Marsden Cross Cache (Northland) Purerua, North Island, New Zealand
By smoking gun on 15-Nov-05. Waypoint GCRBW9

Rode our bikes from the school, and made a nice easy find after having our lunch break. TFTC!

Found jt after a rummage through long grass. Thanks

What a great little beach! Nicely hidden from the main stream tourism. - Long drive on gravel road, e decent walk to the beach. That keeps the hop on - hop off tourists out.After a short search in high grass the cache was found. The cache was a bit humid, so I left the bits and pieces in the grass to dry out for a bit. There was nobody around. After studying the information plagues and taking some photos I gathered the cache items and hid the cache at the old position.Many thanks for showing us this little gem.Best regards from Germany,CrankyGerman

Found itagain

Came to this wonderful spot last year but had not checked to see if there were any caches here. So came again to complete unfinished business. Thoroughly enjoyed reading all the interpretive signs again and still in awe at the enterprise of all who settled in this place. Thanks Smoking Gun and Fullofun for yet again making our day out so interesting.

️ Trouvée ! / Found it ! ️

Une vue magnifique depuis les hauteurs sur la baie. Merci pour ce beau spectacle et cette belle géocache.

3918ème cache trouvée.
Merci Smoking Gun and maintained by Fullofun pour la cache

A magnificent view from the heights over the bay. Thank you for this beautiful show and this beautiful geocache.

3918th cache found.
Thank you Smoking Gun and maintained by Fullofun for the cache

Lovely spot

Brought my sister out for a walk and she had her first find. Beautiful spot, thanks for the cache.

Came here on friends yacht and moored overnight. What a nice spot. TFTC

Oihi was one of the historic places we wanted to visit - and it turned out to be one of the highlights. We were the only people there for most of the time. Liked the honesty of the interpretation, showing how the mission group was caught between the unworkable demands of the CMS and the realities of survival in a Maori world. Especially for the women who arrived, did half the work plus had children and had no option for escape, ever. Found the well-overgrown cache and left the contents out to dry while we went along to the other end of the beach for a private swim. A gannet did a low skimming dive to catch something in the water only 5m on front of us - then a stingray flapped away into deeper water beside us! What an amazing place to be!

Wow, the drive out here requires some commitment! It's worth it for the amazing views and the time down at the bay near the cross. Amazing history. TFTC

Beautiful spot with so much history to tell. TFTC

I have been wanting to visitbthis
I’m on a roadie north to complete the PWGT and find other interesting caches - oldies, puzzles and ones at interesting places.
Kia ora rawa atu for the cache Fullofun.

What a lovely spot to come too and learn more about the local family history on the walk down here.

Thanks

Marsden Cross Cache (Northland) was transferred from smoking gun to user Fullofun

I am so glad I came to visit Rangihoa and Marsden Cross. Im on my way down the trail and lots more info boards to break up the trall. Very windy at the sea side . The wind sent the cache contents flying so had to go chasing about to gather them all up. Left my calling card. Cheers. Fav from me. So worth coming all this way.
Decided not to go any further north. So its back to Zara and start heading south. Picked up the LAB at Te RuaPekapeka and then onto Whangerie.

Day 10, Saturday 29 January - Its Pahia, Waitagi, Aroha Island, Taronui Bay then back to Keirkeri to pick up Zara. Headed to Whangarei stopping off for the LAB at Te RuaPekaPeka on the way. Parked up just north of Kamo for the night. Another big day so lets get on the road!

Zara, Toby, Lenny and I are on our North Island expidition for a couple of weeks. Got The Seagnoid along for the first 4 days, heading to the Auckland Mega. PWGTs and TMGTs are on the radar for this trip. Lots of driving on gravel roads and visited lots of amazing places on our 6000km road trip snagging 200+ caches along the way. Visiting Cape Reinga, Bay of Islands, Gisborne and White Rock along our journey. Another awesome trip. Thanks to all CO's.

Found on 17th. Left pen in car. Not going back to get it. Pen in cache is passed its use by.

A quick easy find on a mizzly kind of day. Nice walk around and I like what they have done with the park. I have only ever accessed the cross by boat in the past. TFTC

Found thanks

Cool to find. Container full of moisture tho so might need changing.

Took me little longer than it should have to find this one. A nice walk and even the sun was out on this winter day!

Checking out this walk for the Bay of Islands Walking Weekend. So checked on the cache. Still sound!

Out for a walk with the girls. Intro to geocaching for a couple of them (muggles!)

Really enjoyed our walk to the cross especially climbing to the top of the pa. Wonderful views from there. Interesting information panels around GZ. Nice hide. Thanks Fullofun.

Scatched around in a number of places but stayed long enough to find it in this magnificent spot, tftc.

Tried looking for this one but could not locate it.

