Gateway to the Giants Tararua District, North Island, New Zealand
By Infoferret on 07-Feb-23. Waypoint GCA5F6H

On a day long road trip mish to complete the Viking Helmet GeoArt with TwigNZ behind the wheel, and LNM1961 keeping us company while she completes the helmet with two more caches. Stopped in here to get a trad at the entrance to the reserve. Would have loved to do the short trek to get the other one but left it for now due to the big day still ahead. The NZ bush is always beautifulCache and log ok, my coords were out a tad. Mihi ki a koe mo te keteroki

Today I'm attempting to find the entire Viking Helmet geoart series in a day, aided and abetted by jeanjeanie and LNM1961.Having just spent more than an hour doing a round trip to get a solitary cache in that series (number 46), we were now back on the trail, but was passing this cache so stopped to make the quick find. Thank you for putting this one out.

I must admit that after doing some solid helmet it is nice to be working something else.!I came up to palmy to see a friend's daughter in a dance competition then decided I should make a go for the 100 cache August souvenir by completing the Dannevirke helmet.Etherlord and I teamed up for the helmet. It was a marathon 13-hour epic - 7am to 8pm, Palmy to Palmy. but all found in one day. The vast majority were nice and easy. The only real problem was traveling the closed road - a major slip that had us hugging the bank, and some deep ruts on the other side that really should have had a 4wd, but we managed fine. It was a long day and we switched driving a few times. That was definately a good move!Some of the caches warrant their own favourites, but one is definately warranted for the art as a whole - I will decide on which one after I get them all logged (probably cache #1 if it meets minimum spec).All caches signed as ECATS - for Etherlord Clan and the Seagnoid.

This was a quick easy find as we entered the reserve for some well overdue tree-time. Thanks---the Seagnoid and I are attempting to complete the Viking Helmet GeoArt trail in one day. This is not a small undertaking given that the 61 caches are spread across multiple roads that don't directly link together, one connecting road has a closure due to a slip, one cache is ~10km up its own road (with no others along the way), some have DnF's, there are many other unfound caches along the way to distract us, and it's a lot of time, driving, and kilometers.But we did it! We found all 61 of them in 13 hours, with the only downsides being a frustrated EtherLady and cold dinner waiting for us.Thanks to the CO's for their part in today's adventure Log signed as ECatS (Etherlord Clan and the Seagnoid)

Found on arrival. A lovely spot but no time to go after the one further in. TFTC & for bringing me here

My first visit to the place, nice easy find while exploring the reserve this morning. Thanks for the cache!

Easy find on our drive around the area...nice area...TFTC

Doing the Viking trail, and liked the look of this walk. TFTC

We are doing a circuit collecting caches in this area on our way back from visiting our daughter in Hawkes Bay. This scenic reserve has been on my list for a while, so was nice to be able to stop and visit. All good here, easy cache to find. Thanks Infoferret.

I'm on a wee road trip to southern Hawkes Bay (or is to northern Wairarapa?) on an attempt to clear the Vikings Geoart, with a bit of freedom camping down at the coast. (Apologies for the generic logging)Today it's the run up from Wellington, over the track and up to Dannevirke before heading out into the back roads.A short diversion while vikinging.All good here and TFTC.Find #6223 at 8 January 2024 10:59 am

(# 8563) Off to Dannevirke to retrieve the Vikings geo art series after solving in. Teamed up with NZ_B, Itchyfeet2020 and Nosynel. Signed the logs collectively as MINNZ. The afternoon in particular was interspersed with showers but didn't deter these intrepid cachers. The plan today was to gather the caches furthest away from Dannevirke finishing the day with Vikings 46.There was a need to pre plan the route for efficient route management as there were tentacles everywhere. There was a lot of hilarity over the day and a half where no one was immune from the banter.Stopped here while doing the Viking series. Got this then into the reserve to do the loop.Thanks Infoferret for bringing me here.

It's Viking time! Four of us have teamed up to put a dent into this series. Caching with NZ_B, Mr-Mcgoo and Nosynel. We couldnt not stop here. Thanks Infoferret a great spot and yes we did the loop. All logs signed as Team MINNZ.

I flew to Wellington yesterday and we slowly made out way to Dannevirke. I am travelling with NZB. Today we're finding the Vikings with Itchyfeet2020 and Mr Magoo. This is the first day finding them. Greytown, the Hutt and Wellington are all on the agenda . But not today.

Without a cache we would not have known this reserve was there. A lovely spot to stop for a bite to eat while doing the Viking Series.

