Placed: 10 January 2008

Cache: S 36° 52.714 E 174° 58.744
Parking: S 36° 52.932 E 174° 59.09
Geocaching.com: GC187B8
Directions to: Jurassic Park (Auckland) GC187B8 (Cache Site)

Motukaraka Island (also known as Flat Island) is one of our favourite local stomping grounds, there is so much to see, it’s like a magical garden that with each visit reveals something new… which is why we wanted to put a cache here.

The walk out to Flat Island is a easy one at low tide, it takes around 20 minutes to walk from the carpark location across the low tide sand bank (approx 200m) to the base of the stairs which take you up to the top of the island. It’s a great walk for young, old and the inbetweeners

Flat Island has a great history…

“..Motukaraka (Flat) Island (5.6656ha; 36.8797° S, 174.9788° E; NZMS 260 R11, 2686800E, 6478500N; Fig. 1, 2) lies just under 500m off the coast of Beachlands, southeast Auckland. Dry-access is available approximately 2-3 hours either side of low-tide along a raised shellbank (note – this shellbank appears to have reduced in height over the last 15 years, which coincides with the construction of the nearby marina).
Motukaraka was historically a Ngati Paoa pa site and was gazetted on 18 March 1905, becoming the first historic category Scenic Reserve in New Zealand. In 1965 a fire swept across the island for three days removing all vegetation except a few coastal pohutukawa (Anon. 1998), and the resulting bare plateau can clearly be seen in a 1967 aerial photo.

It is believed that following this fire rabbits, possums and naturalised plants established on the island. Manukau City Council acquired the Beachlands Domain in 1952 and the island has been managed as a crown reserve since that date. Attempts to transfer management to the Hauraki Park Maritime Park in 1983 were rejected following a survey reporting the poor ecological condition of the island…”

© Auckland Botanical Society
Volume 61(1) June 2006 ISSN 0113-41332
Ecological Survey of Motukaraka (Flat Island), Beachlands, Auckland
James C. Russell, Ewen K. Cameron, Jamie W.B. MacKay, Jane L. Dudley & Mick N. Clout
Download original PDF here

The island appears to be pretty much unloved at the moment, the overgrowth of weeds means that in some areas you’re wading up to waist high in vegetation, but in other areas there is a well trodden walkway just off the stairway at the top. Due to the vegetation on the island itself we set the GPS to trail and walked around the base of the island exploring caves and rock pools on the way, this gave us an accurate map of the island circumference which we find invaluable whenever we venture up the well constructed wooden steps to explore the top. In places it can be a bit disorientating, especially as you make your way to the center of the island, this is mainly because there are no visual bearings so keep your GPS handy

We’ve found that there is a 4 hour window of opportunity to explorer the island before you’ll get wet feet on your way back so there is ample time to explore the not only the top and the foreshore as well.

Description:
Dinosaurs extinct!? If you believed everything any old fool tells you then you would still be thinking pigs can’t fly!

Well for all those sceptics amongst you we can at least put this one to rest, confirming all those conspiracy theories as fact, that there is indeed dinosaurs… not only that…. but living in New Zealand!

Now the secret is out it’s your chance to witness for yourself their natural habitat before the governments/tourist industry seal it off or commercialise it to death.

Sure we could have taken photos, but who would have believed them? It’s something that you have to see for yourself!

Obviously we did not want to disturb them too much but we did manage to get close enough to one to throw a travel bug around it’s neck (TB1R4QN Jurassic Explorer). They are naturally inquisitive and this one would love to be taken and travel around NZ (popping back frequently to the island to tell of it’s adventures.

So where is this island? how do we get there? is it dangerous? You won’t need a boat to get there, just a knowledge of the tides. There are many routes there… each with it’s own difficulties. Although it’s possible (just) to return with no mud on your feet… I wouldn’t go wearing my Sunday best shoes for this trek.

The island is a great place to explore, but please be careful at the top when walking near the edge. If you want to explore fully, we advise walking around the foreshore with your GPSr leaving a trail so when you explore at the top you can check your location (and that of the edge ); The walk around is great for kids to explore (and adults

The vegetation on the island is quite dense but the dinosaurs have left a few well-trodden trails for you to follow. The most direct route is not the easiest and following a longer route may be easier for smaller geocachers.

One final note and advice for you to take with you; The dinosaurs like dark and shady places, please try to open the cache in a dark place so as not to disturb them

Good luck!

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Released: TB1R4QN Jurassic Explorer

Note: did a quick cache check for 2009 and all is aok. There have been reports of really high grass which is in fact true but there are two approaches to the cache location… the other way, slightly longer, following the track, has much shorter grass

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 2:47 pm and is filed under GeoCaching, Our Bugs, Caches & Coins, Traditional Caches. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.