Lookout!!! Ruapane (Waikato) Harapepe, North Island, New Zealand
By Boges on 08-Jun-03. Waypoint GCG8AR

This cache is the reason I am spending Wellie Anniversary in the Waikato and Central north. I am getting close to filling every gap on my Jasmer that I can in NZ. There are only three caches left for this month, with the other two at the far ends of NZ. Some fellow cachers have come up with me, resulting in Team MINT (Mr-Mcgoo, Itchyfeet2020, NZ_B & TwigNZ) exploring for a few days. After spending some time exploring Arapuni and Te Awamutu, we arrived at Corcoran Rd for the climb. It had rained last night and this morning, but cleared as we started. Took my time on the muddy steep track and the rock n roots near the top. BUT absolutely loved the feeling of achievement when I found the cache. Thanks TwigNZ and MrMcGoo, for the company. Thanks, Boges, a very easy FAV. I am using the walk to this cache as part of the Ramblers Reward Challenge in Dunedin GC2XBA7. This walk took 3 hours return for just this one cache - a perfect Ramble!

Having taken yesterday 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.Today involved a great deal of driving 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.That was the case a couple of years ago when I came to Pirongia whilst on holiday with my son. Here I am again, but this time with friends. This particular cache was our main target for the day due to it's value on the Jasmer grid for a couple of our party. Three of us were doing this one, and we took it easy in the heat of the sun. We drove to the end of Corcoran Road and actually got about half way in just 20 minutes before the terrain started to slow us down. We encountered a friendly family whom we chatted to on and off on our ascent. They made it top the top before us and we ended up introducing them to the concept of Geocaching. Their 3 kids joined in the hunt for the cache but It was Itchyfeet who made the actual find.Great to knock this one off, and enjoy the views from GZ. Thanks for setting this one up all those years ago!

(# 8637) 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. Day 2 was going to Te Awamutu, Mt Pirongia and Hamilton.The team certainly had this on our t do list due to the age of the cache. What a walk. The track had differing track conditions to navigate. Great to get the cache and enjoyed the wonderful views.Logs were either signed MINT (being our initials) or Mr-Mcgoo.Thanks Boges for bringing me here.

On my way to the hut. Easy find, although the cutty grass lived up to its name.

This cache was on my must have list to fill in a missing Jasmer square; plus another towards Using this find towards GC2XBA7 Rambler's Reward Challenge Cache (Dunedin, Otago). Took us 1:20 to tramp & scramble up from Waite Road, including a cache & morning tea. Chatted to a friendly wahine (photographer) heading further up. What an amazing view! Quick find, added a waterproof log. Thanks Boges! On the way back down I asked a couple of guys what they were doing with odd looking devices turns out they were monitoring Kkako and were watching an unbanded pair which we then heard + saw!

Cute little painted rock, opposite side of view

Lovely view!!! Tftc

beautiful view of the waikato region and was a nice 1hr 30 minute walk tftc

Log book too wet to sign but nice spot for a cache.

Cool find on a school trip

What a great place to visit. But out of condition do that last stretch was tough - but the views made up for it. Thanks.

Wow!
At 2003 Placement this must be one of the oldest caches I have ever found.
Didn't realise Boges had been around for so long!
Luckily no one around so I slithered diwn the short scramble to gz....found the log and signed it...
Then I could hear KGD talking to some trampers.....so waited a while.
They didn't move on... so I had to pop back out and we explained a bit about geocaching!

that's quite a climb. Had the top to ourselves so easy to grab this one. sunny warm day with no wind! Good view to Kariori and Hamilton. tftc

That last steep section before the trig was hard going, so it was great to finally be able to sit down and enjoy a break.
There were a lot of loud voices coming from near by as a group was having there lunch, but they were out of sight of gz, so we grabbed the cache straight away, which was just as well, as we were soon joined by someone else.
It was amazing sitting here basking in the sun and enjoying the silence (other than the group near by). The views were great, as the area below us was blanketed in fluffy white cloud, but you could still see so much.
Thanks for putting this cache here, in this beautiful place. It's well worth the effort to get here.

