"As Tough As Old Boots" (Canterbury) Ohinetahi, South Island, New Zealand
By Sandfly tucker on 08-May-06. Waypoint GCVYRF

Look out for "Softer than an old slipper" Coming to a site near you soon...

This one will probably have issues with falling rocks or slips for quite a while, especialy during aftershocks, rain or frosty weather. I will have to see if I can come up with somthing tougher than old boots that will be a bit safer

Potentialy unsafe at the final at the moment

Thirsty work on the eastern approach. Also forgot the mirror so a bit off a challenge. Not many muggles in this neck of the woods. A thoroughly rewarding cache.

Replaced wpt 2 with new markers. Same info, just easier to read.Thanks to those who pointed out the wear and tear.

Decided to attempt this cache as 'bonus' during a jog on the hills to take in Qurious Quadrilateral and High As a Kite, having overshot my turn-off for the more direct route to the latter (one can make such impromptu decisions when running with a Blackberry with Cacheberry software !). Have only been on these tracks during an evening Rogain, so thanks for getting me out on this side of the hill, I really enjoyed it. The slog from WP2 to the Final was a little unexpected, but loved the hiding spot and container. WP2 could do with some attention as is very feint now and I spent about 10 minutes deciphering. Thanks for a fun hunt.

This one has been sitting on top of the 'close to home' list for too long. Actually had a go at doing it yesterday by biking up to the summit road but I bailed out in the end due to lateness and the pain in my legs. Glad I did as we needed plenty in reserve for that final scramble from waypoint 2 today. Thomas and I went for the direct attack as we were using this cache to test out our new tramping boots - they met the challenge. So this is 3.5 star terrain? I better take Grandalf's advice and drop the rating on Black Diamond!! TFTC, it's an awesome spot.

Got the chance today to finish this one off. Started at Governors Bay again, and had no problems at wpt2, despite the lack of suggested tool. We then took a very roundabout route to the final, which was found without problems after a fun scramble. A fun multi and a great final location, found on a cool but sunny morning - many thanks.

Part 1 found with no problems while out on a circular walk. Part 2 turned out to be back the way I'd come and I didn't turn back, but hopefully I'll get a chance to finish this off over the next week or so.

Found wypt 2 after reading the instructions. That'll teach me to wander the hills with my GPS loaded with co-ords and no route details! Anyway, an excellent evening donder to finish of this cache. Great views and lovely sea misty hills. The direct route from wypt 2 to cache is the only way to go. Old booty is in good condition. Wypt 2 intact though a little weathered. Took shark, left plump orange starfish. TFTC.

Found wypt 1 no problem but found nothing at wypt 2 although I scoured the area for some time. Muggled?

Took the direct route to the cache. It was "O" for orsum!

Did this one from the far end while doing another cache, so it was a looong way!

Whew!
Took the wrong track twice (despite being familiar with tracks!) and took 2hrs but that just made it even more worth while when I found it.
A brilliant cache.
Took nothing
Left nothing
[|)]

A great cache to do today just before the southerly arrived, I had the cache in my hands just 56 minutes after leaving the truck, and that was with a little bit of back tracking as I took the wrong track, and relised I was heading in the wrong direction, Bugger....The waypoints were easy enough to find and the mirror certainaly came in handy, once at waypoint 2 I chose the direct approach to the final which was great as I needed to blow some cobwebs out after feeling like a couch potatoe for the last couple of days..So thanks sandfly tucker for this great wee cache with great views.... Cheers Bo

#362 (9/10 on south of Sign of Kiwi sweep on a Christchurch Tramping Club intro to Geocaching trip). Found with Stew. Some pretty steep slopes to contend with, especially the approach to the final (terrain seems a bit tougher than 3 and a half). Sense of deja vu when we located the final cache.

Good wee hike this one! First waypoint was relatively easily found even though it was a micro. Second waypoint was easy, but the final co-ords weren't the most friendly to finding the cache for obvious reasons. Nice views all around here. Glad I didn't follow the arrow from WP2 to the final. Cheers Gav [1707]

What a slog in the hot Nor-west heat.
TFTC - I see that you visited today before I got to it.

Maintainance check, added a pencil sharpener, and just missed Moneydork from the look of it.

