Pukekura - Taiaroa Head is a headland at the end of the Otago Peninsula in New Zealand, overlooking the mouth of the Otago Harbour. It lies within the city limits of Dunedin. The nearest settlement, Otakou, lies three kilometres to the south.
The cape is home to a lighthouse, built in 1864, and a colony of over 100 northern royal albatrosses, which established itself in 1919 – the only such colony on an inhabited mainland. There is also the Royal Albatross Centre.
The headland is named for Te Matenga Taiaroa, a 19th-century Māori chief of the Ngāi Tahu iwi. Pukekura, a significant Māori pā was located on the headland, having been established about 1650 and still occupied by Māori in the 1840s. It is associated with a daring warrior called Tarewai who was active in the 18th century. Pilot's Beach was formerly known as 'Hobart Town Beach' from the whaling tryworks established there in 1836 by the Weller brothers employing men from Hobart. Previously it was called 'Measly Beach' from its being a place where Māori went to bathe when afflicted by a measles epidemic in 1835.
Historically, several commercial whaling stations established on the peninsula and the number of whales in this area were heavily exploited.
Ruins of former coastal defences are located nearby, notably a restored Armstrong disappearing gun emplacement built in 1886 following a scare that New Zealand might be invaded by the Russians.
The Otago Peninsula Trust owns and operates the Royal Albatross Centre. The Centre provides award winning wildlife tours of the Otago Peninsula including onsite albatross viewing, penguin viewing tours, interactive marine conservation displays, and historical tours of Taiaroa Head. The Dunedin Royal Albatross Centre is located at Taiaroa Head on the tip of the Otago Peninsula in Dunedin, New Zealand. The albatross has become an icon of the city – nothing compares to the sight of a fully-grown Royal Albatross soaring over your head as it circles the headland on the way to its nest site! Tours run daily at the Centre and booking are essential.
Sources: Wikipedia, Otago Peninsula Trust. Background image - Ulrich Lange, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
There is no need to visit Royal Albatross Centre to complete this cache.
To qualify for this geocache your tasks are:
1. At the cache co-ordinates there is a plaque on a the stone wall. What are the first five words under the crest. Please email/message me your answer.
2. At the Viewing Platform waypoint, take a photo of the lighthouse, including yourself or your GPS in the photo.
3. Log your visit with the photo included in the log. You don’t have to wait for my reply, but if I don’t receive a message with answer to the first task within one month, or you log does not contain a photo, your log will be deleted.
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.