A Submarine out of Water (West Coast) Waiuta, South Island, New Zealand
By Moneydork on 06-Nov-10. Waypoint GC2HWX6

Time to wave goodby to this old cache

I spent ages trying to find this cache but it wasnt to be. Awesome GZ, I loved the remoteness, the history and views

Unfortunately, no luck for me either

No luck here today but loved all the history

No joy today

We hunted for a while but no luck today.

No joy for us today! Too many prickles for us and saw in previous logs the hint isn’t very accurate

Thanks anyway
C&J

Found on a trip south. Enjoying the caches on a nice day

Found with Kiwimykl, refer to his log for details.

TFTC Moneydork

A couple of years ago we ran into some geocachers who reckoned that Waiuta is worth a visit so have booked into the lodge for the night. Great views from this spot. TFTC

Found with NZDi on the final day of our four day West Coast Adventure. We arrived here early in the morning, probably before 8.00am, but there were others already here and I suspect they spent the night. It was 2 degrees C when we got out of the geomobile. After getting a few caches around the 'CBD', we decided to venture further. We made it this far for some fantastic views and a non-magnetic cache. Considering the mining history is a lot more recent than other sites on the Coast, there is surprisingly little evidence left.

Last August we had booked a package deal offered by West Coast Tourism, where for $299 per person we could stay for one night in Hokitika and get access to the Tree Top Walk, then spend another night in Franz Josef and get access to the Wilderness Centre and a helicopter flight over the glacier. We did the Hokitika part of the package on the 17th of August and that night the PM put us into Covid-19 (Delta) Level 4 Lockdown. We decided to take the week between Easter and ANZAC weekends off and do the second part of the package. It also gave us the opportunity to get out of the district to get the required points for the Signal's Labyrinth series of souvenirs.

TFTC Moneydork

Finally getting round to exploring Waiuta

Quick find. TFTC

Glad to have come up to grab this! Awesome place tyftc

What an interesting place, on a beautiful clear day for the views, found with lipnp, tftc️

Glad I made the extra drive up to see this spot. Quite eerie with low cloud and noone about. It does indeed look like a submarine! TFTC.

Visiting something on my "Must Visit" list

Nice day for exploring, not too wet. Swapped a trinket. Tftc.

The last time we were in Waiuta this area was closed. From memory they were removing the arsenic that was in the area and making it safe for the public to wander around. So as we were back in Waiuta chasing down a PGWT cache we could not leave the area without coming to have a look up here.
The views were stunning, the history fascinating and the peace was divine. There is a massive amount of bumble bees in the area at the moment, but they were not that bothered by us wandering around.
We had driven the campervan up the road, we were not sure if the road would be suitable but there were no worries at all. And plenty of room to turn around in the carpark area.
I wish I could have wandered further than I did but as I am nursing an injury at the moment we stayed around the gz area. Next time we will explore some more.
The cache was quickly located, although it was not what the hint suggested. The log was signed and all was returned as we found it.
Thank you for placing this cache and thank you for the smiley. This gets a favourite from us

Found on a family day out. Tftc

I spent last night in Reefton and decided to head out today to Waiuta. Thank you for the caches here, Moneydork. Great view from this location.
There was a muggle couple from Rotorua travelling in their campervan, who didn't come along this road, but really nobody else around. I had a great time exploring.

Belated logging, and an apology for the copy & paste part of my logs (mainly for bum&worker, given the caches found were mostly his ).

Last time I was here (Waiuta/Reefton) was in 2015 with my wife (Not Manly Jack) and daughter (NZGecko). This time it was my wife and our mate, bo&bronnie.
Logs are either signed in full or with the initials BRN (Bo&bronnie, Rincewind3, Not manly jack).

This trip the plan was to spend a night in Waiuta, walk to Big River for a couple of nights, then back to Waiuta for another night. In the end we dropped a night at Big River as the weather forecast wasn't crash hot and we'd become aware of a group of 15 trampers following us in for the second night. We do prefer a quiet hut so beat a hasty retreat. At least the weather held off until we were back in Reefton! Also: a couple of unexpected nights in town meant a bit of extra caching, even an adventure lab!

