Weirly Interesting Too (Otago) Pigeon Flat, South Island, New Zealand
By katie w on 06-Sep-09. Waypoint GC1YADT

Although nothing has changed in the approach to GZ, it seems that there is now a health and safety issue with the location- and since it has not been found in nearly 3 years, I have removed the container, and decided to archive.

It appears that the area may be no longer accessible, saw hazard tapes in place -checking out next week.

No luck here today. Spent an hour navigating up and down the stream, following a rather indecisive gpsr, however the weir retained the upper hand. Following yesterday's weather there was quite a bit of liquid streaming downhill (you never see it streaming uphill, weird yo) alongside the weir, that possibly wasn't a contributing element either. Also, I might look up in a dictionary what a 'weir' actually is. Might improve my success probability, perhaps.

I didn't start well on this one- being a well-behaved sort of a person stopped at the gate marked "Entry forbidden: water catchment area" and cast about looking for another track. Eventually gave that up as a bad idea, and squeezed past the gate. After that it was plain sailing. Cache is a bit damp, but otherwise undisturbed after the extra water flow that has gone through recently and its year without any finders. Thanks katie!

An interesting side trip today.

my heart sunk when I realised that I didn't have this one on my GPSr. I did have something useful with me though and that was the CO who directed me to the general area and set me loose. A tut tut was emitted by her and another previous finder when I went too high. It didn't take too long to find thanks to some comments from the onlookers. Took the TB that had been there for a year or two and past around for viewing but has yet to get back to me.

Track has been cleared, but the debris has been left lying all over the place, so take care.
I notice that there is a broken board on the bridge, so step across carefully. No chooks or goats today.

In area today photographing spider orchids, took the opportunity to drop off TB James Tiberius.
Saw 4 goats on the track on the way in, and lots of signs of pig activity.

Visited today and put in new container and log to replace the rather damp one.

Sorry for the very late log..always too busy (for me it is definitely not about the numbers )
Found this with swollibman after our silver peaks adventure. We missed the turn for this, so came a longer (sludgier) way, but on the way back we luckily found the short way back to the street. TFTC!

We attempted to head up to the Silver Peaks this weekend for a 2 night tramp via the Leith Saddle (walking in all the way from Dunedin!) but it was far too windy, we were crawling for a while, and unfortunately had to head back. Luckily we had a contingency plan for this very occurrence and got a few caches around SH1 and Waitati & Leith Valley Roads before walking back into town. So still a nice day out caching and we found some good ones. TFTC!

Yipee! PC Sniff and I got it! We'd searched for ages last time, but armed with a nudge from the cache owner and a bit more common sense, this time it didn't take too long to spot. Our GPS were out by 10m in the bush, but the hint was a good one and once I got over the idea that bank could be a bit higher up, rather than right down close to the riverbed, our searching was more fruitful. Thanks for placing this cache, for checking it was still there after our first DNF and for helping PC Sniff out on the whereabouts. Lovely spot

Found second time round with jrb5050 and with the wise words of the CO TFTC

Went a bit high for this one. Read hint, reset the brain then found in about 30 seconds. TFTC #737

Visited to check the cache today, and all good. Still in place (very well hidden from sight). Track is mostly clear except for a couple of fallen trees just before the little foot bridge. However, I was able to easily negotiate the obstacles.

With no power for GPS function on the smart phone, we probably shouldn't have tried, but after a long day walking to Swampy Summit and back with PC Sniff, this one was too hard to walk past.
Unfortunately it also proved too hard for us to find!

Well what can i say %$%$$%$ thats twice i have been and twice i have left mumbling , will leave this one as a green rash on our map of yellow smileys, one day i might go back [B)]

After my little walk my patience was gettnig thin ,what a dank dark corner to put a cache but as i
missed a couple of others (wrong track sore knees) i will be backkk

Just before the forecasted southern front complete w sleet-come-hail arrived, I found the cache:) TNLN. HOTA

Finally getting around to logging... I did this as part of the MEGA trip organised by KiwiChris (thanks!). A pleasant end to a very pleasant trip, in quite different surroundings to most of the caches. Really enjoyed seeing the engineering history. Thanks also to StreetWalkerNZ for being our tail-end charlie. TFTC.

