East Side Robin (Nelson) Rainbow, South Island, New Zealand
By bumandworker on 30-Jun-11. Waypoint GC2Z6VC

Located with Ricardinho We took the Friday off work after Anzac day & have a long weekend planned staying at the Nelson Lakes. Fabulous first day at Lake Rotoiti, we caught the water taxi up to Coldwater Hut & hiked back to Kerr Bay. First part of the day was fine with rain threatening but holding off, rainbows & beautiful views. The rain started only half an hour before we got back. Another one that stumped us for a bit. A more thorough look in the original spot we checked, fielded success the second time. Pity it took us 10mins before we looked there again lol TFTC

Hint was obvious, that was the first place I had a look, but not thoroughly enough.We ended up doing most of the searching on the other side of the track before coming back, looking at from a different angle, and making an easy find then.Took longer than it should have, which is all our fault. TFTC B&W.Today we are in St Arnaud as we are lucky enough to have the use of RG72s sisters holiday home for a couple of days. The weather is not great, but its good enough for a couple of decent but not extreme little walks. Our one for today was from Coldwater hut to St Arnaud, which is just over 13km. We got dropped off by the water taxi there, took the river crossing shortcut to Lakehead, and walked back out. 8 caches targeted. All had good find history, and all duly found. Have added some photos from the day. Thanks all!

lovely beech forest and the bellbirds are amazing today. just got buzzed by a pair crossing the track. Added a plastic bag and witr extra log sheet as existing one pretty damp. tftc

Cache is very wet.

Beautiful day for a walk. Thanks for the cache

Not where I expected but noticed the cover and found cache then.
First find of this cache in 2022. Recommend the walk around the lake, it's beautiful

After knocking off the Richmond ranges yesterday it was time to carry on along the trail a bit more and thankfully the terrain is alot easier than the last 8 days..
Good place for a rest quick find tftc

Found the cache ok. But due to the rain i didnt opent it and just took a photo. Tftc

This is my practice overnighter - solo with a tent.... the plan is to head up the valley past the Lake Head hut and find a nice spot beside the river.
Was a beautiful day - pity about the sandflies once I stopped to put the tent up tho.
Nice and obvious here - thanks B&W

Fifth find on our Loop the Lake walk with HarrisGang5. Another joint find and great hint. TFTC

Our fifth find on our Loop the Lake walk. This one was a combined effort with MuzzaL53. Tftc

Started the search on the wrong side of the track and found a few possible spots but no cache so started on the other side and there it was - tftc

Found in a beautiful walk with kids. There is another v nearby which through us but got it in the end. Think literal.

With four (nearly) lakeside caches available this are was our choice for today. We loaded the boat and headed to the lake for a few hours of pre Christmas calm.

This was the third place I dropped gk off so that he could find the cache, it took a few moments to spot the correct hint item as there was a tree between him and the cache. But he soon had it sorted, signed the log and returned it as he found it.
The wind was starting to blow a wee bit and the calm flat lake was getting a tad choppy. Little did we know that the rain was also about to arrive. The changeable weather in an alpine environment can take some by surprise.

Thanks for placing this cache and thank you for the smiley.

This one took us a really long time to find. I'd given up after about 15 minutes of searching in what I thought were various hint locations. NZ5 was clambering about and he spotted the cache and reminded me of the hint description.... he knew that I was reading it back to front all along!

Found it

Found quickly on our TA thru-hike thanks to a great hint. This is the first lake we have encountered on the Te Araroa and it is beautiful!

Loved walking along this track with lots of beech trees and lots of views of Lake Rotoiti. Magical. A quick snag and tag here. Cheers

Zara and I are off for some much needed tree time, with Lake Rotoiti on my agenda for today. Arranged a hut pass, left Zara resting at TeeTotal and hit the trail by 10. Finally arrived at Coldwater Creek Hut just before 5pm.

Found it durring a family hike around the lake. We went to lake head hut for one night and then walked out the next day great cache. Haha good one great hit took a few seconds for the penny to drop cheers for the cache

This cache and log was un salvageable as the lid was broken and the log was a sticky wet ball. We replaced the container with a peanut butter jar and added a few treasures.

This geocacher reported that the container is damaged.

Today, D4nielB and me decided to do the Lakehead Trail from St. Arnaud to the Hut and back. Of course we also looked for some caches on our way.
We found this one easily without any Robin's help. But as D4nielB already reported: this container and logbook could need some maintenance.
Greetings from Hamburg, Germany.
Juliane

Today Jul1ane and me went out for a hike on the Lakehead Trail to from St. Arnaud to Lakehead Hut and back. Apart from a really nice hike, we also took the chance to find some caches on the way.

