Long Gully Bluffs (Central Otago) Bannockburn, South Island, New Zealand
By
phiki614 on 12-Dec-10. Waypoint GC2K92M
Cache Details
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Logs
I have done the slucings walk a few years back when we were camping at Bannockburn. Today we have the caravan parked up in Lowburn and I felt like a longer harder wander.Hubby dropped me off in the carpark and I estimated 3 hours which I was spot on with. The first part of the walk up to Stewart town was the easy bit - pretty challenging for the long gully loop. I just trudged along - getting 3 caches on my way. This one I almost gave up on came at it from the wrong direction and got a bit scratched up by the shrubbery up here. But I persevered - not sure if Im ever going to be up in this neck of the woods again.TFTC
Wicked walk and view of the sunset over the mountains. Cache is in average shape, unfortunately I didn’t bring a container for it.
I have checked with DOC and the track is open 7 days a week. Only closed during lambing.
Had my eyes on this one for a while as I love letterboxing. Sadly every time I am near the weather is usually too nasty or not the right day! So planned to get it this time as the weather seemed set fair. Got to the car park an hour early as the clocks went back and set off into clear blue skies, leaving the fog down in Cromwell. Went East and followed the easy farmers tracks then just after half way stepped off the track to aim for the rocks. Avoided most of the prickles on the way and got to a good GZ. Then I looked where the cache would be and my nerves left me. No head for heights at all. Wandered around to see if I could get near from the bottom but no. Finally plucked up courage and edged near and peered over the top and saw it. Now to get to it, crawled over the top and reached down. Sadly came up with a load of bits of broken plastic and bags and bits and pieces. Pulled them out then slowly crawled back to terra firma. Logbook OK though so happy to be first to put my stamp in it. Also first to find in over 3 years (previous log looks bogus, not signed!). Ate an early lunch so I could use my lunch bag to put all the bits in, sorry if the log smells of cheese now. Then had to put it back, nerve wracking again. A bit of a rest then continued on the trail.
Wonderful trail, needs more caches up here to get other to view it. Hopefully I can help with that. Trail in good condition, well marked.
Wonderful trail, needs more caches up here to get other to view it. Hopefully I can help with that. Trail in good condition, well marked.
Next up here please bring a lunch box sized container. Cache is in a ziploc bag at the moment.
#1206 - Made the decision after work this morning to head out to this cache and grab the first bit of unloved in awhile.
Simple walk in, it's so awesome to trudge through the grass over here and not have to worry about snakes! Had to stop once to put a buff over my forehead to stop the sweat dripping into my eyes but the occasional sun showers helped to keep cool.
The cache was quickly found at GZ after finding a path through prickles and masses of bumble bees.
The way out was a bit slower as the terrain was wet and less defined, the poles were easy enough to follow though.
Hopefully during my short time here in Cromwell I am able to find the time to do a few more of the other fun hill climb caches.
582 days unloved added
Tftc
→←
Simple walk in, it's so awesome to trudge through the grass over here and not have to worry about snakes! Had to stop once to put a buff over my forehead to stop the sweat dripping into my eyes but the occasional sun showers helped to keep cool.
The cache was quickly found at GZ after finding a path through prickles and masses of bumble bees.
The way out was a bit slower as the terrain was wet and less defined, the poles were easy enough to follow though.
Hopefully during my short time here in Cromwell I am able to find the time to do a few more of the other fun hill climb caches.
582 days unloved added
Tftc
→←
This one has been on the intentions list for ages. At last the opportunity arose. We had a last minute request to man a check point on the Mt Difficulty Ascent race, a marathon distance with heaps of climbing. The organizer was so desperate that he lent us his 4 x 4 to get there. Guessed the cache would be somewhere close and it turned out to be only 300m from the track, 1.5km down from the check point.
