The Big I #21 (Southland) Grasmere, South Island, New Zealand
By southlandicebergs on 02-Oct-19. Waypoint GC8EB8B

just when i was about to start counting i spotted the cache from the other side of the road, it's covered now, tftc

I am happily working my way along this series, I had to arrange the sticks several times to make sure they were suspicious. TFTC.

I'm down from Paihia for the Dunedin Mega event. We did a lot of caching around there. Our plan was then to come down to Invercargill to get the geoart here, find some other puzzles, visit Bluff and Slope Point. We'll then head north to Middlemarch and up to Christchurch.Todays plan was this I, the Winton W (not all solved yet) and the penguin jigsaws. We ended up finishing early so headed out to Clifden to see the old swing bridge and did a round trip via Monkey Island. Very pleased to get the old Donovan caches. Funny but not surprised to see my friend and fellow geocaching teammate 0B80B8 from Whangarei last in the logbook here. Another quick find. Thanks for your geoart

A plan was hatched quite a while ago when the Dunedin Mega was announced to come over to the South Island again.I have only been to New Zealand twice before and I loved the South Island.So a chance to come back for a Mega was a no brainer for me.Everything was booked and I flew in last Saturday week ago after a bit of a delay.So now for a couple of days around Invercargill.So Day 11 of my Mega NZ trip begins and Im on my own again so Im just picking out random caches that I had put on my list.These were all solved before heading over for the Mega.No rain but everything was very wet under foot and I loved walking through long grass (Not)Thanks southlandicebergs TFTPC.

Down south from Whangarei for a 10 day trip including the Dunedin Mega. Visiting family here for a couple of days and just had to get out and about finding a few caches as well.A little bit drizzly this avo, but I needed to get out and collect as many of the Big I caches as possible, being as I had solved them all in readiness for this trip. A nice quick find in the hint location. TFTC

Found - Mrs McMike2012 & I live full-time in our caravan travelling around NZ, visiting the places we want to visit & doing the things we want to do and fitting in a bit of Geocaching here & there we are in Invercargill visiting family & friends went for a bit of a drive this sfternoon as I needed to get a few Mysteries for a Challenge that were working on we had completed the puzzles relating to The Big I series of Mystery Caches a few weeks back & had saved them all to Google Maps we have been picking them off over the last few days & we ended up needing & getting the four that we needed for today, they all turned out to be easy finds, log books all completed & then each safely returned to their positions were pleased to add some more 'smiley faces' to the tally TFTC ... TN:LN:LS this was #6,185 for us!

Another quick find here today. Thanks for the placement and the smiley

Quick stop and found it. Tftc

Found by E. walked right past it, when I came back to it, it was like a duh moment. TFTC!

Solved these puzzles over 3 years ago. Didnt take long to spot the suspiciously stacked hint items. Thanks for the cache, southlandicebergs#5357

Had a good morning driving around knocking off a few caches, quick easy find. TFTC

Found a while ago but forgot to log at the time! Just found all the drafts on my map TFTC!

Out and about today staying fairly local finding some solved puzzles and traditional caches.
Thank you for placing this cache.

Unpredictable showers kept us close to the car today so it became a fun day of P&GS and solved puzzles. TFTC

Thanks to the hint, *Filser1* and I were able to find the treasure quickly here too.

T4TC

TEMBO! and I visited Invercargil. There are a lot of caches to visit. We Made it to some of the "The Big I" and signed the logbook.

Thanks to southlandicebergs for hiding and maintaining the cache.

T4TC Filser1

tftc easy find sl and replaced

Today on my way to Catlin I did mostly my solved Puzzle.
Some of them I could not find.
Thanks to all the Owner.

Nice to be the first to sign the new log. All good. Solved this puzzle earlier on our South Island road trip knowing we were coming this way. Thanks for setting up the series.

new container and log.

Had figured out these puzzles some time ago, daughter was home from Dunedin, so we thought we would find some of these.

TFTC

Note, this cache was very wet.

