Speldhurst Country Estate (Levin) Ohau, North Island, New Zealand
By woolwood9 on 22-Jul-20. Waypoint GC8X3WQ

Super easy find tftc.

TFTCSuper easy to find.

What a massive change in use this one is! Certainly an improvement, visually, but I expect those 700 patient beds have disappeared into the ether, never to be sen again... Nice hide, took me a little while to find as there was a fairly constant stream of traffic at what I would have expected to be a quiet time of day, as well as a surprising number of cars in and out of the Estate - it's clearly popular.TFTC woolwood9, in an area I wouldn't have stumbled across alone, so thanks for bringing me here

Found it super easy

With the Cannonball events over, it's time to find a few caches with rebel98 Thanks for the hide

Funfi d with rustynz, thanks

Nice quick park n grab

Another quick find after a great day geocaching in Levin. Thanks for all your caches Woolwood9.

Day 4 of our caching trip to Palmerston North area with HeMaLuDy, UncleSamNZ, Keylev, and myself, signing in as SEAC or TEAM SEAC to save logbook space. A big thanks to all the CO's for cache placement and maintenance, making this trip the success that it was.TFTC.

A small group of us from Team SEAC consisting of Keylev, Stik-A-Crane, Uncle Sam and ourselves had come down from Auckland to spend the long weekend caching in the Manawatu area. The plan was to get as many as possible. Along the way we had some great adventures, many laughs, met some interesting people and found a wide selection of caches. Signed SEAC to save space on the log. TFTC.This was day 4 of our trip and we headed South from our accommodation caching down SH 1 to Levin and back through the towns to Himatangi.A nice quick find here. Interesting to see the site being reinvented.

Day #4 of the Team SEAC extra long weekend little road trip for Labour Weekend.Was a bit worried about parking here but needn't have been as there is adequate space to park, jump out, quick find and sign before moving on.Thanks for the cache.

Small group of caching buddies drove down from Auckland for the long weekend, and headed for Palmerston North area. Sorry for the generic posts, but we had so many caches to find.Had a great time, with so many laughs. Thanks to all the Cache owners who placed the caches.This was day 3 of our trip.All logs signed "SEAC" or "Team Seac"

Heading up to PN we managed to stop for this. TFTC

Did I drive or ride the geomobile right up to this one, tftc

Quick easy find SL TFTC

TFTC - log number 200

#98 3rd cache on my Levin run. Cool consistency with the hides. TFTC.

Heading home from Palmy after EtherLord's Easter event. Stopped to make this find, as I don't often go by on this side of the road. Still parking a bit precarious. Fortunately a quick find. All good, signed, and soon on my way again. Tftc!

Chasing caches for a couple of number challenges (Wheel of Challenges and Masters series) with TrinityNZ. On our way home after the big day we decided to throw some extras into the mix.
What an interesting history this spot has - i wonder if there are any ghosts of the past hanging around?
A quick park and grab and we were off. TFTC

I’m out and about on this fine Easter Sunday with JustLookingOO and matagouri. We headed north of Foxton to work towards some challenges, including 100 finds in April and 50 finds in one day. Having achieved the 50 finds today, we’ve headed back down south, dropping off matagouri on the way.

JLOO and I parked up outside the estate and walked back to GZ. It didn’t take too long to find the hidden cache. I’ve seen a few of these now, which makes things easier.

Thanks woolwood9 for the cache.

“Exploring hidden treasures in the great outdoors with a sense of adventure!”

**17,768**
A very swanky looking place, thankfully the cache was a quick find so the residents weren’t bothered by our presence for too long. TFTC

I've lost count of the number of times I've passed GZ but haven't been able to stop to search - either towing a trailer, or on a timed Cannonball Run or under other travel time pressures.
Today did not have any of these pressures, and so the cache was claimed. Good to have this one ticked off. Thanks

Out today with [JordanD125](https://www.geocaching.com/p/?guid=d447c422-3a9c-47f1-8ab9-9610b3913050) doing a bit of last minute Christmas shopping for geocache finds.
Our 12th and final cache of the day and I couldn't have asked for a better location as we had planned to call in and visit my sister at Speldhurst before returning home to Kapiti for dinner.
A nice quick find at the first "likely looking" position we tried.
TNLNSL TFTC

Out on a Pre Christmas adventure with Hamish.D
We werent happy with 11 for the afternoon so had to stop for one more. Parked a few metres from GZ where we made a speedy find. TFTC
All done for the day, Cheers Hamish.d!

