Water Tank View (Marlborough) Witherlea, South Island, New Zealand
By bumandworker on 13-Jul-11. Waypoint GC303YF

Over from Nelson for a walk around the Farm Park with my Tuesday walking group.

A short detour on our way down to Quail Stream, and a quick find

Time for a different route up Wither Hills to collect some caches on the western side. Started successfully with 7 finds in a row then 2 DNFs at the top. Had to pick my moment here as lots of muggles out for their after work stroll. Cache all fine. Thanks for the smiley.

Another water tank, Quick find.

TFTC bumandworker

Quick find, still happily tucked away. TFTC

Gorgeous view today. Nicely tucked away. My son was stationed here for a while but hadn't been here before. Tftc

Good find

On the way back down from more Everest Challenge metres we stopped here and I checked and dipped the TBs.

Gotcha!

Found it with gloves on but didn't open or touch it.

After checking the movement of rain clouds, we packed up and decided to head north for a few days' adventure! I had all active geocaches I have not found yet in the South Island loaded on the GPS, but not particular plan as we only decided that morning. We ended up finding quite a few cool caches and had heaps of fun! Finally one along the path, I was starting to think that we have lost it completely! TFTC!!

Thanks to the last finder, had no trouble signing and finding this one. Tftc, great trails here

It's still here, but so close to falling into an old 2 foot deep post hole when retrieving, so replaced it under the stay/brace of the fence line a couple of metres away.

Seems to be missing

Found paperwasps nests but no cache

Next try for a cache with a view. Nice Autobahn, then scrambled up to the seat. Nothing we could find at any landmark along the fence... think this one is also gone. Chatted to a passing family who left a painted rock at the base of the seat. We're enjoying meeting these friendly locals- now if only we could make a closer acquaintance with a friendly cache!

I am not a huge fan of making my way through a bunch of cows, but I did it !!

Morning stroll to continue current geocache streak #TGTC

Before the farm might be closed due to fire risk we thought to have another go at the Wither Hills' caches. This time we thought of bringing suntan lotion The wind was fierce but the cooling effect appreciated. We brought ample water but didn't realise that there are water fountains in strategic places for people to use and stay hydrated. Thank you bumandworker

We are slowly turning green into yellow on the Wither Hills and hoping to get it all converted before the heat of summer arrives coupled with the increased fire risk, especially on the higher reaches in case the park is closed.
This cache was a quick find, helped by the fact it was exposed.
After finding this cache we contemplated hopping over the stile to find one in the Mountain Bike Park but with large notices posted along the route stating the tracks were closed we left it for another day.
Thank you bumandworker.

Last time in Blenheim it was too hot for caches in the Whither Hills, but today it was perfect. Only a light breeze, not too hot and pleasant. No bicycles though, so a bit of exercise to grab a few caches. Thanks for placing them - the coffee was well deserved.

A nice quick find on a lovely walk TFTC

QEF thanks. Lovely warm winter day combined caching and Pokémon.

Easy cache

Great day to do the circuit. Find quickly

Had a few minutes wait here while we waited for 2 ladies to finish their thermos!! Quick find once able!

On a day out caching with three young children between us, we weren't even sure if we'd get this far but to our surprise even Miss 2 managed the walk without a problem. After we waited for two ladies to leave the bench, Annacons made the find quickly. Tftc.

On the homeward stretch now after an awesome circuit. TFTC .

Good day for a walk in the hills today. Plan was to get as high up as possible and stay there as long as possible to get those caches. Ended up being a 5 hour trek that makes Frodos trip to Mordor look like a stroll to the dairy. Ok, maybe not. But we got 13 for the day and some great views. Thanks for the caches to all owners and sorry for the cut and paste- but they were all pretty much where they should be so not much else to report

TFTC

Still fighting with this damned GPS. Pushing all the wrong buttons and going round in circles with it. Just as well I know the general direction I should be going or I would have given up caching by now as too difficult. Easy find and beautiful views now I am here. Thanks for bringing me. Cheers

With only seven days to go to my milestone target deadline and a weekend geocaching trip to the Nelson Lakes National Park which won't produce a lot of caches means tonight I need to get as many caches as I can, so in the company of Kiwimykl we ventured out after work to get as close to the target as possible.

I only have six caches left to find in the Wither Hills Farm Park and this evening I intend to target four of them, this is the third and I don't quite need a torch to find it yet but I will for the last.

A QEF and it is all downhill from here to the fourth.

TFTC B&W There is not much left of that elephant now...

