Matamata Memorial (Virtual Reward 3.0) Matamata, North Island, New Zealand
By KirsTim on 01-Oct-22. Waypoint GC9P6JE

The men were cycling from te aroha to matamata so the ladies spent some time in town. Came here to walk the dog from the visitors center. Trying to wrangle him and take pics was challenging but a really interesting place to come. Thanks for using your virtual here, nice place to visit and not one I knew about before.

Thanks for the cache-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --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.

Nice day for a look

A good spot to stop and stretch the legs. I grabbed the coffees while trayc.g wandered around here. TFTV

Visited this spot on a recent trip to Matamata. Apart from the nice spot at GZ a huge bonus was that a coffee cart was in the lot next door..we needed a bit of a revive after all the driving. Thanks for this virtual. Streak day #500!

On a mish with the NZ Flossy. A great day for it Passed this and quick stop for the pic. Many thanks

Been here before many times for caching. It is a lovely park and great for walkers, runners, bikers, kids and dogs etc. Today the fountain wasnt working TFTV

Using local geocaches to explore the town for the day. Came here to claim the virtual and nearby traditional and had to sit and wait for a group dog walkers to pass by. This gave ample opportunity to look around and appreciate the surroundings. TFTC

After I visited Hobbiton I came back to town and stoped at this nice place. Thank you

Hete doing a trad cache. A bit damp today. Tftc

Had a nice drive through centennial drive the other day. Saw this virtual had just popped up so couldn't resist. Bit bright for the photo though

A nice spot tftc

Nice fountain here as I'm walking around Matamata.

Up from the deep South for a wedding, so out exploring the area. Nicely timed for the Cosmic Quest. Thought I might get 2 caches for a single stop on the way back from buying a wedding card... But too many mini munchkin muggles for the trad. Nice idea this centennial trail - picked up another trad earlier today on a different part of it. Thanks for the cache KirsTim# 3863 26 July 2024 4:42 pm

#14,858. At one stage I had done all the geocaches in Matamata. But on my recent visit I noticed a few more had shown up in the town including this one. So headed to the fountain to see what was required. Just enjoy the view and take a photo to prove you were here. Nice. Photo uploaded. Thanks KirsTim for hiding your virtual reward cache here.

Got chatting to a volunteer gardener.We were on our way back from Tauranga...Good to see new fountain in place since last visit .

Beautiful location and nice history.

#2747. Forgot to log this. Pic taken & attached - will expand out more story shortly.Tftv KirsTim.

Out and about with Kiwi Does Stuff for a nighttime caching binge, Team Reschedule here trying to be photogenic in total darkness.. TFTVC!

Another random night mission with Reschedule. This time we decided to head to Matamata where we had a few new caches, and some older ones we had missed.Was a bit dark to enjoy the fountain, but I will never say no to a nice easy virtual.

Nice and easy for my grandson and I on his second cache ever, hes still running around trying to find it even after Ive explained to him its just a Virtual. Beautiful place to revisit. FP addedThanks!

Found it while on vacation from WI USA. Visiting Hobbiton tomorrow. TFTC

Drove by after visiting Hobbiton. TFTC

A short walk to here this evening under glorious weather. We're staying in Matamata a couple of nights on our NZ tour and it was nice to get a quick cache to get me going. Tftvc

It's a shame the fountain wasn't working

Today continued my week long solo adventure on the North Island from Atlanta in the U.S. after putting GeoJayne on a plane yesterday. She made the south island visit incredible, but I was doing my best to find my way around the north island one geocache at a time. I found almost all the caches I looked for and saw some pretty cool spots along the way. I love when that happens!I love when a virtual cache requests a particular photo like this one does. It's straightforward and easy to accomplish unlike the virtuals that ask for 7 stops where you have to find obscure information. Thank you for the smiley and the fun!

Quick find in the rain this morning We also acknowledge the traditional custodians of New Zealand / Aoteroa, as we geocache throughout their land while on holiday.Thanks for showing us this place, & for placing and maintaining this cache. The is our playground

Quick find with Blue Jay on our way to Hobbington movie set for tour.TFTC. Toffee Man.