Found while visiting friends from Nelson now living in beautiful Speldhurst. TFTC woolwood9.

A nice hide here, parked nearby and headed to GZ. Considering it's a retirement village there was an incredible amount of vehicle traffic in and out the gate while I was there! Maybe they were off on caching road trips?

Although it's been a long 3-day weekend for most today is the first real chance I've had to nip out for some caching action. I was on 24 hour duty from Saturday til Sunday morning and as soon as I got home yesterday I was straight into tidying the section and gardening chores. Off out before 7 this morning and back home just after 1.30 pm so some time for a few finds. 22 today and some goodies in there including the (almost) pensioner cache D.U.N.E down at Waikawa Beach. Thanks to all COs for their hides.

Nice & easy park & grab, slow traffic day so great time to nab this one. TFTC

Nice quick park and grab. Tftc

Didn’t have a pen so took a photo

Down in Levin for the second round of training at my customer. This was the evening shift meaning I had all morning to drive around and do some caching. The weather even played ball and it didn't rain so managed to stay dry.

Quick easy find even with all the road works and a work truck parked 30 odd meters away.

TFTC

After picking up my friend Bryan from his sister's place in the Estate, I had a quick stop & look for this cache, but couldn't spot it. Co-ordinates seemed a bit jumpy. I will be back!

Stopped here for lunch at the cafe on site. Saw there was a cache at the front great so had to check it out on the way out.

The one way traffic on this road at the moment made it easier to grab the cache between traffic. Turned out to be a quick find in a hide I have used on some of my caches. Signed log and left as found.

Thanks for placing this cache here woolwood9, and sharing the fascinating history this area has.

Just remembered we grabbed this cache on the way to TwigNZ Cannonball Rally, my cousin Janine who is the same age as me was a resident here until her death a few years ago, never did meet her, tftc woolwood9

Great cache found quick and easy tftc

A quick park and grab after leaving TwigNZ's weekend of events based at Kimberley Reserve. TFTC

Grabbed this cache while on the way to Levin from TwigNZ's Kennedy Park events, as TaybeeNZ needed to go into town for a new tyre, saving blown out the sidewall of one, and rightfully not wanting to drive around without a spare tyre.

I used to work at MidCentral DHB when this was Kimberly Hospital, a centre for the mentally disabled or whatever the current euphemism is. Earlier than that it was an air force training base - RNZAF Base Wereroa. Kimberly Centre used the air force buildings, still had the parade ground. When I saw Kimberley it was a very tired looking hospital, with all of the original air force buildings in a holding pattern waiting for the land to be sold. Now, the only original structure that remains is the curved road in. The airfield itself was across the road, now a horticultural research centre. I do remember seeing some of the half-round nissan huts, but they too are gone now.
The air base did some bomber pilot and officer training, and a number of ground skills - radio, administration, armament.

Thanks Wilma for pointing me in the right direction. Tftc

After a brief meet and greet and setting up camp at the lovely Kimberley Reserve we headed into Levin for something to eat. provisions at the supermarket and some night caches. We were driving past this one so stopped off to sign the log. Interesting history listed in the description thanks woolwood9. TFTC # 18,062

I've heard about Kimberley Hospital plenty of times through my job but I never knew where it was, now I do. After checking in to the Kimberley Meet & Greet Event we were on our way into Levin to get some food then to Foxton to do some night caching. Nice quick find here. Thanks woolwood9

#11808

Came up this way on my bike. I have no idea why half the road is closed off, but it certainly makes riding up this way nice and easy on the bike, especially without any following traffic. Nice quick find at the GZ, cheers

Nice easy find on the way to Wellington.TFTC

Clever find! Not where you would think!

Nice hide, road rather busy today

Nice easy find

Found after lunch nearby.

Easyfind tftc

A nice and easy park and grab on our way home. Thanks for placing the cache

We have driven along this road many times, and finally today was the day to stop and make the quick easy find of the nicely hidden cache. TFTC

Quick find.

TFTC

Easy find. Needs new dry log sheet.

Nice quick find on a beautiful sunny day TFTC!

TFTC

Nice easy grab

Fast and simple I like it thankyou

Easier when you know what you're looking for! Nice quick park and grab

On my way back to Wellington from Wanganui and with the slow moving traffic on SH1 due to flooding I decided to pop up here for a cache and a break. No problem finding the cache, safe and dry. TFTC.

While down here once again i went a little further on to Sleldhurst and now signed the log here - having located the cache previously . it was a straight forward find although had to wait until a string of traffic had past before returning it to it safe little hidey hole .
Thank you for this straight forward cache . all was well here at the cache site .

