You want to turn off the main road at 40°47.572S, 172°43.885E and proceed to the trail head at 40°48.528S, 172°43.118E. If you find any closed gates, please proceed carefully and remember to leave the gates the way you found them. Sign the visitor's book, change into your spare set of trainers and ford the little stream.
Turn right and follow the marked track upstream. Once the track leaves the stream, it will go uphill and eventually come to a small creek at about 40°49.151S, 172°42.502E. Don't get confused here -- follow the track to the left, up the creek. When the track leaves the stream, change back into your boots and fill your water bottles because this is the last water you'll see for a while.
Getting lost you can find this nice swimming hole...
From here, it's a rather steep climb for most of the way,
coming to a top elevation of 1278m at the highest point of
the ridge, so don't say you weren't warned. (Shouldn't be
a problem for a reasonably fit person though.)
About halfway up the track, you'll find a nice place to have lunch at 40°50.130S, 172°42.553E, elev. 832m.
If at one point going along the track, you find track markers that look like a big red X and you get confused, stay to your right and go west along the ridge towards your destination. It is quite easy to get lost sometimes on this track so make sure you save your route so you can backtrack should you lose your way. (Hey, this is what these GPS gadgets are supposed to be for, right?)
Once you are up on the ridge, finding the cache should be a snap. (I didn't want to make it too hard to find considering the way to it is already hard enough.) If you would like to stay overnight, you'll find plenty of flat tent-sized spaces up there, some sheltered, some less so. One is just meters from the actual peak (40°50.169S, 172°40.451E).
If you aren't camping, you will want to get the hell out
of dodge by about 15:30, because you don't want to get stuck in the bush at night.
STUFF YOU WILL NEED:
- pair of tramping boots
- pair of trainers for crossing streams
- your binoculars or a camera will be handy
- camping gear if you want to spend the night
(consider splitting it between 2 people because
it's a pretty steep track!)
WAYPOINTS:
#01 - 40°49.408S 172°42.510E 439m
#02 - 40°49.549S 172°42.577E 581m
#03 - 40°49.678S 172°42.624E 624m
#04 - 40°49.925S 172°42.658E 720m
#05 - 40°50.080S 172°42.605E 797m
#06 - 40°50.130S 172°42.553E 833m
#07 - 40°50.536S 172°41.562E 1034m
#08 - 40°50.521S 172°41.325E 1067m
#09 - 40°50.613S 172°40.722E 1144m
#10 - 40°50.627S 172°40.549E 1210m
#11 - 40°50.397S 172°40.382E 1286m
#12 - 40°50.345S 172°40.375E 1278m
#13 - 40°50.319S 172°40.380E 1280m
It's nice atop Para Para Peak!
Have fun, and be safe!