The Prisoner's Waterfall (Hawkes Bay) Traditional Geocache

The Centennial Gardens were developed in 1974 to commemorate 100 years since the establishment of Napier as a self governed city. The site had been used previously by the Justice Department as a quarry, using prisoner labour from the Napier Prison. Prisoners transformed the bare, dusty quarry into the present gardens. All of the soil had to be imported onto site.

Water plays an important part in this garden. From the lower pool, water is pumped to the main pool, where it is again pumped to the top of the garden to flow noisily down the 120 foot rock cliff face and onwards back down to the lower pool. The spray from the cascade and evaporation from the pool has over the years encouraged the growth of plants on the rock faces. The cliff face and waterfall are lit with green light for a short time in the early hours of darkness to provide a colourful new aspect to the garden.


Once you've found the cache, you may wish to wander up the road to visit the Napier prison - New Zealand's oldest prison.

Note: We've moved the cache to a new location after it went missing for the 3rd time. The terrain & difficulty ratings have been updated to reflect this new, trickier hiding spot.

The cache is a small sistema container. A pencil & logbook are included.