Happy Families (Canterbury) Hatfield, South Island, New Zealand
By
Aslan* on 16-Feb-16. Waypoint GC6BF1X
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This cache is currently listed as Archived in our database.
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Logs
I think it’s time to retire this one it had a pretty good run. Thank you to all who visited. Cheers Aslan
Met up with big bro, BaldEd, here to start a morning's run on caches near Rakaia.
This wasn't a good start as we had to DNF this one.
This wasn't a good start as we had to DNF this one.
Tufty and I agreed to rendezvous here (at Happy Families) to start our clearance of the Rakaia area of our unfound caches. This was my second visit to this cache. That would have to be the largest cabbage tree I've seen. Though we spent quite some time searching, sadly, we were unsuccessful locating the cache under the mountainous amount of dead fronds.
Took quite a while but I got there in the end. Thank you to whoever put the lollipop in there. Tftc
Stopped in here today and could fine no sign of the cache so have placed a new one.
Definitely not a park and grab for us. Scrambled around for ages, and we were about to give up. One last try, and there it was. Tftc
This was a cool cache paddle chick and I were heading home to Nelson after spending the weekend in Christchurch .Tftc Aslan*
Quick find on the way home. Only noticed the hot wire on the way out of the stand. Well avoided. TFTC and the extreme detail in the description
I had to head to Barrhill today to check on my cache (to check it hadn't succumbed to a slip. It hadn't).
I figured as I was in the area I'd clean up as many caches as I could between Highbank and Rakaia. In the end I only DNFd three caches and got seventeen finds (including a bonus find near Burnham).
This was a reasonably quick find... once I waited for a gap in the traffic! Who knew it could get so busy out here?
TFTC Aslan*
Find number 4331
I figured as I was in the area I'd clean up as many caches as I could between Highbank and Rakaia. In the end I only DNFd three caches and got seventeen finds (including a bonus find near Burnham).
This was a reasonably quick find... once I waited for a gap in the traffic! Who knew it could get so busy out here?
TFTC Aslan*
Find number 4331
Took longer than it should have. Meet some locals concerned about the height of the trees and power wires. Good fun. TFTC
Day 11 of my 2020 NZE (New Zealand Experience).
(My apologies for the delayed logging but I'm in catch-up mode)
Seeing as I can't be in America right now, I'm touring around the South Island instead. During my time here I am aiming to find as many of the TMGT caches as I can (preferably all 41) and also as many Virtuals, Earthcaches and Letterbox Hybrids as possible, plus any Trads or others that will fill a hole in my D/T grid, my Jasmer grid, or else the last 3 remaining Hidden Dates on that grid.
The weather was having a slow start to putting on a great day for caching, but I have been so lucky to have dry conditions my whole trip so far. Today's plan was to drive from Christchurch to Timaru, following the coast but with plenty of side trips to get caches targeted as per above, and any others I felt inclined to stop at including this one.
This was effectively a quick park n grab. Plenty of room on the side of the road to park up and then walk over to GZ. The cache was a quick find thanks to the Hint, and finding no issues with the cache or the log, it was signed and everything replaced exactly as found before heading back to the campervan.
Thanks for placing this cache.
(My apologies for the delayed logging but I'm in catch-up mode)
Seeing as I can't be in America right now, I'm touring around the South Island instead. During my time here I am aiming to find as many of the TMGT caches as I can (preferably all 41) and also as many Virtuals, Earthcaches and Letterbox Hybrids as possible, plus any Trads or others that will fill a hole in my D/T grid, my Jasmer grid, or else the last 3 remaining Hidden Dates on that grid.
The weather was having a slow start to putting on a great day for caching, but I have been so lucky to have dry conditions my whole trip so far. Today's plan was to drive from Christchurch to Timaru, following the coast but with plenty of side trips to get caches targeted as per above, and any others I felt inclined to stop at including this one.
This was effectively a quick park n grab. Plenty of room on the side of the road to park up and then walk over to GZ. The cache was a quick find thanks to the Hint, and finding no issues with the cache or the log, it was signed and everything replaced exactly as found before heading back to the campervan.
