Herne Bay Beauty (Auckland) Ponsonby, North Island, New Zealand
By Zork V on 31-May-05. Waypoint GCP4E2

Grave type news.

A very high Spring tide has claimed the cache.

Not too many options here, so will leave the area for others to place.

Not many satellites in the sky this afternoon and the tide was coming in making for a stressful first cache on our trip. TFTC +spinning top -gecko.

Not sure where the geoCoin has gone. Also the cache log will need replacing in the next few logs.

FTF in the new spot I guess...

Nice place, although as per my luck... I think I turned up as a drug deal was going down in the nearby toilet block...

Oh well... Hurried to get the cache and then back to the car.

In: Paradies GC
Out: US 25c

Thanks!!!
Chris & Vera

** Coordinates Changed From **
S 36° 50.601 E 174° 43.714
Distance From Old: 86.2 feet
Moved cache down the beach a bit, new wee hidey hole.

6:20 pm.
Third stop and farthest point of a two-hour shoreline run this evening, my last in New Zealand for this two-week trip. Although I have been working every weekday, after hours periods have provided some fine exploring and caching opportunities. My first attempt to approach the cache from the east ran into a dead end at the waterline. My second led to the right access point but I went a little too far and had to backtrack to find the baggie and log. It appeared to be in the original hiding spot and was not obvious until spotted from the right angle. TNSL. Left a TG card and an aquamarine lizard. Thanks.
-Gecko Dad, San Diego, California

Got to GZ, and thought i spotted the hide area. Nope.....

Opened up the gate and had a look along there, and then basically tripped over the cache, or should I say, what was left of it.

It had recently been muggled it seems. Replaced it to where I believe the cache was meant to be.

Uploaded photos of how it was found.

TFTC i guess

TNLNSL

the liberated cow I would like to sincerely that the rescuers and further protest the indignity of being cached in such an undignified manner

Discretion required, a few sunbathing muggles were eyeing us suspiciously. Sat and enjoyed the sun, then quickly retrieved cache while prying eyes were looking else where.
TNLNSL, TFTC #74

Artwork seems to have gone , just black walls with some graffiti on them.
The cache took some finding, and when the rest of the family had given up, I saw some suspicious looking areas which revealed the cache.
Kids swapped a few goodies.

#100 for us! - now to have a cold beer to celebrate.

TFTC

Two of three for the day. out with the mini team. Lots of pipes in this area. Actually very used. they are mostly drains for retaining walls!!! A good hunt, everything nice and dry in the rainy conditions. Tide was very high but access was still easy. Took balloon and race car. Left marble.

TFTH.

Nice houses and beach. Easy find withoutthe clue as such. Found at 12:27pm and TN LN SL.
Cheers.... Off to next cache:)

Great little hiding place,with added camo.No one on the beach in the middle of the day,but the GPSr swung wildly as others have mentioned.When it finally settled down,it gave me the correct place 149 mtrs away!!!
thanks for this sneaky little hide.

Nice little beach, when searching the access road I slipped into a mud and was covered by it by the rest of my today's trip from the head to the foot . Thanks!

A few dodgy males lurking around today (not geocachers!)
Then an undermined concrete step started going downhill when I stepped on it - watch where you walk!
TNLNSL T4TC

Parked down the road aways and enjoyed a nice beach walk back to the cache. No-one around at 10am. Cheers. + crab.

A lovely spot, but watch out for the muggles. TFTC

nice little beach with no one around

I had previously attempted this but the GPS put the cache quite some distance away in a place I souldn't get to, so I assumed I hadn't found the correct way in. Trying again the GPS pointed to the correct spot that I did have access to and an easy find resulted. This really is a beautiful spot.

On arrival beach access seemed to be blocked by a row of houses,not even a signpost to show the way.However soon all was revealed.Found without too much trouble.Nice art work?
Thanks again Zork,
TNLNSL

Short walk from the beach access and quick find..

Seventh of eight finds on my fourth night in Auckland. My GPSr threw a hissy fit as I approached this one. At the closest parking place it still thought the cache was 3.3km away! It settled down, and I made my way to GZ. The tide was low, apparently. When I arrived at GZ, my GPSr pointed me 9m into private property, and I started to wonder if it was still playing up. I cracked the hint, and I started to think that I was right, however, all was well, and I found the cache at 2230. I made no exchange. Time for one more before calling it a night. My thanks to Zork V for the cache.

