Are You Home, Sam? (Central Otago) Mount Creighton, South Island, New Zealand
By fuzzynz on 02-Jan-11. Waypoint GC2KY5E

Lovely stroll, question though...How do you know a rock is upside down?

Found it you have to climb to get it

TFTC

found on a great hike around the Mt Crichton Loop track, well worth the hike , the bridge was out but that was all part of the adventure, it took a bit of a search to find this , Over shot the cache and had to return back to the other side and then some scrambling to get to GZ, nice hide.. well donethanks againhello from CBR

Easy find once you do the little scramble. Wet rocks today so very slippery. Also had to wade across the stream due to more water than normal. TFTC.

A little bit of off track adventuring to find this one. The bridge crossing the stream right after this cache has been washed out but was easy to jump across for us. Cheers for the cache

Trouve Easy find, a bit slippery ^^ I didnt have anything to trade so I left it, but there is a cutie waiting to be picked up !

Sam was not home, but the cache was! Wee scramble up to this one but safe and sound in its hiding place. Lovely walk, thanks for putting out this cache!

We are on our long-awaited journey around the world in 99 days. Second try after canceling in 2020.
Our third stop after Los Angeles and Hawaii is New Zealand.

This time was of course used to find some geocaches here.
Today we did the Sam Summers via Mount Crichton Loop Track and while that we were searching for the Traditional **Are You Home, Sam? (Central Otago)**

Thank to the Hints and the good coordinates the little box was found quickly!
After signing the logbook there is a new smile on our geocaching map!

At least we would like to take this opportunity to thank fuzzynz for creating and maintaining this Traditional.

Greetings from Nuermberg/Germany
**Wild_Bee_**

P.S. To save space in the logbooks, we not only enter in sequence, but also in empty spaces between.
_
Thank you for the cache - जियोकैश के लिए धन्यवाद - Vielen Dank für den Cache - Gracias por el caché - Merci pour le cache - Grazie per la cache - Obrigado pelo Cache - Bedankt voor de cache - Tak for cachen - Hvala na predmemoriji - Takk for cachen - Kiitos välimuistista - Tack för cachen - Спасибо за кеш - Díky za mezipaměť - Dzięki za pamięć podręczną - Önbellek için teşekkürler - Dankie vir die kas - Asante kwa kache - ขอบคุณสำหรับแคช - 感謝您的緩存 - キャッシュをありがとう - ޝުކުރިއްޔާ - Terima kasih atas cache

Found it with the makarewa school on our camp

We walked this trail a few years back before we started geocaching. Loved it then, so of course it was a pleasure to return to find a cache in this beautiful spot. We looked around for a while before determining where to focus our search. The co ordinates were surprisingly good under all that tree cover & the hint was a great help too. Have a favourite point here for bringing us back to a place we loved last time we were in NZ.

Greetings from the Czech Republic and thanks for the cache.
Díky za keš.
13:43
Moje 4413

The first, super walking. Thank 3

I approached this one for a decent vantage point and spied out the main made shape fairly quickly which was nice after taking ages to find the previous 2 caches. So beautiful around here. Thanks

Back in civilization after an awesome 8 day hike out to westies hut at the end of the south coast track.....met up with a friend in qt who suggest we do the loop track...so introduced her to caching on the way round ..nice quick find tftc

My brother and I had been eyeing up this walk for a while...him for the walk and hut, me for the caches and hut. Weren't sure if we'd have time but we'd made good progress on our time restraint so decided to pause long enough to hunt this 1 out. Success! TFTC! (I managed to also come up with a good philosophical question and potential podcast name from it too...if I ever made a podcast )

Walk after rain so it wasn’t easy to get it:D but pretty funny one thank you

#338 tftc

TFTC easy find after reading the hint took one route to the cache and returned via a different route great walking track lots to see

Didn't take long to find this one. Nice walk into here. Thanks fuzziness

#10243

unfortunately Sam didn’t get the message to put the kettle on. Amazing to think someone lived here.

Hodgiepodgie found this in a cool spot. Beautiful place. Tftc

Day off from looking after two girls so I decided to find my 1 000. cache. I walked Mt Crichton Look Track, Lake Dispute Walkway, Moke Lake to Lake Dispute Track, then around the lake and back to carpark. Then, my 1 000. cache, last today, was found in Twelve mile delta. Thank for all caches, they really improve enjoying of my life!

We went up Mount Crichton track this morning. We passed a bridge, but the GPS mentioned we were 400 meters away, so we kept on walking, until I checked again and we had passed the cache by 200m, so the first bridge was THE bridge, too bad we missed it, we'll have to come back. The walk and views were really nice!

