Meet Queen Elizabeth at Takaka Hill (Golden Bay) Upper Takaka, South Island, New Zealand
By Nelsun on 04-Jan-06. Waypoint GCRX5F

We really enjoyed the walk on top of Takaka Hill! Has a great mountain feeling, with the rocky areas but also nice foresty areas. Plus the beautiful views, so lovely here!Could not find a viable path to the cache unfortunately. I guess the T value is very true or gotten worse with extra gorse growth.

QEII is dead, and so I wondered if I were to meet her, would I be too? The way up seemed to make me think I might not survive the trip.

The path up was very rocky, but eventually I made it to GZ. I came down the "easy" path, but then overshot the turn back to the trail and ended up in even more sharp rocks. It looks like I can't win. TFTC.

This isn't really a DNF, as we mucked up & walked past it without realizing- whoops! With our limited time decided to press on.

T4 tough terrain. Lots of gorse and sharp rocks! Found it! thank you!

I got lost in the maze of rocks and gorse etc so returned to the marker post, while Antnich continued to find the cache and signed us both in. TFTC

Yess!! T4 indeed. This was was on our Jasmer list and we took note of other logs indicating the best way to GZ. Amazing karst. We've now got 4 of our Jasmer targets here in NZ since the beginning of December.

After the miserable weather yesterday we were pleased to see a bit of sunshine, so what better way to spend the afternoon than wandering around on the top of the Takaka hill.
There was a young family returning from the bush walk as we arrived and they were the only people we saw all afternoon.
We had read some of the previous logs that suggested going past the thick gorse and then heading back along the ridge to find this one. We are very pleased we had read them as the thick gorse reminded us of some of the caches we found in Dunedin that were well protected by thick gorse. Anyway, gk headed to find this one, he signed the log and tucked it away again.
Thanks for placing this cache and thank you for the smiley

Shesh was this a challenge to get to! Not the sort of rocks you want to ever slip on! It eluded me for some time before I finally made the find as the sun was starting to go...glad I found it though, made the climb that much more worth it TFTC!

Nine days to do some caching for the price of four leave days - who could complain about that! I found a quirky place to stay near Motueka, and decided to base myself there to cache in the wider area. I had a few on my hit list, and ended up finding a great variety of different caches on the trip.
Day seven - the weather was promised to be a bit less stable compared to the previous days, so I picked a shorter walk just in case. Except for a few occasions of spitting, I remained dry!
I was definitely keen to get this one! I kitted myself out with long rain pants, and a rain jacket, and even gloves. I decided to get a quick snack before getting into the thick of it - literally - when towo women walked past, and looked very worried about me being so wrapped up given the temperatures were reasonable and it was not really raining at the time I managed to get up onto the ridge and then it was a good stroll to gz. Great views from up here!! Of course there was a better access a bit further up the track, but IU did not see that until I got down and continued along. Well, good adrenaline shot in any case! TFTC!!

For too long we have wanted to walk this track but there has always been something to stop us getting our ducks in a row. Today we had no such problems so off we go.
This wasn't such an easy find although once at GZ it was relatively quick. It was getting to GZ which proved to be the hardest part, not too many war wounds to show for it though. We did find an easier way back to the track which wasn't evident on the way to the cache.
Thank you Nelsun.

The Takaka Hill Walk has been on our to-do list for so long that in the end it was added to our bucket list We checked the weather for yesterday and it was awful but for today it was forecast a beauty and it was. After getting where we should be we thought we overshot the cache so went downhill to try again. It proved we didn't overshoot it so up we went once more. It would have helped to read the cache page proper and the logs too of course. When we realised what was going to be involved we thought shall we or shant we. We decided to take a bead and struggled onward and upward. Shorts and T meant some some minor injury which is par for the course. When we found ourselves on top of the world it took a bit of scrambling around before we could claim the find. The way back was a lot easier with only a slight detour. A fav. Thank you Nelsun

A chilly wind blowing over the tops here. A quick find was made so we could keep moving and keep warm.