Cache 201, in the dark, had to watch family having dinner just along beach . Not much beach left at High tide, Found by a new member

Quick find... thought I'ld found a fellow cacher at the site, but it turned out to be a muggle checking someone on his cellphone at arm's length at ground zero.

Cache's pencil needs a pencil sharpener - which would be a good thing for the next finder to leave behind.

Easy find on a very windy, rainy day.
-dinosaur
+car
TFTC

"Artists" were at work. Tried 1 access before finding this one. Once there very easy find. + Navy Badge
T4TC

The beach was empty when I arrived, but by the time I had walked down to GZ a few muggles had arrived and then took their time to move on. Not too hard to find, and it looks like a few muggles have found it too. TNLNSL, thanks.

The hardest part was finding the access. I tried a few streets and passed the actual one x 2. Looks like a private driveway.
Easy enough to find the cache-last for day -no 12
TFTC

Quick and easy find. Coordinates spot on. Admired the interesting artwork on the way.
Out: TB Wee Kiwi
TFTC

3rd attampt at this, no muggles around this time. They don't seem to come out when there is a storm brewing. TNLNSN

TN left Wee Kiwi TB. Tried to walk around a few bays but tide got in the way. A more direct route choice rewarded us with a quick easy find for geovirgin Martinification. TFTC.

6.15pm. Found with Sinautus. We parked a few bays around so it was good that the tide was out. Saw from beach so nice and easy. Thanks Zork V
TNLNSL

6.15pm
Found with KazExplorer. Nice and easy
TNLNSL
T4TC

Found on the way home. What a neat spot! YAPIDKA... Had to employ some deviousness to avoid attracting attention from the family enjoying their picnic. TNLNSL, T4TC

3rd for the day with new Chilean team mate.

A neat spot. Arrived near enough on high tide.

Another find for the team mate.

In: Miffy key ring
Out: All Black fridge magnet

Cheers for the cache.

What a lovely spot. Interesting artwork and expensive houses. Thanks!

Went down Herne Bay Rd to access this one. Major works including tarseling and big diggings, no access to this via here. Ran out of time to see if other access available.

Good view when you get to the position. It was high tide but still able to get to cache. Dropped off the warrior and took the key magnet.
Thanks Zork ( thats two of yours today)
Uncle Brian

Our first cache to log. Close to home. A reasonably easy find. Thanks Zork.

Dropping off TB Virtual Rennpinquin for a play on the beach

We ended up going to the cache to pick the EU geocoin dropped of by Krin - and when we arrived we were greeted by a spiderweb covering the cache location. A perfect camouflage!

We opened the box to find... NO GEOCOIN IN THERE!!! oh were we dissapointed! No mention of anything in the log, so we assumed that someone has found it before us, still we expected a log in the logbook!

After coming home, we did a bit of investigation and found out that it's a VIRTUAL GEOCOIN!!! Ah! D'oh... It's now released in Waiuouru!

Dropped off EU Geocoin.

15:25.2nd for the evening.Came here after finding Geofurby's Incubator.I was born in Herne Bay & tonight is the first time I have been back since then.A muggle followed me down the path & stopped at the bottom where he watched me walk down to the GZ.So I carried on around the corner for a little way before returning to the GZ.After searching in the wrong place for five minutes,I found the cache.Nice art work on the walls.I agree the toilets are dodgy.On my way back two guys were hanging out by the door of of them.
TNLNSL
Cheers Zork V

Great place. Met some student muggles, we thought that they were sitting right on the cache. But we were safe. We also noticed that the muggles spoke Thai, so we went to practice our Thai speaking skills!!! Great cache, and very nifty location! TNLNSL

A nice way to finish the weekend. A gentle stroll along the beach in the late afternoon, a chance to admire another excellent camouflage job by Zork, and a chance for van Helsing to stock up with school boy equipment (fake dog poo).
Left a Jersey 2p coin.
Thanks

Sharp eyes quickly spotted this cache despite its A grade camouflage. Off home now for Fish and Chips then off to the War of the Worlds - an absolute must for us combatants against evil.

A nice walk all around Herne Bay from Pt.Erin to Cox's Bay at a full moon low tide. Much muddier at the end!! In: Rugby magnet out: nil.

