Lake Mahinapua (West Coast) Ruatapu, South Island, New Zealand
By Moneydork on 18-Sep-03. Waypoint GCGXJA

Had to do some circles but found her in the end!

Did several loops looking for this even lifted the top of a coms cable be forewarned it ain't that

CaptainVimes and I have crossed the ditch to attend the Geo Toroa mega in Dunedin and tour around the South Island for two weeks.Beautiful tranquil spot and I was careful not to pour any soap or shampoo in the water.Thanks Trigger_Fish and happy caching

Today, I had the pleasure of a chat with one of the reputable fences in the city, Cutter Dolan. Dolans the sort of man who could steal the rings off your fingers while holding a polite conversation about the weather. Claims hes strictly a businessman, mind you, as if selling half the citys stolen goods out of a musty basement is the same as running a bakery. Its incredible, reallythe number of people in Ankh-Morpork wholl tell you theyre perfectly honest right after theyve nicked something off you.

Rattll and I are on a road trip in the South Island. Day 15, started near Haast, heading for Hokitika via Okarito. Not large numbers of caches along the way, so we're picking up what we can as we go. As we get close to Hokitika, the weather is fine and breezy. A side trip into Lake Mahinapua to find a few more caches is in order. At GZ, only a brief search required to find. All good in the container. Signed, and returned as found. Tftc!

Unfortunately the weather isn't the best today, so it'll be a case of doing what we can, when we can .We managed to grab this one without getting too wet, i think the weather's finally on the improve!A quick visit to Lake Mahinapua to grab a few caches. This is a nice area to stretch the legs bit after a lot of driving.This one didn't take too long to track down. Thanks for putting it here.I left an alphabet stone - the letter V

Great find!

My GPSr took me to a point below GZ, so I had to climb up. This made it easy to spot the hint item and the cache. TFTC.

On a whitebaiting trip to the coast. Poor catch so far time for some caches. Thanks

Had us in a bit of pickle walking around in circles! Suddenly we had a plan to read past logs and then we caught on what a great way to get out and enjoy the day TFTC

We popped in here to check out the camping, and did this cache while nearby.Had us scratching our heads for a little while, but then had a brain wave and the cache was in hand.Thanks for the cache Trigger Fish.

Quick find at a beautiful stop off. Tftc

A quick find once getting to the right spot. tftc

Nice area to explore - TFTC

Container and logbook totally wet

So busy with muggles down by the lake, but well out of sight on the little secret path. It took us a while to pinpoint just where gz was, but once there the cache was an easy find. Thanks for placing

After finding the right path it was easy to find with Laira007 the location. The very small container was wet and the logbook sign very tricky. It should be replaced. TFTC

Tftc. Very cool to find. Log too wet.

Quick grab on a west coast road trip. Log book was wet. TFTC

Took a while to find the right level, and then work out the location. After some time hunting in the wrong place I moved a bit along the track and immediately saw the hint object.

Found while staying at the camp for the night.

We stopped at the campground for lunch and then had a wander towards the waterfront. It took a little while to find the right path then the right object wasn't obvious but was just noticeable as we walked along. Log book wet through so picture taken of book. Tftc!

Today before we headed to our next stop, Reefton, we popped over to Ross as we wanted to explore this little town. Then picked up a few as we made our way to Reefton Popped in this area to pick up these three cachesAll found - took some time to find this one but once we got to the right level (from above) it was a quick find TFTC Tim and Viv - ddm

TFTC. Rainy day, logbook soaked. TFTC Greetings from Lithuania

After years on our bucket list and three cancellations due to Covid, we are thrilled to finally be here. Following several cruises we flew from Sydney, Australia to Wellington, New Zealand to begin our next adventure. Picked up our rental vehicle and will be driving, exploring, hiking, and caching both islands for 3.5 weeks. Park had just a handful of muggles today and none were near the cache. Took a minute to figure out where we needed to be to actually start the search. Finally found the container out in the open, down below the actual GZ. NW retrieved it, added our ink to the log, and placed it back at GZ according to the hint. Thanks for adding to our adventure today, Nukeworker and Racquetball Girl, Arkansas, USA

1MinnieMoo parked up in the early morning and headed toward this beast. Thankfully, it came to hand nice and easy. A fantastic place for a cache. Thanks for keeping this old cache alive. TFTC Trigger_Fish

25/9/2023 Find #6606Day 17 of the Fangsoki/1MinnieMoo New Zealand South Island adventure. Todays journey would take us from Hokitika to Nelson. A lot of driving to be done, but before we began the trip towards Nelson, we just had to detour for a couple of older caches in Hokitika first. This was our first. We parked the van and wandered over and up the track. It didnt take long to find the out of place item, and the cache seemed to basically fall out at me. Unfortunately the logbook was very wet. I managed to get our names in but they were barely visible. Thanks for the cache Trigger_Fish.

Tftc

We could not find it today...

We could not find it today...

Tricky find! GPS was a bit out. Cool that it’s been here so long! TFTC!

Don't need to bush bash as much as we did. Accessible from a track or with a short step down.

