Smash Palace Railway Crossing Raurimu, North Island, New Zealand
By Size 13 on 01-Feb-21. Waypoint GC95VJD

Fairly easy find, cool history

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 on the way back from the new Bison Geo-Art series. 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.

Quick easy find

Don't recall ever seeing Smash Palace so this was familiar. But we found the cache quickly. No trains today, cheers

Bringing back some memories on today's trip. So many new builds in Raurimu. I remember as a kid coming to swimming sports at the primary school. Thanks for making me recall the memory of a wonderful place in my childhood.

Found in the pouring rain.TFTC

Found - Mrs McMike2012 & I now live full-time in our caravan & travel the country visiting places we want to visit & doing the things that we want to do we are staying at the Kiwi Camp Freedom Campsite at National Park Ive always been fascinated with railways (my Father worked on the railways), so thought wed drive out to Raurimu & have a look and, of course, do some caching while out and about this was an easy find, log signed & cache container easily replaced pleased to add another 'smiley face' to the tally TFTC ... Took the TB:LN:SL ... #4,838 for us!

Quick find, stopped for a wee while to watch the kingfisher on the train lines

Pretty easy

No bad

Out for a central north island mission with Reschedule. Circling around Ruapehu today. Find 36 of the day.TFTC

Left our Basecamp of Rotorua to explore the cacheline around Ruapehu and the central north with Kre8ive, stunner of a day! TFTC! #36 for today.

A nice quick park and grab here while trying to find a view of the spiral. All good here with the cache. TFTC

A train went passed while here many thanks Left tb

Remember the film well, but had no idea that scene was filmed here. Yes, Horopito has no loop double track, so it wasn't there.Lot's of people walking around and about Raurimu today, but managed to find the cache before they all arrived.Thanks for the cache!

After finding the cache we decided to have morning coffee hoping a train might come along the track. No luck with the train but did have to wait for one at Mangaweka.

Found it

Found 4th Oct

Thanks!

Snowfields not open so had a go at some cacheing today, weather is cold with some snow around. Quick and easy TFTC

Tftc

Nice area, easy found, good conditions
TFTC
Grüße aus der Pfalz

bug visit

A quick park and grab this afternoon. Love coming to the Sprial and looking at the amazing engineering feet that it was. Glad to have another cache for today.

Quick park and grab after picking up nearby caches. Had been a nice day being out and about geocaching. Have not seen the movie yet, but have been told many times that I should. Thanks for the cache!

TFTC even better train came past as I stopped

Have replaced the wet cache with a new dry one

Found by Blenheim Bear on a wee day out looking at bridges nearby. Thanks for the cache all good today. Blenheim Bear

Our North Island Roadtrip from Whangarei to complete Tahi & Rua of the NZ Geotour - Day Three

Stopped by to grab this park and grab on our way whilst in the area. Log is very damp. TFGC

quick find log a bit wet. stopped to view the spiral. tftc

Quick find here . Good link to the film too..,thanks

On a mission to do PWGT 2 caches in full and maybe some of Tahi ones too in the time I’ve allowed myself. There will also be some extras along the way to to make break the journey

Tipped water out of container. Log book damp and starting to fall apart. Easy find on way back from PWGT cache

Up from Southland with muggly hubby to revisit some old haunts and discover new places. Taking a leisurely trip and the caching goal is to complete PWGT2.
This is Day 3 on the road. Aiming for Motutere Bay.
One of just a few non PWGT caches today. We'd just visited the Smash Palace one at Hiropito, so this was a must stop. Nice easy find.
I'm guessing that one of the factors in choosing this crossing for the film was because it is on a gravel road and more in line with the film.
Thanks for the cache Size 13
# 3451 15 November 2022 3:44 pm

Nice spot

Cache was very wet, but cool area, glad we went out of our way TFTH

Easy

Good find

I had just pulled over to use my phone & found there was a cache close by - what a bonus ! I had just been up the hill for the GeoTour cache.
Quick find, thanks for this cache Size 13.

Interesting historical movie location. Thanks for bringing us here. Found with Kauriforest.

Bit wet in the container. Nice to explore around here

Wet log. Tftc

Thanks for the story, an easy find.

Ez

Found. Not very camouflaged. Great day for geocaching.

Through the rain I cycled onward and was able to locate this one without much delay. Cache itself was taking on water so I drained it out - log book remained pretty dry. Thanks for the knowledge of the area, something to drop into the next NZ film conversation! TFTC!

