Akaroa Head Lighthouse (Canterbury) The Kaik, South Island, New Zealand
By Ian - VK3JAP on 13-Jul-08. Waypoint GC1E4N4

As this cache has been out of action for too long, I'm archiving it to keep it from continually showing up in search lists, and to prevent it from blocking other cache placements. If you wish to repair/replace the cache sometime in the future, just contact us (by email), and assuming it meets the guidelines, we'll be happy to unarchive it.

Regards,
TheCur8or
Geocaching.com Volunteer Reviewer.

This geocacher reported that this geocache should be archived. A community volunteer reviewer has been notified.

I have been looking forward to coming out here for a long time to find this cache as it was placed around a year after we started caching. It would seem I left it too long to claim this cache, hopefully there will be a replacement or a new one in the future. Normally I skip caches with DNFs logged but I failed to even check before heading out.

Quite a number of DNF's before me and owner's location is listed now as Australia.

Today on a rainy day again we made a trip wirh the Pohatu Penguins! An stopped here for the little hike to the Lighthouse! Great place, found the Cache but forgett the Pen

Tftc

No joy for me, either. I checked between poles, too, in case cache creep had occurred.
Confident this has gone.

This geocacher reported that the cache might be missing.

Quite disappointed not to find anything

Looked all around in case a previous cacher had not returned cache in the correct location but came up empty handed

We were very disappointed not to find this despite 4 of us looking very thoroughly. There is a better location about 2m away from the coordinates which would be better as you wouldn't have to disturb any vegetation. A friend with a 4wd took us there so it will be a long time before we can come back.

It's a long way to go and not get a smiley, but Jude E myself and 2 muggle friends looked for ages all round the area and we really think it's gone.

We were very disappointed to not be able to find this longstanding cache, despite extensive searching at the possible hint locations. We parked at the given parking coordinates, as the DOC notice said there was no vehicle access beyond that point, and indeed there is a locked gate a little further down the road. Although we couldn't find the cache, and it was a steep walk back up, this was a unique and scenic spot to visit, on a nice calm day. It was also interesting to read the history both in the cache description and on the walk down.

Out on our yearly Christmas caching mission with Z-masterNZ. Thought we'd check out a new part of the South Island so Akaroa was a good choice.
We parked at the red and white pole, and walked the rest of the way, stopping to check out the information signs and the old concrete pads. A little on the chilly and windy side today, but still a stunning view. Definitely worth the exercise.
#9 for the day.
TFTC

Out on a caching mission with Becsicasa while I was in the CHCH area for the festive season. A quick find, while some others were taking panaramic photos ;P

TFTC vk3jap, the cache was found in good order Signed, sealed and returned to GZ. 9 find(s) of 16 today, making this find #1682

Loved the history here. Stunning location. What views ah. Tftc

Nice cool breeze on a very hot, clear day. easy find.

A beautiful day, quick easy find after walking down the path to Earthcache site. . Log dry. TFTC

Easy find. Log tough to get out.. i suspect someone will break the vessel in future.. found with my lovely Sarah TFTC! Thunderboltnz1

︎3859
Found during a trip to Akaroa.
Today was a beautiful day, a great trip and I found many nice caches.
Thanks to all owners !!

T

Wow what a view

Beautiful spot

Wow, just wow. Can't say enough about this location, just takes the breath away. Log was full so added some more paper with our nale on it. TFTC and bringing us to this amazing location, loved exploring the ladder area down the bottom, not for the faint of heart! Fav point from us

Found this one on our way down to the ocean. Stunning views around here!
Enjoyed swimming next to the seals

Looks like a sheep found it not long before us as there are fresh 'deposits'. Awesome spot. Don't expect cell reception. We drove down past the farm and parked where it said not to go further and was a nice walk down. Now to walk back up.....

Such a nice spot and great geocache! Unfortunately our campervan didn't really like the 4WD-road but we managed it anyway... That was quite a walk but with awesome views! (P.S.: Sorry, we couldn't write in the logbook because we lost our pen on the way :-/ )

A beautiful place to visit, worth the trip. I bought a replacement logbook with me but found the current log had plenty of space on the reverse side. Thanks for putting a geocache here.

Log needs replacing. TFTC.

