Bush Bash (Canterbury) Hillsborough, South Island, New Zealand
By Grandalf on 26-Aug-05. Waypoint GCQ9Y0

Thanks Grandalf For this cache! Found on the 25/05/24@01:53:21 p.m..Nice geocache, found after approx 1hr walking up to cache. Found both waypoints after about 5min each, Signed log. TFTC#367---Logs signed with qwertyuiopasdfghjk66 or Q-6

Yesterday, wanting somewhere new to go for a walk, and with a muggle friend who complains if there's too many stops for digging in the bushes, I suggested we start on this one. The track start through the trees is wonderful - more piwakawaka than you can shake a stick at. Past a few rockclimbers, up into the tussock where we were eyed up by surprisingly unbothered sheep, and along to waypoint 2, at which point my companion had had enough and was ready to turn back. I knew to be wary of Grandalf walk time estimates, and that was justified, as it was 1.5hrs return for just the first half. A few muggles at waypoint 2 who seemed just as keen for us to depart as we were for them to go - we lost the game of chicken and mused on what they might be up to on the way home. This afternoon I drove up to the top of Huntsbury Tce and came down the side track I'd noted yesterday to rejoin where I left off. At waypoint 3 I had some trouble, eventually some previous logs pointed me to the right spot. Coming from above makes it easier. Couldn't see that it was wedged at all, and couldn't wedge it in anything I could find, but seems relatively sheltered there. The final was short work, and I appreciated the original logbook. Went on and up to the Huntsbury track to loop back to where I'd left the car. A wonderful pair of walks - I really appreciate a proper multi these days. Thanks for the fun, and definitely a fav.

Significant changes to the instructions were necessary due to natural changes over 18 years. Please read the new notes carefully, and enjoy the great walk.

This multi has been on the radar for years but until ivss_xx's recent log I hadn't thought it was doable without wp1. How wrong I was. Bollybristletoes and I walked from his place not far away and made our way easily to where I thought wp2 would be. After a bit, BB made the crucial find (how did I not see that when I looked there!) and off we set to wp3. Ivss_xx's positioning was still working well and BB did the honours of retrieving and reading me the final coords to put in c:geo. A bit more wandering on a less used track and we saw our goal. It wasn't too long before BB found the pot. While I failed to find on my side of the hint item I did manage to score my skin and left copious amounts of blood everywhere! The container was a bit grungy inside but the logbook, doublebagged, was ok to write in. We sidled around to the farm track to go home, and then I played a round of golf. 21000 steps for the day. Phew! Thanks for keeping this cache going, Grandalf. I appreciate it. #10021

17:42
FITW GreenMenace
Found on a dog walk.
Well, been looking at doing this for some time now. Seeing a recent find on it today made me finally go out here.

As it looked like Wp1 is gone, I marked a likely spot for Wp2 on my map and decided to skip the start of the track altogether. We drove up and parked at the end of Huntsbury Ave and started going from there.

I had marked correctly, it turned out - the tag for Wp2 was right where I anticipated. We went onwards to Wp3; the track changed drastically, from a decent one to almost none. Also quite muddy in places. Wp3 one required a good search. Found it eventually. Wasn't quite sure what is the right way of placing it back as it had been just lying on the rock there, and I imagined it could easily be washed away with rain. I tried to wedge the tag somehow between rocks, still exactly where I found it.
From here the track was a bit better again and it wasn't long before we reached GZ. A short search revealed the cache. The container does need replacing, but the logbook was surprisingly well preserved for an 11 year old one that has been sitting in a damp container!

Kia ora! Paldies!
Thanks for the caching adventure, Grandalf!
#9879

Had a great day finding this with mumandme. Was keen to get this one to fill a gap in my Jasmer. Couldn't find waypoint one but didn't look for too long as we were pretty sure we could find waypoint two from logs and the hint, so continued on to the correct altitude and sure enough found it. After having lunch headed up to waypoint 3, found that as well and then it was just the final left. Grateful for the good hint and mumandme's persistence, very happy to find it! Thanks for maintaining this older cache, we really enjoyed it.

