Birch Hill (North Canterbury) Glentui, South Island, New Zealand
By oldtwist on 01-May-12. Waypoint GC3JYD3

Found - Mrs McMike2012 & I live full-time in our caravan travelling around NZ, visiting the places we want to visit & doing the things we want to do and fitting in a bit of Geocaching here & there we had been staying in Christchurch but have now moved inland towards Oxford we needed to get three caches today to help towards a Challenge we are walking on we had driven into Mt Thomas, knowing that some of the tracks are closed due to slips managed to walk part of 3 different tracks to give ourselves a good loop circuit and picked up some caches as well we called into the Birch Hill Cemetery on the way back to where were staying what a lovely place this is cache was an easy find, log-book signed & cache returned as found were also pleased to add another 'smiley face' to the tally TFTC ... TN:LN:LS this was #6,477 for us!

Found with Sally on a sunny day lovely spot for memorial. Took a bit of finding last log helped tftc.

A great memorial to those that died in the Great War from this area

TFTC. found with andyfreya. I read previous logs and found it. On left of wall, behind. Cache all good.

To the left, not the right like suggested by GPS

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Today, I set off early to explore the Mt Thomas tracks (or some of them at least). I had planned to head all the way top Bob's Biv but the weather was against me and my more rugged tramping gear is in storage at the moment. I went up the Wooded Gully track and once I got up to the ridge, I found that it wsa just too cold and wet for me to continue on to the hut, so I looped back down via the Ridge Track. This was one final cache for me to find today before I headed 'home'. Thanks to Tufty for the updated hint. Found as per his log. TFTC, Biggles.

Fantastic spot. Great history. A surprise to find while visiting Great Grandparents grave.

Enjoyed the location of this cache. Worth a fav point

Time to visit Oxford and its environs locating and signing off caches.

The hint does not apply anymore. It should read "on the left behind the wall." My coords for the cache are S 43 12.907 E 172 19.910.

Cheers for the cache.

Yehaa

What a beautiful place to have a cemetery.
Quick easy find
Thank you for bringing us here

Beautiful setting. Thanks

A very interesting place.
Found the cache to the LEFT, about 20m from where my GPS thought I should be.

Visiting from Nelson for a few days of caching with Karmzjay. Today was a cruise around the wider Oxford-Ashley area.

A Large group assembled at the cemetery for some Boxing day get together, fortunately nowhere near the cache; TFTC

Maintained 1.8.21.
You can now drive down to the gate.
Enjoy

The hint is now

"Behind"

What a lovely, well cared for cemetery! We enjoyed reading the information boards and plaques here. Finding the geocache proved a bit problematic - I was following my GPS and also the hint but having no luck at all. Junior cacher decided to ignore both and just have a look around for it in a different spot, and he made the find luckily. TFTC and thanks for bringing us here - a nice detour and very fitting place to visit on Anzac Day!

In Canterbury for a long overdue visit to family. Had a lovely lunch in Oxford, then headed out to get this cache. What a beautiful site, really pleased we came here. TFTC

Spent the weekend in Glentui doing another search and rescue course...
Finished early so plenty of time to grab a few more in the area before putting my feet up for the day...
Wasnt expecting that, was able to drive down to the very impressive gate way..
Guess there's 2 ways to interpret the hint ...I got it on my 2and go ..tftc

Such a beautiful place to visit
TFTC

What a beautiful place to find. TFTC

Our last day before we head home so headed out in the car to grab anything we came across. We had 29 finds and 2 dnf's so not too bad a day. Most of our finds were nice and quick and caches need no attention. Anything extra I will detail below. Thanks to all CO's for their caches.

What a lovely cemetary. Luckily Andy had hits wits about him and sorted left from right. tftc

A great place to discover on ANZAC Day - the log was wet - so haven’t logged a note today.

Lovely cemetery to visit. Heading out, I had to wait for a flock of sheep to be taken to a different paddock, and had a good chat with the lady who owns the land. TFTC!!

What an interesting place, well done on finding it. An interesting read about the horses too. Cheers

Cache was a quick find by Girl Power team of Busy Paws, Coconuts3, Jude_E and lytteltonwitch. What a fantastic wee place if you can call a cemetery fantastic. I love cemeteries and this one had so much history here.