The non-cut-and-paste-bit: bo&bronnie had done this one years ago, but still had to hunt to find it. I believe I didn't realise at the time so still signed with his username too. I suspect that was true of quite a few caches, to be honest.
Loved the views up here.

TFTC Moneydork
Find number 4393

That was an easy spot. Put back a little more discreetly out of sight from muggles. TFTC!!!

I came up the hill without my pen...dam

Such an interesting area.TFTC

Nice easy fine bit drizzly while we were here.Thanks for this cache Moneydork

Had a good look but unfortunately couldn't find it

Its a rare thing to find a Moneydork cache these days

last time I was here there was a pretty deep hole in the ground covered with a substantive grid to stop people falling in. Dunno whats happened, they cant have filled it in.

Cheers and thanks for keeping the cache going, this is an essential stop on any west coast roadie.


S.t.

An easy find in a interesting area. The drive up is well worth it. It would have been quite an establishment in the day. TFTC

Found it but it is not magnetic anymore couldn't write my name in it lost my pen

Log very wet

Awesome area with some cool relics

A fascinating read about the site and how they controlled the power to the fly wheel. Amazing the things they thought of back then to solve problems. Just kept on follwoing the road and saved a walk. Cheers

Nice and easy cache at this great valley viewpoint and historic site. Out visiting with HVTC walkers after sending trampers off to Big River Hut.
TFTC

Found quite in open rehid tftc

Great spot! We did some investigating around the old mine, such a great spot to explore with the kids!

Tftc. Fantastic history here.

Great park and grab with blunsdon. Thank you for the cache

Tyfc ,quick trip to pick up table and chairs from snowy road decided it was time to check out Waiutu and get a few more smiley faces, love the history and stories about gold ,
While here I was told the mine was to reopen by digging a tunnel from bottom of hill under Waiutu

Fortunately a local suggested we drive up here or else we would have missed out on a great view and this excellent cache. So much history here! This was the highlight of our visit to Waiuta. Dropped off a TB. Another deserved favourite added, thanks Moneydork.

Out and about with SJT_NZ and lottietree exploring Waiuta, last find before heading back, thanks Moneydork for a great cache.

Found with Tregearp and Lottietree on day two of a trip to Waiuta.

A quick find with all in good order, signed log and replaced as found.

Thanks Moneydork for the cache.

Not magnetic eh?! but an easy find. Awesome bit of "submarine " . Tftc

A quick and easy find. Pleased to see that the road went up to the top! Cheers

We are on an extented Waitangi Weekend cruising around the Coast. Today we explored the Greymouth and the Grey valley. We've been lucky with the weather, nice and warm and sunny. Spending the night at the Ikamatua campground, quite pleasant.

Thanks to all CO's for placing and maintaining their caches. Cheers

Great view

A visitor from Switzerland t4tc!

Found with our 3 and 5 y.o. super quiet here today. Amazing information on the boards nearby.

The sign says the submarine was one of the two air compressors, used to power the drills in the mine. Safer than using electricity in a mine where there might be explosive gas. There was no logbook so added a logsheet. Fascinating information on the signs. Then the heavens opened, lightning and rolling thunder... We felt rather vulnerable on the top of a hill with metal all around us, so hastily retreated to our mobile Faraday cage and went back to town for lunch. And you know, we had commented that there will still be gold down there... the next day, a mining venture was announced!

Not sure why I didn't look for this one the last time I was here. Today I fixed that ommission and found the cache after a walk around the submarine. TFTC, Biggles.

Thanks

A beautiful day to find a cache. Tftc

Easy find

What a find. On a whim took the turn down to this old gold town. We could not have imagined what awaited us. Only did two caches in here as we only had limited access to internet. Spent a couple of hours here. Cache was a quick find and is OK

Quick found but unfortunately there was no logbook in the box. TFTC

There was no logbook anymore and the magnet was also gone. It lied under the edge of the submarine. Greetings from Germany, Karsten

Heading away for a few days holiday during the school break...heading for Westport, but we spied the old town of Waiuta....worth a detour we say! Parked up at the information sign, put our rain coats on (bit of light rain) and walked the main town loop. Awesome spot & history. After we finished the loop we jumped in the car and drove up here - looks like they are developing the area some more with a fenced off carpark......Submarine easy to spot. Funky cool. Quick find and sign, lid was off the cache but contents still dry. No longer magnetic but safely tucked under the edge with some appropriate cover. Cheers!!

