Mavora Lakes Bridge (Southland) The Dale, South Island, New Zealand
By ogobodo on 17-Jan-10. Waypoint GC233EN

**On safari - tracking down hidden creature trophy heads to hang in the hunting lodge gallery.**
*Cache still in place with current logbook dated from Feb logs in good condition. It was pushed in hide deeply and after some wobbling and an excavation, cache was returned to hide not so far in and hide packed with duff to stop the backslide.*

Found 17 Oct 16 Took the 30 Km drive on the gravel road a few times to know that the lakes don't always receive a lot of visitors from farawayland. We never camped here as a family with it being so crowded and noisy, not to mention the sandflies meh! Paid my dues (that's a first) for the privilege of spending the night to knock off several caches in the area. Found a park near a quieter family and walked down the GZ by moonlight. Gods I hate swing bridges with a passion³ , and I had to cross two of them this trip. It's wery squeaky when there is such silence in the valley at night. Besides the fireworks someone let off and woke the children. Once I sorted out my lefts and rights, found the wery leaky con and sodden logbook shoved in the bottom of the con. NO BAG at all! so go figure. Exchanged cache for one of my camo micros and RITR log strips in a new bag. SL and returned to hide. TFTC
*Was a long wait for dawn and enough daylight to log the archived [virtual](https://coord.info/GC28AA) that was removed later.*

Okay, this is the end of this cache. As there are new other caches in this area I'm happy to pull this. Thanks for the visitors, that shared their moment in this area in their log.

Five of us combed the area but were unsuccessful. Found a couple of snap lock bags and a pile of possum poo at GZ, a shame it wasn't the cache though. Might pay to check this is still in place.....

See below

The five of us couldn't find after about 15 min. Sandflies were biting on exposed "lower back" skin that i failed to apply Buzz Off to earlier.
Even the 4 sniffer dogs couldn't found it.

Afraid the cache is gone for quite a while. Will send a picture to the owner cause can't miss the hint.
Anyway it was a great place to see !!
thanks

Found this one on our tour of the South Island.
Thanks for hiding!

Spent the weekend here - such a beautiful place! TFTC

Appears to be gone. The photo clue makes it pretty certain. Cheers.

A nice place to stop and get a cache.
Tftc

quick stop and find. Beautiful place. Will be back. Tftc

A nice walk to find thlklis one
Great veiw of the lakes
Will need to come back again
Tftc

Took a trip here with DSI to check out a possiblility for a lightweight camp. Took longer than we should have to find it, but in the end it was in the obvious place.
Thanks for the smilie.
1566 13 October 2017 18:06

Birthday trip to Mavora, sigh hitting the big 50. Paid the increased $8 each and found a spot to camp at. Moonlight walk to the GZ across the bridge and found the tucked away cache. Plenty of recent logs added but still heaps of room left on the slips. Goods all dry and bagged. Returned cache and crossed back of the squeaky bridge. Morepork heard from afar. TFTC

After our detour to Carey's Hut and our DNF at the carpark multi, it was nice to make a quick find at this cache. tftc

Found

Here for the night - our first visit! What a beautiful spot! So much birdlife around as well. TFTC

Walking the TA NOBO we found this nice cache on our way through this beautiful landscape. TFTC, NMDA

Found it!

Found

Our first geocache find! Thank you!

Fast find in one of the most beautiful places on the planet regardless of the weather.
TFTC

Nice cache thanks

In at Mavora for 3 days including xmas day in the campervan. Got the lamb butterly roast, minted peas and xmas pudding with custard. Caught 2 trout in first 25 minutes from kayak. Merry xmas and thanks for the cache

So very cold this morning. Campground more full than expected but Sunday so some may leave. Lots of birds. NINO TFTC

Mavora turned on some great weather for our day - ferocious sandflies as usual but a fun time biking around and great to catch this cache

along with fiona84 month on a 2 journey through new zealand and australia. on the journey we passed through the cache to beautiful places and were also some very old caches log. many thanks for cherish and maintain the caches.

Together with schrek77 I traveled two months through New Zealand and Australia . First we traveled with a camper for 6 weeks the North and South Island of New Zealand . Then we went to Melbourne where we visited the city and the surrounding area . then we went to closing in the north of Australia . During this time we visited several geocaches and were brought to very nice places through this partially . We also had the opportunity to visit some very old caches , which extremely pleased us . We wish to thank Owner for nurture and cherish the caches .

Nice cache located near one of typical impressive swingbridges wich you can find on many walkways. Tftc best gladtony242

Found it with "FrenchSuperTrampNiko" on our hiking Te Araroa trail
TFTC!