That's definitely one of my favourites!
A great place for hiding a Geocache, Thanks for the cache!:)

Easily found at a great spot. Tftc

Easy find ! **TFTC**

Great location.

Accidentally found this cache about 8 years ago when looking for gold.

Now I cache and back for the smiley face.

Excellent cache! Thank you!

We spend some days with some friends in their house in Queenstown. So plenty of time to do some caching around here.
TFTC

A beautiful day for this walk. A bit of hunting around but eventually found. Thanks for this detour along this wonderful track.

The last few metres were an interesting challenge! Pleasant walk.

Found this one on the loop track, a nice hike. TFTC

thank you for this geocaches. was a very nice walk

A challenging hike on a stunning day. Greetings from Melbourne, Australia
Found with nyochi.

What an awesome walk!! And i love these caches that make you go that extra bit further, i feel like a real explorer!! :3 amazing spot it gets a fav point from me

Very nice walk through the beach forest on a cold day. Not tempted at all by the swimming holes in the river.

Walked up the track with the little woman and she stopped off at the GZ to check on the bucket. I hadn't logged this one and after the rocks got biffed, I SL the temporary logsheet someone had dropped in. Now why would anyone do that to the bucket if it was so well hidden? The TB was not in stock and should be marked missing eh. TFTC

It's a great hike up there

Thanks for the nice location...
The walk up was very enjoyable

Found on a Good Friday walk to the hut. Pleased there wasn't an earthquake whilst I was looking for the cache

Awesome point. Thanks for inviting
In TB

Wow, we'll hidden and almost gave up.
"How can a rock be upside down!"

Tftc

Greetings from Rotorua, 11 day visit to the mainland.

Found it without too much trouble. Bit slippery getting to the cache spot, so do take care!

No pen/pencil there, don't forget to bring your own, or donate one to the cache

Could not find it. Checked around rocks next to the river.

My first find in awhile. I needed a break from Queenstown today and decided to tackle this track. Easy find even with the damp weather. TFTC

With Ellen from Sweden and Jirka from Czech. Cold in the woods but nice walk around.

found, no goodies inside.
Gave it a bit more cover, still in same place. Hopefully it stays safe from muggles

Walked up the track with the little woman and she stopped off at the GZ to check on the con. I hadn't logged this one and after the rocks got biffed, I SL the temporary logsheet someone had dropped in. Now why would anyone do that to the bucket if it was so well hidden? TFTC

Walked down track before dark. Found the cache after hugging some rocks. TFTC.

Please mark the rubber chicken TB as missing.

*French*
Apres notre passage à Arrowtown, direction Mt Crichton Loop Track et la promenade vers Sam's Hut.
Nous ne ferons que l'aller retour vers la Hut

fuzzynz, thanks for the geocache
Frank et Muriel
#10228
Belgique
Log with GSAK

Grabbed it on my way to Sam's hut! A nice loop walk and a good hiding place!
Thanks for this one

Off work and enjoying a lovely "bluebird day" after the stretch of wet weather. Really enjoyed the hike out here! For me this is what geocaching is all about - adding an extra element to an already enjoyable and interesting location. Quickly figured out which 'rock' I needed to be looking around, but navigating to GZ proved to be a little tricky with the wet and slippery forest undergrowth. I was careful not to slip but I wasn't too worried given that with all the moss and leaf litter it would have probably been a soft landing. Found the cache without too much difficulty. Everything is in good shape. Signed the log and left a pathtag. Looking forward to coming back out here at night to find those glow worms! Cheers and TFTC.

Nice walk but slipped trying to get back down from cache. Continued on around the track. tftc

This loop walk up past Sam's hut and then down past views of Lake Dispute must be one of the best on this side of Wakatipu with so much nature and history to enjoy along the way.

With the signage at the start of the track indicating that the loop would take 2-4 hours, the large variation seemed odd, even for DOC but it became obvious afterwards. Given the terrain and distance, it can presumably be walked in 2 hours easily enough. We stopped here at the Big Rock to look for the cache, and then a bit later for lunch at the hut (and the new cache there), and we sidetracked through the tailings gorge and the other mining relics. Walking at just an average pace, we were back at the start in 3 hours. However, with so many interesting 'distractions' along the way, it is easy to see how you could spend longer out here.

As indicated in the cache description, the GPSr won't necessarily be pin-point accurate under the bush canopy, but the hint had us in the right spot with only circumnavigation of GZ required to locate the treasure. Another well-placed fuzzynz cache and good to see another large container. TFTC.