Out on an adventure to find this with angelic_kiwi. Pretty wet and muddy along here at this time of year. No luck with waypoint 1. It is a couple of years since the last find and looks like the trees that are down might have happened in that time. However, we felt we had enough information to continue on and find waypoint 2 which didn't take too long. Stopped for a bite to eat before heading on to a fairly quick find at waypoint 3. Fantastic, now just the final to go. The hint information was sufficient for us to locate the final but the fence is quite overgrown now and the cache was well wedged into the mud which did not want to give it up. Got there in the end. Tipped out all the water from the cache, but luckily the log book was dry enough to write on. Replaced as found. Thanks for the cache and a fun adventure.

This multi-cache has been fun to construct and maintain, but it seems the final location is getting almost unusable due to prolific vegetation growth. I will inspect to see that all WPs are in place, and amend if needed. If I find I need to make a small shift in final coordinates, I'll show this on the cache page. Cheers from Grandalf.

What a mission!
We spent half an hour on Sunday at WP1 before giving up frustrated. So back home we CAF and asked for help and we got the final coords.
Today we started this adventure accompanied by (muggle) friends. As we are moving overseas this was the last chance to find this cache that was on our list for ages.
Back at WP1, this time with some help, we spent almost an hour looking for something. The GPS did not want to settle and eventually we gave up, knowing that the final coordinates were saved in the Garmin.

Further up the valley we stopped for a rest - as we did not expect that this walk takes so long we had nothing for lunch with us, just water.
Checking the hint for WP2 it was clear that we had the rest on top of WP2 and yes, it is still there.

After the resting stop the track becomes very undefined and often looks like a sheep track. WP3 was spot on and would have been an easy find if we had opened our eyes a bit more.
From now on the landscape changed immense with incredible long tussock grass and green spots in the middle of the dry country.
And then there was this oasis....the final cache location.

That was when it became tricky. The mesh fence is now overgrown by the grass and hard to lift. And flax is growing so quickly that we thought that the container was taken by the flax and disappeared forever.
And just when we wanted to give up we saw the lid of the container. The cache was hold firmly by the flax but was eventually pulled out.

We decided to go up further to meet the Summit Road and eventually the Farm Track. But suddenly, there was no track visible at all - just sheep tracks. So we followed those and decided to do a shortcut and walked cross country along several sheep tracks.

When we met the Farm Track it was an easy way back to the cars.
In total it took us almost five hours (4 hr 50 min) but we stopped many times and searched a long time at WP1 and the final.

Thank you very much for this great old cache. We hope it will survive a few more years.

Well, this was indeed quite a trek. We were delayed for quite a while at WP2, as there were muggles sitting right on top of it, having a heart to heart. We had to wait for them to move on before retrieving the bar with coordinates. We had great views across to the snow-covered Alps under an azure sky. So it was not too bad. After that it took us a while to decide that what looked like a goat trail really was the correct track to WP3. From there it was straightforward to the final. The log is a bit damp, but OK. Afterward we went cross country to Mt Vernon Farm track, to get the trads on the way back down, and managed to get back to the car just after sunset. All in all a lovely afternoon and a good workout. Thanks Grandalf!

What a nice multi. Today's plan was to hike in Port Hills, and we choose Dry Bush track. At the beginning of the track we started with WP1, and it took us all the way along. Very nice walk, though, with the high grass, it was a bit hard for our small geocacher. But he walked all the hike. First one was a bit dangerous to retrieve, second one was easy, but strangely the boys didn't find it (always need a girl in your team). Both container and logbook are in good condition. We really enjoyed this hike, thanks for placing this cache here!

I have had this cache on my to do list for a while as I love a good walk. I had a hunch as to where WP2 would be so when I was up in the hills a week or so ago I detoured and had a quick look. Bingo!
Today I returned with the teens. We parked up on Albert Terrace and headed straight up the gorge to WP3. It was a bit hard going at times but we pressed on.
At WP3, son quickly found the tag and we were off to the final. Once there the cache was a quick find although it was a little reluctant to come out of its hole.
Then we went cross country to the Summit Road and followed Mount Vernon track back down to the car.
TFTC and have a favourite for the interesting and enjoyable walk.

