Raincliffe Rock Drawings (South Canterbury) Opuha, South Island, New Zealand
By wjbwc on 23-May-04. Waypoint GCJGPF

sorry, will close this one and leave it to another cacher to set a cache in the area.

We did do a pretty good search for this one but no luck today. Even got a GZ down to 1m in a difficult location. Perhaps it has gone missing as other searchers ahead of us also have had no success here?

Gave it a good go - but no joy.

Interesting location but no luck for us today. Many possible hiding places and not very pleasant search conditions with blackberry and bush lawyer mixed in with the ivy. Definitely more than a 1 star difficulty.

[This entry was edited by Zorgon on Sunday, October 11, 2009 at 10:55:56 PM.]

YIPPEE!!!!
After much searching around under plenty of ivy etc. we've found it on our second attempt. Weather complete opposite to last time - very cold and frosty which helped keep the frustration under control. Toughest cache to find so far - will sleep easy tonight. TNLN

Two of has a very good look around, to no luck. I found a great spot for the cach, at the spot where clue is give the hiding place, under the rock beside the path.

Out doing the rounds of local caches. In this sort of location your GPS nearly always throws a wobbly. I headed straight ahead along the path and was stopped at a fence so it couldn't be that way surely. So went off at the right angle and found it quickly looking back to see how far I had come. TFTC

[A bit of persistence paid off today, we spent a fair while hunting around in spots that I didn't try last time I DNF'd it. the previously mentioned GPS hints put me about 20m from the cache once we found it. We had another look at the drawings and I still can't see much to them.

Liberated the TB stuck in here and went on our merry way with a happy smile. An extra bit of info for those still hunting - ] We found it 8m from the gate lock at the lower rock drawings [ Thanks.]

I see the last three logs have been DNFs too. But others insist it's here. GPS was consistently taking me to a spot but it bore no relationship to the hint. Never mind.

Couldn't find this one at all. Was hampered slightly by nearby muggles inspecting rock drawings at a snails pace. Maybe next time.

oh dear, very hot day, tempers flaring and lots of head scratching going on. went up and down and all over but to no avail. lots of new undergrowth - that's our excuse. we will be back

Another DNF on this one. Evan Moneydork and Pohutukawa who were with me weren't able to find it... Cheers Gav

[Yay Finally found it It took ages and like Mr ADV said I too should have trusted the GPS right from the approach to the area. Shame weather hasn't been kind to these drawing (or is it some home handy mans idea of a piss take ???

I didn't realise until I logged this cache (Nearly 1 month after my visit) that this was cache #600 for Team Chelmo! Double yay us

+ Geocaching Wrist band
- 5c Euro

TFTC

BIG HINT:] Have your GPS in hand and watch it closly as you approach GZ, coverage at GZ is poor but as you approach from the clear it will indicate distance and direction. Reception at the cliffs is useless, don't trust your GPS, remember what it was telling you as you approached. The listing clue may help you (or not)

#10 for the day. The rock drawings in the upper section were really cool. Shame about the lower section. Thanks for bringing us here. Car TB couldn't quite make it to cache, but keewee did. Dropped in Erin the Fairy TB as this is a magical place. TFTC.

This cache took us ages to locate. We tried almost everywhere around both drawing locations. I'm not known for posting negative comments (so please don't take these as such), but I feel the need to say something here, please take this as constructive criticism - we found the hint quite ambiguous as it suggested to us that the cache was quite close to the path - not as far away as it was. (As others have obviously found also, given the number of DNFs) With the sketchy GPS coverage I'd suggest that the hint needs to be very clear please. (Has the location of the cache changed over time?)

We spent a long time looking for this one. Finally located by Team Chelmo just as we were all about to give up. - jumping bean, + bag keyring

Oh boy, I really struggled with this one. Not so my GPSr though, just a pity I didn't believe it earlier. Seems I made what turned out to an incorrect assumption that it would be wrong so close to the rock.
Disappointed with the drawings however, nothing actually to see at the lower one and hardly excited by the drawings at the top one. Fascinated by the fact that people possibly once lived here though, or at least sought some shelter.
Good challenge to find this one, many thanks.

It took quite a while to find it, but with help of the hint, I finally spotted it.
TFTC

No luck here, spent a while in the drizzle trying to find it but no dice. Oh well, next time.

Rain cliff indeed! It was bucketing down and those cliffs channel it all down right on top of an unsuspecting cacher. High motivation for a quick find, the search wasn't subtle but very effective! Thanks.

After reading the hint properly it was a quick find.

Did not find and boys where bored! Did not help that we went the long way around between the previous two caches. More than doubling the time and distance needed.
GPS at this cache never got closer than 40m and even with clue had no luck.