Had a lovely walk down to the beach today with the kids. Cache found quite quickly. Had a little wonder on the beach before heading back up to the car. TFTC

Out and about with Nicholson_family. Nice quick find when at the cross. Had a quick play on the beach. TFTC

important site

Up in Northland for another break from the big smoke. General discussion with the family as to where a road trip might take us. As nobody had previously visited this area the destination recieved the nod of approval, if a degree of trepidation in respect of the walk from an oldie who was dragged along . Long held bad knees were the concern. Started to rain at the car park but it was short lived . From there on in the sun shone. We loved the work that has gone into developing this site and are surprised it is not (yet) over loaded with tourist buses. Spent a lovely couple of hours around the site before it was time to go and hunt out lunch. Definitely a place we will visit again. Favourite point from us. TFTC. p.s.The elderly parent made it back to the car!

Easy in the end

Thanks for placing what turned out to be a simple, very standard cache hide.

Which I made incredibly difficult!
After half an hour of searching in what I thought was the obvious spot, then some less obvious spots, I was getting frustrated with myself.

Stop. Look around. Think like a CO. Went to a standard cache hiding spot, and put my hand straight on it. Duh.

To be fair to myself, my GPS was pointing in the other direction.

This spot took me a couple of goes, but it was in an obvious place after all, just a bit buried by the vegetation. Happy to find it after a wee while searching but lots of reading to keep the +1 busy!
Marsden's Cross was quite high on our list of must-sees and we're so glad we made the trip out - why is this not more widely advertised? The brain boggles a bit at how early some of this history here was (for little ol' NZ anyway) and what the times must have been like back then. Very memorable spot, we really enjoyed our time here. Thanks for the cache

Today was the fourth day of our trip to the Bay of Islands region. After touring around Paihia and Russel yesterday we went back to Kerikeri in the morning to watch a few netball games at the sports complex. After the games finished we picked up some lunch in town and did some shopping as well as walking through town. Afterwards we started to drive up north a bit with the destination for today beeing the Marsden Cross Cache. On our way there we picked up a few caches. After parking the car at the carpark we started the walk to Marsden Cross we took the grassy path across the hills following a trail made by privious hikers. We enjoyed the view on the way towards the cross. Once reaching the end of the trail I made my way down hill arriving at the well maintained walkway leading towards the cross which I followed for the last 50m till I arrived at the beach. Walking around the water I made my way to GZ and soon had the cache in hand. Signed and replaced as found. I continued to enjoy the place and read a few signes before heading back to the carpark on the intended track. Tftc.

I decided to head out here today as I was working in Kerikeri. Today was a dot day and I am focusing on filling in some of my dot days at the end of each month. This seems less daunting than the beginning of the months where dot days are plentiful. I had the whole place to myself and really enjoyed the walk. The views out here were beautiful. The little bush parts were lovely - it would have been such a hard life out here in the early days especially when the whole hillside was covered in dense bush. The cache was an easy find and was in good condition. A great place to visit and reflect on our history, thanks

Our first find

Great hide. What a fab place to visit. Lots of interesting history on the walk down and a great finish with the cross. Thanks for this one!

Yebo smoking guns

Back in northland there are many areas left to be discovered and today we took geocaching as our guide - fabulous hobby we share

Found well and what an historic site, super interesting!!!

Tftc

Very impressed with this park...tftc

Cache is is good order. A visit to Marsden Cross today.

TFTC and getting us out to enjoy this stunning place!

What a beautiful spot to come to.
Cache still in reasonable condition perfect spot to leave a TB

#9531. A nice Sunday drive to explore Te Tii. Enjoyed the walk to visit the Marsden Cross. GZ was all quiet when we visited. Interesting read of the history here. Found after a short search. The cache was in excellent condition, all nice and dry inside. Took nothing, left nothing, signed log.

Thanks for the placement and for bringing us to the site, and …

.T h a n k s. .f o r. .t h e. .c a c h e.
.M a u r u u r u. .k o e. .n u i. .a t u. .h o k i. .t e. .k e t e r o k i.

*****
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*****

I have set myself a challenge for this year to have at least the same number of caches on each day of my calender as the number of years I have been caching.

I enjoyed the walk down the track reading all the information boards. It is always good to have a bit of scandal as well. It was a rather short period for a missionary station to be established.

Cheers for the cache, Smoking Gun.

Lovely stroll down to the beach and reading all the historic signs along the way. When we got to the beach I couldn't get my head around why the missionaries wanted to set up here as there are better beaches around. We explored the area looked at all the monuments and enjoyed picking up our last cache for the day. Nice and dry. Thank you for bringing us here.

