Taupo, Coles Killer (Bay of Plenty) Wairakei, North Island, New Zealand
By ClanMacDonald on 08-Aug-05. Waypoint GCQ29A

Just clambered all the way up on foot from the MTB carpark to recover the container (instead of letting it become rubbish). It was in such good order that I decided to transplant it nearby. Watch this space. If the owner ever returns, he can have his cache back.
Access is not a problem as long as pedestrians stay off mountain bike and horse trails. They are not always well marked. Forestry roads are multi-use.

This entry was edited by fanfan-77 on Monday, 02 July 2012 at 05:58:43 UTC.

Given the reports of access now being limited and area offlimits to the public I'm archiving this cache for the moment. If the owner can confirm access with a site visit then this could be unarchived.

Regards,
Zero Gravitas
Geocaching.com Volunteer reviewer
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Was not able to go to it. I was turned back by the horse riding people. Apparently people are not allowed in this area anymore. Maybe the listing should be archived.

Pretty tough walk to this cache - especially the last 300 metres. Took quite a bit of searching to find the container as well. SL TFTC

8.55am - What a walk to this one, found after a bit of a search looking under wrong pine branches (think old) cache in good condition. TFTC

Was a bit of a mission getting here as we took a wrong turn, went down for a while so had to climb all the way back up. Not very fit on the MTBs at the moment, had to push the bikes up the last, very steep hill. Cache was a bit exposed and muggles have signed the logbook. Cache well garnished and dry. Rescued TB, re-hid not even half a meter along where it could be covered better.

This cache cannot be accessed from Poihipi Rd anymore because of new geothermal development.

To access, use parking coordinates from GC1ZG2D "Ron and the Baby Dragons". Do that cache on the way and carry on up the track.
Could be helpful to have a map of the Taupo Mountain bike tracks to find one of the multiple ways up there. It's not essential as you should find your way around with the above description, just be prepared that you may take a wrong turn here or there...

PS: secretsquirrelnz is an inactive user and previous attemps to contact have failed. Unfortunately the "park at" coordinates in cache description won't be corrected...

I've never been there, but my mountain bike trail map says there's a carpark around here:
S38 38.649
E176 03.263
Looks like you will have to weave your way around a few trails to get there. Might pay to get yourself a MTB map. I'll try and find the cache around xmas to see...

We've had this on the list to do for some time so day was to be the day. Unfortunately the park-at published on the cache page is no longer available. There is room to park safely but there are NO PARKING signs and the authorities have gone to a good deal of trouble to fence off the entrance to the area. There are NO ENTRY signs so being responsible cachers we retreated to Taupo. Perhaps the cache owner might like to provide a new park-at so out-of-towners like us know where to go and don't waste time trekking 5k out of town needlessly.

Plse update park at.

A wet misty day but enjoyed a great MTB with Dad and Tahli. View not so good with low cloud but great find. Picked up Night Racer coin.

Nice walk up the hill. Quick find. Grabbed TB and dropped off TB from Portland, OR USA L: two Geocache logo magnets
TFTH jmac

Swopped TB and GC passing by on MTB trip.

nice walk good views now trees are cut down

Came in with Pomerob to do this one together. Nice hike up the bike trails. Access off Poihipi Rd is closed right now, so came in from MTB carpark on Craters Rd. Nice view at the top but spitting rain.

First attempted this one last Saturday. We walked up Cole's Killer, and thought it aptly named - we could not imagine that anyone could ride down that and survive. Very disappointing to reach GZ and not find the cache. We could not remember the hint exactly, so after a long search we had to admit defeat. Returned today via the forestry road (great views) armed with the hint and the determination to make the find. Very relieved to find it after a few minutes searching.

# 1308

We weren't sure whether we were going the right way, but eventually found the mountain bike track which took us to the top. Had a bit of trouble finding this one. TFTC

I visited in January and it looks like I forgot to log it... A spot I have mountain-biked past on many occasions (I do like the new and improved Cole's Killer track!).

The area has been logged recently, but logging has finished, so bush bashing is difficult,and they have planted new trees.
I went in from the Poihipi end of Karapiti Rd. Logging roads and tracks all the way, from the Pohipi Rd gate. It's still a stiff 15 min walk, but you only have to climb half as much. co-ords took me to within 2.5 meters. It cleared all the cobwebs out of my lungs.

My first find of 2010 and not sure why I picked this one. Thought I could quickly get there on my MTB but not to be.
Miscalculated the easiest way and decided to trundle up Coles Killer, leaving the bike behind after a while. At least I am getting to know thw Wairakei MTB tracks a little better. Easy find once there. TFTC. No TB in there as logged by others.