The last cache on the guided tour courtesy of KiwiChris - thanks so much for bring us all on this mega caching adventure. This proved to be a lovely spot, I just wish I could have enjoyed it more without my injured wrist slowing me down. The hike to this one proved to be very slow for me, down yet more treacherous muddy paths. A big thank you also to StreetWalkerNZ (aka Tail End Charlie) and KiwiLegend for flanking me throughout this section, and providing moral support in my debilitated state! TFTC - I was very glad to move onto more stable terrain after this one!

Down here for the mega event, and thanks to evilno9 was signed up to take part on this hike. Probably the best part of the weekend! Nothing like a good hike in some wild weather! Big thanks to Kiwichris for being a fantastic guide, and great to meet some new people.
Last find of the hike for us today, and what an awesome way to finish off what was a fantastic walk. An amazing spot this, and after the rough weather from the start of the day, it was hard to believe what had been up against ontop of the spur. With our collective searching it wasn't long before the cache was in hand.
Once again, big thanks to Chris for his awesome work guiding us and keep us safe today. A great walk, and a great spot to finish off. TFTC

Limped along to this one after pulling a muscle in my calf but thankfully had mel_ramsay's pole to lean on to make it a bit less painful. As with the other caches during the day we were able to make short work of the search by all taking an area each and getting stuck into it. No chickens out here - must have been scared off by our vast number.

And with this, we had our last find for the day. 13km and 6 hours of wandering with a lot of great company and 12 caches to do along the way. Once again a big thanks to KiwiChris for leading us so well and to the other cachers for making it a really enjoyable side show to the main event. TFTC

#4224. We had to earn this one, with a decent descent down a slippery track. We regrouped where the track we came down reached the pipeline track, and soon after we got to GZ, which proved to be a great place for a cache.

Many thanks the KiwiChris for organising the walk, and for everyone else for being great company on the day. It was a well-balanced group with (I think) a 50 / 50 split between Aussies and Kiwis.

Found as part of the group completing the NZ Mega event Swampy Circuit Trek led by KiwiChris with StreetWalkerNZ following behind ensuring we all kept together.

The group met up at our starting co-ordinates and then set off at 9am. There was a question as to how far we would get due to the uncertainty of the weather, however apart from having to shelter briefly from some light hail it turned out to be a rather nice day allowing us to complete the full circuit.

Cache number 12 and the last one for us on this walk. Lovely place for a cache. Thanks for the hunt katie w and thanks to KiwiChris and StreetwalkerNZ for organising this trek.

As a part of the NZ Mega event a "tramp" was organised and led by KiwiChris to tackle the challenging Swampy Circuit.

We all met up at our starting co-ordinates (cheers for EvilNo9 for the lift) and then set off at 9am.

The weather was the only uncertainty about the day, but apart from a sharp hail storm, it was all perfect.

The terrain was the most challenging, with some long steep climbs and some pretty trecherous
downhill mud slides.

The walk was about 13 km, but felt more due to the terrain, but we completed it all within 6 hours,
with a break for lunch and stopping to find for 12 caches.

All in all a fantastic mini event, a big thank you to KiwiChris, with whom this activity would never
have come together. Took some fantastic photos on route.

Cache did not take to find with 10 active searchers !!! Blended in nicely.

TFTC.

After more squelchy mud, we came upon a nice little stream and some great trees covered in moss. The cache location was quickly assessed and the cache extracted. Nice hide. No wild chooks about today. The weather had held and we completed the circuit, Thank you to the weather gods, and our knowledgeable leader. Thanks to the other cachers for the company today and for making the Mega experience all the more memorable.

Parked up just below the road bridge over the Waitati Stream and headed upwards reaching the Pipeline track. Took a left hand turn and followed a rather muddy track until I crossed the stream on a combined foot bridge cum pipe bridge and onto a weir. Don't cross the first bridge you encounter. My GPS was showing GZ not far ahead. A quick climb up the concrete valve control housing and before long I was searching for a likely cache hide-away. Dense overhead bush played havoc with my GPS but perseverance paid off in the end. The log was slightly damp but quite useable. I returned an easier way, crossing the lower foot bridge and walking out to the road.

Second time around. Had a hint from Katie, but had not read the updated clue, so it still took me longer than it should have. No sign of the chook, must have moved on with the coming of Autumn.

First of 8 today on a longer than anticipated tramp -- along the Pipeline track, up Burns, the longer route to the Swampy track, up to the top, and then down back to the motorway. Missed the return bus (by several hours) so had to walk home. All in all over 24km.

Logbook is a trifle damp (hardly surprising given the gloominess of the surroundings), so needs a bit of time in the lovely Autumn sun (don't we all?).