This was a cache I have had on a target list for our family holidays in NZ due to its combination of attributes which mean it qualifies for a challenge cache back home in Australia (Scenic Adventurer).

Drove up the hill this morning and took the family to the caves but when it came to the hill they sat in the car! Lazy bones!

Like others before me I walked past the dense gorse and headed to the karst to the rear of the cache and then tracked back about 100m. It's longer but way less prickly!

A quick find. Kids took a photo of me from the car park and I took one of them from the top. FP for being the final qualifier I needed for the challenge and for the fun of the scramble. Coords were also within 2m!

TNLN TFTC

We thought the view from here was about the best on the walkway. We had no trouble finding the cache. Well Alastair didn't, I was standing there wondering where it might be when he casually said "looking for this". Cheers and TFTC

Today is Go-Find-A-Souvenir day! But rather than head to either of the available earth caches in Blenheim, TaybeeDragon and I decided to to visit the great green fields of Nelson and Takaka and turn a small patch of it yellow.
Earth cache done, and we are continuing the walk around the the loop, plotting it as I go.

Okay, I don't get this cache. The queen is not here, in person, figuratively, virtually, or by proxy. Why the cache title?
The closest point tot he cache is a massive gorse bash - bugger that, so we went back up the track and came at the cache from about 100m away. A bit of rock hopping across the edge tops of the karst, a bit of gorse and yes! A quite easy find. And then some gorse and rock hopping across the edge tops of the karst and Iwe were back on the track.

Its Souvenir Hunt Earth Cache Day- Road trip to Takaka via St Arnaud! Hey What! Lets Go.
Collected the info for the earth cache and continue the walkway.
Lots of prickles. I try up and along the rock face while The Seagnoid takes another approach. Rough & tough but The Seagnoid got it sorted. Cheers

We have been on a road trip trough New Zealand for 25 days. We went for a walk on the Takaka Hill Walkway. Of course we looked for some geocaches. This has been one of them.

Thanks for the cache

Well, if I thought I was scratched and scraped from the last cache … I was proved wrong on this one. A previous log had talked about loose stones. I was wishing for some stones, rocks or anything other than gorse or thick bush. All the way up I consoled myself with the thought that I’d probably find an easier way to get down, but I think more blood was drawn on the way back than the way up! Somehow it all seemed worth it when I found the cache. Another awesome view. Thanks so much for placing this challenge. Apologies for late logging

Found with Kiwimykl, refer to his log for details.

TFTC Nelsun

NZDi and I have been planning a long weekend in Golden Bay for a month or so and today these plans came into fruition. Of course a long weekend out of town would not be complete without the odd cache thrown in and so a few caches were planned along the way. The weather back in Blenheim had been crap all week and the forecast for the weekend was not that flash either, however as soon as we got across the Whangamoa's we could see this part of the country was bathed in sunshine.

After getting Bush Walk, we carried along the track to link up with this cache. As we went up the hill I notice the GPS showing the cache off to my left at around 47m. I couldn't see an obvious access point to take the direct route, so hoped that the track would back-track on itself further on... wrong. It looked like a 80m bush bash/rock hop was in store. Approaching GZ I sought help from c:geo and read out the clue to NZDi. I then turned around to find she already had the cache in hand. After completing the paperwork, NZDi thought there might be an easier route back the more direct way... I had my doubts. After getting bloked by a line of bush, we returned the way we came up.

TFTC Nelsun

A late decision was made to head for Golden Bay for Easter so we were lucky to find accommodation near Takaka at the last minute.
This was the first find of the day for us. We had walked the other half of the loop track last year, but decided to leave this section for another visit. When we pulled into the car park, we were the only vehicle there but on our return, there were several others there.
I'm a bit wary of going off track in this environment as the idea of falling down a tomo is a scary thought for me. StreetWalker is braver, luckily. First finders for 2015, thanks for the placement.

