In part, this is a tribute cache to my previous cache which was here at this same location, and had been enjoyed by many. It had received 285 finds, 35 favourite points, it was published on the 11/Jan/2014 and lasted 6 years until it was finally archived on 13/Oct/2020. Recently it had been muggled pretty frequently, and so after the 7th set of maintenance, it had done its dash. - Which is a shame, because it, in itself was also a tribute cache...
And so it seems fitting that this, unmugglable virtual reward cache be provided in its place. The original cache here was: https://coord.info/GC4WR9H
Take a stroll along the boardwalk in Warkworth, taking in the sights, stop and view the magnificent Jane Gifford (boat) which has been fully restored. The Jane Gifford was ceremoniously relaunched on the 16th May 2009 and was welcomed back to the Mahurangi by hundreds of people lining the river when she docked at her new home in Warkworth.
DON'T WORRY ABOUT MUGGLES AT ALL - BEING A VIRTUAL IT'S SAFE FOR EVERYONE TO FIND!
The Jane Gifford: History
About 130 scows (a type of boat) used to ply New Zealand's waters, mostly as transport 'workhorses'. The Jane Gifford is the country's last remaining rigged sailing scow.
The first scow was built in 1873 at Whangateau, near Leigh, and became indispensible in New Zealand for navigating narrow tidal estuaries and creeks where the country's first communities settled. The flat-bottomed scow can rest in an upright position even when the tide is out, making it easy to load and unload freight and stock. The last scow was built in Auckland in about 1935.
The Jane Gifford was built in 1908 by Davey Darroch, at Whangateau, initially to cart granite from mines in Coromandel to Auckland. She is 19.8 metres length on deck, has a 6 metre beam and a displacement of 60 tonnes. Based in Warkworth from 1921 to about 1938 she was used to cart shell from Miranda in the Firth of Thames to the cement works on the banks of the Mahurangi River, Warkworth. For a number of years she also carted road metal from the Public Works department Quarry at Motutara Island to Warkworth, for building roads in the area. She was also used to transport stock to and from Great Barrier Island and occasionally to Little Barrier Island.
She was moved to the Tamaki River in Auckland from about 1938 in search of work and in later years was owned by Subritsky Shipping. She was acquired by the Waiuku Museum Trust in 1980 as a powered barge and taken to Waiuku on the Manukau Harbour to be restored back to sail.
She was rebuilt and launched in about 1992 and operated for about seven years until she no longer passed survey because of rot in the old deck and hull. A new macrocarpa deck had been laid over the existing kauri deck and fresh water made its way through the old deck. Together with the lack of ventilation rot developed.
In 2001 a new Jane Gifford Trust bought the vessel from the Waiuku Museum Society and moved it to Okahu Bay. Sufficient money to repair the extensive damage could not be raised so restoration work stopped. Then in 2005 a number of Warkworth residents purchased the Jane Gifford to save the near derelict vessel from 'extinction' and moved it on a house-moving trailer back to Warkworth.
LOGGING REQUIREMENTS:
To log your find you have two easy options for the task you need to fulfill. You only need to do ONE of the following tasks:
1) If the Jane Gifford is moored, take and upload a photo of some part of you, infront of the boat.
2) OR - If she's not at the dock, then take a photo of the empty berth, for your log, and send me a private note with an answer to the following: On the upper wharf, there is a notice board with a series of information contained within it, I'd like you to send me answers to the following two questions please (DO NOT PUT THESE ANSWERS IN YOUR LOG, message them to me please). (a) How much does it cost to sponsor and have a plaque placed along the wharf? and... (b) in the right hand half of the notice board area, there is another written history of the restoration of the Jane Gifford, have a read of this, it talks about reconditionning a couple of diesel engines, how powerful were each of those engines?
Thanks, and I really hope you enjoy visiting and viewing this amazingly special, and carefully restored local icon. - She really is very special.
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and December 31, 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.