A solo excursion for Mr Coblet.
I was very pleased to reach this lookout after a very steep climb, a bit more so than I was anticipating.
Once at the trig I sat down for a well needed rest, a drink and a bite to eat while I contemplated the location of the cache.
This is a cache that could be quite problematic at times when muggle numbers are large so I was very pleased that there were very few around today. On my walk up I had only encountered two.
Despite this I could hear distant voices that seemed to be coming from the direction of the Tirohanga lookout so I had to make a quick decision.
Should I go for the cache now and risk being in the process of signing the log when they appeared or wait for them to come past and make the find when they move on.
As there was a good chance of them taking a rest near GZ I decided it was best I act immediately quickly as I didn't want to risk having to crouch out of sight and wait them out so I dove into the foliage hoping I would make a quick find.
I was pleased to spot the container quite quickly but it was from a small distance and between me and the cache was a lot of cutty grass so I had to take a safer route around the problem.
It was a great feeling of victory when I had the cache in hand but there was no time for a victory dance and I quickly attended to the formalities before crashing out of the bushes hoping it wasn't right in front of muggles.
As it turned out I had timed it perfectly and as I headed back down the way I had come up I heard them reach the trig behind me just as I was out of their sight so they were none the wiser as to what had just occurred in this now quiet spot.
I noticed they weren't continuing down behind me so must have been resting like I had suspected.
I really enjoyed my adventure, and close call, today and had intended to explore more of the summit tracks but ran out of time so will be back again soon on another excursion.
This was a great cache to finish on. Thanks Boges.

One of the members of AUTC (the Auckland University Tramping Club) put out the call to see if anyone was interested in a hike to Pirongia, staying at Pahautea Hut overnight and returning the next day. We got a full carload of 5 eager trampers heading up the mountain on Thursday morning. I had never been here before, but had been wanting to for a while - not just because of the caches, but also because this is one of the sections of Te Araroa, which is something I'm really interested in. From past experience AUTC trips are usually pretty fast with not a lot of time for stopping to rest or admire the view or find caches, but luckily for me the others were happy to let me look for caches along the way - or even to help me find them as with some of the letterboxes once we were almost back at the carpark. So I ended up with a total of 10 finds for the trip including one new D/T rating, and had an absolutely incredible time - some parts were challenging but the tramp was so much fun and it was a great first experience tramping with a full overnight pack. You can bet I will be back here someday...

This was find #1 for the trip. We stopped here at Ruapane to have some lunch, and while the group dumped their packs and started eating, I had a quick scramble around in the bushes and managed to find this cache before joining them for some well-deserved food. It took a few minutes to spot, and I got a few grass cuts, but the cache was all good and the views were amazing. TFTC!

Found whilst out with keylev.

Thanks for the cache.

Team SEAC had a few tramps lined up for the year and as a training exercise Mount Pirongia popped up as an option PLUS it had quiet a few caches to find along the way. For Mr NZT this was to be the first overnighter tramp staying at the DOC Hut at the summit. So with a 13 kg pack thrown into the back of the car and the HeMaLudy's as passengers we headed to the Greys Road carpark to meet the rest of the Team SEAC members and start our adventure!

A well deserved break for lunch complete with spectacular views!

TFTC

Almost a year to the day some of the Team SEAC (South East Auckland Crew) walked a short track in Pirongia and vowed to come back to complete a longer one and add a hut stay in. With the various lockdowns this didn't eventuate as planned and had to be cancelled a couple of times but today was the day the mission was ON!

We started at the Greys Rd carpark, went up the Tirohanga Track and back down the Mahaukura Track. Took us approx 8hrs each day so we were very grateful the hut was nice and most of us managed a good nights sleep. It was probably the toughest track I have done and certainly pushed me out of my comfort zone at some points.

