CARDINAL MARKS (Otago) Aramoana, South Island, New Zealand
By ROOKIWI on 13-Jun-12. Waypoint GC3NFA4

A nice long stroll out here today, beauty weather and quite a nice change from the rain over the last few days. Spent a good 10 minutes hunting around the place until doh, there it was. Nice work! Cheers

First cache for the day. Saw a sea lion swimming and disturbed a group of terns near the cache. This brought back memories of when I was here about 15 years ago as a student, we went swimming then but not today. Tftc!

Up early to make the most of a beautiful day..Time to explore and see were we end up .First up some of the D/T series. And now some of the albatross. This was a nice bonus to the trip On our way to Arowmowana Love this one nice quick find Thank to the co This was one of our targets for to day let's goo and have so.e funnn Up for the Dunedin Toroa meg and a whole lot of czching fun, time to explore and meet new friends. With Annielin and Abbykitt and mrshazzer and TDRONSFIELD, wombat4, MrandMrsFraggle. Grab this one on the way past ????????????????????????????Getting out and about in to the out doors is my happy place so any excuse to go caching. As if I need an excuse aahhh nop I will go rain hail or snow , theres no hill to high or valley to low , so let's goooo and have as much fun and adventures as possible tomorrow may never come and we never know what tomorrow may hold for us all just do it ????????????????????????????Life is short. Live life one foot step at a time.Never say" I'm gonna "- Just do it!! Tomorrow may never come just grab Life by the horns , lets just go for it .Thanks for the hide ??tftc

Found with Southern Raiders team thank for the cache ROOKIWI

Out and about enjoying the gems of our country Here enjoying our first ever Mega, in Dunedin. Meeting lots of people, some are familiar, most are not Getting out and discovering new places and putting more smilies on my map with AnnieLin, AbbyKitt, MrsHazzer, DownSouthInv, wombats4, KNCN, and Tdronsfield aka Southern Raiders Team (SRT)

Up from the South to the Geo Toroa Mega long weekend extravaganza! The Friday a big caching day for our group..the Southern Raiders Team (SRT). With the weather looking ominous for the Saturday BUT good for catching up with friends and fellow cachers met over in Australian Megas for the opening day. So much fun today bumping into likewise happy cachers. Generic logs but behind them a much appreciated thankyou to the COs and peeps involved in the weekend of fun

Up for the mega weekend. Had a lovely walk out to find this cache. Saw a couple of seals playing in water & one lounging on the rocks. Signed log as SRT southern raiders team. TFTC

In Dunedin for the Geo Toroa Mega Weekend with AbbyKitt,MrsHazzer, MrandMrsFraggle & Downsouthinv. Great day to get out,meet a gazillion of like minded people and see more of our country. Very cool to gather this one up,saw a local sunbathing unashamedly! Yup, left well aloneSouthern Raiders Team or SRT

In Dunedin for the mega event for the weekend. A nice walk to the gz. Nice to see the ocean . Found with annielin, Mrs hazzer, mrs&mrfraggle, wombats, KNCN and downsouthinv as southern raiders term. Tftc

I spent the day in the Port Chalmers area with my local muggle friend. We also went to Aramoana. I waited until the rain stopped and headed out along the Mole with only a couple coming back, I then had the place to myself. While in the car, I worked out the hint so I had a good idea where to look and it didnt take long to find the cache. I easily extracted the cache, signed the log and replaced. I saw a sea lion further along and then enjoyed my walk back. Fp. Tftc

Took the long walk there and back, took way longer than it should have to find this..

Found it on a lovely sunny day

Awesome cache in an awesome place, quick find after deciphering the code ! Opening it was another story !

EatYourHeartOut had a I found it ahh moment. Honoured to be a part of this elite club.

What a cache for no. 100. Thanks heaps! awesome hide and very genius. I feel very privileged to be a part of the group that have found this - William Saw some cute seals as well as the boy coming in.

Awesome wee cache, ended up deciphering the clue out there - very useful!TFTC, it's in great condition

Tftc. An interesting place. Wildlife was awesome. Clever hide

No luck today, in the right spot with the hint under the watchful eye of a large seal further down the mole. Will have to try again.

Visited Dunedin for a week long motorcycle holiday with GeoKid 4. The weather was largely rubbish, it was super cold, damp, and meh. It also turns out that I was suffering the early stages of whooping cough ?????????? Ended up really quite sick for a number of months, and only just now (October) realized I had missed logging this one. Cache signed as GNARwhal at the time, have since had a change of identity ?? TFTC ?? ?? ??

