The Garden's Rock (North Otago) Oamaru, South Island, New Zealand
By hill55 on 06-Jul-14. Waypoint GC589Q1

As Mr j says like in a forest and hint says base of tree

After having a picnic dinner at the park from a famous chicken restaurant, we headed over to GZ to find this cache. We tried looking in many places, but didn't find the cache, we tried calling a PF, but since it was over seven years, he didn't recall the location. Finally, we looked at the pictures from 2017 and got closer to where the cache was hidden. After looking in several more places, we found the tricky cache. TFTC.

out with agazo again today, we took a break from caching for a while, got some food and came here for a picnic, look at the phone knowing theres a lab cache nearby but spot this one, we both tried the paf but with no luck, we decided we wouldn't be like some others and dnf this, we looked at all options and photos and logs, we narrowed it to one area, bingo, ok thats a different game, we found the sneaky little thing, tftc

Woo hoo HAPPY DANCE we finally found the cache. Have had 3 serious goes before and always failed. Today's mission was to change our dnf's in Oamaru. You can't imagine the joy to finally have our hands on this cache. Mrs C gets the honour's here. Thanks for this cache hill55.

Tricky!!!! We cheated since we bumped into another geocacher who felt sorry for us and showed us where it was. Dogs were no help!

NZ_B and I are on a road trip to the Geo Toroa Mega. I'm also hoping to get a multi everyday, so it is now titled the "Mega Multi Road Trip". Today is Day 6 and we have the day in Oamaru. This cache was one on our journey.It took a fair bit of searching and find made by NZ_B in the end. I think we were just about to call time when she uttered those magic words. A fun one to look for while also trying to be discrete. Thank you hill55. It's nice to have a trip where alongside targeted caches we also take time to find one's on a whim or ones that take a bit longer. We have all day and the caches are calling...

This cache took a while to locate. With the hint being repeated on my head, I looked all over the place. We looked at the photos as a previous finder said that had helped them to find the cache. One photo was 10 years old and the other seven and gave us a bit of an idea in which general direction to look. I looked at one more place and found the cache before giving up. And there was the container. Phew. TFTC hill55.And so 7 days after returning home from a five month trip to the UK and Europe, I am off on another trip. This time its within New Zealand as Itchyfeet2020 and I are on our mega road trip to Dunedin. We are focussing on particular caches for various challenges, as well as having a great lot of fun and seeing the scenery in our wonderful land. -LET US HAVE A BLOCK PARTY!!!On May 3rd, 2025, we will be celebrating 25 years of geocaching in Rotorua, New Zealand with a special Block Party event. Join us to celebrate 25 years of this amazing game, and that the very first geocache hidden outside of the United States, 25 years ago, was hidden here in New Zealand.You do not want to miss this event, so check out the "[GCAKR25](https://coord.info/GCAKR25) 25 Years of Geocaching NZ! event page, the [event website](http://25years.geocache.nz/) for more details, join the [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/groups/924894455969387) group, and sign up to the [email list](http://25years.geocache.nz/?p=4) to get updates...If you intend to come, please make sure you get your "Will Attend" log onto the page as soon as you can in order to assist with planning the first ever Block Party in New Zealand.-

We had a look for this one as we were passing, we searched high and low and everywhere in between, but could not find the cache.So, we carried on and did the next stage of the nearby lab cache.As it happened we had to walk past here again so we had another look. Lucky we did as I spotted the cache. Persistence paid off today, we had searched nearly every other nook and cranny. Phew!Thanks for placing this cache and thank you for the smiley

No luck for us today - thanks anyway hill55

Day eight of our epic New Zealand Adventure with The Morris.A traveling day today from Christchurch to Oamaru (with a few caches on the side!)Stopped off here while doing the AdLab in the gardens.Peered at a lot of rocks, but found no cache today.Thanks, Robmc.

Can't find it, coordinates take me to where it looks like it's been washed away with heavy rain recently. Could be wrong though

A well placed and well maintained cache worth visiting, favorite point awarded! Much thanks to the CO for the helpful nudge and aloha from Hawaii.

