Franz Josef 50km ATCF ( South Canterbury ) Lake Tekapo, South Island, New Zealand
By Bitsprayer on 03-Jan-10. Waypoint GC22MKQ

What a glorious view! We found this cache this morning after finding the challenge cache nearby. Signed the log and replaced as found. Thank you.

A fantastic drive to this cache. The scenery is so beautiful. Further to the COs comments, I like saying this statement, I am closer to the Tasman Sea than the Pacific Ocean but I have a mountain range in front of me. Favourite given and kia ora rawa atu Bitsprayer.And so 7 days after returning home from a five month trip to the UK and Europe, I am off on another trip. This time its within New Zealand as Itchyfeet2020 and I are on our mega road trip to Dunedin. We are focussing on particular caches for various challenges, as well as having a great lot of fun and seeing the scenery in our wonderful land. -LET US HAVE A BLOCK PARTY!!!On May 3rd, 2025, we will be celebrating 25 years of geocaching in Rotorua, New Zealand with a special Block Party event. Join us to celebrate 25 years of this amazing game, and that the very first geocache hidden outside of the United States, 25 years ago, was hidden here in New Zealand.You do not want to miss this event, so check out the "[GCAKR25](https://coord.info/GCAKR25) 25 Years of Geocaching NZ! event page, the [event website](http://25years.geocache.nz/) for more details, join the [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/groups/924894455969387) group, and sign up to the [email list](http://25years.geocache.nz/?p=4) to get updates...If you intend to come, please make sure you get your "Will Attend" log onto the page as soon as you can in order to assist with planning the first ever Block Party in New Zealand.-

NZ_B and I are on a road trip to the Geo Toroa Mega and back. I'm also aiming for a multi every day, so it is now titled the "Mega Multi Road Trip." Today is Day 13 from Lake Tekapo to Christchurch. This is one we found on our journey today. An absolutely stunning drive with views aplenty. We loved our drive out here today. Thank you for bringing us here today Bitsprayer.It's nice to have a trip where, alongside targeted caches, we also take time to find one's on a whim or ones that take a bit longer. We have all day and the caches are calling...

Awesome drive up. TFTC

#3852 Today is day 7 of my geocaching vacation in New Zealand. I'm driving from Twizel to Timaru and finding some geocaches along the way.I drove a good 70 minutes from Lake Tekapo just for these two caches, [Matagouri Challenge (Dif/Ter) (South Canterbury)](https://coord.info/GC2Q24Q) and [Franz Josef 50km ATCF ( South Canterbury )](https://coord.info/GC22MKQ). When I got to [Matagouri Challenge (Dif/Ter) (South Canterbury)](https://coord.info/GC2Q24Q), there was a muggle cattle standing right by GZ and other muggle cattle around. As I approached, they were all staring at me. I am sure they were not geocaching. It did not look like they were moving, but I also did not want to give up after driving all the way up here. So, I continued to [Franz Josef 50km ATCF ( South Canterbury )](https://coord.info/GC22MKQ). This was an easy find with a great view. After signing the log and replacing the cache, I saw those muggle cattle left the spot. Now, I'm going back to claim another smiley face . Bitsprayer, thank you for the cache!-crystaloops from Taipei, Taiwan on October 7, 2024 @ 16:13:41[GC22MKQ] Franz Josef 50km ATCF ( South Canterbury ) was a D1.0/T1.5 Small Traditional Cache at the time of finding.

Had to come up hear to get another cache close by for my D/T chart, TFTC

Heading up to the Macaulay Hut for the nightTFTC

Found this afternoon after finding the challenge cache nearby. I felt a bit conspicuous as there was a car parked under the roof. Found the cache, signed the log and replaced. What a vista.Thanks for placing the cache Bitsprayer. Greetings from Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.

Nearby to sign off on a challenge cache and pleasantly surprised to find another cache nearby. Drove down to the river, but decided not to cross in the hire car…. that would have been a bit silly! Amazing to think we are geographically so close to Franz Josef, yet so far.. TFTC

Nice quick find. TFTC

Love it!

My first time to the head of the lake. Cache is is good condition. Thanks

A quick find on the way out from staying up at the Macauley Hut. In about a weeks time I will be in Franz Josef, amazing to think I am so close right here.
TFTC
P.S Sorry for very late logging.

TFTC great spot great views list if 4wdruves in river

Found it! Just stayed the night at the Macauley’s hut and picked this one up on the way out

TFTC
Charlotte & Jordy

We were in Tekapo for a couple of days 4x4. Yesterday we went up Fork stream, today the Macaulay hut for lunch. Stopped here to make a cuppa for the journey home and find cache. All good here, log dry. Thanks for this cache Bitsprayer.

