On the Menu - Bush Tucker (Central Plateau) Traditional Cache
On the Menu - Bush Tucker (Central Plateau)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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On the Old Coach road, where should you eat?
What is on the menu?
IMPORTANT NOTE: It is important the cache box is returned standing up, and hidden with sticks and brush-work - do not lie it on its side, it will fill up with water.
Cabbage soup, a great filler and full of vitamins.
Pikopiko fern shoots in a salad.
Plump Wood pigeon.
Miro and tawa berries for dessert.
All washed down with Hop Beer, sly grog.
It's all set out on the table here....
This cache is placed on the Old Coach road, a grade 2 walk / cycle trail from Horopito to Ohakune. Recommended time is 5 hours - one way. Transport shuttles can be arranged.
THE OLD COACH ROAD
A bush corridor on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu, this historic trail is cobbled in places. Information panels along the route tell the history of the Ohakune Coach Road and the railway construction. The road was ready for heavy traffic in December 1906. Along this road, drays and carts carried supplies and materials for railway construction and coaches ferried railway passengers between the steadily advancing railheads.
The first coaches ran between Raurimu and Waiouru. As the railway tracks were laid between the railheads the gap reduced, and by May 1908 the coaches were running between Ohakune and Makatote.
Once the railway tracks were connected and daily trains began running in November 1908, there was no need for the railway coach service along the Ohakune to Horopito Road.
By 1882 the government had decided a railway link between Auckland and Wellington was necessary.
At that time the railheads were at Marton and Te Awamutu. Various rail routes were surveyed to find the best way to connect these railheads. The central route, surveyed by John Rochfort in 1883, was recommended by government in 1884.
The bridle trail was then upgraded to a four meter wide dray and cart road in readiness for the railway construction.
There was only the volcanic plateau to cross once the railheads reached Ohakune and Raurimu. This difficult section required five viaducts and three tunnels.
Construction work would take considerable time, and railways wanted to ferry passengers across the gap to trains waiting at each railhead.
A new road was built from the highest point on the upgraded bridle trail, west to the Taonui Viaduct and on to Horopito.
The Ohakune-Taonui-Horopito section of the road was covered with cobblestones to provide a firm surface and good grip for horses pulling coaches and construction works' carts up the steep grades. The stones for the road were sourced locally.
The first railway passenger coach ran between Raurimu and Waiouru on February 10th 1907.
On November 8th 1908 the railway line was finished and the first passenger train ran from Wellington and Auckland. Coaches carrying railway passengers were no longer needed.
LOST TRAIL
Nearly 100 years later, in 2002, only a few people knew that an old overgrown road existed in the bush above Ohakune. Why it was there had long been forgotten.
In October 2002, John McIlroy, a local deer hunter who knew where some of the road was, took Errol Vincent and Mike Ryan bush bashing along the Skyline Section.
Department of Conservation historians supported research of official government documents for clues as to why the road was there.
Research was undertaken at Archives New Zealand and Alexander Turnbull Library in June 2003.The information collected was presented in submissions to New Zealand Historic Places Trust and to Tongariro National Park Board, requesting that this historic road be recognised and preserved as an important part of New Zealand's development.
Historic Places Trust gave the road their highest Category 1 Classification. Tongariro National Park Board agreed to treat the road as a managed site.
Now the road must be protected and not allowed to deteriorate.In 2005 local people and representatives from Tongariro National Park formed a committee to manage the restoration of the road.
Clearing proceeded slowly, with help from Ohakune 2000, Tongariro Natural History Society members and others keen to see the road opened.
Funding beame available when the trail become part of the Great New Zealand cycleway.
The road was cleared, drains opened, bridges built and new cycle tracks created.
Plan ahead - this is a mountain bush track. One to two hours walk from Horopito or two to three hours from Ohakune / Marshall road ends.
You may opt to cycle, as many do.
Take warm clothing, wet weather gear, food and water.
Leave the handbag and high-heeled shoes behind. Walking shoes or tramping boots recommended.
Can be muddy after rain at the top of the track
Be ready for a change in climate at any stage!
Full track recommended time is five hours.
There is some minor hilly area beyond the Taoinui viaduct, but mostly the track is gently undulations.
The trail crosses the Main trunk line at one point. Watch for the crossing point.
Near the feasting table we have left a cache, an ammo can. Not immediately behind the feast - as that might be a popular site for relief.
But on the Horopito side, several steps into the bush.
See HINT
A punga at 45 degrees indicates the hide.
This cache was initially available to those who financially support geocaching.
Made available to non-members December 2013
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
10 cnprf jrfg nybat znva genpx sebz gnoyr. ragre ohfu gb Abegu, 6 cnprf. Ynetr chatn gerr ba n fgrrc yrna. Ng onfr bs chatn.
CYRNFR ERGHEA VG FGNAQVAT HC, UVQQRA JVGU FGVPXF NAQ YRNIRF.
Treasures
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