The purpose of this rather easy cache placement is to bring you to the beautiful Everglades Gardens! (The cache isn't located inside The Everglades Gardens, however, but is hidden outside the grounds and available 24/7.)
From the tourist brochure: "Everglades is one of Australia’s foremost heritage gardens. This treasure from the 1930s sits in twelve and a half acres of European-style gardens and native Australian bush with breathtaking views over the Jamison Valley in the World Heritage listed Blue Mountains." Parking is available on the street. The cache isn't quite wheelchair accessible. I also very much enjoyed touring the Everglades House. Again, from the tourist brochure: "Construction of the garden at Everglades was well underway before thoughts turned to the house. Built in 1935-6, it stands on a central point within the grounds commanding views to the Blue Mountains beyond, while its siting halfway down the garden allows its presence to be concealed from the upper driveway. Unusual for its time, the house has no formal entrance. Two garages are concealed under the house so that passengers alighting from cars entered the living areas via a concrete staircase with dramatic wrought iron balustrading, 'Art Deco' in style, which winds poetically through the centre of the house to the top floor. Visitors on foot entered through the garden courtyard on the ground floor, via the Studio and Cherry Terraces." "Basically 'Fundamentalist' in its function and form, the interiors of the house are predominantly 'Art Deco' in colour and detail. The Mediterranean style popular at the time is touched upon lightly with arches, the courtyard and external finishes, while the 1930s fashion for references to luxury liners is seen in the large and plainly framed ‘P&O’ windows. A main feature of the house is its bathrooms which, with their bright tiles and luxurious fittings are pure ‘Hollywood’. While a departure from the stark Modernism seen elsewhere in the house, they echo a popular trend in fashionable and wealthy Australian households for luxury in bathrooms and kitchens, and a departure from the stringencies of earlier years. New materials technology allowed for details such as the Perspex towel rail in Henri Van de Velde’s bathroom, and the bent glass (much embraced by 1930s designers) seen in the fan light in the picture window above the sun room." "As a weekend retreat, Everglades was a stylish and fully appointed place to entertain guests, enjoy the mountain air and recharge energy. Una Van de Velde attended to the cooking herself, in a kitchen which, unlike those of previous times, was centrally located in the house. A maid housed on the lower level helped with other chores." "The house was built by Tom Cohen, a local tradesman. There is some contention however about who designed it. The Katoomba Daily of 8 October 1936 credits Paul Sorensen, as does Nora Cooper in 'The Australian Home Beautiful' of 1 April 1938. However, there is an argument that Eric Apperly of Adam, Wright & Apperly, who later designed Feltex House in Sydney’s George Street for Henri Van de Velde was commissioned to design Everglades beforehand. Plans for alterations to Everglades House, prepared by Sorensen, have been found in the property, as have designs for the Squash Racquet Court, the Garden Theatre and a device for composting." "It is indisputable, however, that Sorensen was commissioned to design a roof garden for Feltex House. Roof gardens were much in vogue at the time and this one, complete with many eucalypts and one poplar transplanted when 35 feet tall, seems to have been an outstanding example. Lady Gowrie, wife of the then Governor General was sufficiently impressed to offer Sorensen subsequent work, commissioning him to design a memorial garden to her son, Patrick, in thegrounds of Yarralumla, the Government House in Canberra."
Hope you'll enjoy your visit to the Leura Everglades!
(But please remember, this geocache isn't hidden anywhere on the grounds of the Everglades. You can easily access GZ at all times of the day and night . . . and visiting at night is in fact a much better option, with regard to tourist muggles! Stay on the street side of the stone wall. You can actually park only a metre away from the hide.)