Having found the cache 9.5 years ago, I tagged along with Troodles as she tackled it today. Unfortunately I couldn't remember any of the waypoints or where the final was, so we had to do it "properly". At WP1 we searched some objects near the track, but it wasn't until I widened the search area that I found the metal tag. I soon found the tag at WP2, and after a rest we were off to WP3. When I got there there was a shrub dangling over the rock face and that made searching harder. Almost immediately I heard a tinkling sound that sounded like I had disturbed the tag. Trouble was, I couldn't see it. After clearing some of the shrub I spotted it just sitting in the shrub. I replaced it under an overhang, wedged in tightly under a rock. At the final we easily identified the right flax, but really struggled to find the cache Eventually I located it, deep down in its hole. It was stuck fast in a lot of mud and at first resisted my attempts to get it out. After a while I unscrewed the lid and got the log out. With the lid off, and with lots of mud excavation (using hands and walking pole) the rest of the container was extracted. Whew!

Found with StreetWalker on a walk in the Port Hills. After attending the event in St Martins this morning, we needed to walk off our calorific breakfast.
As SW's log says, he found the cache nearly 10 years ago, so about time I looked for this vintage cache. What an adventure! The walk up from Albert Terrace was a tad more challenging than I expected, as it was quite muddy.
Not long after finding WP1, we had to walk under a tightrope that some people had strung across the gully. We watched a guy walk across - sooner him than me. I liked WP2 -it was a good place to rest.
Glad SW was with me as it turned out he found all the WPts plus the final for me! After being held so tightly by the flax for so long (2 years since its last find), and the rather battered nature of the container, I was expecting the log book to be mush, but it had held up surprisingly well. Thanks for the exercise and TFTC.

Disabled in error.
Many apologies

Found WPs 1 and 2 after a bit of searching, but just could not find the tag at WP3. I feel like I located the place it's supposed to be, so I'm wondering if it's got lost... A nice walk in the hills anyway

Hurrah, found it at last. Thanks Grandalf for checking that it was still there as that gave me the confidence to have another go. Just goes to show 1 DNF doesn't mean the cache has gone. Today was a lovely sunny winter's day and I had a couple of hours child free so I took the dog up the hills. No sign of any sheep so Poppy could run free (even had a rabbit chase at one point). A quick find once I was at GZ again as it was in the first hole I put my hand in. Hmm, sure I'd checked there last time, but maybe not as my phone GPS was pointing to the other end of the gap. Headed off across country to join the Farm Track to get back down again as I thought that wouldn't be quite so much up and down as my original route. I hadn't realized just how sheltered that valley was until I got onto the farm track and the cold wind cut in again. Took about an hour and 40 mins round trip (no searching for waypoints) so was back at school for the pick up in plenty of time. Thanks for the cache anc bringing me up here (again!) Favourite point as its a lovely walk and a well set out multi that deserves more visits.

What a lovely day for a walk in the hills. I went to check this cache, and yes, it is still there, dry, secure and waiting for visitors. Cheers from Grandalf.

Really disappointed to not find this one. It has been over a year since I started the hunt. I've done a lot of others in the meantime and worked on my fitness. About a month or so ago I had an afternoon out without any children so thought I'd tackle wp 1 again. After the gps not settling and sending me further and further up the bank I was ready to give up so turned around and headed down again - which was when I spotted it! All in order and I plugged in the co-ordinates and filed it away for another day. Wp2 was where I thought it was and another child - free afternoon I headed up the hill again. After a miserable morning the sun was out but by the time I reached Wp2 the clouds were rolling in again. I wasn't sure which storm would break first - the weather or hubby at home with 2 grumpy boys, so once I'd found the co-ordinates I headed back again. Third attempt yesterday - new childcare arrangements mean I actually get a chance midweek to get out with the dog for a good walk. A lovely sunny day after a week or so of rain and the stream is running well. I soon passed Wp2 and headed up to wp3. The sheep had been sheltering here recently but not present today and I soon had the last set of co-ordinates entered. Not too far to the final- I should be able to make it there and back before school pickup. True to my map the path is 'not clearly defined' on this section but still clear enough to follow and I reach gz in plenty of time. But there's no cache. I'm following all the hints and it's obviously the only spot in the fence that its possible to get a hand under but I couldn't find anything Such a shame after the effort the CO has put in. But the dog and I had a lovely walk and would love to come back to sign the log if it is replaced - I'll keep an eye out.