#9274. bush bash from the closet point on the track did not look like much fun, so we stayed on the track until we go to the saddle. The top of the ridge was much more open, but the sharp rocks meant it had to be negotiated with some care. Quick find (and great views) once at GZ. TFTC.

Easy find with Wilson#41.
Been past here countless times so thought it was about time we actualy did this walk.
Awesome sunny day.
TNLN

Easy find with Kwaka40.
TFTC

I don't think i could have found a more difficult way up if i'd tried. Found cache quickly then spent ages trying to find a better way down. Not much better though. My poor mother sitting at the bottom starting to worry I'd fallen down a hole. Great views TFTC

#1880

Found on a day's exploration around the region, letting the geocaches lead me to all the interesting places. Went for a walk up the track to pick up a few caches on the way back from Golden Bay to Nelson this afternoon. Loved this one, I really enjoy caches that are off track in the middle of nowhere - and the views were magnificent. Found after a short search - signed log, TFTC and it's worth a favourite point.

Found with geo toddler and geo opa

found it

#8 Walked up and down the track a couple of times trying to find the best path in to GZ .. Eventually I spotted a bit of a geocacher/goat track that led at least part of the way - only wish I'd used the same one coming back out

Gorgeous view from the top, thanks for bringing me off-track to experience it!

Quick find once at GZ bit of a scramble to get to the top. Great view once there. TFTC

We almost gave up on this one before even trying because we weren't sure how to get closer than 200 feet. But we persevered and finally got to the really interesting, and tricky, part. Wow! Not easy, but I loved it. Fabulous terrain. So worth the scramble to GZ. My favorite cache for the day. TFTC.

Well worth the scramble. All previous logs were true. Fav for me too. TFTC.

Oh well, I really hadn't planned to challenge myself in this way to achieve #700 cache, but it was great to do something (scramble over and around rocks with a bit of climbing thrown in) I wouldn't usually do being a tiny bit of a chicken now and then. But hey! Today was different. Great challenge for me and great views when I got there. TFTC

Wow. This cache has been up here for 7 years! Cool! We had a bit of discussion about whether we would tackle this one or if we would just stick to the main track. As you can see, the adventurous option won. It was a bit of a challenge heading to GZ, but then we found a much easier return route. - - - Or so we thought!! I think it was actually a little MORE challenging. Anyway we got there - - - and back. Loved it. TFTC

got a bit scratched by gorse

very windy up on top and another awesome view!!!

Wow this was an adventure..not for the faint hearted!! I added a new dry log book in a plastic bag as the other was mouldy.. Was not sure what to do with the old book so just left it at the bottom of the container..great views..

Took the Gorse on knarley karst route there and the Oleria on knarley karst route back. Nice day for it. TFTC

#643, 10:45, nice place with adventurous way and amazing view. TFTC

SoBad brought me up here and sent me to go find this one. What a trek! Had a great wee adventure. Too bad I was surrounded by cloud, I bet the views are epic. Thanks for a little excitement! I was right at home there among the rocks/

Needed this D/T rating! As others have said its wet. Cannot quite believe how sharp those rocks are! Be very carefull people!


Grabbing a few caches in the area while passing through on our 'how ever long it takes' NZ tour.
Thanks for setting this up.

Took TB

TFTC
Mud & Kim

Bit of a scramble to find this cache. Ducksarse Dave beat me to the cache site but I had my hands on the cache before him. Great views but care needed clambering over some of the sharp rocks.

Scrambled over some rough country to this find this cache. Log quite damp but just able to record visit.

