Flood Control (Marlborough - Blenheim) Spring Creek, South Island, New Zealand
By gahaylock on 09-Dec-14. Waypoint GC5HM1K

Found on my bike with my wife.

We got a little bit lost just under the bridge. We continued along the other side of the road before we re-found the track. JDScout found the hide.

Missed it on the first pass, but cache is all good nicely wedged in per hint, TFTC

Couldn't find it

TFTC. easy find. Walk down track 2m and stand and look around. Eye level. You will see.

Bit moist took us a while to find

Tftc more later

Nicely hidden

May need owner attention

Nice to see this creek from further downstream from where we have previously viewed it. Quick find - tftc

DNF

I had already done plenty of walking today but was happy to do another short stroll to get to this cache site. Although the hide is exactly as detailed in the description, I had some different idea in my mind and it needed a short search to track it down.

Still here all good

Fast find, neat hidey hole. Another beautiful Marlborough day. Easing towards 400 finds, so hoping to get there with a day of caching in Spring Creek & environs! TFTC

After 2 dnf’s it was good to remind myself that i could find a cache. One more for the 200 latitude south challenge

Paper wet

Thanks for putting out this cache for woolwood9 and I to visit!
SL **tm/ww NZ** (may just be a black smudge on wet or plastic logs)
*Another good cache located - now onto the next one!*
Nice walk, took us a while to spot but got it in the end.

Last day of our 3 week geocaching trip in the South Island.

Nice to be away on another geocaching trip with tmann421, travelling to a few places in the upper South Island.
All logs signed tm/ww NZ
TFTC

Out for a bike ride and a cache. Thanks, gahaylock, for a quick change of motion, AND a cache ... all good though a little water in the container. TFTC

Found on our adventure #teammillnz

Still stuck in Blenheim so trying to make the most of it. Hired a bike so that I could go a bit further out of town and collect some more smileys. Started with the cycle track up to Spring Creek. Another cache that’s not been found for nearly a year. A few trees to check out but didn’t take too long to find it. Cache in good condition with plenty of room for more signatures. Thanks

Beautiful water. Shame about the weeds. Cool cache.

We were heading to Blenheim today to fulfil the current Mystery at the Museum souvenir challenge, just find thirty five caches to return the jewels to the vault. Well that is not likely to happen around Nelson with out some pretty hefty or long hill climbs, so Blenheim was our chosen destination. I had made a list of likely caches that we could find, only problem was I forgot to bring the list with us. So we just intended on driving around picking up any that were nearby.
We had just had a wee walk on the other side of the river so we thought we would come and look for the three over on this side of the river too.
This cache was not where I expected it to be, but with such good coordinates it was a very quick find.
It was such a stunning day in Blenheim, a little bit of a breeze and plenty of warm sunshine.
Thanks for placing this cache and thank you for the smiley

A good spot to hide this very cool

It was a level even for me

Nice hiding spot

Tftc

pretty small

The boy was in the area with friends so was given the task of finding a few. Not too hard to find this one with 5 sets of eyes.

Cool spot!

I had a bit of time to spare before the airshow at Omaka later this afternoon. After reading the hint I thought that this could take a bit of searching to locate. But ... I spotted it immediately and was on my way to the next cache likety split. TFTC

The last cacher was correct...it wasnt at eyelevel....found down the bank on the ground...replaced where it should be...the fantail showed me to look ha ha thanks for the cache...you may want to check thats it in the correct place

After a bit of a search I found a green tie in the tree with nothing else. Scrabbled around on the ground for a while and came up trumps. Signed and re-secured to tree. I can't understand why it fell as it seems very secure now. Thanks for bringing us here

After extensive hunt no luck at eye level.

Found it while on holiday from retirement

Today, the second "half" of crossroads 12 has started a can search again The tour went to Spring Creek and the Watau River long All cans were found well The logs were signed as well This
Team crossroads12 says thank you for the caches

Replaced with rite in the rain log

Lovely clear water in the stream. Signed an additional piece of paper as the log was wet.

Had an interesting day cleaning up unfound caches in the Picton and Port Underwood areas, there were some extremely good ones. Found after two or three minutes' scanning likely spots. Signed log, TFTC

Out with Jo on another Sunday afternoon cache grab, this time around Spring creek and Wairau bar.
TFTC to all COs

3rd cache today...

