Crystal River (Nelson/Marlborough) Takaka, South Island, New Zealand
By BuzzTasman on 14-Aug-05. Waypoint GCQ4K0

No longer deemed a suitable site due to Didimo !!

28/12/12 Please archive. No numbers on new sign at GZ, so needs long overdue maintenance as per prior logs anyway.

However, Waters Closed (1977 Act) so can't access anything that may involve human or equipment near water. Due to Didymo. So GZ is no longer suitable.

No luck at WP1 - too many muggles to have a good search. Managed to find WP2 anyway, then headed to the final. Came away empty handed.

On holiday from England and enjoyed the walk but sadly did not find a cache.
we could not see the first clue - there were two numbers for DOC on front but nothing on back. However we still found the info neeeded for the final during our walk and worked out final coords but after searching for a while I checked previous logs and can see it may have been missing for a while. Lovely location for a cache if it is replaced though.

Couldn't find it. I would say it's gone in a flood or two. Might need checking or archiving.
This log posted with CacheSense for Android!

Enjoyed the magnificient reason for slightly reduced GPS coverage at GZ. Had the place to ourselves so had a good hunt. Also found no numbers at start point, not that you need them but it wouldn't be a multi then would it..

As with previous cacher had a good look at GZ to no avail. looked at both ends too. May need replacing. Nice multi though.

Had a good hunt both ends. No joy, could have been washed away in flood maybe?

Haven't been up to the springs for ages, even better than I remember them. TFTC (296)

Suspect the sign is new and has no number on it. Still able to find cache by following later clues. A beautiful spot for a cache

Like others couldn't find first number but found the info any way. Thanks for adding a nice caching bonus to a walk we would have done anyway. TFTC

Couldn't find the numbers on the Doc sign, but got the others and then on to the cache. Great information panels.

Like others I could not find the required number at WP1 - gorse growing behind sign also meant search may have be hindered.
Found WP2 by using logic, then onto final. Very informative signs and enjoyed visiting the dancing sands vent and the main viewing area. So crystal clear again today. I can remember time when scuba diving was permitted here.... All au Naturale now.

A truly stunning location in the sunshine today. We found a couple of numbers on the sign, so bypassed the first stage and headed for the most likely place stage 2 would be. Found everything we needed here and the cache was quickly found. Many thanks for setting a cache here. SL. TFTC.

Last time we couldn't find the numbers on the Doc sign and quickly gave up without even thinking about it. This time we just skipped the first stage and voila - there it was!
TFTC it's an awesome place, but why is the clearest freshwater called "pupu" ?

Found it!
TFTC!

TFTC Zenon

Could not find any number on the DOC sign, but guessed where the next stage would be - and it was. Then it made us to go the longer way back and we liked it, wonderful forest here.

14.00: On the way from Collingwood to Nelson. Second cache at the Pupu Springs and our second multi-cache on this journey. As many others visitors before and after we could find any suitable number at the DOC-sign, but the visit of GC1905X brought also some which place would have been meant. So we got the number for the final coordinates. On the way to this spot I had leave Gabi behind, because the path there is not suitable for a wheelchair. Using the hint it was then an easy find again.

Weather: cloudless, sunny, 25°C;
Wheelchair: stage 1 and 2 - yes, final - no;
IN & OUT: nothing.

Thank you!

Oliver+Gabi

I love this area, its just so clear (as I am sure everyone says)
Found with Marchwood.
TFTC

Found with Grumpy Ant on another superb Golden Bay morning.
There aren't any numbers on the "new" Doc sign, but it was pretty obvious where the next way point was especially when doing the earth cache at the same time.
Picked up TB.
TFTC

Couldn't find any numbers on the back of the sign board but my looking for them obviously caused amusement for some muggles on their way to the springs. Was very surprised to actually come across WP2 however, guess I'm just an avid reader, so managed to work this one out and locate the final.

