Brown's Stream (Hanmer Springs, Canterbury) Marble Point, South Island, New Zealand
By Donovan on 24-Apr-01. Waypoint GC7EA

Sorry Schwarzen Piraten (Black Pirate), you can't log this cache as found, because it has not physically existed for many years, so I have deleted your found log. Cheers, Donovan.

I collected this cache on 31/3/05. The climb up was very slippery after the recent heavy rain, and the stream was really high. One part of the track was quite dangerous, it put the Vertigo Extreme cache in Dunedin to shame. Thanks everyone who found my cache. I have enjoyed reading about your experiences. I have included a photo of the final cache contents with this log. I will redistribute the contents into other caches, mostly around Dunedin.

Cheers,
Donovan.

[This entry was edited by Nemesis on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 at 5:35:31 AM.]

Sorry to do this to you ridders76. But, I am going to remove and then archive this cache within the next few weeks. I am retiring it because I have not been able to maintain it as often as I should. Cheers, Donovan.

Couldn't find it (even after decrypting the hint) after the big slippery climb up. 3 of us searched for about half an hour and still couldn't find it. Will attempt again on another trip to Hanmer. Beautiful swimming hole!

Driven past never had time to stop .I use to swim in the water hole below as a kid the natural water slid is fun too .+0 -0

Found it with no problems, the marks of many geocachers (and now mine) leading the way. Nice place. Thanks.

9.45: We have just left Hanmer Springs. It was a fairly easy find. There was already a little track to cache through bushes and the grass. But be careful the path can be dangerous especially when it is wet. No wheelchair access!

IN & OUT: nothing

Gabi+Sebastian+Oliver

First of 4 on the way home from a beautiful weekend in Hanmer.
Followed the track and, yes rather precarious especially when walking on the slippery flax!
Just middle and big buckoboys attemted the climb and the GPS was right on the mark.
We seem to be following Berthe at the moment, because middle buckoboy chose her last swap, as he did recently in one found in Christchurch.
Thanks for showing us another great cache site!
+ Crushgear Toy
- Swiss Magnet

Not so easy to find. Beautiful river, good for canyoning.
I'm French and I went to Hanmer Springs for the week-end.
Awful too much rain.
Out : battery
In : Swiss fridge magnet
Berthe.

With tarkwyn and co.

Found this one while heading back from Hanmer. Check which side of the water to approach from as the rocks are slippery

The path is quite a tricky one to negotiate but we soldiered on and eventually found the cache. Lucky there were several of us for this one.

Took: nothing
Left: 4-leaf clover

[This entry was edited by tarkwyn on Monday, October 25, 2004 at 2:09:55 AM.]

Thanks to the clue and KiwiLegends tip (did not have a decoder sheet so made one from memory - worked than goodness) I found it 3rd time lucky! Thanks for the help It'll save more massive bracken damage by me. No exchange. Last of 7 on our trip from Nelson to Christchurch today - it's getting on a bit so better head home.

Thanks for the suggestion Bear_Left. I have improved the hint, along with correcting an HTML error. Cheers, Donovan.

A classic Donovan cache! Slightly tricky access (scary section of track!), detailed instructions, and biggish box under a bush.
Knowing Donovan, we read the clue immediately, but got misled by the flattened grass in the wrong direction from the feature mentioned. Once we thought for ourselves, it was just a short search before Mama Bear found it. (BTW, there should be a comma between "fgenvare" and "cbfg" Otherwise it's too like Stephen Fry's "My hobbies include eating my godchildren and leaving out punctuation.")
No swaps.

Found it on the way to"over the pass" to put t.b. in up there.This was well concealed only found it when I stood on it.Left it a little more visible.
Cheers hunter1nz

Pity the hints only tell you what the GPS should anyway!
Found it eventually using the 'Turn it off, turn it on again and try to zero once again' method. This time it put me within 0.5m! Theres a surprising amount of flattened bracken up there - and some of it wasn't even me! Kiwitonita - if you are coming back again - "ng gur onfr bs n fznyy znahxn ohfu."
TNLN - thanks.

Even with the hint this time gave up after 10 minutes of scratching around unpleasant scrub. Obviously have not the skills of fellow cachers! Thanks anyway - Tony.

It took us a while of searching around the bush, but managed to find this cache eventually (was/is very well hidden)!
+ 2x Cocktail Umbrella
- Smiley Face figure

Cheers, T'nt

After finding Kawatiri Tunnel, Mararua Falls, St James Walkway & Nina River the GPS was turned off 'till we turned it on for a check and saw this one just 300m behind us. Had no info but had a go anyway - as time was getting on did not spend long searching the scrub. There's no sign of previous disturbance. Will allow more time next trip. Thanks.

- Fridge Magnet
+ Manicure Set

Followed a rather well trodden path pretty much straight to the cache. Obviously been a few people around in recent times.

+ Fridge Magnet
- Photo Frame

Didn't have the instructions with us. Easily found the cache using only our GPS.
(We did have doubts obout where it wanted us to go, but struggled up the hill any way).

We decoded the clue when the GPS and the directions didn't seem to match - surely it is really 75m north-west of the parking area!