Up in Kerikeri did some caching great fun had by all. TFTC

(1927) In the Keikeri area with Steeveb today collecting some caches. Last walk for the day. With the walk to Marsden Cross and back to the car we have walked 23 km today caching around the area. Nice cache spot to finish our day. TFTC

Have not thought of visiting this historic site, but the group wete keen, love what has been done to the area and the interpretation boards. Nice quiet spot today. Now to tackle that hill.

Phew why did I make this harder than it needed to be? searched in the obvious and not so obvious with urbangypsynz. Eventually I had found the cache, by increasing my search area just a little. I have removed some of the contents that where rusty and corroded, the gave it a wipe inside

Love the location, so much history. The trust has certainly spent some money on enhancing the experience, the interpretation panels where very interesting. It was good to at last get to visit, I was here last year on a Hole in the Rock cruise, that had to tour the inner harbour due rough seas. Which suited me fine as we visited the Black Rocks, and came out to the Cross (I had visited the "Hole" many times over the years). Thanks for the hide and bringing us here.

This spot was the target of our day's outing while on holiday in the Far North from Wellington. A great spot with very informative signage and a great sense of history. The cache was a quick find in the second place checked. All in good order and dry inside. Signed log, TFTC

Came out to check this for the owner. It is there all right!!! Not the one I replaced but the original one. Wonder what happened to my one I put there for them! Why did I not find this in my two previous attempts???? I know I looked there!

Found the other day on a recent visit up north. Got all way down to Cross before realizing Id left my pen in the car....b****r...Still definitely worth the walk...cheers V.

Came by boat - beautiful spot and great history! TFTC!

A great location on a gorgeous sunny day. TFTC!

Cool historic spot

Tftc out and about with scout n about on a beautiful day

What a magic place! Peaceful, picturesque and so historically significant. Has been on our must do list for a while and today is a perfect spring day. Ataahua! Tftc

Found it. Very interesting place. .thx for the cache and tour.

Stopped in while out kayak fishing but couldn't find this despite 4 of us having a thorough search. However the history and cross were all well worthwhile visiting anyway. A beautiful day, amazing to think this all happened over 200 years ago.

Looked hard but could not find. Very historical place though.

This place, despite having never been here, has some childhood memories for me. Being a girl guide in the Northland Province, the cross was on our provincial badge. Happy to be finally seeing it in the flesh so to speak.
Was very confused about the cache/logs, we found a cache which hasn't been signed since 2012 so we're figuring after reading past logs, this was the original so called 'missing cache' from 2 years ago....how could no one find it??? Didn't find the new one...so signed the original and went on our way, tftc

This entry was edited by KirsTim on Monday, 01 June 2015 at 09:54:19 UTC.

Don't think this is here anymore. Note that it has not been logged since January but there is definate evidence of caching being going on.

Didn't find straight away, but reached in a little more and felt the familiar plastic box! Thanks for the hide in this beautiful and historic bay

TFTC. A nice way to remember the gospel being brought to New Zealand 200+ years ago. Thanks Rev Marsden

#1468 Aga and I were in the North for a week and decided to make the most of a nice afternoon by checking out the new developments at Marsden Cross. We had been meaning to pick up this cache since we started caching back in 2011 and today was perfect for a walk. Took a wee while to track this cache down- it was very well tucked away. Glad to have located it. Thanks!! +TB Goal: To Travel NZ & all around the world.

An incredible spot with incredible history. Thanks!

Tftc found by a friend.

Samuel Marsden was my great-great-great-great grandfather and I attended the bicentennial service to commemorate the first sermon on NZ soil with my father and son today, travelling from the UK to do so. Therefore, this cache holds a great deal of sentimental value to me and I was very pleased to be able to find it once the masses had largely departed.

The location and the connection make this a prime candidate for a FP, duly given.

Thank you so much for placing a cache here.

This is a lovely spot with signs ( covered up as the official opening by the Governor-General was due to happen on Sunday 21st) which will tell the story all the way along the track and a very nice piece of sculpture/building at the start of the track.

We have not visited this bit of NZ history before. We decided to come out today given the extra incentive of wanting to find some older caches, and needing a Minute 10 cache to complete Tufty's 35 Degree challenge. Walked down the farm road, viewed the monuments then looked for the cache. Gave ourselves a bit of a scare when we didn't locate it at first, but then made the find. Thanks for bringing us out here.
Up near the carpark the new visitors centre and walking track look all ready to go. This is to be opened with a special celebration in December to mark the 200th anniversary of the first church service.

Jess & Dave Maughaum, Jack Jones and I found it before massive thunderstorms hit!

Easy find, unfortunately couldn't write in the log without raising suspicion. It was good & dry inside.
TFTC ☺

Found this on a lovely fine autumn day. have wanted to come to this spot for a while and an extra bonus that there is a cache here. Straightforward find. TFTC

Easy find and interesting work being done on interpreting an interesting area. TFTC.