Quickly found it. TFTC MacBanger

We walked in from the parking coordinates, and up the gently upward but very meandering bike track. Repeatedly came tantalisingly close to the cache, only to have track veer away again! Coordinates good, even if on wrong side of track, but hint made for a quick find. Considered walking down Coles Killer, but weren't sure where we would end up. TFTC

been wanting to do this one for ages
came in from the Q line road side
great spot , quick find and the downhill on the bike afterwards was fantastic
never seen so many pens in one cache!
TNLNSL
TFTC!

1304 Nice quick find, out mountain biking, found after finding nearby cache. TFTC

A very satisfying find as it required a bit of a walk on a beautiful day, also took quite a search as gps co ords were about 10 mts away . A lovely view but very different from our last visit up there before the forest was logged. Took nothing left nothing.


MADtoo

You will be glad to know your cache is still there and in good condition. Its all dry and no problems after a couple of months without any finders. Like previous cachers, patience was required till the GPS said 3 mtrs away then I found the prize hidden under the pine branches. It was a gorgeous day for a walk up here to enjoy the views before having a round of golf at Wairakei. Taupo is just the best place on days like this!! TFTC

+ GC, ball, keyring
- lightsticks

Been bugging me several times. trust your GPS as was within 3 meters, just otherside of track.

Found on a day's MTBing in the Craters of the Moon. TFTC TNLN

Well, we made a return visit with the family in tow. Armed with the clue this time, we made a quick find! Can't believe I was so close last time... but looking on wrong side of the track. Co-ords OK. Young fella swapped light stick for a shepherd's whistle. TFTC

Walked with family and Saacks Huge climb up the masive hill but an absolute relief when Saacks finally found it !

Walk just about killed us and after about half an hour looking with 7 people including the kids we finally found it. Thank goodness it didn't beat us!

I Mtbed here with a runner training for an event. Didn't have the clue so looked all over and didn't find it. Even with the clue it would be intriguing cos there's a few tracks around. Recent logging and tree pruning in the area too.

A nice two hour return hike from SH1. Hard to find, we had to resort to the hint.

Was looking forward to this one, but gave up after the co-ordinates in the description had big sign saying it was closed for logging and a few more down the road where the same. Only had a few more logs on me so did not pick up that somewhere (not sure where) there are entrances open. Maybe you could write available entrance or make notes about entrances closed in the desciption. Will visit next time. Cheers Carla

Have had this on the radar for a year or two but time restraint then logging were hiderances. This time no such issue. Walked up from Poihipi rd. I went down right track first (in error) then had to cross country over logged area to pick up the best (left option) track to the top.
Once at GZ took a while to locate cache, although deciphering the clue helped a bit. Good bit of exercise, thanks.

Found with Nutcase99. For the first time in about 8yrs, put the knobbly tyres back on the MTB and went off-road. Didn't manage stay on the bike as much as team N99 but had a great time getting to and from this one and motivated to get to more MTB accessed caches. TNLNSL - Thanks for the cache.

Found with Greenblat.
Impressed myself by managing to ride all theway up to this.
Declined the offer of the Grade 5 down, but no shortage of good riding here and soon found a less death defying option.
No views, as the cloud was in and raining.
Thanks for rounding off a pleasant week with a bit of a challenge. TFTC

[This entry was edited by nutcase99 on Friday, May 02, 2008 at 1:00:12 AM.]

Nice walk in from the road, looks like cycle track overgrown and disused now, Cache took a bit of finding, almost gave up, but got there in the end. TFTC, TNLN

The parking location does not work. The road for access to the trails is marked no trespassing and there is an active logging operation. We went back toward Taupo one kilometer and parked. Followed the trail and ended at Craters on the Moon. So we visited there and then walked back and found a trail on the right going up the mountain. Tough hike through the blackberry bushes and the thorns, but it was worth it. A beautiful view.

Nice easy find and a nice walk up to the view. Thanks

Good exercise and excellent cache. Took the longer (but more gentle) forestry vehicle track, rather than the mountain bike track. Sadly the TB was not in the cache, which by the way is a red bucket with a yellow lid (rather than the other way round). TNLNSL. TFTC.

found this well hidden cache after a very hot walk. Nice veiws to had too.

Nice walk in the evening. Sadly the TB is not in the cache! TFTC.

Took the forestry tracks up from Pohipi Rd. TNLNSL. TFTC.