Me and my 11 year old brother went and got this cache. Was good fun climbing up the hill. Cache log was a bit wet tried writing in the log may need a new log book. Thanks heaps for the cache was a fantastic few from up here. Dropped in a geocoin =)

Great area with the unusual rocks everywhere. No track for the last part, so that was a little rough on the legs with the scratchy plants and unstable rocks. Found cache after a short search. SL TFTC

An awesome cache, many thanks. Found with ease.....after we actually made it across the Karst to GZ! Only one minor scrape coming back to one of the little SiverRoses (age 9). This was the perfect stop for lunch on the way out of the bay. TFTC

loved the veiw from up here i could see for miles great spot it was even a good walk first i tried the direct aproach but didnt work out tftc

It truly did feel on top of the world up here. I came at it from behind which was probably easier than the direct route. TFTC #1752

Hard terrain. TFTC

quite hard to get there. Never mind I like a challenge:-)

A days caching on the "hill" - hill being the operative word lol - panted and puffed my way up the hill oh well need the workout lol thanks for the cache

A great day to walk up to this one and the final scramble was a lot easier when returning to the track as i was able to find parts of a track down that i hadnt spotted on the way up!
Definately people need to take care on this one there are lots of loose and slippery rocks getting into here!
My readings on the GPS took me further away from the cache. but as i was about to give up a slightly wider search gave the results i was after .

The cache was found easily. Unfortunately we lost our gps. The search after it took us much more time...

Thanks a lot
Dschuko

After climbing the steep track to the saddle I got to within 65m of the cache when I had a fall as I was crossing the rocky terrain direct to the cache. Battered, bruised and bleeding, I then deemed it too dangerous to continue and carefully retraced my steps. I feel it warrants an increase in terrain stars.

After a very nice and cracy walk through stones I found it very good and was very happy - whats for a view!
TFTC Beutenberger (Germany)

Found during our NZ-tour from te Netherlands.
Whwn you are about 50 meters from the top, then it is better to take not the shortest way to that top.
TFTC

Good tramp up from the park Last section a bit rough over the rocks. Great spot. Took TB Jeep. TFTC

It was hard getting to the cache site because we took the wrong track dropped in car tb.TFTC

If you don't know, why you are geocaching. Here you will see!!! What a great view from the cache! But be carefull, when the owner said sharp rocks he meaned sharp rocks and he did not say anything about the sharp stinging shrubs befor you reach the cachesite.
It would be good to wear not only good boots, but also long pants!!! Otherwise you would have bleeding legs. like I had!
But anyway a cache well worth going to!!!

On the way to Collingwood. Terrain could have a 4, i think . Great view from up there. TFTC

different from other caches, but it was a bit of adventure up I went and down I came good one TFTC

Is there a terrain 3 way to the cache? I'd have to have carried a bike had I had one . Luckily my approach opened up after about 30m, and it was relatively plain sailing to the cache after that. Taken us almost 3 years to come do this one - each other time we either had no time or had the kids. That's the hill tidied up of pesky caches, anyway TFTC.

The kids loved this one - a real adventure. Disappointed not to see Her Majesty in person, though. Maybe next time...

i knew i wore shorts for a reason. took the gorse route to the cache. tftc

Success on the 2nd attempt. Last time we got close to GZ when the GPS batteries died. Today we found an easier route in. Great views from the top as the sky cleared when we were here. TNLN TFTC

Awesome views at GZ. No problems with cache. Quite a scramble up and down from the track but worth it. TFTC, Biggles

Hobbled up with a very sore leg, then had to do some amazing balancing while traversing those very non-forgiving rocks, i was pleased it was daylight. Great cache, cheers.

went the wrong way to this and experienved some of her magistys hedging.thnx

a quick walk in the evening light, some fantastic cloud formations around. Good bye Golden bay.

The last 50m scramble to the cache site was interesting, on getting there Mr KE stirred up some very annoying insects that made finding the cache uncomfortable. This spoiled what would have been a great place to enjoy the view, still can't win them all. To top that off he smacked his finger nail with the rock that was covering the cache when returning it. Not the best start to our trip to Golden Bay. A lovely area though, thanks for bringing us here and thanks for the cache.