We are on a trip in New Zealand. A wonderful country with a lot of (old )caches. There are too many caches so we limit ourselves to the (old) gems or where we happen to make a stop. KirsTim, thank you for this virtual cache, regards xizat-NL. Take care, this hobby can develop to an addiction.

Hello from Seattle, geocaching ground zero!! This was a quick grab on our way to our farmstay, while we are touring the area. Thanks!

After catching up with friends visiting from Aussie, had a quick walk here to see the fountain in action, and was able to get some of the spray. A lovely space here.

Found at 2:40pm on a quick stop in MatamataThanks Kirstim

Had a great day caching with findbobi, Thank you

Gut gefunden vor dem Besuch in hobiton. Tftc

Visited with Dali87 within our amazing trip around New Zealand. Thanks for nice cache ....................................................................... TB Koumesovo geopivo DDEV7M

Together with our cacher friends oldclemi and maduro10 we are on tour through New Zealand. Today here we made a coffee stop and visited this Virtual cache. At the GZ we took the foto.Many thanks to the Owner for creating and maintaining the cache and greetings from Germany.

Together with our cacher friends oldclemi and dilkos we are on tour through New Zealand. Today we visited this virtual cache. At the GZ we took the photo and afterwards enjoyed a Coffee.Many thanks to the Owner for creating and maintaining the virtual and greetings from Germany.TFTCmaduro10

Bei kurzem Stop diesen im Team besucht. Danke und Gre aus Deutschland

Today we travelled from Rotorua to Hamilton. We picked up a few caches on the way.Stopped by this virtual and took the required photosTFTC Tim and Viv - ddm

The oldest went to Hobbiton so we had 3h spare with the youngest. The closest playgrounds were around here. Quick look at GC app and we made our way here. Beautiful spot. Thanks for the history and bringing us here.

# #7,187 #----------Drove up to Matamata as I was planning to visit Hobbiton today. I needed to fill the car with some fuel so a good chance to get this virtual nearby was there. What a beautiful memorial. Really nice here. TFTC!!! ----------> All geocaches are signed as mmmPIZZA or mPZ

Before our appointment in Hobbiton, we made a short stopover here and visited the Matamata Memorial.Thanks Fantalismus

On our way to the Lord of the Rings Film set we shortly stopped here.Kind regards Fantalismus

TFTC. First virtual in NZ for us .

I am with Muggle on a three and half week trip to NZ. Nothing serious, just the well trodden track every NZ tourist does who is coming from the other side of the world and has not the chance to come here more often. Three days Auckland and three days Coromandel are logged. Today we are heading for the Shire and then end the day in farty Rotorua. We were 2 hours too early for our scheduled trip to Middleearth so we decided to stroll thru Matamata. I also put the fountain as a way in our walk. Thx for hiding.

Heute konnte auch dieser Virtuelle gefunden und geloggt werden.Danke an den owner fr's herfhren und ausdenken.TFTCSchmerzbefreit

Around Matamata today with rattll, stopped by this memorial. Tried to line up a photo, holding and operating camera in one hand, lanyard in the other, one of those days when I have problems walking and breathing at the same time, it appears. Rattll still in the car, wanting to know what's taking so long. Then a woman appears from behind the fountain, walks straight across in front of the camera. I pause my fumbling to let her pass, when she turns around and go back again! Finally, scene is clear, camera focused, lanyard visible and readable. Take the photo. Done. Tftc!

Stopped by the city. Biking around while van is being repaired. Thanks.

TFTC! exploring Hobbiton!

Visited after Hobbittn tour. Thank you for the cache.

??????

First cache and first visit to NZ. Thank you for showing us this very lovely place.. I was here on 26.11.23 in the afternoon.

