Jet Unit ( South canterbury ) Lake Tekapo, South Island, New Zealand
By Bitsprayer on 19-Jun-05. Waypoint GCPC03

In recent months we have become interested in looking for and finding archived caches. As we travel around I check to see if there are any likely candidates that might still be in place and findable.
We decided to have a look for this one, well actually GK offered to go and look for this one, it was absolutely howling with such a strong wind I was not sure I could bike against it and stay upright. So I stayed with the campervan and watched the two police cars pulling up traffic on the straight below.
The cache was exactly where the coordinates suggested it would be. GK left a new log as the old one was a bit worse for wear

Anyway thank you for placing this cache and of course thank you for the smiley

Just noticed as we got back and were logging caches that this has been archived.. The cache is still there just the container needs replacing.. The spot is very peaceful and the water wasn't running today.. Thanks for the cache and stop..

Did with CrystalFairy

This one has done it's dash, will pick up next time I am in the area.

Bitsprayer

Found this one alright but someone must have dropped the big rock on it and broke the lid. The container and contents are now a block of ice. The notebook is soaked. Nice spot though.

The bank was covered in snow which made the walk down fun. Also had a good time jumping between the huge stepping stones in the creek.

Quick find as gate was not shut

Found with Madiecacher

Parked next to locked gate at bottom of new fence and had a great walk in from there.
The rabbit proof fence has about thirty rabbit sized holes over the 900m that we walked, and a few rabbits were making good use of them.
TFTC

An easy find but a bit rough getting in there!! TFTC

Parked halfway out on the canal road, figured other cars could go around us and did a scramble down the hill.

hasn't been found in a while, last found 27/2/10

With Canal Road closed we were facing a 1km walk in overcast drizzly weather. Maybe next time. As others have mentioned - the described access road is no longer accessible.

Visited with KOPAC from Taranaki on a MTB expedition. Nice spot on the way through. Left dinasaur, took Ronald McDonald

The state of the road appears to be irrelevant now, as a fence has been built across the entrance, with a locked gate. We used the down the bank from the canal route, which is quite straightforward, although parking is a little tricky. TFTC

Indeed steep it is but a great spot. tftc tnln

Passed by so often and decided this time to stop. We took the steep way as well and had enough space for parking. Good to visit this interesting places with the chanel going over the creek. TFTC

Narrow road when having to park caravan. Scramble down bank, easy find.TFTC

Mr EU had to run for this one. Took NZstar GC, & BUFF TB. TFTC

No problems for the 4WD cheers

worker nicked down for this while bum poured some extra diesel in the wagon

This is our 4th. geocache in NZ, just in a very nice surroundings.
The BUFF, The B-52 is flying again!!!
We also placed there our second geocoin, New Zealand Star, after an excellent tour on the Mount John, the earth and sky observatory!

SasTrek

Quick find. Steep climb back to campervan. Interesting doing a u turn on the narrow canal road. TFTC

Lovely walk to stones. Canal full and blue.TFTC.

Nice hide. Dropped off one of the Horace the Harley Brother TB's.

Maintenance entry only....dropped off wrong TB in computer log. Needed to switch.

Amazing views to go with the history. A quick descent found the cache as a new fence precludes the other way.
Thanks
ernienz

Not a proper DNF - the access road was closed due to the snow and ice.

Found this cache with my personal travel bug Ice Age Scrat along our 3 moths trip around the whole New Zealand,
17:30
Fantastic after sunset drive along the canal road, I hope that my fuel will be enough till Tekapo, TFTC & amazing views...

Approached from above.

A great easy find. Though didn't see anything about the Hamilton Jet?????? TFTC

A quick find on our way to Tekapo...

Found, got after climbing trip to mt cook. Thanks d

Interesting piece of boating history. The river actually runs under the canal

300th cache.

It was little bit tricky, but we managed. TFTC

The Canal Road was closed, and the 'other road' still locked. We had visited Tekapo B, and hoped to drive over the Canal Road. But we drove back on the highway, and tried it from the other end - no luck. Disappointing.