Fantastic spot for a cache. Our wee cachers' great grandparents were lighthouse keepers here in the 50's. TFTC

My mission is my first 3 day tramp on Stewart Island. The Seagnoid has Xmas off so we are off on an epic adventure with Zara around the South Island. Zara stays put at Little River, so with trusty steed Toby, the Seagnoid navigating via phone & scribe and I delegated to log blogger and driver, we are off to explore Akaroa.
Ok Akaroa has been bagged,but its just after lunch - plenty of caching/exploring time yet - so where to now. The bays or hey theres a lighthouse. Lighthouse gets the majority vote so we are off.
This road gets more interesting as we get closer to the lighthouse. I definitely would not bring my little car here but Tobys built for it. Very windy up here and now its time for a walk to the lighthouse. There are ruins of the original lighthouse keepers house along here. Great views from the lighthouse but very windy so had to be careful not to get blown off the cliff while finding the cache. Bugger- its a little bottle and the bag/log wont come out - and when I finally get them out the log is wet. Replaced log with a piece of Florist waterproof paper. Great place to visit on a good day. Cheers

TaybeeDragon and I are off for a three day walk on Stewart Island. But we have a camper, so once you add in getting there and back, it's a three week trip. Day 3: Akaroa to Akaroa.

Alas, it's a new light house, it's just not the same . Someone came down here in a 2-wheel drive van, I thought that quite brave. They managed to get back up okay. We had a little 4x4. Strong wind, but at least its not cold. Great seascape, could use another cache at the house ruins.
This would so be a favourite except that its a micro container and the CO chose to go for a narrow necked bottle. Narrow neck bottle syndrome has set in, with the log bag getting ripped as people try to extract the log that has unfurled a little and refuses to come out the opening.

In other words, great location, shame about the cache.

The Seagnoid's 7000 find! Woot!

Wow!
Yes, I got it. This is the farest cache from my home.
And my first at New Zealand.
Thanks, greetings from Germany
#114
Danke, und noch einen schönen Tag - Wolfgang

So hubby decided today had to be the day that he discovered the lighthouse. We had assumed it would be a nit of a popular tourist attraction, so the drive became quite the adventure! We'd recently upgraded the geocar to an SUV with 4 X 4 capabilities and were thankful for it! We disappeared high into the clouds, and kept going the way we were told until we found the sign encouraging us to disembark.
Crazy weather, crazy walk, with geokids Miss 7 and Master 6 in tow. Amazing views! Hubby will research a little better next time he decides to go on an adventure, but it was well worth while. I do think this caches difficulty and terrain ratings deserve a wee rethink though! Topped the morning off at the cafe with rewards of real coffee and hot chocolate. Thanks for the cache

Very windy day, great view.

Out with redsoxbean. Wow, what a view. Loved this cache. Visiting from Pennsylvania, USA. TFTC ^_^

Took a day trip to Akaroa with Loth and picked up some awesome caches along the way. Tftc!

A few people were nearby hoping to see dolphins. Unfortunately I don't think there were any there today. TFTC.

Awesome hid! Had to get the GPS right down to 0m TFTC!

Staying in Akaroa for a couple of days, this was one of the caches I wanted to achieve. Drove out to the end of the road (well almost) and parked at the farmers yards. Enjoyed the walk down to the lighthouse in the afternoon sun but then considered that the walk back was going to be all uphill!!! Should have driven to the 'end' of the road like the two sets of tourists that did just that in their rental vans.
Quickly found the cache, signed log and returned before the tourists arrived.
Enjoyed the great views along the coast before beginning the slog back uphill to the car. Giving it a FP for the great location. Thanks for placing a cache here.
Note for others, you can drive further than the yards, if you don't want the walk back up the hill, but the exercise is good for you.

Nice place, tftc

Das ist wahrlich cachen am Ende der Welt...
TFDC

didn't read the full blurb for this one so was a bit disappointed at the lighthouse at the end of a great drive and a short but steep walk ( T1.5) seems a little low even if you do drive down to the last gate . we parked at the warning signs and headed down. the cache was a quick find once at GZ . fav point for the views ( not the lighthouse) tftc

This cache formed part of our road trip from Akaroa to Christchurch.

This was the first find of the day. Find was easy - which was needed as we underestimated the drive and walk time! Certainly earned this find!

#5234

Awesome trip, great view! Thanks for the Cache

Awesome view and beautiful place. Thank you

#1293 15:15

Found with no problem, very nice surroundings. Visited with a friends during a weekend trip to Akaroa Bay. We've seen there seals and then were cought by a strong storm.

Thank you for the cache and greetings from two Czech!

Hard walk back up hill, gorgeous day to be walking along the coast

Great day here. We found it quickly, walk down from first gate took 1 hr return, but you can drive down 1 km further, just dont forget to shut the gate properly. amazing views, although we got caught in hail. Thank you.