This was a straightforward find while passing through the area today. Thanks very much for the cache.

I thought I was here early enough in the morning for there not to be too much traffic but I was wrong about that. I didn't help matters by searching in the wrong place to begin with. Before too long, my GPSr pointed to a slightly different location which made perfect sense and I was able to take care of the paperwork.

#12,490. A nice park and grab on State Highway 57 (Kimberley Road) in Levin. Interesting history. GZ was all quiet at the time of our visit. Relatively quick find. The cache was in good condition, all nice and dry inside. Took nothing, left nothing, signed log.

Thanks for the placement, and for bringing us to this site, and …

.T h a n k s. .f o r. .t h e. .c a c h e.
.M a u r u u r u. .k o e. .n u i. .a t u. .h o k i. .t e. .k e t e r o k i.

Out and about with Ethness, soon found by hubby. Signed log as TEAMLE.

Found this on the way to the CITO. TFTC

After attending the local CITO at Kimberley Reserve, Phronimos and I ventured around all of Levin to find the best of the best in this town as well as a few others that were along the way. It was great fun to go out geocaching with another geocacher and we were able to find some really clever hides.

We thought that we should quickly collect this park-n-grab on our way around Levin. Quick and easy to find and lovely little area. TFTC!

This cache was just down the road from our weekend camping and geocaching adventure at Kimberley Reserve, so couldn't really pass by without grabbing it.
So this was where Kimberley Hospital was located. Thanks for bringing us here and TFTC

Parked up for the night at Kimberley reserve down the road. Wide open space for a great overnight stay. This cache was on the way back to Levin. Quick find and log all fine. Thanks for the smiley.

9.35am. Have been in here when it was operating (not as a patient) And have been back a few times since as friends now live here. It may just be the best retirement village in the country. Every house has a good size section. The find was quick and third in a row of this type today. I had better award a favourite point!
Thank you David.

Another easy find hidden exactly as I do it
And tape around it

We're down here in Levin for a dog tracking seminar that GAR is participating in while I am taking the opportunity to cache somewhere new. On my way to a mystery cache solve I noticed I was coming passed this cache so decided to stop. Thanks for the history lesson - this place looks nothing like that now. Quick find, just trying to retrieve and replace while there were no cars coming passed was more of an issue than I had thought it would be - where did all those cars come from so suddenly? Always feel more conspicuous when I am by myself as it is. Thanks for placing woolwood9!

A nice easy find, thanks for the little detour and for placing this cache

Last one of eight located on our drive home from Morrinsville to Wellington today. We were able to travel at a more leisurely pace on our return trip than on our way up, thus having more time to pick up a few caches along the way. Decided to stop for this one after picking up our dog from the nearby kennels. A quick find and my last cache for 2020! 604 caches all up for the year. #3596. TFTC.

Quick park and grab thanks.

Talla64 and I are out and about doing a bit of caching on the first official day of summer. Although very windy, it's quite pleasantly warm. With eight of woolwood9's caches to find today, this one was the first. A nice easy find. Thank you for placing a cache here, now on to the next one.

Out and about with Flowerydaze catching up on several Caches in the Levin area placed by woolwood9. This was the first one we found. All good here nice and dry after the storm. TFTC

I quick duck over to levin to do a spot of caching after seeing a fair few pop up of late, managed a good haul before heading home again after a couple of hours, thanks for the placement - cache all in good order

(# 6299). A trip to Levin this morning to grab some caches. A quick find. Everything in order. TFTC

Took off my Superman cape I needed for the previous cache I found and dressed in my best suit and tie to have enough class to be accepted around here (just kidding.)
A quick easy find.
TFTC and also because this qualifies me for a new Ancient Wonders souvenir.

We decided to make the little diversion between picking up the two new caches today to grab this one as well.
A nice quick find since we were able to park right next to GZ.
Thanks for sharing with us the interesting time line associated with this area, and for putting a cache here

26 September 2020 09:39 8524 first cache of the day. Caching brain obvious not at full speed ss i searched everywhere I didn't need to before spotting the obvious. Tftc.

#8407. Headed up today from Wellington to attend the GC event at Ohau celebrating the arrival of daylight saving. Travelling with Infoferret. We parked across the road and headed over to GZ. IF started checking one area and I checked the area where the GPS was pointing but couldn't see anything. After widening the search and looking around in what seemed the most likely places, we read a few logs that indicated it was a quick and easy find. IF then headed over to where I had started looking and plucked the cache from its hiding spot. I could blame the sun angle, poor eyesight, anything really but how did I miss that as that was exactly the type of hide I was looking for!! Signed the log and replaced where found. Thanks woolwood9 for hiding it here. And thanks for the history of the site. I was aware of its recent history as a work friend had a sibling who lived at the Kimberley Centre for many years before it closed. Quite sad really seeing how it evolved over the years.

