The Tuia Mātauranga Pōkai Whenua GeoTour follows the footsteps of early explorers of Aotearoa New Zealand taking you to places where leaders of the past searched for food, resources and ways to adapt and survive in this new land.
Use the Pōkai Whenua GeoTour as your classroom to you explore the stories of the past, in the present, to preserve what is unique in Aotearoa New Zealand for the future.
Collect the codewords to get the Geocoin puzzle pieces
To be able to complete this GeoTour and receive your special Geocoin collectable, remember to take a note of the codeword placed in the cache. This will need to be recorded in your passport which can be downloaded here.
The Cache
Update 9 Oct "The box was retrieved by a forest and bird member whilst weeding because it appeared to have been washed away during the recent floods.It is in good condition and has been left near the gate from the carpark. If you enter the gate and turn right it is placed at the base of the tree with the purple (red) triangle tag approx 10 metres away. Although partly hidden, it will be relatively easy to find so may need to be re-hidden fairly soon." The cache is an ammo can. S39 59.072 E176 30.783
About Lindsay Bush
Lindsay Bush is one of the very few remaining examples of the lowland podocarp/hardwood forests that once covered the plains in southern Hawke's Bay before the arrival of humans in New Zealand. The forests in this area provided a rich bounty of food for early Māori settlers who harvested kererū, kākā, kōkako and tūī attracted to the fruits in these podocarp forests in autumn. Flightless birds such as kiwi and weka were also harvested in these forests. The current forest of kahikatea, tōtara and mataī is thought to be over 400 years old. The proximity of these forests to large braided rivers provided a means of easy navigation between settlements for Māori. The fertile river plains and swamps provided the necessities of life with flax and cabbage trees providing fibre for weaving garments and building shelters. The streams, wetlands and rivers would also have provided a source of eels (tuna) and native fish (kōkopu).
With the arrival of Europeans and the demand for land for pastoral farming these forests were cleared by fires and the timber harvested for building settlements. The huge food bowl of native trees and birds became replaced by sheep and cattle. Today less than 1% of all the lowland forests in this region remain. Lindsay Bush is one such tiny remnant, a 9.8 ha scenic reserve to remind modern generations of what we have lost. Today the forest is under the care of local community groups lead by Forest and Bird Society who have established a network of traps to control introduced pests and keep the forest clear of rats and possums. The fruit on the trees still provides food for the diminished birdlife still remaining in the reserve. Tūī, kererū, pīpīwharauroa and pīwakawaka are still present but bush birds such as huia, piopio, kōkako, kākāriki and native robins (toutouwai) are long gone. These have been replaced by introduced birds such as finches, blackbirds and song thrushes that now call this bush reserve home.
Geocachers interested in protecting native forest reserves like Lindsay Bush should make contact with their local Department of Conservation community rangers who can connect them with other volunteers who are working to keep these habitats pest-free.