# Geocaching
# This activity is rather like hide and seek for grown ups. It usually involves the hiding of a small water tight container containing a small log book , sometimes a small low cost gift. The idea is to hide it somewhere and cryptic clues are found on the website as to where exactly. I suppose one could consider it a modern game, needing the internet and a GPS reader but it also is found fascinating by little kids. I had taken my grandson and granddaughter on several trips around Central Hawkes Bay, and their excitement of the chase really surprised me. Pukeora Hill lookout, Hatuma Cairn, Otane soap factory and the ships anchor in the Settlers Museum were amongst the places where we had succeeded in finding the cache and each time Jack and Lily were so excited and would leave a note in the little log book noting the date it was found and their names before returning it to the exact place it was found ready for the next geocacher . When we returned home we would get on the computer and go to the Geocashing website, where we would enter the fact that the particular cache had been found with comments on how hard or easy it was to find.
After finding about a dozen caches, I thought perhaps I should hide one of my own. I assembled a small clip top plastic box and a small note book together with a short pencil that would fit in the box, and drove to the old main road below Pukeora Hill where I knew there were caves in the limestone. After a bit of poking under bushes I found a small cave not far from a small Telecom sign which I thought I could use as a clue perhaps like “Back to the sign-45° right” . The small hole in the limestone was not large enough for me to crawl into but I thought I might be able to push my little offering in as far as my shoulder would allow. As I was withdrawing my left arm I heard a kind of metallic ‘clink’. It didn’t sound like a rock and I realised that it was the stainless steel of my watchstrap hitting something . Turning myself over I put my right hand into the limestone hole and felt around. My hand grasped something smooth and hard and as I pulled it out I realised that it was a bottle covered in limestone dust. The bottle’s neck and stopper was thickly coated in black wax but as I wiped the dust from the surface I could see that it was a clear glass bottle embossed with a Union Brewery logo. Out in the light, I could see that inside the glass was a rolled up piece of paper with some writing on it. My sense of excitement rose as I found I could read what was written without difficulty. “Greetings to the future” and it was signed “Leonard Whittington 1895”. Hardly able to contain myself I forgot about geocaching and rushed back to the Settlers Museum in Waipawa with my find. After a little research I found that Leonard Whittington had been the manager of the Union Brewery that had once been situated in Ruataniwha St Waipawa. The interest in my find was such that it made the local newspaper and caused a small gathering of descendents of Leonard Whittington. The bottle now resides at the museum, still unopened.