TFTC Danoxy

I was off to Akaroa to sign off a few caches that were in the rural portions of the Akaroa Harbour plus a few on the way.

It is an awesome trip down to the lighthouse. Talked with the farmer and he said is was ok to continue on to the lighthouse.

Cheers for the cache.

wife did not like the road

On a nice trip to akarora we came along here. Really a nice place to visit!! THX for the Cache!! Cheers from a swiss cacher!!

As hubby Sevren already found this cache we came back today just to get this cache for me. Nice view

Found it! After walking around Akaroa in the morning, we went for a drive along Lighthouse road to see what was there! We drove through the farm and parked near signs before getting to the locked gate. Muggle Heather and I walked down to GZ and made a quick find. Fabulous views! I can see why a lighthouse would be needed here! thanks for the history lesson and TFTCS SL. Cheers from Pippin69 & the Travelling Muggles from Melbourne!

We bumped and rattled our way to Akaroa Head until the warning sign, then walked the last steep path down. No trouble finding the cache, but the log was a soggy mess which disintegrated when we applied tweezers. We added a new log then put the little bottle in a snaplog bag (including our calling card). The cache is hidden again in exactly the same spot. It was a very hot day indeed so we huffed and puffed back to the car. Note to other geocachers: bring sunhats, sunscreen and a water bottle if you venture here on a sunny day.

Easy find as we did a sight seeing tour of the area. TFTC SL

Didn't try too hard, but will be back again one day.

Near we wander down to GZ with Geimissus and cachelette. Quick find and then a tuge back up to the wagon. TFTC.

Forgot to say - log book is a bit wet and hard to write on!

Greetings from England!

We were looking forward to this trip to New Zealand.
After hours of flight from Belgium we finally arrived, picked up our Road Trip Special and started going.
First we organised a little event to meet the locals. It was a blast and we've met some nice people!
After that we did a whole tour around the South Island in 3 weeks, sleeping in the car or our tent.
It was great!

Found it fairly quickly. Nice views on the cliffs here.
TFTC!

[green]Visit us at the Brugse Beer V MEGA event on april 12th, 2015! Check our website [url=http://www.geocachingbrugge.be]www.geocachingbrugge.be[/url][/green]

A beautiful day, great views, went down ladder and had a couple of young seals swim by, they stopped and played in front of us for a while.
Took a short while to find cache, forgot to take pen so got photo.

We went to the old lighthouse in town so we had to visit the new one as well.
A calm but grey day, stunning views even though the new light is somewhat underwhelming for those who appreciate lighthouses.
Thanks, this will probably my furthest east cache for quite some time I imagine.

The log was unfortunetely wet and full so I put a piece of paper in. Great view here, nice history and a great lighthouse. Just amazing!

Found with Shadow's Friend. A very neat location. The log is full and wet. Thanks for the cache.

During a beautiful trip to Akaroa and just some time to relax we also got to log some more caches so close to our home zone. This one was good to fine, thanks to the clue Many thanks for this lovely cache

A gorgeous hot day to get this cache. Great views in all directions. Very easy find. Tftc.

We came out this way to find Flea Bay and decided to go that little bit further to check out the light house. We had the idea from the cache description that we could drive all the way down if we wanted, which would have been perfect as we didn't have time for anything else. Unfortunately that wasn't the case, and we had to make the tough call that we didn't have time for the 1.5km+ return walk from the "dangerous road, no vehicle access" sign. Oh well...

Found it easy but had a short view beacause of the fog on the way to the cache. When we arrived, we were able to see a sea lion!
TFTC

#1162

Log is wet

What a way to go, decided to do this on Christmas Day got there in the end with friends,after our friends son found it for us we once again claimed to where we had parked the car and had a picnic

Thanks for the cache nice view

during my trip around NZ, I have found this cache.
I would like to thank all the owners for the awesome Caches.
Nice Location ---> FP
greetings
Navigator111

The bulls didn't want to let us get to the carpark using a tag team method to stop us proceeding. Finally Hello Mrs cunning driving methods got us past. Rugged up really warmly as the dusting of snow on Mt Herbert overnight showed that it was totally different from yesterdays shorts weather. Speculated on the life of the people who had lived in the foundation ruins on the way down. Got out of the shelter of the hill and the wind cut right through you. Needed long fingers to retrieve the cache before posing for photos with the rugged scenery. Muffins at the top were most appreciated!

