The Monster Mash
A family friendly cache imagined by the NZTraveller team!
In the depths of the mangroves that stretch and wrap around the Omana peninsula lives a long forgotten and seldom seen creature, a monster so terrible, so hideous and so foul that is remains nameless to this day. It is said that the creature is smaller than a Pukeko but larger than a Tui, it is dark gray with a mottled underbelly that drags in the mud due to small stumpy legs that have lost their strength over time. The monsters belly is perpetually smeared in mud as is trails a slimey track through the mangroves. It is said that the being has no eyes but a keen sense of smell through a bulbous snout that allows it to sense its prey, lie in waiting to strike a poor passing animal with its razor sharp teeth and slobbering goulish saliva rendering its victim instantly paralysed with fear and cut down for easy digestion!
What does this creature eat, who knows but it is fair to say that the occasional small dog has gone missing while walking the Omana tracks and during spring time the panicked baa-ing of nearby mother sheep can be heard as a young lamb strays too far away from the flock! Recent evidence of slime trails and small bones suggest that the hideous foul breathed beast has crawled out of the quagmire of the swamp and has taken up residence in a small hole, of course this is all theory as the beast is but a myth that has pervaded the schoolyards and bedrooms of children in the Omana area through the ages……or is it?
To get to the Cache park at Te Puru sports fields or in the Omana Reserve and take the Perimeter walk, which will take you directly to the cache. The cache is a 10L bucket that is camoed and hidden in plain sight. The lid can be difficult to get off, so may require parental assistance, but within is a hideous cavern of monsterly deeds awaiting a young cacher. Enter if you dare!