10 minutes North of Levin on SH1 lies the turnoff to Waitarere Beach. Most people continue past on their way North or South but if you make the 5 minute detour to the beach you are rewarded with an area offering something for everyone. The beach is long and wide, and used by a variety of people such as beach fishers, contiki fishers, swimmers and dog walkers. Vehicles are permitted but must not exceed 30km, a fact which a surprising amount of drivers either do not know or choose to ignore (please don't be one of these people!).
In summer the beach is patrolled by the local surf life saving club - remember to swim between the flags.
The wreckage of the ship Hydrabad is accessible by a 2km walk along the beach but nowadays is now mainly buried by the sand,
Many of the houses in the area are holiday homes with some available for short term rent on Air BNB and Book-a-Bach and there is also a camping ground to pitch a tent or park up a caravan to extend your stay in this area.
The nearby forest contains a number of 4WD roads for walking, cycling and horse riding (no vehicles or dogs allowed) which also have caches to be found.
There is even a "Fairy forest" with a cache in it which is cooler than it sounds
How to log this cache:
1. Fill a coffee mug with sand and count how many grains of sand there are.
2. Multiply this number by 254 and add the square root of the number of windows in the surf club.
3. Subtract the number of houses in the township with a "2" in the street number.
4. Ignore steps 1 to 3 - in our minds caching is not about fulfilling inane logging requirements and performing PHD level calculations (that's what mystery caches, multi-caches and earth caches are for) but rather the opportunity to vist beautiful locations such as this and admire the scenery.
To log this cache all we require is for you to take a photo and upload it to your ‘Found it’ log which clearly shows either yourself, your GPS or something obviously geocaching related (if you use your phone not a GPS) with all or part of Kapiti Island in the background (or if the weather is dodgy somewhere in the general direction) as shown in the photo on this cache page. Over time this will provide a pictorial history of the beach and its various users and activities as well as the changing weather conditions.
Note - for anyone who is unable to get to GZ due to mobility issues a photo from the actual beach about 10m from GZ (wheelchair and car accessible) is also acceptable.
Photo taken from GZ with Kapiti Island in the distance on the left - to log this cache you just need to attach a photo to your log from the same spot and direction which clearly shows either yourself, your GPS or something obviously geocaching related (if you use your phone not a GPS) with all or part of Kapiti Island in the background
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.