Thanks for placing this cache.
A nice quick find once I climbed into the tree! At least I was out of sight of passing vehicles. TFTC.
Took a few moments to find but was soon signing the logbook. Taking the scenic route to Geraldine
We went out for the day with busy paws and a picnic. We looked for caches while busy paws looked for new places to hide a cache. A great fun day. Thanks for this cache Aslan*.
Great example of cabbages here! And lots of road works, but at least I managed to get rid of the tailgater by stopping here! TFTC!!
A fairly quick find of the cache, but it took a while to read the detailed information. TFTC
Even when M moved the covering leaves he still couldn't see the cache as the camouflage was so good. We took a travel bug and left a travel bug.
Dropped trackable. Up this road picking up the old cache so collected this as well. I just love cabbage trees so thanks for placing a cache here. With 2tussock. Heading to run my third miler of the year. Since May. All going to plan by next March I will have completed the southern season miler challenge. Good to collect geocache on the way.
Heading up to CHCH with KJR for a make shift mega as there wasn't one planned in the south island this year. Stayed in Temuka for the night with some friends and pasted this one the next morning on our way up to CHCH. Nice and easy find TFTC
Heading to Christchurch with Gadget169 to meet up with some Dunedin/Invercargill cachers for a long weekend geocaching adventure and found this along the way TFTC
I took what BigglesNZ said literally and climbed into the centre. Heard a sound and thought yes there it is. Luckily I didn't put full weight on it! So many birds living in these trees! Thanks for the cache, Aslan*.
#4773
#4773
Last cache for me today. After this it was time to head back towards Christchurch and the airport and head for home. I see that some recent searchers have had issues with this cache but I can happily confirm that it is still in place and safe and sound. It wasn't a quick find though. After investigating around the outside of where my GPS led me, I had to get into the thick of it before I found the cache. It was well covered with natural camo which made it hard to find. TFTC, Biggles.
Lots of work been done on this family. Had a good look around but their is so much debris it could be buried or it could have been found and removed.
It looks like this happy family has had a bit of a calamity right where the cache was supposedly placed. I was not prepared to shift all the tree debris (some cut with a chainsaw) lying around just to see if the cache had somehow survived.
My reaching and poking wasn't getting me anywhere so I climbed in and heard that wonderful plastic thud when I stood on it. Very extensive description which I enjoyed reading and learned a few things I didn't know. I laughed out loud when finding a cache at the listed "palm" in the UK to find it was just the familiar old cabbage. TFTC # 12,591
#15448. Troodles got stuck in and soon located the cache. There are certainly some impressive specimens along this road. TFTC.
After spending a couple of days exploring the area, it was time for StreetWalker and me to return to Christchurch. Slowly making our way back home...
An impressive wee grove of cabbage trees, a happy family indeed. I went around the back and with the help of my walking pole, soon uncovered the cache. TFTC.
An impressive wee grove of cabbage trees, a happy family indeed. I went around the back and with the help of my walking pole, soon uncovered the cache. TFTC.
They are a very nice family and they make for a good cache hide.
+ a glass pebble, - nothing.
+ a glass pebble, - nothing.
on way to climb a few tracks on Mt Hutt. Was pretty smelly here due to dead rodent very close by.
Visiting from Brisbane with Slow Puncture for the Oamaru Geofest, and we're seeing all the wonderful sights the South Island has to offer as we travel along. Day 4: We said farewell to Oamaru and headed North in the drizzle to Christchurch, with a few sidetrips along the way.
Thanks for the hunt **Aslan***, this find makes
#4332. Discover our TB
..........@__,
/____\\_/__________\
\\________/_TGQNRV_/
~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^~
Thanks for the hunt **Aslan***, this find makes
#4332. Discover our TB ..........@__,
/____\\_/__________\
\\________/_TGQNRV_/
~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^~
Monday. Slow Puncture has teamed up with Orange Crew to make a Moreton Bay assault on the Oamaru Geofest. Day Four saw us travel from Oamaru back to Christchurch, with a couple of loop diversions on the way out to the West.
