Jacks Blowhole (Catlins) Hinahina, South Island, New Zealand
By CrystalFairy on 10-Jan-11. Waypoint GC2M9P3

Made the trek to this marvel of nature with Phronimos and was amazing at the site put stabs on to measure the distance and took the photo stoping to do the trad near the top Thanks crystalFairy thanks for bringing me here get a favourite

Today is a big day: drive to Invercargill to pick up my mate to attend the Mega - and grab a few caches and Waymarks on the way. Now we're heading back to Dunedin via a few more caches. Jack's Blowhole I specifically targeted as this is the ONLY Earthcache in NZ beginning with 'J'. JB & I were concerned to see the Track Closed sign at the first hurdle, but after coming such a long way, (from Taranaki and Manawatu) we decided to persevere and assess the risk when we encountered the cause. Turns out it's one remaining of a few windfall Macs across the track requiring a small route deviation. We assessed the risk to our safety as 'minimal', both being trampers of many decades experience, so we negotiated the hazard and continued to the landmark. This is quite spectacular!The views on the way are equally spectacular. We tried to work out what the CO wanted us to do here, but our calculations didn't make sense, so I've attached a screenshot of JB's Strava record of our walk.Thanks for the opportunity to knock off one more goal.

Thank you for showing us this beautiful place. It is impressive to see the waves coming in. We wish we could come back at a stormy day!

Amazing walk and place to see, really cool blowhole! Thanks for bringing us here.

This was my favourite place we visited today, I think the blowhole is so so cool and loud! Thanks for the cache.

Great day for a walk with the family, they've certainly done a lot with the track since we were last here many years ago - a great improvement! TFTC

A strange place, you here the hole from a distance but its not so easy to see. great place!Thanks for the cache./herrFamaxe from Sweden

TFTC Thank you for creating this cache. You have shown us a new place and have helped make geocaching an enjoyable activity.

**Log about this cache:**Yesterday there where some real big waves, sadley we didn`s visit this blowholes that day...Today the sea is calm, lucky that we can visit Cathedral coveIeder nadeel heeft zijn voordeel zei Cruyff ooit **General log:**After years of planning and the canceling of trip due to the corona crisis, the time had finally come: ***"more than 5 weeks in New Zealand"**.* And how beautiful it was! Visited both the north and south islands, many tourist attractions have a cache nearby so I could do some as well. Lots of virtuals and earth caches too and traditionals. But also done a few multi caches here and there also even a mystery and wherigo cache. The trip to New Zealand was great and we saw a lot of nice places. The country has so many different types of landscapes. And the nice thing was that it is winter in the Netherlands but summer in New Zealand Too bad it takes so long to fly and that the flight is so expensive otherwise i can go here next year again. Now you can enjoy it, logging the caches is also part of it. I will try to email the answers for the earthcaches and virtual caches to the relevant co`s as soon as possible. But first log all caches and upload the photos .

Together with Travelser I'm going Down Under. We are driving around with a motorhome. After 7 weeks driving around through Australia we arrived the 2th November in New Zealand. For ten days we will cross the Northern Island and than for 2 weeks the Southern Island.During our trip we of course search for several caches. Most of them brought us to very nice spots, like this one.All the CO's, and in this case CrystalFairy, thanks for bringing us here and give our trip a special accent.

After traveling around Australia with Oopie for 7 weeks, we have now been traveling with the camper in New Zealand for 4 weeks. Along the way we will of course also visit various types of caches in beautiful places, including this one.Because we answered the questions together, Oopie will send the answers with your permission.Thanks CO for creating and laying this cache.

Number 300. Road to 400 starts today.Tftc kaylina22

A nice day for a walk, and the breeze was welcome after the steps and small climbs. Got there about 2 1/2 after high tide so still rather impressive. Measurements were significantly different from the post, but DOC signs do tend to be off on one thing or other? I'm sure mine are more accurate.

We werent expecting a gravel road all the way but it was none to difficult. Lovely walk along to GZ. It reminds us of our North Yorkshire coastline in a good day. TFTC

Alouth a very steep walk up enjoyed the tremendous views along the way even tho completely short of breath.
Can imagine what would be like when stormy. TFTEC

What a long walk up and down but a great 65th birthday experience. The water was heaving but not blowing. We did enjoy the blowhole is. It is scarily deep and we had to hang onto our cell phone and the GPS tightly. As for the walk that is supposed to be 20 mins. It took us 35 mins on the way back with a lot of huffing and puffing. The walk would have been easier if there had been a cache hidden every 200m. LOL

Marched up here with my parents at high tide as recommended. The blowhole was quite quiet, considering how windy the surrounding clifftop walk was great view from the top, and we enjoyed the blowhole. Thanks very much.

