A2O Benmore No 1 Waitaki District, South Island, New Zealand
By drawp on 18-Feb-21. Waypoint GC96CQT

Upping the find count on the A2O

We started our beautiful journey through the South Island in Christchurch. Here we went on a big sightseeing tour and visited lots of caches. We then travelled via Lake Tapeko, Dansey Pass and Moeraki to Dunedin for the MEGA event. In Dunedin we visited the MEGA events and together with many other cachers we found many caches around Dunedin. A few days later, we travelled on through the Catlins to the southernmost part of Bluff. We then visited Te Anau and the tourist town of Queenstown. In Wanaka we went on another sightseeing tour until we reached the west coast via the Haast Pass. We hiked to Fox Glacier and Franz Josef Glacier.We continued along the west coast up to Westport, stopping at various sights along the way. Richmond and Nelson, the sunniest cities, were also on our list.A few days later we reached the east coast again in the wine region of Picton and Blenheim.After a few days, we travelled back to Christchurch via Kaikoura.We visited many geological sites, completed many adventure cahes and found many caches along the way.We travelled almost 3500 km and had so many great experiences.Many thanks to all the ownersTeam sissifalke

Fun

We are staying at Omarama and had a perfect day to head towards Benmore Power Station on our bikes bagging caches on the way. Many thanks for placing them in interesting places.

Thanks for the placement

Had to educate the children on what a stay is.

Found it

We were disgusted to find the track closed here as we hadn't cycled the "new" bit. We ditched our bikes and walked in to find this cache. Thanks for the placement drawp.

Yes I did find it but this section of the trail closed had to walk in .. cache is all good thanks Drawp

Day5 on the A20 cycle ride from Omarama to Otematata (38km). The weather started off cool and cloudy but was soon scorching hot. A quick find here before getting back on our bikes and heading off down the trail. TFTC

A nice quick find, first on the trail. Thanks for placing your cache.

Ms_KR and I are off on a wee drive to Invercargill and back. Today we cruised down the Waitaki, and I biked the Sailors Cutting to Lake Benmore trail. It was really cool, as I canoed this part of the lake a few years back with KiwiLegend. The day was a bit damp, but not enough to stop me. Homeward bound after the biking.

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

Thanks drawp for placing caches along this section of the trail. Enjoyed riding this newer section today - great weather and lots of caches. Perfect.

After 2 and a half hours, have completed this section of the A2O picking up all the caches. Thanks drawp

Nice day to walk the track, just a bit chilly.

Found it after cycling Sailors Cutting to Benmore and return. Nice Stay.

Thanks for hiding a cache here

Quick easy find.TFTC

Day 2 of our A2O odyssey. A short day, Omarama to Otematata due to the number of caches that needed to be found.
Onto our next caching section. A quick find. TFTC

Ever since the portion of the A2O trail between Sailors Cutting and the Benmore Dam opened late last year I have been looking forward to riding it. Today, after overnighting in Omarama, I decided to pause my caravan journey at Sailors Cutting for a few hours and ride to the dam and back, collecting all of drawp's newly placed geocaches. Nice easy find at this cache to start the ride. Thanks for the placement drawp.

Short stroll form Sailors Cutting. Nice easy find.

I was intending to head up through Pukaki and Tekapo but while waiting for my lunch at Omarama I decided to head along here instead. More cache along this road and I just learned this week that I'll be back in Tekapo in November. So time to sign off a few more of this series. Fell for the decoy at the other hint item before getting to the right place. TFTC # 17,641

So decided to give the new Ebike another test and tackle this trail to grab a few caches, the morning was not to bad weather wise. one down - Many Thanks Bitsprayer

After doing 2 to 7 we decided to bike to number one as our car was parked between 1 and 2. Cache all good. TFTC drawp

TFTC looking forward to the new bike track and picking up some caches along the way

This was the main aim on this trip to do this trail and it didn't disappoint

This was a small blip on our otherwise complete row of smilies, so it had to be sorted. Made a brief trip to remedy this, got there and -horror of horrors: no pen! However, after emptying the contents of my back pack all over the grass, I located one deep in the pocket of my waterproof jacket, and the day was saved. Thanks for this one.

In Omarama with BCD and our Saturday mission was to bike the A2O from Omarama to Otemetata. A lovely sunny autumn day made for great views along the way TFTC

Staying in omarama for the weekend for a long overdue caching road trip with kjr.
On the bikes for a ride along the new section..gonna be a cracker of a day
New section officially complete...doing the first one last as we had parked up near the next cache and came for this one on our return to the truck tftc

Had a great ride from the Glenburn campground (closed for winter) to Otematata and back getting all 15 Benmore caches on the way. A great ride and excellent caches all in good condition.

Great bike ride thanks for hiding

Once we had finished the walk by the Benmore Dam we came here for a short bike ride. The wind had certainly picked up. All good here. Thanks for placing.

Not far to the campground now - important to get there so we can say we've done the whole section. Once there, we photographed the track map and walked past the caretaker's caravan to a lakeshore seat with a view for lunch. There is also a drinking water tap by the caretaker's section. Then time for the return journey.

WISH I had realised before we went that there are hint photos on some of the caches!

Quick find to start the ride.

Collecting a few caches on a really enjoyable ride, and a great track. TFTC

A very pleasant ride along the new section with nzser. Lots of great views, and caches. TFTC.

Notes later

Was going to ride this secton tomorrow then saw that new caches were to be found. Great track , empty logbooks, fine weather, hard climbs. Happy days.

Published