By this stage we were huffing and puffing but it seemed the perfect spot for lunch, a rest and of course the cache! Mr NZT did the honours and almost got consumed by the bushes ha ha

Thanks for the cache.

Last year various members of Team SEAC made plans to stay in the Pahautea hut. This plan had to be altered due to Covid lockdown. Today was the new day selected. Mr HeMaLuDy had planned to join the other Team SEAC members by himself, then Darthcacher1's (Dy of HeMaLuDy) plans changed so he joined us, then a few days out Purply's (Lu of HeMaLuDy) plans changed so he joined as well. So the day started bright and early with Mr NZT picking us up. We met the others of our group at the Grey Rd carpark. In all there were 10 members of Team SEAC hiking together. We set off in great spirts up the Tirohanga track. We spent the night at an amazing location and met some cool people up there. Then we returned down the Mahaukura track. We all really enjoyed our 2 day trip with all the challenges included.
This was our sixth find of our trip. There was much hilarity as Mr NZT made the find following the hint. If only a camera had been available at that exact moment. A great spot for lunch. Signed Team SEAC to save space on log. TFTC

Bum in the air moment. TFTC. FPUND WOTH TEAM SEAC. AWESOME SPOT AND DEF WORTH the climb.

This was on the cards for Team SEAC for a while but because of the last lockdown, we had to put off for a while. Finally it was back on and off we went! Most of us were in pain at the end, some of us comtemplated life choices but I think we all came out of it proud to finally get to the summit and back again.

We were having lunch up here and NZT just jumped right into it. TFTC

In the area today for a special celebration with Mrs stik-a-crane....25 years married to this special lady....just shy of half my life .....

Headed up the hill for a luxury night in the DOC hut on the top, picking up caches along the way....

Thanks to the CO's for placing and maintaining caches in this somewhat challenging environment....

Getting up in elevation now...

TFTC.

Found with KaelynKingi tftc

Tftc

TFTC

Found on the way back down from Pirongia summit with cousin Warren who was on a SOTA mission. Knocked off a peak for Wild Things too. Tftc!

Great walk up on a beaut day with the kids. Easy find. Tftc

TFTC! Such an amazing view!

Cache has been replaced

To prepare for the Tongariro crossing in a few weeks we decided to knock this one out as a training walk.
The pencil has rotted so if someone could replace it next time they’re up here that would be great! Took a pic of the log book as proof.
TFTC

Quickly found cache soon after arriving at the trig, just in time too as there was a big group of people approaching from the other direction. Nice views from here. Didn't bring a pen so took a photo of the cache. TFTC

Found with Polargirl while walking the mountain. Forgot a pen so took a photo instead. A very nice day for a walk and great views. For photo see Polargirl post, or I can post if requested.

Nice spot! Took the wrong way around to find GZ, that made it interesting, found it yay... must of had a bit of rain was full of water, drained and dried as much as possible, good to go, awesome view

Too many people. Will try again another time.

Great spot!

Great trip up, tip very helpful

Climbed up from Corcoran road end, pretty direct route and a bit puffed but all worthwhile for tremendous views and warm still air. Cache all good, damp but rainproof paper quite writeable, tftc. I will give it a favourite just for the view.

We were servicing stoat traps on Ruapane and extended the day to bag this one.

TFTF

[#1358 | 10:47] What a great views from here! Found on a last hike in NZ for my wife after 14 months here.
Thanks & greetings from the Czechs!

Found it. Great hide.

Found but an inch of water in the cache

Found it with good company of Aiden29 and Benett24 on nice day. Our plan was to climb Mount Pirongia which is the highest mountain in the Waikato and maybe a bit more. We ended up actually at Pahautea Hut and after little break we went back the same way we came.
We had to wait for a few Muggles company at the top but at the end Muggles knew it about Geocaching so it was no problem at all. T4TC

A rather mad person (that would be me) suggested that we go for a walk to the top of Mount Pirongia to grab a few caches and claim the summit. With Aiden29 and Tramyard we set out on what would be a perfect day, not too hot and mostly overcast and managed to get to the to Pahautea Hut (about 1/2 km beyond the summit) after a few distractions in about 4 hours. After lunch and a short rest we made it back in about 3.5 hours with extremely tired legs and a knee that was beginning to say it was done.
Great day and nice to have this adventure knocked off the list with 2 excellent cachers for company.

