Dry Hills rock garden (Marlborough) Riverlands, South Island, New Zealand
By capperz on 29-Apr-17. Waypoint GC74VP9

Headed out today to get the final points for the Cosmic Quest challenge souvenir. Had a plan but that got tossed out the window with the wet weather, so it was on to plan B which was a bit drier.We had a few specific targets to get while in the Blenheim area and the rest of the day was to be filled in with anything we passed while going from target to target. This was one of those along the way and we had a nice easy find here. tftc#9835

Found it! Cool bag, took a little bit but obvious once found.

Found it!

Found after about 10 mons

Not the quickest of finds for me but got there in the end

Day 2 cyclocache ride around Blenheim. Found this as I headed back to Redwood. Found this on top of a flax bush and not as per the hint. Replaced as per hint. TFTC

Easy find

Found cache out in the open have put back as described in hint. Thanks for bring us here and the cache capperz

Hard find the hint helps a lot plus know it was in a bag

pompey chimes

Cook cache! Thanks

There were lots of possibilities so I had to work my way through them all until... TFTC.

Awsome find

Pleased the busy wasps nest wasnt near the cache. Well camouflaged cache. TFTC

Great little hiding spot.. the bag makes it even more stealthy! TFTC

Was planning a foray up to Mt Vernon but the day has gotten away on me (which it tends to do when you've got children!), so I'll content myself with a forage along the lower echelons of them thar hills today and save the Big Kahuna for when I have a full day ahead of me and time to find all the caches on the way as well as complete the AdLab. TFTC - although it is a good size, I did need to refer to prev logs - lots of plant bases and lots of rocks

My GPS led me to a likely spot but no cache, I had a hunt around and still nothing - took myself off to look for other caches in the area and on the way back I widened my search and quickly found the cache - larger than I was expecting. T4tc

Great find
Thanks

Good hiding spot

I recovered the cache. It was out in the open. Thank you capperz for this cache.

======== NZ Mega 2021 ========
Planning for the NZ Mega 2021 event is well underway. It will be held in Auckland over Labour Weekend, October 2021.

Easy

Found

Heading home to Nelson albeit via the side streets of Blenheim and Renwick.

I had a real sense of déjà vu with the caches along these roads. Either I found or never logged them or the location has been recycled. Either way it’s a smiley where there previously there was not.

All looks a bit posh around here. I best not hang around too long. Handy parking near the tennis courts; no one playing this arvo though.

I missed the cache from one direction but speed it from the other.

Thanks capperz
#3259

Logged using Cachly.

Another sunny day in Blenheim. Nice size container

Great to find this decent sized container....and in a bag no less!
Thanks capperz.
Pretty fancy Estate...
Another sunny day in Blenheim!

Having a good day with Crickethawea

Found with judithrichards. Lovely place and drive to get hete

Thanks for putting out this cache for woolwood9 and I to find!
SL **tm/ww NZ** (may just be a black smudge on wet or plastic logs)
*We soon had another good cache located, now onto the next one!*

Enjoyed a nice walk through this area today.

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

Took a little while to find the right spot. Nice sized cache and we dropped off the Geocoin we collected in Christchurch. TFTC!

Stuck in Blenheim because of vehicle issues so lots of time to cache by foot or by bike. Today I decided to walk to Wither Hills Farm Park as I did yesterday but took a different route to collect some more smileys. Reasonable sized cache so got there in the end. Thanks

Great find!

Bummer. I have run out of roof paint so its a trip to Blenheim to pick up some more. With our walk in Wither Hills done, I drop Raphael off in Blenheim with friends for a couple of hours while I go caching. OK, parking here to go after 'Check the map' but got to check out this one while Im here. So Im scrambling around this rock garden to finally track down this one. With my trusty gloves and handy dandy wipes I get this one tagged and tucked back in. Then get muggled extracting myself out of the rock garden. The local gentleman asked what I was doin g as he has recently had lavendar thieves in the area. All sorted and wont throw this out with the trash when gardening. Cheers. OK thats all for today.

Found with NZDi. It is Palindrome Day (02.02.2020) and GCHQ have offered up a souvenir so I need to get a cache. The problem is there are limited opportunities for me locally as I have all but cached out Blenheim. The closest to home include an Earthcache, three T5 water access only caches and a couple by this CO, this one and a puzzle which I have solved but can't find despite getting a hint from the CO. So I guess it leaves this on which I have been putting off because of the unwelcome feeling I get whenever I drive up this road. So if I want the souvenir, I need to bite the bullet and go for it.

NZDi sat in the car while I went and made the fine, she has the same feeling as me if she ever has to come this way. Fortunately, the CO has placed the cache so you are well hidden from the locals which was just as well as I needed to look in more than one place before the cache gave itself up. In the end it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

TFTC capperz

Found with Kiwimykl, refer to his log for details. I didn't need to get this for the souvenir as I already have one today, but if I didn't get it with KM, I wouldn't get it at all.

