Middle of the Road (Otago) Shiel Hill, South Island, New Zealand
By Guwapo on 18-Jul-10. Waypoint GC2BTAX

Thanks! Bit or a scramble to find the cash

My first time looking here. I only found one of the hint objects but fortunately it was the right colour one and the cache was here, hidden below it. My phones GPS was pretty useless here; at GZ it indicated the cache was 13m away. A further hint: start climbing from down on the flat; then you wont have to traverse the steep hillside, just climb up it. TFTC, an interesting one to search for.

Thanks so much for replacing this!! Wanted to get this as soon as it was replaced but needed to fill in some dot days in January, so here we are! Flip flops may not have been the best choice of shoe, but nevermind - managed to hang on some branches and get up! Cache looks nice and safe there, hopefully it stays put!

Cache replaced! Salamat!

Cache replaced!

Replacement coming!

Hi GuwapoThis geocache was brought to my attention as being in need of an owner maintenance visit and after my previous reviewer note, there has been no owner maintenance. The cache owner needs to check on this cache ASAP and either replace it or archive it, after picking up any geo-litter. See the [maintenance section of the Geocache Listing Requirements/Guidelines](http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx#listingmaintenance).I've added this cache to my watchlist, and I will check back in four weeks to be sure that the maintenance has been done. In the meantime, I have temporarily disabled this listing. When the maintenance is completed, the owner can enable the listing by clicking on the link below the cache name to return it to active status.Whatever your intentions, please **post a note** here on the cache page (not email) to let us know that you are still active and maintaining the cache. If a month passes without seeing a response, then I'll assume that this listing should be archived.Please note, that if a cache is archived due to lack of owner maintenance, the cache is unable to be unarchived.RegardsTheCoddiwompler

Will check!

Pretty sure this is missing. I thought I might give it a go because it appeared the last DNF did get confirmation the cache was in place. The cable ties are all there, and it wouldn't surprise me if the cache has slid down the hill, it's unlikely to have been muggled here surely! But I have tried to replicate the photo posted by the CO showing the placement of the cache at the base of the tree with the yellow cable tie.. it is most certainly not where it was originally intended to be. This is such a cool area to hide a cache (minus the rubbish.. people are so gross!) so I'd love to come back and get it.

I was a bit skeptical about finding this one due to previous logs. But after meeting the CO, he seemed pretty confident that Id have little trouble finding it. So up I went. Bit of a hike and it felt like climbing trees at times. I spent ages going up and down the hill until I finally found the third hint item. I did a bit of excavating but unfortunately found nothing. I felt I gave it a solid effort so if its still there, that cache is marvelously hidden.

Nah it's gone. Lots of dead possums in traps though.

Triple checked the location and surroundings using yellow ziptie and the old pictures from when it was fixed last time and it has dissapeared. Probably taken or trashed by the trappers but reguardless no longer there ):

Found the blue and yellow cable tie, but no container

Had a fun climb up into the area very slippery found the blue red and yellow cable ties but alas no cache, there was a trappers trap with a dead possum in it so maybe the trappers found it ?????

I needed to find a cache today for the 22.2.22 souvenir so I decided to stop for this one on the way home, with only a slight detour. No idea why I've not searched for it before. Parked on the lower road and found my way in, and soon found myself going up! Occasionally had to use the tree trunks to help myself along. Didn't see the hint items on the way in, but when I stopped for a brief breather, I looked about and sure enough there was the third hint item. Didn't take long to locate the cache after that, though I did almost take a tumble when I latched on to a rotten tree limb that gave way under my weight! Signed the log (slightly damp) and returned it as found. TFTC.

Had help today from 2 very helpful granddaughters. Better eyesight than mine found the cable ties. And then I was standing in the right place to easily spot the cache. But it still took quite some time. Very pleased to be able to claim a smiley for this one.

That was a bit of a scramble and cache was a quick find. Going back down made me realise why I wear out the bum of my trousers. It was fun going down

Out and about in Dunedin with Busy paws and Lyttletonwitch. Remember the song well!! TFTC

This was an interesting journey. We had a real giggle with this especially on the descent! TFTC and taking us there! Think Lytteltonwitch missed a bit of childhood.

