Dam Tourists (Auckland) Moumoukai, North Island, New Zealand
By Spudgun and Pam on 22-Sep-02. Waypoint GC917E

Visited here and was surprised that no-one else was around which gave us plenty of time to look for this cache. Took a bit of searching but looked over to the right and saw what could be an extension of the clue, followed my nose and made my way over the slippery slope to grab the cache. Couldn't write name on log so took a pic instead. [8]

Almost gave up. Went back down cos it got the better of us and found it.

A solo excursion for Mr Coblet.I headed out to the Mangatangi Dam today for a walk and a bit of geocaching and parked very close to this cache when I arrived, but after a read of some previous logs and a look at where it was likely to be hidden I decided to leave it until later. Not sure about the Difficulty 1 and Terrain1.5 rating but the cache is over 20 years old so maybe the landscape was a bit different back then? In any case I was keen to find such a historic cache as there are very few around that date back this far.After my walk I headed back to the car ready to tackle the descent to GZ.It has been raining a lot recently which made it extra slippery underfoot and there wasn't a lot to hold on to that was strong enough to hold my weight so I adopted a very slow and careful approach. Although I must admit I did slip once.Once at the bottom I fortunately didn't take too long to spot the item in the description but it still took a bit of searching before I spotted the cache which blended in very well.Once I had the cache in hand I breathed a sigh of relief and felt quite victorious. It's always special to find older hides.Once the log was signed and the cache returned to its hiding spot I carefully climbed back up the bank, this time without incident.Thanks spudgun2020 for the adventure. It was a great way to end my morning excursion in the area.

Targeted this oldie for my Jasmer. A dirty scramble down a rough bank… D watched encouragingly from the clean parking area. Found the hint object easily enough, but took a few minutes to find the cache. Took a slightly easier route up. Thanks for the oldie spudgun2020!

I was happy to leave the hard work for B, while I provided valuable encouragement from above. Thankfully the effort was rewarded! TFTC Spudgun and Pam.

Needed to get into the bush, and away from potential Ormicron, so a quick drive to this carpark to begin the trail.....Was thinking of biking around the gravel parts of the trail, but this plan was squashed when I saw the sign stating NO BIKES.....

This area needs a bit of a CITO, with all the bottles and rubbish that has been dumped down the bank from the carpark....

TFTC.

Bit slippery!

Found whilst hiking through this area. TFTC

Arrived here a little after 10am, for a hike up to Pukapuka and Mangitangi summits. This seemed like the perfect little caching warm up before heading off up the hill. I spotted the hint item from up the bank, after checking a couple of spots, I made the find. Thanks for the hide.

Found after deciding gumboots weren’t a good choice of footwear after the rain. The bag containing the log and log were wet and neither the cache pen or the one in my pocket wanted to work so no log signed. The local vermin have eaten a hole in the lid as mentioned earlier

Thankyou Spudgun and Pam.
This was a bit trickier than I expected for a 1.5 terrain rating!
Anyway the three of us slipped and slithered down the bank and found cache exactly as and where described.
Many thanks.....nice to get an old cache!
Great day out caching with mates in a new area for me!

After recent rain it was very slippery and slidey to get to this cache. More a T3 than a T1.5 but we managed to get to the cache and back up hill with no incidences

A nice mothers day out.
This one was a little slippery after rain.

Fun little climb down to the waterfall. The container has a hole in it so was full of water. We unfortunately didn’t have a replacement.

Hmmm... only gave this cache 5 minutes of our time and didn’t see anything resembling the hint. Definitely a cleanup needed in the area as it’s being used as the local rubbish dump. somewhere that could do with further exploring as there was a lovely spot down there

Trickling water easy hearing. Kiwibuilder scrambled down, found cache .sadly a bit of debris from uncaring litterers

Found this in bare feet, dangerous, a bagful of rubbish waiting to be collected. Please bring a garbage bag to assist. Thank you.

Out exploring a part of NZ I do not think I have visited before.

As to the cache, made it a little harder than I needed to, if I had followed the concrete drain from the carpark, I think the slope would not have been so steep.

Anyhow followed the sound of water, and a bit of a steep decent to the square log, and once on the other side, soon was signing the log.

The picture does not show how beautiful this little waterfall is. A fun find, thanks for the hide Spudgun and Pam

What a fun cache! Got the kids involved with this one TFTC!