Nice easy find, thanks Size 13

This is definitely the right crossing for the famous Smash Palace train scene, thanks for the info and placing a cache here

The cache container was a bit wet inside so clean and dried it as well as replacing the bag

A very fast park and grab as the temperature was dropping and I needed to go find Mr P on his bike somewhere - who knew? T4tc

Found bt log is wet s0 did n0t sign. Tftc

Nice and easy

Thank you
Climbed Ruapehu yesterday and thought I'd look for some more caches on my way home. Never been to Raurimu before, it's a lovely peaceful place

Teamed up with Geckoh this weekend to climb to the top of Ruapehu to get the Tippy Top cache. Nice quick find here today after climbing Ruapehu. On our way home now doing a few drive by caches as we go. Tftc

Found on a Raurimu detour to pick up some caches for the Peaks challenge, have been meaning to do these for ages and we finally got here. A quick easy hide. Interesting info about the Smash Palace movie. TFTC.

I'm sure I actually found this a while back with Gorby while out doing the TMGT, but oh well... back again and found again! Great movie, remember the scene filmed here very well. TFTC!!!

I'm on a trip with my Mum and two youngest children. We're doing a quick tour of the North Island. We walked around the rim of the Waihi gold mine and stayed in Tauranga the first night. Stayed at Lottin Point then we headed to Gisborne before driving down to Napier. Turangi was our next destination before heading to our old stomping ground Palmerston North. We came via Whanganui and Hawera to New Plymouth the other day. Yesterday we came to Taumaranui via the Forgotten Highway. Today is a quick dash down to the Raurumu spiral before going up to Waitomo Caves. Then we're heading back to Auckland for a few days with family, the long awaited 2020/2022 Mega then home to Whangarei.

I took my monopoly photo this morning in Taumarnui. I had been hoping to complete the Tauranga, Gisborne and Taranaki TMGT tours but I gave up. They were often too far out and the family weren't keen geocachers.

We went up to the Raurimu TMGT cache as I'd seen a video of the train on Facebook of Rex's visit here which inspired us. We parked up and walked the last bit but a 4wd could have driven all the way. We went further down to see the tunnel too and on our way back up we heard a noise. A maintenance truck was coming along the tracks. Very cool to see it. Quite a bit of huffing and puffing for this 50 year old to run up the hill to see it come around the top bit of the spiral. It was definitely a great place to see things. I picked up your cache on the way back down. I'm not sure I've seen Smash Palace but I loved the Goodbye Pork Pie movie which involved a mini and the train from Wellington to somewhere in the South Island. Thanks for your cache

No cache finds since Pirongia, time for a couple of new ones along this way then. Nice easy journey to GZ and cache soon located. Container held a little water so emptied out and signed the log. Interesting back story, thanks for sharing and the theme.

We're off down to Manawatu region for a few days, staying with our daughter in Taihape with a few trips to Marton, Feilding and Bulls for some house viewing and work interview purposes during our stay. This is in advance of me moving down here for work in the coming months. Had a few caches on a few mini pocket queries, and rapidly approaching a 14000 find landmark. Thanks to all COs for their caches.

#10,512. I am making my way north to Auckland and Northland over New Year. Stopping tonight at Taumarunui. Interesting how movie makers mix visual effects to give you a different impression for the storyline. Thanks for the excellent hint. It made this one a nice quick find. Signed the logbook and returned where found. Soon after some cars sped past as the fire siren was sounding. Thanks Size 13 for taking the time to place a cache here.

That was a much easier find than driving up from the spiral Geotour cache

Found on a road trip around the central North Island, targeting Geotour caches. More when I get home. TFTC

29 December 2021 1:04 pm #4573

Great find!!

A quick find as the hint was perfect. No trains passed by when I was there. TFTC Size 13.

Find number 7729. On a trip with my daughter. She is doing the Te Araroa Trail and I am being her support for a few days. Today was to drive to Raetihi in preparation for starting the Whanganui paddle tomorrow. Had plenty of time so was able to grab a few caches along the way.
Nice quick park and grab here. And no trains either. Thank you for the placement.

18 December 2021 15:31. A quick find on the way back from the top of the hill. TFTC.

The history of this crossing is awesome!

