Pop's Top Spot (Nelson/Marlborough) Traditional Cache
geopopnz: The time has come to say goodbye. Thank you for the fun and informations for the past 15 years. geopops NZ signing out
Pop's Top Spot (Nelson/Marlborough)
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
A recently established walking track to service the boundary of a local reserve provides the basis for this cache.
Park your car at S41°15.461’ E173°50.613 on the seaward side of the road. There is ample space to do so. The entry track is obvious across the road going steeply up the bank. The track itself, proper, is about 50m along this entry path, to the right. Make sure you record the fact that you have travelled this way in the booklet up the first ‘flight of stairs’!!
The walk is a series of interconnected steps, and you are not ‘up’, until you reach the ‘top spot’. Any levelling of the track is merely a ‘teaser’ between two sets of steps! Even when you get to a fabulous photographic spot, you are not there, yet!!! You will, in fact, climb over 400m, and it is a steady climb all the way.
You are setting out to conquer Mt Cawte, one of the local landmarks – in both a geographical sense, and a historical one. Mt Cawte is named after a land owner who farmed in the Mahakipaua area (Hampshire Hills), at the base of Mt Cawte, his was a fascinating story having arrived in Nelson on the ‘Whitby’, on Nov. 5, 1841. His wife and family followed on the ‘Lloyds’, on Feb. 15, 1842. They didn’t take up possession of Hampshire Hills till 1851 after many difficulties, frustrations, and adventures – including some time spent in Australia. It was a long way from Nelson to Mahakipaua in those days!!!
After signing the log (when you do get to the top, the real top, that is) you have an alternative – either return the way you came, or, continue on, over the fence, and down a much steeper track to the end of the road, below. Then it will be back along the road to where you left your car. Either way this is a full three hour, almost non-stop, trip (as timed by granddad when he did it!!).
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
10z qverpgyl cnfg gur gevt cbvag haqre n pnpur bs fgbarf.