Took two trips to complete the cache. Approached WP1 and WP2 from the Albert Terrace end, and WP3 and the final by dropping down from the Mt Vernon Farm Track. It took some poking around to reveal the final cache - all tucked away in it's own little hole. You do not need to scale the fence to find it! Many thanks - great hide and it was fun exploring the valley and bush.

Another lovely day walking in the Port Hills, thanks for the 'guided tour' around this area!

Great day for Geocaching. This is my type of cache. All hints are good. All WP were in place.
WP 1 102M
WP 2 216M
WP 3 270M
Final 308m

Took me an hour to get the final cache. Cache in good order an in place. A Favorite point from me

What a great multi cache! Love the metal tags. All waypoints accurate and hints made sense. Gets a fav from me.

Maybe I should have attempted something a little easier for my first multi, but the dog needed a walk, its a lovely day and I know the area fairly well. All was good as I set off to the first WP. Hmm, it is quite steep just here isn't it? I wasn't concerned about getting up to the hide, but was a bit worried about the return trip with my precious cargo on my back (my one year old boy). Maybe I'll skip that I thought, I've a pretty good idea from the hints and reading the logs where WP2 is anyway. Off we go again. Its now getting a bit hot and carrying the boy is making this a bit tougher on me as I'm so unfit. Never mind, we'll have a break at WP2. Got to WP2 after a bit of a scramble (again, going up is fine...) but the little one has now fallen asleep and I can't go crawling around in the dirt looking for nails with him on my back. Oh, well, the dog has had a good run around and I know there's a good path back down just over this ridge here so I decided to follow a sheep track back over the ridge instead of attempting to retrace my steps. No sheep about today, except for one already very dead (the dog's favourite sort of course). Made it into a nice loop walk and back just in time for lunch (with all the windows down in the car on the way back...) Thanks for the challenge - I'll be back.

TFT Multi. This is probably one of the most demanding caches I have logged. Took me two attempts as batteries ran out of power both in GPS and myself. Tough climbing I must say. Second attempt I could go straight to wp2 and then on to wp3 and final. Had a nice company of sheep most of the way upwards. I enjoyed the setup and am glad there was no difficult calculations. Nice metal pieces to read coordinates was perfect. Favorite point.

What a unique valley. I had walked/cycled the ridges either side and didn't realise what was in the middle. Thanks for taking me here.

We got to within 6 metres of the first way point. There has been a big slip causing it to be too dangerous to find it.

I know it says bush bash, so i was prepared for that but was disappointed that we got so close, the gps would not settle on a anything and with all the tree damage felt it not safe to keep looking. shame cos it sounded like fun. It is just the first WP all others in the area look like they would be fine to get but you need the first to start......boohoo.

What a fantastic caching adventure. Out on a long run today and was looking for a new flavour so popped up this track which I'd never ventured far up before. What a treat, the views at the shelter were stunning. All waypoints located fairly easily, the second last one though was about 8m out, but made sense given the description. Mother nature has certainly been busy here, between quakes, wind and floods.

TFTC Grandalf, broke up my 28km run nicely- gets a favourate just because it got me up one of the last tracks in the Port Hills that I haven't been up

Logged the cache today.

First waypoint is now amongst a large area of fallen pine trees and requires some scrambling. There was a dead magpie in the hole that needed removing. Found easily enough.

Waypoint two was in prime position and easy to find after i committed to scrambling under.

Waypoint three was on the ground in the mud. I found it by chance really. Placed it back behind a small bush and on a rock ledge. Not sure where is originally came from.

Waypoint four was overgrown and the netting was heavily matted with grass making it difficult to lift. Clearly this cache has not been visited for over a year. Cache site has also clearly been a water course recently with all the heavy rain. Found it eventually. Dry inside. Recorded my visit then back tracked.

My wife and I had a day off together today, a rarity considering we are both shift workers, and decide to pack a lunch and wander the hill. A very enjoyable series of waypoints leading to the final cache. Thank you.

Thoroughly enjoyed hunting for this treasure! a wonderful view of Christchurch though not so sure the cache should be under a fence which looks as though it keeps out pests!

Needed to get back to the car at the Summit Road. No better way than this on a hot summers day! Rescued a stuck sheep on the way, all good. Thanks for the hide.


