They Came From Nelson (West Coast) Market Cross, South Island, New Zealand
By Biggles and Co - with the support of weenz on 05-Jun-10. Waypoint GC29WW3

This one's had its day. Could be a while before I can maintain it.

A very nice spot. But the container and contents still need replacing

Quick find but logbook not signable and container in a state of disrepair with no lid. TFTC. Interesting spot.

A day of caching with victoriousone in the drizzle
Cache needs replacing. Couldn't get bag out to sign log

Found with madcow2. A interesting place to visit. The cache was so rusted we couldn't get the log out. TFTC

TFTC very wet but able to sign great puwcw of hystory

A nice quick find. Tftc

Waiting for our Heli trip tommorow so we are sightseeing and caching today. It's great to learn about the history of the development of the area as it was even more remote then. TFTC

Great day fir a bike ride from karamea. But of a grunt up the hill. Easy find. TFTC. Container old and rusty needs replacing. Hood the the lights in 4 plastic bags as first three were wet.

It’s a bit prickly

Nice and easy, even found the old cache container not far away. What a place to start, I wonder why the flats were not the first choice. Cheers

Cool spot and some interesting houses around here.

A short excursion to South Terrace to see the plaque and the information about the first Karamea school. One place I would like to see is the first cemetery - I believe it was at the end of this road, close to the top of the zigzag track that the early settlers used to get down to the river. There is a section marked out on the WAMS map that looks likely... the museum curator told us that a fire went through the area some years ago, burnt the fence around the cemetery, and since then regrowth has made it impossible to get to. You'd think there really should be a cache there, though...?

Found on a day trip with Kerryowl an Lipnp, our stop here triggered a flurry of traffic ️tftc

TYFTC

Great park and grab. Thank you for the cache

Soaking wet. Couldnt sign. Photo attached

A quick find, I scrambled up from the passenger side and had no issues here. Cache container is a little rusty though, and the lid is off the hinge. Log ok. TFTC Biggles.

Day 3 of 3 day trip for Capperz and I with the overall goal of dropping off some keen bikers at the Heaphy track start near Collingwood and not failing to pick them up late on Sunday morning at the finish north of Karamea.
We had one job then, and happy to say we did it.
On the way, of course, we found some caches.......

Seddonville and north was the goal today. We had to pick up the riders at about 11am, so we packed up early and got on the road around 6.30 ish. First cache was just past where we left off last time we were here, and they kept coming.
A couple of fails, some caches past their best as well unfortunately, and a side trip to a cache that we discovered too late was just out of reach.
All good though, some good fun and we got there right on time.
Logs signed capric, or sometimes longer forms on the same theme.
A long drive back to Blenheim with no caching on the agenda.
TFTC to all the COs.

A quick trip up here for a view of the plaque and sign board, nice spot and time to get back on the main drag to Karamea. T F T C BigglesNZ

Today is the third and final day of our East to West Coast Heaphy track caching challenge. We were requested to be at Kohaihai bridge for around 11AM so an early start was just the thing for leaving Seddonville camp site. We were on the road around 0630 and got to the track end at around 1100 so just what the doctor ordered. 3 of the riders were back already, and the other 2 arrived a short while after we got there and were heading for the new one at the swing bridge. For our journey today we managed 25 caches so made good use of what was available, as well as a couple of DNFs and a nearly trip to Big Rimu which turned out to be a bit too far with the time we had. We also solved a Multi but had a smidge of doubt so didn't head to the final. Turns out it was probably right anyway, oh well.
The weather started with a bit of rain which turned to drizzle which disappeared and was replaced by a warm yellow type of weather, ahh the West Coast at it's best.

This weekend I've offered up my services as a getaway driver. Nothing as dramatic as a criminal bank robbers assistant, more a chance for a group of work colleagues and associates to get away to do the Heaphy Track on their bikes. Ably assisted by ricardinho.nz as a co-pilot and driver of the geocache seeking devices utilising the route which I'd done a full and comprehensive list of before departing. The plan was fairly simple; early finish Friday arvo and take them over from Woodbourne to the Collingwood/Brown's Hut end of the Heaphy and collect them from Kohaihai bridge end late on Sunday morning. A late start on the Friday to get underway as a result of a delayed ferry arrival had us around 30-40 minutes late getting on the road and some fluffing in Motueka for dinner added enough minutes on to mean that we got to the track end on dark, and never got to the digs in Motueka until around 8.45 PM. There was still some time for a bit of 'in the dark' caching where I got 3 finds before hitting the sack, after a couple of refreshments, and a conversation with an aggressive illustrator from Wellington.
Day 2 yielded around 45 caches and some great scenery and sights up at the old mining and rail sites up above Denniston and Millerton. A real good West Coast caching day.

