Hut Bagging - Freshwater Hut Stewart Island, South Island, New Zealand
By theroamingreliever & justanurse on 08-May-15. Waypoint GC5V45B

TFYC

Nice little hide. TFTC

I nipped down the track to collect this cache while waiting for our water taxi today, after walking out from Mason Bay. Had no problem locating it thanks to the hint. The Freshwater River was looking particularly attractive today; the wind dropped as the tide turned and started rising, even all the way upstream here at Freshwater Landing.

Trouve ! / Found it ! Petit rituel maintenant avec les caches des Huts du trek 4903me cache trouve.Merci theroamingreliever & justanurse pour la cache Little ritual now with the caches of the Huts of the trek 4903th cache found.Thank you theroamingreliever & justanurse for the cache

After walking the Rakiura Track, our tramping group of friends flew into Mason Bay where we stayed one night and spent the afternoon exploring the area including climbing the Big Sandhill. This morning we walked here. There was some rain a couple of days ago but the water level has dropped and so the deepest water I walked through was calf height. It was very muddy and wet for most of the track so hubby and I packed our boots away and I walked in Crocs that I had bought from Woolies years ago and hubby walked in hiking sandals and these worked well. Before cleaning my feet at the hut, I headed to this cache which was found quickly and was nicely hidden away. Today is day 366 of a geocaching streak for a challenge, so thanks for placing caches in this area. Tomorrow we are taking the water taxi back to Oban. Tftc

The cache was missing and I have left a replacement with the CO's permission. It is a large pill bottle in a bag. The log is also bagged . Take care not to rip the plastic . It gets wet at times. Water was at the top of the hut piles and to find this cache you would have had to walk thru thigh deep water.

Not found on the 10 jan 2023. We spent a decent time. Unfortunately we didn't found.
Previous log signals not found too.

It seemed fairly obvious where the cache was supposed to be based on previous logs and the hint, but a decent search turned up nothing.

Part of a significant Birthday excursion for the Howickcandys, took the taxi out.
didnt sign log

Today was the last full day I am on the Island and was at a bit of a loose end so I rang a water taxi firm and asked if they had any spare seats on any tours that day. There was one which was going up to the Freshwater River Hut.

With them leaving from the Golden Bay wharf it was back over that !@#$%^ hill again. The hut was 18.5km in a straight line from the wharf. This trip can only be done at high tide as the mouth of the river can get very shallow. I had read the previous log that the container was damaged and missing and that I had a spare courtesy of MrandMrsChosen 1978. The driver allowed me time at the Hut to replace it.

Cheers for the cache.

Found the plastic bag lying on the ground beside the two trees. Looks as though a possum or a rat had nibbled it, maybe the bag is biodegradeable. Whatever the case, the cache is in a miserable state. Difficult to sign as the log is sodden. Unfortunately we had all the ingredients to replace this cache in the boat that brought us from Golden Bay but we were on a tight schedule to reboard and get back down the river. So cache still needs attention. Great spot for a cache, thanks for putting it here.

Initially couldn't find this cache, but found the log paper on the ground under some ferns, so signed it and jammed it between the 2 tree trunks. Tftc

Walked over from Mason Bay to catch the water taxi. Put in a replacement cache. Had a beautiful day for the walk.

The hide is quite obvious thanks to a good hint but the cache seems to be forever burried inside the tree.

Had a good look for this cache after finding it a few years ago but couldn't find it, even with several of us looking for it

A early morning start with pack all ready to go.
Droped off at the air port and a nice flight to Stewart island air port well run way with a van to meet the plane.
Off loaded the other 8 passengers and loaded 8 more
Then a short hop to masons bay .
A nice low pass over the beach and a quick loop and landed on the beach
With pack on made my way along the beach to duck creek and then picked up the trail to the mason bay hut .
A nice look around the hut I continued along the track to homestead and a woodshed.
A quick stop to look at the deer pens.
Continue along the track over board walk though the swamp and past the sign with don't go past if the water is over the orange mark.
As freshwater landing comes in to site I crossed the swing bridge and had a look around the freshwater hut and made a quick find .
Now just a short wate untill the water taxi arrives and we make our way to golden bay.
Working my way around the hut bagging huts thanks for all the hut bagging caches .
Southern circuit next on the to do list.

