UPs n DOWNs (Auckland) Epsom, North Island, New Zealand
By msc1974 on 21-Feb-04. Waypoint GCHR0M

Cache has been trashed by kids

Hmmm... must stop trying to find caches without printout and without having recently checked to see if they are still active!

My first (half-hearted) attempt on this one was back in August after finding "Benchmark" at the top of this little hill. On that occasion I gave up after getting down to somewhere around the road above the cache - as I recall the weather was packing it in, I was running out of time, and the terrain around the area of the cache didn't look very inviting!

So came back for another attempt on Christmas Day, starting from the bottom this time, with one of my sons reluctantly trailing some distance behind me. Clambered up through long grass to the area of the big pine, then went further up and east into the trees, around and about, up and down, getting hotter and hotter and more and more frustrated! My etrex seemed to be favouring a spot about 10 or 15 metres northeast (I think) of the big pine. After much milling about I finally ended up climbing all the way up to the road (using the conveniently placed "climbing rope") and then wandered back down the track to the car having resigned myself to another failed attempt.

Next problem - no keys - bugger! So I sent my son (who wasn't really into any of this stupid game to start with, let alone now) to the end of the street to get the name and call for help while I tried to retrace my steps up and down again in a forlorn attempt to find the keys. No luck. Arrived at the bottom for the second time just as the cavalary (in the form of my brother-in-law) arrived. And of course we went for yet another search, up and down, round and round... still no luck.

Luckily we had another set of keys in Auckland so we mananged to get home. But if you happen to find a set of three keys (two vehicle plus one other) on a ring with a smallish tag of some type somewhere on these slopes then please let me know!

Final note: having now read most of the earlier logs I suspect I was looking in the wrong place anyway - even if it was still there to start with!

Possible destruction of cache

Searched for about 20 mins with no success.
Couldn't get good signal but we were pretty sure we were in the right place.
Did however find an empty Blue 2L ice cream container closely resembling the one in the photo album next to a shredded white plastic bag.
Bad news as I was looking forward to getting my hands on those travel bugs.

Found after quite a hunt. Took two of us about 15 mins over a wide area due to patchy reception.
Next visitor should take one or two supermarket bags to replace outer cover which is shredded.
Took nothing, left 2x TBs

Hmm.. GPS was pretty foxed by the slope and cover. The container and contents are rather damp, and the plastic bag has fallen apart. Still, found it eventually, after inspecting a lot of trees! Camera counter was on 15, took a shot of our team captain.

I knew this would be trouble. I prefer going up as I always feel surer of my footing that way. Conditions were perfect, the ground was soft but not slippery, so the edges of boots could dig in to provide traction, and up I went. I searched far and wide without finding it, and began to feel it may have been lost in a recent slip. After about an hour of searching, I finally gave up and started back down the hill, looking in every nook and cranny as I went. I one nook (or was it a cranny?) I saw a glimpse of white plastic. Found it!. One more photo taken.

forgat to log this one. Was with Kaimai and we could not find it. Outdoor Annie even joined us in the search and she could not find it having found it before.

Decided to approach zone from the bottom track. Found myself too Southerly. Retraced steps and took the high track. Found I was too Northerly now. Guessed the cache was in a lot of trees. Started down the steep slope until I slid down on the dead leaves, banged my elbow on the ground, dislocated my shoulder and in the process of getting up, it relocated itself back in the socket. Called into the A.E. Threekings and had it checked out. All OK but very sore. Might give this one a miss permanently.

Went with skiff to find this cache and couldnt find it. Rang outdoor anne, who was wating at the car, to ask her for a hint. Still couldnt find it so gave up. Outdoor Annie came up with us to find it and she also couldnot find it.

The cache is definitely there especially when I was there at 2.30pm. It was quite difficult to find. The photo count is now at 18.
TNLNSL
Cheers for the cache and workout especially seeing that I had left the car at the top.

Up and Down and Up and Down, but no cache (overall more than 30 min. search). Found a lot of litter and withe'ish plastic bags, but no ice cream tub
Rinna 18185 km from home

Really slippery slopes here. Total of 21 photos have been taken.