Lots of people at the lakes today so had to be careful. Was quick to find -once i ignored my gps and re-read the clue lol. Very windy but warm today so my gps and compass were playing up. Found it in the end. TFTC

Bouncy swing bridge. So many memories of this place. Tftc

Easy find. Parked up for the night. Off to do some hut bagging tftc

Beautiful clear river today. We enjoyed the scenery on the way to this cache. A nice quick find. TFTC

Spent the night on the campside near the cache.

After a (for me) terrifying walk with my eyes shut across the swing bridge I found the cache only to have to walk back across the bridge. This time I opened my eyes and quickly closed them breathed deeply to quell the panic attack. BUT I DID IT AND FOUND IT LOL

Gypsyrose58 and I came up for two nights to chill and relax, was overcast and drizzling further down teh road but lovely here. Gypsyrose58 was brave and managed to get across the swingbridge and find the cache. Thanks for bringing us here,

Easy find in a cool spot. So pretty out here! Logbook is a bit damp. TFTC

Very nice place. Not very famous, I don't know why as this place is beautiful. Found with Dénis! The logbook is wet.Tftc

Found during a 3 day tramping trip in the Mavora Lakes area. We did a circumnavigation of South Mavora Lake that took us about 2 hours 20 minutes. Easy find in the pouring rain. Thanks for placing it!

TFTC, found on our camping adventure after the rain finally decided to ease up a bit

.

Quick find due to the hints TFTC

We’re here from the UK on the trip of a lifetime with Geocaching as one of the ‘must do’ elements of the trip.

We stopped here for a quick lunch (pies from Miles Better Pies in Te Anau – fab !) before carrying on to the end of the road and having a short walk around the area.

The cache could be in better condition – a helpful cacher has put some more paper in a bag inside but even that is damp – maybe the recent rain ? Anyway, thanks to the CO for the cache; we wouldn’t have stopped here if it hadn’t been for the cache.

Thanks for this easy one near my tent...

This entry was edited by Taurandir on Sunday, 22 February 2015 at 05:58:21 UTC.

Found this on the 10/02 while staying overnight there on our way to Walter Peak Station amazing weather fabulous spot

Great area for a cache. Thanks.
#131 11.02.2015 11:02

Beautiful location. Log was wet. No pen. Tried to dry out the ziplock bag. Didn't have a replacement sorry. Left a dry sheet of paper for log.

After a short stay at Mavora lakes we could find this cache. Great scenery. TFTC

Nice cach ttfc

Found easily TFTC. We spent two nights here and drove the rest of the road to Lake Wakatipu on our motorcycles. Got to be one of the great drives in New Zealand. Awesome area.

We found this cache during our wonderful journey through New Zealand. Thank you for the cache and the great time in your country! Greetings from Germany.

Easy one but nice Spot TFTC !

Thanks for this placement. We were looking for a spot to launch the kayak and decided to make a very pleasant diversion.

Quick find, coordinates slightly off. The curious tomtit watching me was not very helpful during the search for the container.
TNLNSL TFTC #1025
Te Araroa day 100 (!)

Shinichi87 and I found this little one on our road trip around the south island. Our beloved Campervan Gimli took us in every little part of the South Island, so we could collect a lot of Caches
TFTC

On our road trip KullerKeks90 and I spend here at the Mavora Lakes two days. Actually we wanted to spent just one day and one night here to visit those nice lakes we knew from the LotR movies. But we were so overwhelmed from this place that we decided to stay another night here. Great spot but the coordinates were a couple of meters off...

Thanks for showing. Time to take photos now.

After we build up our tent we did a small walk around the area. We passed the swing bridge and searched for any locations of caches. And we found it. We logged the cache and went back to our tent because it starts to rain. We also got hungry so the meal had to be done.

TFTC and greetings from Germany
Happy Caching @ All

After we build up our tent we did a small walk around the area. We passed the swing bridge and searched for any locations of caches. And we found it. We logged the cache and went back to our tent because it starts to rain. We also got hungry so the meal had to be done.

TFTC and greetings from Germany
Happy Caching @ All

We didnt plan to come here when we set out, so didnt have any local caches loaded in the GPS. However I found some in an old file in the notebook, loaded them in and lo and behold, a cache 120m from our camp. It took a second look by Mrs S.t. to locate it though.
Brilliant.
Cheers and many thanks for placing a cache here,
S.t.

Back @ home, we log our holidaycaches:

On a wonderful holiday round trip, found here in this awesome beautiful country New Zealand. Four Weeks can only provide the rough, and that's why we come again!

In this case the cache was after a roudtrip with our rental car..... which we didnt were allowed becaus of the gravelroad.... but a little bit further than and we were on a LOTR spot which i must go
The cache is on a very beautiful place, the lakes are beautiful, and the bridge is perfect here

TFTC and many greetings from Germany
Team Napo79

A great find on a camping trip to North Mavora Lake with the family. We always love this bridge and the view down the lake from the beach closeby.