I've visited Waiuta today and wasn't lucky with the weather nor the caches. This one I could find, luckily. Thanks for hiding! (Oh, and if this one's magnetic, then I'm Polish...)

Found this Cache during our visit in Waiuta on this mostly rainy day but had fun exploring the area anyway.

Thanks for the cache

Also found the one during our exploration of the area. Interesting place.TFTC.Sherlock Hood and Squirrel.

Tyftc

the road was closed so we will have to look for this one another time

It definitely is lol. Nice easy find. Lots of history here. Tftc

Cache all good. Not magnetic though!
Tflc

Great find on a sunny day with the parentals

Quick easy cache with the family. TFTC

Found it

Where's the periscope?? Great place, huge views. Had our lunch here too.

What an amazing place thanks for bringing me here

#1537

A nice find on a rare sunny day

A nice find on a rare sunny day

Nice easy find and true to cache name!! Tftc SL.

An easy find, but check out the remains and what went on here in the past.Fantastic.

once the helicopter buggered off we had a quick find. looks like the mining may continue again soon. a drilling site over the ridge and another one down by the blackwater. tftc

Found it after a few minutes. Very interesting history to the area. Fantastic view today as well.

Lots of muggles, beaut views! TFTC

What a great view from this great site. TFTC

Caching with Holymu. Good to come back and soak the views. TFTC

Easy find on a side trip during a return from the coast. Caching with Hazedarus. TFTC.

This is the 2nd time I've visited this mine shaft site - the first was back in June 2004, after visiting the Ghost Town cache (GCGNZM). Back then DOC were just starting to add visitor amenities. I seem to recall having to walk up a very rough rocky 4WD track to access the pithead area - not at all like today's gravel road that's suitable for small 2WD vehicles. Amazing to think that the miners here were working approximately 200m below sea level! Sort of makes the 'submarine' appropriate. I just wonder what nasty substance remains coated to the inside of the vessel - I got it on my hands and later discovered that I need not have. Yuk! Small change to the hint is required - the cache is no longer magnetic. Thanks for chance to visit this historic area again.

Great views on a clear, still, sunny day. TFTC

Yep it's a long way out of water.-Bitsprayer

Quick fnd. Really enjoyed this cache and we had a little wander around the location with the camera. 6/10caches for the day. TFTC

Really cool place to visit.TFTC.[^]
out-nothing
in-ladybug pebble

An easy find on xmas day, TFTC

Nice views up there

GOOD DRIVE INTERESTING SPOT. TFTC

I brought the other half of the B&B caching team over to this wonderfull place so she could enjoy her other hobbie.(Photography).A great place with lots of history.The cache was a nice easy find. TFTC Cheers Bo

Great spot. If it hadn't been pouring with rain we would've had a better look around. Perhaps this is another Noahs Ark type project. A quick find after checking another likely spot. TFTC

What a fascinating place up here - finally found where we headed for this one and loved the Submarine - photo ops everywhere !!!!! Thanks so much for bringing us up here we had a great time exploring - well worth the drive !!!!! signed log thanks for the cache

A great place to come to and the camera got a good workout with the views and with all the bits everywhere. Once again cache name very obvious and cache was soon in hand TFTC

Just updating some caches as I have a new profile (I was mongyspeed)

awesome wee location with great views thanks heaps

What a really interesting place. Long drive up the gravel road to site, but well worth it for the relics left at cache location. Soon located the cache. SL TFTC

What an interesting spot. They certainly went very deep seeking the gold. TFTC

Easy find, it sure is high and dry.
Dropped TB

Great view from up here.
Gee these people worked hard.
TFTC

Top cache this. While we were admiring the ruins we ran into a guy who used to work there! Found again by Jr 7. Argh. Spent a long time yelling into the holes of the submarine at each other TFTC

#202

must of been high tide

interesting old equipment