Evening walk with brother to pick up some more caches. A few runners to begin with, then it was just us and the farm animals until it started raining. We cut the caching short and finished vis Sutherland stream. Tftc

Out for a walk in the Wither hills this morning, beautiful clear day with a cool easterly breeze. No trouble with this one today. Great views. TFTC

#1438 Thanks for another South Island smilie. All good at GZ

#689 found with wb1116

Did a hike with friends around Wither Hills. Great view/weather/caches! Cheers!

Another easy find on a lovely spring morning. Might leave the kids behind next time though...
TFTC

Great views from here tftc

#3586

Good views today.

Beautiful hills with nice caches! Most of them easily found!

TFTC lovely days walking with the family. Awesome views!!

Back riding today in another part of the Wither Hills, seeking caches of course. After finding The Change of Nappies cache I kept riding uphill on the MTB tracks picking the tracks that seemed to head in the right direction to this one. Eventually, I rode right past the tanks and was somewhat surprised that the MTB track didn't meet at the tanks. [?] I then read the cache description and noted the attributes. Oh, "NO BIKES"! [xx(][B) So, keeping on the MTB side of the fence, I rode up a sheep track right to GZ and found that the cache was on MY side of the fence. A glorious downhill ride then followed as I zigzagged back down the MTB tracks, passing by the Stockyards cache site, and then onwards to the city. Great ride. I'll sleep well tonight. Thanks for the cache

nice and easy.

#1099

Nice spot for a bite to eat whilst filling out the log - tftc

Thought I'd head up this way early to avoid too many muggles. But alas this Easter monday - everyone had the same thought.
So some stealth was required today - this was a very busy spot with muggles coming from all directions..
TFTC

TFTC. Out for a breath of fresh air with flobberworm! and TheCornishTinMiner. We made a fine team.
Thanks bumandworker for placing the cache.

We made the most of the spectacular weather to wander along a few tracks around here, finding some caches on the way. This one was a speedy find, no muggles around. TFTC

Found it during my trip from south of South Island to north of South Island.
Thanks for this cache!:)
Greetings from Czech

Week three of our training for the Heaphy Track next month and todays walk was a 9 kms plus loop of part of the Wither Hills Farm Park.

The Wither Hills Farm Park is a working sheep and cattle farm covering 1,100 ha, and extends the full length of the southern boundary of the Blenheim urban area, offering a magnificent recreational opportunity for locals and visitors alike. The park boasts an extensive network of walkways and tracks that guide you to a variety of tree-lined valleys and breathtaking hill-top vantage points overlooking Blenheim, Wairau basin and lagoons, and the North Island.

Nine of us, including fellow Geocachers 'GH6710' and 'Capperz' set off with packs and boots in preparation for the 82 kms we will be doing next month.

This was the third of six caches I bagged this morning and the sweat that was fair pouring of us at the last GZ had dried in the howling Marlborough Nor' wester. Once again we caught up with the girls from the 'blue rinse' set who had got ahead of us while we signed the log at the Rotary Lookout. This was the end of the path for them as they were resting before preparing to turn around and retrace their steps... good on them.


Having lived in Blenheim for 37 years, I've been walking these hills since the Farm Park was opened and I never tire of the views that are offered from the various vantage point around the track. Once again, thanks must go to B&W for placing a cache where there is a seat to rest and take in the views while signing the log.


TFTC

had a scout around up here a couple of days ago while out for a walk without my gps didnt find it. but found it no probs with the gps today. nice easy find. tftc

#8983. It was an easy walk form the Rotary lookout, and a quick find. The tree cover of the Gentle Annie Track was well behind us, but there was more breeze along the ridge which cooled us down a bit. TFTC.

Wow, this track is like a 4 lane highway! And it was busy as well with people heading in both directions. As the tanks were easily visible from the Rotary Lookout, we knew exactly how far we'd need to walk and even though it was quite exposed on the ridge, there was a cooling wind and the sun only came out occasionally.
Looks like GZ is popular with sheep, judging from the deposits that have been left behind, but we didn't spot any until we continued up the ridge. Wonder how there is enough grass to feed the flock as the grass looked dry and brown.
Another handy seat for admiring the views and for doing the paperwork. Now onwards and upwards - phew, way up there??? TFTC.

In Blenheim from Canada visiting with my daughter and her family. Only 30C out so we decided to go for a hike and find some caches. Found this with coastalmartinis and FluffyUnicorn02. Absolutely gorgeous views from up here. TFTC

Found with coastalmartinis and eltee291.

Enjoyed this find...quite easy again. Except for the walk. Man, my feet are sore now! TFTC!

