'Floo Powder' at 'The Chimneys'
Finding and buying all the items on children’s booklists can be a bit of a nightmare for parents, but think about how it is for parents who have many children, like the Weasleys. Or for someone who hasn’t always known about the how things are done in the wizarding world, like young Harry Potter. It isn’t just the cost of all these supplies that makes it difficult, but if the school is a special school like Hogwarts, then the booklists ask for things that you just won’t find in your regular, run-of-the-mill shops or newsagents and such. Instead, you must go to a variety of specialty shops in a place known only to non-muggles. That place is called Diagon Alley. And getting there isn’t easy either.
One way to get there is via the Underground, but it is much simpler and quicker to travel there using Floo Powder, if you have any that is…
Taken from “The Chamber of Secrets” – Bloomsbury, p41
He took a pinch of glittering powder out of the flowerpot, stepped up to the fire and threw the powder into the flames.
With a roar, the fire turned emerald green and rose higher than Fred, who stepped right into it, shouted, ‘Diagon Alley!’ and vanished.
‘You must speak clearly, dear,” Mrs Weasley told Harry, as George dipped his hand into the flowerpot. ‘And mind you get out at the right grate…’
‘The right what?’ said Harry nervously, as the fire roared and whipped George out of sight too.
‘Well, there are an awful lot of wizard fires to choose from, you know, but as long as you’ve spoken clearly –‘
‘He’ll be fine, Molly, don’t fuss,’ said Mr Weasley, helping himself to Floo powder too.
‘But dear, if he got lost, how would we ever explain to his aunt and uncle?’
‘They wouldn’t mind,’ Harry reassured her. ‘Dudley would think it was a brilliant joke if I got lost up a chimney, don’t worry about that.’
‘Well … all right … you go after Arthur' said Mrs Weasley. ‘Now, when you get into the fire, say where you’re going – ’
‘And keep your elbows tucked in,’ Ron advised.
‘And your eyes shut,’ said Mrs Weasley. ‘The soot -’
‘Don’t fidget,’ said Ron. ‘Or you might well fall out of the wrong fireplace - ’
‘But don’t panic and get out too early, wait until you see Fred and George.’
Trying hard to bear all this in mind, Harry took a pinch of Floo powder and walked to the edge of the fire. He took a deep breath, scattered the powder into the flames and stepped forward into…
The location of this cache is a place known to local residents of the Mandurah area as “The Chimneys”. You will most probably get here by driving down “Sticks” Boulevard.
Taken from the Mandurah Community Museum website: www.mandurahcommunitymuseum.org.
‘The Sticks' is named after a place where there were markers to help fisherman navigate safely. The channel was usually called ‘The Chimneys’ by local fishermen. ‘The Chimneys’ were a landmark, created by the remaining limestone chimneys from a smokehouse, built by the Hallidays (the Hallidays had left in 1911, but the limestone chimneys remained and were always a landmark).
The channel is the area running to one side of the islands, in the Peel Inlet, where the water from the ocean meets the Peel Inlet. It was known to be treacherous and was marked out with sticks. The stick closest to Peel Inlet was big, and the last fisherman out at night, used to hang a hurricane lamp from it. This provided a bearing point so that fishermen could get back into the channel. Although many of the sticks disappeared, the big stick was preserved and was kept there. The stick was superseded when the Fisheries Department installed a proper beacon. The beacon was lit by one of the fisherman at night. Fishermen would use the lights of Perth to guide them north and then pick up the beacon light.
So, after you have found the cache and signed the log, you might want see if you can find The Chimneys and check out Diagon Alley.
You need to follow all the instructions very carefully though, or you could end up someplace totally unexpected.
Did you bring along some Floo Powder?
No? Oh well, you can always try to find some and return another day…
Additional Information:
The wetlands to the north and east of this location is known as Chimney Spit Wetland.
The wetlands to the southwest of this location is known as Sticks Wetland.
Both these wetlands are of significant environmental importance.
More information about the history of The Chimneys and The Sticks, the Halliday family, and Mandurah's early fishing industry can be found at the Mandurah Community Museum.
FTF Congratulations to Chwiliwr