Tour de Kaiapoi Island (Canterbury) Bridgend, South Island, New Zealand
By BaldEd on 10-Dec-07. Waypoint GC17X74

Time for this one to go.

Hmm, this reads like a journal of a sailor castaway on the Kaiapoi Island.

Day One:
Found myself a drift and landed on island. Went is search of wps and found post but nothing could be located to find the hidden cache of supplies placed by previous seafaring folk for such occasions. Retreated to makeshift beach shack and sent a message in a bottle in hope that someone will read it.

Day Two:
Found two tiny castaways and we made another attempt to find the hidden cache of supplies. Praise Be!! The inscription was found! It had sent us to another wp in our quest to find the cache. The next wp yeilded another inscription. Alas day was getting away on us and we had to head back to the the makeshift beach shack. The two tiny castaways were getting hungry.

Day Three:
Cooler today and was bymyself today. Had made sense of previous inscription and headed in search of wp3. Found wp and headed towards the next wp when a strange message flew into my hand "[GEO] Notify: status quo published...". Hmm, wp4 will have to wait for another day. Jumped into the raft and headed upstream in search of a new cache. Success!!!

Day Four:
Picked up the trail that was left before the strange message whisked my off to uncharted regions of the island. The scent was strong today. Took a bit to find this wp but the inscription was there and sent me further upstream. I must be getting closer... Wp5 fell in quick succession. Great the cache of stores and food would soon be found. The cache was in good condition all stores and contents safe and dry. I see it hasn't been logged in a vast amout of time.

Great fun! Took a bit more than seven kms for me to finish this one more like 200km with the four trips out here and to Oxford and back. Oh well, it is close to seven "cache kms". This makes my 90th multi. Need 10 more before mega so I can grab a Challenge cache up north!

Thanks for the cache.
#1225

WPT1 data plate replaced.

Sign post at WPT1 has been removed by persons unknown. Will replace data in a few days. (At the moment the MTB track is unrideable due flooding at the eastern end - a common occurrence when the Waimakariri flow gets close to 2000 cumecs.)

Easy find.

Yay!

Found it - not sure if it counts. WPT1 and WPT2 - no problem. Couldn't find WPT3 (but from the clues think I might be looking in the right area) and therefore WPT4. Fount WPT5 by chance and from there went on to the cache. Will go back and have another go at finding WPT3 and WPT4 (even if it means getting the old map and compass out).

One happy kid.. second ever find

TFTC. I have had this multi in my sights for some time and today seemed like the perfect autumn day for a wander at the Waimak. This was a well constructed test of my ability to project and adjust waypoints. Having boated this river formany years I had never explored around GZ - it is beautiful. Thanks BaldEd for the fun.

A great day for this. Weather was perfect. A lot of people about on the river, but only a few here and there on the trails. We learned a bit more about our GPS doing this multi. Thanks BaldEd.

Easy to start once 'we' read the last part of the description which gives WP1. We were temporarily challenged by bearing/distance clues but soon found another feature on our Oregon 450T's. A fun ride on a beautiful autumn day. Thanks for the tour!

Logging a find from a while back,TFTC

Parts of the MTB track are under water from recent flooding, however all the waypoints are not affected and can be reached by other routes.

One would think after all these years of caching we would have projecting a bearing down pat but no; its a painstaking process of wandering in an arc of the right radius.Enjoyed greatly and was overjoyed to find the final WP to realize the cache was close by.