Thanks for the hide

tftc

Easy find tftc

Quick find here at the end of our walk from Mason Bay. TFTC

During our 3-week journey through the South Island of New Zealand we also passed this beautiful place. A cache here and there may not be missing. Greetings from Germany by S & T147

A quick find while waiting for the water taxi after walking from Mason bay this morning. The container was cracked and log damp so I put it in a snaplock bag.

Found with madtotora while waiting for water taxi after a beautiful walk from Mason bay, TFTC.

Found on 27th Dec. It was not in the correct place so I put it back to match the description and hint. Great walk over from Mason Bay on a hot dry day .Text.

Took the easy way in by boat and headed up Rocky Mountain for spectacular views. Well worth the climb! Hunted around for a bit for the cache with no luck then checked again next morning before heading to Mason Bay and happy to finally make the find.

Arrived at the hut in pouring rain from Masons Bay after a 5 hr trek through rising waters and mud, just too cold and tired to go off looking for the cache as water taxi coming.

Beautiful totara, just saw a kiwi at 3 in the afternoon not far up the Rocky Mountain track

Found after a long afternoon tramping from Mason's Bay while waiting for the water taxi. The GPS struggled a bit but we got there using the hint. A kereru was protecting the cache and flew off when we arrived! TFTC

No problem with this cache either. Considering how easy our 2 finds were we are pretty sure that the first cache at Mason Hut is not there. TFTC

A fantastic walk from Mason Bay, great company and lots of laughs with friends in the Hunters Hut overnight. TFTC

After a awesome walk across the Island from Mason Bay we enjoyed visiting this cache while waiting for the water taxi to arrive to take us back to Golden bay. A lovely spot. GZ soon found and cache returned. Thanks for the cache in an awesome place.

Found while doing tramping the N W Circuit
TFTC

On Stewart Island for a few days. Started the trip by flying in to Mason Bay from Invercargill and landing on the beach - that in itself was pretty awesome. Stayed a couple of nights in the hut there and explored that side of things, now on the traverse across to Freshwater Hut for another night. Then we'll get the water taxi back out to town. Then a couple more days of exploring the urban side of things. What a fantastic place! GLB1721 TFTC (4040)

Exploring the North West Circuit track with johgusta.

TFTC

At the end of our long hiking day from North Arm Hut to Freshwater Hut quickly found while searching for firewood. Thanks!

Not sure if I should be glad or sad to be at the end of the North West Circuit as Freshwater Hut is my last stop on the NWC. This time I had less time than on my first NWC 20 years ago and because I did not want to rush it and skip one or the other hut, decided to watertaxi out from here. To kill any bad feelings, I just ate the rest of my food supply here so did my walking buddies and we exchanged a lot of goodies and had a nice evening at the hut. The watertaxi would pick us up at 10.15am which was perfect and a fun thing to do. I can only recommend it - and honestly I was glad not having to go over yet another muddy hill.
Thanks a lot for the hide theroamingreliever & justanurse

Easy To find TFTC

Spent a wonderful ten days doing the NW cur unit with mrsrev

Found it with "FrenchSuperTrampNiko" on our hiking on Stewart Island.... Bonus round after Te Arora trail
TFTC!

Day 8 of the NWC. Took a quick side trip up Rocky Mountain. Only a 1hr50min side trip worthwhile and saw a Kiwi on the way up. But you should check first from Freshwater Hut to see if there is cloud on the top as you won't have any views if this is the case. The whole track up was a flowing steam for us. Also be aware of the flooding that is prone to occur along the track between Mason Bay and Freshwater after rain. It was constant but not heavy for us over night and some hikers were forced to wade through relatively fast flowing water at waist level for two hours. Be prepared to spend extra nights at Mason Bay if the water is too high. In addition add at least two hours extra time to the recommended 3-4 hrs if it is wet. TFTC

Got the afternoon water taxi from Half Moon Bay to Freshwater Landing and crossed the bridge to the hut. Then ventured up the track to be rewarded with a blank log sheet. TFTC

Flew into Stewart Island first thing this morning. Cool flight on sunny weather. Was the only passenger coming from Invercargill. We picked 4 more persons up on the Island before flying to Masons Bay. Beautiful view from above!
Did the 16 km walk "coast to coast" from Masons Bay to Freshwater Hut where the watertaxi picked 3 of us up. Beautiful walk and quite different to the walks I did so far in Fjordland.
So after the walk from Masons Bay I stopped to pick up this little cache. Even if I am first to log online there was already a log in the logbook before me. So STF. TFTC.

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