Amelie and the Seven Gnomes
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THE CACHE
Don’t get your gumboots on yet, it’s not really in the middle of Bibra Lake- it’s a puzzle! To determine the south latitude coordinate of the cache, you’ll have to use the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) to answer questions about the movie “Amelie” aka “Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain” (or, go rent the DVD and actually watch the movie- worth a look if you haven’t seen it- one of Mrs. Swan's favourites!).
The cache is located at:
S32 05.ABC
E115 50.XXX
A) How many Oscar nominations did this movie get?
B) First digit of the year (i.e. YYYY) in which the movie was released.
C) Day (date) in August 1976 when the star Audrey Tautou was born.
To determine the east longitude coordinate of the cache, you’ll have to learn a bit about garden gnomes. In spite of the popular impression that the traveling gnome prank depicted in “Amelie” originated in France or England in the late 1990s, it was actually first recorded in Australia in the 1980s. France, however, wins the prize for gnome-rights activism: they have an organization known as the Garden Gnome Liberation Front (GGLF)! The leader of this group was charged and convicted in absentia of stealing a certain number of gnomes. You can find the answer in the FAQ section of the IMDB movie listing, or by searching for the GGLF on Wikipedia.
Rearrange the digits in this three digit number to obtain a new number that is 10% of the first to get the XXX of the longitude coordinate. Don’t think too hard, or get fussed about leading zeros…
The final cache location is somewhere near Bibra Lake, if you’re after other caches in the area. Nice place for a walk. In the ground zero “area” the grass is often a bit long, but you won’t need to venture more than a few meters off the mowed grass. As always in marshy areas, be safe and watch for snakes!
THE STORY
There once were seven brothers , garden gnomes all… they lived happily tending the bushland around Bibra Lake, and having a ball.
One day they got an email from their French cousin Pierre, who said he’d been traveling here and traveling there, with the help of his friend Amelie: Moscow, Cambodia, Monument Valley… Athens, Istanbul and New York just to add to the tally.
Now Pierre is back in his Paris garden gnome home (with Amelie’s pere), but has given his cousins a hankering to roam…
Bernie (B3G2TT), the eldest and ringleader has traveled a bit, but doesn’t really like to sit… he’d like to see as much of Australia as he can and eventually make it to New York City to have his picture taken by the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty.
Olffni (J8XEDP) likes insects and all sorts of bugs (especially the traveling kind). He’d like to have his picture taken with as many other travel bugs and geocoins as possible, while traveling Oz and Middle Earth (i.e. New Zealand, for those not familiar with the Lord of the Rings movies).
Ninnwinkle (KPZYTF), the gardener, thinks Pierre’s photos of Ankgor Wat looked swell, so after seeing a bit of Australia, he’d like to see Southeast Asia, and eventually make it there…
Finnock (2KAEHF), another explorer like Bernie, wants to go east- so far east that he reaches the west coast of America! After seeing the stars in Hollywood, he’d like to have his photo taken in Monument Valley, Arizona.
Edmund (1Q5EJ7), the green grocer, has always thought that those onion-domes in Moscow look quite tasty… he’d like to see some of Australia, then head to Russia, doesn’t matter if it’s through Europe or Asia!
Roonwicket (Z5ME03), also called “Shorty”, is a history buff. He’d like to have his photo taken at as many historical/archaeological sites as he can, before eventually making it to the Acropolis in Athens.
Cobbwick (5YXBA4), an adventurer like Bernie and Finnock, is thinking of mixing a little of Europe with Asia. He’d like to make it to Istanbul to see the Blue Mosque and the Church of Hagia Sophia, and have his picture taken at as many famous historical structures as possible along the way.
Our friends would be quite happy for any other gnome travelers to visit their gnome-home cache while they travel the world… and they’ve left a few travel-related items to start the cache.
Track their progress on the Groundspeak Trackables webpage! If meet one of these gnomes, please post a photo to their individual logs and email to: gnome.travelers@gmail.com.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Oheag gerr