Thanks for the cache and greetings from Czechia

During an awesome New Zealand vacation I visited together with Wombatmann (who sent in the answers to the CO) this amazing placeI loved walking through this park and discovering all the different treesThank you very much for this Virtual Cache

I visited this virtual geocache together with BK-Br. We searched for the answers (were sent to CO), and took the picture.Thank you for this geocache.

Found at 1042 before Hobbiton tour.TFTC

Thanks for bringing us here. Its a beautiful spot.

Un lieu intressant, trouve rapidement aux alentours de Hobbiton. Merci pour la dcouverte des lieux.An interesting place, quickly found around Hobbiton. Thank you for discovering the places.

Horn and gehschei were very happy to visit the town of Matamata in the afternoon. Thanks!

Out and about around Matamata today with a brand new geocacher (insert new geocache handle here).... He's so shiny and new!That fountain is way too cool to be tucked away down this quiet little side street. It must not be "Hobbitish" enough or something.Nice little snippet of history on the cache page too, thanks KirsTim.I tried for ages to use my phone to take a photo of the fountain with my phone in front of it. However my finger kept getting in the way, which turned out to be quite fortunate as I had no other exposed body parts at that point in time!

On a two week holiday around both north and south islands of New Zealand. During our journey, we are taking the opportunity to grab a cache or two.Today we traveled from Hamilton to Matamata to visit Hobbiton. Completed this virtual while exploring Matamata.TFTVirtual.Find # 1628.

Nice walk from town lovely area

Great spot.. all done, thanks

Out for a ride in this nice weather, picking up caches as I go, last one for today, that is me in the pit, just the shadow of me

In the area on a university field trip. Had a couple of hours free time so thought I'd grab this virtual. TFTC

¯\_( ͠• ͜ʖ ͡•)_/¯ I had in mind 2 things today when I departed from Auckland.... to get this virtual as part of this month's Icon Challenge and to drop of some pallets in my van to FMZ's new place at Tauphare. This virtual is the closest to my place in West Auckland that I haven't done. Determined as I am to do the challenge, it was A LOT of driving, basically for just one cache.

¯\_( ͠• ͜ʖ ͡•)_/¯ Never mind, I have not seen this awesome little waterfall feature before so that was something. Glad there wasn't a million questions to answer just to claim this, having said that, my virtual isn't easy that's for sure...lol.

¯\_( ͠• ͜ʖ ͡•)_/¯ Thanks guys and girls for your virtual, nice to have one given to you eh!! Quite the privilege I reckon.

Found before going to Hobbiton
Tftc

We are visiting some nice locations during the month of august : Singapore, New Zeland, Hong-Kong and Macau.

A fantastic touristic and geocaching tour in these different countries. Thanks to all geocachers for all their geocaches.

------------------

After dinner, we stop near the memorial but without any lights around, i can only take à picture of the large board "centennial drive" on the left of memorial.

Thanks for this virtual geocache.
Greetings from France

The Matamata Cub Pack were introduced to Geocaching tonight and walked here from the den. For some of us it was a new experience, some of us had done it before.
On our night walk we also found some some makeshift/temporary 'caches' from a map that had been put out especially for us for the evening.

Quick stop off to revisit this spot. Had train go past while here.

Pretty fountain. Tftc

Hope I didn't get the guy sitting in my photo.

A bit of a wet day here whilst passing back through Matamata on the way home.

Day trip to the wet Waikato to nab some finds towards a challenge and attend an event later in the day.
Beautiful established park well deserving of a Virtual, fountain was working well at time of our visit as was the rain TFTC.

Out for a caching day with Supernannny and Net61.
When we arrived here, it was lunchtime and a couple of gardeners were pruning the bushes near the fountain. We all stopped to watch a convoy of corvettes drive through, before sitting at a nearby picnic table before lunch.
Thanks for placing this virtual

Great place for your virtual KirsTim!

Out for a fun day Caching and Catching Up with Net61 and Jag50 .

Started at Morrinsville and now on to Matamata.

No sign of fountain working today....

The grounds are very beautifully maintained here.

