Golden Bay to Deep Bay Oban, South Island, New Zealand
By DOCRakiura on 06-Oct-15. Waypoint GC64MHN

On a road trip together with -moge-; across New Zealand; from Cape Reinga to Stewart Island; up, down, right, left ... So much to see, so much to experience. So many great, and sometimes old, cans! But I can hardly keep up with the logging. Far too exhausted from all the experiences. I am sorry that it will now be a standardized log for some founds.

Hello DOCRakiura,After last night's successful kiwi watching, it was time for a good night's sleep today. After a hearty breakfast, DrDonna and I set off to look for a few more Caches on the island before the ferry back in the afternoon. We were very successful and managed to find most of the caches we visited. After the crossing, we visited "Stirling Point" where we found a slightly older Cache and an earth cache before heading to Invercargill for our second event of our vacation. There we were delighted to meet many new faces and chat about our favorite hobby and traveling through New Zealand. Liebe Gre und vielen Dank fr die Hege und Pflege deines Traditional Cache! -moge-#############Der Cache "Golden Bay to Deep Bay" von "DOCRakiura" war fr mich Cache 6703. Gefunden am 21 November 2024.Zu diesem Zeitpunkt hat der Cache die Wertung 2.0 / 2.0 (d/t)

I think this will be our penultimate cache of the day - what a day it has been on this beautiful island. Cant wait to explore more tomorrow. Thank you x

Tyftc

Found this yesterday on our hike back to town after exploring Ulva Island! We were followed by a fantail almost the whole way!!

Out with my Travel buddy Ros ending our 21 hiking/driving in the South island and. Now Stewart Island.so impressed the maintend walking paths here. Nice easy find. Thanks for the cache. Greetings from Australia.

Quite a walk up here to a beautiful spot. TFTC

Arrived in Stewart Island this morning. Picked up a few caches during a reasonable walk before being able to check in to the hotel. Dull day but dry. Some very nice scenery around the place. Good exercise walking this track! The cache was a reasonably quick find. #7246. TFTC.

Gevonden samen met Bald Eagle op onze trip door Nieuw Zeeland op 28 mrt. 2024 15:47. Dank je wel DOCRakiura voor deze cache. Groetjes van mij 1708 uit Eindhoven

Found it with ciela.TftC

TFTC Thank you for hiding this cache. You have shown us a new place and have helped make geocaching an enjoyable activity. Excellent hint.

We arrived on Stewart Island a week ago with a group of tramping friends and have walked the Rakiura Track and then flew to Mason Bay, walking to Freshwater Hut and taking the water taxi back to Oban. We saw one kiwi on the Great Walk, my first one in the wild. We are staying a few extra nights in Oban but with todays high winds and rain forecast, we decided to do this walk to hopefully keep out of the elements. We enjoyed our circuit walk and it didnt rain on us until back in Oban. The cache was quickly found but I found two lollies (which I threw out) in the plastic bag with the logbook so its a bit sticky in there. Tftc

Nice little wobble as we wait for the fish and chip shop to open

TFTC

Ty

Very easy to find, covered in tree sap.

TFTC and for all the trapping.

Lovely walkStormy todayNo pen and I forgot mine so written in dirt with a stick!(cave man style)Tftf

We spent two nights on Stewart island during our trip through New Zealand. The day in between we explore Oban and its surroundings by going from cache to cache. We started at the memorial in the harbor and ended our route at Wohlers rest. We tried to time our walk for one of the nuggets, but even at low tide, the water was still too high (and cold!). Most of these traditionals were easy to find. Lucky for us, because we were chased by a horde of sandflies.Thanks to all the COs for placing and maintaining the caches!

Easy find. Over for the weekend for a LandSAR competition

On our last day on SI I decided to squeeze in a walk, and picked this up along the way. Beautiful morning of sunshine and warm for the time of year. Lovely! Thanks for the hide.

Just did Fern Gully walk without sprinkles, but this walk mostly done in the rain. More stairs than mr expected, but found, signed, and got to other end. Tftc

Tftc. Mplc.