This entry was edited by karma reprint on Monday, 10 December 2012 at 02:51:09 UTC.

Have been meaning to attempt this for a while and the opportunity came up due to my marvellous wife giving me an afternoon cache pass. I had my boots all ready in the back of the truck. I was able to pick off a few between wps and the final. It was good fun. Sweated a wee bit today I think it got to 30 degrees!!! There were no problems at the wps. The items were quick to hand. I loved wp2. Nice spot I'll bring the family up for a picnic here, the views are fabulous. I loved the first bit through the gorge. Nice and cool on this hot day. I was good to see the Dry Bush regeneration on the journey. Thanks Grandalf the Mountain Goat. Love your sojourns into the hills. Walking up the wee valley to wp2 you could have been anywhere in the world. So nice to have these gems so close to town.
#588

First multi. Couldn't find wp2 but used clues to find wp3 and get back on track. Good fun

I visited the cache yesterday, and replaced the container and left a nice dry logbook behind - so it is now ready and waiting for visitors.

Cache was absolutely soaked all through it, might need a new log since the one in there is wet. TFTC. nice hike

Soaking day and wet underneath close to the cache, but made for an adventurous hike! The reward was a quick finding of the cache. TFTC!

Don't know why I hadn't gotten around to going for this one before - a straight forward multi with hints that make locating the tags reasonable straight forward. I was worried about WP3 from one of the previous logs but it was more precisely described in the hint than WP1 or WP2 IMHO. Struggled a bit to get the GC thru the impediments at WP4, but did actually get my hand on it first poke.
Was in a bit of a hurry coming back down as I had a VI appointment, and slipped a couple of times on the wet tussock, slippery rocks and sheep do's.
TFT fun hike.

Grandparents down for Wee wee dudes 2nd birthday; left them in charge and came for a run up the valley with Mrs Gaters. All WPs found quickly along with the final. Bit of nettle around WP3 caused issues with bare legs!!...A neat valley with changing scenery. Enjoyed it greatly. After logging we crossed up to farm track and headed back down to the car (after stopping to look for frogs at the pond - found two! Yay). Saturdays 4.8 quake hit whilst running down but didn't notice it. Thanks for the cool wee multi. If people are quake shy and don't want to come up through the gorge people can always come down form the top (summit road) to WP1 and then head back up. A very fun and interesting valley.

decided to head for my run today up here where I haven't been for months. This multi allowed for an extra bit of interest. Couldn't find WP3 though even though I was pretty sure I wa sin the right spot. However, the clues and the altitude allowed me to find the final. TFTC

Walked to WP1 up the (closed) track though the gorge. Very pleased to get to WP1. A very pleasant walk from there to the final. (Didn't notice the two 4+ quakes!) All WPs and the final easily found. TFTC.

Nice spot, never knew the bush was so big

Headed down the hill from Mournful Memory to start the search for this cache that I hoped I would I find on the way back up. Abandoned finding wp1 as GPS losing coverage under trees and to many places to searched. Headed up with only the 2nd wp clue but found it easily. On to wp3 and that too was found within 10 minutes. Onto final and legs getting tired by now. Searched for a good 15 minutes where it should have been but nothing there. Fenced showed signs of many disturbances but no cache could be found where clue indicated. Think it must have gone.

Bush bash? no, but a very pleasant 1.15 hours up and back with the pooch tonite.
All tags in place and final cache found after much fossicking. Guess it's got
a little overgrown since last visitor. Cache dry and all good.

Had started this one some six months ago but the weather turned sour so started again today. Nice one Grandalf.

Found easily after finding most of the WPs easily. I did need the clue at WP1 as the GPS was leading me to a couple of different places, but got there in the end - gut feel directed me to the correct place when I first started looking, so returned there to find the required metal tag. Met Mike&Cathy when I was at WP2 - nice to meet you guys. They were returning from doing the same cache!!! WP3 had a dead cat about a foot from the metal tag. Grandalf, you may want to consider moving WP3 - I doubt you will get the cat out of where it is - it's stuck in there, which is probably how it met it's end. I doubt you'd want to touch it anyway...
- TB Grandalf the Grey
- spider
+ small puzzle
+ beetle