Getting a feel for the suburbs reached from Peninsular rd and No.1 used to live not far down this road in another life. Parked at the bins near the restricted area and looked for a reasonable entry to the 'street' access. Hmmm plenty of trash stashed behind the charity bins could do with a CO inspired CITO, not excluding the dross scattered around the jungle. Up up up the steep 'street' and spotted all the hints once the second one was found. Thought the middle one had been muggled by the trapper but next one was soon in sight. No risk of stepping on the box, the cache was found exposed in spot and while damp inside there was some swag. The damp logbook has seen better days and could use a staple when the rest of the other caches get maintenance. TNLN, returned logbook to the two glad bags not in use and picked our way down the 'street' without accident. *Oceans of Earth* Solar System **Wonder** (5/7) stamped. TFTC

I'm not sure why I've not looked for this one before, maybe it had something to do with not really knowing where the start was. Going past on my walk every street in Dunedin challenge a few weeks back and I scouted out a possible access route. Driving past today and thought it time I stopped and gave it a go. Hmmmm, not sure it was such a good idea as it is steep and there are a lot of places that you could hide a cache. Needless to say it took us longer than I had time for but that great feeling of finally ticking a long outstanding made up for any trouble I got into for being late.

Great location - many trees to look under. Found after about 20 mins of looking.

Found a deer’s skull in one of the tree’s but alas no cache....

Managed to scramble too far up the “road” but soon had the cache in hand and signed the log with the help of the photos. Tftc

You have got to love Dunedin roading system . Never dull . From roads that end at the top of cliffs and start at the bottom again . To some soo steep they are in the Guinness book of records....

This is what I like about Dunedin caching as opposed to Invercargill caches... hills!!! Hard to imagine a road up here. Pleased to find this 2.5/3.5 rather quickly after spotting red. Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep was recently added to my Spotify "Oldies" playlist, which is playing now as a write my log.

Hills, arrgghh. But not as bad as I expected. Found with the invers cachers. Nice wee hide tftc

We were in the area with some friends, and thought could we avenge that DNF. Recent activity sugggedts yes. Quickly to coords and found not long after. Nice to turn into thanks for a cache in an interesting place.

After meeting up with some fellow Southland cachers, we decided to band together and nail this one. Navigated the easiest entry in, then up we went. Spotted what we needed to, followed very quickly by the cache. TFTC

Second time looking for this one and as the CO had checked on it not to long age we thought why not and gave it another go. Was wet under foot and a bit slippery but after about 15 minutes I called out to KJR I found it. So moving past the dead opposum I the trap I had the log in hand signed and replaced it as we found it. TFTC ?

This has been on the radar for quite some time after an unsuccessful attempt quite a few months ago. A recent maintenance check by the CO and a new souvenir series was the perfect opportunity to have another attempt. Looks like the hint has also been updated so it didn't take too long and we were in the right area and then not long after got the "found it" shout from Gadget169. Really glad to finally have a smiley face here TFTC Guwapo

Found the track after a bit of searching. Cool little section of native bush. TFTC

This was a fun and quick find thanks to the recent maintenance and helpful hints, I would definitely encourage those who didn’t manage to find it to head back and get this nice little cache!

Had a look, sitting right where we left it last time we checked. You might need to have a look under some leaves to find it. There are some pest traps nearby. You still need to keep going up hill when you get to them - just a little bit. Have updated hints.

Maintenance Complete

Will check soon.

Hi Guwapo

This geocache was brought to my attention as being in need of an owner maintenance visit. The cache owner needs to check on this cache ASAP and either replace it or archive it, after picking up any geo-litter. See the [maintenance section of the Geocache Listing Requirements/Guidelines](http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx#listingmaintenance).

I've added this cache to my watchlist, and I will check back in four weeks to be sure that the maintenance has been done. In the meantime, I have temporarily disabled this listing. When the maintenance is completed, the owner can enable the listing by clicking on the link below the cache name to return it to active status.

Whatever your intentions, please **post a note** here on the cache page (not email) to let us know that you are still active and maintaining the cache. If a month passes without seeing a response, then I'll assume that this listing should be archived.

Please note, that if a cache is archived due to lack of owner maintenance, the cache is unable to be unarchived.

Regards
TheCoddiwompler

Forest of death

Heading home after an ANZAC adventure consisting of bacon and eggs and a big cone. The only two trads left in this area and after a successful find of the first I was crossing fingers it would become two. No such luck unfortunately and after an extensive search with plenty of slipping and sliding all I had to show was a dirty bottom and sore scratched legs. Hopefully the CO can check on this one.