Ready for lunch and then a walk

Found as we settled in for lunch and a walk

Xmas caching roadtrip time again & where else would we go but to watcache geoart country.We left the motorhome at the camp in Dannevirke and set out in our Xmas decorated Jimny which made for easier parking. Visited this one while in the area, nice little park over spot, cache was found away from its placement area, looks like kids have found and written their names on the log TFTC

We stopped here early on in the day as we headed off to do the second half of the vikings series. A nice quick find, before we went for a walk in the reserve and then onwards with our planned day.Thanks for putting this here

Day 2 of a two day assault on the Vikings series, with rattll. Began the day with a visit to Mangatoro Reserve. Quick find for rattll. All good in the container. Tftc!

We stayed the night in our campervan

A quick easy find at an interesting little reserve in the middle of nowhere. TFTC

We decided it was time to make our way into Dannevirke, find our accommodation and some food. I was convinced we were going in the right direction and kept going inspite of Isis58 saying we weren't. I could see this one coming up on the map, we'd passed it earlier and decided to leave it then. If it's coming up then we must be going the right way, then I was really confused when it appeared on the wrong side of the road to what I'd expected. Let's get the cache then set the car gps to take us the right way rather than my sense of direction which wasn't working. Thanks for placing Infoferret

#14266

It was getting late in the day so we decided to stop at this one at the beginning of the reserve and leave the one further in for another time. TFTC # 19,975

I was out with Yeetrees signing off the Viking GeoArt series today plus any others that got in the way.

This is one that got in the way and we just had to sign it off.

Cheers for the cache, Infoferret.

With Matariki being a new holiday, part of Team BoP hatched a plan to collect a geo art series in the wairarapa and of course others along the way there and back.


I am logging using the Cachly app template so please excuse generic logging along the way. It’s just my way of keeping track, but I do genuinely thank each and every one of you cache owners for taking the time and energy to place these caches. Many Thanks for bringing me here. Cheers.

Team BOP hatched a plan months ago to pick up the Viking series and finally the long weekend came.
The two caches in this reserve were on the trail, so a quick detour in here for this cache.
The carpark is slippery and wet and not suitable for anything not 4wd to come through the cattle stop.
The tracks in the reserve were also very slippery and wet and under maintained.
Thanks for bringing us to this nice bush reserve.
Tftc

Matariki weekend and a team of us from BOP have ventured south for a caching weekend. The team consists of TNXPro, NZFlossy, McJandals and DavidsonClan. Logs signed as Team BOP.
Weather cold wet and windy but that won’t stop us on our mission.
Ngā mihi for the cache hides.

Down here with part of Team BOP doing the Viking trail. So good and our first trip together since Covid Loved this area and good to stretch the legs TFatC

27th of the attack the Viking morning cache drive. I had solved these fun puzzles before coming so decided to try half of them today. My muggle dad joined me for the adventure.

I learnt a new word today! I was expecting something else (something Australian) at gz but luckily the geodad knew the meaning. No time to explore the reserve as we had giant hunger pains. TFTC.

Lis'screw and I are on a road trip to collect a number of puzzles that we have solved in the area and any others we may pass on the way. Today was day one of our Viking trip and we completed the Northern loop as much as we could - given the state of the roads. This one was an easy find on the way past. We had a great day out in the mud with lots of great finds. TFTC.

I've just been on a great geotrip with my friend thedbees. We went to the Palmerston North area to collect the Stickmen and Viking puzzles. We'd then gone down to stay with another geocaching buddy in Greytown. She kindly drove us around that area before we set off to Levin via a few more specifically targeted caches. On our way home to Paihia we collected the mini Jasmar year challenges which I was also keen to get.

The weather was too wet yesterday so we had changed our plan from Stickmen to AdLabs and a few puzzles in Palmerston North. Today was the first of two days planned to collect the Viking series.

We left our friends in Palmy at 8.30am and it took us 50 mins to get to this area. We grabbed a couple in this area and then decided to go with our planned route of going to the furtherest cache and work our way back.

This was a trad we grabbed on our way past. A little wander once the phone settled and a quick find. Thanks for the cache

A nice reserve here with good parking at the start, we all found this one before G and I headed to the giants cache. We checked all possible options before seeing the hide at the last one!

Day two of a local road-trip weekend in the company of Manawatu cachers; Today it's Geodatum. I'd solved the Vikings series of puzzles out Dannevirke way and wondered when I'd get a chance to make a dent. I messaged the geodatum couple to see if they were keen on a roadie and Yes was the reply. I passed on the list produced by a recent finder(s) and some of the final GZs along with an 0900 meet-up in Ashhurst. An 11 hour day in great company of M and G and 57 finds was the total for me; a couple of Multis, an Ad Lab series, a couple of Trads both listed and Archived as well as a 'couple' of puzzles. We explored the back roads of Southern Hawkes Bay and enjoyed some of the gravel roads. Just the two cyclone damaged places, both navigable by the Dualis. Thanks to all COs, bust especially watcache for his awesome Geo art series, that must have taken some serious effort, well done.