Found after scrambling around on the slope for a bit. The cache is very exposed, but I doubt anyone is going to come across it (unless they're mad!)
Second cache we've found in New Zealand. Took a quick snap of Mr Wibble. Forgot to bring swaps with us so signed the log. Thanks for giving us the incentive to climb the thing, we were very pleased we did in the end (the views are fantastic).

I used to wander up and down here when I was a kid.
Coords are definitely dodgy - they indicated in the middle of the bush - not the edge - very poor coverage.
I was starting to get shirty about silly cache positioning when I eventually tried the other SIDE of the copse to where I was looking - and found it there.
I took a photo - maybe 21 left. Didn't want to forage in the squelchy mess for a logbook.
Icecream containers are far from ideal...

Found the cache eventually. Took some finding though!!
Left Pete's boot from the UK

Took photo

I wish I had decrypted the previous finders comment's about the best approach before heading off for this one. I approached from the top.. which in retrospect wasn't the best idea.. hurt my ankle and nearly broke a leg, but found the cache, so it was all worth it. SLTNLN. 25 photos left but didn't take a photo as it was too slippery at the GZ to stand up.

Cache was damp, and the container's lid has a small tear in it which may be letting in water. The protective bag was holding water when I found it.

Found a much better route out when leaving, which would have been ideal to have entered from.

[This one needs a new plastic bag around container, a little worse for wear. 25 photos left.] Best approached from below, slippery if approached from above.

Up and down is most apt! Went up too far, then came tumbling down. Several dirty children as a result. Took photo and signed log.

Whoops sorry forgot to say -Squelch the Platypus from this cache,plus sticker.
Cheers
Conton

The Con of Conton found this one today during a break. The camera was up to photo 27 and although she snapped herself Con was not sure that it actually succeeded as the film appeared to be at the end.
Also, the cache is quite visible in the current season and at risk of muggling.
Thanks for the cache!
Conton (of Chch).

As others have reported this was difficult.
On a mission from the waikato.
Did most of the other volocanoes today and this one took some time!!

Think I dropped off TB here

TFTC Matze

ok found this one sometime ago with Dysentry..... don't know why I don't log caches enuf.... I think there was 22 fotos left was a little slipery and difficult getting back up but all in all a fun cache.

On the way from Onehunga to Viaduct - doing the Coast to Coast walk - definitely worth it - and only a half-dayer unless you're like us stopping every 5 meters to check this, that, geocaching, etc... haha - link to the description of the walk: http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/whatson/places/walkways/coasttocoast/index.asp

+replaced plastic bag
+took self-pic (32 left)
-NIL

cache visible from faaaaar away
TFTC.

Tough hike, especially when you part in the wrong place! Took little dog; left U.S. 5 cent commemorative coin.

Willbuild
Found at last , was over a year I was last here and met Navigull. easy find as cache was out in the open.
Please can you go and rehide it in the correct place. I put it where I think it should go.. Removed two pages of rude notes by others outside geocaching who found cache.

A bit of a struggle but found it in the end sans plastic cover. Mini Tiki out AA Batts in SL

Up amd down, up and down, up and down, oh there it is! Took last photo, watch the pen it is leaking, didnt notice till i got back to car and found myself covered in ink.
swopped TBs -Tip Me Up And Pour Me Out TB + invisible man TB

Went to get camera to develop film.
I was a little nerves handing a camera over to get it developed. Some good photos, and I'l be uploading them next week once I scan them.
I have replaced the leaking pen and after seeing that some of the photos didn't come out I have replaced the camera with one with a flash.

3rd for the afternoon.Parked in a side street not far from the GZ.Easy walk to within 40 metres of cache.Then straight up a near vertical slope.I was able to see the cache from about 5 metres away.Possibly been disturbed by cows grazing.Placed Tip Me Up And Pour Me Out TB from St Johns Puke.Took Photo.1 or 0 left.
Cheers msc1974

I made an attempt to find this cache in December but had no joy approaching from the top. This time I parked on the road and walked up - and I ended up directly at the cache. It was much easier this time round. Took a photo (its down to 1-2 now) and made no exchange. Cheers Gav [454]

[This entry was edited by rediguana on Tuesday, March 15, 2005 at 3:52:01 PM.]