Found with Nanniekerr on a fun caching tour. There is some funny signs here

A nice quick grab and interesting to see the filming spot. Will have to rewatch the movie again! Tftc

Thanks.

Cool stop. TFTC.

Nice quick find while driving past. Thanks for the hide.

Found today with fleurinator2006 on a geo adventure today!!!

TFTC

I had spent a couple of days at the nearby Blue Mountain Adventure Center and as my time came to an end I decided to see if there were any new caches in the area since I was here last. So I dragged a couple of peeps along with me to help... one who had never heard of geocaching before. It didn't take long to find. Loved Smash Palace! So the log book has been signed and the cache is nicely back in its spot 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. TFTC

Found lovely sunny day. TFTC

Quick park and grab. Tftc

Glad this one was an easy park and grab as it was pouring rain. We had come down the Raurimu Spiral on the Northern Explorer earlier in the year and we were keen to see it from the ground. Alas the weather was against us but happy to find this cache instead.

Signed log and replaced where found. TFTC.

Was a good hint but the container was a bit water logged. Thanks to the plastic bag holding the log it remained water free.

Got the day off work so heading up to National Park. Lots of new caches here since we last visited which is great. Heading out to Tupapakurua Falls Lookout to get the new cache there then collected others nearby. Cache all fine. Must watch the film. Thanks for the smiley.

Great find while train spotting

Quickly found with Edvern. More houses at the back of the highway than we realised. TFTC

An interesting story provided and a quick drive-by, thanks Size 13.

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First find out of the Wellington/wairarapa region! Thanks for the find ️

A quick find here today while making a pilgrimage around Mt Ruapehu finding some cool caches in some great spots. Deane can remember remember this scene from the movie so it was cool to actually lay eyes on it. TFTC

a nice quick find today, at least the rain has stopped by now, tftc

We are on a bit of a whirlwind tour of the lower North Island trying to complete the rua section of the PWGT. While gk was down finding the PWGT Rua tekau mā tahi Raurimu cache I had tome to look on the phone at what else was in the area.
We had also been to Smash Palace a wee bit earlier in the morning so that had arisen my awareness of the movie we saw years ago. Needless to say I wanted to stop here and have a look at how the scene was in the movie so that when we rewatch it once we are home we can visualise how it was done.
The cache was an instant find.
Thank you for placing this cache and thank you for the smiley

After a bit of a break from caching I am catching up on my logging that I hadn't finished due to various reasons, mainly procrastinating.Heading North for a few days to attend the wedding of one of redants cousins, and find some caches on the way.TFTC Size 13.

With an initial apology for the veeeeery late log - I've been doing some admin and came across a slip of paper with a small list of unlogged caches. From 2 years ago. As someone who likes good records I'm back to log.I seem to remember we managed to go on a bit of a stroll after this cache to see the Spiral, but my memory is hazy. It was a lovely sunny day driving up towards Hamilton with Banian and co for a family wedding and knocking off some finds along the way. TFTC

Found with Nutty Nora - and saw the train! (Before we reached the cache)

We saw the train that we missed at the top of the spiral. Just shows how long it takes them to get down the spiral!!! TFtc

Late log! Found with Hinemoana but it appears I didn't log it at the time. Doing that now so it stops popping up on my list of local caches not yet found. My memory of it now is hazy... but thanks anyway!

Lovely drive with evilC after work for a little geocaching adventure, and a nice one to start with. TFTC!!

Well there's something I didn't know. A quick find. TFTC

After parking up the snail shell in the big carpark in National Park I was off down the road to go in circles, sorry to see the spiral.

I have on a couple of occassions travelled along the spiral and been thoroughly amazed at the engineering feat.

Cheers for the cache.

Nice start to the day thx.

A nice quick find thanks. On the way to the first PWGT for the day.

Ms_KR and I flew up to Hamilton to catch up on family and a few caches, especially those in the new PWGT geotour. Day 4, National Park back up to Auckland. Hint driving linto Auckland at 5pm on a friday is diabolical!. We are looking at completing those in the Central North Island this holiday.

Thanks to all CO's for publishing and maintaining their caches. Cheers.

Nice trouble free find ..all good here many thanks size13

An iconic movie and this crossing needs its "day in the sun". We had just found the Raurimu Spiral cache and saw this one. I'm glad we stopped to learn about. Thanks for the placement size 13

Must watch that movie. Sounds like fun.

Fun find, thanks for bringing us to this movie site.