Nice easy find in daylight TNLNSL

A straight-forward find. The kids spotted it within a couple of minutes. Be careful parking and walking to the path, as there is a lot of building activity next door.
- mini tape measure
+ imitation dog poo (someone will have fun with this!)

We biked from Grey Lynn with the dog. Our dog found many sticks to attack and rip to shreds on this lovely beach while we picked out the cache. Thanks! TNLNSL.

Arrived at the top of the tide, and GPS indicated right at the very end of the beach, along the sea wall. Whilst Papa Ferg climbed heroically along the wall, kids sat down to rest and found the cache just as I reached the end of the dodgy climb.

- Japanese Fan
+ Magnetic key locker.

3.35pm Lovely beach and easy to find on arrival. Tide high but okay.
+fan
-buzzy bee stickers
M&P.

10.35am. Back again after getting muggled last time.
No chance of muggles spotting us this time.....no chance of spotting anything, the fog was sooooo thick.

Full tide and the water is just sooo clear.

+ Tape Measure.
- Red Warrior.

TFTC Zork V

Cheers M+S [:O)](127)

Another secret beach. Thanks for taking us there, it was quite mysterious with the fog on the water. What was the abandoned building for?

TNLNSL TFTC Zork V

found with runzz. lost my stick whilst searching for cache and refused to leave until i found it. i think runzz is resentful about my sticks as they are primarily used to flick rubbish at people - mostly him!

Found with Dysentry just before midnight. Was a good chance to get out of the house away from the study for the up coming exams. Took a little while to find by tourch light due to gps playing up with the cover over-head. Swent a good amount of time finding Dysentrys mis-placed stick, probably about the same as finding the cache.
Cheers Zork for the trip out of the house and away from the books.
TNLN

Nice family walk along the seashore with my father in tow. My father was a bit bemused by the whole geocaching episode.
Managed to scoot around between the rain showers. The local public toilets are very dodgy and best avoided totally.
- car and necklace
+ ballon, whistle and ball
Thanks for the cache!

Got badly muggled on this one.

First there were some people siting on the boat shed ramp.
Then as I zeroed in on GZ some more showed up around the point.

Decided to retreat and try another day.

Cheers M+S [:O)]

With a two of my grand daughters along, we started the afternoon with a visit here. We waited while a shower passed and then went off in search.

The girls got very close but missed some subtle give away signs that the old guy spotted. When I pointed them out Kayla quickly made the find.

We were making a swap when muggles surprised us and I can't recall what we left . We took a small ball.

TFTC

another one falls with ease.... met speightsmates leaving area.
There are little pockets of receration area all along this coast.... I recomend a explore theres some neat places.

Quick easy find, met bigfatrob as we were leaving.
+ 100 dracma note, -dino rubber
TFTC Zork V

Lovely little spot (...although the toilets look a bit 'dodgy'). Took the opportunity to have some lunch whilst the kids explored the rocks.
- 100 dracma note
+ Necklace
Cheers......

I suspect we didn't park as close as we could have done so had a reasonable walk along the foreshore. The only bonus was to be able to check out some of the palaces complete with private beachfront lawns and boatsheds. Had a good crab hunt on the way back which was the highlight of the day for one of our caching party. Thanks again Zork.
TNLN

Nice quick find which was good because the weather is foul.
+ buzzy bee stickers
- nothing
signed log

Sorry to lessen your glory willbuild but I am pretty much house bound at the moment with a back injury. However my rule is: If a new cache is within a 20 mile radius of your place I do not try for a FTF unless I can make it before morning smoko and even then you have been known to go on the way to work!
An initial injury, (suffered while searching for a geocache) about two weeks ago, has been made much worse when I lifted a trailer last week. So in the mean time I will leave the FTFs to you.

Lunchtime excursion - glad the rain stopped! Followed Willbuild's footprints to the cache. Every year, a hundred or so swimmers gather along this little beach to swim almost to the harbour bridge - escorted by a fleet of kayaks.
TNLNSL. Thanks Zork V - M@

Willbuild
Working just up the road so came down with my morning tea to sit and wait for Navigull but he did not arrive for FTF
First to find again ,, I work all over Auckland some times, Quick and easy find, The hard part is getting back up the path to the road.
Thanks.

[This entry was edited by willbuild on Wednesday, June 01, 2005 at 1:43:57 AM.]