Parked up here to be a dam tourist and to see how much water we do not have. This cache was a lot more difficult than the rating made out but after a scramble we had the goods, signed and returned.

This is my last cache for today after I happened to be in the area claiming a FTF up the hill on the dam. I also had in mind this cache too.

I looked on the cache page and never read the description, I noticed there was no hint, so just searched everywhere the GPS was pointing me, after a good 20 mins I realised something was not right, so read it again and this time got to realise I should have been down the hill by the stream, still took me ages to find the large moldy timber, but did so in the end. The cache is well covered under that but still the log book was a little damp, but no worries signing in though. Thanks for the old cache, good to see this one still hanging on.

Log later

Took a lot of finding after scrambling down the wrong bank! Cache is very wet but able to sign the log. Good footwear is recommended, not the jandles that I was wearing!

An unexpected visit to the dam and found this cache available. TFTC

Given my previous dnf, we had to swing by her, hoping that an extra pair of eyes might help! I ended up being the one who located it, and I am sure I checked that hidey hole out previously! Obviously not well enough... TFTC!!

Headed around here to meet up with the party coming from the Mangatawhiri Dam so used the opportunity to collect some caches in the area. This was a bit of a scramble and needed some searching but the hint was perfect when it was spotted. Not quite three years since the cache was last found. TFTC

Contents are looking a little worse for wear but it’s still there.

Today this cache was our first destination. But we could not find anything here. The GZ looked pretty tidy.
Sorry for the late log entry. Have just found in the processing of our New Zealand tour this omission

I spent ages looking, but could not locate the cache. Not sure how low one needs to scramble, but the terrain was precarious at best, with a few recent looking slips. I scoured the area between the parking lot and the water as much as I could, but still came up empty handed

Found, but... Terrain 1.5? Difficulty 1? It is D/T = 2/3 in my opinion. Getting to the location is pretty dangerous (it is easy to slip down) and the cache container is well masked and hard to see even from one meter.

The box itself is OK, nothing wrong is happening to it.

No trade.
Thank you for this cache and greetings from Kraków, Poland.

Cache found with Murazor.

Lovely New Zeland and great holidays spent there. On the trip a lot of fantastic adventures - and a lot of caches found, including very old ones and very nicely located ones. Cool time spent. Diversity of memories. Thank you very much for helping to organise our route based on interesting caches on the way .


Cool spot for the cache with stunnig scenic road and nice views.

Greetings from Krakow, Poland!

2085 There were some dam tourists parked up in a their van. But I did managed to claim cache. So glad to tick off another old cache.

Great finding these old caches in good nick, had a picnic also, what a great spot, tftc.

TFTC

Been to the Miranda hot pools for a soak with Mrs NZTravellers and her parents who were up for her birthday today!

After a nice soak Mrs NZT wanted to find a cache on her birthday and as we had done most of the ones on the way to and from Miranda this one was an obvious candidate after having fish and chips at Kaiaua.

We didn't realise how old this cache was until we were at the point of logging it. Mrs NZT parents showed a bit of additional interest once we informed them on the age of this cache but we are sure they continue to roll their eyes" every time we mention geocaching......"

Gets a favourite point from us for its age and that we found on Mrs NZT's birthday!

TFTC

Quickly found this on at the start of the days hiking up in the Hunuas. Haven't been to this section of the hills before so it was good to check it out. There are some interesting old works near GZ. Not sure what they were for. Cheers for the cache.

Day out with jazzmo. Good find be careful after all the rain very slippery track.

Thanks for replacing the cache. Took the slippery slope down, found the square log then the cache. Took TB and will take it to Vanuatu with me at the end of the week. From cold and damp to warm and sunny

Followed the Letterbox-like hint and found the cache. Terrain seems a little bit more difficult than indicated, probably because of the new location. Left: Travel Bug Origins - United States, TNSL.

We have been meaning to visit this cache for quite some time so with time on our hands today we set off after an overnight stay at Kaiaua. Easy find with the help if the clue and replaced the temporary mint tin cache with something that should keep this going for years to come, great place for a cache hide TFTC.

Enabling cache as replacement in place.