Quick find.

Time: 1:20pm.
TNLN, TFTC, Worlddiver from Switzerland

Found it on the way from Mt.Cook to Christchurch. TFTC

Got it on the way home from Mt.Cook. TFTC

Found it while driving from Queenstown to ChCh on our honeymoon.
1 of 20 today! TFTC

found it before work. great spot

very cold here because of the strong wind today but nice spot anyway
TFTC
stefane&schokominza from Germany

Nice place, thank you!

Nice wee drive accross the padock, often though about going down there for a look at the river running under the canal today we did just that.

Should have look on the map, could have easily got to it from the canal road. The road mentioned is now closed by a locked gate. TFTC

Found with Jasenz. Took the hard route down to find it off the canal road. TNLN. TFTC.

Really amazing canal system! At first I was on the other side of the river
TFTC + Greetings from Germany
Basti + Jule

Found it. Nice spot.

Chilly day in the Mackenzie. TFTC

Saw the spot where it likely was from on the canal road, but did find another way in to save parking on the canal road.
- Louisiana geocoin
+ polar bear

Quite foggy - so it made for an eery feel thinking about all that water just up there. Thank you

Passed a number of dead wilding pines on the way down, presumably poisoned, so assisted by pulling up some tiny new green ones.

So this is where the jetboat started! Road access is fenced over, so for this one we had to (very carefully) park by the canal and scramble down the bank. Mind you, male half of daywalk pointed out where the hide was from beside the car, and left the rest of us to do the work...

Heading South with XenaCommander to begin the RNMC Minis Return motorcycle rally. Rough road was no problem for XCs pilot skills. Skittered down the steep bank for an easy find. Thanks for bringing us here. TFTC

A nice ride south on Xena heading to bluff for a motorcycle rally back up to Kaitaia... TK riding shotgun. Stopped here early morning...
parked Xena on top of canal and walked down. Found easily. TK signed the log and I dropped in a Geocoin.
TFTC #692

This is a great road for bicyclists and a wonderful alternative to SH8. The salmon farm is fantastic - the best salmon in NZ!
+ car
- cup
TFTC
Early Rizers

As Team.Shamrock we had to do this one

The cache can be so close but so far when you are on the other side of the canal

Took: GC

Thanks!

Arrived in the vacinty at about 10pm - very dark. Canal road was closed and I wasn't able to see any sensible access, so found somewhere nearby to sleep and found it easily enough at first light.

Spotted this one from quite a distance. In Holland a cache hidden like that would survive no more than a day or so. There are just too many people in Holland!
TFTC
In: GC
Out: GC

GC drop.

Walked down from the canal road.
- Bracelet
+ Cup
+ Geocoin
TFTC

#1249 Interesting bit of history for a non-kiwi. TNLN DS8300

Easy ind on my way to Twizel. The Hamilton jet has had a big impact on the NZ way of life, an amazing invention
TNLN
Cheers,
S.t.

No problem to find on a beautiful South Canterbury summer's day.

Drove in along the canal so a quick dash down and back up.
TNLNSL TFTC

Quite interesting to see how the canal runs over the top of the creek. Parked on the canal road and came down the side.

Nice place, easy find.

A quick zip down and up the slope to the cache. Looks like a fun place to wander through if the river wasn't running so high. TNLN Thanks.

Fourth cache found hot on the heels of Comradehunt. Took the wrong road to start with. Cache quickly found once on the right track. Bit of a puff back to the car. Lovely day for travelling through the area. TNLN

Found it!

Stayed on the main road and other half took a trip down the hill while I was very very interested in the canal and taking lots of photos. Not really a muggle heavy area though. We could see an unsealed road to the site but there was fence that looked fairly new blocking off the entire road. The canals really were quite amazing. The site of a long strip of that wonderful bright blue with the mountains in the distance was just great. Thanks for the cache and the interesting history. TNLN

great walk fine day took tb

Logging in the Unite for Diabetes travel bug, incorrectly named in our earlier posting.