Trouve ! / Found it ! Avec les deux prcdents DNF, je suis aller voir cette bote sans grand espoirs mais finalement je l'ai trouve bien au sec, et facilement accessible. Un beau camouflage 4853me cache trouve.Merci ROOKIWI pour la cache With the two previous DNFs, I went to see this box without much hope but ultimately I found it very dry, and easily accessible. A beautiful camouflage 4853th cache found.Thank you ROOKIWI for the cache

Buddy was blocking the way, maybe another time

I could not locate the cardinal today after a fairly significant search. Ventured down the rocks a few times but no luck - will return after some further investigation.

Great cache! At the second attempt we were successful. Unfortunately missed a pencil, therefore took a picture from the log!Thank you so much - greetings from Germany!!!

Found without hint. Great hide. Thanks.

Trouvée rapidement
Ouverture plus difficile
MPLC

If my school boy French is correct this log means "FOUND QUICKLY. MORE DIFFICULT TO OPEN.?" Which is strange as we just did maintenance and thought we didn't overtighten the lid?

New log installed and O ring replaced to try to keep the log dry. We noticed that the original site for His Emminence Cardinal Marks has finally succumbed to the fury of the sea. The concrete foundation block is lying at a forlorn angle among the tetrapods and a new concrete foundation block has been built on firmer ground. (A comparison of the old and new positions from the Nautical Almanac shows it has been relocated 167 meters West and 111 meters South) The steel light tower is also taller and larger in diameter.

Excellent spot! GPS and clue were needed but a great hide!
Log is wet and falling apart though so could do with repair

This geocacher reported that the logbook is full.

Beautiful place.The cache troubled us a bit and hid, but eventually Péťa discovered it.Very nicely hidden. I sendGreetings from the Czech Republic and Thanks For This Cache.
Díky za keš.
15:53
Moje 4950

We really enjoyed our walk out along the mole towards gz. The cache was being closely guarded by a seal today, so we were I’ll come back another time and look for this one.

We enjoyed our walk along the mole, spotting penguins, other bird life and seals all from a distance. On the way back, found GZ and after a bit of a hunt the well concealed cache. During all this, a seal swam slowly past, foraging for food as he went - awesome. TFTC

Looked at the map and thought it might be quiet out all the way out here, so brought GeohoundandI along for a bit of a cache. I know there are a lot of cachers who don't want to log DNF, but today I am happy to DNF this cache.
After being distracted by a penguin in the water we were then completely distracted by all of the seals swimming around, lounging on the rocks and sunning themselves on the top of the Mole. we finally set off back to the car and thought we'd have a look for the cache. According to my phone this guy was sat about 5m from GZ so we decided may be we'd come back another time.

TFTC. Nice hiding place.

Did a bit of scrambling around but couldn't find it

Yahoo - we came here the other day but didn’t have time to look as needed to be back in Dunedin for a BMX event. So good to be back and discover more seals as well as watch the albatross over at the sanctuary. We were fortunate to quickly discover the cache - awesome container and awesome spot. Thank you .

TFTC!! Took flippin ages to find but got there in a moment of epiphany, after previously finding the spot and not being able to open it!!

Second time looking for this and finally looked in the right place
Tftc

Finally fount it 2nd time round great hiding place

Great hide

Visiting from Wellington for a son's graduation. Out for a caching and sigjtseeing drive up to the end of the Aramoana road and this was too tempting not to try this little adventure. Saw a seal just past gz so got lucky there. Searched gz while my wife worked with the hint which gave the final clue needed to look in the right spot and ah ha! Yay. Walking back was interesting as there was a seal next to the seat at the start of the track. Was it there when we went past? Ummm. TFTC

In the area getting some caches for a challenge. This was a target cache. No sea lions. It was cold and winy. All good with the cache. Thanks

Awesome find, great hide, spectacular place. Tftc

Wow, what a great way to hide a cache in a coastal location. The log was completely dry still.

Tftc wonderful walk

Clambered about and located. I just missed a big ship entering. I was along the beach as it was coming ion.

Great location

Yes!!!

Passed by here last night, but the waves were nuts so I didn’t feel like searching much away from the safe middle of the mole.

But came back this morning and had a look, it certainly wasn’t in the first place I looked, but as soon as I saw it, it made total sense!

Great cache in a great spot!

Thanks!

Fun friday" mission with KJR..after a nice fush and chups lunch we headed down the road to aramoana ..
Made it to the end of the road and nearly the end of the mole...this was so nearly a dnf ...spent a good while searching on our way out with nothing to show for it..decided to have another go on our return which turned out to be very successful sneaky wee hide..gets a fav

Image deleted from nzaye's log as it was a total "spoiler". Cheers rookiwi

Like the cache. Beautiful location with a few NZ fur seals on the rocks.

Came for a long weekend to visit my brother and came out to Aramoana after a big brunch. It took a minute to find but we got there! Tftc

November is a busy month in most people's lives, second only to December I suspect. Teachers are very busy at this time as we begin assessing and writing school reports.

This probably explains why we have so many dot days in November and December! So the mission this year is to beat the COVID blues and the report writing mania by taking time out to fill dot days in the evenings.