Avons déposé un petit objet "Marine Nationale"

Tftc

Tftc

Tftc, actually found it without knowing whether or where the caches are hidden on this island. Just had the right feeling in the right moment while walking on this nice path.

TFTC on this lovely up-and-down walk through coastal bush. I managed to guess where it would be so didn’t need to use my GPSr to hone in on it.

Found it during a great hike around the peninsula. TFTC!

Yep

Great time on the island

Awesome little find to finish off the caches at Stewart Island. TFTC

Nicely hidden

What a wonderful walk. Track is fantastic to walk on. We came from the Deep Bay end & like all trips seem to take longer to get there than the return. 20mins on the return taking our time. Counted the last set of big stairs going up 96 steps. Wowzer. Cache in good order.
This was our last cache for the weekend. TFTC

This was our last cache for the day beautiful walk lots of stair 600 on the way in & out the track was amazing it took us only 20 minutes to walk out

Found and picked up a geocoin to drop off elsewhere. Beautiful walk.

What a great track. Well maintained. Lots of bird song and glimpses of the views to the inlet and Ulva. Worth a favourite point.
Thanks for the cache, DOCRakiura
#3334

After an amazing 2 weeks tramping the north west and southern circuits I'm back in oban for a few days to finish of my 50th birthday adventure...and get as many caches as possible..
Power walked in from the golden bay end..could have done with a few of those steps on the "southern circuit"...cache all good exactly where hint says...gets a fav because it's my Birthday tftc

Spotted as we approached, nice easy find looks like it has been found by muggles a few times. TFTC

What a lovely walk here.

Very, very peaceful as we seemed to be the only ones on the trail.

Just us and the birds.

Cache all good - thanks!

Found it not on purpose started the hunt

Today I decided to walk over the hill from town to the start of the track that this cache is on for the third time (that's return trips) since I have been on the Island.

I got to the start of the track and noticed that it was a coastal track and there were a few steps down to start with and the cache was 581m in a staright line away. I then decided to count how many formed steps there are to the cache. Not to put anybody off but I counted 398 steps there and another 398 back to the road. They gave my wonky knees a very good workout. Then it was back over that hill.

Cheers for the caches.

Thanks DOC

Located with Ricardinho

Day 3 on the Island & we are loving all the exploring. Today we walked a circuit from Oban to Golden Bay, on to the Wohlers Monument & then back to Oban over the hill. The track was so well maintained & the birdlife spectacular Such a treat & tonight we have booked a Kiwi spotting tour.

The Kaka on the track & the views were a real treat!

TFTC

More later

A rainy day on the island so a short walk between showers was in order. Found this cache quickly, it was in hood condition, dry and plenty of paper. Ztftc

Really enjoyed this track during our visit here. Great views of the coastline. Unfortunately we had no pen with us, however have taken a photo of the log as evidence. TFTC

TFTC

Awesome spot!

We finally got dates, tickets and accommodation lined up for a few days caching at Stewart Island. With the batteries recharged in Invercargill after a nine hour drive we were on the first plane as light drizzle turned into solid rain. It didn't last and by the time we had checked in the sky had cleared and what was meant to be a bit of a reconnaissance turned into a day's caching checking out some bays and short tracks. We figured that heading for Golden Bay would give most bang for our buck with both trads and some of the Lab cache waypoints. We checked out the wharf before we decided to do at least part of the track to Deep Bay and collect a cache on the way. Including the return journey we had to deal with 788 steps what certainly blew the cobwebs. The cache was well hidden and missed on the first inspection of GZ before it was spotted. Thank you DOCRakiura