Well have an opp on my shoulder about 4 weeks ago and still got about 4 weeks to go before I'm back at work so I thought I would come visit some friends in Cromwell for a few days so was a great time to find a few caches. While up here. I see there was a few different types up here 6 to be exact. So I started with this one and OMG what a hike to the top. I have done other T4 caches that were a walk in the park compared to this one. Well when I left it was a bit over cast so thought it would not be to hot and then it rained about half way up and I started to think maybe I should go back as my legs were dying. But no I kept going and it kept raining near the top it got very hard to see the posts but I kept going I and would eventually find them. Also at the top the bushes get very thick and hard to walk through so I would recommend long pants and sleeves to stop getting scratched. Once at the GZ the rain stopped and the view was awesome sat for a while and enjoyed it. The way down was a lot better and the sun came out. Also there was a dive bombing magpie that kept flying at me at the start/finish location so mind him at nesting time. TFTC
I am posting this find live from GZ. Nice walk, but the track needs some attention. Had to bash my own track through the last few hundred meters up to the Conservation Area. Glad I wore my gaiters! Great spot. TFTC. Cheers!
I really enjoy spending time in New Zealand, I just love it here. Its nature, people and adventures I am passing through. Awesome place, thank you very much for introducing to myself and for the cache itself 
Sorry for late logging, I have some problems with internet access during travelling.
Sorry for late logging, I have some problems with internet access during travelling.After a 12km hike up in the steepish rocky hills behind Alex in the a.m, I decided at 2.30pm to set off for this rarely found cache.
Was extremely hot following the poled route and even hotter on the very steep incline.
Was difficult seeing the poles as the matagouri and briar was so thick and high in many places.
A lot of stopping to decide the route, getting plenty of vegetation scratches when I went the wrong way.
After sweating buckets, finally made the plateau. Wove my way around more briar to GZ and found a nice place for a cache. Nope. Hmm a 4 star terrain. Will need to look "over" there, the cache name says it all.
And so over there I went, clinging on to everything rocky and stable looking, not looking down.
Spotted the cache, phew. Then had to "get there". More clinging on.
Cache all in great condition, signed log and returned it. Then had to tip toe the bluff to get back to terra firma.
Headed back down the steep incline, thankfully following the GPS trail. Poles going down almost invisible, incurring more scratches. Only managed one tired fall with a heavy landing.
Got back to Stewart Town making it a tough 3hr/8.5km hike, but very satisfying to grab a hard earned smiley. Gets a favourite. TFTC.
Was extremely hot following the poled route and even hotter on the very steep incline.
Was difficult seeing the poles as the matagouri and briar was so thick and high in many places.
A lot of stopping to decide the route, getting plenty of vegetation scratches when I went the wrong way.
After sweating buckets, finally made the plateau. Wove my way around more briar to GZ and found a nice place for a cache. Nope. Hmm a 4 star terrain. Will need to look "over" there, the cache name says it all.
And so over there I went, clinging on to everything rocky and stable looking, not looking down.
Spotted the cache, phew. Then had to "get there". More clinging on.
Cache all in great condition, signed log and returned it. Then had to tip toe the bluff to get back to terra firma.
Headed back down the steep incline, thankfully following the GPS trail. Poles going down almost invisible, incurring more scratches. Only managed one tired fall with a heavy landing.
Got back to Stewart Town making it a tough 3hr/8.5km hike, but very satisfying to grab a hard earned smiley. Gets a favourite. TFTC.
Huzzah! I finally sorted out a day and nice weather to go and play at Long Gully Bluffs. That was the easy bit as the slightly angled track made the access somewhat 'testing of ones character', but that little challenge was eventually overcome. The cache was located after some dithering about whether to approach from the top or the bottom and is in good order. Left a RexTrex dino-dropping and a McWintrex7 path-tag for the next lucky seekers to keep.
Another gem, thanks phiki.
Another gem, thanks phiki.
Well that uphill certainly gave my heart a good work out. Have been watching this cache for a while and surprised to be ftf. Never knew this reserve was here. Great walk. tftc.