This was one of the targets for the day due to its age it is only 1 of 2 remaining Jasmer dates that we can find in NZ to get. Was quite busy when we arrived at the lookout and we waited for 3 other couples to move along. Had a quick look and could see nothing obvious so was deciding whether or not to get it on the way back then 2 couples moved along. We started taking to the remaining couple who had noticed the geocaching quote on my T-shirt and were curious so Aiden and Tramyard went to find the cache while I kept talking with them. We showed them what it is was about and described a few of the adventures we have been on - so did our best to promote the hobby along the way. Tramyard made the find here, all appeared to be in good order. TFTC.

Bennett24 made the suggestion that we head down and hike up Mt Pirongia to grab an old cache and one or two caches to fill holes in our D/T. So tramyard, bennett24 and I drove down from Auckland for the day. We ended up hiking to the summit and then continuing on to Pahautea Hut, where we stopped for lunch, before returning the way we came. This was a lot harder than I expected, with many ups and downs along the way, with my legs complaining by the end. Overall, it took us just over 8 hours to hike 13.12km including stops. The weather was pretty good - not too hot or windy and a nice cool breeze.

We arrived here after the long hard slog climbing to the lookout to find a number of muggles up here enjoying the view, now that the fog had cleared. We stopped for a break and were waiting for the muggles to leave, before deciding that we might have to leave this find until we returned. This was one of the caches that we were targeting so there was no way we were going to leave it. However, nearly all the muggles cleared out and just two were remaining. As we were looking at our GPS units, the gentleman asked if we were geocachers, having seen bennett24's t-shirt. We said we were and this allowed tramyard to grab the cache as bennett and I explained geocaching more to the muggles.

Glorious view at 9am.

Up for a walk after work. Cache is all good

Nice day to walk up and find some caches along the way

Definitely some good views up here! I initially looked at the wrong hint item, but the coords soon confirmed I was in the wrong item and the cache was there greeting me soon after. Good to have a cache here since 2003! TFTC

Bit windy an showery today. Found it little damp inside. TFTC

Nic and easy thanks

Took a nice stroll up to the lookout, cutty grass is kind of to the left as you sit on the seat with your back to the trig. A bit damp inside the container. [8]

We had a nice climb to the lookout. Weather not that sweat but good enough to view a bit of the area. Took some time before I entered the bush deep enough. But after that is was easy to find! Thanks for hiding!

Couldn't even find the thing to which the hint refers lol

apologies for all my late logs for my pirongia caches. life has rather run away with me since i got back to england from new zealand at the end of february & today is the first chance i have had to catch up with logs for these (& other more recent) caches
i headed over to new zealand for a friends wedding & now all the celebrations were over i was trying to complete some outdoor activities in this glorious country friends of my friend had recommended a tramp up pirongia, so here i am ...
i was dropped off this morning (by another friend of my friend) at the pirongia forest park lodge & am now making my way slowly up to the summit, stopping to cache on the route
having not left the bush at all since setting off it was great to reach this lookout & the stunning view. not so great realising how far & how high i had yet to get
i met a couple of people here, so waited until they had moved on before i began to search for the cache. i had checked the hint, but part of it wasn't a lot of help to me since my knowledge of the constituents of the bush is rather lacking. however after some careful thought & observation, i made a good guess as to where the cache might be & was rewarded by finding it in the first area i looked [^]
tnln
sl
tftc
#3585