Found it all safe and secure TFTC

Spring creek was looking really clear today, thanks for bringing me down here.

Out and about with Kiwimykl this afternoon adding a few local caches to my tally. KM has most of the ones targeted today which should have been to my advantage, however I didn't need his assistance for this QEF PnG.

TFTC GH6710

out for a mornings caching on the last few days of my holidays ,tftc

Found on a trip to attend local event

Enjoyed the wander along from the carpark. No worries with the find. I was interested to note the Cos name so recognised that this must've been one of your early placements - second by the looks of it. Life has changed a bit since then! TFTC #7683

Nice wee spot here, took us a few minutes to spot. Tftc

Took a while to find this...started out on other side of floodgates due to lazy phone gps...Wifeys sharp eyes (yes she had her lenses in today) picked it out.I was standing right next to it. ..TFTC

We decided another trip to Marlborough was warranted to "do" some multi's which we had been ignoring. In the end though we still ignored them and opted for mainly Traditionals with a few Mystery ones as well.
This was surprisingly quickly spotted then I maintained an awkward stance while retrieving and replacing after handing it to hazedarus to sign. Thank you GH6710.

First I thought it was the rushing water through the flood control when we got close to GZ. It transpired to be the by now gale force wind through the gum trees and traffic noise on SH1 carried by the same wind. At GZ the find was quick and easy. A lovely spot worth revisiting for the walk to and fro. Thank you HG6710

QEF here in this quiet spot today - now wished I had brought my dog down here for a run.
TFTC

Quick find after a lovely wee walk tftc

Another nice easy find. Such a lovely little area. Tftc

Took a few minutes to spot after spending time looking at a likely spot that actually didn’t fit what the gps was telling us TFTC
#3453

Quick easy find.Tftc
This log posted with CacheSense for Android!

Quick find in the bushes...interesting place down here...Spring Creek so clean looking water, didn't see a trout though. Tftc

Beautiful clear water, a lovely spot to visit.

TFTC

I had a spare couple of hours this afternoon so decided to go and pick up some more caches in the Spring Creek/Wairau Bar area that I didn't have time to get yesterday.

After getting smoked out at Spring Creek Reserve, I decided to clear my lungs by taking a quick walk to this cache. I used c:geo in satellite mode to get me to GZ, then switched to the eTrex 20 to narrow down the search for the cache. This proved to be a QEF and the container was one I am very familiar with.

On my return to the car I spied a couple of dodgy looking characters skulking around the Spring Creek Reserve cache. They couldn't get away quick enough, but when I yelled out that there was another cache along the stop bank, they realized they weren't about to be muggled.

I reacquainted myself with Kiwi Explorer and met his father Kiwi Grandad for the first time. KE asked if I had got Wairau Bridge View yet, because he was having trouble locating it. I said that I hadn't, but would be willing to give them a hand to search for it, so off we went.

TFTC GH6710 or is that gahaylock?

Last one for the day! Cycled out from Blenheim, great afternoon. Tftc!

#9582. The flood control works proved to be quite substantial. We sometimes struggle with hides of this type, but this one was quickly spotted. TFTC.

A short walk from the cache at Spring Creek Reserve, which was good as the temperatures were dropping - looks like it may be a cold night tonight. Good team work to find this cache, I thought I could see it, but couldn't reach from my angle, so directed StreetWalker to it.
Didn't realised that the creek is actually spring fed, thanks for the cache page information and for the pleasant walk in an area that was new to us. And many thanks for all your cache placements today, GH6710. TFTC.

Love this spot! The kids had a blast finding little treasures along the way - Emperor Gum Moth cocoons, stones, sticks and even a pigs toenail! TFTC.

I had a great Waitangi Day out caching in the area today. A nice short walk to the cache. Thought it might have proved a challenge but spotted it quite quickly. TFTC, Biggles.

Walked along the stop park and coming towards me was a young woman who obviously runs a lot and her wet (ugh) dog. Once they had gone by I had the place to myself. A quick find and then felt virtuous by pulling out some Old Man's Beard by the roots.
TFTC

This was a pleasant wee stroll along the stop bank with Mrs KE and Ellie. No trouble spotting the cache thanks to the useful hint.
Thanks gahaylock for the cache.