Good climb up the M/B track. Would much rather be on foot than on a bike doing this! Luckly there was no logging operations today so could walk along the road. TFTC

NZ trip cache #22

This was a good hike, i was puffed once at the top, running down was the fun part using the banks for the bikes!!
TFTC

We'd just done the Tongariro Crossing the previous day so legs were still a bit sore on the upward ascent but we had fun following the convoluted bike tracks to the cache. Just as well we marked a waypoint at the car before we left!
+ Canada Coaster
- Japanese Charm
TFTC

Started with a wrong turn but found the right track and made it to the top. Easy find once there. Hot and sunny. Swapped some bits and headed back to the car. Thanks

A cache of firsts. My first visit to New Zealand, and (thus) my first cache in this beautiful country. Also, it was the first cache ever for Erica. And it was a very nice walk for a introduction into geocaching. I think she is going to like it!

We took the mountain bike trail up; the weather was superb: sunny but not too hot. The stash was not too hard to find and was in good condition.

I left a pair of Delft blue clogs and the Tardis TB.

We took a postcard as a momentum.

Erica & Frank

When do you declare a no find. Here I think. Went on the Craters walk thinking that was the way in. Closest we got was 567m. But we had every intenson of completing the cache. Loved the Craters walk though.

What a thrill, we did it. Absolutely stuffed! [xx(] And we made it up here on one of our hottest days this summer. Boy, that walk back DOWN is looking good. And after all that we took nothing, left nothing. Signed the log and left our card.
Thanks, we're on a high! Enjoyed the walk up, but maybe next time we'll ride up or catch the bus!

A tough uphill MTB ride! Had Tramper Ted along on his bike also. TFTC

Found with Edvern. Fair bit of grinding uphill on the bikes, but must be good for you. TFTC

I should of read the preceeding log on this page before doing this one. Got to Ridge road and wasn't sure which way to go and carried on along the flat. Sometime later my GPSr revealed my mistake but I ended up by walking up Coles Killer which was a lot easier than going all the way back to Ridge Road. Count myself lucky no MB's were coming down!

Nil in nil out, signed log, cheers.

Tried a mountain bike track first but much easier if you park at the given coordinates at Karapiti Rd then Ridge Rd.
The track at the trig has just been cleared with a lot of branches etc stewned around. The right of track depends on which way you got to Mr Coles peg.
Good cache TNLN

nice wood walk (in a daihatsu charade sorry)

We'd got a little used to driving to cache sites by this stage and whilst I don't recommend it got the car to this one! 555m above sea level. - postcard, Hicks Bay, + UK penny

Found it at 12.45 hrs . Walked up from mentioned parking in storm and rain. Nice track for granddad! 1.07 kms straight line from parking to cache(true-but it takes longer!).Track blocked several times by fallen trees/branches and very slippery.
NINU.
Thanks,
Meryl(Holland)

Nice easy find, werent sure if we were on the right track to start with, lucky we were cause werent about ready to walk up another big hill! No swaps, nice view!
This settles it, mountain bike riders really are crazy! I mean, walking down that track proved to us that it would be total suicide to go down there on a bike, no hope of survival!! Cole's KILLER alright!!

Lovely day for a stroll, checked the cache and pick up thE Travel Bug BUG, to help it further its journey. We will place him in a new cache next W/E.

We loved this cache. Started off biking up from the suggested parking place but abandoned the bikes half way up. We were glad we did when we found out it was a grade 5 track and we had our 7 year old daughter with us! Plus, we were going the wrong way up a one way track. Walked up the rest of the way, then found the cache easily.
TNLN
TFTC

Great day for a MTB ride, enjoyed the view from this cache.
Took Cards - Left Teddy
Left the Travel Bug Bug, Was a little warm in the BoP for him so after a little R&R, a bit of horse riding & a final mountain bike ride to his new hibernation site.

Taken Oompa Loompa on his way to find the land of chocolate

Team Sianzilla is feeling the burn today! We hiked up the mountain bike path ... the cache seemed a lot closer from the road!

T-plastic dinosaur
L-blue Hot Wheels car

Dropped off Oompa-Loompa TB - he wants to go where the chocolate is.

We had lovely day, some great exercise and a wonderful view. TFTC!

[This entry was edited by sianzilla on Friday, September 22, 2006 at 10:16:12 PM.]

did alot of caches today on our way home to tauranga , most of them due to the rain they were impossible to sign the logs.
taupo is a awesome playground


TFTC TNLN

Nathan and I hiked into this one, We got ourselves a bit mucked up with the GPS and were looking in the wrong place - got it sorted and found it.

+ Glitter Pencil
+ Anzac Poppy
+ Balloon
- Ubuntu CD

We have taken the travel bug out and will take it to another attraction in Taupo.

