Hickory Dickory Dock (Canterbury) Hickory Bay, South Island, New Zealand
By Spankymoore on 18-Oct-11. Waypoint GC3661X

Visiting family in Christchurch this week and came out to camp at Pigeon Bay. My son was keen for a surf so we ended up here. I was pleasantly surprised to find there was a nearby cache. No problems finding it and log all good. Beautiful bay and some reasonable waves. Thanks.

I was lucky with this cache as I found it in the 2nd spot I looked. There was a seal on the beach

A hair raising drive to the parking spot and then a bit of a clamber over the rocks to the cache site. Lots of surfers carrying their surf boards and lunch ,braved the walk to the beach through the farm and over the rocks on a sunny day. TFTC

Checked on the cache during a very busy time on the road as a garden tour was on... even helped some folks who had a flat tire. All in order - was just a bit hard to find, even for me!

This was the aim for the day to get the clue for KR. Road in excellent condition and a few surfers were out enjoying themselves. A quick hunt for the cache and success, the cache isn't at the base any more. Cheers

Took a little looking, we left no stone unturned, as it were. What a lovely bay, and the road down, not too challenging. Cheers

A lovely day for a little drive with Kiwi Moose.

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

WE are running around these gravel backroads in banks Peninsular for the day. Its down this road to Hickory Bay. Toby is enjoying his back road travels. Short walk to this tree and the search was on. The Seagnoid checks back logs and we finally locate this elusive one. Lovely Beach but a pity a great pity we humans are soiling this area.

Its Saturday - day three - Little River - Akaroa today. Lets go exploring.

Its Waitangi Day - day one of a five day weekend exploring the amazing Canterbury, with The Seagnoid, Zara, Toby, Jack and Jill. Two days Rangiora, a day in Lyttleton and 2 days in Banks Peninsula. I got call from The Seagnoid, hes taking a long weekend. Lets go to the West Coast! Lets Go!! but maybe not the West Coast - rain on the way. So lets go to Canterbury. We leave for Christchurch Tuesday evening after picking up The Seagnoid after work. We make camp for the night at Amberly. Today its off to Rangiora for a cycle trip.

For some reason I expected this cache container to be a clock, or maybe hidden at a dock. Or maybe mice would feature somehow. But no, it's a nice tree instead. Spent ages on the hunt only to find that the cache had suffered some cache creep. Returned as per the hint, but still not where the toileting was.

Down to Christchurch with Taybeedragon, Zara and Toby for a five day weekend starting Waitangi Day (which this year fell on a Wednesday. I reckon half the country would have been taking 5 day weekends!). A couple of days in Rangiora. We did two cycle trails there - having two vehicles makes it so easy. One of those cycle trails was fifty caches. Fifty caches in one day on a bicycle! Then a day in Lyttelton and couple of days exploring the back roads around Akaroa. Darn close to two hundred caches in all. Dropped off a lot of path tags along the way, especially if the cache was nice and dry.

A long drive down the road, then an 800 metre walk to the cache, so we hoped we would find it. This was looking doubtful after searching for a while as suggested by the hint, so we looked at some logs, and discovered there was a replacement cache in a different location. Even this took a wee while, as it was well buried. It looked like a nice beach, with one family visiting it today. TFTC

Out on a Whacky Wednesday Wander with TG. We've been meaning to get this one for a while now. We had contacted CO and came armed with a replacement. We enjoyed the drive down and the short walk to the beach. What a dramatic spot. We got to work searching at GZ and we were greeted with poo paper! We turned the place upside down. We popped a replacement in the bough of the tree to keep it safe from the poo bombs. We headed home after this! Such a cool spot.

Thanks for the cache Spankymoore.
#5298

Monday and Tuesday evenings didnt suit....soooooo...Wacky Wednesday (night) Walkabout with TheWanglers it was. Headed this way for a successful FTF at the onuku marae.
Hickory Bay and cache has been in our sights for a 'mission' for awhile...and tonight was the night.
Gave gz as thorough search as possible - leaf litter and the fact the surfers seem to use the rock fence as a bit of a toilet (under rocks thankfully) precluded tooooo much poking! A surfer driftwood shelter nearby too.
With CO permission we replaced the cache (now a small camo sistema, logbook only) in the bough of the tree (under plenty of leaf/twig camo).
A fantastic bay deserving of a cache. Drive down and up were fine, a nicely maintained road. TW even photographed a nz native gecko in one of the other nearby trees!
Great spot thanks!

