.Great Southern Road - Bookham.
The Main Roads Management Act of June 1858 declared the Great Southern Road, from near Sydney through Goulburn and Gundagai to Albury, as one of the three main roads in the colony. Today we know it as the Hume Highway, named after Hamilton Hume the traveling partner of William Hovell on there overland journey from Appin (near Campbelltown)to Port Phillip and return in 1824.
Over the years the road has had a few name changes and seen many realignments, some minor and some major with entire towns being bypassed and the section of the route north of Marulan being totally different to today's Hume Highway. So I thought that I would do a series of caches based on the old sections of the Hume Highway and the Great Southern Road.
And, for those of you who like to complete "the series" I thought I might throw in a Puzzle cache....
To find this cache you need to do a little research and have a look at Google earth before you head off down the highway. Bookham is one of many towns that have been bypassed. However it is not only the bypass’s that have made the route quicker to travel. The old Highway most certainly did not take the quickest route from A to B.
AB = Cost of Thiess’s contract in 1998 for the Bookham bypass, rounded up to the nearest million (total cost was $80 Million).
CD = Last two numbers in Bookham bypass Project reference number.
Now go to Google earth and check out how windy the Highway used to be.
E . Go to S34 48.803 E148 40.998, follow the old road southbound till it rejoins. Look at the altitude E = the middle digit
F. Go to S34 48.419 E148 34.974, follow the old road northbound, you will see that it cross's the new alignment and then rejoins further north. The point where it cross's the new road is S34 48.FFF E148 35.645
If you have time continue all the way down the highway and you will see many examples where the old road has been straighten out to speed up the trip!
GZ is at S3A AE .FE(F+B) E14E 3D.CED