NZ must be too far ahead to put in the 2008 date!! This was meant to be the last (successful) part of our New Year's Day Walk!
Parked in suggested car park. Found site of WP1, but took 2 of us about 1/2 hour to find it - last person had hidden it well.
We got to WP2 but nearly 3/4 hr searching & just couldn't find the clues needed - looked all around all possible sites - under and over - just can't work out what the reference to the need for a mirror at this point is.
Took NW track back to car park. Totally stuffed at this time!
Need to go back or have an extra clue somewhere!!

Got the waypoint 2 no worries, but despite a lot of hunting around, I couldn't locate the final??

WP2 had me scratching my head for a while, then I spotted it. I took the direct route to the cache of course. The heart pumps a bit harder going that way. The view from the cache makes it worth the effort.
The cache was an easy find. I've seen the other one elsewhere. I did "Follow O'Farrells" straight after this one.
- German Geocoin
TFTC!

Got first part a few weeks ago, and then found the second part easily the other day before taking the direct approach to the cache site (which was much more fun). The container it was hidden in seemed to be familiar!!
Fantastic place for a view.

Wow...Thats one heck of a view. Took the easy route down from Summit Road since I had the final location from a previous visit. -TB,-Geocoin, +TB

1475. A fine afternoon and a need for a bit of exercise and fitness check so decided to have a go at this one. Parked at the suggested carpark and took off. After two false starts found waypoint one fairly easily and then had to find the right track to waypoint two. With so many bluffs and gullies it could be quite a challenge! Got to way point two and used the implied method to find out where waypoint three was. Choice of routes? What choice does a red-blooded true geocacher have??!! Of course I went by the direct route! Got to GZ and searched for about ten minutes before deciding to use the hint. Whoops - lost the piece of paper. Made a cellphone call home for the hint and immediately went to the cache. I probably wouldn't have found it without the hint as my GPS kept zeroing 30m away, and that is quite significant on the side of a steep hill. Left a TB and a geocoin. Just under an hour from leaving the car to getting to GZ. Now to find a way back to the car!!! Looked back down the hill but decided against that. But who are those guys down there looking around on the track. Called out some helpful, and not so helpful remarks just in case they were actually geocachers - why else would they be holding a piece of paper and a thing looking like a cellphone? Found my way back to the car and had a look for the start of Oh Follow but decided against it as it would be dark quite soon. Driving back past the carpark I stopped and talked to the two strangers, who were in fact geocachers.(Peterpiran and McLean??). They hadn't had time to finish the cache but now at least knew roughly where to look after spying me up the hill. Thanks for the cache and the exercise. I must be getting better!!

Sallies

An excellent day out on the hills. Thanks to Sallies for shouting a hint down to us on WP2, and yes we cleaned up after you by picking up the printed sheets dropped on the track (one good turn deserves another). Ran out of daylight on the final but will be back.

Passin thru, all well

dragged up by sandfly tucker to check on this one - mmm, nearly needed a rope. Great views though.

** Coordinates Changed From **
S 43° 37.472 E 172° 38.232
Distance From Old: 18.2 feet
Gidday!!

I have had some feedback that suggests this change would benefit future Cachers

Cheers,

S.T.

A beautiful Anzac Day. The weather was the best I have ever seen it, and Governor's Bay was a picture postcard with autumn colours. We set off very overdressed and laden down with stuff we didn't need, but the mirror came in very useful. The walk from the recommended car park to WP1 was through the most gorgeous bush with the bellbirds singing their heart's out. WP1 fell quickly and then, with careful track choosing, we found ourselves at WP2 (loved it). Long route choice to the last WP above a dead sheep, and a little way off the track. Didn't linger as the smell was too much and quickly climbed to find the cache which made us smile. Easy walk back to the car park, although one of us had tired legs. This is a great cache, took 2hrs 11 mins from start to finish at a leisurely pace with lots and lots of stops. It should be done by many more cachers. Fantastic cache, thanks Sandfly Tucker.TNLN.