We were very happy to accept an invitation from capperz to join him on a raid into Southern Hawkes Bay Viking territory today. We'd have not been likely to go on our own. Many thanks capperz.
The puzzles themselves were quite straightforward but took a while to work through. It was great to see they were based on local scenes.
We were well satisfied with our "spoils" for the day: one new AdLab, one Virtual, one Multi and two Trads, plus 45 Vikings vanquished. We signed logs GC (geodatum, capperz).
We were glad of the fine, mild autumn day for our journey as some places would be not so good in wet weather, eg: damaged roads from Cyclone Gabrielle (still some roads closed, although we got around - thankful to have guidance from Fap and Gap about conditions), one road surface was bad enough today as it was.
Thank you watcache for setting up this great looking piece of geoart. It must have been a lot of work. It is very much appreciated.

We had previously visited this beautiful area of trees to do "Mangatoro Giants". It was nice to be able to collect another find here this time.TFTC Infoferret {:)]

Jigidis and Geoart. The Vikings series had caught our attention shortly after publication. We had intended to be down at the end of February but the effects of Cyclone Gabrielle upset that plan. A new plan was hatched with Team Welsh.
Today is day two on the Vikings trail with Team Welsh. We drove a lot less distance than yesterday and found three times as many Vikings (43 today) in just half a day.
When this Trad cache came up as our next closest it would have been rude not to stop and look for it. We all enjoyed the short wander to GZ and the cache was found after a brief hunt. This looks like a place that would be well worth a longer walk if time permitted. Thanks.

We actually found this one at the end of an afternoon's caching. Great little self contained camping area and nice and clean. We didn't venture further down the track due to the warnings. TFTC

avelling with Squirrel Nutcase this Easter weekend.plan was to collect the Viking trail this day.caches solved route plan made.the only error was that we forgot to down load caches to my phone in particular.we had no great issues finding most caches and a few road closures in our travels.these didn't stop our quest to complete this series.2 trad caches on our route to be travelled today.better collect these also.no problems to locate this one.TFTC

Easter Saturday morning in Viking county to find 15 caches for my personal challenge. Thanks Infoferret for the cache.

With Gap (of Fap and Gap)… We’re on a big Easter weekend excursion visiting Vikings and anything else in between.

Easter Saturday: Whilst visiting the Viking trail, it made sense to take a look at the Mangatoro giants. The small reserve was populated with one camper, though there was no evidence of movement yet… We spotted the cache from above and collected it from inside. Thanks Infoferret. TFTC.

A weekend away with Infoferret and Barefoot Guru (Signed all logs as BIC when all 3 of us hadn't found the cache) - Objective : The Viking Geoart Series. Left early Saturday and started the series around lunch. Grabbed a few and then hit a "Road Closed" followed by a few more, but were weren't going to let that stop us. Some "Closed" roads were "Open" and perfectly driveable whilst others were "Closed" (and potentially drivable in a 4x4 at your own risk). We managed all the series in a small Toyota Aqua. Most farmers in the area were very friendly when we bumped into them. Day 2 was much of the same of Day 1, but we had to do about a 100km detour to get around a "Closed Road" and that consumed the majority of the day leaving very little time for any other caches. Glad we have completed the series now..

As we were out here with the CO and this cache hadn't been found yet, we made a quick trip to grab it and the other one nearby. Joint FTF with BFG.. Thanks for showing us this amazing reserve. TFTC

A quick joint {FTF}, and we just happened to be in the area with CO gather Vikings. Thanks Infoferret, don’t get lost in the bush

Found maybe a FTF? At 6.36 25/3.... did I see a name couldn't remember as I heard people in the bush I will wait and see if anyone posts.... was it the real FTF that I had heard while trying to be sneaky cause I could hear people once I check today and see the log was indeed signed and FTF logged, thanks for the placement didnt have time to get the other one.

Published

#12,638. I was over on Saturday doing some of the Viking geoart series. Infoferret mentioned she had hidden a cache here and asked if I could check on it after the recent storms in Hawkes Bay to ensure it was still in place. She gave me the coordinates but I forgot to write down the hint. Nevertheless I didn't need it as I spotted something as soon as I reached GZ. May even have checked it out without even knowing about the cache. The container is fine and I signed in but not claiming a first to find. Thanks IF for hiding it here. Its a lovely stand of tall podocarp forest although the tracks could do with some upgrading. The big totara is a huge specimen and certainly up there as one of the biggest in the country. Well worth heading to the older cache in the reserve to see it.

As we were on our way to Napier for a few days of caching I took the CO out this way to collect a few of her archived PWGT cache containers. We stopped here to find [GC1HXBA Mangatoro giants (Hawkes Bay)](https://coord.info/GC1HXBA). What a lovely place to stop and walk through. TF making me stop here and TFT new C Infoferret.