Very windy here today but a quick find

Quite a busy spot.

The shed looks like it's recently been re roofed. We found a key . We were about to replace the replacement when we found the replacement cache. JDSCOUT and I are having a campervan holiday in Fairlie. Jude_E is staying nearby too. We decided to go out to Tekapo today. Thanks Bitsprayer for creating this hide. It was find 9765 for me.

======== NZ Mega 2021 ========
Planning for the NZ Mega 2021 event is well underway. It will be held in Auckland over Labour Weekend, October 2021

Found Raynpengi's replacement with JDScout and Nosynel. New hint down not up. We enjoyed watching a tractor trying to tow an old wooden caravan thing, then watched a couple of young hunters load up a quad bike with all their hunting gear and head off up the valley. It is a very busy place! Thanks for having a cache here.
#6702

Was a long way on the dirt for a dnf. Clear hint so looks to be missing. Put a new one in until CO can check and confirm.

Had a decent look for it but unable to locate, will try again next visit

Had a good look high and low around here.
Was pretty clear where to be focussing but no sign of any sort of cache .
Strange as was replaced by last visitor some time ago. Spectacular place !
Thanks

Arrived on site and soon found mentioned hide spot the problem was no cache! Hunted all around to no avail. Even searched GL in case it had been disturbed. Still no sign so placed a replacement for CO notifying him along with pictures to prove . Logging with permission of CO

After doing the nearby Challenge cache we decided to grab this one as well - got to GZ and hunted and hunted but there was no sign of it anywhere ( knowing that it had only been replaced recently we gave another hunt - finally we decided to pop in another cache and messaged the cache owner to let him know - now logging with permission - thanks for the cache and the wonderful photo ops this road provides

Wow that was an epic trip on the gravel road that is about 33km long.... came here to claim the smiley and thats exactly what i did tftc mr bitsprayer

In the area for the nearby challenge cache so attempted to make the find on this one as well. Found where it should have been but the cache was missing and after a search around to make sure it wasn't in the grass we put a replacement in (as discussed with CO a few days ago). Tucked it back in nice and tight with the rocks. Future finders need to ensure it is tucked away behind the rocks so birds can't flick it out. tftc

Nice find heading up the valley 4wding. Tftc

I decided to go for a wee drive up the northern side of the lake today signing off the odd cache.

I loved the drive up to here.

Cheers for the cache.

We are on our summer holiday driving around the South Island with no real idea of where we will end up each day. We are often drawn to an area that has the potential to give us a few geocaching smilies and somewhere we have not spent time exploring before.
We were here as we had qualified and found the Matagouri Challenge cache nearby. The road was incredibly corrugated and we had shaken and rattled our way here. We had a look in the obvious place that matched the hint but the rocks were there but the cache was not. We messaged the CO asking if we should replace the cache, which might save a bone shaking drive. We didn't get a reply, so we decided to replace the cache. We only had a small pill bottle and write in the rain log paper. We placed it as per the hint (which is pretty specific).
We stayed here for ages just enjoying the serenity and the vista. Quite a special part of our world and definitely worth the drive.
Thank you for bringing us here and thank you for the smiley

A wet cold day but thankfully we were able to back the vehicle into the bay of the barn. We can see the 3 rocks but sadly no container. Despite the weather, it is still a pretty drive & the road in good condition.

A wet cold day for a drive but thankfully we were able to back the vehicle into the bay of the barn. We found the 3 rocks mentioned in the hint but sadly no container . Despite the weather it is a pretty drive & the road is in good condition.

What a vista! TFTC

Collected this one following the Matagouri Challenge. Great drive in and great road even at night.
I hate Matagori. Still pulling its thorns out of my hands a week later. Great challenge in a great location

The (major road trip was about to begin) that was for the Oamaru Geofest trip in the company of HKCB and iammrwalker for a bit of a road trip across to the west coast, through Haast and in a roundabout way to Oamaru.

My trip stats were as follows: 617 caches (214 Puzzles), 3300kms, 500 litres of Petrol, 21 hours sleep, 100+hours caching time. THe weather was wonderful and apart from about a 6hour period on the sunday we had fine weather all the way and feel that we made a bit of a hole in the region.

Firstly thanks to all the CO's that put in the effort to to set up these caches and to all the CO's whose caches we did not find this trip, well we are already planning our next trip.
We worked hard at getting specific caches (especially the Geo Art around christchurch and hence our concentration on this area for the preliminary 24 hours. So after a couple of running repairs to the rental vehicle (fuses not working) we were off knowing that all ports could be charged and that sleep was for the weak.