Well - the picture and the hint certainly helped for WP1 - found it in less than a minute. I think either of them would have done the trick. This time, with a different GPS, I still got led to the flax bushes - I'd suggest changing the coords to S.475 E.231.
The final also seemed to be about 10m out - but at least there there's a lot less options. I'd definitely second Bootsie's comment about non-slippery shoes. It was a surreal day to be in the hills, as there was a very thick almost foggy layer, which certainly meant for a lot of sweat. It certainly is a fine cache. -F TB. Thanks.

Been eating a bit much Christmas fare so came out for a walk. Did a round trip from the carpark via the waypoints & cache and then back to the car. The track certainly is steep in places, a good work out. + TB "F" - pot.

Woodgnome was eager for an introduction to geocaching so that he could justify his newly purchased gps. BaldEd was eager to remove this cache from his unfound list and also have a little physical exercise so that he would have room for all the xmas treats to come. So we combined our eagerness and this cache proved to have what we each wanted. We parked at the recommended spot and it was not all the long before we were noting down the coords for waypoint 2. Warning for others following - watch out for the onga onga (NZ native stinging nettle) adjacent to the track to WPT1. Some of it is right at ankle level in the bush parts of the track.

On reaching WPT2 we were delayed a little until BaldEd remembered that there was another use for that shiny external aerial ground plane he had in his pack.

We took the track route to the WPT3 and it wasn't long before BaldEd spotted the cache but said nothing and left it for woodgnome to find. TNLN.

Thank you Sandfly Tucker for a great afternoon's exercise and another smilie on the scoresheet.

Whoopee I found it. I took hubby's GPS, parked at Victoria Park and enjoyed the walk. The only clue he gave me was that he didn't hide the container for WP1 very well. It still took me 30 mins to find, so left it as I found it. WP2 didn't take long, but was frustrated wasting time at the final before reading the clues again. I was 3 hours from the car when I found it and took an hour to get back from here. Not suitable for biking, and DO wear non-slip footwear.

Had to give up on this one straight off, as I had no GPS reception. After giving hubby the slip for the last two caches, where is he when I need him (or rather his GPS)? I'll nick his one for next attempt.

Wasn't so tough in the end. A bit of a surprise that I was only the second to find it.

I hunted for over 3/4 an hour for the first waypoint.
Unfortunately this is a 'needle in the haystack' - or at least a film can in a rock stack. Unfortunately the clue didn't help at all - apart from to confirm that it really wasn't in the middle of the large clump of flax that the GPS was pointing me into. There's literally hundreds of potential hiding spots in this area. This was all the more frustrating as I had hefted my bike all the way down the track - as I didn't know which way the next waypoint was going to lead me.
A couple of suggestions -
Some idea of the layout of the waypoints would be nice - a: to help with the logistics - as I had biked up the hills, and wasn't sure what to do with the bike ( I've made myself a commitment not to drive up the hills for any more caches ) and also b: from a safety point of view! There's not a lot of use telling someone where you are going if they don't have any idea where you are going next, or even which general area you will be in.
A more useful clue would considerably help allay frustration - particularly at the first waypoint of a multi. We've had a recent discussion on this at forums.gps.org.nz
I found lots of little hidey holes. I suspect there's a few rats in residence!

You all know wizards have old boots, so this one was just up my alley. I parked at the suggested Summit Road spot, and took to the tracks. As I know these tracks very well from doing the GPS mapping of the track routes for a new map, I had a fair idea where WP1 would be. It still took a bit of hunting, but then I was off to WP2. Again, I had guessed the general region it would be in from the listing photo. A short search at GZ showed nothing, but suddenly I thought "He said bring a mirror - of course, now I know where to look". Got the WP3 coords - even though I'd forgotten to bring the mirror. Now - the direct route??? Yep - looks fine, so up I went. Hmmm!! Lets just say that a number of people would freak out on the direct route, and should definitely take the track route. The final approach from WP3 location to the cache is also steep - wear boots, not jandals!! As I'd hoped, I was FTF. I loved the cache cover, and also the wonderful view of the harbour in autumn afternoon sun. Back up to the Crater Rim and around to my car - a round trip of 1 hr 35 min total.
For those doing the track route up for the first time, remember it crosses a stile, goes into the bush, immediately climbs and comes out of the bush at another stile.
No swaps, thanks and cheers from Grandalf(486)

[This entry was edited by Grandalf on Wednesday, May 10, 2006 at 1:31:54 PM.]

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