What a fantastic place, it is beautiful and interesting. Very glad to have done this cache to be shown it. Have logged this as Girl Power which is made up of Busy Paws, Coconuts3, Jude_E and lytteltonwitch. Thank you oldtwist for the cache and finding another beautiful location.

Found with lid off. Water inside. Wrote in book but it's wet. Left waterproof paper. Lovely area to remember the sacrifices made. Serene and beautiful. Thanks for the cache. Signed as girlpower.

What an incredibly interesting place. Will have to return and show MrBP. Nice easy find, however, a bit wet in there and someone didn't put the lid on. we placed some write in the rain paper in the container and signed as girl power - -4 ladies having a great day out caching in "the hood"!! TFTH and taking me there- - - a fav.

I've had this one on my to do list for a some months now as I was intrigued by the cache description. So, today with a gap in the afternoon I said to the kids lets go for a drive and get a cache. Certainly an impressive location that we took our time exploring where we found the cache quickly, stamped the logbook and returned to its hide. The logbook and the contents are a bit soggy...we dried it out as best as could and tightened the lid.



Thanks oldtwist


6678

3:04:00 PM 08/12/2018

We were in Christchurch for a few days to help one of my sisters celebrate a significant birthday. With the celebrations over we were heading for home with the plan of finding a few caches along the way.

Neither of us have been along this road before, so it was great to be able to have a bit of time to explore the area courtesy of the cache owners who have placed caches that enable us to stop and have a look around.

What an unexpected surprise to see this special place. We are so pleased that we came to find this cache and to discover this wonderful cemetery. It is so interesting and well cared for. What a wonderful place for these people to be.
Gk found this one and soon had signed the log and returned it as he had found it.
Thank you for placing the cache and of course thank you for the smilie.

Quick easy find on our way home from lunch in Oxford and a run around at the Ashley Gorge reserve. What an amazing spot, we had a long explore and read. Such and interesting spot as well, thank you for bringing us here. A place we didn't know about and the main reason I love to cache. Thanks for placing and maintaining the cache.

Awesome location for a service person.
Live local and didn't know this was here thank you
Lest we forget

A lot of muggle activity today, but managed to locate and sign without raising suspicion. Beautiful place with a beautiful tribute to our equine comrades.

#15191. This interesting cemetery was well worth a detour! Quick find by Troodles. TFTC.

Found with StreetWalker on a jaunt to Oxford, Ashley Gorge and Glentui, mopping up a few caches in the area.
A wee detour, but well worth it, what a surprise this cemetery was, not at all like the little country cemeteries that we have visited over the years. Cache was a quick find, thanks for bringing me here and TFTC.

What a wonderful and unexpected surprise this cache turned out to be. A very grand entrance, fitting memorial and cemetery set out in a lovely setting and well cared for setting complete with picnic tables. Thank you so much for bringing me here oldtwist - it was quite a highlight. TFTC # 12,088

Found it

Nice n easy. Cool wee place too

A very peaceful place.

Very interesting reading all about the cemetery, good hiding spot.

This is absolutely amazing I have lived close by my whole life and never knew this was here. This is a very special spot

Beautiful location. Haven't been here since I was 10. Thanks.

20/12/2016 1:21:00 PM
7744
A beautiful day, and a baby that needed to be sleeping, so I decided to head off for a drive to try get her off to sleep, and find some caches too. Multi tasking!! - Leaving the house is easier to get her to sleep - either by walking with her or driving, so perfect excuse to give hubby for all my caching now! Haha!

Managed to get 17 in the end - not too bad! Most were pretty easy too! Plus baby had 2 sleeps! A 45 min one, and then slept the whole way home from the last cache, and is still sleeping as I'm doing the logging! Whooo!

Number two. Baby was still awake - so the stroll was good to calm her down.

TFTC!!

Couldn't work it out at first but found it at last in a place we didn't expect! The bird song was amazing and the Cherry's are almost ripe. TFTC!

A lovely day for a drive and found some good spots for caches. Then had to get my daily. This one was stored so being in the middle of nowhere with not data it really was a no brainer. A lovely walk from the roadside led me to a beautiful site. Cache soon located and i took a few moments to have a look around. Thanks for bringing me here.

