Buller Broom Bash (Kawatiri@Nelson/Marlborough) Kawatiri, South Island, New Zealand
By beltfamily on 30-Aug-10. Waypoint GC2E7Z8

Grabbed on our way through to Blenheim. At 2.30pm, this area was still fully under frost and only 0 degrees Brrr!

Its time to head home to Geraldine After an awesome easter road trip through the molesworth station then on to Blenheim then spending the morning exploring st Arnuad aiming for #4000 a few p and g s .nice quick find tftc
Log book wet did a cito of gz while I was there

A great place to park up. A nice quick find and found as per the hint TFTC

Thank you

DNF

A lucky spotting of the road to this cache sent us in the right direction and a quick scramble put the cache in hand. No sandflies, I think we left all of them at Kawateri.

Found with NZDi. When NZDi asked what geocaching plans I had made for the weekend last night, I admitted I hadn't made any because the weather looked like it was going to be s#!t. She said it can't be s#!t everywhere, so I started looking at the weather forecast. Nelson looked pretty good, but we have been across there about three times in the past two months so that didn't hold any attraction. So I checked out the Nelson Lakes and they looked pretty good also, and as they are one of my favourite places in the Top of the South, I started working on a plan for the day.

The plan was to do the Lake Rotoroa side of the Porika Track as we had done the Howard Valley side late last year, then do the Braeburn Loop Track, then a few unfound between Lake Rotoroa and St Arnaud and finally check on some previous DNF's on the road between the Lake and Blenheim. Altogether we had a successful day with all targets met, 32 finds, no DNF's and a bonus FTF. The only hiccup of the day was logging the caches up to half way around the Braeburn Loop Track as the 16th of October, in stead of the 15th, an honest mistake and one which I wasn't the only person to make today.

Having achieved the first two parts of today's mission, it was now time to start heading home, picking up a few PnGs between the two Lakes (Rotoroa and Rotoiti). In most cases NZDi stayed in the car while I walked from the safe car park to the cache and made the find. On the odd occasion when I was taking too long, she would come and assist.

By the time we got here, we had sufficient mobile reception for the satellite view on c:geo to show, so it was easy to work out how to park right next to the cache which NZDi did. So close that I could barely open the car door. For a change c:geo took me directly to the cache but it was still well camougflaged and I had to look twice to find it.

TFTC beltfamily

Found with Kiwimykl, refer to his log for details.

TFTC beltfamily

After some planning Shannonp1 and I got sorted for a mission into areas we hadn't been. Up to Hanmer through the Molesworth to Blenheim, down the Wairau valley to St Arnaud down the Shannandoa to Murchison and then home via the Lewis. 209 caches for the weekend and a pretty high success rate. Thanks to all the cache owners especially Bum and Worker and sorry for the cut and paste.

So a few weeks in the planning phase, me and Surveybase finally got out and about for a mission. Through Hanmer, up the Molesworth to Blenheim, across through St Arnaud, Murchison and then home. 209 caches for the weekend and a pretty high success rate. Thanks to all the cache owners and sorry for the cut and paste. Cheers.

Quick find while taking the long way from St Arnaud to Nelson Airport, sandflies didn't get me. TFTC

Not a sandfly in sight, probably to cold for them, it's too cold for me
Nice easy find. Pleased to finally tick it off as it pops up everytime I drive past on my way to and from Christchurch. Nice spot. TFTC

#3347

Found with ease thanks to the hint. I think I would have struggled without it... TFTC (2036)

#9087. We were trying to get a clean sweep of caches in the area. Troodles and I took slightly different routes to GZ, and Troodles route was the better one, as she found the cache. TFTC.

As we drove from SH6 earlier in the day, we had noted the side road to GZ but decided it looked easier to access when we returned (especially as a car was coming towards us at the time).
Was pleased that we could drive very close to GZ, then a short scramble later, the cache was quickly found with good co-ords and good hint. We were too quick for the sand flies and were back in the car before they realised we were there.
No broom was harmed when accessing this cache . TFTC.

Day 5 of our Nelson Lakes National Park adventures.
En route to Rotoroa for some strenuous stuff. This a pleasant detour from the roar of the road.
Cache find was straightforward; cache in order and log signed. Re-hidden safely, just as found.
TFTC found with team cacher Sweet P too
The Turtle strikes again!