Looked for this one often with no luck. Today P went for a walk and found it after looking in the correct spot. TFTC

Wandering the gardens, we decided to grab some caches at the same time.Oh my goodness this is a crafty hide! We were looking in all the wrong places until found a photo in a previous log that aided with location. Even then we were still perplexed until.. ah there it is!Thanks

I had stopped here on a previous visit and couldn't locate the cache. Brought muggle Kev to help out as he can usually spot these difficult to find caches. Not today we looked here and looked there. Eventually I found a photo which showed us where we should look and yah found it just as we were both due to give up. Very pleased with this smile Hill55

Tried persistently to find this but no joy maybe didnt try hard enough

Walking around doing the lab cache and we stopped to look for this cache. Even with both Daywalk's looking, I wasn't sure we would find it, but Mr Daywalk came up with the goods. Now home I have enjoyed reading all the other logs and can understand why it is a tricky hide. Well worth a fav point.

Had a look, lots of hint objects. Everything covered with leaves. Took a step back to get some perspective and got wet feet!

Find #7080
Found on March 12, 2023

We are from Abilene, Texas, USA and have come to New Zealand to visit with a friend. We plan on going after different Cache Types while here.

Thank you, hill55 for placing this cache for all to find. We sign log sheets either as Love Cachers or LCers.

Driving over 50 miles to have...
Rusty barbed wire ripping through your clothes...
Curious rattlesnakes that come out of nowhere...
Itchy mosquito bites on every inch of your body...
A 40 mph wind gust blowing sand into your ears, nose and mouth...
Cactus needles getting stuck deep in your hands, arms and legs...
Thorny Mesquite trees scratching you up from head to toe...
Some or all of these things on a hike through 101° heat...
To sign your name or trade a toy...
SOUND LIKE FUN TO YOU?

It does to us, we're geocachers in West Texas! - {Taken from a Greater Abilene Association geocoin.}

I didn find hint 3

This hide proved to be a bit of a challenge and was far from an instant find.
An old photo in the logs narrowed down our search area but by no means gave the game away.
Persistence finally paid off but we were so close to logging a DNF.


T4tC hill55, Civvnr & MissTreadlightly ....(UK)

Find number 10356

There are so many rocks !!!

First time here. Sounds like I could be back many times.

Found with dad. TFTC.

In the cache note section of the page for this cache I have recorded as a note to myself "DNF 22/10/14 and 14/9/15. Will not attempt again." We were catching up with friends from Ashburton today and meeting them more-or-less halfway at the Oamaru Gardens for lunch. So last night I checked the website to see what caches were available at the gardens and saw this one and "Over the Creek", both caches I had DNFed previously. Despite my note not to attempt again (and I could vividly recall searching for ages on the two previous attempts) I thought I would give it another go. Napoleon_Solo and I popped around and spent some time looking and...sure enough...nothing. So we decided to pack it in and go back to the others. As we left we spotted a couple engaging in typical caching behaviour as they approached so I asked whether they were caching. Yes, they were. I wished them luck on this one and told them I had DNFed it previously. Nap Solo and I left but finding ourselves in the vicinity a few minutes later we nipped round to see if they were still there and whether they had had success. They were still there but hadn't found it. An hour or so later we found ourselves, with our friends, just a stone's throw from the cache again while doing the adlab. So I asked our friends whether they wanted to have a quick look for it. Over we went and, within seconds, it was found by one of them. It was a classic "Why have I never seen it previously?" moment. Filling in the log I noticed that it had been found earlier today by CJ Curry and sweetpea (? IIRC). I realised it must have been them earlier. I have met CJ previously, albeit some years ago, but didn't recognise him. So very happy to have finally signed the log for this cache but flummoxed at how a muggle found it so easily (and they had done the same on "Over the Creek" a little earlier). Perhaps it is time I retired? TFTC.

Not quite Sweetpea, U.N.C.L.E. - but a different flower

Out for a day in Oamaru with Sunflowers26 showing her the ropes of geocaching. We DNF'd this one on our first visit, pretty much as U.N.C.L.E. mentioned in his log - came across him and Napoleon_Solo (and also not recalling our meeting some years ago, sorry!) near GZ and hearing stories about how tricky this cache is to find - and decided to move on. We had a few more finds including a nearby Adventure Lab and came back to this spot as part of the Lab. We decided to give it one more go, and looked in the one spot we didn't look at before. Lo and behold - there's a cache. Signed and sealed, both very happy that we'd defeated this mini-nemesis. Cheers!