I was in the area so thought I would check in on this cache as it would be a shame to lose such an old hide. No, no sign of it I am afraid. I have dropped a temporary replacement cache. Unfortunately it is a ghastly mint tin--hidden behind some rocks in the position described in the description. Hopefully this will serve until a better replacement can be made.

I noticed that this cache has been in need of owner attention for a period of time well in excess of the period of "a few weeks" as contemplated by the cache guidelines published on Geocaching.com. While I feel that Geocaching.com should hold the location for you and block other caches from entering the area around this cache for a reasonable amount of time, we can't do so forever. Please either repair/replace this cache, or archive it (using the archive listing link in the upper right) so that someone else can place a cache in the area, and geocachers can once again enjoy visiting this location.



If you plan on repairing this cache, please log a note to the cache (not email) within the next 30 days so I don't archive the listing for non-communication.



Regards,

Growly Bear

Geocaching.com Volunteer Reviewer.

there seems to be no action on this cache and the maintenance, can it possibly be archived
Thank you

CAn this cache be checked before I head back up there to confirm it is still in place

cleared the area but nothing, 3 hunting with torches, may need to be checked

No luck today for us

Wow! Didn't realise this cache was so old! I'm a fan of old caches, and, after just over 500 finds, this one will likely rate as one of my top 10 oldest caches.
A bit smaller than I thought it would be, a T/D rating a bit low considering the steep scramble to it, and as a previous finder noticed, it is somewhat in need of maintenance, but it was still a good find.
We're taking the elderly mother-in-law for a tiki tour. Exited at Papakura before following the coast down. Took this way as the GPS was showing it as a shortcut to Hunua and the falls, but there was no mention on the GPS of a locked gate! So we used the toilets, found the cache, and turned back to use a slightly longer way round...

Found it - but unfortunately I located it by following the trail of wet soggy log book pages........ The container had been spilled down into the wet ground below. So I picked it all up, dried off the container, replaced all the swaps, and put a sheet of paper in a ziplock bag as a temporary log. I also put all the wet pages in another zip lock bag as the history on them seemed a shame to throw away. So someone with more time might be ble to dry the pages out. It is back in its spot.

Aside from all of that - a great pace for a cache, and a beautiful drive!

Need to come back for a fish. The Italian Job was here.....!

I was in the area tonight picking up an FTF, so stopped by to pick this historic cache up....well 2002 anyway! TFTC

Nice hiding spot for this cache and grabbed it while the family got fuelled up for the trip up to the trig. Was a bit slippery underfoot but cache soon in hand T4TC

So peaceful and serene. Such a cool place, didn't feel like scrambling down the hill today will be back when things are a little dryer and when I'm not on my own. I could just picture myself in a heap at the bottom and not being able to get back up. I'll be back.

Out with Bjarni1 and Chesterdog today
Slipped and slid our way down to the GZ(Can't say it's a 1.5 terrain but for us youngsters it's easy haha) After finding the cache we took a walk up to the dam wall and enjoyed the views.
Thanks for bringing us here, it's been on the list to do for ages O.o

Definately more than a 1.5 terrain and i wouldnt say its a regular either! But hey, its a nice little spot and a good hide. Had a nice wander with Kyle891 and Chester up to the dam afterwards.

Out and about today with the FF and his Poppa, to collect three more lonely caches (>5km from any other), to meet the requirements of the NZ lonely cache challenge. On finding this cache is 6.0 km from any other cache. 8/10

On arrival at the carpark I noted a likely GZ but Poppa had already gone to inspect the dam. So we went for a walk and inspected the dam in the rain. Eventually we came full circle and I popped down the bank to make a quick find. Terrain was much more difficult than the advertised 1.5 stars suggests due to the wet conditions. Cheers for the cache!

On a night caching mission around the Waikato region to find lonely caches (>5km from any other) that we haven't already found, in order to complete the NZ lonely cache challenge. Left Auckland at about 1730 and got to bed at about 0345 in the morning. This was the first of the 9 found tonight. Not the easiest of finds, perticularly as everything was wet, but got there and then off to the next. Must come back and visit during daylight some time! TFTC!!!

no tourists today, cache in good order, looks like there was a storm since last cacher as log all covered with debris

May not still be here, had a good look around down the bank but could not locate it.