First time visit to the area for me and really pleased I came, the clarity of the water is stunning.

TFTC

This place is always good

4280 Yep – that water sure is crystal clear… saw a fishy muggle “Brown Trout” cruising around by the lookout platform. Great spot for a cache. Many thanks.
IN: MrSoup's Dam Fine Coin
OUT: NIL, TFTC

Lovely spot. Info. about regenerating forest very interesting, Mr. T found easily while Mrs T still at wrong end as GPS didn't like the trees.

A quick find after doing the Te Waikoropupu Springs Earthcache, we managed to take the correct pathway on our first attempt so it made finding this cache quickly. No issues at GZ, love the information on all the signboards along the walkways, thanks for bringing us here. TFTC TNLNSL (1735)

A nice informative multi. Enjoyed the pleasant stroll around after vising the springs and the power station and dam. I was a bit suprised to see the patch of didymo in one stream bed - let's hope it does not get into the springs.
TFTC.

Had to return to retrieve this cache as the place was buzzing with mugglers on our first visit. (Sunday) A very interesting area. Real shame about the didymo. TFTC

Found on our tour to NZ.
Greetings from Denmark.
TFTC

Found it!!!
Very nice place to visit!!
TFTC
Team Leonorehofstee
The Netherlands

Lovely walk and enjoyed visit to the springs
+ golf ball
- Skull surf board trinket

Great walkway. Met a DOC ranger and talked about Didymo for a while. Thx for placing a cache here and greetings from Germany, Team Loopi

Really enjoyed this.

It was great fun for the kids and we had to be plenty careful about muggles. Beautiful springs and tragic about the Ditomo at the same time.

I needed the clue for the final as my GPS had me quite away off.

TFTC

Great little multi, and a lovely spot to visit. TFTC

Great cache thank for taking us here. TFTC

Not my first visit to the springs but my first attempt at this cache. Lots and lots of touristy muggles about which made retrieval and replacement a challenge. Patience and an unnatural curiosity with the nearby information boards won the day though. TFTC, Biggles.

What a fantastic place. We wonder if the incredible tree dominating the final location is sacred for some? There appeared to be "offerings" -- some of them burned, perhaps in a ceremony -- placed around the trunk. Appropriate then that we took away TB that aspires to "see some of the most magical places in the world". Thanks for a special cache.

Thanks for this nice little distraction on our visit to the Pupu Springs!

Thanks for this really nice cache, wihci we found on our interesting visit to the Waikoropupu Springs.

What a great place to put a cache! Thank you!

Today, me, together with nessaja2909 and guest cachers found it. The hint was very helpful. Thanks for showing us this place and the infos we got over PUPU-Springs.

Wonderful amazing area great cache TFTC

A nice little multi at a fantastic location. I visited waypoint 1, but had a pretty good idea where it would send me! Waypoint 2 and the final found without problems on a lovely warm sunny day. Many thanks for bringing us to this interesting location.

Have been here lots of times, but this time with international visitors who found the whole geocache thing added an extra zing to an interesting site. Yours was a "classic" cache, even down to the geocoin, so it was great to show the visitors what it's all about. Took Psycho-Chicken Geocoin.

This is a note for the GEOCOIN in the cache!
Hi PSYCHO-CHICKEN, if you remain in this cache, Crystal River (Nelson/Marlborough), until 2. week in November you will go to Germany in December this year. And maybe you will reach all the way to Greece or Italy. Just be pationed and wait for me. I´m coming!

Great spot! Been here many times (but never actually read any of the signs before). Place was deserted today - no one else is silly enough to go out in this weather! Left the Psycho-chicken Geo-coin here to chill out for a while.

Found while dodging a lot of visiters, surprisingly, mainly kiwis.Thnx

A great geography lesson for the young Beansos who were quick to the final caches site TFTC

Straight-forward and enjoyable find

Changed the formulas to allow for the DOC board having a new number.
Checked cache and all OK

Found it, although the number on the DOC sign may have changed as the coordinates weren't quite accurate, but we did find it. You might want to change the questions to fit the new number (091850)? Thanks a lot.