Answers were sent. Unfortunately, I was there at low tide, so the blowhole was very calm. It's an interesting place to visit, though.

Made the massive but enjoyable effort to get to the blowhole only for it to be a gentle giant..... maybe we should have come yesterday with there being a good wind
Still a beautiful experience

Really interesting feature and so different from the Kiama blowhole in Basalt where we were 10 days ago.
Tftc

Found - Mrs McMike2012 & I now live full-time in our caravan & travel the country visiting places we want to visit … we are now parked up at Nugget Point for a couple of days, exploring in & around the area … we went for a bit of a drive today to check out some waterfalls, secluded bays & historical sites … we were out & about, looking at Jack’s Blowhole & gathered the required info to support the Earthcache … CO has been messaged & photos supplied … logging this in anticipation of getting the ‘all clear’ … we thought we needed to do a couple of caches … Blowhole found with no issues, no log completed … pleased to add another 'smiley face' to the tally … TFTC ... TN:LN:SL ... #2,121 for us.

I have always being meaning to visit the blowhole and today is the day. Not much action when I was there. Tftc

Earth cache completed with Ricardinho & he supplied our joint answers

Cool walk to this unique location One of the many amazing spots in the Catlins!!!! We were lucky with the weather

TFTEC

We enjoyed the walk out to the blow hole. We had the place to ourselves as well. Unfortunately we were a long way off high tide, and the sea state was pretty benign. Nice weather, but nothing too spectacular at the blowhole, although you still get a bit of noise.
TFTEC Crystal Fairy, a really cool spot. +1.

22 October 2021 What a majestic area, showing off the forces on nature... even at mid tide in fine weather. Worth the hike up and down hill. Sent answers to CO. TFTC CrystalFairy. 3rd earthcache for the trip.

A bit grey today but enjoyable walk up to the big gap! Very impressive drops with tenacious plants holding on. Thanks for the history too!

A really nice walk. The blowhole was not what was expected as its big, really big. TFTC.

My journey today started in Surat Bay with a first cache, then I went to Jack's Blowhole, Nugget Point ant further to Dunedin. On that was I found a few caches. TFTC

A visit to Jack's blowhole, thanks for showing us this awesome place!

Found it! Will send answers to CO. Very nice walk with great views. TFTC.

We went here late afternoon in a multicultural traveling group (NZ, GB, FR, DE, BR). Saw some baby sea lions on the beach and then off we went to the blowhole. Beautiful place. TFTC

A really cool spot. My measurments are smaller than the sign at the entrance showed, curious.

TFTC M.o.E.

This was an amazing site so large. Found with mr c on our travels from the UK thank you.

Found with MrsC on our NZ travels from the UK. A nice day out through The Catlins, thanks. Answers sent to co

Früh am Morgen ganz alleine diese Tour gemacht und die Aussicht genossen. Wieder ein Wunderwerk der Natur. Dfdc

Auf unserer Tour durch Neuseeland gefunden. Danke fürs zeigen

It's a nice place to visit. The developing of nature is always special.
The width and length of the track log data are different from the values indicated on the board at the entrance of the blowhole. Thanks for showing this nice place.

Did it on 11/10/19. GPS Data couldn’t send. Measurement comparable.

Awesome, love it!

Always a great place to visit. Not too rough but some booming from the swell.

Day 2 of our Catlin's road trip with kjr
After wading over to Jack's island we had a wander to the blow hole
Cool spot info sent to co

What a great long roadtrip around New Zealand, explored new views and did some exciting caches. Thanks for that.

Fantastic place. Almost flat calm today so not much action in the blowhole. Interesting to see the size of it. Thanks for creating this earth cache.

Photo attached

will send the answers as soon as I download photos and sort out the answers.

Cache # 4,732 - A very beautiful walk and an interesting feature. Thanks so much for this one! Answers sent to CO.