TFTC capperz

A quick find once I looked in the right place at the right angle. That is always going to help isn't it. A bit bigger that I was expecting as well. Cheers and TFTC

Easy found

#17527. The one took us a while to track down (we're not keen on flax hides; could have done with more rocks and less garden). Got there in the end. TFTC.

It's been a while since StreetWalkerNZ and I had a caching weekend away and finally the planets aligned (and the weather forecast was good) for this weekend, so we made plans for a trip to Blenheim. A successful day 1 with 36 cache finds (plus 5 lab caches) , and 3 DNFs .
Oh, boy, this cache could have been anywhere and after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing was pleased when SW made the find. Just in the nick of time as some muggles turned up to use the tennis court. TFTC.

Excellent cache TFTC
K&R️

Found it! It was hard to find!

Had a quick look today but didn’t spot it in the time I had available. I wouldn’t have thought that this one would have been difficult.

Found it!, thanks

I kept getting cut up by all the flax whacking me as I was trying to get it. My mother made me go get it because I am cursed with fitting in small spaces. [I used to be cursed with that too!--Mom] We found a kiwifruit car travel bug and took it.
TFTC

Nice hide! spacenarwhale and I were out to help me bump up my June numbers (trying not to set a record for lowest month!) and thought we'd drive down a road we'd never travelled before. We were delighted to find a trackable, so left a bit of swag in its place.
Thank you for the cache.

Nice one

TB drop and cache check, all good here. Added kiwifruit racer TB

Easy find with Miss 7 leading the way. Dropped a TB.

Popped in to grab this one while I grabbed the B&W one just up the road.
Pulled in and a family across the road were checking me out. I showed interest in my phone, they soon moved off and it was a quick find. Generous sized container with a few swaps in it - left those alone.
TFTC Capperz.

Enjoying a bit of drive-around at our old home town - this is certainly a nice looikkng area.

A good, accurate waypoint, and well sized cache.

Thanks

Lovely surroundings. Loved the lavender lined lane. It would be fun to stay near here in the accommodation. TFTC

Yeah lucky 100 find

Good found

Got a bit confused with the fallen tree but then realised that the tree had been accounted for and we quickly found cache, signed and moved on, thank Capperz.

Was caching in the area and needed to drop some tb’s before heading back home to Canada. This cache fit the need well!

Found with eltee291, Hingis20, and coastalmartinis. TFTC!

Found with eltee291, Hingis20 and crman1. Lovely day for it! TFTC

Quick find this afternoon with eltee291 and coastalmartinis. Nice sized container and hiding spot! Visiting from Victoria, BC, Canada! Signed the log and replaced as found. Thanks for the cache, capperz!

Quickly found this afternoon with hingis20 and coastalmartinis. Nicely hidden cache just waiting to be found on this gorgeous summer day. Dropped off a couple of TBs. TFTC

A quick and easy find. A nice drive into the subdivision. Thanks

Day 2 of our drive to Auckland to catch up with family. Log signed Ms+Mr KR.

Thanks to all CO's for placing and maintaining their caches. Cheers

Quick easy find. TFTC

A quick easy find in a pleasant area. TFTC

Found easily by the mini BammJams - after a few small caches, they were excited to find something of a more substantial size. Dropped a dice, took a TB to move to a new home. TFTC

???????

TB swap - 3 in/2 out

Here I was again having a look for this one - it had eluded me last time. I was a bit pleased to see that bullertrout had also been unable to find it as I did not feel so useless then.

I pulled up and poured a cup of tea as it was a nice peaceful spot to enjoy it. I wandered over to where I had searched last time and immediately spotted a wee something that looked like a geocacher had been here. Yes, it is always a great feeling when I find one that I didn't find the first time.
I took it back to the car to sign and to sort out a couple of TB's that I could leave here.
As I went to return it a lady and a couple of dogs were walking towards where I was parked. The dogs came to say hi and have a pat but the lady was not interested in interacting, then they moved far enough along the track to make it clear enough for me to return the cache as I had found it.

I do wonder what the residents think of the skinny wee road that leads to their lovely homes. I looks lovely but the practicality of using it every day could be problematic.

Thanks for sorting this one out and making it findable again. And of course thank you for the smilie

Another straightforward one down here

With barely a start on the Hidden Creatures souvenirs (4/100) and only this weekend free to do it, we set off to Blenheim to see how many we could collect. I didnt think we would get to the World Turtle but was happy with whatever we brought home. We drove over last night so we could get a good start this morning. The plan was a drive out to Awatere Valley but we worked our way out of town first. A quick easy find here. We really dislike natural camo bags. They are quite unpleasant to find when wet and often contain critters. Fortunately this one was dry and bug free today. Now back to the main road. Thanks for your effort in placing this cache for everyone elses enjoyment.