I stayed last night up in the hut, and am taking the track down to Corcoran carpark to get back down, making this the last cache for this trip up Pirongia. My hands are raw from hauling myself up and down the knob 200 m further back up the track so I was happy at this point to stop, drop my pack and have a break before I do the final walk down to the carpark.
Arriving here I found 2 girls sitting on the trig station. I decided as it looked like they planned to sit there for a while to just explain that I was going to find a hidden plastic box, so ignore my behaviour. After a bit of the look around, and having resigned myself to having to get my pants even more grubby getting tot he cache I had it in hand and was able to sign the log. Climbing back to the seat took a herculean effort (at least in my mind) cause my body is a bit weary at this point! After another swig of water I bid adieu to the girls who probably thought I was crazy at this point, and continued on my way, meeting many chirpy people on their way up to do their routine Sunday morning exercise. Damn them all for giving off that vibe of being so much fitter than me!

I DNFd this on the way up, as I could only manage a quick look while there were quite a lot of people up there. By the time we'd got to Pirongia summit and back, though, there was no one else around, and I could have a good look. Fortunate, as I don't think I could have done that surreptitiously with all those onlookers! TFTC

Up here on a mish with Cats&Dragons and HKCB. While i've been this far up this side of the mountain before, I've never found this cache so it made the perfect excuse for a break!

Great walk on a nice warm day - view a bit spoiled by the heat haze thoug. Great location - Thanks

Nice getting above the Waikato fog, great views from the rod end but still clagged in below.

Just where it should be. Long way up though

Found this on the way up to Pahautea Hut. Wiped off the damp piece of waterproof paper and then had no problems signing it. The trip was the final outing for GC2XBA7 Rambler's. Reward. TFTC

Cache was a bit damp so aired it out. Placed log into another bag then back into original on for extra protection tftc

Was heading up the mountain on a glorious day enjoying the company of good friends. A compulsory stop and time to look. TFTC Boges

Easy find another hot day. Surprised at the number of children on the track.

We have decided to complete the Mountain Challenge. I have climbed all seven peaks in the past, but some were in pre-caching days, so we only have two finds officially.
I forgot my hiking pole (again!), but luckily I found a stout stick near the beginning of the track which was worth it's weight in gold - and it was heavier than the pole!
We started at Corcoran Rd and made pretty good time to here. There was a two family group of muggles, they had just gone to The Chains to see if the summit might be possible another time and they had been told that the first part, to Ruapane, was the hardest. I couldn't remember the track further on, but didn't remember it being hard, so we agreed with them. Wrong! I think they might struggle, it's a long slog for young kids.
After they left we were sorry we hadn't mentioned geocaching as they looked like prime candidates.
Anyway, with the coast clear, Steed ducked around the hint object and searched and searched - we didn't come up here for a DNF! He widened his search and finally found it. All clean and dry. It was full of signatures from an LDS Young Men's Camp, although they haven't logged it here. We suspect they replaced it a bit off, so we put it back in the obvious place, as per hint.
Now on to the bluff and then the summit.

No luck today...

A bit late logging, but this was a great day - first time at the top, and a wonderful clear day for the view.

It took a while to find the hide between the muggles passing on the track, but great to make the day with a find.

The geocoin is missing unfortunately.

Beautiful day out on Pirongia. I walked past the cache but my 8 yr old found it straight away! Was a bit damp so let it dry out while we ate lunch. TFTC

Haven't been up on Pirongia before, so thought this would be a nice wander. Went from Grey Rd around the Link Track then up to Ruapane Trig.

4th, and I made it, some pretty sweet views today too. Worth the walk! Had to wait 45 mins for 3 groups of people to leave, but I wasn't complaining, recharge time and admite the views
Waterproof paper and log was wet, I replaced the bag for a dry one, but left the waterproof log in place, with the warmer weather coming, hopefully it'll dry out quick. TFTC!