We camped nearby at totally deserted campsite, cache was a must.

What I learned here - if you make your tent under a tree, it rains much longer! Nobody ws there but sandflies. And lots of them. Without them, this place would be a paradise!!

This one was on our hike we made today. It was an easy find. But what a great place! CO thanks. Greetings from The Netherlands.

We make a hike around the lake Mavora.
Enjoy the beautiful scenery. Easy found.
Thanks CO

Found this one before heading for a quick weekend walk.
TFTC

Lovely area to visit, must be packed during the summer period judging by the number of camping spaces! Crossed the bridge and walked a bit further until some young muggles disappeared, then found the cache easily - TFTC!!

Have wanted to visit here for years and have finally made it. What a great place. TFTC

Day is getting better. No one here

Found it on a quick trip into Mavora. Great spot!

Easy find while on holiday in the South Island from Whangamata

A beautiful day to be such a spot. TFTC

Long drive in, but great spot to camp for the night. Quick evening find before bed. TFTC

Easy find. The lakes and surrounding forest are really beautiful.

Tftc

Quick Cache on Christmas Day. Nice Bridge.
TFTC!
Peterklaus12

Found at 10:33:00 a.m. on 20/12/2012.

A quick grab on a brilliant sunny day.

TFTC ogobodo

The One Ring TB has visited the many LOTR filming locations near Mavora Lakes - the burning orc mound, Gandalf whistling up Shadowfax, the Company of the Ring on the elvish boats setting off down the Silverlode, the tree Frodo hid behind to escape the orcs, and the Nen Hithoel location where Sam ran into the water after Frodo.

We visited the Mavora Lakes today and also stopped at this beautiful spot. We found the cache at once at 12.15 p.m.
Thanks for the hide.

TNLN
#4237

Camping at these standard DoC campsites is $5 per person. With the beauty, remoteness and the facilities provided anyone is getting a bargain @ $5 per head. Day visits are free. Cache is in good nick. Thank you for bringing us here. We're on our way to NZ MEGA 2012 in Dunedin. See you there!

This is absolutely astonishing valley, beautiful lakes. Don't understand why the DOC campsite is so expensice though.

Thanks anyway!

Quick and easy find for a great morning.

quick find while on a school camp with Jr PBH. all in good shape. SL TNLN. TFTC

Traveled the South Island for 3 weeks and the Mavora Lakes region was by far my favorite place to visit. Spend a few days backpacking in the area and stayed 2 nights in Boundary Hut. I'll for sure spend a lot more time here the next time I'm in NZ. Thanks for placing this cache.

I took a couple of days off from life to do some quiet hiking in here along sections of Te Araroa, the 'national pathway' between Cape Reinga and Bluff. Found this cache on Day 2 of my walks - a morning start from the campground before the nearby school kids were up and zooming around looking for cachers to disturb.

Easily found with the guidance given, thanks ogobodo.

Another swing bridge, a little more sturdy than the Kiwi Burn one. A quick easy find with the hint, and with the GPS swinging around a lot, it was difficult to say which were the better of the published or kev n chris’ coordinates. We would probably opt for somewhere in between. A busy place today, with pupils from Tuatapere Community College camped in the area. TFTC

Found it while on a hunt with Whiskers & Petal. coords about 20 metres out, two GPS used and S45 16.639 E168 10.201 was more accurate. TNLN TFTC

was unable to locate
beautiful spot. maybe just unlucky

thanks heaps lucky for me there is a new swing bridge and I actually walked across it. took tb and will place him in another today .

On a mt biking trip along the lakes to Forks and boundary huts then back along Mt Nicholas road to Walter Peak Station and the ride across to Queenstown. had some great weather and nice fishing. What a beautiful area - will have to be back for a longer stay.
I had a TB which belonged to a young boy in USA called Boromir from LOTR which he wanted to visit LOTR sites. Near here was the filming of Boromir's battle in the Fangorn forest so i thought this would be a good spot for it. unfortunetly the cache was too small to fit the TB so I have left the TB and cache in a plastic bag in the hiding spot which was big enough to hold both.

Good area for a cache TFTC Good hide

This is a stunning spot! There isn't a pen/pencil in the cache, and as we were passing by kayak had no chance to go back and get one... so I didn't actually sign the log. Photo posted instead as proof. TFTC

Found it with Jitka. Interesting how old are the other logs in the log book.

Easy find once we got there. Pity its such an out of the way place with only 1 other cache to get on the way.
T4TC

A very long drive in on a hot day, but a quick easy find at the cache site. TFTC

First cache of a long day, easy find, thx

Found quickly 1/2/11. Fortunately,as a very cold blustery wind buffeted the bridge.Nice spot.TFTC

We camped at the southern end of Lower Mavora Lake Campground, one of my favourite DOC Camps.
The Cache was easy to find.
TFTC