Found after some climbing. Good fun. Tftc

Good to nab it this time after not having time to look hard enough last time we were up here. Tftc

Found recently with quinella. Great walk - did the full loop with great things to see along the way. Tftc

Nice walk in to see Sam's Hut. Tftc

Out doing some geocaching and hut bagging. Lovely walk enjoyed this track and loved the hut further up the track tftc

Interesting natural feature at hide.
Historical sites nearby make this an excellent walk . Thanks

We checked on this today and as we needed the ammo can for 'Below The Lower Shotover' cache, we have swapped this one for a large grey container. Still plenty of room for swaps.

A lovely walk around the loop today. The hint didn't make sense until we found a likely spot. Its amazing how many of these containers are around. TFTC

Nice run. Stunning scenary. Tftc

Tftc. Found with kiwishaz. Easy find once in the right place.

Good day for a Sunday afternoon walk. Easy find once we were in the right spot! Found with narns11. TFTC!

A break away from the kids and 10th anniversary holiday in Queenstown. The weather was starting to break and a walk up through the trees was the best idea. A great walk it is too....it took a few minutes to find the hint but a wander 20 or so metres from the bridge brought it into view and the last few m were definitely mossy and slippery in the rain. A great size cache. We walked on for a bit but not far enough to see the hut - we were lead astray by the maps on the gps which told me there was a hut where there clearly wasn't but we found the remains of some old buildings and mistook these for our destination.....next time!!

Love this track, it's a great loop run. Forgot how steep it was but got a breather to look for the cache without the GPS. Able to find by description & hint. Tftc

Our first "walk" in New Zealand and also our first experience with DOC time: 2 to 4 hours. Sam wasn't home .
A long trip later from Frankfurt via Dubai, Bangkok and Sydney to Christchurch we finally started our three and a half weeks vacation. We tried to see as much as possible from New Zealands nature and also look for some caches. During the whole trip we could even find more than 100 caches .
We finalized the round trip on our very first day by booking some great walk huts and decided to travel clockwise around the Southern Island. It's hard to say which were the highlights, so I would say the whole vacation is our one highlight .
Many thanks to all cache owners for showing us a lot of great places! T4TC!

This was one of the over 100 caches in our vacation. After a long trip from Frankfurt via Dubai, Bangkok and Sydney to Christchurch Kansas City Shuffle and I finally started our three and a half weeks trip on the south Island of New Zealand. We tried to see as much as possible from the nature and also look for some caches.
We traveled clockwise around the Southern Island. It's hard to say which were the highlights, so I would say the whole vacation is our one highlight .
Many thanks to all cache owners!

Tricky with the tree cover but found. Cheers.

Thanks for the beer Malauflo07! Dropped of a trackable and a few other things as a trade.
We did the full Mt Crichton loop track, a great hike all-round. Although the section of the trail to Sam's hut was probably the most scenic. TFTC

Fond IT take a rubber leave a bottle of beer for the next lucky one !!

Our first NZ cache! Was a lovely walk. Great placement of cache lead to some fun retrieving it. Sam's hut was interesting. TFTC

Had some problems with the GPS under the tree cover and I thought it was nearer to the hut but by these coordinates and the descriptions given it is still quite some way to the hut. Will try again another day.

I think a tree has recently fallen, making this more of a challenge. This is a great loop walk and I recommend you do it clockwise so all the ascent is on the shady side and the decent will be on solid and even ground. TFTC. Cats out Walking

An awesome cache, thanks! Have walked past this a number of times, you did well funds his spot!

TFTC

tftc

This Mt Crichton loop has it all- beech trees, historic goldmining relics, views - it's really worth doing the whole loop. Took us 2 1/2 hours.

We got as far as the cache site (at the confluence of Maori Gully and 12 Mile Creek) and expected an easy walk to the hide, but it was quite a scramble to get to the cache. Found an easier way back, going on the hill side of the rock, but even that route was at least 3 1/2 terrain.

We crossed the creek and a short way up the track found the remains of Depression era stone huts. So we called "Are you home Sam'? But from 750 m up the valley we heard Sam shouting "It's those blasted geocachers again - why can't they ever get the address right! My hut's up here, come and visit!

So we kept walking up to a sluiced gully with an interpretive sign, then took a 2 minute detour down to see a fantastic tailrace tunnel built to flush away the overburden into 12 Mile Creek. It was beautifully cool inside.

Then 150 m on we found Sam's hut - nicely restored, with information about its history. The hut was built by prospector Bill Summers in the 1930s and used up to the 1970's by his son Sam. The remains of two Chinese miners' huts are next door. And the site is amazing- a gorge beside it with a waterfall, like something out of, well, LOTR.

