Self-licking Ice Cream
Definition:a self-perpetuating system that has no other purpose than to sustain itself.
While doing the Mount Riley/Mount Sunday loop track I placed this cache to replace one that I had to archive on SH1 between Ward and Kekerengu, (no great loss as it was just a PNG, whereas the rest of the series are decent bush walks).
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.
The cache is a Rite-in-the-Rain log sheet in a pill container in a 200ml container hidden under some protecting rocks at the base of a tree on a prominant rocky outcrop.
When doing the loop track clock-wise, this rocky outcrop almost looks like Pride Rock from 'The Lion King' animated movie. I almost called this cache 'Pride Rock' but remembered I already have one and I needed another Self-licking Ice Cream cache.
Speaking of Self-licking Ice Creams, take not of the colour of the trim on the sistema container, it may come in handy for working out the final of the Self-licking Ice Cream Bonus Cache (GC79DF9), (see link):
Self-licking Ice Cream Bonus Cache
The Mount Riley/Mount Sunday loop is a 15km route which takes 8 hours according to DOC. I guess that would be about right, as it took NZDi and I nine and a half hours including finding three caches and placing two, as well as have more frequent snack and rest breaks as we are in our 50's.
Take the usual precautions when venturing in the New Zealand outdoors as the weather can change quickly. There are three or four stream crossings which can easily be negotiated without getting your feet wet in dry conditions, but after rain...
The track is steep in places, unrelentingly so on the Mount Sunday side and similar on the Mount Riley side but with more frequent flat or near flat sections so a moderate level of fitness and good footware is required.