This was the 15th of 37 caches found on today's trip.
Thanks ***Aslan****, for showing us this place.
This was the 15th of 37 caches found on today's trip.
Thanks ***Aslan****, for showing us this place.
Came down to CHCH to do some trout fishing, time now to do some geocaching.
TFTC
TFTC
On the big road trip to the Oamaru Geofest.
My last cache for the day. A quick find and sign as the sun was setting.
TFTC
My last cache for the day. A quick find and sign as the sun was setting.
TFTC
Trip to Christchurch, so had a bit of time for the odd cache or two. Thanks Bitsprayer
07/09/2017 5:26:00 PM
8398
I have so little time left of maternity leave - only just over a week - and so many caches still to find in my 80km radius!! Turns out, caching on maternity leave isn't as easy as expected, as you have a baby that you have to take everywhere! Haha! But so I'm trying to quickly clear out some of these cache where possible. And today, I decided, yes I know the baby hates drives in the car seat, but we will manage... and there were a few tears - from both of us, but 16 caches were found!! Wahoo!!
Last one for the day. Pretty easy find here!
TFTC!!
8398
I have so little time left of maternity leave - only just over a week - and so many caches still to find in my 80km radius!! Turns out, caching on maternity leave isn't as easy as expected, as you have a baby that you have to take everywhere! Haha! But so I'm trying to quickly clear out some of these cache where possible. And today, I decided, yes I know the baby hates drives in the car seat, but we will manage... and there were a few tears - from both of us, but 16 caches were found!! Wahoo!!
Last one for the day. Pretty easy find here!
TFTC!!
The cache was a quick find once Busy Paws and I had let some traffic go by. Looks rather like it had been run over! Signed and put back nonetheless.
TFTC!
TFTC!
A nice quick find, but some how it's been under some wheels at some pont! Tried to prise the sides into shape, with not much joy1! Anyway, Geo jessie and i signed the log on a lovely day. Thanks for the study about cabbage trees. TFTH 
Nice quick drive by for me here. Not an exciting road on a bike but I do like visiting the hamlet just further along. Cheers
Another lovely sunny day, on our to Rakaia Gorge for a Jet boat ride and walk along the gorge. an easy cache and dash.
What a great way to start off my geocaching career!! And a great thing to do at midnight
Staying in Methven with family for Christmas.
Had done part of the nearby Thompsons Track on previous visits and as this was the last day we finished the complete series off.
Was heading back to Methven and the waiting family.
As we were driving straight past this cache it seemed rude not to attempt it.
Parked close and approached the correct end only to see the cache container sitting on the wrong side of the fence and it appeared to have been squashed.
Picked it up and found the log and contents in good condition. Reshaped the container as best as possible and signed the log. Placed the container back where we believe it should have been and covered with some natural camo.
TFTC
Had done part of the nearby Thompsons Track on previous visits and as this was the last day we finished the complete series off.
Was heading back to Methven and the waiting family.
As we were driving straight past this cache it seemed rude not to attempt it.
Parked close and approached the correct end only to see the cache container sitting on the wrong side of the fence and it appeared to have been squashed.
Picked it up and found the log and contents in good condition. Reshaped the container as best as possible and signed the log. Placed the container back where we believe it should have been and covered with some natural camo.
TFTC
Found our fair share of caches in cabbage trees which can be both a curse and blessing depending on how much foliage is around the base and size of container. Up until now I cannot recall a cache that was dedicated to this New Zealand iconic tree though. As I was rummaging in one place Chelzea quickly found the right spot and cache was soon in her hands.
JDScout, Jaxy1201, my other son and I had a fantastic day skiing today. We made a slight detour on the way back and found three caches. This was one of them.
Today's trip was supposed to clear out the area between Lincoln and Southbridge, but instead I ended up in Rakaia... well done me? Surprising amount of traffic on this road at 5pm... then after I signed and was back in the car - none whatsoever... typical. TFTC (3111)
