The Miranda Exedition (Waikato)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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RIP Miranda Drive GC20817. After getting several complaints about the location of my 1st Cache, We have decided to close the cache and give birth to this excellent well hidden cache.
The cache should be easy to find, however is not in plain view.
Be careful as this is a busy road and children should be supervised.
I would suggest parking near the goat house.
A bit of history
THE MIRANDA EXPEDITION
On the 16th November a force of about nine hundred men, under Lieut.-Colonel Carey, embarked at Auckland for the Thames Gulf. The object of the expedition was to occupy the principal Maori settlements on the western shore of the gulf, whence men and supplies had been sent to the Waikato, and to establish a line of forts across country from the sea to the Queen's Redoubt. The Kingite position at Paparata still threatened the rear of Cameron's army, and raiding-parties were able to cross the frontier at will and rove the Wairoa Ranges. Carey's expeditionary force consisted of two companies of the Auckland Coastguards (Naval Volunteers; Captain William C. Daldy), sixty of the Colonial Defence Force Cavalry (Captain Walmsley), detachments of the 12th and 70th Regiments, and the 1st Regiment of Waikato Militia. The warships “Miranda” and “Esk” headed the fleet of transports, which included the Government gunboat “Sandfly,” the steamers “Corio” and “Alexandra,” the brigantine “Jessie,” and seven or eight cutters. The Cavalrymen and their horses were taken down in the “Corio” and “Alexandra.”
For eight days the vessels lay at anchor in Waiheke Passage, weather - bound. At last the fleet brought up off Wakatiwai, north of the Pukorokoro, a small stream which flows out into the mangrove-fringed gulf near the spot now known as Miranda. The Coastguards were boated ashore at Wakatiwai, and, cutting their way through bush and scrub, they reached the main ridge
This redoubt, for 150 men, named after H.M.S. “Esk,” was constructed at the end of November, 1863, by the force under Colonel Carey. It was situated on a commanding ridge between the Miranda post (Pukorokoro) and the Surrey Redoubt, south of Paparata, and formed one of the chain of redoubts from the Thames Gulf to the Waikato River.
and marched along it towards the Pukorokoro, about six miles. In the meantime the gunboat steamed southward. From Wakatiwai a beautiful shelly beach extended nearly to Pukorokoro. This stretch of beach and the rising ground behind were thick with enemy rifle-pits, in two lines, extending over about a mile north and south. The Maoris had also blocked the mouth of the Pukorokoro with large limbs of pohutukawa trees. (The “Miranda” and “Sandfly” had reconnoitred Pukorokoro a fortnight previously, when three of the native villages were shelled.) The Coastguards, hurrying along the ridge, were just in time to see the Kingites retreating quickly across the creek in the direction of Waitakaruru and the Piako Swamp. The officer commanding the Coastguards (who had by this time been joined by the rest of the military force) obtained permission to lead the attack on the native village at Pukorokoro, which stood a short distance south of the stream. Doubling up past the Regulars and Militia, the bluejackets took the lead and crossed the creek. The Maoris made no stand, but quickly retreated along the narrow level belt between the mangroves and the hills for about two miles towards the Piako Swamp.
On the bluff above the creek-mouth the troops built a redoubt for 120 men. It was named the Miranda, after the warship. Working detachments were sent out later along a route westward selected for a line of posts to the Waikato, and two redoubts, named the Esk and the Surrey, were constructed along the Miranda—Manga-tawhiri line, linking up with the Queen's Redoubt.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
rlr yriry. Va OVT snyyra gerr