Quick wander to GZ and as I have seen this sort of hedge before I was concerned - but no, there was the cache exactly as described. Brilliant

#10,475. My last day in Southland before flying back home to Wellington. Its been raining this morning but the rain has moved on and a lovely sunny day has developed. Mostly targeting Adventure Labs this morning but will grab a few others as I drive around the city. This was one of them. I managed to solve all the puzzles in this series before flying south. But wont have time to get to them all this trip. Just three picked up today before catching the flight back home. Found this one after a short search. Signed the logbook and replaced the cache where found. Thanks southlandicebergs for hiding it here.

With the Event on in Invercargill on Sunday why not make a weekend of it...3 days of caching down South woop woop Plenty of googling earlier in the week had me solve all the Big I puzzles in preparation for my visit to Invers. A gorgeous sunny day and time to explore the outskirts. A bit of scrambling round and soon had cache in hand TFTC

Found SL and replaced. TFTC

TFTC, forgot pen so took photo for proof.

Had to explain to a local what I was doing

Saw the obvious sticks at first. The road is pretty busy with people heading into town for work. Sun is almost appearing.

Signed as Mm78.
Chasing points for a science challenge, so we and the wagging tails are out on a windy afternoon finding these long solves caches. Tftpc and GeoArt

Spending a few days in Invercargill visiting my son whose started a course here. While he’s out during the day I have been using his bike to get around and collect some caches. Today was a longer ride to collect The Big I series. Managed to get all the ones presently active. 15 in all. I presume from the numbering that there were more at some stage. All the finds were straight forward which I was very pleased about because my phone was down to 5% by the end and I didn’t want to come all the way back if it had died. All the logs were nice and dry except No 27. Thanks for a fun morning out in the country and all the smileys.

Kia ora for the cache.

**#13,159**
Another Big I ticked off, was more a TeePee of sticks lol.

*Another good find.
Nice day going from cache to cache with woolwood9.*
We soon had the container located. SL: **tm/ww NZ**
Thanks southlandicebergs for putting this puzzle out for us to visit!

Great series of puzzles, we enjoyed the drive around!

On a three week trip to the lower South Island with tmann421 hunting caches.
Enjoyed the trip around and the challenge of the finds.
Signed logs tm/ww NZ
TFTC

In Invercargill for a few days, early morning drive out to Oreti Beach for a adventure lab. Now time to do The Big I solved puzzle. Thanks southlandicebergs for this puzzle cache.

A straightforward puzzle and a quick easy find. We emptied some water out of the container, but the log was mostly ok, although coming apart. TFTC

Another of the Big I grabbed. Thanks for the puzzle and thanks for the cache.

23 January 2021 10:44. Yesss! There it is! TFTC

It does help if you have the adjective in the right place and the hint sentence. . Having a short trip from Invercargill to Christchurch with Infoferret finding lots of caches, in particular the TMGT caches for me.
The cache may be signed with our individual names or ‘IE’.
Many TFTC.

Arrived in Invercargill just before tea time so after setting up the caravan and having some tea we headed out to grab a few caches. Had solved this series some time ago and as it was near it was our first target. Got all but one - that being the one with amended co-ords. tftc

On a nice afternoon to get this one. Quick park and grab. Worked out the puzzles with the help of Annielin.
Tftc

In Invercargill for abt 24 hours & had a small window of time before meeting a friend for coffee - so I set out in the rain to find the caches in this series.
Thanks for these caches, southlandicebergs.

#18975. I don't recall anything about this one I'm afraid. TFTC.

Today is our last full day in Invercargill, as we are heading north on Saturday, so need to mop up some more puzzles, including the Big I series, and a couple of adventure labs.
Had a bit of trouble extracting the log book, tweezers needed here. TFTC.

Number 4 as my tour continues

My last find of of the trail, I had to leave one as its changed location since I solved it and I killed my cell phone yesterday so wasn't able to solve on the go. Thanks southlandicebergs

#10359

Just one number to clean up and a quick solve had the GZ pinned on walk around. I was aware of the nearby corner when another puzzle had been found recalling only two of the features known in the district. Someone had a sense of humour. Arrived at the GZ and luckily I had my hat on and wery short to duck under and grab the dry cache. Dinky purple cache in hand to find the logslip and log. Listed as a micro, it's a good sized small cache. Unfortunately someone had been a little rough and broken one of the clips free. Logbook was pointed the wrong way making extraction difficult so rectified with a baggy after signing and adding the code. TFTC SIB for a successful geo art project.

