Back • Home • Next

Letterboxing in New Zealand

Do you like walking in the woods, solving clues, using a compass and map, finding buried treasure, rubber-stamping, and having fun? Then letterboxing may be for you... Below you will find clues for the majority of letterboxes in New Zealand. A potted history NZ Clues Mystery North Island South Island Stewart Island Virtual Letterboxing Letterboxing Near NZ (Australia, Pacific Islands) Searching AtlasQuest NZ Trip Planner (search for boxes near the State Highways) Further clues and loads more information about Letterboxing can be found at: Atlas Quest Letterboxing North America (www.letterboxing.org)

History

For many years the only letterboxes in New Zealand were a few placed by tourists. In 2003, we returned to New Zealand (after living and boxing in Connecticut) and slowly began populating the country with boxes. Thanks to the creative efforts of many, many kind letterboxing friends from the USA, we brought home lots of stamps and boxes to place. For many months we seemed to be the only boxers in NZ, except for some visiting Canadian boxers.

Then in August 2004, Time magazine published an article on letterboxing and suddenly interest perked up. In anticipation, we formed a Yahoo discussion group and people started joining up to find out more about boxing. There are now at least four other teams of kiwi boxers who are finding and placing boxes.

• Hide & Seek for Grown-ups: the TIME magazine article on letterboxing.
• New Zealand Letterboxing Yahoo group.
• Or subscribe here

New Zealand Letterbox Clues

Here is the definitive letterbox list for New Zealand. Yes there are some others too, but obtaining the clues is a little bit more tricky :-)

Mystery Locations

These mystery boxes are in unknown regions in NZ. Mystery boxes with stated regions are included in the regional listings below.

• Dancing Dolphin by Team Psychokiwi (part of the world-wide Pandamonium! Mystery Series).
• Hansel & Gretel's Dilemma by Team Psychokiwi, with RTRW (somewhere in the lower North Island).

North Island

Northland

• Cape Reinga by The Playmakers.
• Camping at Tauranga Bay by Rebecca & Derek.
• Due Nth by Rebecca & Derek.

Auckland

• Sailboat by Letterbox Ninja.
• Stick People by Rebecca & Derek.
• Pohutukawa Paradise by Rebecca & Derek.
• Seashells by the Seashore by Rebecca & Derek.
• Suburban Surprise by Navigull (Geo-cache/Letterbox hybrid).
• Piscatorial Peregrination by Navigull (Geo-cache/Letterbox hybrid with a twist! - Update 20/12/07: NO LONGER A LETTERBOX).
• Don't Cuddle a 'Kawa by Navigull (Geo-cache/Letterbox hybrid).

Coromandel

• Goldmine Express by Rebecca & Derek.
• Maori Flag by Wisconsin Hiker.
• Maori Ta Moko by Wisconsin Hiker.

Bay of Plenty

• The Happy Humpback by Team Psychokiwi.
• Kiwi by Rebecca & Derek.
• Coastal Settler by the Coastal Settlers.
• MAUOAZ by MAUOAZ.
• New Zealand Postcard by Roots and Shoots Redmond.
• Paua by The Motorbike Dudes.
• The tui by Blue Tui.

Waikato

• Waitomo Caves by The Playmakers
• The Eert Neerg Letterbox by Team Psychokiwi, with RTRW.
• Bulls-Eye by Leader of the Pack, with Team Psychokiwi.
• Golfer's Delight by Rebecca & Derek.

Taupo & Central Plateau

• "Eight km Laurel" Quest by Team Psychokiwi, with Steve, Heidi, & Madras.
• Taupo Botanical Gardens by Team Psychokiwi.
• Kiwi Crossing by Rigelpuppy.
• Hi-Yo Silver by Esmeralda and Chaucey & Michael.
• Moab Greetings by Kennamtn & Rivergeek and Team Psychokiwi.
• Go Nar! by Kennamtn & Rivergeek and Team Psychokiwi.
• Crater Lake by Team Tired Feet and Team Psychokiwi

Hawke's Bay

• Baby Elephant Walk by Team Psychokiwi.

Manawatu

• A Moo-ving Experience by Team Psychokiwi, with Leader of the Pack (confirmed missing).