Second attempt at this Cache, previous attempt in 2007 only got as far as WP1, couldn't find it. 3 years later and hopefully wiser decided to have another go. Read through the logs and in particular a comment from Haldane made me think "Aha ! that might help ! " GPS was again rather vague at WP1, spent 20 minutes searching in the wrong place before GPS changed it's mind and pointed approx 15 meters away in the other direction. A further 10 minutes searching finally revealed the sought after tag. Beware thistles nearby !
WP2 was pretty straight forward ( no muggles here ), and WP3 took approx 5 mins searching. One dead feline muggle at WP3 !
The track seems to peter -out after WP3, but GPS pointed the way and soon spotted Dry Bush which is a rather unusual looking bunch of trees, very prominent amongst the pre-dominant tussock. Plenty of sheep up here too ! Cache was soon in hand, and left Grandalf TB. Briefly contemplated Grandalf's suggested exit strategy, but Cathy rejected these since it involved further uphill walking which she decided we had done enough of today. So we went back down the "track" we came up, pausing at WP2 where we found a very well-equipped geocacher named Marion1. Exchanged a couple of stories and back at the car approx 3 hours after we departed.
We have done most of the walks around Mt Vernon, Bowenvale, Huntsbury etc, but never ventured up to Dry Bush before - thanks Grandalf for a very interesting walk.Will be interesting to see how this area develops.

with Emily (7y). Great motivation to walk further up the hill, taking us 2.5 hours or so to get there. WP1 and 2 took us a while to find, interrupted by passing walkers. Made a couple of swaps. After the final, we climbed the fence and had a rest in the pleasant shade of the bush. Bonus was meeting my old university supervisor way off the beaten track. TFTC

Finding WP1 the most difficult bit. Thereafter was straightforward and a most pleasant walk amoungst the sheep and lambs. Spotted a pheasant nnear the cache. Remember the song

I'm not the pheasant plucker
I'm the pheasant plucker's son
Still I'm stuck here plucking pheasants
'till the pheasant pluckings done

Nice little jaunt up the valley thanks Grandalf. Once again, I am ashamed to have never set foot foot on this track whilst it is practically in my back garden, so thanks for opening our eyes ! Hiding places for the WPs were excellent and thought the little metal marker plates were beautifully crafted ! Thanks again (TNLN).

Great little track up the Port hills. Good excuse for a wee run up the hill. Cheers ;o} TFTC

Took while to calc but got there.

#627 (2/7 on a Mt Vernon Farm Park ramble). Apart from a bit of gorse at WP1, only WP2 proved difficult. Searched and searched. Decoded clue, and found I had done most of my looking in the right general area. Eventually found (my excuse is I woke up feeling like I had pinched a nerve in my shoulder area, and head movement was a bit restricted). Nice multi. TFTC.

[Probably not the best day to do this one. Thirty degree temperatures and no wind. The idea was to claim the Sunshine Bear TB and get back before the day hotted up. Left it a bit late and was somewhat delayed on the first WP. Similar problem to Mike&Cathy back in July '07 but I persevered.] Apparently rockpecker's roost low so no need to take any risks here. [The rest of the hike was pretty straight-forward and I got the TB. Made my way out up to Huntsbury track and thence down the road and home after about 3 hours. Thanks Grandalf for the exercise.]

Great little multi in a largely unused but beautiful valley of the Port Hills. Great fun, except for when we returned to our car and found the window smashed and a handbag taken. Thieving little #@$%^&^%#@!

Really enjoyed this walk.
TFTC.

Well, when grandalf says polish off your tramping boots he means it, we made the mistake today of just wearing our sneakers and it was pretty wet on the track from all the rain last week and also a bit of melting snow too.

We had an awesome day though, we really enjoyed finding all the waypoints and the cache was an easy find, awesome views looking across toward the alps and looking down to the city, really enjoyed the spot at wp2 once we located the coords.

Thanks for a great multi cache grandalf, we had a great day playing around in the hills.

A wonderful way to get rid of some of the Xmas calories! A well thought out multi cache that kept me encouraged to keep going. I've lived in this area for over 5 years and always meant to go check out Dry Bush. Thanks for the extra incentive.
TNLN
Briggs96

Great walk, on an otherwise dull day, had been meaning explore this track for over a year and finally got around to it.