The track was really slippery and I (Iris) managed to slip twice on the way down. We found the cache easily by following the GPS. We took the phone cards and left a screwdriver.
Thanks
Iris & Rodney

sp00k, Ciotach and friend Varuna from Perth, Au. visited this cache on the way to a dip in the Hot pools at Hanmer. The co-ordinates were spot on but it took us quite a while thrashing around in the scrub to find the cache. The fern seems to have grown back well after previous visitors. Took the tin of steak and vegetable stew and left a pottery snail.(chomp, chomp, chomp).

[last edit: 2/14/2003 12:22:38 PM PST]

Alas it didn't tempt us to have a quick skinny dip there - quite a steep narrow path and climb and accompanied sp00k and Ciotach to the site.

Stopped by this morning on the way to an appointment in Hanmer Springs, but I once again forgot to bring the cache sheet. [B)] The GPS homed on the post though. Time was short so I had to leave for Hanmer Springs. Returned later in the afternoon, whilst enroute home, this time armed with the decrypted clue sheet. That must have been a big herd of elephants. Flattened bracken everywhere. Soon discovered the cache in good condition. No exchange made.

I have at last managed to log this cache - been by many times but have always previously been in a rush to go somewhere else.

Dropped in with Nandor after a tramp through the Heaphy Track. Found the cache without too many troubles - I wonder if it worth mentioning in the description that it's not on the private land adjacent to the cache site... Just a throught.

Cache is in great condition, and still well hidden!! Can't remember what we put in (Any thoughts Tim[?]), but we took the glow in the dark lizard, which Nandor will no doubt place somewhere else!!

Cheers, Aidan

Yep - just a note to say that I was there too. It was the Woodchopper Smurf (Originating in Tasman Cache, then from Deception) that we traded for the lizard - and a cool lizard at that too.
I like the swimming hole

We spent the night in Hanmer and were treated to a jolting earthquake at 1.45am. Nice fine day. Took ten minutes to find the cache. It looked like a herd of elephants had been in the cache area. Took the superglue and left a lizard.
Cheers, Steve and Ruth

Bernadette was in Auckland, so I thought I would go out caching without her. This was the first stop for the day, and eventually found it using the clues - I was quite surprised by the amount of flattened bushes close to the cache site, I thought someone must have been hunting for it recently, but if they were, they made no note in the log book - Strange.
-Earplugs +4xAA rechargeable batteries from tgsnoopy (contact him for charging instructions)
Cheers
Nick.

Checked on the cache today on my way back from a relaxing few days at the springs. I dropped by to visit hunter1nz at work in the Culverden tearooms on the way home. It took me two visits to find the cache. I should have trusted my GPS and not tried to find it from memory . After almost giving up on the second attempt, I double checked my hint and found that I was using the wrong landmark (10 m away from that I should have been using). I almost feel that I should have logged it as found. Cheers, Donovan.

I have added some photos and a warning about the falling danger on the way to the stash to the stash report (along with some other editing). Cheers, Donovan.

I'm sorry to hear that one of your kids went for unintentional freezing dip in the stream, the route to the stash is quite narrow or steep in places (hence the terrain rating). I will add a warning to the stash report soon (and maybe some photos too). Cheers, Donovan.

Our luck is in today Donovan, we have just found the Big Pine tree one now this....The steep hill was quite slippery because of the light rain. One of the kids slipped in the river. Had a little trouble finding it (without the cheat) but we got there. Took the yo-yo and left a photo frame, the container is quite full. We then went on to Hanmer for a swim in the hot pools, the lovely swimming hole near your stash was a little too cold this time of the year.
from Mat Stephanie Mike and Rachael

Found by hunter1nz. Nice to have another one nearby. I went without my gps this time & found it ok. Swapped 3 phonecards for c.d wipes.
It's a nice full wee cache.But I think we should start making them a bit more challenging.What do you think Donovan? I definately am from now on!
Cheers for now hunter1nz

Great, hunter1nz! You didn't cheat by looking at the hints by any chance? You are right, most of my stashes are a bit easy, I don't want to discourage newcomers however. I have a really hard one at Deer Flat near Milford (mainly because of poor GPS reception). It is difficult to make them harder to find, unless we choose very difficult terrain and/or degrade our position accuracy (on purpose ). Maybe I will mention this in the geocaching.com forums (you should visit). Cheers, Donovan Govan.

This was the hardest geocache yet. OK so it was at about 2130 at night! What an idiot ehh?! The little swimming hole and the little waterfall that feeds into it looked pretty good - and I bet real cold this time of year. Had already had a soak in the Hamner Springs pools this evening. Took me about half an hour wandering around in the undergrowth with a GPS and a torch. Awesome awesome night sky tonight - could see heaps of the milky way, and Mars look great (its almost at opposition). Anyway about to give up after 30m and was shining the torch in the undergrowth and I saw a red reflection. Hmmm, shone again and could read G?S (the P has partly come off). I'm really glad you used the reflecterised tape ehh I'm not sure but I think it may be harder to find in the day! -dice +candle. Cheers Gav [9/FTF]

[This entry was edited by rediguana on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 2:49:01 AM.]