Sorry about the copy and paste logs but that is what tends to happen with a number run of this size.

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Did you know that planning has started for a Mega Event in Wellington in 2018? Check out the details on the [WENZ Website](https://sites.google.com/site/wenzgeo2018/home) or visit the event's page on [FaceBook](https://www.facebook.com/groups/590545297801072/) and don't forget to log your attendance on the [WENZ Event Page](https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC78NMQ_wenz-event-2018-wellington?guid=23f451a2-08ac-4374-883f-ed6814687147/)

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Came down this way from the North for the Oamaru Geofest, and decided to add a few more days to the weekend trip and turn it into a bit of a Mega mission, starting 5pm on Wednesday 18th and finishing 3pm Monday 23rd! Teaming up with Cats&Dragons for the first 24 hours then with Iammrwalker joining the team for the remainder.
Just a few of the stats for the trip were:
- 700 caches found, including 270+ puzzles (thanks to the Christchurch Geoart)
- 3300 km's driven, using over 500L of fuel $$$
- Just over 20 hours of sleep (about 4 per day on average), and about 100 hours of caching time.
Certainly a Mega Trip!

Day 3: With time now a bit against us for what we originally had planned for the West Coast a decision was made to catch up a bit of time and bee line it down the coast from Greymouth to Jackson's Bay. This meant a 6 1/2 drive through the night as we rotated drivers every hour or so while the other two got some sleep. This plan worked great as it set us up for another great day of caching. Today's mission involved caching from Jackson's Bay through to Cromwell and then up to Aoraki (Mt Cook). Today also made us appreciate the stunning beauty of the South Island.

While we were nearby finding the challenge cache we thought might as well find this one too!

Sorry about the cut and past logs, but that seems to happen with cache runs of this size!

I found this Geocache on a Geocaching mega mission along with Cats&Dragons and HKCB. With only just over three and half thousand Geocache finds I was very much the over achiever in training. We were in the South Island to support the Oamaru Geofest event, hunt down some Jasmar and D/T harder to find Geocaches, lonely caches (those not found in more than 6 months), virtuals and try and meet some milestone numbers. We signed the logs HIC, an abbreviation of our respective Geocaching names, (H)KCB, (I)ammrwalker and (C)ats&dragons. A huge thanks to all the CO’s who placed and maintain the Geocaches we found.

I arrived in Christchurch late Thursday evening having left straight from work and was picked up by my intrepid companions in our four wheel drive rental to find they had already grabbed about 270 finds in the previous twenty four hours. I wonder if the rental company would have still let us have it had they known we would travel 3300km in it before returning it four days later? Our trip took us to Greymouth via Arthurs pass, Ngahere, down the west coast to Haast across to Hawea, Cromwell, Twizel, Aoraki Mt Cook, Tekapo, onto the east coast up to Oamaru and back up to Christchurch via Akaroa and countless diversions and small towns along the way. We slept in the car for the first two nights, grabbing some shut eye between cache finds, taking turns to drive. We rented a small place in Oamaru for the other two nights and appreciated a bed to sleep in and a hot shower. It was an amazing trip, in which I discovered the South Island has some of the most incredible scenery in the world.

CAme out this way for the interesting DT combination of the matagouri challenge cache down the road and figured since we came all this way we should grab this one as well.

After having driven 35km of gravel road to collect the Matagouri Challenge it would seem silly to not go a couple of hundred metres further for one more. Got to GZ and found the cache after thinking about the hint. Thanks.

Decided this morning for a drive along Lilybank Rd and was not disappointed. Despite the unsealed road which was really corrugated in parts it was a wonderful drive along Lake Tekapo and all its unspoiled nature. Had lunch here at the end, I love exploring but my Motor home would not make it accross the Ford. To find the cache was the icing on the cake. TFTC

Found yesterday on a trip up the Macauley with hughdg and odgerino... TFTC, a truely wonderful spot

Found yesterday on a trip up the Macauley with hughdg and odgerino... TFTC, a truely wonderful spot

Found yesterday on a trip up the Macauley with hughdg and odgerino... TFTC, a truely wonderful spot

Driving up to Macaulay hut with odgersaj so grabbed this as we went by

Just come out of the Macaulay valley, TFTC

Just come out of the Macaulay valley, TFTC

Thank you for showing.
Greetings from Austria

This cache was the Highlight of this Day. It is a really good place

Heading up to twizel for the night with a bit of a detour to pick of a couple of caches at the end of the road . Had been saving this one for when I qualified for the d/t challenge cache .... and now I do couldn't have asked for a better day to venture this way took longer than it should to find because I only read the hint and not the description tftc

Thanks for taking us here. Don't think we would have ventured quite as far to see this magic place if it wasn't for the cache. Having a Sunday drive up the lake we were going to turn around at the homestead but instead pressed on 5 more kilometres to find this one. Unfortunately we don't quite qualify for the nearby challenge cache only 15 more D/T to go maybe next time. With a storm racing over head and at lake Tekapo this area was surprisingly calm. Would be a good spot to camp in the warmer months.