So here are two places you would enjoy visiting, even though they don't have caches:

TAILRACE TUNNEL: S 45 02.928 E 168 31.975

SAM SUMMERS HUT: S 45 02.853 E 168 31.904

TFTC nice area for a walk - can see why often trampers get caught out in this area with slips and rainfall etc

Found on a wee mission before lunch. Beautiful walk TFTC

Coordinates changed from:
S 45° 03.312 E 168° 31.836

Coordinates changed to:
S 45° 03.312 E 168° 31.843

Distance from original: 30.2 feet or 9.2 meters.
The tree cover certainly plays havoc with the co-ords but I'll change them anyway. Funny thing is that it is almost what they started at before I made a change the first time! Thanks GSVNoFixedAbode for the updated co-ords. Future cachers, please take a look at the cache page photo as this has an image of the hide.

I really like this place so I decided to drop off my travel bug there. Thanks for this cache

It took us quite a while to locate this cache, until eventually we discovered GSVNoFixedAbode’s alternative coordinate of E168 31.843 which was much better. TFTC

With Sonia 26642 Back logging now for all my previous finds over the last 9 months....

Found on my third time walking past the hut.
TFTC

08/09/2013 9:45:00 AM
3050
Took two days off work, and drove down to Queenstown for a bit of a trip to the snow because why not! Drove down with my boyfriend, and met up in Q town with my mum, brother, and a family friend.

On Sunday, my mum convinced me that she didn't want to go skiing, and that we should instead go hiking... I wasn't too happy about that, but since I don't see mum that often and there was a cache involved, decided to go for it.

Hide was pretty nice and easy, but only once we were at the right spot, which yes, it was a bit out from the coords, about 12m... but the location did look like what the hint says I suppose

Thanks for the walk!

Consec caching day # 308

TFTC!!

Sam was not home but had some visitors anyway... great walk, one of my favourites in the area - TFTC!!

Nice Little Bushwalk!
Thanks!
Fritz
Took Geocoin which Backpackingmatt probably forgot to Log

Great excuse to get out and walk one of my favorite Queenstown tracks - love the bush, the creek and the views a walk to Sam Summers provides. One of many great finds whilst introducing the parents to Geocaching over their two week visit in Queenstown. Left a geocoin. Last log in the book said four trackables were left, but no sign of them on my arrival. TFTC.

Found easily without GPS proving a little cyber sleuthing can go a long way! Okay, we used the clue. Took two tradeables and loaded the cache with another six suitable for the younger cachers amongst us.
Explored the ruins before carrying on to see if Sam was in residence. Sucked in by the smell of cooking sausages we discovered that only visitors were making themselves comfy unaware that they were soon to be invaded by our family group of ten consisting of the weebeanz 4, their two cousins, an uncle and aunt, and of course mum and dad. A stunningly beautiful walk. Finished the day completing the loop down past Lake Dispute to the road. Big cuddles for mr 3 who walked a lot of the way, tripped over a couple of times, and got a wasp sting.
***There are very high drop offs right beside the track so watch or preferably hold little people close *** Enjoy.

The other one of "US" and Harry went in search of this one. They really enjoyed the walk and got to talk...as men do

Perfect hot Central day for a walk in the bush. This is what caching is all about : a (short) walk, bit of history, lovely scenery, and an ammo can cache! Just a shame I'd left the caching bag behind for swaps. My GPS had the cache about 12 metres to the east of the coords, about E168 31.843. Everything in pristine condition, nice! Walked on to Sam's hut to get a few pics. Love the history and well worth a fav. point. TFTC!!
Cheers,
G.

The place suggest itself as the only natural hide ... very nice!
TFTC from Germany
Martingal

No luck for me today. I started the loop track the other way round, thereby first passing by the hut and already being back on my way to the car. Great location, hard to believe that Sam walked sometimes from Queenstown to the hut...

At GZ I found the place fitting the hint but there had been some devastation around it with unrooted trees and alike. I checked all corners I could think of, but must have missed the correct one. Anyway, thanks for leading me to this nice track!

smorp7

Great walk. met a strange possum hunter guy along the way who lived in the hills near the hut. grabbed trackable "Hooked up"

Well worth the walk and we always intended to do the loop. The realics just accross the bridge we wondered if it was Sams hut but found the real one further on along the track. Well worth the walk up to the hut.

this was our favorite cache in New Zealand for this year [^]
the walkway is gone at some parts due to landslides, but we got pass it only to get almost hit by some large falling stones after all that hazzle it was a nice walk to Sam....he was not at home [