Thanks for showing us these rock drawings. This is the second set of rock drawings we have been brought to because of geocaching. I was not really aware that New Zealand had any at all.

been past a few times meaning to stop and look i did but couldnt find i new i was looking in the rite place but didnt have clue on me so gave up there was so much new ground growth i thought ild just come back another day! great spot be good to find!

Found it!

We have driven past here before but not stopped until today.

We thought this might be a long search, but it was not too bad as it turned out.
The clue is true, but can also be misleading.
+ a marble, - nothing.

[This entry was edited by alsjfs on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 at 9:39:02 PM.]

Finally found it in the dark Loved the drawings TNLNSL TFTC

A very well presented area - good paths and really bad reception at the point of finding. Great spot though. Historic. CHeers. T4TC, TNLN.

Didn't take that long to find. I only tried 4 bushes! Pen is broken, so could only scratch my message. Didn't have suitable replacement.

Next cacher - take a spare pen.

TNLN.

Passed here 9 years ago, and recalled the disappointment of this site then. Still the same today, as only the upper site has the drawings, and the lower one seemed bare.
The stick figure in red and the dog in black do look a bit like graffiti, but I understand they are genuine.
As to the cache... well with 12m margin of error against the rock overhands, and such a mess of undergrowth the hunt exceeded our 20 minute limit. Unfortunately the hint was too general to be able to aid the hunt at all.
More caches to visit, so reluctedly moved on.

Had to use the clues and had just about given up when we found it... TFTC

Phew - Found with 1006 but took a good deal of guile and cunning...and persistance

Fourth cache of the day with Beeba. This took us much longer and thought we might not find it. Well hidden and no sign of red on box. The box must have been changed since origonal clue written. Managed to find spot using two GPS, one from top and one from bottom. Did you see the brass rubbing outside the gate? There are a few of those around South Canterbury. Thanks

Eventually! The GPS was no use whatsoever, no coverage or +/- 30m accuracy, so we ditched it and tried to find the cache using the hint. That still left a huge area to search with only two of us. (Suggest you take a team of helpers with you.) After about an hour, just as it was getting dark and we were getting too tired, scratched and grumpy to continue, we found it. TNLN Thanks.

Cache is all fixed new Camo 1L water proof container, and is Hidden a bit better

Bitsprayer

Took a bit to find given GPS wander. Not too much to see but interesting none the less. Cache is still wet as we tipped a bit of water out. TNLN.

Contents very wet, including the logbook. We found it out in the open. The creeper has all been removed, so there's nowhere to hide it. I guess whoever removed the creeper left it behind. I'd suggest finding another spot to hide it. We were a bit disappointed that we couldn't see any drawings - other than recent grafitti. Nice drive in the area. TNLN, Thanks.

Found this one easily sitting out in open re-hid it contents of this cache wet. Nice drive and walk.

A most interesting spot with lovely rock formations. Pity about the need for the big steel grilles. Overhanging rock eats GPS for breakfast. So this one took a bit of finding. And the cache contents were a bit damp - perhaps a snaplock container and silica gel would help. No swaps, thanks and cheers from Grandalf(456)

Just Sir Rick out hunting today.
We've been here a couple of times in months gone by; but we had no GPS then, so a bit reluctant to searching-in-earnest, being unsure if we were in the right spot.
Today, however, with our new Etrex, although the overhang and trees prevented the GPS from working close to the spot, at least I knew I was looking in the general area.
Found with relative ease.

TNLN - cheers Wendy and Geoff.

Nice area of the country. Thanks for the cache. TNLN.

Found this one on a trip home to Tekapo picked up travel bug. Sorry for the delay loging visit.

Bit of hunting for this one.
TNLN
Didn't see TB, and no record in book of it going.

Excellent hiding place. FOund without difficulty.
- Batmobile
+ TB
TFTC
Happy new year
Conton

There were drawings??? That explains the grates. We had no details just the co-ordinates found cache after a while, water had got in though and the pen didn't work (spent longer looking for pen in the car than I did on the cache).

2nd attempt. Found it. Yea! Used an external aerial and managed to kept satellite lock all the time. Note: the hint is very vague – it can mean a variety of things depending on if and when you lose gps coverage. Coords are fairly exact. The cache was within 2m of my GZ. Cache was a little damp. Dried it out and left some silica gel. TN. Thanks wjbwc. Cheers.