Quick stop on our Roadtrip through New Zealand.

TNLN TFTC JM-Project

Took a bit of thinking, but managed to locate it in the end.

A staight forward find.

15:00
The ranger is very nice and he knows a lot about the springs.
The number on DOC table (starting place) has changed to 091850 so the computed coordinates are wrong - use your intuition and you find the right place
Greetings from the Czech Republic.
TNLN. TFTC.

lots of muggles around, had to pretend making video.
as mentioned the 2nd waypoint incorrect but easily located. Such a pretty spot.

Beautiful place to visit - saw lots of fish in the springs - learned all about didymo from DOC ranger - luckily he was no where near final cache sight, we just looked very keen taking down so much info about the springs.
Moving on dog tag TB.
TFTC

Not sure what went wrong at the 2nd wp, as we didn't find a signboard there, however it wasn't difficult to find and we got there in the end. Easy find once muggles had gone.
+ TB
TFTC

dropping off TB JT's dog tag

Could it get any hotter? Nice and cool in the stream under the trees though. A great spot on a scorcher of a day. The muggles seemed to think so too - very tricky finding this one, especially stuffing up the second coords. Luckily local knowledge got us to the right information board and stealth and cunning bagged us the cache. Took a pen, left a golf ball. TFTC.

Our coordinates for the second WP were wrong too. It's possible that the DOC has replaced the sign at the first WP lately so that there is a different number on the back now. We found the second WP by just following the path and after some calcs the cache as well. TFTC.
In: Magnet
Out: Ball

Had the same problems with DOC sign that others have reported, but managed to locate the required information. The walkways were extremely busy and was thankful to find a quiet moment to find and deal with the cache. A beautiful area to visit, thanks.

While visiting the springs we found this one in the area. A lovely walk, and this is a great way to see it. Thanks for this cache and exploring the area with it. TNLN, SL.

Always a pleasure to return to this area of natural splendour. Had to combat the Doc Didimo Ranger who just wouldn’t leave me alone while I studied the information board for the information I wanted. No trouble at GZ with muggles though. TN, Left a calling card. TFTC

Found it just before dark. I really interesting place to wander around. Thanks for the excuse to visit.

4.10pm. We also made a mistake with the first calcs but found the info we needed to get the co-ords for the final.
I recommend walking further on from the final and completing the loop track.
TNLNSL
TFTC
Cheers M+S+S+M [:O)] (1166)

We somehow made a mistake with the second waypoint but found the answers for the third one by accident. Thanks.

LOG: 15:50
OUT: -
IN: -

Lovely area, nice to finally see it. Beautiful day, lots of muggles!!

Really nice location for a cache!
Enjoyed the short stroll at the springs!
TFTC + Greetings from Germany
Basti + Jule

A little cloudy but nice morning.
TFTH TNLN

A cold wet day in the Bay, but the result of no muggles abut did make the hunt easier. A nice place and I did like the board walk just above the water in the river - no worries of floods here! Dipped some TB's. TNLN Thanks.

Amazing area, good walk thanks

No problems doing this one. The hardest part was finding an opportunity to replace the cache. Great day for being here. TNLN, TFTC.

I love it here.. it's nice to have an excuse to come back!
No problems finding it once I realised I'd gone right past it. Left kwaka40 fossicking around while I went and found it! haha
Was a bit afraid I was going to be sprung by the DOC worker I saw at the spring...
TNLN TFTC!