We had finally been able to get our ducks in a row to make the trip to Stewart Is and left a very wet Invercargill on the first flight Tuesday morning hoping the weather would ease although prepared to get wet if it didn't during the four days we were to spend on the island.
It was still raining when we arrived but shortly after booking in to the hotel it eased so we set forth on foot to see what was what on this southern chunk of land. Knowing we had a rental car booked for the next day we concentrated on the ones closer to our base although did end up walking several km by the time we got back to the pub, also ticking off waypoints for the AdLab cache at the same time.
Because we had found several caches on the first day it meant we had much more time to spend really enjoying the views and peace the island offered. All planned caches were found and the AdLab completed on the second day so we left finding the bonus cache until next morning, also a walk to Horseshoe Point for one last view and find before hopping on the ferry to Ulva Island for a wander around.
After booking out of the hotel on Friday morning and with nothing left to do and all day to do it we managed to change our flight to an earlier one so left a few hours earlier than originally intended but well satisfied with our trip.
It was a pleasant walk along to this cache, it wasn't an immediate find but it was in an obvious place we looked but didn't see at first.
Thank you DOCRakiura.

Today is my last day exploring Stewart Island and I took the ferry out to Ulva Island. I found this cache on my way back to Oban. It was a nice walk along here with lots of tuis singing loudly. Tftc!

We woke to the wind howling and rain threatening, which was not really what we were hoping for as we had to catch the ferry back to the mainland in the afternoon and after the very rough crossing we had yesterday we were feeling a tad anxious. This is my first trip to Stewart Island but gk has been to various parts hunting on several occasions. He has not been here exploring this area before so it is something new for both of us and we were not going to le a bit of rain stop us from exploring.
Our primary focus is to find the PWGT caches including the lab cache. So we hired a rental car to help us get around. I am still recovering from a (geocaching) injury and hobbling around on crutches) so gk gets to go and find the caches that require a walk.
We decided to get the tour caches finished before the rain set in. It was a good theory but the weather gods had different thoughts, just as well we had our rain coats with us.


The cache was a quick find, he signed the log and retuned it as he found it.
Thanks for placing this cache and of course thank you for the smiley.

Just a wee note for future visitors to the island... All of the locals have said how busy the island is and that people need to be organized if they are planning to book accommodation.

We spent a couple of nights on Stewart Island, staying with friends. Quite an amazing area, with plenty of interesting bush walks and beautiful scenery.

TFTC DOCRakiura

Tftc nice walk

Good find on walk back to Oban from Ulva Island. Tftc

Went on a wander halfway around the peninsula with D. Lots of bird life, saw pīwakawaka and tūī. Was surprised to learn later the lack of forest undergrowth is due to deer being allowed to remain for the hunters

Went for a morning walk with B on these lovely, well-maintained tracks. Enjoyed the beautiful views on this gorgeous day. No trouble unearthing this cache. TFTC DOCRakiura!

Heading back to Oban after a fine walk.

great views of the inlet. lots of tui today. tftc

Good little camo niche for this one. All in order and dry inside. Nicely maintained track and really nice walk today thanks!

Beautiful day out exploring the island. Tftc

Thanks, this was a lovely walk on a rainy day

#TFTC#

Found while offline, only knowing the basic location of it.

Found.

No Need to climb!

The track was in great condition, we started at Deep Bay and walked across to Golden Bay, picking up this cache in the way. Nice little shelter by the wharf at Golden Bay was perfect for lunch stop. Cache in good condition, nice and dry. TFTC

Another bonus find, a DOC cache that was hidden as part of the series in 2015. Hard to believe how the years have raced by, even think I might have collected one or two as a FTF in the North Island.

After getting back to the wharf after visiting Ulva Island I have decided to walk as much as I can, we had planned to walk the Rakiura track this afternoon, but DOC has closed all the DOC huts and campsites for covid 19.

We have decided to bring our plans forward and fly back to Invercargill. So here I am in the rain, trying to visit as many places as I can before we leave at 6.30pm.

Again this place surprises, what I thought was going to be a nice flat walk to Deep Bay (45min, 1.8km) is a up and down, lots of steps

Lots of traps, but not a lot of bird life. Only a couple of fantail seen, and two tui. Again the rain might be keeping them in?

As to the cache, happy to find, and the log was signed.

