Chim Chim Cheree! Multi-Cache
Croydon crew: Sadly, the time has come to retire Mary Poppins.
After the majestic Moreton Bay Fig where the original GZ was got removed, I struggled to keep this one going without completely re-inventing it. I walked the park on the weekend looking for another hide, but I just couldn't find a spot suitable for anything other than a key-holder.
Hopefully now a new cache will appear here in the future, and continue to bring geocachers old & new to Ashfield!
CC.
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What have your mother tongue, a national hero and a famous nanny got in common? Do this cache and you will find out! Only GZ calculation required here; the other waypoints merely serve to lead you past points of interest on a 10 minute walk!
Ashfield Park, unlike many others in Sydney’s Inner West, is actually comparatively quiet. Perhaps this is due to its location, adjacent to Parramatta Road rather than busy shopping strips; at any rate, it is a lovely spot to have a picnic, stroll or a game of football or cricket. The park was proclaimed in 1885 when it was claimed at the time you could “see all the way to Martin Place”!
The initial co-ordinates will have brought you to the Northern end of the park, nearest to the Great Western Highway. Here you will find a statue of the Philippines’ national hero, Dr Jose Rizal.
Jose Rizal was a Filipino polymath, nationalist and the most prominent advocate for reforms in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. Rizal's 1896 military trial and execution made him a martyr of the Philippine Revolution, and the anniversary of Rizal's death is commemorated as a Philippine holiday called ‘Rizal Day’. As well as being a polymath, he was also a polyglot, conversant in at least 10 languages. This theme leads us to waypoint 2.
At WP2 there is a monument to International Mother Language Day, built by former artist-in-residence Ian Marr and the Bangladeshi community. 21 February was proclaimed the ‘International Mother Language Day’ by UNESCO on 17 November 1999, to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. From oral language, we head off to WP3 in search of a statue erected in commemoration of a famous writer with a local connection.
Here, we can find a statue dedicated to P L Travers, the author of the much-loved children’s story ‘Mary Poppins’, who resided in adjacent Pembroke Street with her mother and sisters from ‘abcd’ to 'efgh'. The statue is dedicated “for all the children”.
To get to GZ:
Letters a – h can be found on a plaque next to the statue.
GZ South = WP3 S then subtract ‘db’
GZ East = WP3 E then subtract ‘ea’ (e = c + h)
As always, ignore the decimal point when subtracting.
The original GZ was a nearby Fig Tree, which was critically damaged via a storm in late 2013, resulting in the complete removal of the tree. On the cache's 4th anniversary, I have re-enabled it with an interim micro-cache nearby (GZ co-ords have been updated); if it survives, I may upgrade the cache container. Please also keep camouflage well replenished to leave the cache covered, in the same spot.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Va n ubyr ng xarr-urvtug yriry
Treasures
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