Didn't expect this. Lovely spot gets a fav from us. Even found a memorial to a few people we knew. Didn't know they were out here Tftc

We have visited a lot of cemeteries for both geocaching and genealogy, and this has to be one of the nicest, and certainly unusual, and with a quick easy find as well. It gets a favourite from us. TFTC

We nearly left this one out- it looked off the track- but we were so glad we went. What an amazing place- highlight of our day. Thanks for bringing us here- a fav from me.

Well this one was a total treat. To find this spot was such a great surprise. Glad we took the time to come in here and would recommend it to everyone.

This is why I love playing this game. Another great place that I would have never found. Thanks for bring me here.

What a great spot. Lovely memorial.

TFTC this was simply amazing .great cache and a most fitting tribute to man and horse of the First World War ,thanks again.

In memory of the horses [?] well, I've never seem anything like that before. A most amazing place to visit however, quite a surprise.

TFTC

Today's road trip started out west of the city, first cache found at Charing Cross, then Darfield, Oxford, Glentui and Loburn, as well as a couple of gorges thrown in there for good measure, and back home just on dark. 4 DNFs for the day, 29 finds. Quick find. May we never forget. TFTC (1539)

Very lovely spot. Loved searching!!

YAy after a heap of dnfs I found this one.

I apologize for the EXTREMELY late log. 5th and last day of our End of Year caching trip. Last night we stayed at furpurse's house in ChCh and today we are heading home via the Travelling Tinkers powertrail. A quick diversion from the main road. We opened the gate and drove down for an easy find. Loved the plaque dedicated to the horses. Thanks for the cache

A lovely quiet wee area tucked away in the hills. Even a smart phone can find it using a bit of nouse.

On a night raid with TG and we wanted to knock off the new caches in the area before we headed out to the Tinkers to do a bit of checking and maintainace. We had an exciting evening, it was balmy out, lots of caches, poked our noses into to some fabulous spots, we were first on scene for a significant accident, thank God the dude walked out the the wreck unscathed. Crazy full moon and home to bed just before midnight.
This was one of the stops along the way. Quick find at GZ. What a fantastic spot. Arrived just as the sun was setting so we got to enjoy this idyllic cemetery. Amazing.

Thanks for the cache.
#2635

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
For info on the next NZ mega, and to register, go to: [url=http://www.nzmega2015.com]nzmega2015[/url]
Visit the cache page and log a 'Will Attend' [url=http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC587BC_nz-mega-christchurch-2015]NZ MEGA CHCH 2015[/url]
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Very surprised to find a large bus and about 6 cars at GZ when we arrived, a historic tour by some locals. TFTC

Been passed this cache several times, and today had time to stop and visit the area. A peaceful place all right. A fav from me.

A day spent around the Oxford and Rangiora areas. Nice and sunny, with a bit of a cool wind.

Thank you very much for the hide.

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| For info on the next NZ mega, go to: [url=http://coord.info/gc587bc]nzmega2015[/Url] |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Walked in from the road. A few sheep and lambs about but all quiet otherwise. Interesting wee spot in the middle of nowhere. TFTC.

MadBearMeg team found this one on a drab drizzly labour day. Cheers for the cache.

BBear, JustMeg and I were puzzled to find so many people here today and not sure what the pink balloons at the entrance meant. We just blended in with folk looking thoughtfully at the graves and war memorial plaques while BBear furtively ducked round and retrieved the cache. Later we discovered there was a garden party tour in the district (marked by pink balloons) and this historic cemetery must have been a recommended side visit. TFTC

I was out for a drive in the country with BBear and MadCat today when we headed here for the cache. We'd hardly seen a soul about when we saw five cars within 400 metres of the entrance. Car rally?? We headed in past another lot of pink balloons (we've seen several sets of those today) and went and investigated GZ. Oh, there were a group of older people there already... just what is going on here? Is there some commemoration that we've stumbled on? We tried to blend in, and it was quite interesting reading the plaques, especially as one commemorated the efforts the horses made in WW One. It's the first time I've seen the horses remembered apart from the film Warhorse. Cache was discreetly found, signed and replaced before we meandered a bit more before making our escape. Certainly a memorable stop here for us today. TFTC

Amazing tucked away area loved it

Interesting to read up about this area. TFTC.