Blowing a gale down here. At least we found the cache. MacpacMum and sharkiefan were here. Tftc

Magnificent scenary! My favourite with cache Flea Bay in Akaroa!

Fantastic, i'm still wondering why we have seen no one nearby this cache, the entrance of the bay is amazing, the landscape deserve the trip to this lighthouse. Tftc

Beautiful walk to the lighthouse

Great hide. Found easily today with Msis20 and Mmate20. TFTCSL.

TFTC Great day for a walk to this cache. Beautiful area to explore old building sites.

This entry was edited by Pollyf on Friday, 07 June 2013 at 06:25:39 UTC.

Last stop for the night, what a stunning spot

Amazing place and what a view! TFTC!

found it with integersmirk during our Christmas holidays TFTC

Four of us took the stroll down from the part where it said the road was unsuitable, such a scenic spot. We saw shoals of fish in the sea, birds everywhere and great sunshine. Kitty! made a quick find before we took the stroll back up the hill. TFTC!

Quick Find.

Justanurse's family has a place out this way and we stayed the night. We all went down on a windy morning with amazing views. We even went for a walk down to the old wharf area and ladder. Amazing place. Cache was tricky but Justanurse come up with the goods while showing her parents what caching was.

Great opportunity to get this cache as just down the road from ma and pas house, this was a tricky we hide but eventually found, I secretly think mum and dad enjoyed looking for this cache too tftc

Same as les_premos but we were together....

Couldn't find it : we were 3 adults and 2 kids. No luck !

In Akaroa for a couple days family holiday. This morning dawned fine and clear. We were going to head back to CHCH at midday so thought we'd give this one last go after turning around yesterday half way out when a southerly front hit and enveloped us in clouds and misty rain. Pointed the poor ol' family wagon back up the steep hilly terrain. Newly graded and gravelled roads were both good (flat) and bad (tricky traction in steep places for a front wheel drive family wagon!). Got there soon enough; parked up in the parking spot and had a pleasant wander to the beacon. Great views all round in the mid morning sun. Cache quickly cornered and signed. Moved back uphill and played and pondered the lightkeepers house foundations - imagining what each area could have been. Must have been a very harsh spot for the Keeper. Great place for a cache with facinating history. Thanks.

Lovely hide, cool container. Wonderful views, raining in akaroa clear this side. Saw dolphins. SL, TFTC, wonderful spot.

Very well hidden! Log was full so added a new page. It would be an interesting experience to be there during a howling SE gale with high seas running.

We were there with a friend from the US. Pretty cold in the wind with the sun going down!

Got as far as the last gate,and found it was locked,so a nice walk brought us to the end of the road.Found the Log Book is nearly full.TFTC

TFTC. This cache has been on my "must do" list for a year now. It was well worth the spectacular drive and the walk. Unfortunately the gate is now padlocked closed and cars are not allowed past the gate. Still a the walk added to the sense of expectation. Truely beautiful azure blue waters and astounding views. A favourite vote from me.

#3473
The cache container is not spectacular at all! But the place and the way up here is simply gorgeous!! I wasn't sure whether I should drive all the way out to the lighthouse, which is a bit hard driving but it was well worth it. I enjoyed a lot the great view and the spiritual sounds of splashing water.
Thanks a lot for showing this place, greetings from Germany

[blue]spy_guy[/blue]

Beautiful spot. We parked where it said no vehicles past this point and did the walk down. Hunted a bit and did need the clue but got there in the end. The uphill walk was another story! TFTC

Woohoo found it this time - couldn't leave Akaroa having not found this one. Came back at 7pm found the cache this time. Even got to see one of the 2 beautiful cruise ships leaving past the heads. What a sight. TFTC
P.S This time I drove right down as far as you can go(thankfully no gates or sheep to worry bout this time) so only had to walk a short distance with Miss 10.

After an hour of searching with 2 adults and 2 kids we gave up and headed back to the car. Unless you have good shoes I would not advise parking up and walking down, it's a long way down and a hard slog back up. So disappointing to come away empty handed. I'll be back though

Fantastic spot on a fantastic day. TFTC

With the opportunity to get away for a day and a half, I decided on a caching expedition to Akaroa and the surounding hills. This was find 29 of 39 and the third walk of the day. Enjoyed the drive up and over from Akaroa then down to the DOC car park about 600m from the cache (and 100m higher). Very pleasant weather for a walk at the end of peninsular. Well worth the visit. Cache quickly located using the hint. TFTC.