What a treat to find an early cache. Slithered down the bank with XenaCommander for a quick find.
Thanks for the fun Spud and Pam

XC and TK heading north in "The Truck" we were looking for a shortcut to the Black Powder rifle range further in and gps took us up this road.. Nice and twisty for an 11.3 metre truck but nothing we cant manage.. as long as there was nobody else on the road..!!! Got near GZ, parked the truck down the hill... We walked up to check which direction we could continue but found gates locked... Oh well at least we are close to a cache... We stumbled down to GZ... tricky hide but TK soon unearthed. I thought it might be damp but was in good condition..
Signed log and replaced.
TFTC #1112

Kool Spot Cassey and I found it
TFTF

Quick and easy find while Mrs Trout-fly and I were on a bit of an aimless Sunday drive, even though it was Saturday. Thanks.

I don't think this one will ever be muggled, good hide. TFTC

I was heading towards the East coast road this morning for an inspection.
Did a little detour to the dam to get this of my unfound list.
No tourist this morning.
Quick find.
TFTC

Had to use my torch to locate this one quickly. Finally got to knock off this old cache.

Cheers for the cache.

nice quick easy find. TFTC

Very quick find but in a place that would not normally get much traffic. It must have some history. TFTC

Thanks for showing me this new aeria to me! Return tramping trips already planed! Cheers Muzy Man!

Nice cache site...would never think to go down that bank for any other reason! Afterwards we did the hike up to the Mangatangi Trig, fantastic views!! Hoping to be back soon for a bigger hike down to the Mangatawhiri...then down the river to our house on Lyons Rd! However, without this cache we wouldn't have known what we were missing! Cheers

left beach glass, took lego lady

Dam. Got here after the gates were closed so had a little walk. Left a croc and took TB. TFTC

easy find after Jumboz used GPS instead of thinking he knew the area. (we now what thought did) Awesome view but what a hike to take in the view all uphill, the gate was locked. Easy find clues are accurate.

Been meaning to get here for some time.
Last time we approached from the Hunua side but this of course could not get us there.
We planned a trip over from the Waikato via Kaiaua which was very nice after we had excellent Fish & Chips there.
Bank was definitely a bit tricky to negotiate.
Left Yellow Jeep TB

[Nice easy find just before the gate was closed. Water level in dam seems very low, indicative of low rainfall in recent months. TNLNSL TFTC ] My Etrex thought the co-ordinates for parking should be very slightly different at South thirtyseven degrees seven point two two nine minutes and East one hundred and seventy five degrees twelve point five nought three minutes.

Nice cache on the way to Orienteering event. Very Slippery bank.

In Legoman
Out Key tag

didn't really have time to do this but dashed in and out with someone who had some local knowledge. Would like to come back and explore the area better. TNLN TFTC

Jumped the gate and made a good find, great area, thanks for bringing us here.

Cheers

That's an impressive dam structure, looming out like a great green wall as you round the corner. Listened for the running water, and the cache was easily found. I had intended to drive around the forest roads to get to "ehcacoeG" at Wairoa, but the sign said "No". Pity as it added 30min to my day. Anyway, this was the first one of a 40-cache Auckland expedition, over several days. No swaps, thanks and cheers from Grandalf(1013)

Took a detour on our journey back to Auckland. The gates were locked, but it was only a short walk up to the cache site. Jim and I scrambled down the back and Jim spotted the likely hiding place, which I then arrived at by sliding on my backside down the steep and slippery bank. Great fun! Wish the road had been open so that we could have continued up further into the hills. SL. TFTC.

Also logging in and out our England Geocoin.

Had been here before, some years prior, its a lovely place to visit, the kids enjoyed it. Contents of cache damp. Took - compass, Left - caruba key chord.

#607
Been here before as non-cachers. Last gate to the dam was locked, so had to walk the last few hundred metres. An easy find once we worked out how to get down to the cache site. Contents nice and dry.
TNLNSL, TFTC.

After our weekend with friends in a bach east of the Hunua Ranges, we went for this cache on our way back. The way to the dam was beautiful and green. But then we suffered from slight confusion about the "scrambling down the bank". In addition, as it was pouring, the noise of running water was everywhere - so this part of the description was of no great help. In the end we chose the right bank (not far away from the parking spot) and Rumo went down to find the hiding place. The cache was a little bit damp, but under the circumstances it was not possible to improve this situation.

