The Big I #11 (Southland) Invercargill, South Island, New Zealand
By southlandicebergs on 03-Oct-19. Waypoint GC8ECED

looking for this one i spotted a dead give away on where the cache could be, yes i was right, tftc

I am happily working my way along this series, 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. Well this was another puzzle solved in September 2020. We missed 2 in this series today due to water in the ditches. I didn't fancy trying to jump over them and landing in the water or hurting myself early in the day. Another quick and easy find here. Thanks for the series

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 & decided to go for a drive today, between appointments, & because we needed to get a couple of Mysteries we had completed these a few weeks ago & the time was ripe to start finding them turned out to be easy find, log book completed & safely returned to its position were pleased to add another 'smiley face' to the tally TFTC ... TN:LN:LS this was #6,145 for us!

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

Quick k find with the 3 yr old. Tftc

Found by B, on our big park and grab mish today. TFTC!

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

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

Found while out on a drive with *Filser1*.

T4TC

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

Another quick find. Double bagging working well. Solved this puzzle earlier on our South Island road trip knowing we were coming this way. Thanks for setting up the series.

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

TFTC

Avenging a previous dnf here! TFTC!!

Got Dad to help me with this one on our family day out doing some bush walks and caches, TFTC

Tftc sl and replaced

I can see you had fun creating this GeoArt- well done. Most enjoyable!

#20750. It didn't take us too long to find this one; good to finally complete the series. TFTC.

Found with StreetWalkerNZ on our first full day in Invercargill. Today we are concentrating on solved puzzles, and any other cache that leaps into our path .
Another blue face avenged today. It was pretty dusty at GZ, and took a couple of looks to spot the cache. Thanks for replacing, that's the Big I completed at last! TFTC.

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. Nice quick find here when at the right end TFTC

Nice and dry. SL and replaced. TFTC

Couldn’t sign log as pen broke.

I did the reverse spotted it from the front and nabbed it from the back

Spotted from the backside but made the approach from the front side. All good here.

Found under hedge. 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. Maybe is more of a Little I now. 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.

**#13,163**
Working our way through the big I series before our flight check in, was struggling with this one and needed to use the hint!

*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. TFTC

A week of work in Invercargill. But what to do in the evenings? Well I grabbed a few geocaches. Today I made an effort to grab the rest of the Big I that I didn't already have. So parked up near one of the solved caches and did a big walk around the block grabbing caches as I went. This was the fourth. Nice quick find, sign and replace. Thanks for the cache.

Number 9089. Another quick find, loving this series! TFTC

A quick find. 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.
This one took a bit to find, but the GPS location was pretty good - I just started looking too early .... Definitely had wet knees here !

Replaced. Check updated hint.

in process of replacing container

Spent a long time here, but came up empty handed.

Bugger, this is going to spoil the geoart. Had a good hunt here, but no luck.

Quick find and all good here

Another quick find, thanks southlandicebergs

#10356

Solved using the old language to get some numbers, made for the GZ on walk past to scratch around one side of the area before cache found on the opposite side well hidden in a lower area. Luckily had my hat on as I had to dive under the low branches to reach it. The little black'n'blue filmcan I suspect was from [Waihopai](https://coord.info/GC2084T) where I had found the little blue cache peep peeping back at me from where the archived cache had rolled down the bank from the old hide and got abandoned as a lost cache. Suspicions were confirmed when my original logslips were still in the new cache to sign the log. Unfortunately the position was not kind to the paper or peeps were not sealing the bag in cache. It was damp and got replaced with one of my RITR logslips that was being respected right up to a certain time as the baggy had been ripped. Cache placed on an auspicious 03 Oct got to fill a dot on my grid gladly. A long time coming as most dots could not be fulfilled in Southland requiring trips across the border. TFTC SIB. Fav courtesy of my sponsor.

Cache 193 another day another one of the series nabbed and signed, it’s a bit painful only doing one a day wish I could grab them all at once but alas days on a calander to fill lol, quick park and grab with a beautiful horse across the road to look at T4TP

Bit of searching for this one but got there.
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!

Winter Solstice 2020 - a great day to get out and go for the current souvenir before the sunset event.
Had a bit of interest from the 4 legged friends across the road as I headed back to the car. They are rugged up and should be warm.
Log sheet and bag are a little tatty, and will need a new log shhet soon.
Thanks for the smilie southlandicebergs.
2657 21 June 2020 14:18

A quick find today in the pouring rain filling in a dot day and completing the new souvenir promotion. TFTC

Another of the Big I signed and sorted today. TFTC # 15,501

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

Solved quite some time ago. Today was the day to find & sign the log. TFTP

Tftc nice easy find.

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. This one gave us the most difficulty of all the finds. While we were searching we saw a vehicle stop briefly near where we had made the previous find, and then drove and parked close to us. Ahh other cachers. Eventually the cache was found near the most likely hint item, but not hidden as expected from the hint.
Nice to meet kryshan and kelby13, and we continued on together for the last finds of the Big I caches.

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

Finally caught up to Kiwicouple who we had been following around for the previous caches, nice to meet fellow cachers out on the trail. 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. Found after a short search... Thanks southlandicebergs. TFTP and TFTC.

Not luck here for me either.

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

Eight days into January, and we don't have a calendar hanging in the kitchen yet to easily display our dot days, so off shopping it was. While in town, we couldn't resist a McDonald's McFlurry, before claiming a dot. Thanks SIB for helping us achieve our geo dot goals.

Took a quick detour after dinner tonight to avenge a dot day. After a quick scout around I had the cache in hand. TFTC

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

Tftc. Once we found the correct tree we were off and racing.

Found. Full log to come. TFTC.

Quick find. See if i can finish the I over Crhristmas.

Day 3 of a 3 day caching venture with Nosynel. Today's goal is the Big I. Wrather is holding up so we are lucky. Thanks for the puzzle and cache.
#5088

Another cool puzzle and easy find. 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 8017 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.

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.

It wasn't a good idea to eat my lunch on this dusty road....

Cheers for the cache.

TFTC - Out for a bike ride and fill in some dot days. Have had these caches solved for awhile but thought I would save them for my November spaces.

Enjoyed solving

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

Quick park and grab .. very quick! the wind and rain was atrocious! tftc brrrr

Thursday.. almost the end of a working week.
Found this one quite quickly between rain showers, hail showers and gale force sou westerlies.

Tftc

Almost the end of a working week. I think it is just go go go
So home and with tea and dishes done we made a dash out to look for this one
Found this one quite quickly between rain showers, hail showers and gale force sou westerlies.
Now home to the nice warm glow of the fire hope the cat is keeping it going or there will be trouble.
Sure enough the fire supervisor was curled up in front or the fire.
Time for a cuppa and back to the paperwork yay



Thanks for the hide

tftc

Joint [FTF] with Granville86a tftc SIB

Yay a {FTF} 9/10/19 with KNCN. Puzzle solved and container hunted down by the little guys. Logbook signed and cache returned to hide.

Published