Great Aussie Icon Hunt # 8
Round and round they go, and have done such in Australia for almost 2 centuries.
Yes I’m talking about the Windmill – an Aussie Icon seen all over Australia.
Windmill – Aussie Icon
This is one of a series of great Aussie Icon hunts. Travelling around Australia you undoubtedly see windmills: Dead ones, Rusted ones, High ones, Spinning ones, Coloured ones, Huge ones, all seen along the roadside, adjacent farm houses, along river banks, in gullies, in country town parks, in museums, in fact wherever…
This series of geocaches is designed to help you when travelling around Australia, by breaking up the trip, and to discover a bit of a history lesson as you seek windmills in locations with a written history of the windmill and/or local region adjacent.
With each of these trips, I’ll be giving the actual coordinates of some of the relevant windmills along the route – you then have to visit them enroute and determine the vital statistics and any other required info at the location. This will then be put into a formula to determine the final location of the cache. All windmills are accessible by car (no bush bashing required), they are all just a few metres off the highway, or in the centre of towns you will pass through, eg town parks. If there is limited access (to the base of the windmill) due to the time of day a park closes, I’ll mention that for the relevant windmill. All can be easily seen from road though.
Street view could be useful .........
Use that (& your time machine) and all is revealed, 100%.
In many of the windmills, you will be required to count the number of blades on the fan. This will be difficult to impossible depending on the strength of the wind.
Therefore, a digital camera IS ESSENTIAL.
These windmill hunts are in pairs, one from each state’s/territory’s capital city to Canberra, and one separate return hunt. So, for this particular hunt, the “return” is "Great Aussie Icon Hunt # 5.8" – Canberra to Darwin
GC63GEW - Great Aussie Icon Hunt # 5.8
Now onto this particular geocache:
DARWIN to CANBERRA
Windmill A1
S 12º 27.880 E 130º 50.490
Number of blades = AA. Colour of blades = ??, Numeric value in the alphabet of the 3rd letter in this colour word = AB. Under the windmill are three large red words. AC=number of letters in the 1st word. Number of letters in the 2nd word = AD. Number of vowels in the 3rd word = AE.
Windmill A2
S 12º 24.079 E 130º 51.168
Number of blades = AF (divisible by 5). At the base of the windmill is AG=1 if a tank, AG=2 if a truck, AG=3 if a hut, AG=4 if a car. There is also a 10 digit number associated with this windmill, AH = the 8th number, AI = the 9th number, AJ = the 10th number.
Windmill A3
S 12º 27.162 E 130º 57.749
Number of blades = AK. Number of legs of the tower = AM. The big white tank at the base has three words in big blue letters. Add the numeric values of the 2nd and 3rd letters of the first word, Sum = AL. Numeric value of the second letter of the third word = AN.
Location of next windmill
S 1(AD-AE)º (AB-AN) (AC-AD) . (AM) (AL-AJ) (5)
E 13(AA-AF-AG)º (AD-AI) (AA-AL+1) . (AF-AL-2) (AH+1) (6)
Windmill B
Number of blades = BA. On tail, if Comet BB=3, if Southern Cross BB=5, if Yellow Tail BB=7. Number of legs to the tower = BC. Colour of blades, if red BD=2, if green BD=3, if yellow BD=4, if blue BD=5. The cable is coiled up on a winch drum. Underneath the cable is an “ID” cast into the cast iron, “XY21Z” where X&Y are two letters and Z is a number. The numeric value of X = BE. The numeric value of Y = BF. The numeric value of Z = BG.
Location of next windmill
S 1(BC)º (AL-AJ+1) (BA-AK-AG) . (BB-1) (AJ-AH) (8)
E 13(AN)º (BB+AM-BD) (AL+AG-AF) . (BD-BC) (AC) (0)
Windmill C
Number of blades = CA. Number of steps on the ladder = CB. (include the top & bottom rungs!). Number of bolts at the base of each leg = CD. Just across the ponds are 2 VERY LARGE old boilers, next to them (partly in the tree) is a 2m diameter big gear wheel. How many “spokes” does this gear wheel have, = CE.
Location of next windmill
S 1(AL-BD)º (CB-AL) (CB-AM) . (AJ-CE) (CD-AI) (1)
E 13(CA-BA+AG)º (CB-AJ) (CE-AB+AI) . (AF-AH-AN) (AH-CD) (8)
Windmill D
Number of blades = DA. Two words on the tail, Numeric value of the first letter of the first word = DB, numeric value of the first letter of the second word = DC. Number of times the vowel letter “A” appears in these two words = DD, number of times the vowel letter “E” appears in these two words = DE. The “curved” platform has how many “planks”, = DF.
Location of next windmill
S (DE-AN)(DB-CE-1)º (DA-CA+CB-AJ-1) (DF-AC-BC) . (DC-AF+1) (CE-DD) (2)
E 13(CB-AJ)º (DC-AK) (BB+BD-CD) . (AM-DE+AE) (AJ) (4)
Windmill E
Number of blades = EA. If tank is metal EB=2, if plastic EB=5, if concrete EB=8. Tank is on EC supports. The tower has ED legs. These legs are made of joined pieces of longitudinal angle iron with several plates overlapping the abutting joint; these plates are attached to a lower leg portion and an upper leg portion. Total number of bolts at one of these joints = EE. The horizontal members of the tower are joined to the vertical members. Number of bolts at the end of each horizontal member = EF. Number of “X” formations in the tower = EG.
