Kawakawa is part of the Family Piperaceae: A small family of herbs, shrubs and small trees found mainly in tropical and subtropical regions of the Southern Hemisphere. The flowers are minute and clustered together in bracted spikes. About five genera and 2,000 species are known, one of which occurs in New Zealand.
Genus Macropiper A genus of nine species of small trees and shrubs found thoughout the Pacific eastward from the Bonin, Marianas and New Hebrides Islands, Lord Howe Island and New Zealand to Marquesas, Society and Austral Islands. The single New Zealand species is endemic.
Kawakawa is a small densely-branched, aromatic tree which grows up to 6m tall. It is found thoughout the North Island and south to Okarito and Banks Peninsula in the South Island.
The information is from "The Native Trees of New Zealand" by J.T. Salmon ISBN 07900 0104 7
The Te Araroa is a 3000-km trail stretching from Cape Reinga in the North of New Zealand to Bluff in the South. More information about this walkway can be found at the following Link to teararoa.
The Te Araroa Paekakariki to Plimmerton Track will have an official opening once the walkway is completed.
All cachers doing these caches MUST follow these guidelines for their own safety
Pedestrian access is ONLY via the Walkway entrance at the given co-ordinates . There is no need to go near or cross the railways line at any time. Walking or riding across non authorised pedestrian access points is dangerous and can incur fines up to $20,000.
Access on this walkway is currently limited to between the published start and finish co-ordinates due to ongoing construction. As this walkway progresses; new caches will be published upon completion of each section of the walkway when the contractor has advised me that it is safe to continue.
The cache is placed here to bring you here to enjoy this new section of the Te Araroa walkway which is between Paekakariki at the North end to Pukerua Bay at the Southern end. Once the track is completed it should be about 7 kilometres long. The track can be easily achievable by walking only at this stage as there is no bike access allowed on this walkway at the moment and there is no vehicle access at any point of this walkway. The walkway which follows above the North Island Main Trunk and SH 1 has views of the West Coast and they change as you go along this walkway and at any point you will get great views of the surrounding area which includes Kapiti, Paekakariki, Pukerua Bay and the South Island.
Once you are on this walkway there is no exit off this path except the given trailhead co-ordinates.
Caveats:
- Do not proceed past the given trailhead reference points as it is a construction site.
- Cellphone coverage is good along some parts of the walkway.
- If the path is blocked off you may still have access to the given waypoint between the trailhead reference points only.
Looking North.
When placed this cache a 200ml sistema container had the following contents
A logbook and a Geocaching cache note
A couple of pencils
A couple of swapables
Please replace the container properly back into it location and make sure that it is covered well before leaving as we don't want it to be muggled.