Forecast rain came to nothing today. Instead there we had an overcast, mild day for a walk down the mole. Easy find after looking in the wrong place initially and ending up covered in guano! Oh well, Bagged the cache and ticked off another dot day so all good.

TFTC

Find count: 2370

Unfortunately forgot to decypher the hint before leaving home, and so had to bare the elements on a very wet and cold day for longer than we would have liked. Thankfully none of the resident sea lions were around so we made it to the end of the mole!

Had a friend nearby (about 30m) that I was weary of - that I didn’t want to disturb. I had come out on a wet day thinking there wouldn’t be many muggles. There weren’t many but it was too slippery to search properly and I would want to bring gloves next time with all the bird poo! Will come back for a better search

No poos at GZ!!

No find here for us today, we didn't have the hint decoded so was tough. enjoyed the walk out to location though.

Hard to find. But nice walk down the mile

Wow. Loved this one. Very glad I had deciphered the hint before I headed out, as it certainly narrowed things down for me. Found the general location soon enough but it wasn't until I thought about what looked a little different to the rest that I managed to locate it. Vaseline working well, as I was able to open cache and sign log with no trouble at all. Unusually, there was a Fiordland Crested Penguin on the other side of the mole today (it must have taken a wrong turn somewhere), so took a few pics from a distance. A fav vote from me. TFTC.

Tried to get to this one today but a sea lion was sunbathing & in our way! Decided to walk away & leave it for another day

We were blocked!

Dnf

After the previous log we thought it might be time to go down and check things out. We had forgotten that due to the hostile environment we had installed a waterproof log albeit a little damp. And the cache description DOES SAY a pen is required. One of the few days where we were quite comfortable in T shirts and shorts. Gorgeous. Although there was plenty of room on the old log it has been replaced with a new one. Also we have installed an 'O' ring and a little vaseline to the thread. But as NASA knows full well you cannot trust those damned 'O' rings !! A ubiquitous cruise liner and its attendant pilot launch came out en route to Napier.

Found it but didn’t have a pen and the paper in it was wet

#13 of 366 (goal for 2020)
On a windy cloudy day we found this cache. First time on high terrain rate! Thanks Cami211996!!!

Never have I ever done a cache with such a high difficulty rating! After almost calling it quits did one more sweep and found it! Great find on a cloudy day with smiley568
#13 of 2020

First find of 2020!

Should have checked hint before I set off. Will be back when have decoded it.

TFTC finally found this time quickly, was not too tight great spot plenty of seals and fishermen round today. Last time I spent 30 mins looking so very pleased to have a smiley

No luck today.

A few seals and plenty of seagulls but not cache today

Next time.......

I was giving up by this time on our caching hunt in Aramoana. Well done to Trailrunner01 who persevered. We were initially looking on the wrong side. Lovely day on the beach

Took forever to find! Started looking on the wrong side of the Mole, then became distracted by seals in the water and climbing onto the Mole. A privilege to see them up close. Then hunted all over GZ, passing the cache several times before recognising it! Felt a wee bit foolish... TFTC - don't get such devious caches every day! Found with jecissica01

For my personal challenge of working towards getting my calendar on GC.COM to be at least the same shade of green or darker I need to sign off at least 8 caches today. I won't grumble if I find one or two more. I Had parked my snail shell up at the Showgrounds in Mosgiel and wanted to visit the harbour entrance.

There were a couple of seals feeding in the water besides the rocks of the mole about halfway along. Within 4 m of the GZ there was a sealion lying on top of the mole watching me and all the passers-by.

Cheers for the cache.

We are on our summer holiday driving around the South Island with no real idea of where we will end up each day. We are often drawn to an area that has the potential to give us a few geocaching smilies and somewhere we have not spent time exploring before. In some cases we are revisiting placed that we have been before but liked so much we are going there again.
While in Dunedin we were mostly searching for the old caches that fill a gap on our date placed grid and some Challenge caches that fill a gap on our D/T grid.
This one looked interesting, so we decided to go and have a look for it.
It was a fairly wetting experience to search for this one but after a short time I spotted it, signed the log and returned it as it was found it. Enjoyed reading the history of the place.
Thanks for placing the cache and thank you for the smiley

Tftc

What a topsy turvy caching day. After struggling more than I should with a difficulty 1 didn't think we stood a chance here but delighted to say we found it! We had done some research after an initial visit last year, geobubs was far too little then to take off roading. We had decoded the hint and scoured the previous logs, and so headed down to see if we could pick up any more clues. Tried out a few ideas - one of which worked. The log was wet, we made a mark but it wouldn't be decipherable as us so have I a photo if proof required. A favourite point from us and logging as part of ramblers reward. TFTC #257

Found with nomunomad. TFTC

We were heading out to attempt this cache but got foiled by a muggle fur seal lying on the top of the mole. With no way to get past leaving 10m between us and the seal we had to admit an early defeat with this one. Not sure when we'll get another chance, heading home to Christchurch tomorrow. We were excited to see a little blue penguin though.