#8796

An interesting tour of the by-ways and water-ways of Marlborough today. Thanks for the information and for bringing us here.

As it was just starting to rain we had decided to go to the 4WD parking spot. But the gates were closed so we walked from the car parking spot instead. As the forecast had been for showers, we had come prepared with jackets and we knew that we would be safe from floods here!!
Thanks.

Enjoying a fantastic 3-week summer road trip around the South Island with our kids: over 4000km under our belts, having started at Picton, headed south via scenic eastern & southern highways to Bluff, onto Fiordland, wound our way back up the West Coast & now heading for a few days’ R&R in Blenheim before heading home. Fabulous journey so far with spectacular views everywhere we look; it’s been such an amazing holiday. Much as though I'd love to stop at every cache along the way, the agreed plan is a few quality finds each day or risk mutiny from the rest of the family who don't share my sistema-obsession. This was on today’s must-do list: a lovely walk, great views & the bonus of a recently placed cache that I need for a challenge.

Drove in via the 4WD access & along by the river. A few cars parked up by the river with young families enjoying a swim: tempting to join them in today's heat, esp as we're still adjusting after our time further south lol! Enjoyed exploring the area & the walk to GZ. Altho' Mk69 insists he's still a muggle, when he bothers to join in, he's annoyingly quick & yet again was signing the log while I was still wondering which of the hint options to check first. Cache was all good. Saw a few trout too, definitely a lovely fishing spot; must bring some gear next time we're down this way! Thanks for the added incentive to visit this beautiful spot, TFTC

Quick find, like this area.
Thanks for placing the cache.

A fairly quick find after a short walk. TFTC

[green] Saw this come out and wondered if Capperz would be able to resist going out to claim it at lunch and we go together after work. Funnily enough, our texts crossed - I was suggesting a drive for a FTF after work, and two seconds later I receive his text suggesting the same! So we go for a drive. A short walk in the light drizzle ending up at a really nice place, just needs a picnic area, or maybe just mow the grass to finish it off. Beautiful clear water (photo), but no trout (Capperz wants to go fishing).

When I saw this cache name the first thing I thought of was the great Flood Control Dam #3, built by Lord Dimwit Flathead the Excessive in 783 GUE. If you are a real geek you recognise all this! Makes me want to do a cache on it...
Thanks for the {FTF}, an excellent write up and well done with the way points.

>go east
Dam
You are standing on the top of the Flood Control Dam #3, which was quite a tourist attraction in times far distant. There are paths to the north, south, and west, and a scramble down.
The sluice gates on the dam are closed. Behind the dam, there can be seen a wide reservoir. Water is pouring over the top of the now abandoned dam.
There is a control panel here, on which a large metal bolt is mounted. Directly above the bolt is a small green plastic bubble.

>go north
Dam Lobby
This room appears to have been the waiting room for groups touring the dam. There are open doorways here to the north and east marked "Private", and there is a path leading south over the top of the dam.
Some guidebooks entitled "Flood Control Dam #3" are on the reception desk.
There is a matchbook whose cover says "Visit Beautiful FCD#3" here.

The guide book has quite a bit to say on the dam, but it is a bit long for here.

Another streak day, number 29 I think, and another F T F chance shines through on my phone at silly 8 o clock in the morning. Look out the window and it's raining....at last....too much. Constant checks all day of the found status and a plan to catch up with the Seagnoid to attempt an FTF grab after work.
All aboard the poor old Geo mobile, it'll be glad of a rest at home over xmas. Knew where to go as I'd been down this side of the river last year whilst looking for one placed on the other side, some things don't really change that much. Took the proper road in today and drove to within 275 metres of G Z, not far off a park and grab! Nice stroll along the stop bank and a quick glance before the cache was snaffled. Nice hide, though these have been known to evade my beady eyes in the past. A blank log book greeted me so a joint *FTF* {FTF} [FTF] was the prize for today, four in the last five days, yay!
T F T C gahaylock, keep up the good work in these excellent places. An F P for the whole experience; hide, write up and location, a winner every time
Now, where did I put my trout rod.............

Published