Weeeeee first cache for maple hill after a little break and took a visiting canadian for her first cache ever. After some GPSr set up problems that took us out for a "walk" we got sorted and nailed the cache, with the sharp rocks and gorse nailing us. My lovely friend loved it 9 in spite of the issues) and I fear she is hooked!!!

Nice day, nice walk and a good cache.

Maple Hill

Nice warm up walk before going up to Canaan Downs for an orienteering race.

A nice walk towards the end of the day. Excellent geology and view, well worth while. Thanks.

nice spot
tftc

KarstAway! *giggles*

Thought I better do this one coz I have been "over the hill" and back four times in the past ten days - today was the day!
No kidding about the sharp rocks! I tore a good sized bite in the toe of my hiking boots (they're tough though).
Great spot to see some of those hidden houses around the place up there!

We took the hard way up, M chipped a nail, P's a man. Easy find one up there. Great views, clear day, Golden Bay one side, Tasman Bay the other. TFTC

Great views and a bit breezy in contrast to the lovely conditions down below. Pleased I had my boots on for this one.
TFTC

When I got near the top i realised dress shoes and work strides would not be the best for this one. Co-ords spot on. Cheers.

12:00 Enjoyable walk to the cache site which had great views over the karst to the sea. TNLN. TFTC

Great views from the cache.Lots of people doing this walk today

Got to the top but GPS batteries failed about 3 minutes earlier so no luck with cache.

Not really recommended for sandals, not when you are silly enough to go up the direct gorsey route. Worth it for the views.

Loved it. Was a challenge on a hot day for a middle aged and not too fit dame. Great view from the top. TFTC

easy find on the way to Golden bay

Rather a climb on a very hot day after competing in orienteering champs nearby. Great view.

Neat 360deg view from the top.
Took Spin Top
Left marble
TFTC

Will definitely return to do entire walk. Beautiful spot. Found short cut (I think) up the rocky bits and only had to endure lovely gorse, lots of it.
GPS spot on. Fantastic panoramic views. Walked 'short bush track' on the way down. Many bell birds (and wasps) feeding on honeydew from sooty moulds.
Wonder if Q. E. ever walked this track? Thanks for this great cache.
tuttifrutti et al.

I certainly took the hard way up. Great spot for a cache. We saw two parakeets on the walk up. TFTC.

An easy find once up top. In jandals - hard going! Great place. This is our no. 100 cache!!! TFTC nice one.
- keyring, + another keyring.

hard work without fresh battery in my GPS, but with siucces finaly.
TFTC,TNLN

Nice wee walk up the hill, great views, lovely day nice a still clear blue sky, just great

Had kids with loads of energy so this was an ideal cache on a blustery day.Found easily enough as we have done this walk a few times before.TFTC.TNLN.

Great wee rock climb.
Moneydork Junior waited down the bottome while Bitsprayer and I did it. - Travel Bug.

Boy this was a slog as the crow fly's dam sharpe rocks.

Drop Off Weevil TB

Many Thanks Bitsprayer

5:03 pm - Top of the world. Nice to stretch our legs after the orienteering nationals. TFTC. TNLN. Linley Richard and Max.

What a scramble for little legs. Nearly fell down a hole! Just as well I like rock scrambling. TFTC. Claw.

We must have looked a spectacle today walking up here with raincoats and umbrellas due to the heavy rain, obsessed, I think not...
+ frog
- stone

[This entry was edited by samy! on Monday, April 17, 2006 at 7:48:03 PM.]

Great views - stunning place! TFTC

Lovely view - I've been on this walkway many times, but never gone up here before - thanks for the motivation to get there! TNLN

Awesome view from up here. We took the wrong path in the beginning, and forgot to take water with us, but we got there in the end. Easy to find (with the hint).

Thanks for a great cache!

TNLNSL