What a great way to walk off lunch!! Great views from the top. We noticed that the inventory says there is not a travel bug in this cache but we found one in there trying to get back to the USA.

Found this one quite easily despite sore legs from the Tongariro Crossing the day before...
Took the fire engine, left Keikio Travel Bug.
Thanks for the cache.

During early March w.e visit to Taupo.
Easy find.
Thanks.

We got there, gerat walk. You can also get there from the SHW 1 side. Really cool stuff in this one.....Took pigs, Left Unbuntu CD's and a toy truck

Hi there,
First timer,had a great time finding the cache.I run thru this area all the time and actually right past the cache without knowing often. Alot of fun.

Nice day, good fun, however we missed the easy road and ended up having to walk up the mountainbike trail. Co-ordinates were spot on, still took a few minutes to find though as it was very well hidden. Took foreign note, left small compass. Cheers.

What a hike to this one. Ended up walking wrong road and hiked up hill with 10yr old son, what a climb! Easier route would be along Ridge Road

Found myself scrambling up the most evil MBX track I've ever seen (not that I've seen many). Took the road (Ridge Rd) back down. Great day for views, esp the volcanoes (pity can't see them from this side). TNLNSL
Cheers, M@

Just checking the cache, and retrieved the TB.

Just some spare time to fill, always a good reason for caching. Looked for the mtb track uphill (thx JFBNZ) and found it easily. Not a good day for the views; heavy clouds and lots of rain. Still had fun walking.

Willbuild
No problem finding this one, no view today with low cloud and rain on its way. Spoke to a ranger about the area at the car park, 4 cars drove passed while at the cache site
TB BBBoard in

Very rushed find and after a few minutes of looking found the cache in a nice spot.

Good track, but would have been better with a sunny day.

Well that was a rush. Ran in and up to the cache over a long lunch break, in a thunderstorm. Madness? Perhaps. Well we got it, just one minute before the time we deciced we would turn around to run back to the car in the hope of making it to our return flight to Wellington.

Shame that the views were obscured due to the rain. Nice track/s though, well maintained and not too difficult.

You might be pleased to hear that were were in time for our flight home

Thanks for the nice walk.

As usual we did this the hard way by scrub bashing up hill till we got to downhill bike track. Thanks for bringing us here

Originally placed in the winter. Walked it again now that it is dry under foot, just a maintenance check and top up, also picking up the Jeep Travel Bug. The evening view is outstanding. Watch out on 20/10/05 as there is a mountain bike event occuring.

A bit of previous research made it easier, but it was a killer going up that hill. Great way to get rid of the afternoons excesses though, very enjoyable
Swapped TB's white jeep "morse" for T rex on the prowl, let the race begin. TFTC

The rain finally stopped so we made a break for it,, easy find,, cause we sang the right song,, and took the right path,, great spot,, brilliant view

TN Left Travel Bug T Rex on the Prowl, SL

thanks for the cache

Wow, what a excellent site. Wandered up what we thought was a very steep track, silly us, didn't realise this was actually a cycle track, when we turned one of the corners, two (very brave) cyclists were on the way down, narrowly missing us and nearly ending up over the side. I think they were as shocked as we were. Took a little time to find the well hidden cache, as the co-ords were slightly out and we spent too much time looking on the wrong side. Took a pen and replaced with another pen. Spectacular views and we found an easy way down. TFTC.

We moved on from The Falls and thanks to my new Garmin 76C loaded with Brent's topo map, made the right choices and had no trouble finding GZ.
We had set out in overcast conditions but the sun came out and we all shed layers of clothing as we overheated while puffing up the hill
Then at this point Caroleetess, with her trusty Yellow etrex, upstaged me by homing in on the cache while I was looking on the wrong side of the track.
TNLNSL
TFTC

on my way to mount ruapehu for a week of alpine training, neat cache tryed the direct route back man what a lot of fun

TNLNSL

Wandered a little aimlessly at the start (sticking to
random bike trails) but no problems (and found much
easier route back). Very brief glimpse of the snow
mountains driving to the cache, which was great to see.
TNLN, thanks for the cache.

Passing by so couldn't resist a FTF attempt. Initially had a wander around Craters of the Moon trying to find a way in then realised what we we supposed to do. Still made it harder than it should have been as we had to bush bash the last 60 m through bracken and blackberry at the top of the hill only to find the nice civilised track we should have been on. Nice view of the Power Station from up there. Also pleased to have a GPSr for the return journey as the forest is a maze of paths. Would be cool fun on a bike and would reduce the walking component significantly. Many thanks for the fun and exercise for the day.
In: felt pen set, out: Gandalf badge

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