Got the Hump?(Fiordland) Rowallan, South Island, New Zealand
By Sandfly tucker on 10-Dec-14. Waypoint GC5ETQ9

Easy find ear the viaduct!Tftc. Log is all good.

Came down the Hump (Ridge), rested by the viaduct and easily found the cache . A tad damp but ok to write on. TFTC!

Walked down a lot of stairs, found an awesome bridge. Tftc!

Log and description paper were weeeet, as was container interior. Dried them with some handy sphagnum moss. Thanks for the cool cache!

Found on day two of the Hump Ridge track. A straight forward find thanks Sandfly tucker, always good when tramping with a group and not getting left behind while searching! With a group of 22 trampers although at this point we were quite dispersed. Fortunate to be enjoying generally good weather and views. Thanks for your placement.

Found while enjoying a beautiful day tramping. A few people around but no one interested in us. TFTC

We do a tramp yearly with Kiwi friends and the Hump Ridge was our chosen one this year. I see that the last geocacher to do it was a fellow Queenslander.
It has been quite an epic, weather wise. We had an hour of torrential rain on the way up on day one but were incredibly lucky that it cleared late in the afternoon for a few hours so we were able to enjoy the views. But today the bad weather returned as well as gale force winds so it was quite scary walking on the exposed boardwalks. I didn’t get blown off but a couple of our friends did, luckily without injury.
No views from the ridge but it did clear by the time we arrived at this cache. I didn’t mind the boardwalks as my 67 year old knees struggled on the steep muddy rooty sections. Quick find with help of the hint. This is my most southerly cache. Tftc

A family was having there lunch. I stopped and had a chat and found the cache. Tftc

Day two of the hump ridge track.

Sadly no views at all from the top at the end of day one, or when i awoke on day two, but i still went up to the top tor circuit to answer some earthcache questions and hope for a cloud clearing... oh well.

The endless boardwalk coming down the mountain did start to grate at some point, so i found conversation with another humper refreshing.

The cache was found surprisingly fast thanks to the helpful explicit hint. It's always entertaining introducing a muggle to this addictive hobby.

For a short while this became my most southerly found cache on the planet.

Thank you so much sandlfy tucker for hiding a cache out here in the middle of nowhere where the people generally don't come... in fact the last time this cache was found was march! Always happy to shower some love on the unloved. This is only the twelfth time i've come across this combination too!
This is or isn't find number 3826.
Despite the rite in the rain paper, i struggled to make a mark, yet persistance won out in the end.

All good here and a fresh dead rat in the trap

2nd day doing the south coast track and my find rate along the way isnt the best..glad this one was a straight forward find..love the walk along the tram way , pig sign for Africa.. tftc

#1174. Day two of the Hump Ridge track and we had been walking in drizzle all morning, which was a shame as we didn't really get to see the great views we were promised. To cheer myself up a bit I tried to find this geocache.

I will be completely honest, I didn't read the text of the cache listing, only the hint. And that meant I spent a lot more time searching for the cache than I needed to as I didn't understand the hint and missed the great big clue in the first paragraph of the listing. And actually, it was another member of our group who spotted the cache from the bridge.

But I still managed to sign it! The log is quite wet and most of the previous entries have worn off the log. I scrawled my name on the log and replaced the cache where it was found.

Thank you very much for the cache!

This was my lunch spot today, my baby toes are sore and it was nice to stop for a while!

Found on 20/07/2021.

A bit of Lockdown updating...

Down on the South Coast for a tramp, collecting caches along the way.

Not Yet...

TFTC Sandfly tucker

After finishing my Te Araroa adventure I decided I need to go for a walk so where to some where flat , ahhhh the hump ridge thats flat .
As it happens I have wanted to walk the hump ridge track for a long time but this time in day light .
I have walked the hump ridge track 4 time as part of the stump the hump , but for me it was more like there was no hump
I was up to Okaka lodge by 3.30 am in the morning and down to Port crag before 7am and out to the finish line by just after 10 am
So I have not seen the first two days of the walk in daylight.
So today is the day I book my spot and grabbed my pack , yes my pack is always ready to go.
As I made my way to tuatapere it was looking like rain but thats why they invented rain coats isn't it
So on with rain coat and away I went. Hopefully the views from the top will be good as it been dark when I was last here , but no such luck visibly was down to about 20 meters so I pushed on to okaka lodge.
Funny thing i walked up to okaka lodge and stayed the night and then down to port craig nabbing this on as I go by . But instead of saying the night i just kept walking and after 40km fir the day I was back at my truck and of home .
Just amazing adventure and love this track .
Port Craig has a lot of interesting history i just love seeing the old relics and the history behind them

Life is short Live one foot step at a time , never say I'm - gonna just do it .

