Awesome Onamalutu Onamalutu, South Island, New Zealand
By docpicton on 18-Oct-15. Waypoint GC65C7X

No luck here after an extensive search of all trees in a 20 metre radius. Suspect this is gone.

'Smaller' leaves a lot to interpretation. I looked at quite a few trees, but niete.

Did find three smaller trees and a trap, but no cache

Couldn’t find this one either sadly.

I came for a ride up here on the motorbike over a week ago, but I hadn't planned on caching, and thus I hadn't saved any of the caches for Offline. After seeing the beautiful reserve and the highly enjoyable ride on the quiet roads, I knew I would be back!
My first day off with good weather meant Friday was ideal for a long ride up the Northbank and Onamalutu. Last time I was here, the reserve was empty, but today it was filled with cars and a few campers.
A short walk around led me to the cache which was in good condition.
Thanks for the cache, DoC.

When we were looking for areas to go to spend our time this weekend I suggested we go and check out the Onamalutu Domain. GK has been there before (many many years ago) but I am not sure that I have. So it was agreed we would head this way.
What an amazing area, it was so much bigger than I ever imagined it would be and the grass had been mowed and everything looked neat and tidy.
There were not many campers in the domain, even if there were dozens there would have been ample room for everyone. I couldn't help but wonder if school groups or Scout groups used this area for camps. I wish I had of known about it when we were Scout leaders.
I am still getting around on crutches after a geocaching mishap I had on our summer holiday in the North Island so gk gets to find most of the caches these days. I had a look at the track and thought I would go along as far as I could and I am so pleased I did go along the track to see the magnificent trees.
GK found this cache, and was signing it by the time I arrived at gz, but that is ok I was just pleased to have got there. He signed the log and returned it as he found it.
Thanks for placing this cache and thank you for the smiley

Stunning trees. Tftc

TFTC Lovely seeing all the matai trees.

After checking the movement of rain clouds, we packed up and decided to head north for a few days' adventure! I had all active geocaches I have not found yet in the South Island loaded on the GPS, but not particular plan as we only decided that morning. We ended up finding quite a few cool caches and had heaps of fun! Very nice walk, swimming (bath?) spot identified! TFTC!!

So many trees but after our fruitless search it was right in front of us! Thanks.

Had fun bush bashing. Make sure you read the description about the trees!

Looked at heaps of trees and eventually found it. As the name suggests: it was awesome!

First cache of the new year staying overnight in the reserve in the parents recently renovated camper

Got it

We have just climbed Mt Riley so now something a little easier. Great native bush walks here. Only one person is residence today. Its the school holidays - where is everyone? We walked this track. I picked on the wrong tree but finally got the right one to snag and tag this one. Cheers

Great place for a walk.

Quickly found once I got the GPS working. Kids enjoyed a swim in the stream.

Found this one while staying at the reserve. What an amazing campground and so huge. The kids totally enjoyed the space to run around and explore. The GPS wasn’t really cooperating or the coordinates were off but eventually we found it. Kids liked the stickers a lot. Thanks D.O.C. For this cache.

Had a good long hunt but no joy for us today. Stunning weather and en enjoyable outing though.

Out here in the new caravan testing out all the bells and whistles. And of course there is 1 cache for me to find in a very gentle walk around the campground.
All tucked away nicely - GPS an bit off for me due to the trees and no cell coverage.
TFTC docpicton

As Always this reserve area is looking amazing. Beautifully mown grass area for camping. Nice little bush walks. It was a good excuse to come back and get this cache.
A pity that dogs aren't allowed at all, or I would bring out Huskies here for a couple of nights.
The cache was found a little bit out in the open by a smaller tree next to one of the giants. Log signed and cache securely tucked back in place. T F T C

Found with GH6710. While researching some potential caches to fill future Dot Days, I noticed a couple of nearby caches owned by GH6710 had not been found for over a year and the previous logs were DNFs. As I will probably need these to achieve my current target, I asked the CO if he needed a cache to up his current 1-Day to a 2-Day and he said 'Yes'. As today was also a Dot Day for me, I suggested I take him up the Onamalutu Valley to get this cache and to carry out some long overdue maintenance on these other nearby cache, and idea which he agreed to.

So on the way up here he maintained the two caches which gave me an advantage for my future finds and then we finally made it here. After a short walk along a well maintained path, we approached GZ where we had a bit of a dilemma... the cache page said the cache was located 'at the base of one of the smaller trees', whereas the previous log said 'under a giant'. In the end both were wrong as GH6710 discovered the cache out in the open. After completing the paperwork, we replaced the cache as intended by the CO and covered it with some heavy natural camo.

