TMGT - Ruapuke (Southland) Bluff, South Island, New Zealand
By mrandmrschosen1978 on 03-Sep-19. Waypoint GC8D40W

We hope you enjoyed exploring and discovering the local history in the communities of Aoetearoa New Zealand. The Tuia Matauranga GeoTour has now ended. Thank you to the community for all the great logs, photos, and Favorite Points over the last 30 months. It has been so fun!

We've finally managed to get all of the first geo tour caches done and dusted.
Thanks for putting this here, in such an awesome place

All good here.

Staying in bluff for the night before heading to Stewart island tomorrow for 3 weeks..

Time to stretch the legs after checking into my accommodation..nice quick find..log book is falling apart tftc

Found it with Cyclicalcaching, nice little walk. Thanks for the cache!

Last geotour cache of the day, found it a good meter down the hill towards the water, fortunately I rescued it so we could sign it. Then placed t more securely.

Thanks for guiding us to this spot for a little walk!

Nice cache, thanks

Trtc. Beautiful walk!

Found with Piwaka54 on a wonderful stroll along the walkway.

Glad to find another TMGT cache. TFTC

Found with Nutty Nora

Took a stroll in the hot hot sun with wombats_4 where we saw a Kereru fly into the nearby trees. On all fours for this one. Tftc

Heading down to Invercargill for 4 days of work, be rude not to grab a few caches along the way!

My run had me coming to the end of this road, so after shutting off the test equipment I needed a good stretch of my legs... conveniently this fit the bill nicely... and it was a GT cache, so be silly of me not to make the find!

TFTC mrandmrschosen1978, the cache was found in good order Signed, sealed and returned to GZ. 3 find(s) of 4 today, making this find #2968

Yay!

Cache 851 with Covid lockdown now lifted and a small break in the weather it was time to start climbing up this month’s mountain challenge so decided to hit a few caches in bluff for this one being as it’s uncertain if we will end up in lockdown again hopefully I can climb the bulk of it today
Cache was a quick find in good condition, log book in many pieces but still tonnes of room for signatures, Another your cache off the list. T4TC

Out for a walk with Kiscardi and Moss da Muggler. Tftc

Awful day but surprising better out at Bluff than back in Invers. Easy find while walking the track and a great spot to take a couple of pictures while I’m at it. TFTC!

Easy find. TFTC. Nice spot and good view today

Found this one today on an adventure in the Southern reaches of New Zealand. I realised that I had never been to Invercargill before yet alone Bluff. It was fascinating to realise that that Stewart Island was part of an archipelago - another new fact I wouldn't have known without geocaching.

This cache tested me though it has the right terrain rating. I had thought it was 600 metres from the carpark and knew that was close to my limit physically. On getting to the carpark and finding it was 800 metres that complicated things but I really wanted to do it so I pushed myself and got to the cache. I was highly grateful that the rain that was heavy at the last cache had stopped and in fact held off for the whole return walk! I was at the limit of my capacity after this walk. Well hidden cache that was found on reading the logs, signed the log and collected the code word and returned to its hide.

Thanks for the cache and the adventure mrandmrschosen1978.

Thanks mrandmrschosen for the cache! Muggle hubby and I are in Southland for a week, and decided since we weren't too keen to jump on the ferry to Stewart Island for the day due to some rough seas and wet weather, that we would walk some of the great tracks around here (after some Bluff Oysters of course!)

After heading over to find the 13 Places cache, we decided to come and grab this one too. A few muggles around, even with the wet weather, but was easy to stealthily retrieve, sign and replace this nicely sized GC.

Was a nice easy walk to GZ, and was nice to learn a few new things from the info boards along the track too.

Having dinner at Oyster Cove tonight, so will be heading back to Invercargill for a warm spa before returning later on

We waited until the rain stopped late morning before venturing out. We enjoyed the walk and the cache was a quick find once the dog walking muggle had moved on, and we looked in the right part of the hint object! All good here, TFTC mrandmrschosen1978.

Searched for ages and did not find ️

Quickly found after a short hunt. Tftc

Beautiful track, easy to find. Tftc

Easily found, got a little wet in the process. Kia ora for the cache

Lovely walk.