Wellington

• Kaitoke Kayak by Team Psychokiwi, with AM & PM.
• Sunrise - Sunset by Team Psychokiwi, with RTRW.
• Eye Spy by Team Psychokiwi, with AM & PM and RTRW.
• Boogie Bear by Team Psychokiwi.
• A Bird in the Hand is Worth Two in the Bush by Team Psychokiwi.
• Under the Leafy Trees by Chaucey & Michael.
• The Little Choo-Choo That Could by Chaucey & Michael.
• Murray's Last Minute Winner by Chaucey & Michael.
• Karori Capers by Chaucey & Michael.
• Belmont Regional Park by Chaucey & Michael.
• Isengard Gardens by Chaucey & Michael.
• Percy's Scenic Reserve by Chaucey & Michael.
• Anyone for Tennis? by Chaucey & Michael.
• Elementary My Dear Watson by Krazy Kea.
• The Park Next to the Bucket by mcbosas.
• Redwood Bush Reserve by mcbosas.
• Maori Toa by Wisconsin Hiker.

South Island

Nelson/Marlborough

• Queen Charlotte Track by The Playmakers.
• Marlborough Wine Trail by Team Psychokiwi.
• Red Oak Acorns, by Team Psychokiwi, with Butterfly.
• Trout Angler by Mimulus.
• Kayaking Paradise by luna.

West Coast

• Hokitika by the Playmakers.
• Pukeko by Mimulus.
• Maori Tiki by Wisconsin Hiker.

Canterbury

• Little Shag by Paisley Orca.
• What a Fluke! by Team Psychokiwi.
• In Search of the Taniwha by Chuck & Molly, with Team Psychokiwi.
• Native YEP by Nomad PNW.
• Fall'n Glentui Bush by Rediguana (Geo-cache/Letterbox hybrid).
• Ralphie by y_nought and Epiphany.
• Roy Rodgers is Riding Tonight by Esmeralda and Epiphany.
• It's a Long Way to Waitomo by Mimulus.
• Time to Travel by Kiwi Nomad (Geo-cache/Letterbox hybrid).
• Maori Wheku by Wisconsin Hiker.
• Kuddly Koala (part of the Pandamonium series) by Team Psychokiwi.

Otago

• Historic Clyde by The Playmakers.
• Bledisloe Rush by Rediguana (Geo-cache/Letterbox hybrid - retired).
• Rushing Water Hidden Box by Rediguana (Geo-cache/Letterbox hybrid).

Southland

• Mortal Enemies or Survival of the Stroppiest by Mimulus.

Stewart Island

• Stewart Island Robin by Team Krazy Kea, with Team Psychokiwi.
• Stewart Island Kiwi by Team Krazy Kea, with Team Psychokiwi.

Virtual Letterboxing

• Check out Sin-of-Beer's Virtual NZ letterboxing website.

Letterboxing Near New Zealand

I get emails asking if I know about letterboxing in nearby countries like Australia. So for a while I did list all the ones I knew about here, but with letterboxing taking off in Australia, it has been too big a job to keep up with them. Atlas Quest has pretty much the definitive list of boxes in Australia, in a nice searchable format. The only boxes listed here now are the one(s) not on AQ. I'll continue to maintain listings of other South Pacific boxes for now.

Australia

(See AtlasQuest for many, many more)

Victoria

• Strip Box (Geelong) by Akto.

Cook Islands

Rarotonga

• Beyond the Reef (Avana) by Rebecca & Derek.

Antarctica

• Chilly Willie! by Josef.

Other Useful Odds 'n Sods

Searching AtlasQuest

You can use this form to search Atlas Quest for letterboxes anywhere in the world. For boxes in New Zealand, just enter a nearby town or city. You can also include "NIS" in the State box for the North Island, "SIS" for the South Island, "STI" for Stewart Island, and "CHI" for the Chatham Islands.

New Zealand Trip Planner

Atlas Quest has a trip planner for New Zealand State Highways. Find all the normal (not mystery) boxes within 5 to 30 km of each highway (broken down by legs if desired).

Saturday, 01 March 2008 12:40 PM

Team Psychokiwi P55F490X138
Generic Copyright Statement, © 2002 - 2007
All rights reserved.

Before you set out, please read the waiver of responsibility and disclaimer.