Today the council for the New Zealand Church Missionary Society was here in this special place where our history in New Zealand really begins.

Rev. Samuel Marsden came to Oihi bay at the invitation of Ruatara, although originally he had been invited by Te Pahi, unfortunately Te Pahi was killed by musket shot before Marsden arrived here.

Ruatara and Marsden were close friends, they had met some years before on a ship returning to Australia from England. Ruatara was very ill and close to death and Marsden cared for him throughout the voyage and allowed him to convalesce at his home in Paramatta where Marsden was chaplain to New South Wales.

During this time Marsden learned Te Reo from Ruatara and developed a love for the Maori people. He wanted to come to New Zealand to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with Ruatara's help, but unfortunately the Boyd incident meant that Marsden wasn't able to come sooner. In 1814 Marsden finally had the green light and he came to this special place.

After he preached here he sought the support of the Church Missionary Society based in England (this society was founded by William Wilberforce and other members of the Clapham sect who worked towards the abolition of slavery in England and also established the RSPCA!) and had three missionaries sent to New Zealand.

I was in the area to celebrate the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and participate in a congress for Christian leaders. Today the NZCMS Council trekked around the area visiting places of importance to the Society, and to New Zealand. Before we walked down to the beach we met with one of Ruatara's descendants which was a real joy.

The cache was fairly straightforward, surprised that there was no snaplock bag and I hadn't a replacement.
Signed the logbook, snapped a pic and got it back in its location.

Checked cache all dry and good order. Had to wait for a few mugglers then had a chilly swim.

A quiet spot with lots of history. TFTC

Easy to find strait on it!

Easy to find straight on it!

Counting as found! Previously I couldn't find it so checked with cache owner to see if I was looking in the right place. Yes I was, so I have replaced the missing cache with a new one.

Quite a difficult task yesterday, because of all the the people studying human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains. Yes that's right! So many archaeologists. Apparently they were there last year too, and found some remains of a school based there.

I walked in this time......much easier if you park in the carpark area then follow the road further until you see a sign. (Not that well signposted about to get to the monument). Seems that is changing as in Decemember 2013 it is the 200th anniversary of the place.

Many thanks to RussellSchool for keeping this cache going. We do appreciate it as we aren't up in the Bay as often as we would like. Cheers

Think it has been muggled. Coords seemed to take me to a good resting place but nothing to be found. Also think the hint has been covered over by the new post. Will check with cache owner. Great kayak anyway from Tapeka. So calm.

We have been wanting to come here for a while, so thanks for bringing us Kevin and Claire. Left a yacht charm TFTC

GC visit while out in our new boat

Beauti bay with a few boats and muggles enjoying themselves. A very pleasant walk to such a wonderful Historic place. This huge monument and nearby memorials are truly worth a visit. Just the best.

Lovely spot to visit. Didn't quite understand the hint but found cache relatively easily. Thanks.

Stopped by with whole family. Lots of other people around, so took a while before we could pick it up.Took the rubber bus and left a mini kit bag and magnet. Thanks smoking gun.

Struggled for a while but then Opa saved the day. Took a rubber ball left a Ben 10 figure. TFTC !

Made a day of this one and started from Opito Bay and paddled out of the inlet on my kayak. Rode the outgoing tide and dropped a long line before paddling to Marsden Cross. Straight forward find and an interesting historic spot. Paddled back and dropped an new cache at the Te Pahi Islands before retrieving my long line with x2 snapper and x2 kahawai to take home for tea! What a day! Total time 4 hours round trip. A waterbourne visit by my TB (heh heh!) and took Purple Turtles Mechanic TB. T4TC

This entry was edited by CHLYBN on Wednesday, 29 December 2010 at 02:08:30.

Nice walk to a very nice cache... Jealous of the kayakers that bypassed the track! Getting ordained in a few weeks so an appropriate find!

It's a Good histOry Lesson - take Fishing gear, TwO snaPper, what a CATch

Great walk, great view, great pleasure when we found it.

I found it very easy during fishing. Thanks for a cache.

Thank you great! Rotoroto

Had to get the windscreen fixed today, so couldn't venture to far from the campsite. This cache fitted the bill nicely and made for a pleasant walk and great spot to enjoy lunch. Fab spot for a cache.

TFTC

Awesome spot. Great pilgramage to this historic place. TFTC. LNTN. SL.

All clean and dry. Can't believe the number of people on the beach. Great day.

Sorry about the wet log. We aim to be up there at Xmas and will be able to upgrade everything then. If anyone is visiting prior to this who could put in a temporary log this would be much appreciated.

Found it, lovely place. Cache is in dire need of mantenance. Log book stuffed along with most items.