Fun find

The beginning of a fun weekend on Pirongia with friends. Had to wait for a chatty muggle to head down before I could eventually extract the cache. Contents were very wet and pencil doesn't work on the waterproof log sheet.

nice easy find. thought we would get out for a walk to the top then onto th hut because we could:)

Up in the clouds today. Luckily they did clear while we were there and we got to see the view.

Took a lot of finding. Lots of scratches in the cutty grass. Eventually matrix 10101 found it. TFTC

GCG8AR Picked up boomerang! BEAUTIFUL view, want to go back!

Didnt know there was any here. At the top decided to check it and WALA the search was on! Found it! After scrummaging around... With Gonna Cache Em All and Kerin01 and Mattski3. Don't let the boys search lol they'll miss it. Also cache has been sprayed green.
Dropped TB and gave to Kerin01 to continue moving along


This entry was edited by allaboutthatcache on Saturday, 14 March 2015 at 04:23:01 UTC.

tftc

This entry was edited by Mattski3 on Saturday, 14 March 2015 at 05:22:50 UTC.

Awesome hike up to the trig. Beautiful day with great views. To cap it off we get a cache too! Tftc!

Found on a great climb up to the summit on the Tirohanga track, over to the Cone then back on the Bell track. A rather long climb then walk, but a terrific day out and managed to claim a few caches too. TFTC

Great views! Took a while to find so had to hunt around a bit but was glad when we did.

Two muggles and I decided to spend Waitangi day climbing Pirongia. I have a fantastic view of Mt Pirongia from my office and have wanted to complete the trek to the top for years so jumped at the chance to join some friends to check out the new hut and climb to the summit. This cache was a great bonus and a nice introduction for my muggle friends who happily joined in the search. It was blowing a gale at the trig so I'm glad it didn't take to long to spot the container. I was even more glad to be the first to locate the cache. I dropped off a Geocoin I picked up while in Taranaki. TFTC.

Happened upon a couple of muggles who had the cache details pop up on their GPS. They had no idea what it meant, so I introduced Geocaching and we found it together! Brilliant find, TNLN.

Tricky!

Awesome day out with Happyhellybell, her first find! Beautiful bush & scenery, a great walk up

Fantastic find. Great way to end a hike

Was going to collect this one on the way to the summit, but there were too many muggles about.

Still muggles around on the way down so HKCB and I ducked behind the bushes and he helped me locate it from behind. Great camo - glad I had HKCB to locate it quickly.

47 minutes up to here this morning and quicker on the way back down this afternoon.

Beaut views today, just doing the loop track from Grey Road. TFTC

Nice day for a walk. Fun to find some caches while in the bush!

#3510 @1540
Given I was in the area (to find CANZ - Waikato), I took the opportunity to come here as well to fill another slot in my caches found by month placed grid. Lightly raining as I started but got heavier as I got closer to the cache. The rain had stopped by the time I got back down. Took the route from Waite Road. 1 hour up and 40 minutes down. Cache easily located, but no view. It was good to get some exercise after 3 days of driving. TFTC.

Tftc

thanks

=) not the best view today tad misty

Neat clamber up to this trig on our way to the summit (just under an hour with full packs). Had just signed the log, and heard some muggles coming, so did a hasty rehide before they turned up. Ended up being the only other people we saw all day ! Thanks for the cache.

This entry was edited by Jacksonz on Friday, 20 December 2013 at 10:12:02 UTC.

81 Finally able to search as no one else at the lookout. 3rd visit to lookout. Not specifically for cache

Got this one on my way back to the car....3.37pm Saturday.

Fantastic views from up here. Wasn't racing the clock today as CB and co. were photographing epiphytes on the way up the track. Made it to the lookout in just over an hour and enjoyed the views while we ate a early lunch.
Had to time the replacement as muggles had turned up just as I'd finished signing the log. Got it back safe and sound without being seen.
Now onto Tirohanga!!!

Awesome view today over looking the Waikato Fog

Great views up here today. A great walk for getting rid of a hangover. First time up this high so thanks for getting me out and about. Cache is in good nick