Thanks for the hide

tftc

Cache in good condition.

Found it on a loop walk for the South coast thank you

Day 2 of the Hump Ridge Track, very pleased to be able to take off the pack and have a rest after finding the cache, thanks for placing Sandfly tucker

#10310

Find #: 2,319
Companions: Dokes
Muggles: Yes
Weather: Pleasant summer afternoon
Cache condition: Good

We’ve been hiking the Hump with our uncle, and on the way down decided to find this cache. There were a number of muggles resting at the stop, and they were interested in what we were doing (we weren’t going to wait them out!) I quickly found the right spot despite the number being missing, but searched on the wrong side, and Dokes eventually found the container on the other side. TNLNSL, then we continued on our (muddy) way. Thanks for creating this spot on a fantastic journey.

Found on 2nd day of Humpridge track walk, with fdsawq. Would definitely recommend this hike to anyone!

Passing by so have dried the log, added another page and updated the web page to reflect the PB bridge is now open.

Pencil is missing so you will need one as I was still using the one I had.

TFTC. Easy find on a rather wet and muddy day walking the humpridge. Log is quite wet

Got it despite cache not downloading. Doing the humpridge

Having walked into Port Craig yesterday in the rain we went for a stroll and me up with the fitter lot of our group who were coming down off the Hump Ridge. This is the first time that I had been past Percy Burn. Log sheet is drier than when the last visitor came by.

Found during a 3 day tramp on the Hump Ridge - superb tramp with no tourists as out of season. Track was in excellent condition. Many thanks for the cache. Log very wet and couldn’t write on all of it with pen.

Beautiful windless autumns day in Southland. Walking back to the road end after taking the jet boat down the Wairaurahiri River, a wild ride! TFTC

Found this cache on day 2 of the Humpridge Track. Really enjoyed the walk so far. Challenging, but fun. Beautiful views this morning, followed by lots of mud on the descent. Thanks for placing this cache on the trail.

Could not find the trap until I realised a group of Hump Ridge trampers had it hidden under their lunch bags and associated gear! I knew these people so we talked about geocaching before I did the magician's trick and produced a cache from under their lunch box Not a thing I've done before TFTC

Seemed like a good thing to be finally off the Hump but turned out out the old railway line was harder and longer than we thought. The viaducts here are amazing and hard to believe how they could build them in such a remote area. TFTC

ThanX for the detailed description and history. We like cruising this area via the web.

Tftc. Log was a little wet.

The Hump Ridge track was to be our challenge over the next three days and why not get the geocaches here on the way as well as they are some of the more remote ones to get to. I must say this is more than the normal "great walks" of New Zealand and this goes to the next level with more challenge. Going from sea level to +900M over just a few km's makes for interesting hiking. Day 1 was blowing a gale and basically we were into the clouds with very little to see. Day 2 dawned on us and what a beautiful sight. It was still and calm and we got the most awesome sunrise. Down the hill we went and back out onto the old tram tracks and on to the the Port Craig hut. Day 3 we were pretty tired from the previous two days but luckily it would be a relatively flat day for us with no horror ups or downs. Made it out early in the afternoon for our drive back to Invercargill.

All good with this cache. A good place for a break after a trip down the hill

I flew down South on Monday and was supposed to be hiking the Milford Track right now, however the weather had been terrible and DOC had to close the track - that left me with a few days spare and nothing to do!! So I had a chat to DOC about my options and eventually I settled on doing the Hump Ridge Track instead and within a couple of hours I was on a shuttle down to Tuatapere to stay the night! The Hump Ridge Track was certainly a challenging 3 day hike, with the weather a bit of a mixed bag, but overall the scenery and experience was great! I stopped to look for this cache on my 2nd day and despite problems with my GPS batteries failing and the GPS unit refusing to start up most of the time, I still managed to quickly locate this cache under the watchful eye of a couple of Robins, then sign the log. This was a good spot to stop for lunch also. TFTC - favourite point added for the viaduct!

Yeah.... i made it down here, this is just great. Especially with the viaducts. Thanks for maintaining the cache out here.

found with timgrin on tramping camp

Nice quick find whilst tramping with the 2016 CYC Waihola Tramping Camp. Nice spot for a breather.