We started the day in Omaru’s gardens located near our holiday park. The weather was sunny but a fresh wind was blowing.
We were about to give up here, when we recapitulated all available information: taking into account terrain and hint, we finally found the very well hidden box.
Thank you for the cache
NathanS05

Looked at every rock but not find

Replaced container as was missing

Dnf

Like others it took a couple of visits to find this one, love the cache, thanks for hiding it here

Came back for another look with busy paws this morning but had no luck. Park very busy with bus load people nearby so couldn't really try to hard. Should be lucky on our third try one day.

It was a rainy morning so I slept in, had a very late breakfast before wandering into the city to first sign off some puzzle caches and visit a few Ad Lab locations before lunching in town.

Oh dear, not THAT place again. The CO's maintenance check caused my gps's 2xDNF filter to fail. So, I only spent a minute or two before moving off to seek another cache.

Checked Cache. Removed leaves that were hiding it. All good.

Joining the ranks and adding another bluey.

Our third try at this one and nice and quiet here today. Had a good look at what is described and made sense but nothing there. Maybe fourth time will be lucky someday.

Arghhhh needed another clue. Can't believe others found this easy.

YAY! WE FOUND IT, WE FOUND IT, WE FOUND IT AT LAST! What on earth are we going to do next time we have lunch in the beautiful Oamaru Gardens...?

Ok so looking at previous logs it seems that I will have to come back and log multiple DNF's before I find this. This is the first in the series of those logs......

Maybe next time

This was my fourth, maybe fifth visit, although some visits had been somewhat brief. Over time I had satisfied myself that certain areas were clearly free of the beastie. It was a great feeling to nail this. I had my search down to a general area and a paf confirmed what I thought was right and added a little extra helpful information. An annoying little cache that gives you a great lift when finally found. Thanks for the hide.

Finally found it.... First clue doesn't make sense WRT rocks. It's very well camouflaged. TFTC added a screenshot of a more accurate map location.

Looked all around, even checked behind Pedro but had no luck.

In gardens today and a quick check revealed cache in place and all good.

This geocacher reported that the cache might be missing.

Gps not pointing accurately enough

Had a quick look for this while doing the Adventure Lab but didn't find it.

Couldn't quite locate exactly where to look

#19090. At first out search appeared to be heading in the same direction as the previous one. Then I carefully checked all past photos, and that narrowed down the search area. Then I saw something that fitted well with the hint, and there was the cache. Easy! TFTC.

Found with StreetWalkerNZ as we continue our journey homeward. After taking the scenic coastal route, from Waihola to Dunedin, we had fewer stops as we headed north but still time to do a detour for this cache . It was good to have fine weather for the whole day after experiencing a bit of rain down south.
We had DNFed this cache earlier in the year, in winter, when the leaves made searching difficult. Not an instant find today, but SW sniffed it out. Great to turn another blue face into a smile. TFTC.

Again we looked. Again we did not find. Again we departed swearing we will never return. Time to message a few previous finders...

Looked and looked but could not find it

GPS was bouncing around +- 20m so was just too big an area for time.

And its about time i found this one . Afrer my 4th attempt!!!! Now i can rest easy. A nice hide and worthy of a favourite point TFTC

No maintenance needed cache in place. Just hidden by autumn leaves.

updated hint and description

Had no joy, but the weather was pretty awful, I got dirty in a couple of minutes and gave up really. I think it's a clever hide, but it really was wet and horrible today. Next time??!!

This must be clever as was to hard for us. Had no luck other than getting very wet and dirty. Will try again.

Checked on and is in place. Autumn leaves hiding it well.

No luck with this one (apart from finding a painted rock!) despite moving drifts of leaves that were covering everything. We had another go on the way back from our walk, but same result.

Defeatd as much by the fallen leaves as anything else.

Returned to Omaru after 8 years and boy how many more caches!

Made a quick grab here on to the next.