Found - Mrs McMike2012 & I now live full-time in our caravan & travel the country visiting places we want to visit … we are currently parked up at the DoC Lake Mahinapua Campsite … thought we’d do a few caches in & around the lake … this cache was easily found, log completed & replaced … pleased that this is another relatively old cache … also pleased to add another 'smiley face' to the tally … TFTC ... TN:LN:SL ... #3,892 for us.

I set off to find this one. I noticed the geocache instructions on the ground. Found the brick but no container. Very strange as is the only place for it to hide. I continued on my walk and then approached from below to climb up to the hiding spot and I found the logbook but still no container. I took these back with me and found a container and rehid as per the hint. The container is smaller than the original.

Thanks for placing this cache

Tftc appreciate UT was my 2nd time here looking for it but finally got it ty

Looked but not found

Thanks for your amazing cache. I really appreciate the time you took to set up and maintain your caches.
My #1999
Cheers, Cympull.

??

TFTC, first for the year and for this small holiday trip.

Tftc. Finally on our Christmas mini break after having covid. Nice find. Thanks

Really pretty spot!

TFTac! Such a nice lake

Found the path and gz easy enough. Just took a bit longer to spot the hint object. Not got my glasses on again.

Our first NZ cache, thank you

Evening bike ride from Lake Mahinapua campsite. A few caches picked during the journey. Tftc. Greetings from Finland.

Parked up on the return journey from Hokitika back down south. On a mission to find this oldie on the track. Read some previous logs to get an idea of where to look...I didn't want no DNF here! After mot too long a search found the cache tucked in its nice dry hide. Awesome that this cache is still going after all this time!

Found with nana (wombats_4 she did the research!) ...and spotted the hide high fives for another old on nabbed!

We left this cache until after a walk on the nearby track. We found ourselves near the lake with the GPSr pointing 15m into the bush. There were no tracks marked on our GPsrs, but SW thought there may be another track at a higher level, so I backtracked closer to the toilets and found access to it (although if we had carried on along the track by the lake, we probably would have got to GZ).
A wee bit of toing and froing before we spotted a likely hiding place - nicely hidden. Great to find a good sized container and such an old cache too. Nineteen years and six days after it was originally hidden . TFTC.

#21543. Took a bit of trial and error before we got on to the right path, and the a bit of toing and froing until Troodles spotted the hint object. After that I stepped down and made a quick find. Great to find another old cache (the 14th-oldes unfound South Island cache for me) in such good condition. TFTC.

. 1642. 2:46 pm. I'm glad I had two explorers with me to sus out the right trail. Clue makes sense once the cache is at hand. Found with eKitten and Li0npaw. TFT(Lake)C.

Took a while to find but well worth it. TFTC!

Caching from Greymouth to Hokitika (and beyond) today, with a focus on collecting solved puzzles.
Exploring the area around Lake Mahinapua as we search for a few Confused Duckys. Drove out to the lake carpark and checked the phone - there is another cache here. Made our way towards GZ and spent some time searching before zeroing in on the cache. Always nice to pick up one of the old timers. Thanks.

On our West Coast trip, and enjoying the Lake Mahinapua area, collecting a few caches as we travel/look around. TFTC

Proud of myself for finding this one. We usually stick to just 1.5 difficulty caches. TFTC

Excellent lunch spot for us and the sand flies didn’t make lunch out of us. We checked of the camp sites and might be back someday. There were a couple DNFs so I was a little hesitant to look for this one. Coordinates were spot on for me and it was in the first place I looked. I haven’t had this much luck all trip! Nice hide. Thanks

Couldn’t find it, though believe I found GZ!

We have tried to find this cache on other visits to Hokitika so today's mission was to find you. We looked for 45mins in different directions and sadly had to leave for another commitment. Hopefully one day.

Found on a nice sunny morning

Found while exploring the area. I have passed by this area a few times and wanted to stop for a look. Today the weather was lovely so we stopped in. A quick stop for the cache. Luckily it didn't take too long to spot. TFTC

We had the privilege of having this beautiful spot to ourselves. It took us a little while to locate GZ . All is good with the cache. Swapped TBs. TFTC

A lovely spot. The cache has done well to have survived for so long. An enjoyable walk and hunt. TFTC

Heading from Hokitika to Wanaka today. A big drive with not as many cache stops as previous days of my trip. Did stop at this gorgeous lake for a few minutes and happened to get this cache. Tftc!

This one nearly got the better of us, but when 4Clubs announced there was a path further up, it made more sense. As with the previous cacher I first looked at a different spot, but one which I thought was the perfect place to hide a cache, it turned out I just needed to look a little further along. A great spot for a cache and it is always a bonus to find an old cache. TFTC and gets a fav point from us too.

It took us a while to find. M went alone the first time but he couldn't find it so I went to help and when I got there he found the cache slightly along from where he had looked previously. What a wonderful place this is. A real asset to the West Coast. People were enjoying the lake yachting and swimming in the sunshine.

A little tricky but got there in the end. With Tokerau

Tricky but there by brick.