Cache 196 Another quick grab on the way home from work, soon this series will be complete. Rock bug added to cache T4TP

I got this one
TFTC

Decided that with overseas trips on hold to spread out my annual leave and take a long weekend away from Dunedin. It was a chance to head to down and see some caching friends and go out caching in an area which is very green on the app map.
As it was a lovely day I decided to head down to the spit to go for a few long walks and grab some caches. A lovely day and dodged muggles looking for the caches.

Thanks to all of the COs, I smashed out the last 100 points (and more) for the memory lane souvenir collection.

***[======== NZ Mega 2020 ========](http://nzmega.com)***

[NZ Mega 2020](http://nzmega.com) is definitely happening, but has been postponed until 2021. It will be held in Auckland over Labour Weekend, 22 to 25 October 2021. It's going to be a massive celebration of geocaching:

* 20+ years of geocaching worldwide.
* 20+ years since New Zealand had the very first geocache hidden outside of USA.
* All the 20s and now 21 as well!

Talk to your geo-friends and start planning to be part of [this event](http://nzmega.com) - you won't want to miss it!

Solved before coming down this way. Enjoyed the caches

Winter Solstice 2020 - a great day to get out and go for the current souvenir before the sunset event.
Another spot that caught that cold breeze - and typically it took a while to fing the right item with the right clue!
I think this one gained me the first geocoin souvenir - I remember that one. Picked up a Caffine Fix coin on my first trip after discovering Geocaching.
Thanks for the smilie southlandicebergs.
2660 21 June 2020 14:48

Oh the matching pair to the one down the road. TFTC # 15,507

After finding the TMGT cache out at Colac Bay to complete the tour, I made my way back to Invercargill. The Big "I" caches were a pleasant way to fill in the rest of the afternoon. No rush, dodge the showers, enjoy your self.

Cheers and TFTC

Tftc lovely day in invers out geocaching with Kiitkaat today.

Thought I'd give the big I puzzles a go, lovely sunny summers day, thanks for the series

**Found on our February - March tour around the South Island. Logging back home in Auckland in Lockdown isolation**

We started the day by tackling the Big I series on a lovely sunny Invercargill morning. Most of these puzzles were solved easily, and a few without needing to resort to Google, but the odd one was a bit trickier. No problem with this one even without knowing the language, and a quick pick up too, thanks.

Found while out on a drive with Mum and Dad, TFTC

Decided to tackle the Big I caches while out on a morning adventure with the family, TFTC

I started my great and unique round trip over the South Island in Christchurch.
My first major stopover was at Lake Tapeko - here I hiked up to Observation Mountain.
I then planned two days in Mount Cook NP with some unforgettable hikes. My big goal was the Mueller Hut - on a super strenuous hike I reached it.
I continued my journey over the lonely Danseys Pass to Dunedin.
Afterwards I drove along the Southern Scienic Route via Invercargill to Manapouri for some days. On this route I visited many sights and enjoyed the beautiful nature again and again.
I already booked a tour to the Doubtful Sound in advance - another highlight on my tour.
Afterwards I drove on to Queensown and Wanaka. From there I continued over the Haast Pass to the lonely Jackson Bay with storm and heavy rain. Afterwards I drove along the west coast always in pouring rain.
The rain stopped the whole west coast, but I had good rainwear with me. Only high up in Nelson the sun shone again.
Soon I reached the east coast again in Picton and Blenheim and the sun was shining again.
After a few days I travelled back to Christchurch via the beautiful town of Kaikoura.
At the end of my round trip I spent a few more days in Christchurch and its surroundings.
I visited many geological sites and found many caches on my round trip. In Rangiora I visited an event.
I travelled 3418 km and take home a lot of positive experiences.
Thanks to many beautiful caches I was also shown unique locations, historical sites and geological features.
I am overwhelmed by the fantastic and ever changing nature on the South Island of New Zealand - I will definitely come back.