Another easy find. The cap of the container is broken though, and the logbook is soaking wet. So we can only provide a photo log if needed. The container and logbook should be replaced.

...

Log is impossible to sign. Container lid has split letting water in. Have photo evidence if required. TFTC

An interesting twist of events had me driving a van, fully set up for sleeping and camping, so I immediately applied for leave on Friday and looked for a suitable destination. St. Arnaud has been on the cards again for some time, so it was a no brainer to head in this direction! On Saturday, I decided to take a walk around Lake Rotoiti all the way through the swing bridge. Not because I was trying to keep my feet dry, but there were a couple more caches that way! It was definitely not a cold day, and I kept reapplying sunscreen and insect repellent the whole way. Excellent tramp, highly recommended!! No robins here, although I did see plenty during the day. Thanks for all the caches that made the day so enjoyable!!!

This geocacher reported that the container is damaged.

Wicm Jnr and I did a day walk around the lake. It was a seven hour trip (fording the river). We did about a fifth of the caches we passed, otherwise we would have been on the track till dark! This was the first we found. No bellbird here today, but there was a fantail - unfortunately it was gone before I could put the bird lens on my camera.

As the previous finders noted, the cache was wet. There wasn't any water in the container but the log was saturated. I aired it for half an hour while we had a snack but it didn't dry out much.

Found with Kiwimykl, refer to his log for details.

TFTC B&W

Found with NZDi. This weekend is Marlborough Anniversary weekend and after a couple of hectic months stuck around the house, we decided to treat ourselves to an extra long weekend at St Arnaud, so with a successful draw in the RNZAF holiday home ballot we headed to the Nelson Lakes for four nights in another part of the country we call paradise.

Today is also a Dot Day, so getting a cache out of town is always good for that mission and by the end of the day I wont need to worry about the 27th of October until we are going for 13-Days.

Yesterday we cycle-cached some of the Teetotal Flat mountain bike park on our MTBs. Today we 'Looped the Lake' going clockwise and taking 11 hours to complete (including going up to the Travis Swing Bridge). After a bit of a false start while we had to go back to the house to pick up something NZDi left behind, we finally got onto the track at 8.10am. this was the third of twelve caches we picked up today. In the six months since the last find the cache container had filled to the brim with rain water and the log book was sodden. With no chance of drying it out and the cache maintenance kit having not been replenished since last weekend, the only thing we could do was take a photo of the drenched items to prove our presence. It would appear a previous finder had overtightened the lid on the cache container and it had broken, a common fault with caches of this type.

The robin was not in residence today, but I recall on a previous walk up the lakeside several years ago, it was about here that a robin perched on my sons shoe while we stopped and had a drink.

TFTC B&W

Exploring the Nelson Lakes for four days R ‘n’ R, and to collect a cache or two as we go. Enjoying the wonders of Rotoiti and St Arnaud. A great day to be out ‘n’ about, ‘n’ travelling, ‘n’ neat to stop off, ‘n’ collect one of ‘yours’. T, bumandworker, FTC.

Great day for this walk robin was there to greet us

The resident Robin must be right on to the fact that people passing stir up juicy insects. Certainly very people friendly. TFTC

Found on a very pleasant lakeside walk with Tramper Ted. Thanks b&w.

26 March 2016 13:39 5.48. 3227. The objective of today's walk, and 5.51km accumulated towards the DGSC challenge. I was rewarded with the company of two robins as I searched for the cache, which took me far longer than it should have! Now for the long walk back to the car. The thunder storm made it even more interesting.... TFTC

we awere dropped off at the end of the lake and really enjoyed a wander back along the trail. Stunning day and stunning views. TFTC

Found with quinella on our walk from lakehead hut- on a mission for the weekend so late logging sorry. Tftc.

A bit of a hunt, but actually should have been a short stop. Great day to walk this track

Found while on the first day of our tramp around the Travers Sabine circuit. Nice cool pace to stop and rest while hunting for the cache.

We also had a robin nearby on the path. They watch without getting agitated; very calm unlike many other birds. TFTC

Quick find between sandfly bites. Greetings from Scotland. TFTC

Quick find running round the lake this morning

Had 4 Days, 3 Nights walking the Travers-Sabine Circuit. GPS-Good/Cache-a little wet /Hint was Good/Weather was Great.TFTC.

