Tongaporutu Coin Treasure (Taranaki) Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

Zero Gravitas: No response from owner. If you wish to repair/replace the cache sometime in the future, just contact us (by email), and assuming it meets the current guidelines, we'll be happy to unarchive it.

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Hidden : 9/7/2008
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

A very straightfoward drive-by cache in a rest area overlooking the Tongaporutu River Mouth.
Accuracy + or - 3 metres

Known recently for the battles of bach owners to keep their holiday homes along the Tongaporutu river, the Tongoporutu area has a long and interesting history. Earliest occupation dates back to the 1300s when the waka Tokomaru came ashore. Later, Tongaporutu provided farm land for the early British settlers. Ancient Maori rock carvings in the caves along the coastline are unique and remain largely undiscovered due to the isolation. Tongaporutu has become a great place to get away from it all. Less than an hour's drive from New Plymouth heading north, it's a good place to fish, find seafood or simply walk the lonely beaches and watch the tides.

To capture the true essence of a place‚ to reveal its nuances and moods, one has to know it as intimately as one knows a lover. The Tongaporutu coastline is one of the most spectacular and dynamic coastlines in the country. Someone once commented in a photography magazine that, “... great landscapes can be elusive, but at least they won’t disappear overnight.” I always smile when I recall this sage piece of advice, because it is incorrect‚ particularly with respect to the Tongaporutu coastline which is in a constant state of flux. The nearby Three Sisters are constantly being changed by the elements. Beaches, the highways of the coast, are the most ephemeral of natural features. Their malleable mantles of sand ebb and flow in tune with the prevailing currents and weather conditions. Each tidal cycle produces a fresh canvas. One never to be repeated. You might expect cliffs to be more permanent, but those at Tongaporutu are not. They have been fashioned from crumbling grey papa and sandstone, and are under constant assault from the volatile Tasman Sea. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the coastline is eroding at the rate of two metres annually. Changes are thus occurring over breathtakingly short timeframes even in human terms, let alone the normal spans of geology. Spooky caves, stoic rock stacks and great sheer faces of layered rock—none of them last. This is also a treacherous coastline for the unwary. Access is only safe when tides are a half metre or lower and the weather is reasonable. At high tide and during stormy conditions, regardless of the state of the tide, waves sweep right up to the cliffs, and those cliffs are unclimbable. Walking the coastline, I have a cat-and-mouse relationship with the sea. Sometimes it is a playful kitten. Other times it is a ferocious tigress who mesmerises with potent displays of raw power. The cliffs too have their moods. They can be benign on some occasions and have rock-throwing tantrums on others. The Tongaporutu coastline is a place where you either learn to read its moods very quickly or you can be very quickly dead. That is what I love about Tongaporutu-- I never feel more alive than when I am here! [Manaia]

PLEASE POST PHOTOGRAPHS
PLEASE LEAVE GEOCOINS (most TBs will not fit cache)

More information is available at: (visit link)

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Pnpur vf pyrireyl pbaprnyrq 0.5 Zrgerf sebz Trbqrgvp Znex NUSC.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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