A plan was hatched to try and grab a number of caches, in excess of 120 if possible. I had already found a load between Renwick and St Arnaud but consulting the map around St Arnaud area showed some semi power trail drive by caching opportunities. Fellow Manawatu cacher the Seagnoid was asked if he was interested and a resounding yes was the answer. So the car was fuelled up at very early o'clock and provisions for munching were also loaded. An 0630 start was the plan and the day came to its conclusion around 2130 after approx. 15 hours of driving and caching.
Outcome was a very successful figure in excess of 130 caches which constitutes best day ever (for both of us), best week, month and year too. Over 500kms driven today and man I feel tired but need to make a start logging the finds, and DNFs. Thanks to all the C Os involved in making our day such a great one. Nearly all caches were well maintained, interesting and accurately plotted. There were bellbirds, beech trees, pies and water, sealed roads, gravel tracks, no sandflies (thankfully), rivers and bridges and creeks and bridges and streams and bridges and much conversation about all things caching
A great day out in good company and all made possible by the efforts of the hiders.
T F T C to all the cache owners. We mostly signed as C/S or Capp/Seag or other combos
Tried for this earlier in the mission but once on the way home had time to find the in point

[green] Capperz called me up saying he wanted to get his ruby Busy Cacher badge, and try for 120 caches in a day. I said YES PLEASEE!!, as I too had tried this once before but only achieved 103 before night defeated me and Edvern in Auckland last year. A successful day, with over 130 caches found in 14.5 hours and 500km. Also tiring - I went to bed as soon as I got home, despite it not being dark yet (yes, we could have cached some more, but the next objective is 180 caches, and there was no way we would have achieved that!). Alas, I had to leave all the planning to Capperz, and he produced a great little plan, listing all the target caches (and more) with which way to turn at next intersection after a cache - a great way to plan a back road travel.
The day was cool, cloudy, with a little drizzle. Perfect caching weather - the weather kept most of the muggles away from the muggle areas.
Thanks to all the COs for a great day out exploring the back roads of the Marlborough region!
Logs signed as CS or occasionally as CapSeag.
I was looking down at this area from the road as we were driving to the cache and I was thinking this might be a 50m bash. Through broom would be quite fun (and not fun if it was gorse!). But no, only about 10m. Much easier!

Thanks for the cache

12903… Took a bash, swept the broom aside and headed towards the Buller, thanks for showing us this cool location.

10:40 am| TFTC, I found it with Czech team

TFTC

We could certainly drive pretty close to the cache. It wasn’t too difficult to get through the broom and it didn’t take too long to locate the cache. No beasties today, just the very strong smell from the broom. TFTC

[blue]Day 3 of our 31 Days of Caching Challenge.[/blue] 27/30 for the day before reaching St Arnaud. We always seem to miss the entrance to this one on the way passed so I made a point of marking an entry point in my phone. The sandflies sure dont waste anytime to dig in here do they! A quick find and sign before running back to the car. Nice to have finally gotten this one. Thanks for the cache

Not a sandfly in sight this evening. maybe there has been a bit die back here. the cache was easy to access. No Bull! TFTC

Found with wandercat. Got more exercise than we bargained for. Thank goodness we found it after making such an effort.

What do you mean "park and grab"? It probably is if you are traveling in the right direction. But we stopped for the night at Kaiwaiteri Junction. The dear old GPS said cache is 600 m away so we walked.....and walked and walked and then it was less than 100 m with no way down so we walked and walked some more. Seemed like a mighty long way but when we checked upon our return to the motor home it had only been 1.5 km each way( in nice straight lines). We needed the exercise and we did discover a very good place to stop overnight some other time so what with those 2 positives and a signed log we reckon it was a good start to our day.

I had been eyeing this cache for several years but each time I passed I couldn't work out the best access for it so just kept on going. This time I wasn't going to let it baffle me again so had the access worked out in advance in Google Earth and a waypoint marked for where to turn off the road. An easy short drive to within metres of the cache and a very quick find with very little bashing needed. Signed log, TFTC and glad to have a smiley for this one at last!

Found during our holiday through New Zealand.
Greetings from Slovakia. TFTC

Oh we had our fair share of sand flies not with this cache the DNF's got us every time Called in on a trip to Kiateriteri Thanks LGM

Cool hide, thanks for the cache.

A small expedition with the grandsons as excuse to get out there. The sandflies did get us first yet we were undeterred and the cache was soon found. Another gravel road you pass so often yet somehow never investigate. Thanks for placing this cache.

On the way home from Xmas in the Lake Brunner region, we detoured along here to pick up the remaining few unfound caches. The sandflies did their best to deflect us from our mission but as there wasn't that many places left to attack in a fruitful manner after a couple of days on the coast amongst their bigger kin we were able to hunt for the cache without too much distraction. I can confirm jandals are not the recommended footwear for this cache. TFTC.

