Butt It's Muddy! (Dunedin, Otago) Multi-Cache
Butt It's Muddy! (Dunedin, Otago)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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An hour's walk around some of Opoho's less-known tracks and historic features.
Some of the tracks are muddy and slippery, so suitable clothing and footwear are recommended. The walk is ideal for children- put them in gumboots, and allow extra time for catching-and-releasing crawlies (koura) in Opoho Creek.
When this cache was placed, permission for access through LPHS was granted outside school hours, but these days it is open access. The SPCA allow the public to use the Opoho Creek track, but if you want to arrange access through the SPCA grounds phone 473-8252.
Park on Butts Rd, not in the Logan Park High School carpark. Follow the track along the western side of the school (you will see DCC signs "Access to Signal Hill Reserve"). At the first cutting, just after the bike sheds, go up the track at the top of the cutting. it goes up through the bush to Opoho Park. Alternatively, go up the Jan 2022 logging skid road which cuts through the track.
Waypoint 1 is partway up this track. Waypoint 1 contains the South co-ordinates and the easiest route to the butt. The waypoints are small screwtop containers. Please make sure they are left completely hidden- many people use these tracks.
From Opoho Park, walk along Warden St. You’ll pass Torridon St, now the entrance to the SPCA. Impressive redwoods still flank the driveway. In 1868 this property was owned by Captain Boyd (ex- Indian army).
Captain Boyd allowed the Otago Acclimatisation Society to use Opoho Creek, “the coolest and purest stream obtainable”, as a fish hatchery. A description of the arrival of ova and the construction of the hatchery was given by the ODT 4 May 1868. There was an attempted robbery in early October. In September 1868, 724 Tasmanian brown trout ova were successfully hatched. The hatchlings were transferred to a pond in the grounds “where they attracted so many visitors that 19 trout died from the effects of overeating the bread thrown to them”.
The fish were liberated between April and July 1869. “These were not the first brown trout to be liberated in New Zealand, despite the incorrect claim on the plaque (by the duckpond) in the Botanic Garden, but were probably the first to be successfully acclimatised“.
At Blacks Rd, walk down what looks like a private driveway (but it’s still Blacks Rd, which runs straight through to the reservoir) and push between shrubs to find the track. The trodden track now veers left onto private land, but the landowner allows access. Follow the track down to Opoho Creek. (If you wish to follow the faint and overgrown upper track through to the hatchery pools, please phone the SPCA for permission first- it runs very close to the SPCA work area.)
Continue down Opoho Creek. You'll see that it divides into two channels- the true right channel was where the hatchery water intake conduit ran. A few metres downstream, where the bike track crosses the stream on a curved bridge, you may be able to see some stonework on the true right side of the creek. This was part of the wall of the intake dam. Duck under the leaning fuchsia to see two large rusty tanks lying in the bush. These were the water settling tanks for the hatchery. Waypoint 2 is nearby, but not in the tanks or stonework- use the clue if you need to. It contains the East coordinates and the hide clue.
You now follow the bulldozed bike track down to the hatchery pools. If you wonder why a bike track has gone right through the middle of this historic site... well, we've got to be thankful the damage isn't worse. I was told the digger driver (a commercial bike track contractor) saw the stonework of the filter tank and realised it was old stonework... he assumed it was an old farm drystone wall... but he didn't stop work and report it as required by the Historic Places Act. Apparently he decided the stonework was too large to bulldoze away (!) and would make "a nice feature"... so mercifully he went around the filter tank and instead bulldozed along the old dray track between the two hatchery ponds. You’ll see a branch of the dray track zigzagging uphill to what was Captain Boyd’s homestead, now the SPCA. (No, the digger driver did not get prosecuted or even warned. And disappointingly no lessons were learnt - there has subsequently been a bike track made over a pre-1900 stone wall by Rossbotham's homestead in Nichols Creek, with the contractor responsible not stopping work and not advising the HPT. )
In 1881 W Arthur C.E. published a paper on Fish Culture in NZ including a fascinating outline of the Opoho Fish Hatchery operations. It's worth reading!
Thirty years ago, the Tree Society developed this area as a nature trail and labelled specimen trees.