It was interesting in the dry leaves getting down (esp in sandels)
If you are a skier then this cache would be for you, you can actually ski down almost to the cache on the dry leaves

The cache isnt difficult, but getting the lock is important
I was about 16m out

TNLN

There are 3 photos left

2.20pm. Co-ords had me out by about 20m. Was about to give up then i spyed it on my way back to the car. The cache had been left out in the open and has been found by an number of non-cachers. I re-hid it in the position which the log book entries were all talking about as I had left the web page print out at home. Would pay to wear some decent shoes on this one as the slope is VERY steep. Doing it in jandels is quite tricky !!
+ "Lunchwrapz" kids messages.
+ Toy pinball game.
- Nil
Took Photo - I think I used number 5 so there's 4 left.
Thanks msc1974 for the cache.
Cheers M+S

Happy Xmas!

Searched high and low. Literally. We were having the worst of bad GPS days. Never had such bad satelite karma.

Found cache on the way back down the hill to the car.

(Didn't help trying to balance on the 60 degree slope with GPS, camera, trading loot, Palm and beer)

Camera says ~ 7

Thanks for the cache.

TNLNSL

Eventually found it!! Though decided to attack from bottom of mountain instead of sliding down. Took photo, leftnothing, signed logbook - 7 photos left

Glad to see I'm not the only one having trouble. Tried to find it today but the geocaching gods just weren't smiling on me. Perhaps the co-ordinates need checking, or there is greater ground-position error because of the slope. Cheers Gav

Third attempt, finally found it. It was some way from it's Lat/Long, though I don't think it'd moved. May be my GPS' lock, which was difficult close to the cache. Must take my compass next time, so I can take bearings from further away.

Took photo, left nothing, signed logbook.
8 Photos left.

What a novel idea for a cache. It is just a pity that the rest of Two + four was not here for the photo. I hope it turns out ok it was getting a little dark.
Took TB
9 photos left.

Thanks msc1974

14:31 Easy find after sliding down the slipery slope. Left TB TFTC

Took a bee line down from the summit and found it without too much trouble. 10/11 photos left.
1c US in; Vancouver pin out
Thanks

Took me quite a while to find this one, not sure if it was been moved down by the force of gravity. But not were it should be. Might like to up the Terrain and difficulty rating too.
Cache is dry and running out of treasures, camera on 13th frame.

In Toy Car

Out Bubble maker

Found it on our second try - along with a six pack of beer nearby. This one was a much easier find in the daylight! Took nothing but a picture (looks like there are 14 pictures left on the camera). Thanks for a fun hunt - the dog had a great time!

Strike out! Came down from the summit, did what we thought was a through search of the area, but still couldn't find it. Can't figure out how our coords kept leading us to the big nothing. Chased off by cold and darkness, but will return!

The previous logs scared off two of our party which was good as we had drivers to take the cars down the hill and so didn't have to climb back up after finding the cache. Very slippery at this time of year. I recommend sturdy footwear and old clothes if attempting this in winter - you WILL slip over!

Nothing in nothing out. Can't remember now whether there are 14 or 15 shots left on the camera?

I definitely wore the wrong shoes for that excursion. There are 16 photos left on the camera.

Need to be bit of a mountain-goat for this one! Have to
agree with M@ coordinates as being closer to cache. Now
17 shots remaining on camera. IN: canadian coin,
OUT: canadian flag patch (for use tomorrow, July 1!)
Cheers!

Either I missed it completely (bit hard to get good GPS signal in the trees) or someone's removed it. There were a lot of broken bottles up in the area.

