A severe storm in the Bay of Plenty on 18th May 2005 dumped over 300mm of rain on Tauranga in 24 hours - the heaviest rainfall in 95 years. Besides major flooding, this caused multiple landslides in Otumoetai, at Welcome Bay and on Mount Maunganui (Mauao). The houses worst hit were in the hilly Otumoetai area of Pillans Rd, Karaka St, Hinewa Rd, Balmoral Terrace, Whitaker St, Vale St, and Estuary Way in Welcome Bay. Many of the houses were so badly damaged they had to be demolished. Amazingly, there were no injuries reported.
Stormwater upgrades undertaken by the council following this disaster cost $11 million. The new infrastructure included a stormwater tunnel at Pillans Point (14 metres below Pillans Rd) to stop floodwaters inundating Bureta, rebuilding the harbour outfall, creating a stormwater flowpath along parts of Vale St and improving the Otumoetai Golf Course as a flood basin.
Two urban parks were created in Otumoetai where once stood 28 homes. One reserve was created in the amphitheatre-shaped bowl where Lemon Grove and the top end of Hinewa Rd perch above slopes that drop down to Landscape Rd. The other traverses the hillside that completely lost its footing and sent thousands of tonnes of earth into homes built along the stream flats at the end of Vale St.
A loop walk through both parks takes approx 30 mins. Beginning at Once Were Houses #1 follow the walkway to Lemon Grove Ave where there is a commemorative plaque beside the seat. Continue along Lemon Grove Ave then Whitaker St to the end, where you will find Once Were Houses #2 on the second walkway. Continue to Vale St, then Landscape Rd will take you back to the walkway where you started.
This cache is a snaplock container which includes a log sheet, pen / pencil and several swappable items. There is room for trackables. Stealth is required as the parks are used by cyclists and walkers (including school children), and overlooked by houses. Please treat the gardens with respect.
As these are the first caches placed by us, we welcome your feedback, but no spoilers please.
Note: Appropriately (or not) the original cache was washed out of it’s hiding place by the heavy rain and flooding over the last few days, before it even got published. Here’s hoping its new position is a better one!
UPDATE October 2014: We have replaced the cache with a much smaller one, as the original kept getting lost and/or muggled. No room for swaps or trackables now. Bring your own pen.
Update February 2016: PLEASE NOTE: You MUST sign the physical log as proof you found the cache, to be able to claim a find online. We reserve the right to delete online logs if this procedure is not followed.
As this cache container is a nano, you may need tools to retrieve and replace the log (eg. tweezers and a log roller), and please sign with your initials only, to save space.
If you are unable to retrieve the log, please write a note to let us know, as the cache may need maintenance. Thanks!
FIRST TO FIND: tparty. Congratulations!