HMS Otago's Deadweight (Waikato) Traditional Cache
HMS Otago's Deadweight (Waikato)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
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An overlooked historic spot of interest situated above the banks of
the Waihou river, just north of Paeroa.
Cache small,black camo to blend in.
Turn off State Highway 2, onto Hubbards Road, then first road
left.
Some interesting historical information also here regarding this
location.
THE WAIHOU RIVER
Waihou is literally translated as “new water”.
The river is approximately 80 miles long and rises mainly in the
Mamaku and Patetere plateaus between Putaruru and Rotorua.
For most of its length it flows north-north-westwards along the
eastern side of the down-faulted Hauraki depression, finally
joining the sea near Thames on the eastern side of the Firth of
Thames – the river also being named the Thames by the
navigator Captain James Cook.
A Memorial for Captain Cook can be found north of here,about 5 km,
just off State Highway 2 on Hauraki Road. S 37.18.757 E
175.36.464
In 1769 having named the Firth of Thames after the English river
with which he was familiar, Captain Cook and his men rowed 12 to 14
miles up the Waihou River and disembarked on the west bank of the
river near Hikutaia and walked into a dense forest of
Kahikatea.
Cook stated: “….we had not gone a hundred yards into
the Woods before we found a tree that girted 19 feet 8 Inches, 6
feet above the Ground and having a quadrant with me I found its
length from root to first branch to be 89 feet, it was as straight
as an arrow and taper’d but very little in proportion to its
length so that I judged that there was 356 solid feet of timber in
this tree clear of the branches.
We saw many others of the same sort several of which were taller
than the one we measured and all of them very
stout…..” It was this description that brought the
next European vessel to the district. It also led to an intensive
export trade in Coromandel kauri and kahikatea and the beginnings
of the whole timber industry in New Zealand.
Standing from here you can only imagine what it would of looked
like back then with its mass of kahikatea on both sides of the
river.
Now you can only see a few of these mighty trees scattered about.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Cbfgrq orgjrra gur gjb yrtf
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