Checked today after recent DNF and write note. All good here, it's original spot has been hanged so now nestles at base of plant, beside large rock. GTG

Had abit of a look but couldn't find

Felt a bit useless as I could not find this one. I imagine it is still there but I just did not have my eyes looking in the correct place. A bit frustrating when I look at the previous logs and it was a first find for someone recently. Oh well, I will bring GK with me next time

Found it while on holiday from retirement

Got it

Another one found by my geomate. Very fancy place. Tftc

This cache had been bypassed in the last few trips to Blenheim. Not today. A sidestep to this area for the two caches before heading to the petrol station and refuelling for the trip home. No problem to ind the cache in the rock garden.
Thanks.

Thanks picked up the TB and dropped another

All good here, dropping a TB off, and a surprise resident TB collected (it's showing as being in Upper Hutt!)

Pretty easy this one but still another smiling face

Nice easy find in the rock garden with StokesNZ. TFTC.

Nice easy find in the rock garden with KrisnKen.TFTC

#4335. I was over in Blenheim today for a meeting and allowed enough time after the meeting to pick up a few local caches before heading home. The weather was a stunning Marlborough winter day which always helps with cache hunting. I have done a fair few bus shelter caches over the past 3 years but I think seven in a day is a record. Also got to enjoy the delights of power boxes, bridge barrier magnetics and vineyard signs. All up a fun day scooping a bunch of fairly easy caches to boost the August tally. Thanks to the cache owners for making the time and effort to put these out for our caching pleasure. Didn't take long to find this one once I was on the right side of the rock pile. Left two trackables.

It was late in the afternoon and I was still 6 caches short of my target of 50 for the day and I was expected for dinner at a friends place shortly. I wondered if it was wise to look for a cache named as being in a rock garden as the hint is likely to be something like "rock". It was close and I'm running out of quick ones so gave it a go and was pleasantly surprised, found without even looking at the hint thanks capperz

#6484

The prospect of turning hundreds of rocks had me approaching this hide with some trepidation - - - but there it was - - - right there . TFTC . Uplifted trackable.

Out and about enjoying the nice winter weather... have walked past this before but not stopped. Today was very quiet... not even a car in sight - so a QEF and I grabbed a couple of the TB's to take to Nelson on my next trip over the hill.
TFTC capperz

Its a calendar day, and I decided to get this on the way to work. It's still dark, which makes me think noon is at the wrong time. 6am is 6 hours before noon and its pitch black. 6 hours after noon it is still solid daylight.
Anyway, I found the garden without too much trouble, although I nearly walked straight past - the difference in colour between the rocks and the grass was the difference between black and black. Not a lot.
Whenever I see a cache that take me to a pile of rocks, as this one does, I always expect a fake rock - I could be here a while, given that it is pretty black out, even though I have found a number of them and so most fake rocks are pretty easy to find. So I was rather pleasantly surprised to see that I could drop off my load of trackables. And a path tag. And an emerald. Anything to keep Mary Hyde happy!
1450 calendar days down, only 14 to go! Woo hoo!

Quick visit to exchange trackables (three out/three in), and gain some Mary Hyde points, though I've already got enough for the virtual geo-bling

I took some time out from work today and headed over the hills to Marlborough to go and find a few caches - trads, multis, puzzles - it was a good day to be out and the weather was perfect. A good sized container here. Didn't take too long to spot the hide. TFTC, Biggles.

Quick find, TFTC.

Took 2 hunts to find this one,hint somewhat misleading.

With the mother in law having flown North for the winter it was safe to head back to Blenheim and find a few of the newly placed caches. Lot's of drive-bys today but managed to get in a short walk or two as well. When I saw all the rocks I was worried my perfect find run might be broken here but then I noticed the cache size and soon after that the cache was found. Nice one. Thanks capperz.

Easy find and fun things for the kids to admire. Then off to hit some puddles up the track.

A quick caching adventure with Maikenkids. In the rain. Winter caching with kids is never without its challenges but today we had success TFTC

It was time to head over the hill again to turn some more icons in to yellow smilies so armed with a list of likely candidates we set forth.
We had to spend a few moments closely inspecting the various ages and stages of cone developement of the nearby trees while a few muggles straggled past in an assortment of vehicles but once that was done we made a quick find.
Thank you capperz.

We decided to ignore the occasional blob of sleet and although looking a bit dumb admiring some of the vegetation at GZ we had no other option as some muggles filed past in a variety of motorised cultivation equipment. When it was all clear we made a quick find and decided against the walk to the cache up the hill considering the weather prospect. It would have turned out OK but we'll be passing soon enough again. Thank you capperz

No one making use of the facilities here so a nice quick find. Pretty wet underfoot around the rock today. TFTC # 10,650

Out and about with Mr.Marcwood.
We parked nearby (familiar spot). But had to leave it for a while as a local was doing weeding nearby.
Well placed, and easily found.
Thanks a lot capperz

Out on a Marlborough raid with the Bum today. He had it all planned out but that got hijacked with the publishing of some new hides.

Parked up here but walked to Mapp first as a nosy local was out for a walk.
The coast was clear on our return which made for a quick find.
TFTC

Lovely area for geocaching. Would like more time here in Blenheim to do these great walks. Leaving a couple of Tbs, one of them being one of our own. Tftc

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