This was a bit of a saga. I started yesterday and found WP1 and WP2 no problems. WP3 proved difficult. After over half an hour or more of searching, going back to WP2 and trying again I gave up. [:-(]
I carried on along the MTB trail and thoroughly enjoyed the ride and went on to find Sparklers Anniversary. I looked out for WP4 and WP5 but didn't spot them (even though as it turns out I looked exactly where they were! Not realising that the metal way points could be a different colour.) Back home after a three hour ride I re-read the instructions carefully and made sure my GPS was setup correctly for finding True bearings. And noted the hints (if only I had done that before I went out) and then discovered that my GPS had the hints on it. So off I went today thinking it should be easy, straight to WP2. Even though I was at the right spot my GPS said I was 9m away (less accurate than yesterday)! Maybe that was the reason for not finding WP3? I reset the coordinates for WP3 - again slightly different result from yesterday - and headed off. From where I thought WP3 was (out in the open) I searched all possibilities within a 40m radius and after another half hour was about to give up when one last look revealed the way point. [:-)]. Off to WP4 and then WP5 both easily found. Then straight to the cache. WP4 made me supicious that I had mis-read WP2 so I revisited WP2 on the way back to the car and yes - my bearing was 10 degrees out. Resetting the coordinates for WP3 put it right where it should be. An excellent multicache - definitely recommend, especially for novices to test their GPS skills and a great bike ride as well. TFTC.

Inspected the tour route for damage from the Canterbury Earthquake. Happy to report there was none. . - Cache by Bicycle geocoin that has been immobile for way too long.

Disabled until I'm able to investigate the MTB track network for cache access following the Canterbury earthquake.

I think my GPS Unit is to blame but I found WP1 and WP2 fine but was unable to find WP3 as my GPS put it in the middle of private farmland.

After the changes made by Balded which didn't necessarily stop me on Saturday I decided to have another go today.
Found WP2 easily just didn't look in the right place last time. All the other WP's were straight forward and was relieved to find the cache at the end.
Then went to personally thank Balded for setting this cache up and lessons on the GPS

WPT2 was there, but WPT5 was missing! Replaced WPT5 (in a slightly different place) and adjusted WPT4 info to reflect the new WPT5 position. - Mr Explorer3's Dressel Dragon coin that has been here far too long.

Had doubts about doing today cache due to the strong NW winds but the river were dirty and unfishable so a good day to go Geocaching instead. The doubts proved to be unfounded as most of the track is in the vegetation so was quite sheltered. Found WP1 easily enough but couldn't find WP2 carried on the track looking for the next WP's with no sucess. Got some excercise instead

Despite having a heavy cold I decided it was such a great day i'd go for a gentle bike ride, and there just happened to be a geocache there as well! I could not find wp3 and was not really sure I knew what the figures meant so gave up and pushed on with the very muddy ride . In passing I located another wp without knowing the gps reference. From that I was back in play (once it dawned on me to use the gps to mark the location ..duh ! ). Camo does not describe the condition of the final cache...In the six months since the last find the cache was under a solid matt of growth. TFTH TNLN. Incidentally the bike track the other way from the car park is pleasant enough and quite easy.

Decided the instructions didn't look too hard after all, and gave it go. Found the cache very easily. WPs were all very easy to locate. Lovely to once again find a decent sized cache.

Left a Rabbit and swapped one geocoin for another.

Found while out with One-Fang this morning.
Gave my legs & derrier a good workout and help me get some cycling skills practice.
TNLN,
Thanks for a well thought out cache.

TFTC. I don't know how to do bearings yet, but I wouldn't have known about the MTB track without this cache, so cheers!

#494. Thought it would be good to do this non-Troodles-friendly cache while her arm is still in a cast post the Four Cygnets mishap. Was a pleasant early Saturday evening for a spot of caching. WP3 took a bit of finding, but apart from that it was straightforward. The MTB track was a pretty easy ride. Decided to ride back along the road, which was probably quicker but meant pedalling into a stiff nor easter.

Interesting to explore part of the Waimak river bank I hadn't visited before. Left 9/11 coin. TFTC.

Set out with Old Boots! on our bikes. The track was liberally strewn with fallen twigs and branches which got the better of Hello Mrs so where possible we took the road or stopbank reducing the time spent walking on the track. Had a bit of bother projecting the first WP as wasn't sure how to check the GPS true/ magnetic setting. Set off for the coordinates and realised it must have been magnetic when the pointer was taking us into a paddock. A bit of backtracking checking menus on the GPS we finally got it right. My extrex could not do the projection beyond one decimal point thankfully my new GPS is a lot smarter. The head wind back to the car slowed us down a bit lots of cars passing to the mini motorbike park. An enjoyable morning. The information at the carpark is well worth a good read. Thanks for bringing us here. - Tb which has been here for months.