Enjoyed our family walk and a quick find, Tftc

Quick find and a nice view, TFTC

Enjoyable walk out to this cache, beautiful views on a sunny day. TFTC

This was our first port of call this morning. I thought it might be cold around the walkway so came prepared but as it turned out it was reasonably warm. I really enjoy coastal walkways and this was no exception. Nice to see the information boards along the way. Thanks for bringing us here mrandmrschosen1978

A nice walk on a brisk morning along this unique coastline..Found in great condition in the flax bush...I could see Ruapuke in the distance as there was great visibility in thanks for the history lesson and cache

Well there is no way we could have seen Ruapuke today, barely see in front of me, fog was staying around this morning, briefly saw the ferry, until it disappeared into the fog, but I did managed to find the cache, I dropped off a trackable as well, tftc mrandmrschosen1978

Nice brisk early morning leg stretch while forecast decided if it was going to rain or not. Drizzle settling in just as i got back to car. Been to the sign numerous times - never done the walk so thank you mr and mrs. Been great visiting some of your caches and i will be back to find more, but for now i must start heading north again and find more of those pesky TMGT green dots. TFTC and the lovey walk.

Tftc

Quick find, tftc

Spent a lovely afternoon in Bluff with my son and his family walking and geocaching. Found with Span85 and Iroquoispilot. TFTC.

Logging this cache with a great sense of satisfaction - its my 100th TMGT find and now completes the series for me. It’s also fitting for me that my last one was in Bluff as this town has many early childhood associations for me. Went for a quick walk from the Stirling Point car park before a celebratory drink and dinner at the rather nice nearby restaurant. No problems with the cache, a quick find in the first place checked. Thanks to all those who conceived and placed this thoroughly enjoyable geotour, I have really enjoyed the travel and the interesting places I have been taken to. Awarding a favourite point, would give more than one if I could!

#9028. After doing a couple of caches in Invercargill I headed south to lands end and the joys of the Bluff Hill walkway. It was raining when Iarrived but the shower soon passed and I managed to walk to GZ and back again without getting too wet. Plenty of bush birds to be seen. A most enjoyable excursion. The cache was a nice quick find as I am very familiar with that plant. Signed the logbook and replaced the cache as found. Gathered the precious codeword. Enjoyed reading the history about Ruapuke Island. I have seen it previously from Bluff but today it was well shrouded in cloud. Thanks mrandmrschosen1978 for hiding your geotour cache here.

Nicely hidden, on a cold but fine morning walk

The first TMGT cache if the tour. A lovely walk to GZ (thank you). We saw kererū close up. Having a short trip from Invercargill to Christchurch with Infoferret finding lots of caches, in particular the TMGT caches for me. Many TFTC.

Great hide thanks.

Found with Greg on 27 Dec. System not logging or counting caches from my phone. Really really annoying now. Have logged with GEOHQ. Cheers...

Found - Mrs McMike2012 & I are on a bit of a Christmas Roadtrip to Ingill & back ... we'll be doing a few geocaches on our travels ... this being the 42nd of hopefully many ... we were in Bluff as we were wanting to walk part of the Foveaux Track around the base of Bluff Hill ... a brisk walk to grab this cache ... a quick find, sign the log & replace ... in between 'muggles' coming & going ... so had no real issues ... TFTC ... TN:LN:SL ... #1,776 for us.

Found with Greg. Cheers!

Having a caching day in Invercargill today but first we must visit Bluff Hill followed by an appointment with this TMGT cache. Not sure if I'll ever complete the Geo Tour but we've decided to get as many as we can on our travels.
We started to take our bikes off the rack and then luckily I had the forethought to check the track signage. Oops. No bikes allowed.
Off for a very pleasant walk and very sheltered compared to the top of Bluff Hill.
I couldn't find the container so lucky that Ms M was with me. But I did remember to get the code. Phew.
TFTC

Stunning

Stunning

This was our first find of what we hope will be many on the TMGT

Thank you for the cache

#18907. The TMGT caches were must-finds during our trip south, so despite there being a bit of rain around when we arrived at the car park, we just had to get stuck in and go for it. After finding the cache we hastened back to the cafe for a well-earned lunch. TFTC.