Spiderhouse and Kiwirupen teamed up to go geocaching while the men were in their meeting and some of the other ladies were content with their coffee and cake. After coffee at the The George Cafe this one was on our way out and was a combined effort.

Thanks woolwood9.

TFTC

A quick park grab on my way home from Otaki. Thanks woolwood9 for the cache.

cool spot cheers

Found out with woolwood9 and tmann421

Thanks woolwood9 for placing this cache

It was all quiet here at 0120 as I drive home from Wellington.

I like this style so giving it a Favourite point

Who would have thought that if you want to visit some Wonders of the World you would go to Levin, Horowhenua, New Zealand? But that's the weird and wonderful world of geocaching for you!
Even though the weather was not so promising today we experienced no problems - there were the odd spits of rain but mostly it was fine, mild and calm - perfect caching weather in fact.
Many thanks to woolwood9 for placing a number of caches recently in Levin. We're certainly getting to know many little aspects of the town. We got all six caches we sought today and were able to complete the Modern Wonders souvenir requirements as well as get 2/3 of the Ancient Wonders credited to us. [:)

This cache was a quick, straightforward find. TFTC.
As it was near lunchtime and we'd heard there was a good cafe here, we decided to drive on in. This area now couldn't be further from the barracks type style of the old accommodation - it's full of elegant, very comfortable looking homes. We enjoyed our lunch at the The George Cafe ( very aptly named for Mr G!). Thanks for bringing us here woolwood9.

Very nice find while in the area today.
This location is really changing and thanks for bringing me to find the cache.
Appreciate your new caches around Levin.

SL TFTC

We drive by here often and have watched the changes over the years. Neatly hidden and thanks woolwood9 for the detailed historical information.

Generic Log for todays caching. Target today was the Stickman series with Barefoot Guru. We left early in the morning to head up to Palmy, with a focus on puzzle caches not too far off the road that we had solved. Enjoyed the day and got back well after 8pm. Most caches in good condition. Thanks for the caches. Quick and easy find.

A quick find on our way past. Fancy estate, cheers ww9!

A family day trip to Palmerston North wouldn't be complete without picking up caches along the way. After an early lunch at Twig's favourite event hangout we were on our way. As we were passing by this relatively new one we stopped here. I parked inside the gates (where I'm not sure I was allowed to). Wandered over to where the GPS was pointing me and found the cache with relative ease. All good here. TFTC

Quick trip up to Levin to collect a few of the new caches. This was the first -a bit of a juggle to park given the lack of shoulder and some very fast traffic, then a quick find-and-sign. TFTC.
Have watched this location develop from a special-needs home, to a derelict pile of buildings, to what now looks like a thriving enclave.

A QEF while in Levin this afternoon. TFTC

A quick stop off for this one on my way home after the event in Sanson.
TFTC

Called here this morning on the way north to the event cache near Sanson. A quick find in the second place checked - this area has certain;y changed a lot in the last few years! Signed log, TFTC

Yes I think that's the one. I am not sure if that CO worked there, I think I was confusing it with some other connections from an unrelated interest.

Another Dot Day, and another local cache to help me fill it. I'll consider that a close 2nd prize to missing out on the race for the FTF lol!

I grabbed it quickly on my way into work this morning. No issues finding it, or being able to sign it without being noticed.

Thanks for another local placement woolwood9

PS I'm wondering if Robnzh is referring to GC2NK2C ?

As there is a Speldhurst Park in Stokes Valley I was curious to know if the names were connected. Thanks to http://www.svn.co.nz/svn/2002June/svhistory06.html I was able to find out that Speldhurst was the name of a property (which was located at what is now Speldhurst Park) owned by early occupants of SV, who named it after an English village.

The cited page refers to a book on Speldhurst and the related family history. So the subdividers have maybe done the same as the family and used the name of the village, or could be using the name in recognition of the name as used in SV.

Congratulations to the FTFer.

I recall that there was a cache around here in the Kimberley days.

As I never had a chance to attempt it I don't have details. I think its CO might have worked there but I may be wrong.

Not sure if or when I am likely to get a chance to do the present cache but thanks for drawing attention to the developments here, I was unaware of them.

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