Nice easy walk from the bottom took photo of VK and tb's rastus the dog and kiwi west
In small tiki
Camera now showing 18

Completed with JDHnz

Watta walk I tell yah, great aerobics work out if nothing else. Saw lots of cow patties - but none with a notable handprint in it (Navigull).
Bit of a grey day - but heyyyy... its easter!!

In Rastus the dog (travel bug)
Out Jumping putty

What a climb! Lucky that I am a goat (capricorn) and I could lend LRPnz my hiking pole to help her along. Cache was fairly easy to spot once we got within a few metres. 19 shots now left on the camera.

I am posting a note on behalf of some friends who were vacationing in this great land, and dropped off the 'Kiwi West' travel bug. They also left a Vancouver 2010
pin and a Canada flag patch (you get 3 tries to guess where they were visiting from ).

Based on the email they sent, they had a wonderful time, however on their last day the bag containing all the film and video was stolen . I guess they will now have to return some day!

cheers!

stone_soup

Had a bit of fun finding this cache.
Started at the bottom and headed up. Trying to stay in the open coverage areas, and triangulating across the slope with compass and GPS.
After a few minutes I had the cache fixed, and it was into the trees to find it - well, that was the plan.
Beware of blackberries (which are just ripening nicely), and cut your searching hands just as nicely!
Found the cache by grid searching the vicinity. I think the coordinates are about 10 - 15 m out.
Took self picture (again), left nothing. Camera dial at 21.
Thanks for the fun!

went searching got to the general area and lost a bit of coverage... mountain goat stuff... got disturbed by roaming cows... oh well will try again.

I was in the area today so went back for try number 2.

Got it this time but at a lower altitude than the GPS indicated on the previous visit. It still took me a few minutes though.

The brighter weather helped and I came away with clean shorts AND clean hands. Yeah!

Took just a photo (22 left)
Left nothing

Thanks msc1974

Lunch time jaunt to escape the office, well worth having the extra pairs of eyes! Yes, a good test for the GPSr with a good chunk of the sky obscured, let alone some tree cover. Probably a better test to show GPSr variance than 'Benchmark' at the top. My unit was showing ~14m EPE during the search with the needle hopelessly swinging freely. The above reading at the cache averaged no better than 8.1m EPE.
Hopefully the photo of four heads will come out! Dial now showing 23 shots remaining.

+ mini padlock
- glider
Thanks - Team Tofska (M@, Abby, Paul, Dot)

Drove up on Friday after work for a little recon.
The wind gusts were almost picking the car up off the ground so headed back down and found a potentially good parking spot for a later date. It was getting dark.
Went back today (started from bottom) and walked straight to general area but struggled to get a good fix under the canopy. After scrambling about on steep wet incline and suffering muddy arse and hands, I decided to have a good look at map screen. It appeared I should have looked here first. Led me straight to it.

+ nil
- nil
Signed log book. Took photo

Cheers

Did at same time at Benchmark. Long way down...even longer going back up! By use of careful triangulation, I avoided what could have been an extended aerobics workout Watched by a semi-tame pigeon as I unwrapped the cache - obviously it had the right associations, just the wrong place Liberated Rogue TB. Clever use of elevation to give red herrings. Thanks.

This cache lived up to it's name today except it was more downs than ups.
I parked on the up side and found Willbuild with GPS in hand at the Benchmark cache. He was also going in search of this cache and opted to drive down, while I took the direct route. I soon found myself in express mode going down fast, with a wet, and very quickly, brown backside!

As I approached the indicated area I spied Willbuild working his way up so we compared notes and intensified the search but to no avail. We covered a sizable area but turned up nil, zilch, zero.

Oh! a further down was when I slipped again and managed to stop but only by placing my hand full in a fresh cowpat. Bummer!
Retired to lick my wounds but please note: Not my hand!

Now if we had only found that camera?

Found It! , Yeah First To Find!!! 1500hrs
2nd FTF in 2 days!!!!
The terrain for the cache is wild, really cool cache site.
First off drove all the way around the area. Eventually worked out the best way to approach the cache. Didn't really have to look hard for the cache.

BTW there is 26 photos left
+ Mini Domino Set
- TB Spud