- Coin holder
- Car
+ Rattle
+ Holly cutter (it is Christmas).

Originaly found the cache 2 years ago but had my eye on the travel bug in here for a while so thought i would visit it again and give the TB new home. I had deleted my way points from the GPS but knew where WP3 was so started there. Cache is in good condition. also checked on WP2 on the way down and it is in place as well. thanks

Been up this track many times, unfortunately couldn't find WP1. Not sure what on earth a "rockpecker" is, found the clue rather unhelpful. Spent over 30 minutes exploring around a large rock outcrop that the GPS semed to be pointing at, but because rock was approx 5M tall, had no idea whether we should be looking at the top, bottom or middle of this rock.Terrain was rather steep and a little dangerous as well, so family decided to stop and sit in the sun while I was left to do the searching. Wandered up to top of the rock but GPS reception was poor under the trees. Eventually gave up and did a nice walk up the gorge and back.

What a great day to be out caching, Did this one today with Rincewind3 and his daughter, This was a new valley that I hadnt been up before so very nice to have done it,It was also Rincewind3,s, 100th cache so a pleasure to have done it with him,,cheers and thanks..

Had to make 100 a Grandalf cache. Had thoughts of trying Barely Bearly but when Bo from bo&bronnie invited me to join him on Bush Bash I decided to go for it. What a fantastic day, sun was shining, birds were singing and my daughter didn't complain (much)!
TFTC
-tape measure & Sounds of Summer TB
+pencil sharpener & Pip the Pig TB

Picked a couple of better days to complete this one after getting blown off the hill on the first attempt. Great little valley, always nice to be on the hills.
+TB Sounds of Summer

[This entry was edited by peterpiran on Sunday, May 13, 2007 at 3:57:19 AM.]

A very enjoyable multi. I had only just decided to do this one after a DNF on WP3 (the easy one?) of "Aitkens Amble" earlier in the morning. The cache was a lot further up than I thought it would be. I was nearly back to a couple of caches I'd been to a couple of hours before.
TFTC!

we were all prepared, at the last minute it started raining, then thunder came, we still carried on, we got past the first way point, the second point wa very windy it was almost blowwing us of the track, all four of us started searching the view area, we found a nail that fitted your clue perfectly but nothng was on it, so can you plz check if its still there.

931 After having walked up the side of the Bowenvale Valley to Two Towers and Hidden Habitat I was just getting warmed up so had to do Bush Bash. Thoroughly enjoyed it and wish there were more like this one. TNLN DS8300

Still trying to work off Christmas fare so we thought a ramble on the hills would be fun (well the kids wanted to do a quick geocache but "not one this long"). Left home at 2 and arrived home at 6. Took a friend from Canada who has a GPS but had never heard of geocaching. WP3 was a bit difficult as could only find it by feel and spent quite a bit of time locating the cache but success after Uncle finally let us look at the clues. Grass really long and track quite wet in places + coin change key ring - lip balm. Lovely day out thank you.

A nice day in the hills, the waypoints were enough to keep me amused and the final cache was easy.
TNLN
thanks Grandalf, another goodie.
S.T.

great 'multi', I really enjoyed it. Had a bit of trouble finding WP3, but made it eventually
left: green wish stone & orange lip balm
took: yellow key tag

Needed a good blow out after many public city caches. Great sunny mid winters day but very wet and slippery under foot. After find waypiont 1 we figured this was going to be a tough nut to crack. Waypoint 2 needed clue
waypoint 3 tag had fallen in hole bit hard to get out.Cache still had frost on ground all round (3pm) Cache still dry and in good condition.Took the spur track home as dry bush track to wet and slippery. Great cache to top of weekend in CHCH. Many thanks

Finally we came back to finish this one. We'd done WP1 and WP2 quite a while ago, but ran out of time - after an extended hunt for WP2. It didn't help that Gary was considerably less flexible than usual, due to some broken ribs. Hopefully the false match to the clue will get removed some time to avoid confusing people ( or at least people keep mentioning it in the logs ). WP3 was easy - the thistles are gone. It was really obvious, but fell out - so maybe it isn't where it originally was. The cache was similarly easy to find. It's a pity that people appear to have been climbing and bending the nearby fence. +2 balloons, +motel keyring ( motel has cache 120m away!!! )
Thanks for another typical high-quality Grandalf cache.