Consecutive caching day # 2,115

Having grabbed a FTF earlier we made our way up to this location is. We had a lovely stroll up to and around this location, though because we had to be in the area for low tide for the FTF we didn't see the full effect here.
However answers obtained and sent to the CO
A lovely location getting a fav from us
TFTC
Tim and Viv - ddm

9/1We found this geocaches while travelling in New Zealand. Today we drove from Dunedin to The Catlins. This earth cache was the last cache of the day. We've seen a tui while walking to here. We enjoyed the extra walk around the blowhole as well.

[#4489] Unlike the past few days it was warm and sunny on this Saturday which is of course what we desire while on holiday in New Zealand. Today we first went to see the lovely Parakaunui Falls and beautiful Parakaunui Bay. Next we went to Jack's Bay for a walk to the impressive Blowhole. At the old cache near the train tunnel in Owaka we met with klee_bär and had a nice chat at GZ and the parking. Last stop was at Nugget Point which was really amazing. A thrilling path and awesome place for the small lighthouse with a splendid view. We could not get enough of this site and the seals and spoonbills down below, but the approaching rain made us go to Kaka Point for the camping. Thanks to all cache owners for making our visit even more fun and interesting.

*Esse d'r niks te zeuke höbs kumpse d'r neet.*

Enjoyed the coastal views on the way to this one. Impressive blowhole. Tftc

Did this with chermione who has sent in our joint answers to the CO. Very interesting earthcache. Thanks.

Answers sent. But having trouble sending photo will try & sort it when I get home from holiday . Confirmation received. What a fantastic place. Tftc

Found with Mum (dakotacats) and Nana (4Clubs) on our annual Christmas Day caching adventure. This was the highlight of our day (the huge sealion wasn't far behind). the lovely weather, good food and the company of family made the day great.

This cache was our intended destination for our traditional Christmas caching tramp. Not the longest tramp we have done, but certainly a very enjoyable one. Answers sent by dakotacats and photo also included in her log. Thanks for bringing us to this lovely part of the country. TFTEC

In keeping with our Christmas day tradition, we went caching and this was our destination. What a fantastic place to visit on a hot and sunny day, although the tide was extremely low. The path to the blowhole is all finished and there is a great walking track and no mud. There is even a picnic table positioned halfway to the blowhole. Thanks for bringing us to this wonderful place.

13:58
FITW GreenMenace & GingerNinja
The hole that Jack blew.
DoC workers were making new steps today, soon there will be brand new stairs on the way to the blowhole!
Amazing natural feature. I did not think about it at the time when we were there but now, looking at it on the satellite map and realizing this is a karst hole - I wonder how much solid rock is there under the walkway leading to the blowhole? Could there be new holeas appearing in the future?

TFTEC!
#6297

Out for a 3rd frosty day of caching

Out got the day with our 2 Japanese students that we staying with us and a nice to this one. Was a warm day which didn't help with the hills up to here. I forgot my GPS and I was over half way to the GZ and had to go back to the car to get it oh well. TFTC

We were here at low tide but it’s still pretty impressive here. The planting around the track is beautiful and we were accompanied by a bellbird and a fantail for a while. Photos are on big camera so still to download.

This One was a good walk (isn't it always ) with a good blowhole experience.
This is a really impressive View.
We never saw such a geological structure before.
Thank you for showing it to us and TFTC,

JuStMeMi

During our stay in the Catlins we visited also this Earth Cache. A great location in a wonderful area. Thank you very much for having created this cache and greetings from Switzerland.

It was a nice walk.

What a neat place to visit. I knew it wasn't going to be dramatic because the sea was quite calm this evening but the noise of the surge and watching the ebb and flow was still well worth the walk. In the end I completed 3 circuits - one to the lookout at the start and return at the end, one recording the track and another taking some waypoints. Answers sent. thanks for bringing me here to Jack's Blowhole CrystalFairy - I would like to return when they are at their best. TFTC # 11,962

this one has to be the highlight of my trip south and I was really looking forward to seeing it and it certainly did not disappoint just a pity I was there at low tide and I would definatley like to see it in full action with a rough sea TFTEC

Catching up on logging caches from my vacation in NZ now that I'm back home in WI, USA. This was a very fun cache for me. I ran into my friend Claire just after I arrived down at the beach and she accompanied me to Jack's Blowhole. Claire has been visiting here since she was a child and said her grandmother was known for having taken a canoe into Jack's Blowhole when she was young!!! It was quite a climb and the views were wonderful. Thanks for the EC in this fabulous location!

Der Blick hinab in das Wasswr ist faszinierend.

