The Pirongia Triangle (Waikato) Traditional Cache
Hidden : 5/14/2011
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
3.5 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:


The first time I hiked up to Tiwarawara was with a couple of other guys to check out the prominent rocky Kohatupiko outcrop which we’d spotted previously. We were standing at various points around GZ in the cloud trying to get our bearings.
“Which way’s north?” asked Kevin.
“It’s that way” said Mike, looking at his compass and pointing to the left.
“No, it’s THAT way” I said pointing straight ahead.
Laughing at our puny navigation skills, Kevin pulled out his compass to settle the matter, only to suddenly look confused and suggest “Um... maybe back that way”??


The Pirongia Triangle phenomenon is also occasionally reported off the coast of Bermuda

Quite an unnerving feeling to realise that we’d obviously been swallowed up by The Pirongia Triangle and our compasses were useless up here. We guessed that the geology was to blame, and even managed to get the compasses spinning in complete circles by moving them in between the rocks.

Although the Tiwarawara track is now officially closed, this track is actually a really good one, and I imagine that the only reason it has been closed is due to the emphasis now placed on Hihikiwi and DOC no longer wanting to maintain them both. Or maybe it's because of all the trampers going up here, never to be seen again...

Access is near the end of Te Tahi Rd (parking coordinates). Despite what the sign says at the start, this track is easy to follow and is very well marked after the initial 5 minutes in. About 30 metres from the road you meet a wooden fence - sidle around this and continue along the obvious track. After another minute or two you reach a 2nd wooden fence. At this point you turn straight downhill to the right - follow the line of the fence down the hill until you meet the stream a few minutes later. As you cross this, the orange triangle markers are very obvious leading on up the other side, and they continue the rest of the way from here.

It’s actually quite a nice and relatively dry track and obviously still used a lot by hunters. I heard a boar roaring very nearby at one point today (I didn’t know they did that!), and last time up here I met a tiny little baby one trotting along the track - very cute!

The track is very gentle most of the way and only steepens towards the end. It took me a bit under an hour to walk up, with lots of stops to take photos of the beautiful psychedelic red and blue mushrooms on the way.


The Pirongia Triangle

The cache is a 1 litre Sistema with the usual goodies. No bush bashing required - only 1 step in from the clearing. There is a spoiler photo available. I’ve included a compass to try out - please leave this here for others to have a go too.

Although the track continues on from here to meet up with the Hihikiwi, it quickly becomes less defined, poorly marked and difficult to follow. Don’t attempt continuing on from here unless you are an experienced tramper. There’s not a lot to see anyway, and the high point of Te Akeohikopiro is bush covered with very little in the way of views.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Qverpgyl bccbfvgr fvta ng sne FJ(?) genpx fvqr bs pyrnevat. Oruvaq fznyy sreaf ng onfr bs fznyy ohful gerr

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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