Waiorongomai Valley (Bay of Plenty) Traditional Cache
Waiorongomai Valley (Bay of Plenty)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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A good place to start, if you feel like a walk in the old gold mining area.
Parking is available close to the cache. Coming from Te Aroha, drive about 4-5 km on Te Aroha Gordon Road, turn left on Waiorongomai Road and follow it right to the end.
The cache is a small dark brown Systema container. It will require some searching. Please re-hide well
Contains: Log book, pencil & sharpener, plus the usual Knick-knacks.
When gold was discovered in the Waiorongomai Valley on the eastern slopes of Mt Te Aroha the valley became the scene of large scale gold mining activities.
From here you can choose a number of tracks, some hard some easy.
Extensive restorative work has been done by DOC to make the Waiorongomai Valley accessible to the public. The concrete bins at the start of the valley are not those of the Firth and Clark battery but are of a much more recent set of bins for a gravel extraction process run by Piako County Council. The quarry for this is located a short distance up the valley on the lower track.. Further in is the Butlers, self acting incline - the oldest remaining tramline in the country.
“O wrong are you, o wrong am I
O wrong all of us
We are all sold, there is no Gold
The claim’s not worth a cuss.
We came O why? t’s all my eye
So sing O wai - o- rongo – mai
Here comes the bloomin’ bus
Let’s all get in, it is a sin
The claim’s not worth a cuss.
Singing O wai – o – rongo – mai.
O wrong are all of us.”
There are plenty of walks in and around Te Aroha, if you need a map showing walks and tracks go see the Motelliers at Te Aroha Motel, they are happy to give you one.
Also here is a link if you want to know more about Te Aroha: (visit link)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Sbhe zrgerf AJ sebz gur Znznxh,,,,,,vg whfg ebpxf!