Found with StreetWalkerNZ on our first full day in and around Invercargill. With rain predicted for the next few days, we decided to concentrate on caches which needed walks.
We arrived at Stirling Point with drizzle, so we decided to walk to this cache in case the rain got worse, then have lunch afterwards. It turned out to be the wrong decision as the rain stopped while we were having lunch and we could have had a dry walk. Never mind, it put my newish jacket to the test and it passed .
Not much of a view towards Ruapuke but could make out some landforms in the distance. Thanks for the interesting history and TFTC.

# 1903 From Mataura, it was the long drive down to the very bottom of the country. This was the first time I had been here so was pretty excited. Enjoyed the longish walk along the Foveaux walkway, and hoping that in a couple of years time, I will be continuing my Te Araroa adventure from this same spot.... will make sure I check on the cache as I walk by

Took me a while to find this one, in fact, my muggle brother found it as I thought surely I wouldn't be hidden on that more dangerous side... talk about biases! All good here, thanks CO. A beautiful day down here, although not so flash just 20 km up the road in Invercargill. I cant believe the weather in this part of the country

Tftc!! Quick easy find

A quick find, could only just see Ruapuke today. Thanks mrandmrschosen1978

#10391

Ok the multi did not pan out but enjoying my walk along here. Very popular track this. Left my calling card here. Cheers.

Wednesday 4 November. Bluff is on my radar today. So Toby lets get going!

Toby, Zara and I are on a 3 week geo adventure of Cromwell, Southland, Catlins, Balclutha with a day in Dunedin and quick stop in Timaru. With Lenny, my trusty navigator and TBD my companion/mascot. we managed to visit lots of green boxes, now happy faces with the odd sad one. Did some LABs , earth caches, virtuals and wherigos, all chucked into the mix to rack up 500 odd caches. Lots of kilometers, lots of exploring and lots of fun. Thanks to all COs for our wonderful experience.

Away in the Geocamper for several weeks finishing the TMGT tour and attending a few meetings. We have been out here to "The End" several times in the last few years but had not realised there was a walkway around the bluff itself. We enjoyed a very nice walk along the path. It was cold, but at least it wasn't raining. There were a lot of little rivulets of water running off the hill and quite a few tui calling in the bush, and several walkers, some with dogs and one with an enormous camera. Mrs S's father spent several of his teenage years living in Bluff and attending Southland Boys High. In the past we have tried to locate the Methodist Church, where his father was the vicar, and or the manse, without any luck. We also have a friend who was born on Stewart Island.

Thanks mrand mrschosen1978.

(# 6128). Day 9 of my South Island odyssey. Today is getting some caches around Invercargill and Bluff as well as having a good look around. A quick find. Everything in order. The wind has stirred up the sea with pretty big swells today. TFTC

Great spot. Didn’t sign the log

Not the best day for a walk but quickly found at GZ. Could only see as far as the lighthouse. Another TMGT ticked off. Tftc

Day 15 of my 2020 NZE (New Zealand Experience).
(My apologies for the delayed logging but I'm still 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.

I haven't been this far south since my very first holiday to NZ back in 1988, so this part of my tour is a chance to pay Southland a long overdue visit. And of course this is my first time here as a geocacher, so plenty of scope to find caches galore! Today's plan was to spend the morning in and around Invercargill before making my way over towards Monkey Island and then meandering my way up to hopefully get to Queenstown by nightfall. Having had a bit of damp weather over the last day or so, it was good to get the sun back today.

Having treated myself last night to a powered site for the campervan at a motor camp, I was feeling clean and refreshed as I set off to drive to Bluff. I remember this location from my last trip 32 years ago. I have a photo of myself hanging off that AA sign. This time I was a bit more subdued and made do with a much more reserved selfie lol!

There were a few people around, fellow tourists I guess, as I pulled up near the end of the road. Then it was a pleasant stroll along the footpath to get to GZ. Once there, I had to wait a short while to be alone to start looking and I was happy to find the cache after only a brief search. There were no issues with the cache or the log, so I was able to complete the usual caching administration before the whole lot was replaced exactly as found.

Thanks for placing this cache.

It was getting darker when we parked up so I left the family in the warm camper and strolled along to this cache. I think 15 years since I last found caches along here, so nice to be back and looking over to the islands. Cheers

Road trip down south for some TMGT fun. Pleasant walk, easy find. TFTC

I am running later than expected so it was a toss up between staying in Invercargill for more caches or coming to Bluff for this one. In the end a drive to Stirling Point and another TMGT cache won out. Pleasant short walk and then the start of the long drive home. I really needed a another few days to complete everything I wanted to but I did have a great time. TFTC # 15,516

Côté mer effectivement!