Had a quick look but didn't have any luck like all the other searches last year. A good spot for a cache so it's a pity.

Four sets of caching eyes failed to find cache after a lengthy search. Reluctantly had to give up after having this on my list for a long while.

Four of us looking for this one. Gave up after 1/2 hour. Think we turned over every rock twice ! I hate not finding these caches when you have travelled so far to get it and it is not there. And in the rain !

Looked hard but couldn't find it walked all the way to Le Bons after!

That certainly was a very hairy drive for me who *hates* heights! and then it was a bit of a hike and rock scramble to get to gz (only 2.5* for terrain is a bit mean) - but the reward was was a stunning beach that I had all to myself! The cache was quickly spotted as there was a tiny corner visible. Signed log and left my pathtag and replaced as found.
Took some photos and then it was back up to the car again and That road back to Akaroa again. Thankfully only met one car where the road wasn't too narrow.
Thanks for the cache Spankymoore.

Enjoyed the drive and the views. A couple of surfers were walking back so waited them out and then a quick find. TFTC.

This is the farest cache away from our home town. 18,621 km away, the other end of the world. What an awesome spot. Thanks for showing us.

Greetings from. TeamTka

Thanks for the cache

Nice big open beach with sheer sea cliffs, beautiful spot and a lovely day for it.

The road was in good order but there was no room for any error, se thankfully we were with the Wombles who were a little more used to these kind of highways. What a bay!! Not user friendly with "Can't do this" and "Can't do that" kind of signs. Cache was easily located after a rocky clamber. Thanks.

We were over in Akaroa,for a few days,and teamed up with The Warbuts,for a drive to Hickory Bay.Never been in there before.The road was in good condition,and the walk to the Beach,was very pleasant.3 Surfie's were enjoying their sport,out in the waves.We did a little Rock hop,to GZ,and found it quick enough.We also found the Council Signs quite amusing.On the drive back up,I had to pull over as close to the Bank,as I could,as a Car,was coming down pretty quickly,and not much room,for passing.Thanks for the Trip.TTB Cheers Terry & Barbara.TFTC

#2221
Geocaching with Jykk€. This was nice, beautiful place. Nice little walk. Easy find. Greetings from Finland. TFTC! TB in.

#2411
That road was awful but we made it.
Geocaching with Katjuusa.
Greetings from Finland.
TFTC.

After visiting the Ellangowan Bluffs on this very hot day - temp at the car park 28C - I thought a swim wouldn't go amiss. The surf looked absolutely brilliant from the track down to the cache. - confirmed by the 2 surfers I passed. The cache was quickly signed but the thought of having to twice negotiate all those rocks on my tired legs made the thought go away. So, I reluctantly turned around and trudged my way back to savour instead the cachemobile's air conditioning. I would have so loved that cooling dip.

Certainly today's highlight. Nice drive, nicer walk, nicest beach. TFTC

14:00 Nice quiet beach TFTC

Lovely isolated beach. Drive a bit scary. Took travel bug.

Quick find. Bit of a hairy drive. Glad I came here as would never of otherwise.

With the opportunity to get away for a day and a half, I decided on a caching expedition to Akaroa and the surounding hills. This was find 23 of 39 and the second walk of the day. Drove up and down from Long Bay. Saw some seals on the rocks near the cache. Found the cache straight away. Got hissed at by a seal at the start of the track. I must have almost stood on it without seeing it on my way to the cache. Left "Dolphin" TB, Took "Lets go surfing now" TB. TFTC.

Another nice bay and walk in. No one else around so had the place to ourselves

Saw an eel where the stream meets the sea. Also on route saw a feral cat with you guessed it a mouse of some sort.

GZ and the cache were an easy find. Completed the signing duties and replaced. Dropped off a travel bug

TFTC

This entry was edited by bella at waggy on Saturday, 02 June 2012 at 23:28:41 UTC.

This entry was edited by bella at waggy on Saturday, 02 June 2012 at 23:29:23 UTC.

The destination was worth the walk in. Great beach, bring your towel and togs when you come.

TFTC. Joint 2nd visitor to this cache. Well worth the walk in - only wish I had bought a towel and some togs. A hidden gem. Nice hide location away from the main beach area. Left TB. 1164.

Visited this one at night - made for quite an adventure. TFTC

Wandered down here in the dark - great wee adventure like that. Easy find once at GZ, and even an FTF! Cheers Gav [10215/FTF]

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