Thanks for the hide DOCRakiura, and for continuing its placement. Another fun find today

Lucky to be having an over night stay at the South Seas Hotel over at Oban.
First thing on my to do list was find this cache.
Enjoyed our walk over to Golden Bay - the school kids were having an afternoon at the beach .
then looped around to get this cache and admired the views coming back down into Half moon Bay.
TFTC and bringing me here.

Found with MrsC on our NZ trevals from the UK. Quick find, thanks.

This is a lovely walk with good views. Found with mr c on our travels from the UK thank you.

Tftc. Nice walk. Easy find.

Fast log, it Starts to Rain
TFTC
Scheffi12 & LaWutz
306

Lovely section of the bush. Thank you.

Danke

Weather was very nice tonight, so we decided to go for an evening walk, we didn't see any kiwis, but a lot birds were chirping around, the forest was really busy. The log was a bit wet, but the container was fine. Thanks for placing this cache here!

Easy find next a gnarly old tree.

Quick find with steve_foote. TFTC.

Tftc! First cache on the island, great hiding spot

We decided to come to Stewart Island for a few days for a holiday but also to find all of the caches around Oban and surrounds.

This cache was found on our way home after a fabulous day on Ulva Island. Cache was found easily and in a lovely hiding spot.

Thanks

Found it TFTC

Found it while walking the golden bay track found it very fast

GPS was a bit off but managed to find it ️

Nice hide! Beautiful walking track, too.

Tftc

Nice quick find and on our way.
Tftc.

After nette1234 and I had completed a trip and 3 caches at Ulva Island we decided to do two in this area when we got off the ferry!.
I was so glad to get off as it had been a bit rough!
It seemed like a very long track....I have never been on so many steps in one track in my life ! Plus we were keen for lunch and a cuppa and a sit down....but we persevered.
Many thanks!
Good place for a hide. Took many photos along here thank you!

Tftc

Today D4nielB and me arrived on Stewart Island. We spent the first evening to just walk around a little bit and explore Oban and near surrounding - and of course also looked for some caches on the way.
We foud this one while walking on the Deep Bay Track and Golden Bay Track.
Greetings from Hamburg, Germany.
Juliane

Today Jul1ane and me arrived in Oban on Stewart Island. As usual with a new location, after moving into our new accomodation we start a short trip around the nearer vicinity. Of course again including some caches.

After a short search we found the cache.

#3,428: Golden Smiley!
I haven't been back to Stewart Island in 8 years, and it feels very nice to be back. My first visit wa only for a day, and there was only one cache I could possibly find, but the tide was too high then. Now there are heaps.
I came this time with the GeoMissus and GeoYoungling #3 to walk the Rakiura Track. We had an excellent time, met lots of fun people, saw some breathtaking nature, saw some little blue penguins, and I even got to see two kiwis in the wild for the first time. Ulva Island was also very memorable.
This was the day we visited Ulva Island. After coming back, I asked if I could go for some more "walks" before dinner. This was one of the ones I went to. Very nice track, and the bird songs were very strong today. Thanks for bringing me here.
SL/TFTC!!

Lovely walk. Tftc

What a walk! Great walk amongst kaka, almost nobody on the trail. Beautiful views of the water. Cache in great shape aside from some mold on the outside. Nature!

After completing the Rakiura track yesterday, I went for a wander this morning to find a few caches around Oban, before my lunchtime flight back to Invercargill. A nice quick find here, TFTC!

Nice to find this one on my trip on Stewart island. We are a group of girl guides and rangers, and will be walking the Rakiura track.
Tftc

Yay our first trip to Stewart island we had a great boat ride across and looking forward to seeing more of the island as we walk the rakiura track with the Wellington Rangers and Windsor guides.
We are off to explore ulva island it a beautiful day on Stewart island.
Tomorrow we we start the track.
Pick this one up on our way back to the back packers.
Beautiful

tftc

A quick find on a seemingly deserted track. We'd replaced the cache when a runner suddenly came past - good timing!

Another nice morning run. Easy find

Such a beautiful track, with lots of stairs!! Cache quickly located. TFTC