Decifered the clue, but a seal was asleep there today!

??

Have lived in Dunedin all my life and this was the first time I have been here. Walked all the way to the end for a photo and then turned our attention to the cache. I deciphered the hint and had a quick look but will have to come back with better footwear.

Nice find with Abz!

With Hevic away and me desperately needing a walk, I decided to hangout in Aramoana today. I got a little more than I bargained for later on in the day's hunt, but I was nice and dry for this leg of the journey. Hevic and I had failed at this cache some time ago but I was determined to try again today, and try I did - with success. Though I did have to out-wait some muggles - the clever disguise of "I'm sitting down and appreciating the awesome power of nature" seemed to work nicely. A nifty little hide, cheers!

Fabulous cache, mum looked at one end, I looked at the other. She found the cache reasonably quickly! Very clever!

Also.... (see photos)

I was a bit worried when I saw the D/T rating and the DTFs, but it was quiet and I needed a walk, so I decided to take a stroll on the Mole. There wasn't a muggle in sight, just a couple of lounging seals. I found GZ and thought I'd better read the hint. I'm glad I did, it changed my strategy completely. I headed down and did a quick scan for seals - they're so good at hiding! Luckily there were none in sight and I quickly found the cache. Great hide! The log book was wet and the logs have washed off. I dried it out as best I could and made my mark. Tftc.

Found this easier than I expected to. Saw a penguin diving for food and hubby almost had a code brown after unknowingly walking straight past a seal who reared up and barked at him, funniest thing I've seen for ages. TFTC

Found quickly with Searchwisely. Glad she had a great laugh... a perfect day for those fishing.

Called down on a lovely afternoon with some tools and freed up threaded lid. It sure was tightened way too tight by the last person who opened it.

Came across this area by accident, after deciding to go for a drive out of Dunedin and picked a random spot on the coast.

Manage to time it between muggles, but initially searched the wrong side. Referred to other logs which gave me the hint of where to look. Once in the right area it was a quick find. However like others I couldn't get it open, even with my 'manly' strength. I'll log it as a find even though I didn't sign the log. Took a photo of the cache if the CO wants proof. TFTC.

16:18
FITW GreenMenace
A tricky one. But despite all the DNFs, I got it, and it is still there!
A seal gave me a pretty good fright on the way to GZ. I was just walking on, minding my Garmin and not looking around too much when suddenly there was a movement right next to me. A seal! Masters of sneaky, these ones!
It was not too close to GZ nor directly in the way so we could proceed to coords to look for the cache.

After a bit of snooping around, I found the right approach - got to be low enough!
Fingers had become quite numb in the cold wind after the search and then I still had to open the cache somehow. I mustered all my strength in the finger-grip and the cache lid gave in. A bit wet inside but luckily the paper is waterproof.
Putting the lid back on, I accidentally dropped it in the rocks below. Looked like all was lost at first but after moving some rocks around I managed to rescue it - phew! [8)]

TFTC!
#6058

dnf

Nice walk. Spotted 4 seals but no cache.

Couldn’t find it when looking. For ten minutes. Unfortunately had to be stopped because of timing.

Visited cache on 4/3/18 to check it out. Cache parts screwed together a little too tightly by a previous finder (presumably). CO managed to open it but he has a fairly strong grip. Otherwise cache in good order considering the hostile environment.

I’m sure I found it but can’t open it I have a photo if you want to see.

Saw a beauty spot or two for the hide and figured we were on the right track but came up empty handed. You win this round, ocean. To failures and forwinds!

Spotted this one when scoping out our trip and given the number of FPs we thought we needed to check it out, found the general area no problem and got to searching. After a 5 min search we had a rethink and sure enough SJT_NZ spotted the clever hide, TFTC

This one took TregearP and me a few moments. Attention to detail played off and soon had the cache in hand. Very nicely done to ensure a good environment proof cache in a difficult environment. Muggled by a seal who was doing spirals and flips celebrating our find.

All in good order & thanks for the cache.

CelloJoss and I had a good 20+ minute look but without any success today. Hope to come back someday and have another go, as this is a fantastic area.

Headed to Aramoana for a Sunday drive. We left the rain in town and it was nice and sunny here but a little windy. Arrived at GZ, took a seat and K and J started to decipher the hint. We hadn't even begun when R clambered back with cache in hand! Very clever hide. Once safely replaced we carried on to the end to where a fisherman was having a great time and caught two fish while we watched. There was a seal nearby but he was not interested in what was going on around so we hurried past as not to disturb him. A fun outing on a lovely summer afternoon TFTC