Parking area
This cache is near this very special tree a large Kauri. This beautiful 
specimen is estimated at a 1000 years old and old scars on the trunk can be seen when the tree was bleed for gum.
Kauri is New Zealand’s largest and most famous native trees. It is a type of conifer or pine tree which grows in the subtropical northern part of the North Island. Ancestors of the kauri first appeared in the Jurassic Period 190 – 135 million years ago. The kauri – podocarp – hardwood forests are among the most ancient in the world.
Gum climbers would chip pieces of old hard gum from the branches and heads of trees where it had collected for many years and gum bleeders scaled kauri using a weighted line and ropes. Boots equipped with toe spikes enabled them to walk up trees like flies and lower themselves down again in bosun's chairs, not all necessarily made it to ground, there were many accidents. They cut the trees to bleed fresh gum. This was collected later after it had developed into a hard lump.
Kauri gum was used by the Maori people for cooking and lighting because it burns very easily. It was also used as a pigment to make the dark colour in tattoos. The gum was scraped to a powder mixed with olive oil and applied to burns. The fresh gum was commonly chewed as a masticatory and was formerly an ingredient of Dental Compo used for taking impressions for dentures. The Europeans shipped the gum by sailing ships to England and other parts of the world and processed in to a varnish or polish.
Cache in a plastic container contains Log book and pen
Enjoy.
This area is threatened by kauri dieback, so please:
- Make sure shoes, tyres and equipment are clean of dirt before and after visiting kauri forest.
- Clean shoes and any other equipment that comes into contact with soil after every visit, especially if moving between bush areas.
- Dogs can inadvertently spread the disease if they disturb the soil around the trees so please dont let them visit this cache.
For more information about kauri dieback, please see this page: Kauri dieback: how you can help.
The Tracks are now Quite Overgrown, When I have a chance I will take a waypoint of where the track starts as its on the other side of an overgrown grass field. I Also plan on moving the cache further away from the Kauri as when this cache was originally placed Kauri Dieback was not in the public eye.