Generally, most people take pride in their garden which as we know
has been a bit difficult over the last few years due to the lack of
rain and water restrictions. Usually, the front garden is one of
the first things a visitor may see, or people take notice of when
they are driving around a small town such as Nathalia.
Garden ornaments can be a statement, possibly a window to the
owners soul or state of mind. Some people have windmills, some have
garden gnomes, and some have...well...you will just have to go and
have a look!
The Origins of Garden
Gnomes?
"GRAEFENRODA, Germany (AFP) - With his jolly face and little
paunch, Reinhard the potter resembles the garden gnomes he produces
by the dozen in this little village in Germany where, they say, the
phenomenon began.
Reinhard Griebel grew up surrounded by gnomes in Graefenroda,
tucked in the forests of the eastern German state of Thuringia.
This village of 3,500 people claims to be the birthplace of
"nanus hortorum vulgaris", or the common garden gnome, which local
folklore says was dreamed up by a local potter in 1880.
The craftsmen of the village, including Reinhard's
great-grandfather, wasted no time in capitalising on the idea and,
in the land where the Brothers Grimm created Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs, the popularity of gnomes spread fast.
"With his red hat, his lantern, his wheelbarrow and his basket
on his back, he is the very image of the miners who used to work in
this region," Reinhard said.
"He's small enough to worm through the mineshafts and always
full of the joys of life."
Germany was in the throes of the industrial revolution and
workers on their Sunday off found they liked having a decorative
touch to add to the garden where they would sit and relax before
returning to the daily grind.
Before long, garden gnomes had conquered all four corners of the
world.
For Reinhard, the reign of the gnomes reached a low point in the
days when the communist regime in East Germany banned them because
they were considered a capitalist symbol, although they were happy
to export them to the West in return for hard cash.
Since the mines shut down in this region, gnome manufacture has
become the lifeblood of the village. And there is no shortage of
work -- Reinhard estimates there are more than 18 million garden
gnomes in Germany alone."
Gnomes in The Gnews?
Going postal: Snakes found in garden gnomes
Tue Jun 19, 2007 2:28pm AEST
Courtesy abc.net.au
Seven snakes and eight lizards were detected by Customs.
Customs officers have foiled two attempts to smuggle snakes and
lizards concealed in ceramic figures, including garden gnomes, into
Australia by mail. Seven snakes and eight lizards were detected in
two packages at the Australia Post gateway facility at Clyde in
western Sydney. The packages were bound for addresses in Blacktown
and Wilbeforce.
Both packages had been sent from the UK earlier this month, and
had been marked as gifts. Customs spokesman Richard Janeczko says
the practice of animal smuggling is cruel. "In this case, what
happened was because the animals are a potential risk to our own
wildlife, they had to be put down by quarantine officers," he said.
"Apart from the quarantine risk, Australia is committed to
international conventions which outlaw the trafficking of
endangered and exotic species."
Under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation
Act 1999, the maximum penalty for smuggling wildlife is
imprisonment for up to 10 years, as well as fines of up to
$110,000. Investigations into the illegal trafficking are
continuing.
Seventy-nine stolen garden gnomes found
Article from: Agence France-Presse
Courtesy news.com.au
From correspondents in Limoges
November 02, 2006 06:48am
SOME 79 garden gnomes snatched by a so-called gnome liberation
group, were discovered today along the banks of a stream in the
central Limousin region, police said.
The gnomes were hidden in some underbrush with a banner that
read, "gnome mistreated, gnome liberated", police said.
A national garden gnome liberation operation was announced on
the group's website in honour of the November 1 French holiday, All
Saint's Day.
Last month 86 gnomes were found in the yard of a Limoges high
school. Others, stolen last summer, were discovered along the edge
of a swimming pool on the outskirts of the city.
"Because of the heat wave, they wanted to get some air," read a
letter that appeared in gnome owners' mailboxes.
According to the group's website, the Front for the Liberation
of Garden Gnomes (FLNJ) has about 100 active members throughout
France, as well as in Canada, Germany, Spain, and the United
States.
The Cache
At the above coordinates you need to answer a simple question which
will give you the final coordinates.
There are a few 'ornaments' in the front garden. You need to
count the number of objects on the slab of concrete in the
front garden. You should be able to do this from your vehicle to be
less obvious, if that is what you choose to do. Doing this at night
time may be a little more difficult as they could be hard to see in
the dark and the risk of being muggled if you use a torch. Anyway,
how many objects are there?
2 - Go to: S36 02.492 E145 11.953
4 - Go to: S36 02.234 E145 11.958
6 - Go to: S36 02.134 E145 11.956
8 - Go to: S36 02.334 E145 11.893
At GZ you are looking for a medium sized cache container hidden
in a generic geocaching spot. Suggested order of our caches, to
save time, would be:
The Gunner's Dream
Garden Gnomes?
Bob's Your Uncle
Please take care when replacing the cache and camouflage the cache
as much as possible. Cheers.