The final cache is hidden near one of the historic Pelichet Bay Rifle Butts. Just a small, sorry- a black 1 litre snaplock container, completely concealed. If you get stuck with poor GPS reception, use the explicit clues to help guide you to the butt and the cache hide.
Why weren't they called the Logan Park Rifle Butts? Because, there was no Logan Park back then. Harbour Terrace was beside Pelichet Bay. When the railway embankment was built across the bay in the early 1870's, the bay was renamed Lake Logan and used for swimming, boating, rowing and model yacht racing. The lake silted up, and was reclaimed in 1923 for the 1925-26 NZ & South Seas Exhibition. It's now called Logan Park.
The Government range at Kaikorai Valley was too far away, so the North Dunedin Volunteer Rifle Company formed a Range Committee to look for a local venue. Page 1 Advertisements ODT 18 May 1867 By July 1867 they had procured a first class rifle range ODT 1 July 1867. By 1868 "the North Dunedin Company is now provided with a rifle range to the extent of 600 yards, also with new targets; the members have made good use of them during the season". OTAGO VOLUNTEERS, ODT 25 September 1868 So, it seems likely that these stone butts were constructed in 1867.
A search of Papers Past shows regular reports of rifle competitions e.g. THE VOLUNTEERS, Otago Witness 19 November 1870 and THE VOLUNTEERS, Otago Witness 2 December 1876. In 1888 the range was extended from 600 to 1300 yards, so that practice could be held with the Remington-Lee rifles at a long range. Firing mounds were constructed at the edge of Pelichet Bay. CITY COUNCIL, Evening Star, 15 December 1887; THE HARBOR BOARD, Evening Star, 12 January 1888; CITY COUNCIL REPORTS, Evening Star,24 January 1888... with a discussion of council liability if there were an accident on the range CITY COUNCIL. Evening Star, 26 January 1888. People searched for lead in the vicinity of the targets! OUR VOLUNTEERS, ODT 11 September 1891.
Otago Rifle Association President's Match 1902: Firing at 600 yards and 900 yards
There were several ranges with butts in different parts of the valley. Apparently the 900 yard firing mounds were located well back along Butts Road towards Dundas St, which is why you can see Lake Logan in the background of the 1902 photo. See the article attached below from the 1975 Logan Park High School magazine for detailed information. The 1922 map shows the layout at that date, with a second short firing range across the main firing range.
Pelichet Bay Rifle range quickly became the main Dunedin shooting venue, “the Mecca of all young rifle shots“. In its heyday it “provided facilities for 40 marksmen to shoot simultaneously at 20 targets”. It was used by Volunteer Corps, rifle clubs, school cadets, territorials and other groups, firing not only rifles but also automatic weapons. There were a couple of nasty accidents at the butts; the explosion of a Remington-Lee rifle Otago Witness 13 January 1888 and the fatal shooting of a marker ODT 21 November 1891.
1922 map showing rifle range layout; Champion marksmen in action 1934
Between 1947 and 1952 the range was closed because of the danger of ricocheting bullets to people on Upper Signal Hill Road and visiting the Centennial Monument. However, after a change in Army regulations it was declared 'safe' and reopened. Many men now 60+ remember using the shorter firing ranges here as school army cadets. A local resident has told me about the time the army was using tracer bullets during a dry summer in the 1960's. He and his fellow scouts hurried down from the Scout Hall with wet sacks to help with the firefighting! The range was closed in 1971, and Logan Park High School was built on the site.
Needless to say, you don’t need to dismantle the historic rifle butt to find the cache. There is a damaged area on the SE corner of the butt, under the roots of a manuka tree, where some stones have fallen away. No, the cache is NOT in there- resist the temptation to remove any more stones!
A sketch map and further information have been scanned into the photo gallery. Co-ordinates of a second butt are listed in the waypoints- this one is on a main bike track, and is an earth construction. If you want to walk the second informal track up to Opoho Park, the bottom is at S 51.630', E 31.870' and the top is at S 51.524, E 31.726'.
Note down the numbers on the logbook- they'll take you on a nice walk to Davies' Locker.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
[Waypoint 1 (explicit):] Vafvqr chatn fghzc, evtug ol genpx, haqre jbbqra cyht.
[Waypoint 2 (explicit):] Yrnavat shpufvn, ubyr va gehax haqre fgbar.