TFTF TNLNSL

[Find #654]

A training trip for the Godzone adventure race. Walked in from the road last night, then went up the Hump Track to Okaka Hut, north along the exposed tops and down the old DOC track back down the hill..
The track is well marked but very rough, slippery, wet and overgrown.
Saw a kea on the open tops and a pair of Kaka in the bush.

Tftc big trail but great scenary

While walking the Hump Ridge track dll_floppes and me found this cache during a short break.

Thank you for hiding it!

On our second day on the Hump Ridge Track and on the way to Port Craig we made a quick stop here and easily found the cache

TFTC!

Took a while to find in between pouring rain and sunshine!
TFTC

found on an other rainy day on the walk around the hump.

Found it on the way to Big river. Big and hard walk but nice... Thanks

Found with Raabie while tramping to junction of Hump Ridge and South Coast tracks.

Found on a cold winter's weekend doing the Hump Ridge. Lots of snow up at Okaka Lodge. Checked on my caches at Port Craig and happy that they are still in good condition. Thanks for the cache - hoping to get out to Puysegur at home point!!

While doing the humpridge track we decided to have an easy day from Port Craig to Percy burn hut. So we settled in and walked ahead to find this cache and scope out the track for tomorrows big hill climb. An easy find in a very nice slice of Fiordland national park. Thanks for placing the cache here.

Needed this one as my 'cache of the day' on Day 2 of the Humpridge Track to keep a holiday streak going. It was a bit cold and windy (with light rain) when we left Okaka Lodge. We popped up to the Summit Loop for some photos before heading downwards to this point. Both found the mud on the descent rather trying and were glad to get to this intersection for a rest and a well-earned second meal break. Muggles who were ahead of us were just vacating the site after having a meal there as well, so our only company while I found the cache was a robin, who was intent on eating the bits of chippies the muggles had left behind them and not at all worried I was finding a cache. Easy find even without the hint. Many thanks for making it possible for me to walk the Track AND keep a caching streak going . Gets a FP for that, but it is a great place to stop and ponder the feats of engineering that were achieved here.

I think PC Sniff has the date wrong on his log because I'm sure we got this one on Sunday. Instead of the usual 3 days for the Hump Ridge Track, we took four; spending a night at the Percy Burn Hut. Amazingly good hot showers heated by the range which kept us and four hunters toasty warm during the night. We'd dropped our packs at the Hut after a leisurely 2 hour stroll from Port Craig and walked up the track to fill in a bit more time before organising dinner.... and to meet a steady stream of exhausted looking trampers trudging along the tramlines towards Port Craig. We were envious of their lovely clear weather for the trip across the tops, but seeing them convinced us that taking the extra "rest" day was a good idea. It is heartening to know we weren't the only ones who found the distances required each day just a bit too long. Thanks for placing this cache to tempt people out for an amazing walk.

GPS was giving funny readings here. Almost walked past it. TFTc! Cheers

It seemed pretty obvious where this one was (from the hint) but I still managed to pull the cache out with all the cover without seeing it. I told my companions that I couldn't find it, before seeing it next to my foot! I do that sort of thing sometimes. It's tucked back into place now. Thanks.

After counting and observing every single stoat trap from Okaka lodge to the bottom we realised this trap was located on the coast track. It took a bit of peering in to spot this one. Fantastic structure, good to see that it is being maintained and strengthened where needed.

Tramping the hump ridge track, had awesome weather, great company, and a couple of caches as well. Awesome.

Way back BC (before children) and BG (before geocaching) we had been up to the Hump (on the original northern Hump track) for a 3 day weekend - bad weather on the tops so retreated back down and went to Port Craig, then out. Always wanted to come back to see the viaducts, and now we have!

There was rata blooming at the higher atitudes - a kaka was very irritated that our red parkas were brighter than its feathers but didn't pause long enough for a photo - and we heard several other groups of kaka further down. So the trapping is helping them survive.

Many thanks for the explicit clue and obvious (to a geocacher) hide - after the boardwalk steps from hell going down the spur from the Hump, we couldn't cope with anything more complex. And then the thrill of walking over the Edwin Burn... [^]

Paul at the Port Craig Schoolhouse told us that he had seen two stoats recently and the present stoat traps are going to be replaced by new ones - presumably the self-resetting type. Hopefully the current trap numbering system will continue - might be worth checking.

Found with OZWalker on our second day of the Humpridge tramp. We had stopped for a bite and then realised that the cache was right underneath (more or less) so a quick find and then moved on to view all the history in this area. Fortunately had walked over Percy Burn viaduct a few years ago, hope it gets reopened eventually. TFTC

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