Many thanks to all owners
Team sissifalke

Day One Of Our Journey
Mr & Mrs FapAndGap and Squirrel Nutcase have travelled to the South Island to collect all the TMGT caches.
Arrived in Invercargill and mission was on.
City very busy with bikers everywhere for the Burton Munroe Reunion.
Bit of a late night but we found everything we attempted.
Caches all in good condition and thanks to 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.

Waitangi Day - Invercargill: Gap solved the 'Big I' series at home (I was determined to also solve this series before logging). I recognised many of the languages and was able to piece together some of the translations without needing to depend on online sources... We decided to visit the trail tonight. Our time here is short, and logic said that by getting this geoart out of the way, we'd have a bit more freedom tomorrow... I admit that a night time approach wasn't the best idea. Darkness added an extra layer of difficulty, as did the recent flooding in the area. The iPhone gps narrowed down the search zone, then it was a matter of spotting the telltale markers... Thanks southlandicebergs. TFTP and TFTC.

In town for a few days, and solved the series in preparation. Some of them I could just read off, and this was one of those! TFTC!!

Had looked at the various Big-I puzzles before heading south and then spent some time today driving around to collect the smilies. Thanks.

Had a great day out and about caching in Southland area today, many thanks to all the cache placer's.Thanks Bitsprayer

Found on a caching two day journey into Central Otago and Southland with Bitsprayer. Really enjoyed the challenge of the puzzle caches and the many hours spent to unravel the coordinates. Also great to travel along the many roads in the area. Many thanks to the various cache owners for placing and maintaining their caches. TFTC

Found. Full log to come. TFTC.

Put log in the right way else awkward to get out again

Another quick find in the series. TFTC

Day 3 of a 3 day caching venture with Nosynel. Today's goal is the Big I. And trying to do it before the rain sets in. Thanks for the puzzle and cache.
#5084

Tricky to get logbook out. Nice and dry. Jude-E and I are on a geocaching trip to the deep south. We are flying back home to Christchurch on the late afternoon. I love Geo art so we are concentrating on the big I, anything else is a bonus. Thanks southlandicebergs for placing this geocache 8013 find for me.

Sadly there was no large event in New Zealand in 2019 but there are a few Mega events planned in Australia. New Zealand will have another large event in 2020 in Auckland. 
======== NZ Mega 2020 ========
Planning for the NZ Mega 2020 event is well underway. It will be held in Auckland over Labour Weekend, 23 to 26 October 2020. Thanks for hiding this geocache.

Well the day seemed to fly by as I got a call from annielin asking if I was free for lunch ? And after checking the time I said yes give me 15 min
Annielin picked me up and with lunch in hand we decided to pick up this one.
So a quick search soon had the goods in hand and with log signed we returned to the hide and them me to work .
Now where was I ????. yup I remember .
I need a bigger hammer
A much bigger hammer.


Thanks for the hide Southlandicebu we have enjoyed the big I

tftc

I have now parked up the snail shell at a country club for a few days so that I can locate quite a few caches especially the solved puzzles. If a few Trads get my way well and good.

Initially my GPS took my to the wrong area. Finally it settled down.

Cheers for the cache.

Dot day required attending to. So managed to find time in the day to pop out and get this.
Tftc

After dinner Tuitigger and I were out and about and decided to pick this cache up. Easy find, the added daylight at the end of the day makes things easier to see. TFTC

After tea, Searchwisely reminded me of the dot day... so "off to get dessert". Thanks SIB for helping fill in the dots.

Solved these a while ago, hoping that the rest of the series would be published before we leave for home. Not to be though. A nice quick find today. Cheers.

Time to have a holiday road trip, and today we cruised around Invercargill and environs, to collect a few TMGT and other caches.

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

Solved the puzzle, a quick find tftc

Quick park and grab thanks for placing SIB

Another early morning dash out to collect this smiley. Very brisk out there today. Quick easy find. TFTP

Yah I am home when the latest lot of new caches appeared this morning, some head scatching and guessing got me answers to some of newest puzzles, Wombat found me so we managed to untangle some more answers together,
Pleased we were out before the rain set in
Thanks SIB for the fun puzzles and our own soon to be geo trail
quick {FTF}

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