We visited while staying at Pioneer Park, quite a hunt in the bushes

I wish I had read some of the earlier logs before attempting this cache. I spent over 30 minutes trying to find the cache with little help from the GPS (can't provide accurate locations when half the sky is obscured) and the hint wasn't helpful at all. I thought I had looked for red things under all the little green bushes in the area the hint suggested, but to no avail. So a bit frustrating really. Cheers Gav

This was the first Did Not Find of 23 cache visits on the "Bucko Boys South Canterbury Road Trip". Buckomama sent the boys away for three days so she could do some work in peace!!!!
Sadly we looked for quite some time. Didn't have the "luck" of the last cacher!

Well we found it after some amount of searching, tried the clue but that wasnt much help either. Was just luckly that we managed to stumble onto it. TNLN Cheers

Amazing rock/limestone formation, indeed. Great spot, thanks.

Another one in the bag, my son found this one in less than a minute of arriving here.

I have attached some photos that show that there are drawings here, but not at the one with the Geocache is located. You have to go to the other one further up the track...

Fluked this one without resorting to hint.
+Pen
-Pig
Sam & Jan

Finally! Papa Bear was relieved to finally find this one, and still wishes that the rock painting were actually _visible_ to've added some value to these repeated and extended visits!

Hints for other cachers having trouble finding this cache (and many will have trouble because A. the clues are so general they leave a possible GZ 30 metres by about 5 metres strip covered in undergrowth/forest litter, and B. the cache has no satelite coverage) Mama Bear got a fix on the spot by walking along the road and found the exact point on the overhang where the GPS went: "Zing: it's over there!" The first(and other)finder(s) put some helpful info in their logs. The Bears took that info and looked around that particular 5-metre strip close to the end of the rock face and Papa Bear_Left FINALLY found it.



[This entry was edited by Bear_Left on Sunday, October 10, 2004 at 8:38:31 PM.]

The gps, hints and previous logs didn't help. Saw nothing red.

Finally found this elusive cache with the help of the extended clue!
- card keyring + star cutter.
Thanks
Iris & Rodney

Another nice spot the sun was shining right in under the rock.We had a nice cuppa in the car park.
This is to be the last of our six for the day.
Thanks wjbwc
Took Knucklebones left playing cards keyring

Jolden & Gang

Got here before Jolden as they had locked their keys in the car at Hanging Rock.
Moneydork Jnr (Blake) found this one.
+ Hand Blasters
- Dinosaur

Thanks wjbwc.

Found the cache, with the help of the clue, GPS was having a hard time under the rock over hang..



-0

Many Thanks Bitsprayer

Harpic Van travel Bug & Insp Gadget Travel bug visited this cache

Found this cache. Needed to look at the ivy like ground covering round the tree roots - turned out it was a small tree - not a big one.
- 2 TB's

[I was sort of passing...
Wendy's updated clue (]Check the undergrowth to the right of the path when twenty feet (approx) from the overhang.[) didn't tally with the GPSr or the location, so I got a further clue (well, statement of where it is!) from Jeff which would be (suitably oraculised) ]Once you've walked along looking at (or for!) the rock drawings, you can turn around and start looking in the undergrowth for the cache.[

The clue tallied with the mean position the GPSrs pointed at, and was somewhere that the Sallies and I had already spent a bit of time on, so I spent another happy 1 minutes scratching around, to no avail.

This area looks like it's been sprayed for blackberries sometime in the past, and the indicated area is mostly dead vegetation now. Could it have been since the cache was placed, exposing it and getting it taken?
(Or am I just doing my much-precedented missing of the obvious?)]

Sounds as if our GPS was leading us too close to the rocks. Oh well, there's always another trip south! Thanks for the update.

We drove up full of hope and there on the side of the road we found Papa Bear looking as if he needed a helping hand. So we combed the hillside - all three of us - for nearer an hour than a half hour!! Nothing! Everytime we started to leave, Rodney started looking again but it didn't help as we all left empty handed.
If it is down that bank it is not a 1-1 as I couldn't ride my bike down there!!
It's amazing how we meet at cache sites - it was good searching with you Ian but sorry it was not a lot of help!
Iris & Rodney

This was only 5.5km from our newly-placed "Picnic near Hanging Rock" cache, and was thus a must. In fact, the last time we were down this way, we drove past here and wondered when someone was going to place a cache here!

I looked for a while, struggling with GPSr accuracy, given that half the sky is blocked by a bloody big cliff, before checking the clue. If the clue is a joke, it's in poor taste. Narrowing the field of search down to a quarter acre is just being deliberately unhelpful, especially for a relatively remote cache.

As I was triangulating from the road, the Sallies arrived and we all spent another half hour beating the bushes and cursing the poor reception (even Iris' new colour Garmin!)

Not, in my humble opinion, a diff or terrain 1 rating.
-Papa Bear_Left

(Hint now updated. Thanks!)