TFTC

Greetings from the UK

Mud and Kim

Another dnf for me.
Can you please check as there is alot of new vegetation growth since i was last here

no luck for us this time

TFTC not easy rocks everywhere but persistence pays great spor

Another dnf for me

Post A2O recovery day.

After eating some lunch in the gardens, I figured that I should at least get one Oamaru geocache before I get on the bus, then plane home.


So, I checked the app, and this one was 35 metres away, so, I walked over the bridge, walk along, saw a hole, stuck my hand in and pulled out a cache.

A Fav for this one cos that rarely happens to me, and I love the camouflage.

Thanks for the cache, and thanks NZ for an awesome ride. Now I can plan to come back and get the 4364 caches along the way that I didn't get this time.

Here with keywee tftc

Here with Craypig, thanks for the find.

Nr. 6 today. Searched long, nice hide. TFTC

An extra day to the weekend meant time was available to get out of town and do some caches in Oamaru with Frame Family.

Having spent some time here in January I was keen to find it this time. With four sets of eyes the cache was finally found. Very good hide. Pleased to have this found.

A short search and the sneaky hide was found ...nice placement ...the GPS was a bit out which did hinder me for a while ...thanks Hill55..

After a slow start in Ranfurly this morning we have made it as far as Oamaru. Parked up and looking for a few caches nearby. Took a bit of geosense ti find this as GPS was swinging all over the place. Thanks for the placement hill55

Omg tftc

Tftc

Searched for some time here with Grapea and our partners. Frustratingly we had to walk away from this one.

Clever disguise, this was a challenge!

Looked under all rocks in the area, moving leaves away as much as we could. Under and not in the bamboo... Didn't find anything. Maybe better luck for the next geocacher, as it is confirmed in place...

A quick check confirmed what I had assumed, cache in place but covered by old leaves.

Despite a good look we didn’t find. There’s been some new work done in that spot so we are thinking the original hiding place has been affected?

Had a reasonable look for this cache while on an early morning walk in a very nice park. A challenge for next time. TFTC

Eluded me.. well, nice place to visit anyway! Thanks!

Met up with BCD to do some caching in Oamaru. This one took a bit to locate but definitively there safe and sound. TFTC

Had a good hunt but the Sleuths couldn’t locate. Great spot!

??

No luck for us today, a bit apprehensive about disturbing flora/fauna. Seeing many previous hunters needed help meant we didn't want to damage anything being on the wrong track

had a good look but appears to be missing

Too many muggles kept interrupting my search and the tweezers Bigglesponies saw were nowhere to be seen.[xx(] I'll be back.

Just time to squeeze in a bit more caching before we head home after the Geofest. We spotted a pair of tweezers sitting on the rocks so we took that as a hint of the area in which to search. The cache was a quick find after that. TFTC.

Out grabbing some caches with Di Morgan on Day 2 of the Oamaru Geofest. A few fellow cachers where standing talking nearby, but we still made a quick find.
Thanks hill55 for placing the cache for us to find.
6154

We were out for a wander yesterday and managed to stumble upon GZ and a good find was found
Cheers ?

We completed this cache while in town for the Geofest TFTC

Found it when some others arrived to help. Thanks.

Oamaru
Visiting for the geofest, we cached with Happy Feet 1 during our time here.
We found caches in some amazing places & wonderful scenery today.
Thanks for placing this cache hill55

Checked around here for a while, but came up empty. Hope it's still there.

TFTC. This was a cache hunt commenced with several others before the first event of the OGF.
We decided to halt the hunt and seek a little clarification so we avoided too much walking over the rock beds.
30 min later after the meet and greet we were back with the X he quickly in hand.
Thanks for placing the cache.

Looked for this a couple of years ago without any luck, this time I was pointed to the correct spot by passing Geofest cacher. TFTC

Found just on dark while attending the meet and greet

Thanks

Geofest, what a fantastic and magnificent time we had! And so many excellent caches and laughs. Jess.daphne and I teamed up and signed the logs together as Jeje. Thanks for placing this cache, we had a great time finding it.

Out for a wander after nearby event, stumbled across a group of cachers looking for this cache thought we would join in too
TFTC