Good hide. Took a while but found it in the end.

Full log to come

Tftc,awesome place good hide

Thanks FTC, saw a white heron

This one has stood the test of time and I can see why.
Tftc

I picked a more adventurous access route than need be, but got there eventually - and back again. TFTC!!

Found it without to much trouble. TFTC.

On a trip South we were leaving Hokitika and we saw there was a nice old cache here so pulled in just to grab it - got ourselves in the wrong place to start with but geo sense prevailed and before long cache was in hand - log signed - as they say an oldie but a goodie thanks for the cache

Tried with phone but just wasn't cutting it to start. Grabbed gps and returned and observed the area a little closer, mmm there's something there for the needed approach line. Followed the GPS and checked phone and it liked where we were heading. After that it was all go easy find. TFTC

Found after a short hunt. TFTC

Quick easy find Tftc Moneydork

This turned out to be our last cache for today, as we headed down to the lake edge to check it out some young drunk idiots threw half a roll of electrical tape at my car which i thanked them for, we can use it for cache camo. When we got to the beach they'd left a roaring fire burning with knee high flames, we didnt feel comfortable about leaving it unattended so spread out the logs which lowered the flames then used the remaining water in our drink bottles to get the rest of them out. We attemped to refill the bottles from the lake but without getting completely wet feet we didnt get much. As there wasnt a breath of wind and nothing close that could catch alight we felt ok leaving a few glowing embers. Having read the previous logs I wondered if we would find it but I've found enough Moneydork caches to know they are usually well hidden, I looked in one place that fitted the hint and next thing Nanzie called out those magic two words "found it". Happy to have found such an old cache that fills in another blank space in the hidden month grid. Thanks Moneydork #9689

Long overdue caching road trip,heading to hokitika for the long weekend.after checking into my hostel and grabbing a quick lunch it was time to head back out plenty of daylight
Another tricky one, went around the block twice then finally spotted something not quiet right tftc dropped off tb

Zowaar! Staying at this campsite so had a go. Found 2 of 3 caches but not this one. There were a lot of great hiding spots the cache could have been in... Next time maybe. ️

..

Couldn't make it today

Tricky but hubby found it

Brick next to cache as per description. Once up the track then using GPS (within 5m) found it on the way down. Very busy place today.
TFTC
99

Found lots of great geocache hiding spots, but none that had a cache in them. It’s hard without a gps and with the spotty phone reception. Never mind, next time!

This one took us a while of going up and down until I spotted something and we went for a closer look. Cache was found and TB left behind. tftc

#4780. 1 of 8 for today.
[Sincere apologies for the delayed logging. Life ... a global pandemic ... and life got in the way. Better late than never.]

**Cache Specific Log**
We knew that today was going to be a long day, and we were fortunate to make it a bit further last night than originally planned. So, we spent the night here rather than a bit further south. Had a gorgeous sunset last night and then headed over to GZ in the morning to look for this cache. Spent far too long following the GPS bounce before resetting and starting anew - then it was a relatively quick find.

**Generic Trip Log**
A wedding anniversary to celebrate - provides a convenient excuse for a longer than usual vacation. So 3 weeks and travel to Australia and New Zealand sounds like an excellent plan. General itinerary is as follows:
2 October: Depart from home with a layover in Houston, TX
4 October (long flight + time zones = lost day): Arrive in Sydney
4-7 October: Sydney
7-15 October: New Zealand South Island
16-21 October: New Zealand North Island
21-23 October: Sydney
23 October: Fly home through Vancouver, Canada
Saw a ton and had an absolutely wonderful time. Can't wait to make it back here!

Logged from [cachetur.no](https://cachetur.no)
[cachetur.no](https://cachetur.no) Ambassador

Had to laugh on this one - came up from the bottom and whats out of place is not what the hint is written for. TFTC

Easy find thanks.

2019-03-23, Found it on my trip with Elouan and Tiphie from Christchurch to Auckland! My #19. cache at NZ . Thank you very much! Great place for relaxing and stay over night! Greatings from Germany

great place to put in a cache. found without any swaps in the cache.

Thought this was going to be a DNF but then realised we were on the wrong path when we spotted something that fitted the hint object. Great to find a good sized cache.

After a small break on this nice place, I found this cache.

TFTC

Tilo2000

New Zealand 2019.
Quick find.
TFTC Castor & Pollux
21/1/2019 16.20 h.

On our trip thru NZ we visit a lot of places and see many spectacular locations.
This cache was one of our stopps thanks a lot to the owner.
TFTC
Schmerzbefreit

1x TB in

Enjoyed our visit to this lake. Saw a white heron fishing at the lake edge. Nice hide thanks Moneydork.

First for 2019. Not such a great for swimming today, so a bit of geocaching was in order. Tftc

What a lovely and quiet place.
Wonderful lake.
TFTC

While exploring the South Island, I found this cache. After sleeping at the camp site I found this box erarly in the morning.

Thanks a lot for the cache!

This is a Pre-Log, a detailed text will follow!