No luck today.

Can CO confirm if this is still here?

This geocacher reported that the cache might be missing.

It looks like the hint objects have vanished from the area, leaving me worried for the fate of the cache. No sign of the thing after a good clamber.

Found the middle of the road, but not the container. Was a bit of a fun scramble, but there also seems to have been a bit of water through there too.

No luck today. No sign of white ties.

Seeing that the cache had been found recently I decided to give this cache another crack. I found the cache by pure luck more than anything else. For some reason I was getting a feeling 'that I should just poke there'. My finger connected with plastic and I was stoked. I then spotted the smaller cable tie which was sitting on the ground barely visible at all. So I've pulled it up the trunk a bit and tightened it a bit so it wont fall back down. It may make life slightly easier for future finders. Thanks

The last time I was here, I didn't give much of an effort as I was underprepared at the time. This time, though, Hevic and I were well set and we went for a scramble. Unfortunately, like previous DNFers, we couldn't find the hint objects or the cache. I sent an SOS to the CO who came down a little while later. A second quick scramble later and we had the cache, safe and sound. The hint objects do appear to have disappeared, and the cache was a little way off where our devices were pointing, but tree cover was probably responsible for the latter. Thanks so much Guwapo for your help. Cheers!

Couldn't find either the cable ties or the cache but will come back when there is more light

Spent quite a while searching but to no avail ...

A lot of going around in circles and no cache in sight. I will try again another day.

I wasn't going to attempt this one but I'm glad I did. I was walking past after finding 'Snakes' so I thought I might as well give it a go. I searched high and low and back and forward for about 10 minutes before spotting the hide, and then the smaller of the two hint objects. Thanks.

GPS all over the shop; no ties around any trees...just a whole heap of rubbish, only some of which could be cito'd...

Didn't take long to get to GZ. Found my smiley and off to the next before dark set in. TFTC

This cache was extremely hard to find all markers are now gone.This now needs maintenance.

Looked through overgrown bush for about 20 minutes couldn't find a white tie or any sign of the cache

Couldn't go any further cause bush overgrown

Took us ages to find! (45is minutes!) It hasn't been found for some time so it had been completely buried in leaves! TFTC!

Took a while but found it eventually, didn't see any zip ties so they may be gone?
TFTC!

TFTC

It took a little over half an hour to find with no handheld devices. I wouldn't like to do it in the winter and try and keep clean. Saw the smaller tie after the main find. Container was a bit damp inside.

Had a good look. GPS said we were on top of it but couldn't see any cable ties on the trees. Looked for likely hiding spots but nothing found

This entry was edited by Doully on Friday, 16 January 2015 at 04:00:24 UTC.

G P S was taking us in many wrong directions but went to top and looked down towards road and saw it tftc

QUITE a climb but worth the effort. Took travel bug. On a mission take 365 for the calendar year. TFTC

Everything seemed right but no luck today.

no go

no luck here darn it!!!

As Rextrex mentioned, we looked but couldn't locate it. As others have found it, I guess we just missed it rather than its not there.

Thanks anyway.....

Rain, slippery, mud, dark - our sense of purpose lapsed slightly at this cache so we opted out. 'Always leave one for another day' we tell ourselves.

A cold and wet Dunedin afternoon for our last day caching here with the Walenators. Dropped a trackable here that we picked up from the Mega. Seemed appropriate for it to do some travelling in NZ as it has already been to Australia and we head home tomorrow. TFTC

We are out for the day with the Earthbound's whilst on our NZ Mega Trip. Once we got to the GZ after slipping and sliding everywhere the cache was quickly located, logbook signed and cache replaced. TFTC

Found during 'The Gangsters' trip to New Zealand, being Big Matt, The Rats, steeba and myself.

This one had us going in circles for some time and the cache was found before the cable ties.

Thanks Guwapo for the cache.

Our 6398th overall find.

Found on the "Gangsters" NZ Mega 2012 trip with steeba, The Rats and Farmer Frentzen. The Name didn't make a whole lot of sense until now. It took a while to locate but we got there in the end.

Thanks Guwapo for the cache. Stats for our trip can be found here http://www.campersdownunder.com.au/geocaching/NZTrip/stats2.html

Wow that would have been a hard drive in the winter! Relatively easy find once we'd followed the advice of going high & coming back. TFTC.