A great drive up the lake, certainly a great part of the country, TFTC

Came out here with our camera club. Beautiful little road. Tftc

A quick find after a lovely drive up the valley. Great views of the Alps.

Decided on a weekend away in South Canterbury. Had some amazing weather and the mountains and valleys were superb.

Thanks for the hide.

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| For info on the next NZ mega, go to: [url=http://coord.info/gc587bc]nzmega2015[/Url] |
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Found last year but forgot to log, went back this year and no sign, I read that it was replaced in September but could not see any signs at all, might need re-hiding

13.35: On the way to Lilybank Station (or the Macaulay River only...). End of the road for us, well as current owners of a rental car we refrained from trying the river. As we arrived another Landcruiser stopped beside (completely similar to ours). Then they proceeded through the Macaulay without any problems and great knowledge of local details, maybe. But as we would have to return to Lake Tekapo today - and therefore to cross the river twice - we decided to turn around here. We stayed for quite while, had picnic and inspected the river banks. A beautiful, calm and interesting place, anyway.

Weather: clouds, really cold, windy, sleet in traces, 4°C;
Wheelchair: yes, no problem in general;
State: all good, rehidden as found, the roof seems to be used as garage. Next log -> Maybe it has been discovered by muggles?

IN & OUT: nothing.

Thank you for bringing us here!
Oliver+Gabi

Only noticed this cache after logging the nearby Challenge & was heading back down the road to Tekapo. Luckily, quick U-turn & a quick search to find the hiding spot but .... no cache ! It all fit with the hint but we didn't have our caching kit so looked at what we had to make a replacement that would be suitable. Emptied out my travel mints from an eclipse tin & found a new logsheet to replace the lost cache & which should be less likely to roll away. Have checked with CO that it is in correct place & logging find with CO permission. Beautiful day, but wind was getting stronger by the minute! One car parked there today. Thanks for this cache, a nice bonus at the end of the road after the prickly Challenge !

Found with Hinemoana while on a trip around the South Island. Thank you for placing this cache.
TFTC

26/04/2014 9:04:00 AM
4372
Anzac Weekend, and my bf had a photography course in Tekapo, and it's my mum's b day also, so decided to make a whole weekend of it!
Spend time caching together with the fam, and just having a nice weekend in Tekapo. Found 50 caches, but some very awesome ones in some beautiful scenery!!

FOund this one while here for the matagouri challenge.
There was a car parked in the garage here, and a further two on the lawn!!

Most hides found with the whole fam were simply signed as 'Team Polak' to save our ink and the logsheet and our hands

Consec caching day # 537

TFTC!!

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For info on the next NZ mega, and to pre- register, go to:
www.nzmega2015.com

The drive was really nice, especially since the car was warm and the outside temperatures were freezing!! Very peaceful place when we were there, but it must have become very busy with all the traffic heading there when we were going back... TFTC!!

Come to the next New Zealand MEGA event! Register your interest now at www.nzmega2015.com

We were nearby for a challenge - so going the extra for a trad was a given. Mrs SoBad wandered around taking photos as a vehicle had pulled into the area just before us. When the driver wandered over to ask if we had a pen he could borrow we wondered if he was a fellow cacher. No - he just needed to leave a note under the windscreen for a friend (there were about 5 cars there and we still have no idea why). Once he left we found the cache - and there was a letter there for another person as well. So clearly some people know about the cache and are happy to leave it.
We often wish we could travel ATCF. Today we didn't care as we enjoyed the drive back alongside the lake - admiring the colours in the other direction.
Thanks for the cache.

Great location!

Stopped off on the way back from a drive up the Macaulay. Tftc

We are heading from Cromwell to Franz Josef for Christmas, but going the long way via here and Christchurch.
+ a marble, - nothing.

Perfect day, perfect weather, perfect view, perfect companions and oh so close to Franz Josef, so who the hell that put that perfect mountain range in the way??? Never mind, we've got the cache so we're happy.

#2348 @1640
After competing at the Canterbury Orienteering champs it was off for a drive to the head of the lake to enjoy the scenery and grab a few caches. Easily found. TFTC.