Another piece of history found through geocaching. TFTC

Just driving up this road for a looksee. Stopped at the historic site. Thought to myself .... There must be a cache here and where would I be? First guess spot on. All ok.

All good.

The Seagnoid, Zara, Toby and I are on another 4 day exploration of the Upper West Coast.
Saturday is Westport to Karamea and the Oparara Valley. With the Oparara Valley walkway bagged its time to return to Zara for some well earned ZZZs but still some daylight left on our return journey.
A quick find here then a read of the info board here before moving on. Cheers

Having walked the Charming Creek railway yesterday, Taybeedragon and I are on day two of our four-day trip to the northern West Coast. Today, the Oparara Valley to Adams' Flat.

After walking to Adams' Flat and back, its time to head back to Zara. Stopped off here along the way.Found without the use of the GPS after reading the info on the plaque and board. Love the inspector's comments!

Seeing that this is to be my penultimate day in Karamea I thought it was time to sign off a few caches near the town.

Replaced the sodden and munted logsheets with a waterproof one.

Cheers for the cache.

TFTC. A beautiful quiet road. Lovely to read about some of the history of this region. The cache was wet so couldn't write in the log. We really must remember to bring some paper with us!

Found it happy new year log wet and we did not have a spare with us sorry left one of our stickers

Had no idea this information was here. Interesting side road. Dropped a TB, tftc

#15052. An interesting monument; well worth a cache. Not sure whether we lived in Nelson long enough to qualify as "They Came From Nelson" (mind you, given the Nelson / Richmond rivalry maybe we are inelgible for that reason along . TFTC.

Found with StreetWalker on our week long post Christmas trip to Reefton and the West Coast. Day 4: Karamea area.
After walking part of the Fenian Track this morning, we noticed this cache was just a short detour en route to our accommodation. Good to find another Biggles cache , and a quite a distance from home - they came from Nelson to place a cache? TFTC.

Nice historic site.

Another dash and grab on our way south.

After the biannual Westport Bridge tournament today we found time for a Geocaching adventure up the coast.
Checked into the accommodation and then came out to find a few.
This was our first port of call.
Neat road to drive up and then some really interesting info on the plaque and sign.
Thanks heaps for bringing us to somewhere that we would have never otherwise ventured.
TFTC

We flew into Invercargill to catch up with the rellies last week. Now its home to Wellington via West Coast with maybe a cache or two to break up the journey. Greymouth to Karamea today.
Must have been a hard life back then.
TFTC BigglesNZ.

I love these easy finds thanks

Tftc. Interesting history must have been tough. Has been terrible storms and the cache is wet despite the double bagging.

Coming from Australia and being with Grandad found the area very interesting. Fancy having a school out here. Tftc

Loving the history of the local child hangouts. Tftc

Amazing pic in the previous log. I am 99.9999% certain that I am not related but you never know [?][?][?]

We always try to find caches from local Nelson cachers when out of town so this was on the list of musts. It was the last cache for the day after spending time on walks then on seeing the town by caches. However, in the process we did start to wonder who came from where. The CO will understand if he looks at the attached photo, taken in the Karamea hotel.
Thanks.

Tftc

Found on sunny West Cost Day. TFTC

Interesting wee site that we wouldn't have otherwise known about. TFTC.

I was disappointed not to see the info board, it appears to have disappeared and only the frame and plaque remains. From a visit 14 years ago to Karamea I remember a sign somewhere stating that my great great grandparents were some of the first to settle here. I was hoping to get more information about them while here. TFTC

#4446

I was fortunate enough to be able to squeeze an 11 day holiday out of two leave days!! I headed out west to find some caches, see some sights, and relax before the madness of the semester hits. The weather was unbelievably good, only a bit of a storm over Arthur's Pass on the first day, otherwise hot and sunny. I found a great variety of caches, drive by's, walks, hikes, even a power trail. Thank you to all the CO's for their great hides!!!

We came here at a dash as we wanted to see the sunset. The cache needed but we had somebody with us who was fully equipped to carry it out.
TFTC.

We rushed to get this one with one eye on the pending sunset, which was promising to be beautiful. This cache sparks a few questions: who were these men? How old were they? Why are there no names on the plaque? What nationality were they? TFTC

If I remember rightly there was a stand for an information board here. - - - I noticed several places where these had been removed, hopefully to be cleaned and returned. The log had turned to mush so we added a new one, double bagging it and drying out the container. We also put the container on top of a small rock which will hopefully prevent it from ending up in a puddle when it rains. Put a larger rock in front to hide it. TFTC .

Was a quick find as we were exploring the area tftc

Managed to fit in a few drive by caches before heading away from Karamea after four days. Missed the turn off for this one and started heading out of town.