Found as part of the Gangsters- The Rats, Farmer Frentzen and Big Matt and Shell- as part of our NZ Mega Event Tour 2012.

This one ended up being a little bit of work up the hill and the cache was spotted before a cable tie. TFTC!

Found this cache as part of the Gangster's Aussie assault on the first NZ Mega with Big Matt, FarmerFrenzten and steeba.

This is one of those caches that unless you read the description you have to wonder why its here. We eventually found it after a good search.
Thanks

I had just lock up the bike about to start the hunt for this cache, when Guwapo and his dad pulled over. They knew why I was there, of course. So we chatted for a bit.

Then I tackled this thing. I don't get why this is too steep for a road. After all, it is in Dunedin... Found the cache quite easily when coming downhill. If you have trouble, try climbing up too far then coming back down. I never found the ties. Did find an old nest with four little blue eggs.

The GPSr auto-routing was sure struggling here, I understood why when I finally had to turn it off and work it out myself. Not the quickest find today, but also not the slowest.

TFTC

Third time lucky. FINALLY. Don't recommend searching for this one at night. TFTC

Initially went for this one because I needed to fill in this spot on the D/T grid. Don't know why there are so few of this D/T combo caches!

But a super amazing spot! You can see how they did try to bring the road through here! Saw an old wooden electricity power line, as well as the old barbed wire really thick post fence! Neat!

A bit of a trippy find though. I got it eventually, as I ended up spotting one of the markers, and I think it was the closer one, as the cache was right under it. Didn't end up seeing the further marked though, even after I knew where the cache was!

TFTC!!

Absolute legend of a cache. Took us ages to find but well worth the effort. The name is a real trick - no road in sight near this cache. Louis and I muddy and dirty after this one. Wear good boots!

Another good cache find - quite a tough one. SL TFTC

How is this a road? Barely even a track. GPS served us well and we only spotted the hint objects when standing right next to them. When my geofriend mentioned she'd spotted the second tie I suggested that the cache would be right under her foot & sure enough, there it was.
Had to work a bit for this one. TFTC.

tftc

Found it! Funny to think we've been near this cache so many times not realising how close we were to a cache... TFTC

Grabbing a few caches in the area while passing through on our 'how ever long it takes' NZ tour.

Been trying to get this D/T rating off my list!!!!

Thanks for setting this up.

TFTC

Mud & Kim

TFTC

Gotya at last
TFTC

TFTC

Back for a second look with Ingidayna and CacheManChris. Not quite in the right place last time and a quick easy find this time when first cable tie located. TFTC

Out with Ingidayna and Castlewood_Crew and found this one. Nice hide, GPS interesting on it in bush

After making a mess of snakes creating a higher terrain rating than need be, this was a walk in the park. Once again the GPS took me quite a way past the cache but after retracing my steps the cache was quickly i hand. No sign of either of the cable ties. Had to use my imagination to believe that a road was/is here.
TFTC

A nice little hidey. This one reminded me of the bush I used to play in as a child over on the other side of the city Nice safe bush to play in compared to the bush at home now in Queensland with snakes and critters

Found with the Geonephew. TNLNSL. Cache was dry and in good condition.

Thanks
Frewster

How could I resist such a challenge! Fortunately no pricklies nearby this time - but I did bring long pants just in case... Obviously approached (asymptotically...) from the other side than the CO as saw cache first, then closer hint, then further hint... Thanks for another great ramble so close to civilisation, yet so far

Back in action - go for it Hinemoana!!

Replaced

Time for some TLC.

12:00:00 PM2 A good hide but I had to endure the beady eye of Papa as I searched, slid, scrambled and muttered under my breath (I think). Why is it always so much harder to spot hides when the CO is scrutinising your every move. However, all that aside, I'm not at all sure that I would have had success without his gentle prods (giggles?). We had a good chat about Gallipoli and some of the other snafus committed by the Brits (God bless the Empire, tongue in cheek, I think).
Thanks Guwapo
Jim

This really needs a new, different kind of container. The swaps are swamped and log book soggy.

[This took me about 10mins to find, and I didn't see the ties until after I had found the cache.
There was about 2cm of water in the bottom (these round sistema containers seem to leak from new) which I emptied out. I managed to sign the very damp logbook with a pencil. TFTC] The hurricaine wire fence was close by.