Gps had me hunting in the wrong spot whilst Wilson#41 went straight to it.
Lovely sunny day.
Took Geocoin

Tryed to be smart and had to go round again. Great hid surprized no one has been in since.+ TB CCPRH7 brought over from Nth Is. Murrayroma & Soggyboots

Log TB

Knitted together and used cache-sniffer to find the cache. TFTC

Beaut spot shame about didymo found with ease even though we typed in wrong coordinates or maybe sign has been renewed with threat of didymo and numbers changed tftc

[I'm wondering if the sign has been changed as the last three numbers I got were ]eight five zero resulting in south four zero degrees five zero point nine five three, east one seven two degrees four six point one eight six[ this put me just a few metres from the final but a long way from the second waypoint. Went to waypoint two anyway as we were also doing the new earthcache there. Got to final and took a shell and left a ball.

Great spot. been here before. it's a shame they had to close it of for risk of didymo.
enjoyed the search round the track! it was lovely to hear the birds!
+dinosaur
TFTC

i had been here once befour but couldn't rember it great place to have a little break grab a hot choclate with marshy from the coffey pirate lovly man to talk to by the way

Nice to see the DoC officer there informing people of Didymo

Beaut spot

TFTC

Found on our Nelson holiday road trip 2008
[Find #280]

Our first Multi-cache but really only found it thanks to the hint. Beautiful spot, LOTS of muggles but hey we're professionals now. TNLN. TFTC.

Thanks for another great cache in paradise A nice straightforward find with very few muggles about - I think they travel in packs or something; or were all off oggling the main pool. The following day we came back and did the nearby Pupu Hydro walk. Awesome part of the world. TNLNSL.

Cache found by Mrs Sobads sister visiting from Wellington. Her first visit to the Springs. A lovely afternoon.

Fun to do with the kids.

Difficult with all the muggles, but got it with out been disturbed. Would have loved to have a swim

A lovely wander through well known territory. Retrieved and replaced cache between passing muggle walkers. Shame you can't swim in the water anymore - a fantastic experience that many may never get to do now.

I've been here a few times before but hadn't been along the bit to the cache site. Gee that looks suspiciously like didymo near the cache site. That would be a tragedy.
Thanks for the cache.

We weren't going to do this one on this trip, but then got told we had 40 minutes to wait for our Fish n Chips .. what to do ? Clues retrieved via torchlight, but nice easy find - we have been here before, so know just how beautiful this place is!
TNLNSL

Always a spectaculiar area to visit and hopefully they will succeed keeping the area free of Didymo. Could not find DOC number, but this didn't matter. Easy to find all the info required.
A busload of grey-haired muggles about, almost looked like Lourdes, and had to wait a while for this procession to continue. Skipped past on the way to the bridge and quickly entered log. Thanks for this cache.
tuttifrutti et al.

Lovely,
be very careful with Didymo at this location, so it remains beautiful

Enjoyed our small holiday to Golden Bay and geocached our way from Christchurch there and back. Thanks to all our fellow geocachers for guiding our journey.

One of the most amazing loactions in New Zealand. Spotted a trout in the water near the main vent.

On our way to Anatori for a paua dive so called in to do this on the way.Have dived here many times in the past and it is an awesome experiance that i dont think will be happen again.Nice multy in another great area and an easy find apart from the muggles.TFTC TNLNSL.

Had a nice chat with doc about diddymo. Shame the Springs have now been blocked off. With long-john.

Had no trouble finding this cache apart from the presence of numerous muggles!!!!!. Shame that you are not permitted to drink from the main spring anymore because of the risk of dydimo infection. - glass star, + didymo pen TFTC

11am Beautifull springs
- mecanic kiwi
+ glass bead, star
TFTC

This cache was complicated by the fact that there was a mobile coffee vendor set up right by the Doc signboard. He was doing a brisk business with tourist muggles but a bit of nonchalent sidling around the sign produced the required result.
Enjoyed the history of the forest regeneration as we walked around the track to the cache.
TNLN TFTC

9:25am
This has to be one of the most beautiful places we have seen.
Very well named cache.
Thanks for bringing us here.
In:Fridge Magnet
NT
T4TC