Ketetahi Cafe (Central Plateau) Traditional Geocache
Ketetahi Cafe (Central Plateau)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Another in the XC and TK Tongariro series near the Ketetahi
Hilton...
This cache is located in one of the many beautiful parts of the
Tongariro National Park. The walk should take two hours for fit
person or three hours for the less energetic.
Much work has been done on the track recently to prevent the
devastating erosion we used to see here many years ago. Hex core
tiles have been placed to retain track material yet allow full
drainage... rather high tech and very impressive.
Stealth is necessary as this spot is like wellington station at
rush hour on a sunny weekend.
Please put the rock back on the cache to stop the fierce winter
wind taking it...
View of the Ketetahi Cafe from GZ
The Name for this cache came from my friend Aneta who once had a
cool super friendly cafe of the same name at the nearby
skihire/campground.
If you want the easy route:
Turn off State Highway 46 at S39 03.933 E175 40.029
and drive up and park at: S39 04.424 E175 39.830
and walk into the bush on the Ketetahi Track.
If you are adventurous like many... many others this is the end of
the Tongariro Crossing which is one... if not the most popular day
tramp in the North Island.
The following is a guide from New Zealand Tramper which they dont
mind sharing.
A route guide of the Tongariro Crossing from an ex-hut
warden in the Tongariro National Park:
"This is a marvellous and enjoyable one-day walk through a volcanic
lunar landscape. Although if the weather is poor you will probably
see nothing more than a white out and very little scenery. So check
the weather before setting out because hut wardens can't organise
transport if you turn back to Mangatepopo Hut.
The Volcanic Plateau comprises two massive volcanoes: Tongariro
(1967m) and Ruapehu (2797m). Ngauruhoe (2287m) is considered to be
a vent of the Tongariro Volcano.
It is not a difficult or especially long walk, although one section
is quite strenuous. This section is a piece of cake. It is only 30
mins uphill then along through South Crater and then the climb up
onto the Red Crater top with the Tongariro Summit turn off. Then
from there it is all downhill to Ketetahi Hut.
The trip across South Crater on a fine day is a marvellous wonder.
The trip has awesome views of craters, the Emerald Lakes, Blue
Lake. The track has options at certain points along the track where
you can do optional side trips that are worth every minute that you
add to your track time. These options include such things as
climbing the massif of Ngauruhoe, detouring over to Soda Springs,
climbing Tongariro: you can choose. However you can just walk the
crossing not doing any options, be at Ketetahi Hut by 11:30am.
Again on a bad day don't be deterred by bad weather just stay on
the track and keep your cool and enjoy it.
Two hours before the track end, you will reach the Ketetahi Hut,
here you are able to stop for lunch and move on or spend a night.
Then from Ketetahi if you choose to spend a night, which has had a
fine day, the sunset is well worth the day's hard work. Then it is
a simple walk down to the carpark and then a wait for your
transport. Again the views at Ketetahi are amazing but I won't say
anymore. I shall let you do the walk."
The cache has been moved away from the hut as the greeny warden was
not happy with the idea of a cache near building. It is now up the
track from the hut so if you are coming over the hill you reach the
cache before the hut. The cache is a 500ml Sistema in a camo coat,
PLEASE put the rock back on top or it will blow away or wash away
in the fierce wind and rain up here.
Please follow the: 
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Bss genpx gura qbja yrsg haqre ynetre ebpx.