TNLNSL, TFTC

An easy find, cache was still damp.
So we took a risk. Spread the contents out in the sun for a while, dried interior with cloth. And left it out for a while as we drove up to the top of the dam for the view.
Huge dam indeed, grazed by sheep. Unusual spillway.
Back to the cache spot. Reassembled now slightly drier contents and replaced in original spot.

Easy find. Cache is quite damp, log book still usable but getting pretty limp. Contents need to be spread out in the sun for an hour or two, but unfortunately there was neither sunshine nor time to linger. Wiped the moisture out as best I could.
- Hermit Crab TB
LNSL TFTC

Quick find for the kids. No dam tourists around today , had the area to our selfs.
In TB the hermit crabs

No problems here, though a bit concerned at the level of the dam.
TFTC, TNLNSL

12.30pm. Mr.Flounderer scrambled down, drawn by the sound of water. Wonder whether the milled square log was part of a small kauri logging dam in times past. Not a difficult find. Only muggle around was a watchful Tui singing to us. Spring must be in the air - saw our first new born lamb of the season from the road leading into the dam area.
+ compass (as we recalled having got lost in this part of the Hunua's once some 25 years ago!)
TNSL
TFTC - really enjoyable to get out into a bush setting like this.
M&P.

Nice and easy to find. It hasn't rained for a few days and so it was comfortable to push through the undergrowth. TNLN.
TFTC.

Out this way visiting friends. Hadn't been to this part of the Hunuas before. The ranger arrived to clean the toilet block while we were getting the cache. Extra stealth needed to get to a place where we didn't look suspicious! TFTC

Beautiful spot. Got dirty bum sliding down to find cache !!

Easy find.Wouldn't do this in jandles when wet.Followed the sound of water & found the squared logs & then the cache.
Swopped the old cache & Canadian key ring for a new snap lock container as the old one was letting water in.
Cheers Spudgun & Pam

[This entry was edited by cj.trex on Saturday, February 18, 2006 at 2:06:05 AM.]

We had trouble finding the access here. Gave up before we had a good go-as we realised we were on the wrong side of the Dam.
What happened to the ARA drive-big gate blocking us
Grrrrrrrrrr...... @@@@@@@@
Us poor Country Bumkins eh

Finally found an excuse to head out this way and knock this cache off. Everything's rather damp and wearing a fungal beard. Signed log book. Thanks.

Found cache whilst in area on a University field trip looking at the local kauri forest and experimental areas. Was our lunch break for half an hour. Had to walk from visitors centre (where lunch was) across and down to GZ. The heavens decided to open up while walking down to GZ, lucky had rain coat on.
Found cache after working out the best entrance. Found it rather quickly. Log book a bit damp. Managed to get back up to visitors centre just as groups were heading on to the buses. Total too just less than half an hour for walk and find and return walk back up.
Cheers for the find in a lovely area, good to see all the native bush around.
TNLNSL

Walked down all possible ways-no SQARE logs-lots of other logs.also not on my gps-acc 1.2 m. On my way to the dam almost a mid air collission with a low flying crossing peacock!
Thanks anyway.
Meryl(from Holland)

Cache was still a bit damp, bit no surprises there. Log book is still OK, but could probably do with a new baggie soon.

TNLNSL

Dam look a bit eerie today. The water level is low and the red banks gave everything an orange hue. It looked strangely abandoned up there in the early evening light.

Our map showed a continuing road from here to another dam, but now we know this is locked.

Thanks for the cache

Visiting from Canada so I guess we're dam tourists. Very slippery scramble down due to the rain, but found the cache with no problem. Moisture is getting in so things are a bit rusty/mouldy in there. Took nothing, left a keychain of a $100 Canadian bill. We wouldn't have come here without the cache so thank you for introducing us to this nice spot. I couldn't believe the number of Kingfishers we saw on the way in.

Nice early morning drive in. Heaps of rabbits on the road and the foxgloves were quite spectacular. Thanks

Cache container was a bit mouldy inside but the logbook is OK. TNLN

Followed auditory clue to cache, needed torch. Wet and
muddy. Took out TB Geomonkey, gave him tour of Bay of
Plenty and brought up to Auckland.
Perhaps worth noting sign on the gate said "closes at 4".