Location of next windmill
S (DE-DD)(DB-EE)º (EC-EB-BB) (CB-CD) . (EC+1) (EE-AJ) (8)
E 13(EA-DD)º (CE-CD) (EC-3) . (EE-EC) (AJ) (4)
Windmill F
Number of blades = X. There is a sign here with “area” on it – the windmill on it has Y blades. FA=Y+(X/2). On top of the nearby roof there is a round red and blue sign, Numeric value of the last big capital letter = FB. Now go for a little walk. Take off 91 from the S decimal, now Add 95 to the E decimals. Here you can see a windmill. This 2nd windmill has U blades. Look carefully and you will see it has some concentric rings holding the blades together. Number of these rings = V. Keep looking, there is a lavender / pale purple sign nearby with a 9 letter word on it starting with “An…… W = numeric value of 7th letter. FC = ((U/V) –W). This 2nd windmill fan is made up of how many “segments” = FD.
Location of next windmill
S 2(DC-EE)º (EE-DF) (FA-AA-CE) . (FC-FB+1) (FD-1) (2)
E 13(EC-ED)º (CB-CE) (FC-BC) . (ED+3) (DC-DB+2) (7)
Windmill G
Number of blades = GA. On the tail, two words: numeric value of the 1st letter = GB, numeric value of the 2nd letter = GC, numeric value of the 3rd letter = GD.
Location of next windmill
S 2(GA-GC-FB+1)º (GA-EE+2) (DE+DD) . (DA-CA) (FD-GD-1) (3)
E 13(DE+1)º (GC-BB-2) (GB+DD-AI) . (GC-EA) (GC-EC-EB) (9)
Windmill H
Number of blades = HA. Here we go again, Southern Cross or Comet on the tail? HB=5 if Southern Cross, HB=7 if Comet. Number of legs to the tower = HC. Number of bolts at base of a leg = HD.
Location of next windmill
S (HB-HC)(HA-AJ)º (HD-ED) (FC-DE-2) . (HA-EC-HC) (EC-1) (5)
E 13(FC)º (HD-AI) (AC-1) . (HC) (HB-GB) (6)
Windmill I
Number of blades = IA. Number of legs to tower = IB. On the tail, numeric value of the 1st letter = IC, numeric value of the 3rd letter = ID, numeric value of the 6th letter = IE, numeric value of the last letter = IF.
Location of next windmill
S 3(ID-HD)º (IF-EC) (IE-IF) . (ID-3) (HA-IF+1) (4)
E 13(GC-HB-2)º (IA-IC-1) (IE-IA+2) . (HA-IC+ID) (EC) (0)
Windmill J
Number of blades = JA. The tail, you know the deal - JB=5 if Comet, JB=7 if Southern Cross. Number of vertical members on the tail = JC. Number of legs = JD. G. J. and V. M. installed this windmill, their surname – numeric value of 1st letter = JE, numeric value of 2nd letter = JF, numeric value of 3rd letter = JG. Installed for “……”. Numeric value of 12th letter = JH. Numeric value of 13th letter = JI. Month = JJ.
Location of next windmill
S 3(JG-IE-GD)º (IF-JE-1) (JB-JC) . (JG-IA) (GA/3) (5)
E 14(JB-HB)º (JA+FA-IE-CA-IF) (JA-BA) . (JE-JB) (JD+JF-2) (8)
Windmill K
Number of blades = KA. Erected in 19??. ?? = KB. Diameter of wheel = KC feet. The ? inch pump pumps A LOT of water. ?=KD. It pumps against a KE foot head. Yeah Yeah, Riddle (KF=1), Metters (KF=2), Southern Cross (KF=3), Colac (KF=4), Comet (KF=5), or Yellow Tail (KF=6). Number of vertical members on tail = KG.
Location of next windmill
S 3(KE-KC-KB-KA-JE)º (JA-KA-KF) (KG-ID) . (KC-KA+1) (JA-JG-2) (0)
E 14(KE/KA)º (KA/KD) (KG-JD) . (GD) (DD) (3)
Windmill L
Number of blades (The LARGE one, the one with ALL the blades !!) = LA. Number of words on the rear of the tail = LB. On that amazing tail, number of long planks making up that tail = LC. Predominant colour of windmill, if yellow/gold LD=3, if green LD=5, if black LD=7, if white LD=9, if something else – what are you doing reading this far, LD=11. Number of large “X” forming the frame = LE. Number of bolts holding each horizontal member to the verticals = LF. Number of bolts holding each diagonal member to the verticals = LG.
Cache is located at:
S 35º NP.QRS
E 14Tº VW.XYZ
Where
N = (FA-EE+IF-JG+GD)
P = (KE-LA-CA-AN)
Q = (IE-AF+LB-BB+BE+EF-EG)
R = (DF+LD-HA-AB+JI)
S = (DC-GC+AE-LE)
T = (DD+AK+CE-GA)
V = (JA-DB-CB+JD-HC)
W = (LC+KC-AA-HB-AL)
X = (KB-DA-IA+JC+FB-GB+LG-JJ)
Y = (BD+ED+JF-JB-EB+JH-BF-BG+HC)
Z = (KA-BA+FD-KG+LF)
Finally, as with all windmills, from time to time a blade may fall off and you may see the windmill before it is replaced. So, count how many blades should be there. (unless told otherwise).
Feel free also to contact me beforehand and/or on route to confirm details or any other query you may have on the way, or to be prepared. I'll generally try to respond the same day, but if I'm out bush with no reception, please be understanding: I'll try to get back to any queries asap. There may be the occasional wind farm.