TFTC docpicton

under a giant

Camping for the night, there are 4 Geocaches within walking distance. We found 2 out of 4. It is so beautiful up here. Sunny and quiet. It is a shame some people leave behind there rubbish!
TFTC.

I've heard about the campsite but didn't realise how big it is, would have expected more campers over Christmas, I might have to suggest a family trip here. TFTC

#5954

Found with Nzbirder while out on our conversation week caching mission. Such a lovely spot. Will definitely have to come back out here.

Wow! Such a beautiful place! Thanks for bringing us out here

Today's focus for Jojo and I was some easier ones along north bank and a couple of peripheral ones on the way out.
Great spot here. Had not been here for a few years and was unaware of the walks through here but really enjoyed it. A spot of CITO on the way out and all good. Nice work DOC

I think this is my fourth visit here for a cache - always a lovely area to visit. Enjoyed the short walk, beautiful trees and quick find. Awesome! The picnic area was looking particularly attractive today with the grass all mowed but no campers parked up. TFTC #8578

Interesting place, found cache easily.

a quick stop on our way home. love these big trees

TFTC

My plan for today was to head for the Wairau North Bank area and try to get to as many caches as I could with the ultimate objective of finally conquering Patriarch! Second cache found on this walk. From here I looped back to where I'd left my car. TFTC, Biggles.

Geocache bonding evening #TFTC

[green] Out to find one more cache, working on getting my calendar up to three. And since I was out chasing a first to find early this morning I have the car. Which means I can go a bit further than my bike radius. Except I just realised the cycling radius is the same as my car radius. This cache is only 30km from Blenheim, that's just over an hour's cycle. Easy! Admittedly the car means I get home earlier.
Loads of quails escorting their chicks across the road, loads of cicadas making a right racket, very loud tui. And what really mazes me about this place - big trees!! One of the few places of native bush on this fine country of ours that isn't just vegetated farmland. Man, I like this place, despite the sore neck from looking up too much (okay, I'm kidding. Looking up too much isn't possible. Darned difficult getting the cache open, and the contents inside are in pristine condition. Added an emerald and a favourite.

We couldn't leave the area without looking for the DOC placed cache here. The place was a hive of industry today with spraying, mowing, and weed whacking going on. It's a great reserve and we always intend to return to camp here at some point. Thank you docpicton for placing this cache.

This cache deserves more visits! We found multiple DOC crews weed wacking, spraying, mowing and cleaning. The place looked a picture. We have visited and admired the majestic Kahikatea here before and vowed to return to camp. The promise still stands. A fav. Thank you DOCPicton for the cache.

mrs capperz at work this morning and neither of the girls are keen for a walk so just me today. Tally the dog was keen for a walk, as always, doesn't matter where but in the car usually means excitement and somewhere new, everyones favourite. The plan was to be Kiwi road across to Bartletts Creek Road and grab all the caches in between, that was the plan anyway. What eventuated was closed roads due to logging and a looooonnnngggg walk for me and the dog, somewhere around 15kms is my thought. Far from half a dozen park and grabs and 3 walks was more the other way around. Threat of rain and fishing gear in the car though not a line wetted in the end.
First up here, let Tally the dog in the car and made a loop walk of it. Nice placement here, another good doc cache
T F T C docpicton

Awesome Onamalutu is right - - - towering canopy trees, picturesque undergrowth, and that view of the river. I love coming here. I think this is my third caching trip to the area now. - - - I especially love saying the name, but I would much rather hear it from a Maori tongue than from my own . Not many visitors yet - - - where is everybody? TFTC .

It is a great place and Mrs SoBad and Sidewaze both had good memories of finding previous caches in the area. We made use of the facilities and the parking coordinates then followed the GPS to find the cache. Mrs Sobad had to look twice at the log - amazed we were second to find in such a popular area. It was deserted today but that is rare. We did read the green slips but it was a week too late to respond sadly. Thanks for the caches from DOC and in particular for this one from docpicton.

Go DOC. We had our picnic lunch here and wandered along all the tracks on 17th and wondered why nobody had ever put a geocache here. We'll come back soon.

Totally agree with cache name.
One caravan in residence, two vans just left.
Nice one docpicton, and thanks for the cache

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