Vielen Dank fürs Herrichten und -führen.

ibdh - ich bin der helmut

Found it!

Today we had to come back a bit on our way to Catlins to go and see Jacks blowhole. When people think about this place, it is really interesting what nature can do. Thanks for earthcache at this place.

my first memory of the blowhole was a visit, possibly as early as the late 50's, otherwise it was in the early 60's. There was some of the original vegetation around it and I can remember holding into a root or something similar such as a stump with my father holding me and peering down in amazement and trepidation. It must have been about 1975 with Native Forest Action Council or Forest and Bird when we planted native seedlings among the fairly newly planted flax that was to provide shelter to the seedlings from the wind. My next visit everything was still fairly open. Now the place has really been transformed.

On the road in a Jucy van and found ourselves camping in Curio Bay last night. I’m sure it’s lively there usually but last night it was wet windy and cold, so this morning we left quite early and started towards Dunedin stopping at a few caches along the way.

We nearly didn’t stop here as it’s still October and it’s supposed to be closed then. So glad we did, what a great place! The tide wasn’t high but it was quite rough and the water was very impressive. We were quite mesmerised by it .

Answers sent. FP and TFTC

It is beautiful place!!!!
Please do not expect some crazy water blows, it is stunning that you can see the sea 200 meters into the land! enjoy, it is beautiful place

Belated log: Found it together with zer0seven, but did not yet log it online.
The story about us finding this cache can be found in the log of zer0seven.

Thanks!

We had a great day at the Catlins. At first we visited the sea lions at Surat Bay, then we did the short walk to Jacks Blowhole (fortunately the path was not closed for lambing) and afterwards we visited Nugget Point watching seals and a yellow eyed penguin. All that surrounded by a beautiful landscape.

Thx

What a cool place! Pity it wasn't high tide while I was there though. It would look amazing with the waves crashing in. Thanks

Found this one on a nice day. High tide was arround lunch time so we were able to see some powerful waves coming in.

FavPoint for the nice location.

TFTC
#SBCF

Nach einer ewig langen Anreise machen wir jetzt für die nächsten 5 Wochen Neuseeland unsicher und suchen hier nach Dosen und Abenteuern. Zuerst auf der Südinsel und danach noch auf der Nordinsel. Und da wir einmal hier unten sind, gibt es auch noch nen Abstecher nach Fiji.

Heutige Etappe: in den Catlines

Zur Dose:
Früh am Morgen waren wir hier ganz alleine. Toller Spot.

Danke für's Legen und Herführen sagt Bison1.0.

During our holiday in New Zealand we also visited Dunedin and the Catlins. Dunedin is the Mekka for Geocachers. What a lot of caches are here. Our main goal are some caches from 2000 we found tree of them. The Catlins is beautifull we enjoyed it very much. Our next stop is Invercargill the last stop before Te Aanau.




CrystalFairy hartelijk dank voor het leggen en onderhouden van deze cache.

Groetjes,
Team Geo Meijer
(We loggen vaak met TGM)

Dit was onze: 6464 gevonden cache

My wife and I spent four days in the Catlins. Today we visited Jacks Blowhole. We enjoyed the short hike to the cache. The hole is impressive. There was a lot of agitation at the bottom of the hole, and a lot of noise. I had difficulties to take good pictures without taking too much risk. Thanks for this spectacular earthcache!

Quick find on a very nice place. Answers sent...

TFTC, Zynikus

Waitangi long weekend revisiting the Catlins. This 'earthcache' certainly provided a different educational experience. Answers sent.

During our Sabbatical trip we made our way down to the Catlins as well. I found this one beside a nice trip today the 24.01.2017 It was another nice experience this time!

Many thanks CrystalFairy, moin moin, and best regards sends Dr. Dose...

The equipment providing the measurements on the sign and our Magellan appear to live in different universes. Our track along the blowhole, i.e. 2x length and 2x width came to roughly half the circumference implied by the sign! TFTC

Been here years ago. The clouds were fantastic today. Did the walk around and worked out data. Arrived not on full tide but the waves were coming in. Lots of people here today taking photos. Answers to be emailed later today. Tftc

Loved this , nature at its best. Track was a bit slippery.

I really enjoyed being up here. I seized the chance when it was clouded and rainy so i was almost on my own but worth every step. Thanks.