Found with eltee291 and FluffyUnicorn02. Nice walk. HOT DAY!!! So glad we took some water up with us. TFTC

Nice day for a WH GC run! TFTC

Another nice hide, CFTC bumandworker

Adding to the caches we found three days ago

Running at Wither Hills Farm Park. Easy find. TFTC!

Cftc

We walked up from "Change of Nappies" cache down in the trees. Enjoyed the off road wander up through the gorse and pine trees with Jono and Gazedn....beautiful warm Spring afternoon in Blenheim, Marlborough. Thanks yet again B&W, you guys are fantastic!

[green] And it starts. The long slog. I borrowed a mountain bike from the base to cycle the Wither Hills, and I didn't realise just how high these hills are. Or how much water I would need. It's about 11am and already I am almost out of water. It's hot and I am sweating like mad. But I got rewarded with some great views!

This area is awesome and dense in geocaches. Tftc.

Found during an enjoyable walk at Wither Hills on a fine, sunny day. Arriving at GZ I was surrounded by a herd of cows who must have hoped I was bringing food. Had to cross a fence to access the cache in peace. Later, walking out from here to Rotary Lookout I got a good look at the recent forest fire damage - sad to see how extensive it is. TFTC.

Found it! Awesome view, great spot for a cache! TFTc

My third find around the wither hills tracks. Nice and quick find here. Enjoyed my little ride this afternoon. Perfect day for it. Plenty of people out walking and biking today. Tracks a little greasy however. Thanks for the cache and the smiley.

Easy find while walking upper quail track. Getting a bit windy, but views are great.

Got a bit sick of the track I was on taking me further and further away so tried a more direct approach which was a lot more successful. TFTC #5677

Find #321 for the BAMMJams - wandered up here from the rotary lookout. A bit windy today, but nothing we couldn't handle. We were watched over by some nosy sheep, but avoided the human muggles. The mini-BammJams chose a red girl to take out and replaced her with a dice. TFTC - the third of 5 caches we found on our walk on the hills this afternoon.

TFTC

Rain clearing on a nice hill walk. Quick find.

Quick find tftc. Great track

Enjoying the morning walk. Doggie walkers have been replaced by "fitness Mum's" out for a quick work out.
TFTC

A great loop walk up and around the Wither Hills, nice cache with a seat for a much needed rest. TFTC.

Thanks

Scorching hot day, great walk, but will do it early morning/late afternoon or winter next time! TFTC

A nice meander up to the tanks - is always a good walk up to here - had to wait for awhile for several groups of walkers and joggers to come and go before we could quickly grab the cache and return it before the next ones came through !!! signed the log - thanks for the excuse to come back up here - days getting hotter so time to move on ( ended up at 28 degrees today !!) thanks for the cache

After a pleasant sit down the hil a bit further was an easy stroll up here, no rush for us today other than to beat the incomming heat. Cache was found quickly but took awhile to complete to muggle central TFTC

Quick find and then back on the bike. TFTC

Very windy up here today, made this the turn around point.

Bit windy,but great veiw.

Following from the nearby Rotary view point some more elevation and yet more great views
Easy find

Very windy, so thankful for help!! Awesome view, great spot thanks

checked...all good....but while there, changed container, added new log in addition to existing paper left by team SoBad.

We give up. Today anyway

Another busy spot on the hills that I used to watch every evening as I washed the dishes as a child. Good to visit memory lane.

Up to this high point - great view dodging the sheepy stuff on the way up the rise ! TFTC !

Any excuse to stop and enjoy the view. Quick find. Thanks from this Canadian!

Tried but did not see it!

Out for a family walk to the triangle, when we decided to extend ourselves a little further. TFTC!

Another find with Fraser-HealsNZ. TFTC.

Nice windy view,
Dodge the cow pats!

Nice windy New Year's Day!!

3rd find on our walk- had to tip-toe around a lo of cow pats along the way!!

This one was frustrating. 5 of us searched for about 15 minutes but no luck. May have to return in the future.

No such luck on this one tonight

Saw a few muggles on the track when we got to this area - doing the track in the reverse direction. The wind was cool in this area so their direction made sense. But we had enjoyed the wander up and the views were great in the direction we were walking so we thought we had the best of it. And then a cache as well. The log was very wet here - we made a mark then also signed some waterproof paper and added it to the container. Thanks.

Here in NZ on a Working Holiday Visa from the United States. Staying in Blenheim at the moment for work. Have the day off so I decided to do some more Caching at Wither Hills. Nice easy cache with a Great View! TFTC

Another cache found in the hills