Thx

My cousin found this one so cool

Found with Nanook on a rainy blustery day. Beautiful country, great trail. Only negative is the COVID19 virus and wondering if/when we’ll make it home to Alaska. Thanks for the hint. TFTC.

Found with Buffalo 907, TFTC!

Well sometimes things just don’t work out as planned. Due to the current circumstances and travel uncertainties surrounding the Covid-19 outbreak, what was going to be a leisurely five day trip south with my wife turned into a truncated solo visit to try and wrap up the TMGT tour. I arrived in Invercargill from WLG late last night. This morning I set off early to walk to the airport to get my rental car. Then it was off to Bluff. I enjoyed the walk to find the cache. I had a good view of both Ruapuke and Dog island.

Thanks for being part of the GeoTour, it obviously wouldn’t have happened without people going to the trouble of placing and maintaining caches.

Cheers and TFTC

98/100

Thanks. Great views.
TFTC

Nice find and fantastic views & walk

Such an amazing way to show case New Zealand's History for us and also overseas visitors. So as My week in the South Island greatly changed I decided a wee roadie trip was to unfold on TMGT caches plus a few others along the way from Bluff to Picton via Coast to Coast. Very scenic and fab weather at this time of the year. Most interesting caches with some a REAL Challenge but so much fun. Many thanks to all CO's and I'm very pleased that ALL smiles on the South Island Series is now complete. Wee Roadie ended up being 3000km's of pure fun yahooooo.

Congrats Twodutchies on your milestone

Found it TFTC

Our #3200

Lots of sandflies, but nice walk. Thks

I had to run to this as the flat battery warning came on just after we set out.
Made it just in time.
This is the first time I have trodden this track, usually we a on the ferry going past.

Cheers and thanks,
S.t.

My first TMGT find! I just bought a camper today and I've got 10 days to make my way back up the country, first time down here, I'm so excited! Tftc!

We came out to Bluff this afternoon primarily to collect this cache. There was a strong cold wind blowing while we made the walk to GZ - where has summer gone?
No problems making the find, and the tour codeword was duly noted. Thanks for bringing us here. A favourite point has been added.

A nice easy walk along the track. Very popular with locals and visitors. Managed to grab geocache between muggles. Thanks for bringing us to a lovely spot. Interesting history too.
Found with Mr&MrsNZAdventurer.

Thanks for the cache. A very enjoyable easy walk with great views. A few muggles on the track. Easy fun find.
Found with LittleMiss_Adventure.

A week of work in Invercargill so at the end of the day today headed to Bluff to grab some caches. A nice walk along Foveaux walkway and another of the TMGT caches. Thanks for the cache.

On a caching weekend to Otago and Southland with Tuolei to pick up old caches, TMGT's, CANZ, solved puzzles and any others that caught our eye along the way. We had a 4 day long weekend planned that would take us around Dunedin on the first day, Tuatapere via Sutton, Balcutha, Mataura and Winton on the second day, Tokanui via Riverton, Invercargill and Bluff on the third day and then back to Dunedin via the Catlins on the last day. Overall we did 1578km and picked up just under 100 caches and managed to knock off most of the caches we had on our list.

I remember going to Bluff as a child probably close to 40 years ago, that time there weren't many flights to Queenstown and we flew to Invercargill and drove to Queenstown from there with a visit to this point to say we had been to the bottom of the South Island. Remember the sign post back then but don't think there was too much else there. This time lots people around including a coach load of tourists.

Having taken a couple of photos before the bus unloaded we headed down the track to escape the crowd and even though there were a number of others on the track we managed to find a gap in the traffic to find the cache. All good here, that's the most southern of the series done - TFTC.

On a geocaching trip with Bennett24 - it's now day three and we are travelling between Tuatapere and Tokanui via a few places of interest. This is our chance to get interesting southern caches and for both of us it was a chance to have a look around the Deep South.

First trip to Bluff and we parked up at the carpark and then took the nice walk down to GZ - there were a few people around but we waited for a good gap and then found the cache.

Lovely spot and well worth visiting. Thanks for the cache, all good here.