Wow, another of those, "I never would have come here if it weren't for geocaching" moments! Fascinating monument - who would have thought to put that there? TFTC.

TFTC - Note Final Signpost to cemetery on Garry River Road is lying on ground so hard to see! Its approx 100 m BEFORE the neighbours gates.

Quick find in a unusually cemetery. TFTC

Wow in the middle of no where tftc

Peaceful place. Tftc

Who would have thought this was here in the middle of nowhere. Loved the monument. Tftc

Lovely place. Very peaceful. Thanks for bringing us here.

This was the best caching location of all my finds for today. I walked the 500m to GZ and remembered to lock all the gates. It was so peaceful walking by the trees. I arrived at the 2nd gate to find a herd of sheep there and on approach they all ran away. They were so load and almost expected to see an irate farmer appear as the sheep stampeded. I saw GZ. Wow this place is amazing and even more so when I read the history behind this place. Awesome location, thanks for sharing it.

Gorgeous setting, so much meaning and history! TFTC

very easy find. Pretty area.

Came out for a family picnic and wander at Mt Thomas. Stopped in here as Mrs G has a penchant for cemeteries.....parked up on the road and wandered in. What a fantastic spot...just lovely in the morning sun. Cache quick to hand....and then we wandered around the cemetery. JUst great. Later in the day when we got home we got onto the computer and found out the history - makes for great reading.
Thanks for bringing us to this lovely tranquil spot. Cheers.

A "quick" North Canterbury cache raid after work, I thought. It won't take long and there's an FTF to be had at Directional, I thought. Wrong. Four and a half hours, 12 caches AND I was beaten to Directional by Wombles BBT! A fun afternoon was had regardless and I now know of some nice picnic spots and lovely walks to come back for.
TFTC

What a lovely well maintained cemetery. Loved the wildlife sounds and huge wood pigeons. Tftc

Took froggy Tb

Out on a caching tiki tour with SharkieFan. What a fantastic well kept cemetry that had been around since the 1800's - saw fir, wattle, pine, the tallest needle pines I've ever seen and oh yes maybe some birch. Two wood pigeons just behind the cache kept us entertained once the GZ was located. However a first we did struggle to find any lonely rocks lol.

What a peaceful place to rest. Lots of history here. Left trackable "FROGGY FIETS" here but logged in error at Fall'n Glentui Bush. Sorry.

What a surprise to find such a well kept Plot in the middle of nowhere. TFT- reason to visit.

This is an amazing spot and would have no idea of its existenc without geocaching. Like the last find 'Raithly must have an amazing history around the Birch Hill homestead.TFTC

Out for a lovely day walk with the boys up Mt Thomas
Really special place. Love the place. thanks

5128. Out and about in North Canterbury today doing cache maintenance. Found this one while in the area. Drove to the gate because it was raining hard. Thankfully it was an easy find. Lovely and interesting area. Thanks, Rodney.

Notice GZ as l arrived at this lovely place. TFTH

Pleasant walk into here. Blackberry's coming to an end but each of use got a handful.

I went bush wacking to find this one and got scratched wit prickle bushes in a big way but eventualy comon sense prevaled and i drove right to the gate.What a fantastic place that you would never know was there.Thanks for taking us there.TFTC

Nice quick find TFTC
Neat wee cemetery

Found after cutting a load of firewood locally, a very peaceful spot today.Well worth a visit.TFTC

What a fantastic spot. The walk down was so serene. The day was stunning and we had a lovely look at all the headstones. TFTC

What an amazing and beautiful little hidden-away gem of a place! Definitely a highlight of our trip and easily worthy of a favorite point. Many thanks for bringing us here.

Awesome! Found with Jamien. TFTC.

#2323 @0705 (360/366)
I reserved this to fill in a dot day today as I'm staying at the Boys Brigade camp nearby for a Parent and Son camp. Up before the kids for a short drive to an interesting hidden away spot. Cache soon spotted. TFTC.

Two goes to get this one today - first time round the local garden club were out on a jaunt and took their lunch break right beside the cache. Thought I had it to myself and was most surprised to find a large coach parked at the end of the track. Came back on the way home from Mount Richardson.