve day but luckily was not needed. So instead the members of the group went in several directions. Six of us decided to go caching to stretch our legs so we began with the local caches. Thanks kids for all the effort in researching all the caches in this series. Very informative. The tornado must have been a very scary thing to have experienced. The sign mentioned is no longer there but with a little geosense and several pairs of eyes searching it didn't take long to find. Signed Team SEAC to save space on the log. TFTC

With Gap (of Fap and Gap)... We've been trying to smash out some of the PWGT trail since its release, but work and other commitments have pulled us in other directions. Gap had work in the Waikato and Taranaki today, so this set the tone for our adventures... This recent account will no doubt be remembered by locals for years to come... We found ourselves looking at length for the hinted sign. Did it disappear in the tornado? Although the hint has vanished, the cache was still locatable. Thanks NPSLearners and TFTC.

sign has gone from here
bit of a search and container found
we will be back another day to do the rest.
tftc

We are down in National Park doing several hikes ranging from an hour or so to a full day out. Coming back from Whakapapa Village this afternoon I decided that it was time to pick up some of these NPS caches. What a terrific teacher the kids must have to initiate them into geocaching and the outdoor life. A great series (I'm looking forward to completing it) and TFTC. Go you kids

Found it pretty quickly (by my standards!) just as my batteries were about to give up the ghost.

I was here on the day of the tornado, and was sent with some others to the area just above the cache to check the occupants of homes in that area were okay. Quite a sight, especially on the day.

Thanks NPS learners!

I had time to fill in while I waited in National Park for my daughter who was walking the Whakapapa to National Park section of the Te Araroa enabling me to grab these caches in the area. I looked in the wrong place to start with but not long before I got it. Thank you for the placement.
I dropped my daughter at the end of Fisher Rd the next morning at 5am and as we passed near here there was a young deer feeding on the roadside.

Interestingly, I just found out a lot of information about the tornado before heading for the cache. I cannot believe I do not remember it from the news!! Took me a little bit to locate as GPS would not settle, and I expected a different hint object. Got there eventually!! TFTC!!

We pulled up near GZ and had just started looking when the home owner pulled in. She stopped and mentioned the cache so knew exactly what we were up to, but didn't know exactly where it was hidden. There was no sign anymore, as mentioned in the clue, but a short search after soon produced the goods anyway.
We left a TB
Thanks for setting this up for us to find

No sign and no cache

Just one more look and found it woohoo

Quick find heading for walking track.

Had to get our friend to grovel a bit to get our hands on this one! Got there in the end. TFTC

Cruising around National Park and collecting some in this series. What an interesting story about the tornado. Three of us looking, it took a little while, needed a good reach in. Thanks NPSLearners.

Took a bit of searching but got there in the end.
Local property owner saw us and came down to see what we we doing. Introduced him to geocaching, and he explained that his grandchildren go to National Park School.
Thanks for the cache!

Thanks for all the caches placed by the school, great fun

Good hide thanks

Wonderful history, as we were approaching the site we bumped into another local, who personally experienced the tornado, it was good to hear your personal accounts and her story as well. Great track for biking too! T4TC.

Awesome spot!

Thank you for the cach.

I was so pleased to see there are a few new geocaches in town. Great incentive to go for a walk despite the rain. Now seeing the logs, am wondering if the dog we saw is the previous geo sniffer ... approaching GZ, my friend noticed the devastation where the tornado ripped through, & spotted the cache quite easily. Thanks for the walk & cache! PS that was an impressive medal in the cache ! ( which we admired & left)

Due to Covid, our planned UK holiday to attend the MEGA could not proceed so plan B was a timeshare stay in Paihia so we could cache around Northland. Once again this could not proceed as we could not travel through Auckland due to the Level 3 lockdown.
A last minute plan C was put into action and our timeshare week was transferred to Turangi.
Off we went on a sunny but chilly 4 deg morning and its been quite a while since we have seen any frost on the ground so a bit of a novelty for us.
Day 3 on a loop trip around the mountains, perfect weather and very little traffic today, no problem with the find TFTC.