First cache on our Sabine-Traverse track. Took us a little bit to figure out the location mentioned in the hint, but then it was a quick find. Tftc

A weekend trip up to the Nelson Lakes with G H 6 7 1 0 and the Seagnoid was planned with a couple of days of the weekend in one of the work baches not far off the lake side in Rotoiti/ St Arnaud. Targets were set; get the Seagnoid past 4000 caches, get more than 50 a day for G H 7 6 1 0, and get me past 3200 cache finds. Also in target was some tramping, some boat caching (grabbing whilst moored as close as safely possible to G Z) some 4 W Driving and some basic park and grabs. We also wanted to get all of the puzzle/unknown caches in St Arnaud as well as 100% of the multi caches in St Arnaud (cache Tectonics!). There was driving, boating, walking, rain, mist, sun, ducklings, eels and trout, sandflies (of course), beech trees and great views. Fun and sweat (no tears), a wasp sting and over 100 caches found for me. We all surpassed our targets and at the end of 2 full on days we returned to a cooler Blenheim than when we left tired out.
The last day of January and this January has probably been my most prolific with lots of great South Island caches, with a handful of N I ones thrown in for good measure. Todays plan is to start with some P &Gs, then off up the Pinch Gut for a nice tramp, then back to the car.
We've got our water transport sorted and under the steady hand of Captain Garth it's all aboard the Skylar, sorry, The Sioux for a putt-putt across and around the lake edges for some m&gs (moor and grabs)
Nice and easy find here and was the Seagnoid's 4000th cache, yay
T F T C b&w

This entry was edited by capperz on Thursday, 05 February 2015 at 08:28:52 UTC.

[green] Capperz decided that this was the weekend for a marathon run on St Arnaud. Not sure why, except that base lodge there had a cancelled weekend and was free to grab. So he, I and GH6710 had an interesting time caching the surrounds. Rained on and off. The wet long grass meant that I had wet feet for the entire trip. Saw the insides and tops of clouds, some great views, lots of rabbits (or maybe just the one, many times over - it always did the same thing: safe on the side of the road, it decides to runs across just in front of the car). Also got to see robins, sandflies, no keas, sandflies and more sandflies. We managed to get GH to break his 50/day record, and over 120 for the whole trip. Saturday we climbed half way up Mt Robert in the morning then boated around Lake Rotoiti in a little yellow plastic dingy for the afternoon. Sunday was lonely cache day - some over 10 months since their last find. Many of these found with GH's 4x4, bumping over some very rough roads, my first real experience of four wheel driving. What an awesome weekend!
The morning up Mt Robert is done, now it is the afternoon boating around the circumference of the lake. We had a little yellow plastic dingy with a 15 HP engine. If this was sea we would be ridiculously overloaded. As it was it must have looked an odd sight!
Have to give this a favourite. My 4000th cache! Woo Hoo!

Navigated our way around here by boat this afternoon, TFTC

Well, quite a few items match the hint, if you use your imagination. Finally we were on to it, and the cache was easily found. The white screw top on the jar is cracked, but the cache was dry inside. Hopefully it stays that way.
Thanks for the cache!

My plan for the day was to walk right around the lake, starting from Kerr Bay. It was snowing heavily, when I arrived, so I decided to just go to Lakehead and back. My phone hadn't fully charged overnight, so decided to leave the closer caches for the return journey, to ensure I had enough battery for the further away caches. I turned my phone off until I get near each cache. For this one I found an open area as I neared GZ and stopped there until I got a signal. I was about 300m short. Arrived at GZ and couldn't see any obvious hint object. The GPS had me going in circles. I gave up after about 15mins poking and proding hear and there. On my return I spent a further 10 mins searching. After I gave up, I spotted the possible hint, a good 15-20m from where my GPS had me searching. But alas there was no sign of the cache there either.

Found some thing like hint, although gps pointed us elsewhere. No sign of cache on either places thou
Tried on our walk to lake head.

The accuracy of the iPhone is a bit of a surprise - I found this in the first place I searched and because of the drizzle I'm holding it inside a plastic bag. The only robin to this point was 1.7km before the cache but there was another just after. They are so lovely and so curious - quite a delight. Found by mrs j on her walk back to Kerr Bay after the water taxi dropped mr j to fish. NINO TFTC

Found with Wilson#41 on a walk around the lake.
TFTC

Found with Kwaka40 on a walk around the lake.
TFTC

Out for an overnight mission today. Picked up a few caches along the way that I've been wanting to get to for a while. This was the first one I came to. Cache lid a bit cracked but contents all fine. TFTC, Biggles.

Found with 360° NZ
TFTC

Two of two caches today with Cache Huntr (who found four). TFTC

With Sonia 26642 Back logging now for all my previous finds over the last 9 months....

29/03/2013 2:36:00 PM
2541
Easter weekend, and went off hiking, did the loop of Lake Rotoiti from St Arnaud, staying the night in Lakehead Hut halfway through. Was a great trip! 32km, and AMAZING beautiful views of the lake and water the whole way through. And we had such lovely amazing weather too!!