Found while on the way to Murchison kayaking for the long weekend. TFTC

#2101 @1115
As suggested we drove within metres. Cache quickly located without getting too wet from the wet scrub from the overnight rain. TFTC.

2nd to last of many caches today. TFTC

Love this spot! TFTC

We stop on the side of the road so the men(Liquorboy & Dazzaboi) could find a way down,they decided there might be a way in further on down the road,Lucky We find a way in and its not long before the cache is in our hand.No sandflies at this time of the morning,It is just on light.TFTC

First time I had ever been down this road before. Had a little bash to get to the cache. Found with friends on the way to the lake. Sun was just starting to rise by the time we got here. Was going to use this cache for my masters. Thanks for the cache

Oops. I found this cache when out caching with Sidewaze but somehow missed logging it . Apologies for being a little late . TFTC . - - - It took a bit of brain searching but we finally remembered we went to an auction in the Gowan Valley and cached on our way home, really struggling because we wanted Sidewaze to get to #1000.

We almost gave up finding a suitable approach, but then voila - that looks like a possibility. Thankfully toned down the broom bash til it was almost a park and grab. TFTC

Little bit of a grovel but managed to find it. TFTC

Not much of a bash for us today. We had parked up at Kawatiri Junction over night, and were heading Motueka-wards, but thought we’d do this little detour. Found the access road in, splashed through a couple of big puddles, and there we were – just 9 metres away. So just a short scrabble, and there it was. TFTC

Nt as bad as I feared. Thanx.

And another secluded river side spot. TFTC

Nice quick park and grab.

Bitsprayer

Couldn' find a decent route to approach the cache so abandoned as time poor today. Cheers

Found cache after a short search. Being after 10-00pm kept most of the insects away. SL TFTC

TFTC! Found on our way from Nelson Lakes to Westport

A lovely spot and no sandflies seen today.
TFTC

Quick find .Had a look around the beautiful buller river . Had breakfast, than off to the next one. thanks.

A wee side trip on our way to Murch. Wasn't looking forward to attacking this from the main road
TFTC

Sobad spotted a likely looking access road so we had a simple park and grab here. The spot was worth a longer stay but we needed to move on. Thanks

No worries with this one today. nice quick park and find. TFTC #1913

Broom and bumble bees, but no sandflies today.

Good find on the way out to do maintenance on our caches.
A bus had just parked up as we arrived so had a chatter and then to find the cache.
There wasn't one biting insect around so it was one relaxing day.
TFTF

Once we found the side-road, this was straight-forward. No sandflies seen - or maybe I'm just acclimatised TFTC

Ready to set the tent by now. TFTC

Thanks for this

3:45am bucketing down with rain. Stopped and found cache. thanks

beautiful day
peaceful & relaxing area, river in the back ground sand flies in the fore ground
great cache
TFTC

We use this spot for cuppa breaks rather than the nearby DOC picnic area. More peaceful.The road down is the best it has ever been. Enjoyed the spot as usual, with bonus find thrown in.

Perfect day here today

Ended up being a driveby, nice and easy at night. Cheers Gav [6843]

Drove right to the cache. Quick dash and grab. TFTC

Found with moneydork and rediguna

I didn't make it a drive-by, but after a bit of to and fro on the highway I did spot the road and walked down it! Nice area TFTC

not tempted on this today. we go here often instead of the doc stop nearby, this is more sunny and quieter. But, be wet as....... down there today. Another time !

Parked above the cache site and looked down and thought mmmmmm dont think this looks like a good way to approach this one so we carried on and got to the mentioned space and parked within stones throw of cache site. Parked and clambered out and wandered to GZ and grabbed the cache with ease ( I like this ). Filled in the log and headed back to the car and enjoyed some time looking at the river, think we were lucky as we had no pesky visitors at our time here. TFTC

Stretch0 first parked roadside and I think my comment was " there is no way in hell I'm going down that way" luckily found the other way and cache was soon in hand - definitely no little flying blighters here today signed log thanks for the cache

Joint FTF with Biggles. Some rather large puddles threatened to engulf the cache mobile as we got near gz but these were safely negotiated. Yep defintely a bit of a scramble in the dark and with the snow falling but no mishaps. A clean "sweep" of the evenings FTF's on offer so time to head home in time to catch the Friday night football. TFTC.

Shared FTF with Kiwi Explorer. Sandflies were thankfully asleep or hibernating tonight. The dark and falling snow made for a somewhat surreal scramble to GZ. Nearly trod on the cache but all was well. TFTC, Biggles.

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