Easy find

Very interesting location Container damaged so replaced with a new one sorry no camo tftc

Worthwhile drive up to this one to read a little history. No trace of the old school now of course. Log a little damp.

Found it. Tftc

A nice cache as we explored the west coast

Tftc

Easy find TFtC

.. quick easy find. However the lid had come off the cache and log book was wet. Added paper and dried out as much as I could. Great history lesson. Thanks!

easy find

A day spent around Karamea today. Plenty of windstorm damage, including the roads and tracks to the major caching areas. We'll just have to come back. Power out in Karamea most of the day, but when it did come back on the lights stayed off! A quick find. Thanks for the hide.

Quick find after long walk on the Fenian track with KE. Great to see history being recorded, hard times in them days. TFTC

and so did I a few years later, but I'm going back !!!

TFTC Some interesting things in these hills. Surprised how flat the land is up here off the main road.

Very interesting information at GZ. I'm very glad I wasn'y inspecting schools in those days. I bet they had many incredible stories to tell about their travels rather than the dry old (but interesting and good historic records) things recorded in the Nelson Education Board minutes. TFTC #5379

Went up for a drive the night before then found out this cache was up there so had to go next day to get it thanks

A quick find on this cloudy day. Interesting to read something about the local history.
CO thanks.
Greetings from The Netherlands.

Our last day in Karamea. The weather is not good for a big hike but perfect to find caches in and round Karamea.
Easy found. Thanks CO

12964… Took the gravel road excursion, thanks for showing us this historical site about the early settlers and their Nelson connection.

A quick find while exploring around Karamea today. Signed log, thanks for the cache and for introducing me to this bit of local history.

Nice find here. Interesting info. TFtc. SL

Great history. TFTC

Thanks for bringing us here

interesting spot...thanks for the history.

A quick easy find at this historical spot. The adjacent information board makes very interesting reading – a very crowded schoolroom! TFTC

We werent sure of the check-in time for our accommodation so we went and checked in and then picked up a few more caches before dinner. As soon as we turned off the main rd we saw a wild peacock! I was just so amazed that there was one just roaming around in the wild. The lid to the cache is rusty and doesnt exactly close but the log is double baggied so will be safe as long as people seal the bags properly. 34/41 caches found today. Thanks for the cache

Our 200th find while on our annual Karamea holiday for Nelson Anniversary weekend. This cache was just up the road from the camping ground we stay at, on a road I hadn't taken much notice of! The information board was so interesting that we made a second trip to it so Mrs MTB's grandfather could have a look. TFTC.

Loved the quote from the dreaded school inspector. TFTC.

Found at a place without connectivity so a late log. The terrace seems to have been subdivided up but there are no takers judging by the gorse coming through the road. Town seems to have migrated to the river flats after settling the area took momentum. Monuments like these always surprise me considering the remote location. TFTC

We came from Nelson too
Despite several previous visits to Karamea I had never been up this road. As always, geocaching takes us to unknown spots and the opportunity to learn a lot of history. TFTC.

TFTC Chelonia

interesting placeTFTC

TFTC

Great piece of local history. Thank you.

A quick find. Just up the road my great, great grandfather and my great grandfather are buried. They were original settlers of Karamea. A homecoming for us.

Just like us we came from Nelson
good one interesting information
thank you for the cache

GPSr was convinced that I could straightline this one from the main road but I knew better and followed the road signs!

Found while on Holiday in Karamea. Beautiful Spot

Nice wee drive after Little Wainganui fun day.

Nice historic spot.
TFTC

Found while having a long weekend in Karamea

Interesting area

Quick find.
Thanks for the Cache.
Greets_derft

This entry was edited by derft on Tuesday, 14 February 2012 at 10:42:38 UTC.

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Easy find. Thanks for bringing us here to get a great view of the coast.

quick find with good clues thanks visitors from palmerston north

They were a hardy bunch! A quick stop here on the eve of the Rugby World Cup Final (NZ 8 France 7).

Apologies for the late online log.

TFTC

I was aware of the history of the area, but not of this commemorative plaque. Thanks for showing it to me. TFTC

The last cache for this area and a bit more history found out about. Didn't really know much about this area so it was nice to find out more. TFTC

It never ceases to amaze me what you can find out down country roads and how much history is around to be discovered if you (or another cacher) happens along the right road at the right time and leave a cache for us to find - thanks for bringing us here and adding to our knowledge log signed

Easy find but once can only imagine the hardships the early settlers of South Terrace faced. TFTC

Was a bit more history to read up on while caching with friends. Cache was completely drenched with water so Liquorboy replaced log with new bag. Was a nice wee trip down a good road. Thanks heaps for the cache =)