Day Two Of Our Journey to South Island
The huge rain falls that had arrived a couple of days ago have now passed. Amazed as to how quickly the area has dried out.
On one DNF today due to the cache been washed away by the high river levels.
Another good day, thanks to cache placements and successfully arrived in Dunedin tonight.
Thanks to all the Cache Owners for these placements.
SLTFTC

With Fap and Gap... Late last year, we started to plan for a trip to the South Island - The goal was to complete the TMGT trail.

Invercargill - Dunedin: I stepped over to take some photos of the Stirling Point signposts, dodging the many bikers present this morning. I turned to see Gap disappearing down the track at speed... I never caught up to him, but found myself running to fall in behind. The track was also quite busy. By the time I closed in, Gap already had the cache in hand... I have been to the very bottom of the South Island only once before. This visit is different, and we are here with a purpose. It was interesting to see how this and the other nearby TMGT cache fit together. An amazing place to visit and photograph - Thanks mrandmrschosen1978 and TFTC.

Team BOP on another crazy mission! Labour Weekend 2019 - flights were booked, plans were made - Waitangi Weekend certainly came around fast. The goal here in the South Island was a combination of Jasmer caches, CANZ Caches, some high favourites and of course - the 41 TMGT caches we’ve got left after clearing the North Island last month.

This tour has been so much more then a challenge or compulsion. The historical significance alone has made it worth the journey and I truly thank all the CO’s for helping to make this happen. TFTC, see you at the Mega

I realised that I have never walked around the Foveaux Walkway, so here was a good excuse to do so! Quick find of the geocache, and since I forgot to note the word I thought I would remember, but did not, I had to revisit on my way back TFTC!!

On a mission in the south island with a few of the team from the BOP grabbing the TMGT caches and a few older caches along the way.
My first time this far south absolutely loved the South island and will definitely be coming backto explore more.
Tftc.

On a road trip down south Mainly getting TMGTs and high favourites. Having lots of fun and seeing lots of places. Thanks to all the COs for some great caches TFTC. Beau walk and beautiful spot

On a road trip down south with the mates , primarily targeting TMGTs and high faves.

Cool thanks, nice walk around here.

I am logging using the Cachly app template so please excuse generic logging along the way. It’s just my way of keeping track, but I do genuinely thank each and every one of you cache owners for taking the time and energy to place these cache. Many Thanks for bringing me here. Cheers.

What a fabulous idea to share the history of our great country with both visitors and locals. We are slowly chipping away at the series.
After attending the Elton John concert in Dunedin our plan was to overnight in Gore (closest available accommodation) and then continue south to complete the TMGT trail. It all turned to custard however when the road south was closed, our only option was to return to our timeshare unit in Queenstown, arriving just before 3am.
Our next attempt at these southern caches commenced this morning as we once again headed back through the gorge with the threat of numerous road closures ahead.
Initial attempts at one failed as there was no possible access but a return visit some hours later proved fruitful. Rather than heading back to Queenstown yet again we decided to stay on in Gore, one of our old southern home towns.
Geocaching is always an adventure and today was certainly up there on the list TFTC.

16 January 2020 16:56. One of the goals of todays drive over from Dunedin, the TMGT series. Parked in the obvious location and started walking, admiring the views and watching people diving. Was so engrossed in the view I walked past and had to backtrack! Quickly found, signed, photographed and returned. Tftc.

T4tc migrue Switzerland

After coffee and chips left son in car as looked as if it was going to pour with rain and walked to cache. Quick find and back to car. Thinking of giving other cache a miss. Tftc

Nice wee find. Great weather! Thanks

After the early morning event "Just another sunrise? Welcome 2020" I joined Natalie247 on a geo trip down to Invercargill and Bluff. Main mission was the Geo Tour caches. Still dreary and raining but that didn't dampen our spirits at all exploring the area with lots of geo talk along the way. Interesting reading about the history here and after a short stroll along the track soon got to GZ and a nice quick find. Loved the tuis and their sing song along the way TFTC mrandmrschosen1978

Full log to come. Cache all good

A nice walk on the first real good weather since one and a week. Easy to find.

Greets from Germany.
Tftc. Danke fürs Dösle

Sun at last. So off to find some caches in bluff

Maingate

Thanks