Find #1355. Visiting the Mackenzie country from Wellington, this road trip epitomized the grand scale of this wonderful country. We left our digs nice and early on a superb day and drove the dusty route along the lake, marveling at the changing vistas. Found Ski Bunny first then continued on to the end of the road. After we stopped looking on the ground, we quickly located the cache. What a glorious place on such a day, thank you for bringing us here, and worthy of a favourites point. SL TFTC.

5802. [font=Century Gothic][green]Well that was an eventful trip. Going around a very slight bend in the road though a slight cutting and the rental car decided to loose the back ende. Not sure how many times it fishtailed before I could get it under control again but all I could think of was "don't bend the rental, don't bend the rental." So taking a good 10kph from my speed we ended up safely at GZ for a find that took longer than it should have due to my fixation on only one plane.[/green][font=Verdana]

[blue]Thanks for the cache Bitsprayer and the acronym (widely used in our group). [/blue]

Rated: for Overall Experience

Found during a cache raid of the area accompanied by YuGeo4 & Hello Mrs. After completing the Thompson Track trail we decided to head to Tekapo as it just seemed the right thing to do at 1am on a freezing colcd Canterbury night/morning. We arrived at Tekapo around 4am after collecting smilies on the way and after a cap nap of about half an hour we decided to head up to look for this cache and another nearby. The snow had settled on the road and we drove through snow flurries to get there, (thank goodness we had chosen a 4 wheel drive rental and we had chains onboard) and as it was still dark when we arrived we didn't realise the extent of the snow on the nearby hills until the sun started to rise. We made a quick dash to find the cache and then sat in the warmth of the car to enjoy the magic scenery.
No time for a 50km dash today as we were still on a mission to find quite a few more caches before our evening flight back to Auckland TFTC.

9815... We didn't bring the helicopter so couldn't make the 50km trip to Franz Josef ATCF, had to make do in a rental car and caching in the snow instead... Cool! A quick cold find at dawn with rosmar and Hello Mrs during an over-night caching raid around Canterbury, TFTC.

Found at dawn during a caching raid with rosmar and YuGeo4. An awesome place covered in snow. TFTC

Nice find after a day skiing. Good view up godly & maccauly with a bit of snow on ground. Tftc

So close but oh so far. I was very surprised at the vehicles parked at GZ. TFTC #3301

#1,101: Smelly Smiley


My Dad and I came to this one after completing and logging the Matagouri Challenge. Some muggles were around GZ when we were doing that one, but after we had done our work there, they had moved on. Took a little time to locate the container, but found it in good shape, and protected from the elements. LOTS of cow poo around the place, though nice views of the landscape on this beautiful autumn late afternoon.


SL/TFTC!

FITW Hippy Girl
Great spot! Thanks!

We parked our car here and went on a 5 hour hike to Macaulay hut, spent amazing evening there. TFTC. FITW Snow,

Absolutely no one else around here today so I was able to quickly find and sign the log. Very strong North-Westerly wind blowing today such that the Southern Alps were completely obscured by the rain spilling over the tops from the west coast.

Easy driveby on the way to... no, you got me there... Stunning. Had lunch here.

An awesome spot to visit for my 4001st cache find. Found with Mr B while on a short detour from our intended route from Oamaru to Timaru. TFTC

Long drive to start the morning, but an excess of horses & humans prevented us going anywhere near. Drat!!

Unfortunately there were mustering muggles at GZ. TFTC

Sad. Too many horsey muggles around GZ to even have an attempt at the cache. Cheers Gav

Made the drive in, only to find a car parked practically on the cache. Turned around and left. Some other time.

Great trip out to this cache after a fun day skiing at Roundhill.
Nothing out, toy car in (just).
TFTC

Found with Madiecacher.

Came up here to scope out the area for a future trip, Crossing the Macaulay wasn't a problem and we may well head for the distant valleys this time next year.
Cheers and thanks,
S.t.

Felt like the The Who lyrics " I drove for miles and miles and miles"

Long Drive but great views! TFTC

Joint 2TF with JuJu54. Certainly a long way up this road, but worthwhile scenery. TFTC

Yay Yay Yay!!!! My 100th cache and first FTF! So excited. We went out hoping to get the FTF and got downhearted every time a car came towards us in case they had got there first. However, we were there first. Everyone sat in the car holding their breath in case it wasn't so. Lovely drive and well worth it. Was just upset about the dog chained up with no water. We stopped at a nearby farm and let them know. It was their dog so they said they would sort it out. We had stopped and given the dog all our water in the car and he had gulped it all down poor thing. Let's hope the farmer sorted it out.
TFTC.

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