A few years since I cached around here.
Thanks.....we also had our lunch here on one of the seats....

Visiting from Ohio, USA and came out this way for the Hobbiton tour. After that I headed slowly back to Auckland for some more caches, of which this was one. Cool fountain!

After having breakfast nearby we headed over to this virtual.
This is a lovely spot that we have been to many times so it was nice to come back today, especially since the weather was so nice.

A nice end to our lovely, (sunny!) day caching. A child and a child foot star in our photo. TFTC!

Quick find while waiting for my laundry, TFTC

Passing through Matamata this morning stopped by to grab this virtual.

Down at McLaren Falls for an event and on the way home, I decided to take the scenic route back. This brought me through Matamata so I made the decision to stop by this virtual since I don't often come this way.

Passing though Matamata on a wet and windy afternoon and decided to pick this one up thanks for setting it up

Had stayed overnight in Matamata, and after grabbing some breakfast in town, I headed out to grab some more caches. A nice easy stop here, on a sunny Anzac morning, TFTC

We are on our long-awaited journey around the world in 99 days. Second try after canceling in 2020.
Our third stop after Los Angeles and Hawaii is New Zealand.

This time was of course used to find some geocaches here.
Today we were searching for the Virtual **Matamata Memorial (Virtual Reward 3.0)**

At the given coordinates the needed picture was taken quickly and after sending them, ther is a new smile on our geocaching map!

At least we would like to take this opportunity to thank KirsTim for the interesting information and for creating this Virtual!

Greetings from Nuermberg/Germany
**Wild_Bee_**
_
Thank you for the cache - जियोकैश के लिए धन्यवाद - Vielen Dank für den Cache - Gracias por el caché - Merci pour le cache - Grazie per la cache - Obrigado pelo Cache - Bedankt voor de cache - Tak for cachen - Hvala na predmemoriji - Takk for cachen - Kiitos välimuistista - Tack för cachen - Спасибо за кеш - Díky za mezipaměť - Dzięki za skrytkę - Önbellek için teşekkürler - Dankie vir die kas - Asante kwa kache - ขอบคุณสำหรับแคช - 感謝您的緩存 - キャッシュをありがとう - ޝުކުރިއްޔާ - Terima kasih atas cache

Greetings from the Czech Republic and Thanks For This Cache.
Díky za keš.
13:23
Moje 5097

A wet afternoon to be out gathering the new caches in town

A nice quick find, at an intersting wee spot. Photo attached. Thanks for placing your cache. Ms_KR and I cruised over to Tauranga today. The tarffic was pretty good and we visited some places that we had not stopped at before.Thanks to all CO's for publishing and maintaining their caches. .

Just before morning tea. Thanks KirsTim

I was passing through Matamata today so stopped to grab some caches to add to the current 100 cache chase souvenir.
This is a lovely little spot I would never have visited but for this virtual cache, so thankyou for putting it here.

Found while staying in Matamata for the international breast cancer dragon boat festival at Lake Karapiro.

Visited here in the dark with FMZ on our way out of town and back home. See the picture on his log. TYFTC!

Aquick stop here this evening for this virtual cache, with Jägersmum. The fountain was asleep but we snapped the pic anyway. TFTC!

Day 13 on our holiday in New Zealand. Today we are in the area and surrounding area of Rotorua. We also visited this virtual.

Happy to get this virtual, thanks.

A lovely day to visit this spot. Thanks for bringing us here

Today, TEMBO! and I traveled arround and from Lake Taupo to Waihi Beach. We visited the "Matamata Memorial". We attach the required picture to our logentry.

Thanks to KirsTim for hiding and maintaining the cache.

T4TC Filser1

On our way to Waihi Beach, *Filser1* and I also stopped here briefly. The photo was quickly taken.

T4TVirtual

Thanks KirsTim for the cache. It’s #1684 for us. We found your cache on 23 March 2023.
Lovely spot. Picture is of Neo our geocaching dog at the fountain.

Thanks for this virtuel. Tftc