Anybody who knows me or who has read one of my recent logs will have heard me use the term 'Self-licking Ice Cream' when it comes to geocaching. I've placed a definition of the term above, but to explain what I mean, I'll give an example. In May 2015 I did all the caches (except two) on Staircase Road which is off the Top Valley Road in the Richmond Ranges on the Northbank of the Wairau River. When I got to work the following Monday morning, I told my fellow cachers about the trip and a few months later one of them travelled to the area, got some caches and placed some more. A few days later one of the regions most prolific placers did the same and a month after that another of my fellow cachers did the same again. Which is why, when I recently decided to get the two caches I left behind on that day back in May 2015, there were now nine other caches to get as well. Hence the term Self-licking Ice Cream.
Late last year the Kotuku Trail was opened and then immediately closed due to damage caused by the Kaikoura earthquake. However, capperz managed to get a cache published (on the evening before the earthquake) and he called it Opawa River to Lagoon walway; Bait. Most cachers chasing this prize would probably think Bait' meant whitebait as there are plenty of whitebaiting stands to be seen along the river bank when doing this walk. However capperz confided in me that the 'Bait' was the cache, and its purpose was to lure more placements along the trail to give hime more targets to find... Well that worked as richarinho.nz and bumandworker have both taken the bait and there are already six caches along the trail. Today as I collected the last tree of them, I too took the 'Bait' and placed the third cache in my Self-licking Ice Cream series, this time a multi.
If you read some of the logs on the Kotuku Trail series, one of the recurring comments is how good the information panels are, so this cache will take you to all of the ones up to Ahi Kaa. So visit the panels and gather the information. If you haven't been here before, gather the rest of the caches as well. Allow two hours for the leisurely walk and add time for finding four multis and three trads (as at 29 March 2017).
At the listed coordinates you will find the first information panel. On it look for the year the Blenheim Sewerage Treatment Plant was upgraded, this is 'abcd'.
At WP2 you will find the second information panel. On it look for when the Cook Strait ferries were introduced, this was 'efgh'.
At WP3 you will find the third information panel. On it look for the years when European settlers cut large areas of flax, this was the "ijkl's.
At WP4 you will find the fourth information panel. On it look for which day in February is World wetlands day, the is 'm'.
At WP5 you will find the fifth information panel. On it look for the width the canals were dug, this is 'n'-'o' metres .
At WP6 you will find the sixth information panel. On it look for the date in December 2004 when the Bar-tailed Godwit was banded, this was 'pq'.
At WP 7 you will find the seventh information panel. On it look for when the first generation people arrived from polynesia, this was the 'rs'th century.
Now that you have all the information and probably a few more smiley faces, work out the final coordinates which are:
S41 3A.BCD E174 0E.FGH where:
A = b
B = j
C = p
D = r
E = n
F = m
G = h
H = c
Checksum A+B+C+D+E+F+G+H = 18
The Final is somewhere between the listed coordinates and WP7
The cache is a 62ml Sistema click-clack container with a write-in-the-rain log sheet.
As this is one of my Self-licking Ice Cream caches, take note of the colour of the container lid as there is:
Self-licking Ice Cream Bonus Cache