So the whole trip pretty much consisted of everyone walking along, and Sonia jumping into the bushes every now and then to grab a cache with her huge like 10kg or so pack on...

This was a nice easy obvious one... I was too lazy to walk around when finished though... to climbed onto the log and then jumped over... phew those quads of mine got a bit of a workout ae!!

TFTC!!

Yay!

Mrs SoBad doing a clockwise walk around Lake Rotoiti in the fine company of 3 other cachers and 2 friendly muggles. We had watched the weather forecast and decided today would be the best day. Enough sun to keep us happy and no rain. No problem with the cache here as the hint item was obvious. Then she looked at the GPS and decided it would have got her there as well. Great way to spend Good Friday.
Thanks.

The friendly robin was nowhere to be seen, in fact I didn't see a robin all day. - - - Lots of bellbirds, fantails and swans though. Really enjoyed the walk around the lake today.

The little red, red robin who was bob, bob, bobbin' along ahead of the rest of us found this and then watched as we searched - not too long though before it was signed and returned. TFTC #4634

Handy having some one ahead of you with a bright red pack! saw the likeky spot but not the quickest to lay hands on this one. TFTC!

Found by theroamingreliever tftc

Day 111 of Te Araroa Trail. Hint had us looking around as GPS had us off.

Found on our way to lake head Hut. THe only wading needed today was where the water was running down the track after the laast few days of very heavy rain. TFTC

And found a pair of super friendly Robins there

The track wasn't as we expected but its in the eye of the beholder I suppose. We had a GPS failure and no phone connection when GZ was getting close so what to do? We retraced our steps till phone coverage was achieved then put a waypoint in GPS. Sofar so good. Arriving at GZ the robin was in attendance, ringed 3 times in various colours around the legs. Comfort zone was between 2" and 3". A short search located the cache and the log was signed under close scrutiny of the care taker. Then major footware failure for Holymu and a search for fibrous organics to tie the soles of the boots to the upper. No flax around but lancewood leaves did the trick. A great day was had with snow showers circling around us but no real rain until back at the car park. TFTC

We arrived at GZ to find Robin waiting for us, a blue band on one leg and a silver and orange one on the other. He kept us company while we hunted the cache and signed the log, then had a snack. Meanwhile, Robin was also having a snack, trying to reduce the sandfly population as fast as he could but not making much headway. In the meantime the sole on one of my boots decided to start parting company from the upper on the way up the track. I was hoping to get back to the car without too much trouble but it got worse so kiwi ingenuity kicked in and we tied it to the upper using a lancewood leaf. A further couple of km down the track the other one decided to follow suit so the last few kms were completed with lancewood bows holding both boots together. And these are English made boots with little wear, grrr, I'm not happy about them at all. Nevertheless, an enjoyable walk. TFTC.

No sign of Robin today. Took a little searching, having problems with gps not showing cache discriptions, logs or hints. TFTC

No robin today on the east side but on the west we meet a very nice one TFTC

Found together with Lenka from SpeedyGT during our trip around New Zealand, TFTC!

P.S. Sorry for late log

We found it with Simal during our stay in NZ. TFTC and greetings from Czech republic!

Found it on the way out from lakehead hut. The Robin was keeping good watch! Thanks.
-Bike Hike Cache
Boston, USA

Cache site more difficult to approach from the water. Used hint to identify cache site. Muggled while retrieving cache by a friend from school days long since past.Explained and demonstrated the sport of geo-caching before returning cache to hiding spot.TFTC.

Muggled while retrieving cache but fortunately by people we knew and who promised not to tell! Hint was useful as we approached cache site from the water while kayaking around the lake.TFTC.

A nice cannot on the lake for new years day. No one bird or human in late afternoon

A quick find on a walk from Angelus Hut back to St Arnaud via the eastern side of the lake. Great weather too! Definitely needed the hint for this one. Signed log, TFTC.

Found on way up the lake to check my cache up the valley

Bit of scrub from the lake edge to this cache. (love the boat)
Lid cracked (on the side) but log book still dry
good one
TFTC

Coords didn't work for me. Oh well...

Quick find on our way to Lakehead hut for 2 nights, TFTC

This trip was Plan B for Biggles and I two weekends ago but Pinch Gut won out back then. An invite from Mr B to come for a flat walk could not be turned down. The cache and the promised Robin initially proved elusive. The cache was located after ignoring the Gps arrow and applying common sense. The Robin was located after it found us when walking out the next day. Great walk. Thanks.

Itchy feet so invited Mr KE to come for an easy overnighter at Lakehead. We followed the GPS and didn't have much luck until Mr KE insisted we think like a Bum. That yielded instant results while the GPS said a big number. A win is a win TFTC. #CS#

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