Keeping Hello Mrs company. If she can do this one almost anyone can. TFTC and the challenge.

Another fine MTB ride with a cache hunt thrown in, Exchanged travel bugs

Another "Tour de..." off the list. Thanks for putting that cache there, I would not have gone to that track otherwise. The Cache area is quite a contrast to what you expect from a Canterbury riverbed.
+TB
-Coin

Had a good little ride around here this morning. Track was still quite slippery in places, but good to ride a new track! Cheers Gav [2247]

Quite an enjoyable little bike ride.
It's been quite a while since I last pulled my bike out of the shed so this was a good excuse. + Geocoin.

A very pleasant area for a bike ride and a nice easy multi as well. Did it a few days earlier in heavy frost - delightful. But my old GPS doesn't do projections, so I simply used a calculator each time to work out the offsets in metres, flicking backwards and forwards between datums. Only took a minute or two each time. Alright BaldEd, I know you'll roll your eyes at that one, but that's how I did it. No swaps, thanks and cheers from Grandalf(1140)

Like the previous hunters - we had a problem finding the start point. But that was because GSAK had given it a name like TourdeKaiapo13 - so I'd thought that was part of the other tour - but after manually entering it from the GPX - we were under way. It was the 3 boys from the Team today - the female was quaffing up at Waipara. But that was probably better - since she probably wouldn't have enjoyed it quite as much as we did. We also overshot the last WP - since I'd managed to put in XYZ km instead of XYZm in the projection - no wonder the distance wasn't going down very fast. A very pleasant ride - and run for the 4-legged one - at least until he blistered his pads. An easy find in a very pleasant spot. +Bottle opener TB. Thanks.

What a difference from Macleans! Enjoyed the extra challenges, both physical and mental. Thanks for the tour BaldEd - M@

Very pleasant afternoon stroll today. Biggest challenge was locating WP1 ! Parked in suggested car-park, but where was WP1 ? Checked numerous nearby posts, then headed off east to the start of Poynters Track, but no luck there. So we tried heading west and eventually found it !
Walk was fairly uneventful after that, the other 4 co-ordinates all spot-on, and Cache is at a pleasant landscaped picnic area ( thankfully away from all the "motorized muggles" that frequently drove past at ridiculous speeds creating huge dust storms ! From WP1, walk is approx 2 hours return ( or 3 hours if you stop for lunch like we did )
- Key Ring
+ DVD
TFTC !

Easy find eventually, after finding one Waypoint a little off. Able to get back on track using a little educated guesswork.
Some minor issues when some rubbish caught the chain, breaking the derailleur hanger - Oh well, I always wanted to try Single Speed. Still a fun ride.
Took Monedorks Keys TB.
TFTC

Dyslexia whilst stamping one of the original metal plates has caused cachers difficulty with the next waypoint. The erroneous plate has been replaced. Apologies to all.

1854. We were out today checking one of our own caches and thought we would drive out here to see what the area and the track was like. We were totally amazed at what has been achieved on both sides of the bridge and the access, picnic spots, driving and parking that is available. There are so many things to do out here and such a large area that it is a spot well worth visiting.

We went to the first waypoint just for interest but got hooked and made our way from waypoint to waypoint mostly on foot - as we had come without our bikes just for a look! We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon and loved the area where the cache finally resides. We did have a big hiccup at waypoint 4 where we were way out and on the wrong side of the road but did some backtracking and some thinking like a geocacher along with some careful checking and came up with the waypoint without too much trouble.

This is a completely enjoyable cache, a wonderfully family-friendly recreation area and a super place for an afternoon out.

Thank you BaldEd for another well planned and carefully executed cache - you can be depended upon for these wonderful tours!

Many thanks
Iris & Rodney

A nice little MTB multi. The track was technical enough that I didn't look at the GPS that much while on the move. The coords for WP4 were well out for me, which meant a bit of a search. I found it in the area I thought it should be.
The cache was an easy find.
TFTC!

Took a while, made a few mistakes along the way but got there in the end. Dropped off a travel bug. TFTC.

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