Found this with big sister "Maudie" Released "Nancy's Fancy" Unite for Diabetes TB into it's first cache. Took Boomerang

Tried the drive up approach first, but discovered a gate, which indicated that maybe private property needed to be crossed, so tried the more direct route, since it was a calm day.
Spotted the cache spot from the road - and hardly needed the GPSr. 150m from road to cache was easy - a bit more puff required for the return trip.
Later at dinner that night, we were told of someone who recently ignored the road closed signs, headed down here in the very windy conditions, and got blown into the canal - fatal consequences. Made us appreciate the lovely calm sunny day we had.

Any one for a spot of caving? The canal road was very busy today. Run the 900m in. TNLN.

didn't even have to use the gps...
took nothing
left smiley whistle
groetjes uit holland!

TFTC

This one stood out from miles away.
TNLNSL.

I found this cache on a caching holiday with my Dad (Moneydork)

Did the 900m walk! Should've run down the bank, but couldn't find any nice parking spots up there. On the walk back, spotted someone looking through the glass into our car! Sprinted up the road - they left when they saw me coming. Be careful future cachers

Easy find on our way to Roxburgh for the holidays. Maree was going to jump across the stepping stones, but they are a lot further apart than they look from up on the main road. Don't try it! TNLN Thanks

A lovely fine day. Stopped on the canal road and went down the bank. Quite an easy walk down (and up again),even for the not so young.
+ a marble
- nothing

Found it at 08.15 hrs. Nice walk/spot.
Thanks,
Meryl(Holland)

Drove right to the cache location. The most fun part was getting back to the road . This canal road was closed when I came through on Friday night (probably due to wind).

Nice easy cache to find - a little obvious once we got closer but as people have said the options are slim. Decided to do the 900m walk however once getting there decided that decending the bank would of been a much better idea! TNLN

Drizzly rain and cold - Mr buzz was sent out on his own to find this one. Climbed down from the canal road.. TNLN

Found at 4.10pm while driving along the canal road realised we
were only metres from a cache. So stopped decended and found.
Wonderful day today with the sun shining and so warm.
TFTC.

Considered driving down the side of the canal - but SOMEONE didn't like the idea - and suggested a walk instead.
That is the most obvious cache placement that I have EVER seen. I guess you rely on not many people walking past.
After the find, Gary walked to the river, then under the canal, and up the other side. Scary stuff! The worst part was trying to get Liz's attention from the other side of the canal... Thank goodness for cellphones. TNLN, thanks.

Thought about driving in but decided that the car might not make it out again so on with the walking shoes for the 1 km return journey.
TNLNSL.
Cheers for the cache.

Looked from the top of the canal road, and must be getting pretty good at spotting cache spots, as picked it straight away. + singapore coins, - nil.

We took the direct route down the bank to the obvious spot then soaked our feet in the canal when we got back up. Very pleasant on a warm day. TNLN. Thanks

Facinating!!!! A river crossing a river!
I was intregued by this, and made a realisation at how much thinking must go into some of these big projects.
Thanks for the stop and cache

Last one for the day, considered taking the truck down to it, but decided not.
-torch
+red toy man

I just had the coordinates with me and did not see the intended road until on the way back. I thought there was probably somewhere more sensible to park!
+ pooh&piglet, torch, clips
- coasters, glass star

I drove by this one today. New fence has been put up. Be very careful where and how you park.

At 1054 on 7Dec2005
Yup it would be a bit too much of a rough ride in a standard vehicle but the 4x4 handled it just fine.
A very nice clear, sunny day, not a cloud in the sky and not a breath of wind.
TNLN SL TFTC
OF

I found this one very early in Nov. I just got on line and updating my records discovered I missed recording this one. We drove right to this one, very slowly, no trouble. TNLNSL.
I wonder if the fishing is any good here.


[This entry was edited by mulpratt on Monday, December 19, 2005 at 12:52:49 AM.]