TNLN. TFTC.

An after tea ramble, quickly to the GZ where I was ambushed by a golden feathered chook!
I'll keep the log decent and say I nearly laid an 'egg' myself as it let out a squawk from behind me as I was retrieving the cache. It then followed me back down to the track junction to ensure it's territory was clear of trespassers, so be warned! Didn't have camera or decent mobile on me so no pics unfortunately.
TFTC(hicken?)

TFTC. Found under the rock under the snow.

In view of the 2 recent DNF, decided to check it out for myself today on the way past to The Piper's Lament. All in place. Have upgraded the difficulty to reflect the hiding place.

Even with the help of a torch, I could not spot this one. Great location, so I will be back some time (soon I hope).

nope didn't find it. I wish I had remembered my torch. the hint didn't help.

TFTC SL we found it after help thanks, all in tack and a good hiding place lovely waterfall gonna bring the kids up here, such a peaceful sound could have stayed here for ages.

Found it at 09:55, my 2nd of 3 finds today, and my 745th find.

On to my next cache in the cloud forest, this one proved a little harder to find. I tried to use the hint first but it does refer to quite a lot of possible hiding places. Eventually I tried a more systematic search and decided to trust my GPSr as well. SUCCESS.... HURRAH. Let's hope the next one's easier.

TFTC katie w!

New container and log. Repositioned the cache so that it is not at the base of a waterfall, or in the path of overflow from main creek bed. Refer to new clue for location, but placed within 2m of the original, so no coordinate change required.

As per my log - log book and cache contents are soaked and need drying out/replacement. At least it survived the floods!

Had just enough time after my swampy adventures this morning to stroll down and pick this one up. A nice short walk and a couple of interesting wee bridges amonst some beautiful bush. Took the GPSr a couple of goes to get the right spot under the tree cover but eventually got there. Is clear that groundzero has been underwater in the last week and I was pleased to find the hint object and cache still there and in position. Unfortunately the cache was completely full of water, as was the baggy containing the log book. I drained them both out and dried out the container as best I could. I was still able to sign the log using the fluro gel pen but suspect it will smudge badly when closed. Unfortunately I had left all my replacements in the car and didn't have time to shoot back and get them - Sorry katie! A nice wee wander to finish the caching day though. TFTC!

2nd visit to the weir to sign the cache. Was a lot easier to find in the daylight. TFTC.

Nice spot - never knew it was here..we were followed into the cache by three wood pigeons - very impressive !

Much to expore around the cache site - nice !

Blumpfine TB visited

Thanks to WEKA for recommendation to add suggested track entry point for this one. Coordinates supplied.

A straightforward find on a very misty morning. TFTC

Well I must say the daylight does help, our hands on it rather quickly this time, looked around there last time, but in the poor light missed it.

Many Thanks Bitsprayer

After having searched in vain for this one last weekend with Bitsprayer it was good to return today and make the find. Daylight certainly helps. I am really envious of Dunedin having public accessable areas such as these, it was magic on a day like today.
Thanks
ernienz

were in here just as it was getting dark, had a good poke about, but will have to return.

Bitsprayer

Beautiful spot. Haven't been here for years... well, decades, come to think of it...

Much easier find, on my second trip, with the clue.
I took the travel bug and I swapped the ping pong for a wee doll.

Nice walk with nofs jnr. Quick find of the cache and stopped to look at the weir and bridges - interesting indeed. Thanks.

Back in the area today with “Mrs Mac†but minus one of the boys, we all enjoyed the walk and “Mrs Mac†found the cache. It wasn’t until I got to the last section of the track that I confirmed what I had been thinking, that the boys and I had been here before after doing a circuit up to “Swampy†and down the “Burns Track†in December 2007.
Looks like we missed by less than an hour meeting “Katie Wâ€, as she pass through with a TB.

Thanks

Well overdue for a logging session - will have to get better at logging! TFTC

Took a bit of hunting. Should of trusted the GPS.

Nice, pleasant stroll in and a quick find. FTF.

In two parties we went the two different paths in what we thought would be an FTF double race of sorts against ourselves. But no, pipped by UNCLE by a couple of hours. Gutted as this was the fourth FTF attempt by me in 4 days that failed (balances out the 4 night FTFs I got last week I guess). No trades in cache so left a couple of small items.

TFTC found with Jonnies group!

2nd of 3 finds today. TFTC.

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