Climbed far too far looking for WP1 but found in the end. WP2 was found with some trouble. Trampled a few thistles at WP3 before finding, WP3 is very well hidden. Feel quite exhusted now as we cycled to the start of the track from home. After Stephen had found all the waypoints Liz was the lucky finder of the cache. +tape measure, - dog clip.

All WP's easy to find but watch out around WP3 - there is a fresh crop of thistle - did it as an early morning run, 40 minutes to cache, 20 minutes back to car. Would be slow going when wet though. Final cache easy to spot as uncovered. Placed some flax leaves over top to add some cover.

This one's been on my list for a while now, and today, under clear skies, with fantastic views all around, we finally knocked it off! All the waypoints were well in place, although some of them took quite a bit of finding! It was really neat walking up the valley, as I'm incredibly familiar with the location from all my years of mountainbiking, but I just couldn't get over how different it all looked from the cache's particular approach. After finding the cache, my wife and I climbed the rest of the way up to the top of Mt Vernon just for ald lang sine (We got engaged on this hill 3 years ago now ), then went home down the Lamar track ridge and back to the car. What a neat cache! We really enjoyed this afternoon walk, and we both commented on how lucky we are to have such great tracks and hills so close to our house. Many thanks Grandalf

found wp1 yesterday and completed the trek this morning - very nice.
wp2 was on the XXX where it was meant to be, but WP3 was out in the open so placed it back to its proper place.
final cache was an easy found
thanks grandalf.
Lady Angie

Good on you for finding WP3 without getting WP2 - shows some intelligent thinking. However, WP2 is definitely in place - I went to check today.

[Set out with 2 friends on our first geocache hunt. A lovely walk in a bit of Port Hills we'd never visited. But despite lots of searching we never found WP2, even with the clue -- we think it's missing.] We found an obviously-redundant nail at the back of the platform, which seemed to match the clue perfectly, but no tag on it. Couldn't find any other likely nails underneath, either. [ Managed to find WP3 without WP2 using the elevation and the extra info in the clue. Challenging and very satisfying Then found the final cache OK, with the aid of the clue. No swaps. Great fun. Thanks Grandalf.]

[This entry was edited by trampgeek on Sunday, October 16, 2005 at 2:38:09 AM.]

Started this the other evening and decided I just had enough time between tea and Desperate Housewives to finish it off tonight now daylight saving has started. Found the remaining two easily and got home with 15 mins to spare. Nice bit of exercise straight out the front door from home. Thanks Grandalf.

A muddy walk into melting snow. WP2 couldn't be found until I noticed it in the mud underfoot. Replaced it where I think it fell from. WP3 took me awhile to find under snow. Beautiful here in the sun. Thank you Granalf. Took me 1hr 20min to find, walking from home.

We found the first two waypoints earlier in the week but didn't want to have to return down that track in the dark so we got out before darkness fell completely. Tonight, knowing where the third waypoint was, we made our way there on a different track and a bit of cross-country work and then went on to find the final cache. There were some great sky views going in both directions tonight and the lights of Christchurch sparkled and shone as we made our way back to the car.
Thanks Grandalf
Iris & Rodney

Until I went to log my find here I thought I had a FTF, as I did not see wheatsack's entry in the logbook. Maybe he forgot to make an entry, but then I didn't turn over all the pages. He obviously visited though as he has pics.

The enjoyable exercise to reach this cache was just what I needed after this morning's hard graft stopping airplanes from banging into each other. Very theraputic, and sure beats watching tropical fish swimming in an aquarium (Tinpusher movie). 1 hour 15 mins to the cache from the carpark. + pack of cards keyring. - glue stik. - Mia's Caterpillar. Another great Grandalf exercise cache up a track I did not know existed.

Another FTF..(1520)a great feeling of achievement this one. Polish didnt last long on my tramping boots but definitely needed a sweat band. Hate to meet the rockpecker on a dark night.WP3 took a lot of thought and fossicking, but finally got it then the rest was easy. -bear keyring + spring hook thing.An enjoyable climb to another new place many thanks Grandalf.

Added Mia's Caterpillar TB to watch over the sheep

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