Holidaying in the Catlins and checking out the area. An awesome spot...all the more so for seeing Royal Spoonbills feeding on the madflats as we drove in. Not stormy enough for dramatic effects but some good swirls, crashing and booming coming from the caverns. A rather hot walk...thankful for the entrepreneurial young ladies selling cold cans of drink at the trail head! LOL....

My mission is my first 3 day tramp on Stewart Island. The Seagnoid has Xmas off so we are off on an epic adventure with Zara around the South Island. The Seagnoid is navigator and scribe, Zara and I have teamed up and Im cache logger. We leave Alexandra, getting to the Catlins today.
Had to stop here and check out this amazing place. The weather is calm today so Jack is not performing but enjoyed the walk anyway. Cheers

TaybeeDragon and I are off for a three day walk on Stewart Island. But we have a camper, so once you add in getting there and back, it's a three week trip. Day 8: Alexandra to Catlins.

It's amazing just how many geocaches we just walked past. But we are specifically targeting rare types and earth caches. Earthcaches are always somewhere amazing - like this one. Didn't even know about the traditional nearby, we just came up to see the awesome blowhole.

Many thanks for showing it to us, CrystalFairy, and many thanks for turning off the rain just as we got out of the camperbus to start the walk here.

Never been here before and luckily the attraction was open after lambing on a bootiful day in the Catlins! so no having to petition another farmer to walk the tracks. Tracked my walk at 222 metric metres, though the DOC sign suspiciously leaned towards an imperial averaged cant. meh. as my dimensions were a bit off. Don't trifle much with water or heights, so captured my 'trackable' in the honour shot though the sea was a bit tame today, purrty sure there's some water in the frame somewhere?!? Thanks for leading me here, though on passing a few people and chatting away, agreed that the walk there took much longer! Returned to put the rescued [archived cache](https://coord.info/GC3GA0C) back in it's place (after being discovered a short time ago and I plucked it from the swimming pool it was hidden in).

We did a trip around the Catlins, looking at interesting things. Seemed to bump into the same muggles at various sites. Loved the blowhole.

Logged: 21/10/2016
5 of 5 found today

Nice hike up to the blowhole. Not impressed though even if it's this far inland. We did get to see a beautiful bird up close near the viewing platform.
Answers are sent, picture to follow.


Another day of our tour in New Zealand.
Sunny and feeling warm the whole day.
Greetings from Belgium
TFTC CrystalFairy
this was found 6986

Bruceyboy and I where staying in the area on a short honeymoon trip and this was one of places we visited. We really enjoyed the differing views of the coastal farm land and also along the coast line particularly the one from the top of the climb over the cliff edge. We circumnavigated the blowhole and figured out the correct information (hopefully... and sent require information to CO). It was quite mesmerising watching the surge in and out of the blowhole. Such amazing geological feature. Thanks for the EC

Wow! The walk in today was quite an adventure & as spectacular as the blowhole. Awesome all around!!! Huge seas & blustery polar blast with high tide made incredible viewing. TFTEC!
Oh, PS; it seems the track has been improved, well fenced off & lambing season no longer affects access

Ninalila and I took a day of to visit Jacks Blowhole and everything around.
When we arrived, the night was coming so we hurry to the viewpoint but sadly it was already dark enough so we coul not see perfectly the hole.
Anyway, we arrived for the high tide so we enjoy some waves coming inside and making lot of noise.
The walk was really muddy and slippery but no of us fell down

Thank you very much for the Earthcache

fefe.adrien and I went there at the sunset in order to be there at the high tide, the walking track was quite muddy and slippery but we enjoyed a lot the roaring movement of waves in this big blowhole.
On the way to return to the car, we eard some yellow eyed penguins screaming on the beach below the cliff. Peacefull place for them there, no one can disturb them in this little bay.

Thank you for the discovery !

Placeholder.

Long weekend and time for KJR to head down to the Catlins for another geocaching adventure. Day 2 and a lovely sunny (but fresh) winters day. Perfect for a wee walk (our second time this year) to Jacks Blowhole. Our timing with the tide was much better this time and a very impressive swell. Lovely views and very deserving of a favourite for us. TFTC

We enjoyed the walk to the blowhole and back TFTC

I checked when high tide would occur this morning so I could experience the full effect of the blowhole. I actually arrived 45 minutes late but it was still an awesome sight when the swells burst through the narrow entrance.

Thanks for bringing me here.

Cheers for the cache.

wonderful place, with high tide it was realy magical, thanks for showing me, tftc