" Ahakoa he’iti,
he pounamu. "
The forest below you and to the left are just remains of what
the land used to look like. Only 5% of the original Rangitikei
forest remains, and only a quarter of that is protected.
The Kahu Scenic Reserve, below, is on a low river terrace and
therefore grows a different forest from the Mangaweka Scenic
reserve on the hills to the left. There are over 430 native plant
species known in the Rangitikei. Protecting a variety of forest
remnants is important because it preserves this diversity.
The land around you is 5,000,000 year old marine mudstone that
has then eroded. The river, in it's wanderings over that time, has
carved a valley and the surrounding flat terraces. Despite being
60km inland, fossil seashells can be found easily in roadside
cuttings and below you on the riverbed.
TO LOG THIS EARTHCACHE, you must
first visit the viewpoint during daylight hours and then email us
with the answers to the following questions:
1. What does the surrounding land consist of and how many
years old is it?
2. What can be found in roadside cuttings?
3. A fossil of what creature was found during earthworks at
the turn of the century?
4. Old Mans Beard is the weed that causes the biggest problem
in the Reserve. How many seeds do the vines produce each
year?
5. By what two natural sources are these seeds carried and
spread?
6. Describe the distinctive man-made feature you can see near
the Scenic Reserve, directly below you. (Must be answered correctly
to prove you actually saw the view).
7. Take a PHOTO of the view and your GPS, but NOT showing the
information board or the man-made feature, and post it with your
log.
The answers to the above questions can be found on the
information sign at the viewpoint. Please do not print these
answers in your log.
NOTE: The Sign has been damaged. You will need to look very
closely and carefully to read the answers.
Please note: The idea of an earthcache is that you must visit
the site to learn something geological and prove that you've been
there. Any false logs will be deleted. Night visits to this
cache are pointless, they defeat the purpose of an Earthcache, you
won't be able to see or learn anything.
BONUS CACHE:Weka GC16XAQ is hiding close by, for those
who enjoy hunting traditional caches.
